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The 99th convocation of Delhi University took place today, February 25, 2023. DU awarded 1,57,290 undergraduate and postgraduate students with degrees this year. During the DU convocation 2023, 910 PhD degrees were also awarded. Today at 11 a.m., DU held its 99th annual convocation. The chief guest during the convocation was President Droupadi Murmu. Dharmendra Pradhan, the union minister for education, attended as the guest of honor. The university’s record for PhD degrees has been surpassed by the DU Convocation 2023. According to a DU official, this year will see the awarding of 910 Doctorate degrees, which is the most PhDs that have ever been awarded at any university in the nation. “About 910 students will be awarded PhD degrees. The figure is the highest in the history of the university. In fact, it is the highest number of PhD degrees awarded by any university in the country so far,” an official told PTI. 99th Annual Convocation (February 25, 2023) pic.twitter.com/VZ6Cqq0uN9 — University of Delhi (@UnivofDelhi) February 25, 2023 There are 398 male and 512 female Ph.D. scholars in total. Vice Chancellor Yogesh Singh of Delhi University presided over the convocation this year. The multipurpose hall of the sports complex was the venue for the event. According to a statement released by DU, 170 students will receive medals or prizes at the ceremony. On this occasion, 1,57,290 undergraduate and graduate students will get digital degrees. 47 Doctorate of Medicine /Master of Chirurgiae (M.Ch.) students will receive degrees in the medical field. In terms of the overall number of digital degrees awarded, 45.3% of students were male and 54.7% were female.

The fake sample papers for classes 10 and 12 that are being circulated online have been brought to the attention of students, teachers, and other stakeholders, according to a notice released today by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE). According to the CBSE, “certain unscrupulous elements” have created a link and are circulating 30 sample papers for classes 10 and 12 while demanding payment to download them. “All stakeholders are hereby cautioned to be extremely careful and not respond to any such fake messages and website links,” stated the notice. The CBSE further stated that free sample papers are available on the website. According to the notice, “The Board does not charge any fees from any students or parents for downloading sample papers.” The fake link that the CBSE has identified is cbse.support/sp. The board stated that anyone who wants to learn more about the exams can go to the official website, cbse.gov.in. The CBSE has already raised concerns about situations where miscreants attempted to defraud students of their money by setting up a fake website under the pretence of giving admit cards. Before the exams, fake exam schedules for classes 10 and 12 were also made public.

The Learning-Teaching Material (Jaadui Pitara) for Foundational Stage was launched by Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan today, February 20, 2023, at 10.30 a.m. in Dr. Ambedkar International Centre (DAIC), New Delhi. According to recent updates, viewers can watch the Learning-Teaching Material (Jaadui Pitara) for Foundational Stage live on PMeVIDYA DTH TV Channels and on the NCERT official YouTube channel. “It is an innovative, child-centric learning pedagogy that will prepare young children for the life-long journey of learning and fulfil one of the most vital recommendations of new National Education Policy (NEP),” Pradhan said at the launch” A child-centric, innovative, toy-based learning experience called “Jaadui Pitara” is intended to help students between the ages of 3 and 8 develop their conceptual knowledge. Earlier in a tweet the Minister wrote, “Looking forward to launch and unbox the #JaaduiPitara. It is an innovative, child-centric learning pedagogy that will prepare young children for the life-long journey of learning and fulfil one of the most vital recommendations of NEP. Stay tuned for more!” Looking forward to launch and unbox the #JaaduiPitara. It is an innovative, child-centric learning pedagogy that will prepare young children for the life-long journey of learning and fulfil one of the most vital recommendations of NEP. Stay tuned for more! https://t.co/bEc41SA3i8 — Dharmendra Pradhan (@dpradhanbjp) February 20, 2023

The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) appointed Dr. Abhay Jere as vice chairman on February 10. He took charge of the organisation on February 14 at the AICTE headquarters in Delhi. At the government’s Ministry of Human Resources Development, Dr. Abhay Jere served as the Chief Innovation Officer. Dr. Abhay Jere is appointed for a period of three years, or until reaching the age of 65, or until further orders, whichever comes first. A network of Innovation Councils was made possible in large part by Dr. Abhay Jere. Indian Innovation Councils (IICs) have been established under the Ministry of Education in 6500 educational institutions to support the development of local innovation ecosystems in these institutions while fostering the creation of their own startups during research. Recently, he has played a key role in designing an innovative MBA programme in “Innovation and Entrepreneurship” offered by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE). Dr. Jere, a regular columnist for prominent English and local newspapers, is committed to enlightening Indians about the importance of innovation and entrepreneurship. Also, he created the “India First Leadership” Talk Series, which will broadcast on Lok Sabha TV.

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.