Diversifying into education, Supertech Limited, real estate developers, announced the launch of Supertech University which is to be set up in Udham Singh Nagar district of Uttarakhand. It is an initiative of Supertech Foundation.
A 47 acre of lush green campus is located approximately 237 km from Delhi. Supertech University aims at creating a value-based, innovation driven, and research led world-class teaching and learning environment. The university will offer programmes in the domains of Architecture and Planning, Earth, Environment and Space Studies, Education, Engineering and Technology, Fashion and Design, Hospitality and Tourism, Languages and Communication, Law and Governance, Liberal Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, Management Studies, Medical and Health Sciences, Natural and Applied Sciences and Public Policy.
The university promises to provide rich intellectual capital in the form of committed patronage, mentoring, and guidance by the former and sitting Vice Chancellors, corporate leaders, scientists, reformers, and former ambassador and a balanced focus on capacity building, consulting, education, innovation, research and skill development activities.
Real Estate developer Supertech launches university
PTU expands its Kapurthala campus infrastructure
Punjab Technical University (PTU) is expanding its Kapurthala campus infrastructure. It plans to come up with college buildings, library and seminar hall. The total floor area of the new infrastructure shall be 3.4 lakh sq. ft. and is estimated to cost Rs 80.5 crore.
While laying the foundation stone, Madan Mohan Mittal, Technical Education and Industrial Training minister, Government of Punjab, said, “PTU has been taking phenomenal strides when it comes to furthering technical education and it is only logical that the university would require more space and infrastructure to meet its objectives.” The two new college buildings would be able to house 1200 students, the three-storied library shall have 3 lakh books while the single-storied seminar hall would be able to accommodate 150 people. The college buildings are estimated to cost Rs 63.17 crore and the library and the seminar hall is estimated to cost 17.33 crore. On the occasion, Dr Rajneesh Arora, Vice Chancellor, Punjab Technical University said, “If we are aiming to become a global hub for higher education then our infrastructure too should match the international standards. The facilities on the anvil shall be equipped with the latest technology and devices.”
iProf launches SchoolEra
iProf Learning Solutions, an e-learning enterprise has launched SchoolEra, extending personalised learning solutions to more than 15,000 CBSE schools.
SchoolEra, is positioned to enhance teacher productivity. It combines innovation and intelligence. For teachers, it saves 25% of teaching time as it helps auto generate and auto check of assessments, monitors class progress and performance and automates student’s gradebook and teachers notes. The solution supports the Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) approach while easing the workload of teachers.
For schools, it enables gradebook submission to CBSE, monitors performance of students and teachers and provides high quality digital content. For students, it personalises learning by 24/7 individual access to digital content, makes learning interactive and gives self assessment tools and questions for unlimited practice. SchoolEra provides over 600 hours of animations, 120 hours of video lectures, more than 80,000 questions and thousands of digitised notes to make student life easy and fun. With an exhaustive adherence to CBSE curriculum, freedom from hardware installations and infrastructure limitations, SchoolEra has already powered 40 schools, helping 25,000 students in the pilot phase.
iProf raises $ 9 million investment, led by dmgi along with NVP and IDG
iProf Learning Solutions, a digital education company and country’s first tablet based education provider, raised $ 9 million (Rs 55 crore) in Series B funding, led by daily mail group information (dmgi) on behalf of its education subsidiary, Hobsons. Series A investors, Norwest venture partner (NVP) and IDG ventures India, also participated in this round. With this new investment, iProf has raised $ 15 million till now.
iProf is known for their strong expertise in delivering e-learning content both in India and internationally. The company is credited with building digital education via tablets and has been successful in deploying it across geographies. iProf provides both online (web based) and offline (Tablet, PC and Mobile based) mode of content delivery to the students in a secured and scalable environment using Learning Management System at the back end. The company aims to revolutionise the education delivery mode with the usage of technology as an enabler and medium for providing digital learning to students. The company has successfully delivered tablet based education content in India and also to more than 25,000 students in Mauritius.
Business schools to retain their autonomy: Supreme Court
The All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE), which was the ruling body for the business schools, got the green signal from the Supreme Court to continue with their autonomy. The AICTE will initiate the process of extending autonomy to institutions have Post Graduate Diploma in Management (PGDM) courses for the academic year 2014-2015.
In a Draft Regulation issued on Dec 23 last year, the University Grant Commission (UGC) proposed to place the PGDM institutions under state run universities, which would have taken away their autonomy. But in a meeting held on Dec 28, 2013, the leading management leaders raised their voice over the possibility to loss the autonomy enjoyed by the business school. The meeting was attended by 100 deans, directors, and presidents of PGDM institutions who collectively approached the Supreme Court. It is a big relief for the PGDM institutions that finally their autonomy is retained.
International Conference on Science and Engineering of Materials at Sharda University
With the main objective to exchange ideas on the frontline of research on smart/ exotic and advanced functional materials and their device applications, Sharda University brought material scientist from different parts of the world and various Indian Universities on a single platform.
