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The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Mandi had its 10th convocation, with 462 students graduating (348 male and 114 female). This year, the institute granted 64 PhDs, the greatest number of PhDs conferred in an academic year at IIT Mandi to date. The institute has experienced an increase in the number of female students graduating from various programmes. This year, IIT Mandi graduated 33 female students in undergraduate programmes, 49 in postgraduate and master’s programmes, 28 in PhD programmes, and four in iPhD programmes, exceeding prior years’ numbers. The chief guest was Prof Stuart R Hameroff of the University of Arizona in the United States. The honorees included Akhilesh Gupta, Secretary, Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), New Delhi; Kingshuk Banerjee, Director, Hitachi India Pvt Ltd, Bengaluru; and Woochan Chang, Director, KOICA India, New Delhi. “I wish my heartiest greetings to all our graduating students,” stated Prof Laxmidhar Behera, Director of IIT Mandi. “They will become the torch bearer of the Institute. I am sure that their professional competencies and uncompromising character will empower them to lead the society in various ways. Their success will also be the success of IIT Mandi.” “In the coming years, my focus will be to encourage faculty members and research scholars to publish impactful research works that are at par with the best Universities across the world. We must be solving real-live problems around us that will impact the lives of the people around. To encourage the research ecosystem, we have raised the seed grant to faculty members from 5 lakh to15 lakh,” he said.

M Jagadesh Kumar, Chairperson of the UGC, said that India has begun its G20 presidency with a programme called ‘University Connect,’ in which students from universities around the country would engage with one another. “During India’s G20 presidency, students of several universities will create awareness about the importance of the G20 presidency and how India can be a role model for the rest of the world through its G20 Presidency of healing, harmony, and hope,” Kumar said. “It is wonderful that India began today its G20 presidency journey with “University Connect” by engaging with students of universities across the country, he added. On December 1, India formally assumed the G20 presidency, with a focus on counter-terrorism and “unity” in addressing global concerns such as the economic slump and climate crisis. Read: India’s G20 Presidency begins today with focus on forging unity “Our students will also be ambassadors of our country in showcasing to the visiting G20 members the rapid, inclusive developmental progress that India is going through,” the head of the University Grants Commission (UGC) stated. The G20, or Group of 20, is an intergovernmental forum of the world’s major developed and developing economies. Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Union comprise the group. Source: PTI

Following in the footsteps of the last five years, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold ‘Pariksha Pe Charcha,’ an interactive session with students taking board examinations this year. The ‘Pariksha Pe Charcha’ programme was announced on the Ministry of Education’s official Twitter account. The registration process for participating in the interaction is now open, with the deadline of December 25. Students who are interested can register at innovateindia.mygov.in/ppc-2023. In addition to students, parents and teachers are welcome to attend the event. The most-awaited interaction is here! Get ready for #ParikshaPeCharcha2023. Participate in #PPC2023 activities and have a chance to connect directly with Hon’ble PM Shri @narendramodi. Visit: https://t.co/PpA2Mja27s #ExamWarriors pic.twitter.com/q30yKFYRYX — Ministry of Education (@EduMinOfIndia) November 28, 2022 “Know the mantra to overcome your fears & celebrate exams like festivals! Take part in #PPC2023 activities & stand a chance to interact directly with Hon’ble PM,” the Twitter notification reads. Students from grades 9 to 12 are eligible to take part. The Ministry of Education will provide PPC Kits to around 2050 students, teachers, and parents who are chosen through competitions on MyGov.

Punjab will become a global hub of medical education, said Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Sunday after inspecting the site of a new medical college in the district. According to an official announcement, he stated that the medical college, which would be built on 20 acres of land at a cost of 428.69 crore, will be named after Guru Nanak Dev. The design has been finalised, and work on this huge project will begin soon, according to the chief minister. He stated that since a large number of students from various states will attend this college, a hostel facility as well as a 300-bed hospital will be built. The Punjab government has decided to build 16 medical colleges over the next five years, bringing the total number of such institutions in the state to 25, according to Mann. The foundation stone for the Sant Attar Singh State Institute of Medical Sciences in Sangrur’s Mastuana Sahib had already been set, and work on two medical colleges in Kapurthala and Hoshiarpur will begin soon, he said. Students wishing to continue medical education would no longer have to travel to nations such as Ukraine, according to the Punjab chief minister, because they will receive quality medical education here. He accused previous governments of not paying attention to medical education and claimed that the AAP government’s primary focus areas are health, education, power, and clean water. Mann reiterated that the state government is entirely dedicated to maintaining Punjab’s hard-won peace, and that strenuous measures are being taken to discourage gun culture, and that police personnel have been told not to spare anyone uttering hate speeches. Mann later visited the site of a future medical college in Hoshiarpur, which will be named after martyr Shaheed Udham Singh. He stated that the medical college will be built on around 23 acres of land at a total cost of 418.3 crore.

In a first-of-its-kind project in the country, as many as 240 government schools in Kerala will soon install weather stations, recording daily variations in weather conditions in the state. The project is part of an effort to train the next generation about climate change and how to take the required precautions in the wake of frequent natural disasters such as floods in the southern state. On Friday, General Education Minister V Sivankutty inaugurated the unique project at the district level in Kozhikode at the Kayanna Government Higher Secondary School. During the occasion, he stated that the General Education Department has already begun the process of installing weather monitoring stations in 240 schools around the state, which is a first-of-its-kind effort in the country. Students would gain firsthand experience and understanding of what they had learnt in weather textbooks through such centres. “Daily changes in atmospheric conditions will be monitored and recorded through the school weather stations. Thus, every child can be made a weather observer… the data collected will be used for further research,” he said. Each school weather station would include 13 instruments such as a rain gauge, thermometer, and weather data bank. Weather stations are being installed in 18 government higher secondary schools in Kozhikode, where geography is an optional subject. Children would record the amount of rain that fell in the area, the wind speed, and the atmospheric pressure in a special chart. The data gathered from the school weather stations would be recorded by the students themselves in a separate chart. The ministers also stated that special training would be provided to geography students and teachers as a part of the project.

