News from the world of Education: December 19, 2024

Admissions and scholarships

Anant National University will hold its Anant Design Entrance and Proficiency Test in 10 languages (English, Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi, Bengali, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Punjabi) on January 26. Details at https://anu.edu.in/

The International Skill Development Corporation, in association with the World Design Council, the U.K., invites students from Classes 6 to 12 to apply for the Future Creative Minds Programme, which emphasises Design Thinking and Innovation through interactive modules and masterclasses led by experts. Details at https://tinyurl.com/ms2sws57

JAIN Online invites applications for its two-year MCA programme in Data Science.

Eligibility: Minimum 50% in UG (any stream) from a recognised institution.

Details at https://tinyurl.com/4fpwpjuy

MBA ESG has partnered with Alliance University for its MBA and BBA programmes from 2025-26.

Eligibility: For BBA, minimum 50% in Class 10 and 12 board exam. For MBA, 50% in Classes 10 and 12 board exam and graduation.

Details at https://mba-esg.in/

Mahindra University’s School of Hospitality Management invites admissions for its B.Sc. (Hons.) in Culinary and Hospitality Management,

Eligibility: Minimum 80% in Classes 10 and 12 board exam (any stream) from a recognised board. Valid score in NCHMCT JEE exam score or Mahindra University Hospitality Management Entrance Test-2025.

Details at https://tinyurl.com/5n6b4e6w

Management Development Institution has opened admissions for its Fellowship Programme in Management in two tracks: Residential and Non-Residential.

Eligibility: Master’s in any discipline with at least 60% or equivalent grade point average recognised by AICTE /AIU; Bachelor’s degree or equivalent qualification after completing higher secondary schooling (10+2).

Deadline: January 31, 2025

Visit www.mdi.ac.in for details

FORE School of Management invites admissions for its PGDM courses in Management, International Business, Financial Management and Big Data Analytics.

Eligibility: Minimum 50% in Bachelor’s degree or equivalent recognised by AICTE/UGC/AIU and valid score CAT-2024, XAT-2025 or GMAT taken between January 1, 2023 and January 30, 2025.

Details at www.fsm.ac.in

The University of Roehampton, the U.K., invites applications for its M.Sc. programmes in Business, Psychology, Education, Health, and Computer Science for the January 2025 intake.

Eligibility: 55% or above in graduation

Details at https://www.roehampton.ac.uk/

The University of Manchester, the U.K., invites applications for its M.Sc. in Climate Change: Science, Society and Solutions.

Eligibility: First Class Upper Second in a three-year degree or overseas equivalent from a reputed university; Overall IELTS score of 6.5 with 6.5 in writing and no other element below 6.0.

Details at https://tinyurl.com/3w3xfs4h

The University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, the U.K., invites applications for its M.Sc. Advanced Biochemistry course starting in September 2025.

Eligibility: Minimum second-class honours degree or international equivalent in a biological or chemical discipline; Overall IELTS score of 6.0 with no component below 5.5.

Details at https://tinyurl.com/yydcx2f8

The University of Sheffield, the U.K. invites applications for its M.Sc. Cancer Biology and Therapeutics starting in September 2025. Scholarships are available.

Eligibility: Minimum 60% in a three- or four-year Bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry, Biology, Genetics, Medicine, Molecular Biology, and Veterinary Science or other relevant subject; Overall IELTS score of 7 with 6.5 in each component.

More details at https://tinyurl.com/4kkfc9ww

The University of Sheffield, the U.K. is offering one Delhi Public School Society (DPS) Undergraduate Merit Scholarship in 2025.

Eligibility: Current students of a Delhi Public School Society (DPS) institution in India with an offer to study a full-time or part-time UG degree or foundation degree programme.

Deadline: April 22, 2025

Details at https://tinyurl.com/5n74x5yc

Max Healthcare Foundation launched the second edition of its Max Medical Scholarship Programme, to support meritorious students from economically weaker sections who have qualified for the NEET exam and gained admission to the Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) programme in government medical colleges in Delhi, Mumbai, Lucknow, Chandigarh, Nagpur and Dehradun. Details at https://www.maxhealthcarefoundation.org/

Events

The Indian School of Business, Hyderabad, hosted the third annual ISB-NBER conference on Economic Policy and the Indian Economy on the theme Information and Competition in the Digital Economy. Speakers included Raghuram Rajan, former RBI Governor and Professor of Finance at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business; Shane Greenstein, Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School; Luigi Zingales, Professor of Entrepreneurship and Finance, The University of Chicago Booth School of Business; Viral V. Acharya, former Deputy Governor of RBI and Professor of Economics in the Department of Finance at New York University Stern School of Business among others.

