K.Balaji & Sabina Khan are the winners of the Vidyadeep, a national level case study competition conducted by Sikkim Manipal University – Distance Education (SMU-DE) at 'EDGE', the national forum focusing on 'Emerging Directions in Global Education'. They received a prize of INR 75,000 from the guest of honour Sri Sam Pitroda, Advisor to the Prime Minister of India on Public Information, Infrastructure and Innovation. The contest was a culmination of more than six weeks of activity and enthusiastic participation from MBA students of SMU-DE, one of the largest providers of Distance Education in India. At this prestigious forum, the six zonal winner teams presented their solutions of a pre-distributed case, to distinguished academicians and marketing specialists from across industries.
The first runner up team of Ajay Maheshwari & Nishchint Gogia took home INR 50,000 & the second runner up team of Tasaduq Bhat & Pallavi Singh won INR 25,000. The other teams took home a consolation prize of INR 10,000. As part of the Vidyadeep scholarship programme, the Vidyadeep annual case study contest 'a pioneering initiative' was launched specifically for MBA students of SMU-DE, thus providing them a platform to showcase their superior problem solving skills and decision making abilities in a business environment. Over 250 teams from across the country participated. SMU-DE in December 2009, in an effort to recognise and reward meritorious and deserving students and help them in their quest for quality higher education, launched Vidyadeep a Nationwide Scholarship programme for 1500 meritorious and deserving students of SMU-DE programs across India. Out of these 1500 scholarships, 500 scholarships are earmarked for students from the North East alone. This scholarship is a 'first-of-its-kind pioneering initiative' in the field of distance education in the country!
