LearnHat rolls out scholarships worth ₹1 crore
LearnHat recdently announced that it will roll out scholarships for students in classes 1-10, across India through the LearnHat National Scholarship Test - LANCET. The online 30-minute test is a combination of objective and subjective questions based on critical thinking, general aptitude and creativity. Its focus is to encourage students to demonstrate academic capability, as well as logical reasoning and thinking prowess. Scholarships awarded will be a combination of annual tuition sessions across all subjects, and fee waivers on a selection of subjects. It will host the LANCET test series over the next couple of months. To register, visit, https://bit.ly/3tM64Q0
Leadsquared and CollPoll collaborate
LeadSquared recently partnered with CollPoll to digitise admission processes for educational institutions. LeadSquared’s Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool enables educational institutions to streamline the admission and marketing processes by automating recruitment, enrolment, and retention of applicants. It also helps understand student preferences.
Center of Excellence initiative
Billabong High International School (BHIS) recently launched Center of Excellence, with the objective of providing students with specialised programmes that make them future-ready. The school has joined hands with institutions such as Dale Carnegie, Trinity College London, Cambridge English Assessments, and more, to provide professions courses to their students. Students Under this initiative, high-quality skill and competency development programs will be offered through a single virtual platform at an affordable price of ₹1,000- ₹1,500 per month.
Paramedical Sciences Institute
The Sardar Patel Education Trust, will establish an Institute of Paramedical and Science in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh. India has a low density of health workers per 10,000 population, and the distribution of health workforce across the Indian states is skewed. The institute will help bridge this gap by training youth as mid-level care providers.
Teach For India incubates nine entrepreneurs
InnovatED, the nine-month incubator from Teach For India, recently announced its Cohort for 2021. It will provide a host of resources for alumni entrepreneurs. InnovatED guides the entrepreneurs through the building blocks of organisational development and entrepreneurial self growth, Leadership and decision-making, financial management, process orientation, relationship building, and more.
Interest-free education loans across Rajasthan
EmpowerYouth.com recently opened up its offerings to students in Rajasthan by collaborating with Shyam University, Dausa. Students will be provided with interest-free education loans and other benefits such as campus placements for jobs and internships, as well as expert sessions with industry leaders. It has also tied up with PaisaOnline.net (Sagar Deposits and Advances Private Limited) to provide fee-financing solutions to students from rural areas.
Infinity Learn receives award
Infinity Learn, an ed-tech initiative by Sri Chaitanya, recently bagged The Most Promising Edtech Brand award instituted by Zee Hindustan. It was honoured for working towards bringing a success formula that will reimagine online classroom teaching.
PI-WOT 2021 - Global Virtual Technology Summit
PanIIT India, an umbrella body representing the alumni of IITs, recently organised its flagship event - PI-WOT 2021 - Global Virtual Technology Summit, which saw more than 100 eminent speakers, 15,000 delegates and 10+ knowledge sessions on transformative technology and its adoption to generate empowering solutions for the world. The dialogues were facilitated through engaging verticals of seminars, hackathon competition and a startup showcase.
CuriousJr raises $ 1 million in seed funding
CuriousJr recently raised $1 million in its seed funding round. The round was led by WaterBridge Ventures, alongside Enzia Ventures, and angel investors. It will utilise the funds raised to further refine the product and create an engaging learning ecosystem for the students. Along with this, it will also focus on community development, expanding their team, and creating more appealing and engaging content for users.
Lycée Français International de Delhi reopens
Lycée Français International de Delhi recently reopened its campus for academic year 2021-22 for in-person learning experience. Keeping the current situation in mind, LFID will offer a blended learning experience to students. All students have resumed in-person classes and activities as per their regular schedule.
Onboarding new investors
Leverage Edu recently announced that it has on-boarded marquee global investors, raising an undisclosed amount of growth capital from them. Industry names such as Vijay Shekhar Sharma (Founder of PayTM), Rohit Kapoor (CEO of Oyo - India and Southeast Asia), Amanpreet Bajaj (Southeast Asia Head, Airbnb), Lalit Singh (Former COO at Udacity), and Mohit Garg (Founder of Softbank–backed Mind Tickle) are among the top investors. The fresh funds raised will be utilised to expand teams in India and abroad.