The Education Promotion Society for India hosted a Round Table Discussion innovative approaches to enhancing accessibility and bridging the skills gap in higher education. Speakers included Prof. T G Sitharam, Chairman of the All India Council for Technical Education; Prof. Anil D Sahasrabudhe, Chairman of the National Board of Accreditation; Gurucharan Gollerkeri, Director of M.S. Ramaiah University of Applied Sciences, Dr. Vedprakash Mishra, Pro-Chancellor of Datta Meghe Institute of Higher Education and Research; Dr. Amit Banerjee, Chancellor of Siksha O Anusandhan; Prof. Victor Gambhir, President of JECRC University, Jaipur; Prof. N J Pawar, Vice Chancellor of Dr. D Y Patil Vidyapeeth; and Dr. Ajit Parulekar, Director of Goa Institute of Management among others.

Shiv Nadar School, Chennai, concluded Anandam 2024, on the theme Truth Unmasked. Students from Classes 3 to 7 expressed their ideas through music, dance, theatre, and visual art.

IIM Mumbai hosted AVARTAN 2024, its annual business festival in which over 8,000 students participated. Speakers included Vice-Admiral Sanjay J. Singh, Sashi Mukundan, Rishi Pardal, Manish Shah, Indrani Chatterjee, Deepak Vazirani, Sudipto Sen and Ganesh Acharya among others.

GITAM Deemed-to-be University inaugurated its Centre for Asian Studies (CAS) at the Bengaluru campus. Dr. Jahnavi Phalkey, Founding Director of Science Gallery Bengaluru, gave the keynote address. CAS will focus on Asia’s cultural, economic, and geopolitical landscapes through eight key research clusters.

Shiv Nadar Institution of Eminence Deemed-to-be University, Delhi-NCR, hosted the Innovation and Impact Summit 2024 in collaboration with the Times Higher Education (THE). The chief guest was Prof. Anil Sahasrabudhe, Chairman, National Bureau of Accreditation (NBA), India.

KIIT World School, Gurugram distributed food grains to the institution’s supporting staff as part of its Wall of Kindness campaign. It also organised the World School Summit 2024 (Robochamps); principals from 20 schools in Gurugram participated.

NMIMS University has integrated the Vertically Integrated Projects programme into its engineering curriculum. The programme connects students from various academic levels with faculty-led research teams and promotes interdisciplinary education and research.

Smiling Tree collaborated with the Centre for Himalayan Studies, University of Delhi, for the International Conference on Mountain Resilience: Securing the Future of Himalaya in the Era of Anthropocene Climate Change. Environmentalists and scholars participated.

The team of Ashutosh Solanke, Malhar Jojare, Hrushikesh Kalamkar, and mentor Prof. Shweta Kukade, from MIT World Peace University, Pune, has secured a patent for an advanced vehicle data tracking system, backed by 5G and the latest technologies.

Vonisha Service Foundation, in partnership with Dover India, celebrated its annual day. Over 350 children enrolled in VSF’s After-School Programme were recognised for their progress in 2024-25.

RV University and RV College of Engineering, supported by Brigade Foundation, unveiled the Library by Brigade, a library and information centre that includes research labs, study pods, interactive reading areas, among others.

Somaiya Vidyavihar University has launched the ‘Language Diversity Profile of Mumbai’ project to create a linguistic map of Mumbai. The project will be led by the University’s School of Civilisation Studies in collaboration with the K.J. Somaiya Institute of Dharma Studies.

Red Health Academy hosted a workshop on Airway Excellence: Navigating from Basics to Advanced Techniques, in collaboration with Mallareddy University’s School of Allied Health Sciences. Over 80 students participated.

Cambridge University Press and Assessment launched its Integrated Learning and Assessment programme to provide a holistic English Language learning experience for students in classes 1 to 8 to promote language acquisition and listening, speaking, reading writing (LSRW) skills development.

Vedika, an IB2 student at Canadian International School Bangalore, conceptualised and executed the Global Youth Economic Empowerment Program (GYEEP), a free online financial literacy initiative on YouTube to help students gain financial knowledge.

The University of Southampton Delhi has announced that its campus will be located in International Tech Park, Gurugram, and will offer students a dedicated student hub, a library, and more.

