EDUCATION

Indian institute collaborates with California varsity
Our Correspondent

Chandigarh, May 21
For the first time an Indian institute has collaborated with California State University for offering distance education facilities. The university has tied up with the Swami Sarvanand Gir Indian Institute of Information Technology, Hoshiarpur.

This was announced by Mr Lajpat Rai, president of the institute, while addressing a press conference at the Chandigarh Press Club here today.

Now the students with 55 per cent marks in the plus two (non-medical) can do their bachelor degree in computer sciences . The graduation can be followed by a master’s degree at the same institute.

This institute is already offering BCA courses as it is affiliated to Punjab Technical University. “No other institute in India has been tied up with California university”, said Mr Lajpat Rai. On being asked whether an institute could have double affiliation, he said that it was an affiliation with the PTU whereas with California it was collaboration.

According to Mr Rai, the study material will come from California which will be downloaded by an expert in the studio in the institute itself. The students after two years can go to California for which the students need to complete 24 units in two years, the time period will increase if the students fail to do so, said Mr Lajpat Rai.

The financial aspects will be announced later.

‘Specialisation key to good IT career’
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 21
“Specialisation is the key to a successful career in IT, where generic jobs have a comparatively low demand,” said Mr Rahul Thapan, Head, Education Services Division, Tata Infotech, while addressing ‘Mindspan’ — a seminar on careers in the emerging sectors at Hotel Shivalikview here today.

The seminar was the fourth in a series of 20 education seminars which Tata Infotech Education is organising this year.

Talking to the TNS about the organisation’s approach to learning, he said , “We take care of six perspectives — industry, career, the student’s perspective, course content (type of course), how to deliver the course and the educational perspective, which help the student gain maximum during as well as after going through our courses”.

He said the senior management at Tata Infotech invests time in training students on various personality development, interpersonal skills, values and related topics . He said the second level of Mindspan is to be conducted for students of its G-Tech programme which is being imparted at its premier training centres.

Mr Vivek Atrey, DPRO, UT Administration and Director IT, who was the chief guest on the occasion, said the Administration is taking initiatives to promote IT and IT-related infrastructure. This would also help in creation of jobs in this region, he said. Talking about the opportunities in the telecommunications industry, Mr I.B. Mehra, CEO, Airtel, emphasised on specialisation and said the industry which was witnessing tremendous growth has a large number of IT-related opportunities. “The growth of software industry in the 90s will be replicated by the IT-enabled services in this decade”, he said.

While Mr Rapinder Tiwari, Chairman, Biotechnologies, Panjab University, spoke about Bio Informatics, Mr Anand Kumar, Senior Vice-President ICICI Bank, detailed the students about opportunities in the field of retail banking.

Panjab varsity CET today
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 21
Students will compete for the Panjab University CET at as many as 50 centres established in Chandigarh, Ludhiana and Delhi tomorrow. The examination will be conducted for medical, engineering, honours school of science subjects and ayurvedic seats. Four papers in booklet form will be conducted one after the other once the paper begins at 9 a.m.

For the smooth conduct of the examination, the university has appointed 25 observers who will have absolute powers to take action on the spot in case a problem arises. Besides, superintendents, deputy superintendents and assistant superintendents have been appointed from amongst the teaching faculty.

10-day summer workshop
Tribune News Service

SAS Nagar, May 21
A 10-day summer workshop started at DAV Public School here yesterday. During the workshop, experts of dance, music, painting and aerobics would be providing tips to the participants.

Mr Subash Marriya, principal of DAV College, Chandigarh, inaugurated the workshop. He urged the students to exploit the opportunity to gain knowledge and experience in the extra-curricular activities.

Ms Jaya Bhardwaj, principal of the school, also spoke on the occasion.

Children’s workshop on painting
Our Correspondent

Chandigarh, May 21
A children’s workshop on painting and drawing is being organised by artists Avijit and Namita, husband-wife duo, which is going to commence from June 1 at Rock Garden.

Giving this information at a press conference at a local hotel in Sector 9 here today, Namita , a former student of Shanti Niketan, said the workshop would focus on bringing out creativity in children. Besides, interactive sessions for parents would be arranged in which they would be taught about various aspects of child psychology and channelising their creativity.

She said Nek Chand, creator of Rock Garden, would teach the children about making art pieces out of waste material. The 15-day long workshop will be conducted in two groups - one for children below five years of age and another for children between six and 15 years of age.