JAIN (Deemed-to-be-University) signs MoU with Indian Army
JAIN (Deemed-to-be-University) recently announced a MoU with ASC Center and College, Bengaluru, which enables the army personnel and their families to enrol in its on-campus and online programmes. Candidates can choose programmes from various disciplines such as Management, Commerce, Sciences, and Technology and can enroll in on-campus programmes such as MBA, MCA, M.Sc., PG Diploma, Ph.D., and certifications programmes at the university campus in Bengaluru. The on-campus programmes can be pursued by the army personnel during the study leave offered during their tenure.
Breaking tabs around menstruation
Aayesha Goyal, an 11-year-old girl from Ahmedabad in Gujarat, recently created an app called ‘Free Flo’ which is an easy-to-use, one-stop-destination for key information about menstruation and also provides girls with the option of tracking their cycle. She was guided by Parna Mehta from WhiteHat Jr for this project.
Veranda acquires Edureka
Veranda Learning Solutions recently acquired Edureka, a live-instructor-led online solutions provider for the IT industry. This marks Veranda Learning Solutions’ second buyout since December 2020. It is planning an outlay of around $100 million for acquisitions over the next six months to seize opportunities opening up in the edtech space.
Donation from alumnus
The University of Strathclyde recently received a £50M donation from alumnus Charles Huang, through his philanthropic foundation. The donation also seeks to honour Professor Stephen Young, a former Head of the Department of Marketing and Dr Huang’s supervisor and mentor during his PhD studies.
Winuall expands
Over 3,400 coaching institutes and 10K tutors in Chennai have partnered with Winuall and the platform is currently helping more than 10,000 tutors in the city to support a hybrid environment of teaching/learning. The entire platform is available in Tamil for tutors and students, and the company is planning to add more than 100K tutors and serve more than one million students across Tamil Nadu in the next six months.
IIM Sambalpur celebrates Foundation Day
IIM Sambalpur recently celebrated its seventh Foundation Day. The ceremony, held in the blended mode, was attended by several dignitaries, students, faculty member, and the media. The commemorative programme had a formal ceremony, followed by a cultural programme.
The NorthCap University’s Orientation Programme
The NorthCap University recently launched The NorthCap MasterClass, a series of exclusive talks where industry professionals and thought leaders from diverse walks of life share their perspectives on social, economic, and technology trends, the future of jobs, and the ensemble of skills to succeed in a digital economy. Many other eminent speakers such as Sanjeev Bikhchandani, founder, Info Edge; Dr. Samir Saran, President of the think tank Observer Research Foundation, and so on, shared their professional experience with students. All sessions were highly interactive. The speakers engaged the students by answering many questions.
Pradeep Kumar Singh appointed CTO of Aakash Educational Services Limited
Aakash Educational Services Limited (AESL) recently appointed Pradeep Kumar Singh, former Executive Vice President of Naukri.com, as its CTO. He will lead the technology function and further build the technology team to drive the digital transformation of Aakash. Among its notable tech projects include connecting its pan-India network with high-throughput satellite connectivity, launch of ‘Aakash App’, smart classrooms to offer seamless hybrid experience to aid in personalised learning experience to improve student outcomes.
Sanskriti University and TCS ION collaborate to upskill youth
Sanskriti University recently entered into a partnership with TCS iON, for providing international-level education and skills to students, and has started a new Industry Honour Programme (IHP) course, which aims at improving the employability quotient of students across all universities in the state. The programme comprises Data Science, AI, Mechanical for Engineering students, and BBA, MBA, Financial Market, Banking, Insurance, Business Analytics courses for Commerce. Students pursuing engineering education under this programme will be able to participate in TCS’s digital exams and get opportunities with higher pay scales jobs.
The Centre for The Creative and The Critical
Ashoka University recently announced the setting up of The Centre for the Creative and the Critical, which will provide a forum to raise and address questions around creative practice and critical argument. It aims to bring together novelists, poets, translators, artists, scholars, filmmakers, journalists and publishers to stimulate intercultural and extra-disciplinary discussions about creative practice and be a source for interventions in contemporary debates on varied subjects and develop a new vocabulary for these debates. It will build on partnerships with other institutions around the world.