Room to Read India, in collaboration with the Epsilon Foundation and the Department of School Education and Literacy, Government of Karnataka, hosted an event to mark the achievements of a project to foster a culture of reading among children in Karnataka. Senior government officials, teacher-authors, educationists, renowned Kannada authors and illustrators, NGOs, and corporates supporting education participated.

Nischal’s Smart Learning Solutions has introduced Nischal’s Lens to help students of class 6 to 12 learn and engage with educational content. The initiative blends AI and AR technologies connect theoretical concepts and real-world applications.

Zamit participated in a panel discussion on the Development of Human Resources at Educarnival, the 15th Annual International Conference on Excellence in School Education, hosted by IIT-Delhi.

Sharda University celebrated its 29th Foundation Day and World Minority Day in collaboration with the District Minority Welfare Department. The event featured cultural performances by students.

Rishihood University celebrated its 10th year with the announcement of establishing five thematic centres to shape public discourse and policies. Ajay Piramal, Chairman, Piramal Group, received an honorary Ph.D., and Young Leader Awards were also given away.

Tejaswini Dhanaji Patil, a research scholar at IIT Roorkee, created edible straws from barnyard millets, offering a healthier alternative to plastic and paper straws, under the guidance of Prof. Kirtiraj K. Gaikwad from the Functional Food Packaging Lab, Paper Technology Department.

Convocations

Navrachana University celebrated its 12th convocation with 707 students receiving their degrees. The chief guest was Krish Ashok, Head of Advisory and Consulting Function at the Al.Cloud unit at Tata Consultancy Services (TCS).

Centurion University, Bhubaneshwar, celebrated its 12th convocation. Raghubar Das, Governor of Odisha presided over the event. The chief guest was Justice Sandeep Mehta, Judge, Supreme Court of India. The guests of honour were S. Somanath, Chairman of ISRO, and Rajesh Aggarwal, Secretary, Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. More than 2300 students received their degrees.

Awards and rankings

KL Deemed-to-be University won the All-India Smart Campus Award under the Innovation Award for Professional category at the BEE National Energy Conservation Awards.

Mohan Charan Majhi, Chief Minister of Odisha, felicitated 30 winners of the Young Astronomer Talent Search 2024 organised by Tata Steel in collaboration with the Pathani Samanta Planetarium.

IIT Roorkee bagged the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)’s Most Innovative Institution Award 2024, for the fifth consecutive year and the Intellectual Property (IP) Award,

Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE) scored a global rank of 401 and is ranked 74 out of 661 Asian colleges in the QS Sustainability Rankings 2025. The institution also won the CII Industry Academia Partnership Award 2024 in the platinum category.

Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan’s SPJIMR was awarded the EFMD Quality Improvement System (EQUIS) accreditation.

O.P. Jindal Global University was ranked No.1 in the world and awarded Gold in the inaugural Times Higher Education Online Learning Rankings 2024.

Rishabh Bhattacharya, a third-year student from IIIT Hyderabad, won first prize in the hackathon conducted as a part of the Indian Navy’s Innovation and Indigenisation Seminar Swavalamban 2024.

Team RefrriRangers from IMS Noida came first in the Smart India Hackathon 2024 held at IIT-Bhubaneswar.

Madhur Tike, Welingkar Mumbai, Vinit Jadhav, NMIMS MPSTME, and Anuj Shukla, PSIT Kanpur, were declared winners in the national finals of the Fintech Olympiad conducted by India FinTech Forum.

Partnerships

The UPES School of Law signed an MoU with BTG Advaya to ensure that SETU, a platform that enables access to justice through conversational AI solutions, reaches every part of society by engaging students and faculty of the institute in curating AI responses.

Woxsen University has signed a tripartite MoU with Indobox Inc. and Na Ra Japan Hub to provide opportunities in cross-cultural learning and career development for students of both countries.

Shiv Nadar Institution of Eminence signed an MoU with Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, to launch a two week-long summer school programmes for UG students in Summer 2025 focused on Sustainability and Climate Change, and Entrepreneurship and Innovation.

Dr. D. Y. Patil Medical College, Hospital and Research Centre, Pimpri, Pune, collaborated with the British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin Training Academy, the U.K., to facilitate joint academic programmes, workshops, seminars and faculty and student exchanges.

In collaboration with BITS Pilani, Wipro Infrastructure Engineering launched Wipro Research, an initiative designed to drive innovation through engineering-focused research.

ARCH College of Design and Business signed MoUs with Jaipur Rugs, Jaipur Block, Kalpana Handmade Paper, and Neerja Pottery to implement a curriculum that integrates design, innovation, and sustainability.