Education Community

The Cluster Innovation Centre (CIC) at Delhi University is accepting applications from individuals with startup ideas that have “commercial viability” in order to assist them in seeing their ideas through to execution. The deadline for applications is March 13. “Anybody from the university or in fact outside the university with a promising idea can apply,” said CIC Director Shobha Bagai. Four startups will be admitted and assisted by the university. Bagai stated that no financial assistance or stipend would be provided. “We are trying to help these young minds. We are starting startups which have certain ideas but are at the very very basic stage… they need working space and they need a certain mentor to take them to the next step,” she said.  Bagai stated that the CIC advertised the offer because it wanted to formalise the initiative. “Mentors will be from our faculty and people from outside.” According to Bagai, the institution would provide coworking space and mentoring support for 3+3 months as part of the effort. For the purpose of turning their idea into a product, the promoters must possess the technical know-how for prototyping. A committee led by faculty from CIC will evaluate applications based on a set of parameters. “We have already asked them to fill up a form. In that form, they have to give all the details, whether they are receiving any kind of funding and at what stage is their product. We have asked them about the flow chart about their plans,” Bagai said. The Cluster Innovation Centre, or CIC as it is more commonly known, was created to identify and capture innovations from industry clusters, village clusters, slum clusters, and educational clusters. “Under Cluster Innovation Centre, we used to design an incubation centre funded by the Ministry of Education. There were some successful startups under the DIC. “During the COVID, these things came to a standstill. We are now restarting that. We are focusing on start-ups,” the director said.

Under its newly introduced Summer Undergraduate Research Exposure (SURE) programme, IIT Hyderabad (IITH) will provide 150 internships to undergraduate students (non-IITH) this year. On the IITH website, at https://iith.ac.in/research/SURE/, the application procedure for all 18 departments has begun. The applications must be submitted by February 22. Beginning on May 15, the internship will last for two months (i.e. till July 14). For these two months, selected candidates would receive a combined honorarium of Rs 15,000. Applicants for the internship will be chosen departmentally based on their qualifications and interest in conducting research in the relevant topic. The internship is only open to second- and third-year BTech and BDes students, as well as third- and fourth-year Integrated MSc or first-year MSc and MA students.

Delhi University (DU) will hold its 99th convocation ceremony on February 25. The convocation ceremony will start at 9:30 am in the Multipurpose Hall of Delhi University’s Sports Stadium Complex. The convocation’s chief guest will be President Droupadi Murmu. According to a university official, more than 1.5 lakh students will receive their degrees during the convocation ceremony. According to the Dean of Examinations, DS Rawat, this year will see the most number of PhDs awarded. He noted that at the convocation, where 1,57426 students would receive their degrees, “President Droupadi Murmu will be the chief guest. Dharmendra Pradhan, the Union Minister of Education, would be the Guest of Honour,” stated Rawat. The university will confer 81,972 degrees in the fields of law, medicine, and undergraduate and postgraduate courses. The School of Open Learning will award degrees to an additional 75,454 graduate and postgraduate students. “Over 840 degrees will be handed over to PhD students. This is the highest number so far. The number is going to rise further. Last year, we handed over 802 degrees,” Rawat said. The event will be different since students will wear Indian attire with ‘Angvastras’ (stoles) instead of the “old colonial gowns,” a senior varsity official had earlier stated.

In order to develop a training module for the Indian Spaceflight Program, the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras and the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) have announced their collaboration today. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed by ISRO and IIT Madras to work together on the application of Extended Reality (XR) and other technologies into the Indian Human Spaceflight Program. This training module will be developed using mixed reality (MR), augmented reality (AR), and virtual reality (VR). The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) will use the cutting-edge technologies developed by the eXperiential Technology Innovation Centre (XTIC) at IIT Madras to advance research and development (R&D) in the area of extended reality, in accordance with the collaboration’s guidelines. The IIT Madras and ISRO collaboration will result in outreach initiatives, visualisation and optimization of design architecture, modelling and simulation of human physiology as well as space systems, and training of ISRO scientists in developing their own XR systems. “XR Technologies has the potential to add value in many aspects of human spaceflight programme specifically in shortening the design cycle and simulating the space environment,” said Professor M. Manivannan, Principle Investigator of XTIC-IIT Madras. “We will start with developing models of physiological systems as well as design optimization studies. IIT Madras ecosystem is conducive not-only for research, but also for development with our industrial consortium,” he added. Speaking about the collaboration, ISRO, HSFC, Director, Umamaheswaran R, said, “Space program always had linkages with academia and IIT Madras has a long history of contributing for ISRO’s program including human spaceflight program. It is always a pleasure to collaborate with IIT-Madras.”