IIITDM Kancheepuram convocation
IIITDM Kanchipuram recently conducted its ninth convocation virtually, with 293 students graduating on the occasion. The degrees were awarded in the virtual presence of dignitaries, faculty, and parents. The institute is planning to launch a M. Tech. in Mechanical Engineering with a specialisation in AI and Robotics, and M. Tech. in Power Electronics and System Design shortly. This year, it commenced an M.Tech. programme in Computer Science with specialisation in Data Science and AI.
Taylor & Francis Group partners with IIT Madras Robert Bosch Centre
Taylor & Francis Group recently announced its publishing partnership with the Robert Bosch Centre for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (RBCDSAI) at IIT Madras. The RBCDSAI is one of India’s pre-eminent interdisciplinary research centres for Data Science and AI, with 28 faculty spanning 10 departments.
Stonehill Science Bowl 2021; Stonehill Founder’s Day Run & Ride
Stonehill Science Bowl, a two-day virtual event organised by high school students at Stonehill International School, Bengaluru, witnessed widespread participation from 50 teams representing 25 schools from 10 countries. The first and second place went to teams from Hill Spring International School, Mumbai, and the third place went to Jain International School, Bengaluru. The winners were awarded prizes by Monash University, the sponsor for the event.
The fourth edition of the Stonehill Founder’s Day Run & Ride, organised by Raadiant Sports, was also held recently. The event saw over 600 people participating in the different Run & Ride categories including 21K, 10K and 5K. The event encourages people to stay active and keep up with their fitness goals.
Seminar on Business Ethics and Corporate Governance
Jaipuria School of Business recently hosted a virtual seminar on Business Ethics and Corporate Governance. Panellists spoke about ‘Building an Ethical Culture for Sustainability’ and ‘Redefining Business through Governance and Compliance’. The event saw participation from management institutions, faculty and students, corporate executives, and members from management associations.
SRM University-AP organises medical camp, hosts University Distinguished Lecture Series
SRM University-AP recently organised a medical camp, “One Nation, One Day, One Million Blood Sugar Tests”, to spread awareness on Diabetes on World Heart Day. It was conducted in collaboration with the Research Society for the Study of Diabetes in India (RSSDI).
The 12th edition of the University Distinguished Lecture Series, which recently took place virtually, delved into the pertinent relationship between Science, Engineering and Technology. During the lecture, “Science-Engineering-Technology Synergy for Sustainable Growth”, Prof Indranil Manna well explained the correlation between the streams and how scientists, engineers and industry experts should work together for maximum societal benefits.
Students on going back to school: Surveys
Brainly recently conducted a survey to understand how EdTech will fit into student’s lives as the learning paradigm shifts yet again. Collecting 1,731 responses in total, the key highlights included how most students are excited about schools reopening, and feel that their schools are taking all the necessary precautionary measures as they return to the campuses. More than half of the students (55%) have mentioned that attending physical classes is mandatory according to their school. Students and schools continue relying on EdTech — 77% of students continue to seek assistance from online learning platforms even after their schools have reopened. Furthermore, 75% would want their schools to follow a hybrid model of learning for the foreseeable future.
A nationwide survey of schoolchildren by dedicated Maths learning app Countingwell discovered that nearly 58% of children were keen to go back to school, while another 25% said they are fine with either in-school or online classes. The survey was conducted recently among more than 2,300 students of middle school in 139 cities across India who participated in Countingwell’s Maths Premier League. While just over 8% of children said they would like to continue studying from home, another 9% stated that they would like to study in school for a few days every week.
RV University organises Distinguished Public Lecture Series
RV University will launch the Distinguished Public Lecture Series as part of an empowerment initiative on October 4, between 10 a.m. and 11.30 a.m., at the Electronics and Communication Engineering, RV University. Dr. Harish Hande, Ramon Magsaysay Award winner and social entrepreneur will deliver the inaugural lecture on the topic Entrepreneurship and innovation for Poor. The lecture series will feature eminent individuals who are highly accomplished and awarded by reputed global institutions, from various fields such as academics, science, art, literature, performing arts, sports, music, dance, theatre, and so on.