Amazon India announced on Thursday that less than two years after its inception, it would discontinue its online learning platform for students in the country’s high schools starting in August 2023. The Amazon Academy platform was launched in January of last year to assist students in their JEE (Joint Entrance Examination) preparation. Those enrolled in the current academic session will receive a full refund, according to the e-commerce giant. The platform was introduced at a time when virtual learning was experiencing a boom due to the coronavirus pandemic. The JEE exam, which grants admission to the best engineering colleges in India, was one of the competitive exams for which Amazon Academy provided coaching. The largest online retailer in the world announced in a statement that it has determined to stop Amazon Academy “in a phased manner to take care of current customers” based on an assessment. Customers will get access to the entire course material online for an additional period of one year, or until October 2024, according to the company. For those preparing for the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) and Joint Entrance Examination (JEE), the company also partnered with the education group Sri Chaitanya to introduce full syllabus courses. The winding down comes as numerous edtech companies are struggling to keep up with the demand as schools and coaching facilities reopen across India following lockdowns brought on by the coronavirus. Byju’s, a key player in edtech, announced in October that it would layoff 2,500 employees as it works to become profitable. Earlier this year, layoffs were also announced by a number of other players, including Unacademy, Toppr, WhiteHat Jr., and Vedantu.

The All India Council for Technical Education’s new Chairman is T G Sitharam, the director of IIT Guwahati.  He will head AICTE for three years or until he is 65, whichever comes first, according to a government notification dated November 17. Sitharam will succeed UGC Chairman Jagadesh Kumar, who served as interim AICTE Chairman when Anil Sahasrabuddhe was released from his duties on September 1, 2021, after reaching the age of 65. His appointment coincides with the Ministry of Education wrapping up a Bill that aims to merge the AICTE and the University Grants Commission into a super regulator known as the Higher Education Commission of India. IIT Guwahati now has a vacancy as a result of Sitharam’s appointment because his term as Director was only supposed to end in July 2024. He was a Professor in the department of civil engineering at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, prior to assuming the position of Director of IIT Guwahati. He has previously served as the chair professor for the IISc’s Department of Energy and Mechanical Sciences. His areas of interest in research include earth dams and tailing ponds, geotechnical earthquake engineering, and rock mechanics and engineering.

To advance innovation programmes for startups, Maruti Suzuki India and the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay teamed together on Thursday. To broaden the scope of its innovation programmes for startups, the auto major said it had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Society for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (SINE), IIT Bombay. According to the statement, SINE will assist in the outreach and incubation of potential startups that could participate in Maruti Suzuki’s innovation programmes as part of the three-year MoU. Maruti Suzuki and SINE will jointly shortlist startups for some of the challenging business issues the company has highlighted as part of the effort. Together, they will review applications and plan workshops with investors, mentors, and business leaders. “Our efforts to engage startups aligns with Prime Minister’s mantra of ‘Sabka Prayas’ to make India a global manufacturing hub. Our tie-up with IIT Bombay is an effort in this direction,” said Hisashi Takeuchi, Managing Director and CEO of Maruti Suzuki India. SINE CEO Poyni Bhatt highlighted that Maruti Suzuki began its journey with a single vehicle, the Maruti 800, forty years ago, and that the company has since transformed the automotive industry. “As the industry is set to further grow, it brings many opportunities for budding startups. We are excited to partner with Maruti Suzuki and by leveraging our combined strengths, we are set to enable startups with innovative solutions to scale to the next level,” she added. Source: PTI

A year-long computer application training for underprivileged students in Jammu and Kashmir’s Ramban district has begun with up to 20 girls, according to an official on Tuesday. The course was launched by the Army. The project was envisioned in line with the government’s Skill India and Digital India campaign. It is a package that includes numerous computer skills and fundamental computer knowledge, including Windows operating system, MS Office, and Internet, the official added. The students taking the year-long “advance diploma in computer application” course, designed to empower women, will, according to him, have both practical and theoretical understanding of computers. According to the official, all successful students will receive the accreditation of “Advance Diploma in Computer Application.” The Sub-Divisional Magistrate of Banihal, Zaheer Abass Bhat, who interacted with the trainees alongside army officials, praised the Army’s efforts and asserted that computer education will provide the girls opportunities to become self-reliant. The completion of this course will provide students with options in both the sphere of further education and employment, according to Bhat. Source: PTI

The National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) ranking for 2023 is now inviting applications, according to the Ministry of Education. On the official website, nirfindia.org, higher education institutions (HEIs) can register for the Indian rankings. Institutions can register for these rankings up to November 18 at 5 pm. Agriculture and Allied Sectors is the one new discipline that NIRF has included this year. The discipline of architecture has also been renamed to Architecture and Planning. There were just four categories last year: Overall, Colleges, Universities, and Research Institutions, along with seven topic areas: engineering, management, pharmacy, law, medical, architecture, and dental. IISc Bangalore placed top among all institutions in the research and institution category of the NIRF 2022 rankings, but second overall. The top spot in the overall ranking category was secured by IIT Madras. The National Law School of India University got first place in the law category. IIM Ahmedabad was recognised as the best management college at the time. A total of 670 institutions participated in the rankings last year, of which 387 had no published research. The institutes were graded using several criteria across various disciplines. Research and professional practise, graduation results, outreach, and inclusion are just a few of the criteria.