According to an official on Thursday, almost 1,700 students have filed for the Financial Support Scheme (FSS) at Delhi University. The scheme is intended for students in the Economically Weaker Section (EWS). According to the official, the university has not yet examined the applications or released the final list of students who will be eligible for the scheme. The deadline to apply for the scheme was January 31. “We have received around 1,700 applications for the fee waiver scheme so far. The university through this scheme will extend the benefits of equity, access and quality with excellence, both in letter and spirit, to the financially weak students,” the official told PTI. Delhi University had already announced the scheme in November of last year, in keeping with the government’s “Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas” motto. All of the student fees, with the exception of the examination and hostel fees, are covered by the waiver. Depending on their family’s income, students from economically weak backgrounds may receive a fee waiver of up to 100%. A bonafide university student studying full-time is eligible to apply. According to the official, “A student with a family income of less than Rs 4 lakh (annually) will be eligible for up to 100 per cent fee waiver, while students with a family income of Rs 4 lakh to 8 lakhs can apply for a 50 per cent waiver.” A list will be made to see who is eligible based on their family’s income, the official said. “It will be seen whether the students are eligible for full waiver or half. In case of confusion, we might call the students for an interview,” the official said. According to the official, students with ER (essential repeat) and arrears of previous examination papers are not eligible to apply. The DU had asked applicants to submit copies of their fee receipts, copies of their parents’ income tax returns, if applicable, and an annual family income certificate for the previous financial year from the tehsildar or any equivalent competent authority. Additionally, a copy of a bank passbook with the student’s name, account number, bank’s IFSC code, and a photo pasted wherever appropriate was required. Source: PTI

The Union Budget 2023–24 was presented to the parliament on February 1 by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. According to budget documents, the centre has allotted a whopping Rs. 1,12,898.97 crore to the Ministry of Education for the upcoming fiscal year. This is the highest budget allocation ever given to the ministry. The Higher Education Department has been given a budget of Rs. 44,094.62 crore while the School Education Department has an allocation of Rs. 68,804.85 crore. For the financial year 2022–2023, the Education Ministry received a budgetary allocation of Rs. 1,04,277.72 crore. In engineering institutes, 100 labs will be set up for the development of apps using 5G services. Apps like Smart Classrooms, Precision Farming, Intelligent & Transports Systems, and others will be covered in these laboratories, among others. Nirmala Sitharaman stated that up to 38,000 teachers and support staff will be recruited over the course of the next three years for the 740 Eklavya Model Residential Schools that will serve 3.5 lakh tribal students. To empower youth and help them in realising their dreams…PMKVY 4.0 will be launched, adding 30 skill India international centres across states, to train lacks of youths over the course of the next three years. The minister of finance, stated that the National Child Trust, Children’s Book Trust, and other sources should be encouraged to provide and replenish non-curricular titles in regional languages and English to these libraries. She also suggested collaborating with NGOs that support literacy. Facilities at a few ICMR labs will be made accessible for faculty members from public and private medical colleges and private sector research teams to conduct research in an effort to promote collaborative research and innovation. Three centres of excellence in artificial intelligence will be established in top institutions. In the fields of health, agriculture, and sustainable cities, top industry leaders will collaborate to perform multidisciplinary research, create cutting-edge technologies, and find scalable solutions to issues. FM Sitharaman has announced the establishment of 157 new nursing colleges in core areas. A National Digital Library for children and adolescents will be established to make it easier to access important books from different regions, languages, genres, and educational levels. According to FM Sitharaman, states would be urged to create libraries for them at the panchayat and ward levels as well as infrastructure for accessing the National Digital Library’s resources. Innovative pedagogy, continuous professional development, curriculum transition, and ICT implementation are all expected to be used in teacher training programmes. According to FM Sitharaman, the district’s educational and training facilities would be transformed into vibrant institutes of excellence.  

Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Hyderabad recently launched the nation’s first BTech degree in computational engineering. With a BTech in Computational Engineering, graduates will receive interdisciplinary training that will enable them to become experts in cutting-edge numerical methods and algorithms, modelling and simulation of engineering systems and processes, high-performance computing, process control and optimization, data analytics, and machine learning. The four-year, interdisciplinary undergraduate programme is evenly divided into eight, six-month semesters. Students will get in-depth education in mathematical methods, numerical approaches, the creation of mathematical models, computer simulations, optimization, high-performance computing, data analytics, and machine learning during the first five semesters. In order to pursue more specialised knowledge in the final three semesters, students will have a selection of electives to choose from. Advanced manufacturing, structural design, process engineering, materials design, chip design, and biomedical engineering are just a few examples of the courses offered as electives. Admission to the BTech in Computational Engineering programme at IIT Hyderabad is based on IIT-JEE (Joint Entrance Exam), just like it is for all other BTech programmes there. Candidates must have advanced scores and have successfully completed class 12 (or an equivalent) from an accredited state or central board. With the exception of the BTech 2022 Batch, students who fall under the general, EWS, and OBC categories are required to pay Rs 1 lakh per semester. Students who fall under the SC/ST or PH categories are completely exempted from paying fees. In addition to tuition expenses, there are other costs including welfare funds, hostel, and mess fees. Students who fall under the SC/ST or PH categories are not excluded from these additional fees. Benefits of a BTech in Computational Engineering include: expertise in numerical algorithms and methods, a strong foundation in scientific computing, system design and simulation, fluency in computing tools and techniques, and Industry 4.0 readiness.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday encouraged students to practise “digital fasting,” or limiting screen time, once a week, during the sixth edition of Pariksha Pe Charcha. Digital fasting will “reconnect students with family members,” according to the prime minister. He advised not using any technological devices in one area of the house and designating it as a “no technology zone.” In response to a question from a student on how to concentrate on studies without being distracted by social media, he said, “I believe students are smarter than smartphones to analyse its right usage. We should monitor our usage and utilise it smartly as per our need.” The prime minister advised the students to avoid becoming enslaved by the technology. “Say to yourself that you are an independent person, make the best of technology but also limit yourself to only that,” he said. In response to a student’s question on time management, PM asked students to observe their mothers and learn how to manage time. “Have you ever observed your mother’s time management skills? A mother never feels burdened by the immense work she does. If you observe your mother, then you will understand how to manage your time well,” he said. Students from across the nation took part in the event, which was hosted at Talkatora Stadium. At the occasion, where the prime minister spoke with students about overcoming exam stress, about 2000 students, teachers, and parents took part. More than 38 lakh registrations were reported this year, which is twice as many as in 2022.

According to Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, a record number of 38 lakh students registered to take part in this year’s “Pariksha Pe Charcha,” an annual meeting between students and Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss issues relating to exam stress. According to the minister, there have been at least 15 lakh more registrations this year than last. The sixth edition of the interaction is slated to take place on January 27 in the national capital’s Talkatora Indoor stadium. “We had to shift to virtual mode for a few years because of the coronavirus pandemic. In comparison to last year’s registrations, the registrations have increased by nearly 15,73,000. This year, a total of 38 lakh students have registered for the PPC 2023,” Pradhan said in a press conference.  A few of the selected students will also receive invitations to the Republic Day Parade. In order to introduce the participating students to our rich legacy, Pradhan added that they would be brought to national attractions including the Rajghat, Sadaiv Atal, and the Prime Minister’s Museum. Every year, during Pariksha Pe Charcha, PM Modi interacts with students who will be taking the upcoming board exam. He also responds to questions from students at the event on exam stress and other issues. On February 16, 2018, the stadium hosted the first edition of the prime minister’s interactive session with high school and college students. The annual event’s registration period ran from November 25 to December 30, 2022.

In a ceremony today, January 23, Droupadi Murmu, the President of India, will award 11 selected children with the Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar, 2023. At Vigyan Bhawan, the award ceremony will take place today. On January 24, 2023, following today’s award ceremony, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will interact with recipients of the Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar. Following that, a meeting with Smriti Zubin Irani, the minister of Women and Child Development, and Munjpara Mahendrabhai, the Minister of State, will take place. Children between the ages of 5 and 18 are eligible for the awards. Selected students who succeed in the six categories of educational excellence, art and culture, bravery, innovation, scholastic, social service and sports. Four students will get awards in the art and culture category this year, along with one each for bravery, innovation, and social service, and three children in the sports category. Each awardee will receive a medal, a monetary prize of Rs 1 lakh, and a certificate at the award ceremony. In the meantime, 500 Kendriya Vidyalayas throughout the nation will host a national painting competition to commemorate Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s birth anniversary, known as Parakram Diwas.