PK Gupta, Chancellor of the Sharda University and Founder Chairman of the Sharda Group of Institutions, said: “Our constant endeavors in the field of science and research, is to ensure that we try to address challenges and bring out the best possible output on the subject matter, relevant to current scenario.” In future also, we are determined to hold/ organize such discussions that are of importance to society and the nation, he further added.
There were 24 technical sessions on Solar cells, Nanomaterials, Materials for Renewable Energy, Memory Devices, Biomaterials and other topics which were further categorised with Oral Presentation and Poster Presentations by the scientist from India and Abroad.
Dr Bhaskar Bhattyacharya, Professor and Controller of Examination (COE), School of Engineering & Technology, Sharda University said: “There was an insightful discussion that took place as the prominent speakers emphasised on collaborative research for sustained development of the materials and gave an overview of smart and advanced materials”. “There was a meticulous dialogue on how the material development progressed with the present day requirement and demand from the industries, he further added”.
The 3 day-long conference was attended by 56 scientists from overseas and 156 participants from the country. Members from Australia, Brazil, China, France, Malaysia Japan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Saudi Arabia, UK and others were present along with Indian Dignitaries from institutes including IIT-Bombay, NIIT, Pune and Allahabad University.
Materials science is an interdisciplinary field involving the properties of matter and its applications to various areas of science and engineering.
Maharashtra State Council for higher education to be revived
The state government of Maharashtra has initiated the process of revival of the Maharashtra State Council for higher education which is an overarching body for planning and development of higher and technical education in the state.
The council’s prime mandate will be to prepare policies for planned development of higher and technical education in the state. The government had sought various proposals and nominations for this multi-member body from the state universities. The move is seen in context with the Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) which aims at strategic funding and support to the state higher education system in order to achieve the goals of equity, access and excellence. The state won’t get any of the benefits under the RUSA unless there is a higher education council in place and this has given the push for revival of the body. The council will be the highest decision making body for recommending policies and changes in the field of higher education. It is expected to be a 25 to 26 member body to be headed by the chief minister and will consist of the minister for higher and technical education, deputy minister, nominated experts from academics, vice chancellors and principals among others.
Nursery admissions begin from January 21under new norms
After much uproar, nursery admissions in the capital have finally begun from January 21 and applications can be submitted till February 5. Delhi High court has rejected the plea by an association of private unaided schools to put a stay on the new the guidelines framed for nursery admissions in the upcoming academic session.
The High court said the new rules had not been opposed by parents who appear to have welcomed the same and said any interference will prove detrimental to the interests of children. It ordered Delhi government to immediately notify new dates of admission. The parents are very happy with the move as the new guidelines intend to do away with hefty donations demanded from schools in lieu of admission of their children.
The new guidelines state that 70 points will be accorded to those children living within 8 km distance from the school, under neighbourhood criteria. Besides these, the applicants who have sibling studying in the same school will get 20 points. Also, the 20% management quota has been scrapped. The group of unaided private schools, in their plea wanted the court to stay the guidelines for the session 2014-15, adding that it encroached upon their autonomy in selecting the students.
Also Read: Delhi Nursery Admission 2020
Criterion Networking Academy to administer IPv6 Forum Certified Silver and Gold Engineer certifications
Criterion Networking Academy’s comprehensive suite of IPv6 training and certification offering have been awarded the gold certification by the IPv6 Forum. Criterion Networking Academy is the first India based organisation to receive IPv6 Forum accreditation for silver and gold certified certification programs from IPv6 Forum, a worldwide consortium with a mission to advocate the adoption of IPv6 technology.
The content for IPv6 training and certifications is developed by Srinivas Vegesna, an active CCIE for the last 19 years. The course is developed based on years of network deployment experience in IP network technologies, design, deployment, testing and operational troubleshooting with special focus on IP network design, routing, Quality of Service (QoS) and security solutions.
The Government of India has already come up with ‘National IPv6 Deployment Roadmap Ver. II’ in March 2013. Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is making efforts to define IPv6 training courses and empaneling training organisations for central and state government entities. By successfully completing IPv6 Forum certified programs offered by Criterion Networking Academy, IT professionals will be able to attain IPv6 knowledge and skills at Silver and Gold Engineer levels and include them as part of their professional credentials.
India to have its own ranking system for higher education
India will soon have its own ranking system to rank the Indian higher education institutions in the country. The Union Ministry for Human Resource Development approved the ranking system after a proposal submitted in the report of the Ranking Committee to the government on 16 January, 2014 at the retreat of the Indian Institute of Technology directors. Now the IIT council has been asked to provide the outlines of the proposal.
The proposal mentions about creating a ranking system in India that will ensure that the institutions are appropriately ranked and placed in proper perspective and are considered through Indian parameters and demographics. Over the years, India has failed to make a mark in various reputed international ranking of higher education institutes. None of the universities and institutions features in top most universities in the world. China has a similar academic ranking system of world universities done by Shanghai Ranking Consultancy, an independent organisation on higher education information which is not legally subordinated to any university or government agency.
