EDUCATION

CAMPUS
US bachelor degree: WIU to bridge the
eligibility gap
Smriti Kak

CONSIDERING that students wishing to go abroad for higher education have to complete 16 years of formal education, the Western International University (WIU), New Delhi Campus, has now started special ‘Bridge’ for the 16th year.

The Bridge Programme has been designed to help the Indian graduates to meet the requirement of 16 years of education for an American Master’s degree from January 29. Since International Master level programmes are open to only those who hold the equivalent of a four-year US bachelor degree, this programme will enable Indian students with a three-year bachelor’s degree after 12 years of schooling to ‘bridge’ the one-year eligibility gap.

WIU explains the need to start the programme quoting statistics that reveal that 67,000 Indian students enrolled in the United States in 2001-2002 academic year. This indicates an over 22 per cent rise over the previous year, Indians top the list of foreign students in America making 11.5 per cent of them, and about three-fourths of these students are graduates, who must study for one more year before joining Master’s level programmes abroad.

WIU Bridge Programme offering 11 courses with 33 credits allows Indian students to prepare for globally recognised and accredited American MBA degrees right here at WIU’s own campus in New Delhi with state-of-the-art infrastructure at one tenth of the cost in the USA and at their own pace.

The Bridge Programme, however, does not come cheap. The costing of covering the programme is a neat Rs 1.25 lakh. The programme covers the functional areas of Finance, Marketing, Information Systems, Organisation Behaviour, Economics and International Business.

The annual convocation of Jagan Institute of Management Studies was organised last week. The Minister of State for Communications and IT, Dr Sanjay Paswan, addressed the students.

Education Channels

Amidst the plethora of TV and radio channels, two new entrants will vie hard to attract more than just a glimpse of the viewers and the listeners, most of whom will essentially be students and their teachers. The week gone by witnessed the announcement of the launch of a TV and a radio Channel for technical education.

While the TV Channel will be launched on January 26 as part of the Gyan Darshan programme launched by the Human Resource Development Ministry, about a 100 thousand radio stations are likely to be set up during the year by universities, IITs, IIMs and residential schools. This comes in the wake of the Government’s nod to the Community Radio Station Scheme.

The TV channel will be a free-to-air digital channel and beam 16 hours of daily programmes, which will later be upgraded to 24-hours. With IGNOU providing the infrastructure for unlinking, the focus of the channel will be curriculum-based programmes for undergraduate studies in Engineering and Technology co-ordinated by the Delhi IIT, all IITs will participate in the venture.

Meanwhile, the ‘radio revolution’ was announced by the Information and Broadcasting Minister, Ms Sushma Swaraj at the launch of Golden Jubilee Celebrations of the Institution of Electronics and Telecommunications Engineers. Ms Swaraj urged the engineers to seize the opportunity and make the new radio stations operational and take initiatives at a micro-level so that at the macro-level the nation as a whole takes a quantum leap.

Photography from Pearl

Good news for those bitten by the shutterbug. Envisaging the growing interest in the youth for photography as a full-fledged career option, Pearl Academy of Fashion (PAF), New Delhi, has introduced a two-year full-time Diploma of Arts (Applied and Professional Photography), in collaboration with the International College of Professional Photography (ICPP), Australia.

The photography course will commence from February 17, 2003 at PAF centre in Naraina, New Delhi. ICPP is a photography school of international repute, headquartered in Melbourne, Australia.

This special course will allow students to build the knowledge and skills necessary to earn a good income in the photographic industry as well as to develop their creative and artistic talents. Students will be trained in subjects like portrait, wedding, fashion, journalism, advertising, product, magazine, editorial, sports, landscape, architectural, wild life and commercial categories, among others.

The academy will focus on a wide range of formats, including 35-mm, medium and large format, digital imaging and black and white darkroom, with a strong emphasis on perfecting fine-light photography. ICPP certified courses, are endorsed by the Australian Government as well as Australian Institute of Professional Photographers.

The ICPP India program will be of two years duration, which includes four courses of six months each.

Aria Finishing School

Minister for Transport, Tourism and Power of Delhi Ajay Maken inaugurated the Aria Finishing School in the Capital. Aria is the country’s first institution offering communications and soft skills training.

Promoted by entrepreneurs, Priya Sachdev and Anupama Ghai, Aura Communications will be developing the franchisee network of Aria Finishing Schools in Delhi and National Capital Region.

The Centre will provide communication and soft skills training programmes focusing on English language basic to advanced skills development, grooming, etiquette, behaviour, interpersonal communications and personal image building. The programmes are meant for management students, marketing and sales executives, managers and middle-level executives, post-graduate students and those who want to develop a competitive edge.

Blast - 2003

Students at the fashion show, organised by Vivekanand College.

Punjab Police may hand over four schools to DAV
Our Correspondent

Rohtak, January 22
The Punjab Police have proposed to hand over management of its four more senior secondary schools to the DAV Managing Committee. This was disclosed by Padmashri G. P. Chopra, president of the DAV College Managing Committee, while inaugurating the first-ever Mahatma Hans Raj Inter-DAV Schools Youth Festival here today.

Mr Chopra revealed that two schools run by the Punjab Police were already being managed by the DAV Managing Committee. One such school is being managed at Ambala in Haryana also. The schools that the Punjab Police have already handed over to the DAV are situated at Jalandhar and Amritsar. He, however, did not identify the location of the new four schools, which are being handed over to the DAV.

Mr Chopra said that DAV was running over 700 educational institutions in the country, including schools, colleges, engineering and dental colleges. These institutions were imparting education inculcating a value system based on a fine blend of Indian cultural heritage and modern science and technology. He said that efforts were being made to strengthen and consolidate the existing educational institutions before setting up new schools or colleges.

He disclosed that admissions to DAV Engineering College at Kosli in the Ahirwal area for the current academic session had started.

COURTS

Plea on selling liquor at general shop dismissed
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 22
A plea seeking clarification whether liquor vends could be opened in residential areas under the Delhi Government’s recent excise policy, liberalising the sale of wine, whisky and beer, was dismissed by the Delhi High Court yesterday.

A Division Bench comprising Justice B. A. Khan and R. S. Sodhi dismissed a petition, filed by an applicant who wanted to sell such products from his shop, seeking to be a party in an earlier petition opposing the policy. The judges also turned down the petitioner’s request to review its order disposing of the earlier petition, saying he had no locus standi to get the matter re-opened.

The petitioner had said that the state government had allowed the sale of hard drinks through private shops in commercial areas; hence markets/shops in residential areas should also be considered ‘commercial’ by usage. The Bench said the petition could move the court in a separate petition on the issue.