EDUCATION

CAMPUS
Student body reluctant to buy plaza concept
Smriti Kak

THE announcement by Delhi University to create plazas on the campus has failed to get the nod from the student’s union. What was aimed at wooing the students, has been ruled out as “commercialisation of the campus”. “We don’t need plazas that are a replica of the Dilli Haat, what we really need is more hostels for students,” said Nakul Bhardwaj, the president of the DUSU.

The student body staged a protest outside the Vice- Chancellor’s office here on Tuesday and claimed that the students were not likely to receive any benefit from these plazas.

“We need a students centre where arrangements should be made for indoor sports. A place where students can seek entertainment and also have access to the Internet”.

The students are also offended that instead of making efforts to revive the Coffee Home, the officials are keen on bringing in Nirula’s on the campus.

“Most of the students in the university come from economically weaker sections of the society, how are they expected to foot the bills at Nirula’s? The Coffee Home was part of the university for the last four decades, where anybody could have a cup of coffee, but with Nirula’s replacing Coffee Home, we don’t see that happening anymore,” Bhardwaj complained.

Among the other demands raised by DUSU include a provision for 180 days of regular study in colleges and making teacher’s attendance compulsory. Timely declaration of results and making the examination system transparent by showing the answer scripts to students who apply for revaluation were also put forward.

“There are many students who come from the Hindi speaking areas and find it difficult to answer in English. Therefore, provision should be made for students to take the entrance exams for all courses in Hindi also,” pointed out Bhardwaj.

The student body also raised the demand for “the removal of barricades on the campus and replacing them with gates where only university officials should be allowed in. Further, we want a railway reservation centre on the campus where students can book their tickets instead of wasting their precious time by having to go to the New Delhi Railway Station,” said the DUSU president.

International Education Fair

The international fair on education, ‘Education India 2003’, was organised by the Winchester Group, U.K., and Tafcon Group in Delhi and Mumbai. The Ministry of HRD supported the fair.

A unique three-day, high-level conference on ‘Education in the Emerging Knowledge Society’, which was part of ‘Education India, 2003’ New Delhi, was aimed at professional delegates.

Corporate Quiz

Nearly 200 corporate teams are participating in the All India Management Association’s (AIMA’s) National Management Quiz-2003 (NMQ-2003) across the country. The competition has been designed as an interactive programme for exchange of ideas and knowledge so as to enhance management skills. Managers from different levels and organisations are competing in regional rounds, the first of which was held in Mumbai earlier this month. The regional round in New Delhi will be held on February 27, 2003 at The Park Hotel.

Ten finalists from each region will be selected for various rounds like ‘Buzzer Countdown’, ‘Computer’, ‘Audio and Video clips’. The qualifying teams will be pitted against each other in the grand finale, to be held on March 7, 2003 in Kolkata. Prof Suman K. Mukerjee, a distinguished fellow of AIMA, will be this year’s quizmaster.

Tips on Cult Branding

Renowned co-author of ‘The Power of Cult Branding’, Matthew W Ragas, visited the Amity School of Communication, Noida. The author gave an interactive presentation on the concept of cult branding and how to create benign brands that are more like surrogate families to their followers. “All over the world, people are turning out ads which are everywhere, including in our bathrooms,” said Ragas.

“But there are some brands that are flourishing solely on account of a core group of loyal customers, who are self-confessed brand evangelists. The challenge is how to become that brand,” he added. He shared tips on developing indigenous brands that bring out India on the world map and benefit of which percolates down to the masses.

The Amity Business School hosted its fifth annual international conference, ‘Inbush: International Business Horizon’. The two-day meet was organised by the students of the Centre for International Business and aimed at building links between academia and the corporates.

Among those present were the Union Minister for Labour, Mr Sahib Singh Verma, the Minister of State for Human Resources, Mr Ashok Pradhan and the Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment, Mr S. Jaitya.

CAREER OPTION
Pay on Placement

APTECH Computer Education has introduced a unique offer, ‘Pay on Placement’ for its premier career course offering, ‘ACCP World Programme’. Students undergoing this programme will avail of the benefit of paying part of their course fee after placement by Aptech.

This programme opens up an array of career options for students, including web designers, website developers, programmers, solution architect, technology managers, IT specialist, software engineers and consultant.

IT Training

New Horizons, a major computer training institute, has been named the world’s ‘largest’ IT training company by IDC in 2002. The institute has opened its first center in the Capital. With an investment commitment of up to Rs 200 crore over three years, the company has aggressive plans to launch over 250 centers across the country.

The centers of New Horizons will be the authorized training centers for the company’s worldwide partners such as Microsoft, Adobe, Sun, Oracle, Macromedia, Ascendant Learning Inc., and Prosoft.

New Horizons will also focus on IT professionals, providing high- end training modules through short-term and long-term programmes in areas like networking, databases, Internet technologies, application development and multimedia. The courses will be offered at competitive prices.

Fest to sharpen managerial skills

A ‘Management Fest’ for students from various management, engineering and graduate colleges was organised by Wigan & