Registrations open for Asia Young Designer Award 2021
Nippon Paint (India) Private Limited (Decorative Division) announced the launch of the Asia Young Designer Award 2021 (AYDA), India Edition. The theme this year is “Amplifying Empathy Through Design”. Renowned architects Ar. Biju Kuriakose, Co-founder, ArchitectureRED; Ar. Naresh Narasimhan, Principal Architect, Venkatraman Associates; and Ar. Dean D’Cruz, Co-founder, Mozaic, will judge the Architecture category. The Interior Design Category jury includes distinguished architects Ar. Lalitha Tharani, Collaborative Architecture; Ar. Deepak Guggari, Principal Architect, Varsha & Deepak Guggari Associates; and Ar. Sonali Bhagwati, President DPA, Design Plus Architecture Pvt. Ltd. Design students and architecture students from third year onwards and young professionals who are pursuing their Master’s in Interior Design and Architecture with less than a year of experience can participate. Last date to register is October 30. Register at http://www.nipponpaint-ayda.co.in
Excellence Fellowship Programme in Israel
The Council for Higher Education and The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities have called for applications for the Excellence Fellowship Programme for international postdoctoral researchers in Israel. A maximum of 20 fellowships will be allocated in Sciences, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM), the Humanities and the Social Sciences. The programme is open to international candidates who have received a P.hD. from a recognised higher education institution outside of Israel less than four years from the time of application (not including parental or medical leave), or who will receive a Ph.D. from a recognized higher education institution outside of Israel prior to the commencement of the fellowship. Candidates who will be commencing a postdoctoral position in Israel before January 1, 2022 may not apply. Deadline for submission is October 1. For more information and submission guidelines, contact Batsheva Shor at batsheva@academy.ac.il
Edumpus offers scholarships
Edumpus has announced the launch of an ₹1 crore Scholarship Programme for Indian students who are planning to study overseas in the upcoming academic intakes. The scholarship will be decided on a case-to-case basis and cover tuition fees or living expenses or both. To participate, students from anywhere in India can submit an application detailing why they should receive the scholarship. A jury will evaluate each application and assign scores based on the student’s merit, financial background and overall quality of submission. The application is a rolling one and winners will be announced on a monthly basis with the amount being disbursed only after successful enrollment at the preferred university. The scholarship is currently open to students applying for higher education abroad through the Edumpus platform until December 15. Details at https://edumpus.com/
NSE Academy Limited partners with Association for Financial Professionals
The NSE Academy Limited (NAL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the National Stock Exchange (NSE), and the Association for Financial Professionals (AFP) have announced a formal partnership to provide AFP education and resources on the NSE Knowledge Hub, a unique artificial intelligence (AI) powered-learning experience platform specially created for financial learning. This partnership will allow financial practitioners in India to have access to the most relevant corporate treasury, financial planning and analysis content. The NSE Knowledge Hub uses the power of AI to ensure content is tailored to individual areas of interests and goals and builds future-ready skills that have a positive business impact and career outcomes. Visit https://nkhilearn.edcast.com/log_in for more details
Webinar on Ethical Application of AI
Great Learning is hosting a webinar on Ethical Applications in the field of Artificial Intelligence on September 4 from 7.00 p.m. The one-hour session is free and open to anyone interested in Artificial Intelligence. The session, conducted by Sarika Hussain, Artificial Intelligence Leader, will look at evolution of AI, the opportunities in this domain and the importance of evaluating the pros and cons of the technology and the ethical ways to apply AI. Register at https://bit.ly/3BuGWzW
Campaign to read launched
Room to Read has launched its reading campaign #pledgereadingtime and appealed to people to pledge 15 Minutes of Reading (MOR) across Delhi, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, MP, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, and Uttar Pradesh. Parents can pledge to read aloud to their children or to a child in the neighbourhood, keeping social distancing norms in mind. To show solidarity, Rtr invites participants to take a picture and post it on social media, tag three people requesting them to Pledge Reading Time and tag Room to Read India’s social media pages on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn and use the campaign hashtags #pledgereadingtime #inidagetsreading
IIT-Madras to collaborate with IBM
The Indian Institute of Technology-Madras will collaborate with IBM on the Institute’s Online B.Sc. Degree programme and augment select courses on the National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL) platform. IBM experts will co-offer a Quantum Computing course on the NPTEL Platform and augment select NPTEL courses such as Data Science and AI with technical inputs that will help provide students with a current industry perspective. These sessions will be free of cost and made available on the NPTEL and IIT-Madras’ online platforms. The engagement will further strengthen IBM’s and NPTEL’s commitment on various initiatives to bring top-tier courses & new-collar employability skills to any student from a rural or non-urban area in India.
IIT-Madras Incubation Cell and Sona Incubation Foundation sign MoU
The IIT-Madras Incubation Cell (IITMIC) and Sona Incubation Foundation (SIF), Salem, have also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to foster entrepreneurial ideas in a supportive environment. Through this MoU, IITMIC will extend holistic support to strengthen the incubation ecosystem at SIF and provide co-incubation support to select SIF incubatees to scale and make national impact. IITMIC will provide training, mentoring, enable networking and amplify the reach of the startups to investors, industry and potential market. The MOU was signed by Professor Ashok Jhunjhunwala on behalf of IITM Incubation Cell and Chocko Valliappa, Vice Chairman, Sona Group of Institutions in presence Dr. S.R.R. Senthilkumar, Principal; Dr. Nirmalesh K. Sampath Kumar, Director, Innovation and R&D at the Sona group; and IITMIC’s CEO Dr. Tamaswati Ghosh; Head Academic Liaison Jaya Umadikar; Outreach Lead Pradeep Muralidhar and Strategy Officer Seena Shivanath.
BYJU’s partners with dotin Inc and introduces Two-Teacher Advantage
BYJU’S has announced its partnership with dotin Inc., a SaaS company that improves recruitment and retention of new and existing talent. BYJU’S will leverage dotin’s employee assessment technology and expertise to determine optimal candidate alignment to BYJU’S critical attributes. The patented AI-based technology captures core candidate motivations and provides insights wand creates an unbiased process allowing for streamlined deployment. dotin uses AI, machine learning, and natural language processing to objectively evaluate technical skills, personality traits, culture compatibility, workplace values, and learning styles of individuals. This will help BYJU’S identify the appropriate team members in different roles aligning with its core values or traits.
BYJU’S has also introduced a ‘Two-Teacher Advantage’ for BYJU’S Classes, an after-school online tutoring programme, that will help deliver superior learning experiences and quality teaching at scale to enable better learning outcomes. Students will be taught by one expert teacher who uses strong visuals and storytelling to explain topics in-depth to ensure conceptual clarity, while the second teacher solves instant doubts, pays individual attention and makes the sessions interactive and engaging. With this, students get both access to high-quality teachers and personal attention.
SGU Grenada upgrades its campus
St. George’ s University School of Medicine, Grenada, has upgraded its campus to welcome returning students. The new campus will feature greater capacity for individual and group study spaces as well as new technologically advanced clinical skills laboratories. The improvements were put in place as SGU prepares to welcome back fully vaccinated students, faculty, staff, and administrators. Around 23% of the students at the School of Medicine are international, including over 100 from India, and currently studying towards their MD degree.
Board Infinity plans for expansion
Board Infinity, an early-career skilling and career transition platform, announced that the company plans to hire 2000 employees in the next six months and grow the paid learner base to three lakh learners by 2022 end. The start-up is hiring freshers and young professionals in areas like technology, digital marketing, operations, sales. The company has successfully placed students in companies like Capgemini, Tech Mahindra, Genpact, HCL, Accenture, Ugam Solutions, Quantiphi, Math Company, Wipro, Rebel Foods, Lenskart and also collaborated with educational institutions such as IIM Nagpur, XLRI Jamshedpur, IIM Sambalpur, Shiv Nadar University, Lovely Professional University, and others to provide career coaching and interview preparation programmes.
IIM-B hosts conference on Public Policy and Management
In his valedictory address at the XVIth International Conference on Public Policy and Management, hosted by the Centre for Public Policy at IIM-Bangalore, Prof. Jean Drèze, Visiting Professor at Ranchi University and Honorary Professor at the Delhi School of Economics, began with a question on why some ideas flourish while others fall into oblivion. Remarking that ideas that suit the privileged tend to flourish, he pointed out that ideas have a better chance to survive if they serve powerful interests. To give an example of what he described as ‘selective intellectual memory’, he remarked that Dr Ambedkar nearly ended up as a forgotten thinker, not by the public but by the country’s intellectual elite. Giving yet another example, this time from economics, Prof. Drèze spoke of how competition and self-interest are considered fountains of human progress. “This is not to deny that competition works well for some purposes. But when it comes to quality education, healthcare, the environment, justice, a functioning democracy and many other essential aspects of the quality of life, competition will not take you very far.”
AVV trains 90 youth under the PMKVY scheme
Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham has trained more than 90 youth from marginalised and remote communities in Tamil Nadu under the Central Government’s Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY), the flagship scheme of the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship implemented by National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC). The project is being spearheaded by the varsity’s AMMACHI Labs. The programme offers short-term courses in Plumbing General, Automotive Service Technician, Self-Employed Tailor, General Duty Assistant, and Domestic Data Entry Operator (DDEO). All the courses are aligned with the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship’s prescribed National Occupational Standards (NOS), and delivered through a blended learning ICT-integrated format.
Simplilearn publishes report on upskilling and collaborates with IIIT-Bangalore and NPCI
Simplilearn published ‘State of Upskilling in 2021’, the findings of its midyear survey report conducted to understand learner experience in the past 12 months and their expectations for the coming year. The survey was conducted with over 2500 learners; 20% of whom were freshers. The survey covered BFSI, Consulting, IT, Manufacturing, Pharma/ Healthcare, and other industries. Around 30% said lacking key skills held them back and 65% said they had enrolled in upskilling courses in the past year to strengthen their career. Most respondents learned or planned to learn Data & AI (48%), Project Management and Scrum (34%), Cloud Computing/DevOps (32%), and Digital Marketing (21%). Learners also cited the lack of key skills as an obstacle to getting new jobs or being assigned vital projects.
Simplilearn is also partnering with IIIT-Bangalore and National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) to offer an Advanced Executive Programme in Cybersecurity. With 90+ hours of learning, the curriculum focuses on industry-relevant skills. Learners will also be offered a virtual internship with NPCI along with mentoring sessions. On completion, learners will receive a certificate from IIIT Bangalore, along with an internship completion letter jointly offered by NPCI, Simplilearn and IIIT Bangalore.
UPES to continue with Girls Scholarship Programme
UPES Dehradun will continue with its ‘Girls Scholarship Programme’ in this academic year. The university offers 20% scholarship to girls from across India and girls from Uttarakhand are eligible for 46% domicile and girls scholarship. The scholarship programme benefitted 1300 students last year from Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Haryana, Maharashtra and Jharkhand. Most had opted for under-graduate and post-graduate programmes in Computer Science, Engineering, Health Science, Design, and Business. For details, visit https://www.upes.ac.in
LPU felicitates Olympic medal winners
Lovely Professional University (LPU) felicitated 13 of its students including Neeraj Chopra and 10 members of Indian Men’s Hockey Team for winning medals at the Tokyo Olympics. The ceremony was held at LPU campus to celebrate the return of the sportstars to their alma mater with Amitabh Kant, CEO of NITI Aayog, as the Chief Guest. The university also unveiled a special ‘Neeraj Chopra Marg’, a pathway leading to LPU’s sprawling sports complex. Fourteen LPU students represented India at the Olympic Games and the Paralympics.
Teacher training programme
Empowered Minds Edu Solutions LLP (EMES) is organising a teacher training programme on September 17 and 18. The focus will be on using technological tools to make the lessons impactful and put theory into practice. The programme is open for all educators and teachers. For more information, visit http://www.empoweredminds.co.in
University of Essex launches preparatory programme for students
Over 700 new students at the University of Essex have signed-up to complete a special online course over the summer to get them ready for their studies at Essex. The university developed the six-week Essex Preparation Programme to help students in the U.K. and around the world bounce back from all the disruptions they’ve faced due to COVID. The course is open to anyone applying for undergraduate study at the university. If they complete the course and register to study at Essex for the 2021-22 academic year, they will qualify for a £250 bursary to recognise their commitment to their studies. Over the six-week programme, students will explore independent learning, critical thinking, academic integrity and many more areas. The university is also developing an early arrival programme to give extra practical and pastoral help to new students as they transition into their university experience.
WhiteHat Jr partners with global institutions and FutureSkills Prime
WhiteHat Jr has built a holistic people development charter by partnering with globally renowned institutions such as Harvard Business Publishing (HBP), KPMG in India and Stanford professor Jo Boaler to create custom programmes aimed at further developing and training employees and teachers and facilitating their capacity for growth, performance, and effectiveness. Through these collaborations, WhiteHat Jr will make accessible world-class initiatives to various divisions within the company ranging from the teacher workforce to operations to sales. The company now plans to expand its teacher training initiatives by collaborating with Dr. Jo Boaler, Nomellini-Olivier Professor of Mathematics Education at the Stanford Graduate School of Education to upskill its Math teachers by certifying them in a world-class Math teaching course. In addition, Harvard Business Publishing (HBP) will design, develop, and deploy a strategic leadership learning experience for WhiteHat Jr’s cohort of leaders. KPMG will provide a Competency Development Programme (CDP) to certify WhiteHat Jr’s teams based on the Lean Six Sigma Green Belt skills and programmes.
The company has also collaborated wit FutureSkills Prime, the digital skilling initiative by NASSCOM and the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology, to launch an instructor-led one-on-one Foundation course on Artificial Intelligence (AI) developed by the WhiteHat Jr curriculum team and delivered live online by highly-trained teachers to undergraduates and executives. WhiteHat Jr will offer the course from October 2021. Visit https://learn.futureskillsprime.in/insights/certificate for more details.
Prodigy Finance recommences operations
Prodigy Finance, a cross-border lender for international postgraduate students, has recommenced its loan operations for students in countries like the U.K., China and France, which were temporarily unavailable during pandemic. The company has recently partnered with 12 new colleges in the United States, taking the total count to 800 colleges and universities hosting 1000 postgraduate courses in its curriculum.
IIM-A sets up Centre for Digital Transformation
Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A) has partnered with Bank of America to launch a Centre for Digital Transformation (CDT), which aspires to become a vibrant knowledge hub for academia, policymaking, and the private sector by facilitating cutting-edge research on digital transformation and innovation. As a strategic next step, the Centre has also set up an advisory Council on Responsible Digital Transformation. Helmed by IIM-A, this council will bring together diverse stakeholders to deliberate on the urgent needs and unique perspectives on digitisation and help develop best practices and guidelines designed to benefit all stakeholders and achieve broader goals. The council will play a critical role in enhancing core competencies of the Centre and help guide the projects. The council will enable greater collaboration and alignment with external industry partners for long term value creation. The council members include Dr. Ritu Agarwal, Senior Associate Dean of the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland; Debjani Ghosh, President of NASSCOM; Rajesh Gopinathan, CEO of Tata Consultancy Services; Nandan Nilekani, non-executive Chairman of Infosys; Aditya Puri, Senior Advisor, The Carlyle Group; Dr. Vallabh Sambamurthy, Albert O. Nicholas Dean of the Wisconsin School of Business of the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
