LSAT-India on May 29
In response to the postponement of Class XII CBSE exams, LSAC Global announced that the 2021 LSAT-India will be delivered over multiple days and slots starting May 29. Due to uncertainty of the date for the Board exams, which will not be announced until at least June 1, LSAC Global felt it was unfair for the current class of law school aspirants to have to put their exam preparations on hold. Most importantly, the date change assures students that the exam will not fall in concurrent dates, giving students the flexibility to adequately prepare for both examinations. Registration will now close on May 14. In order to help students prepare, LSAC Global launched LSAC LawPrep, a digital learning platform. More details at https://www.discoverlaw.in/
AI-proctored online exam conducted
Learning Spiral conducted an AI-proctored online semester exam for MAKAUT (earlier West Bengal University of Technology, Kolkata). The total tests conducted were over 6,00,000 and around 10,00,000 student photos were subjected to AI analysis. Around 2000 papers were generated from more than 150,000 questions. A team of more than 200 virtual invigilators online technical support staff were deployed to ensure student attendance in this drive.
ISBF partners with Gitanjali Senior School, Hyderabad
The Indian School of Business and Finance (ISBF) inaugurated an EMF Club in partnership with Gitanjali Senior School, Hyderabad. The aim is to encourage students to innovate in the fields of Economics, Management and Finance. Over 200 students attended the virtual launch ceremony at which Maya Sukumaran, Principal of Gitanjali Senior School and Chiraag Mehta, Associate Director, ISBF spoke.
Placements at Masters’ Union Business School
Masters’ Union Business School’s inaugural cohort of 65 students has found placements in over 40 top firms, with the most popular sectors being consulting, private equity, venture capital, product management, data sciences and marketing. Students were placed at companies like Mckinsey, BCG, Tata IQ, PWC, EY, KPMG, Unicorn-Razorpay, Bosch, Virtusa, Juspay, Mobikwik, Freecharge, IndiaMart, BMW Finance, HDFC, ICRA, ICICI, IndusInd and Axis Bank among others. Eight students were also awarded the Masters’ Union Innovation Lab’s equity free seed grant to pursue their own ventures over the summer. Select students were also granted fellowships in blockchain platforms and data research.
On creativity and sustainability
On the occasion of World Creativity and Innovation Day 2021, students of Apeejay Institute of Mass Communication conducted a virtual experiential marketing event to raise awareness of sustainable development and creativity. A series of compilations of art, photography and films was curated by the students and conversations were initiated around sustainable creativity in art, fashion, photography and literature. Speakers included Prof. Ankuran Dutta, Head of the Department of Communication and Journalism, University of Guwahati; Prof. Pijush Dutta, Programme Director, Apeejay Institute of Mass Communication, Delhi; Argha Ganguly, Assistant Curator of Modern Art, National Gallery of Modern Art Delhi; and Madhumita Deb, Senior Vice President of Contract Advertising.
White Hat Jr collaborates with Kapil Dev
Ed-tech company WhiteHat Jr has collaborated with well-known cricketer Kapil Dev to make learning fun and engaging. The association will leverage a cricket-based project to inspire students to create interesting applications. The project known as Kapil's Swing Bowling XI will be interwoven in the WhiteHat Jr curriculum to encourage students to create a mobile app that stimulates bowling on a cricket pitch by applying expert inputs in the form of bowling tips provided by the legendary cricketer. Children can access this special project after completing eight classes on the platform.
AIMS renamed ODM Business School
The Astral Institute of Management Studies (AIMS), Bhubaneswar, Odisha, has been renamed ODM Business School without any change in management or operational levels. The business management wing of the ODM Educational Group offers Professional Certification Courses, MBA and PGDM programmes. Course details, eligibility and admission criteria can be found at www.odmbs.org
Virtual Moot Court Competition
The Faculty of Law at Marwadi University (MU) recently hosted a virtual National Moot Court Competition. Over 42 teams from institutions such as the Gujarat National Law University (GNLU), Damodaram Sanjivayya National Law University (DSNLU), Lucknow University, The Tamil Nadu Dr. Ambedkar Law University, Mahatma Gandhi University School of Indian Legal Thought, Bharti Vidyapeeth, NMIMS and Amity, Dubai,participated. Hon’ble Justice P.P. Bhatt, President, Income Tax Appellate Tribunal & Senior Judge, High Court of Gujarat, was the Chief Guest. The team representing the Faculty of Law, Lucknow University emerged as the winners and the team from the School of Excellence in Law, Chennai, were the Runners-up. The objective was to familiarise first-year students with Moot Court skills.
Women-only conference on cybersecurity
Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham hosted ShaktiCon 2021, a women-only, international e-Conference on cyber security. Over 3,000 cybersecurity students and professionals from across 16 countries, participated in the three-day conference that featured talks and presentations. Among the key topics were cryptography, bluetooth security, 4G & 5G security on drones, Machine Learning for cybersecurity, threat modeling, cyber crimes, fuzzing, and cyber warfare. A Capture The Flag competition was held earlier and the winners were announced during the event. Speakers included Rinki Seth, VP & Chief Information Security Officer, Twitter Inc; Rama Vedashree, CEO, Data Security Council of India; Marion Marschalek, founder, Blackhoodie; and Neeta Verma, Director General of National Informatics Centre.
Panel discussion on learning disabilities
The Aditya Birla Integrated School (TABIS), which specialises in education for students with learning disabilities, hosted an online panel discussion on #ICanSucceed. The objective was to bust several myths associated with learning disabilities and to share success stories. Panelists included Taira Khambatta, a parent; Ishika Bhatia, a student from TABIS; Aisha Bharmal, Head of Junior School, TABIS; Tara Contractor, an alumna from TABIS and Bhaskar Bhate, Host from CARS24. The discussion was moderated by Piya Marker, Director & Head of School, The Aditya Birla Integrated School.
The Purpose Academy partners with SCET at UC, Berkeley
The Sutardja Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology (SCET) at the University of California, Berkeley, has announced a partnership with The Purpose Academy, a programme by 1M1B (One Million for One Billion) in partnership with the Innovation Acceleration Group (IAG) to give young minds a unique exposure to real-time problem solving to create real impact. SCET will help support the initiative by connecting students with the UC Berkeley campus and faculty, and by providing mentorship from UC Berkeley students. Students will be paired with grassroots organisations and given real challenges to solve using systems thinking and responsible AI. After a successful pilot batch, The Purpose Academy is inviting applications for the summers program (June- August 2021). The batch size is limited to 25 students and selections are based on interviews.
Acres Foundation reaches out
The Acres Foundation is venturing to help new schools set up their educational practices, while assisting existing ones to implement ground-breaking educational approaches. The Acres Foundation Research and Innovation Centre, The Acres Foundation Leadership and Education Institute, and The Acres Foundation Schools offer a complete three-pronged ecosystem to start a school with global standards. More details at www.acresfoundation.org
Fliplearn Edge unveils plans
Learning app Fliplearn Edge has announced an ambitious plan to enroll five million students and 5000 schools across India by March 2025. The app offers a personalised learning experience with interactive content with gamified quizzes as a participative learning experience. The app has been designed to supplement a child’s learning with the help of fun and interactive digital content that has been mapped to all education boards in India.
Mahindra Baja SAEIndia 2021 concludes
The 14th edition of Baja SAEIndia 2021 concluded at Chitkara University recently. Held virtually for the first time, around 200 teams from engineering colleges participated in the event, which tasks the students with conceptualising, designing, building, testing and validating a single-seater four-wheeled All-Terrain Vehicle (ATV) to take part in a series of events. In the conventional m-BAJA, the team from Dr. Vishwanath Karad MIT World Peace University, Pune, was declared the winner and the team from D.Y Patil College of Engineering, Akurdi was the first runner-up. In the e-BAJA event, the team from KLE Technological University, Hubli was declared the winner and the team from Shri Ramdeobaba College of Engineering and Management, Nagpur, was the first runner-up.
Periyar University launches online courses
Periyar University, Salem, has announced the launch of an online learning portal www.periyaedu.in to offer undergraduate and postgraduate degree programmes in multiple domains. This initiative is in line with the National Education Policy 2020 (NEP2020). Students will appear for remote proctored exams and the courses will be a mix of live learning supplemented with content, study guides, practice tests, discussion forums, recorded tutorials and gamified modules. Through its portal, the university will offer M.BA, M.Sc in Mathematics, M.A. English, M.A. History and M.Com. It was also offer B.Com and B.A. English courses.
MU partners with SC Johnson College of Business, Cornell
Mahindra University announced the launch of its School of Management from the 2021-2022 academic session with an academic partnership with Cornell University’s SC Johnson College of Business. Three UG programmes — B.A. in Economics & Finance, B.BA in Digital Technologies and B.BA in Computational Business Analytics (an interdisciplinary program with the École Centrale School of Engineering), will be on offer from this academic year through this collaboration. Post-graduate and Ph.D. programmes and management development programmes will be added over time. For more information, visit https://www.mahindrauniversity.edu.in/
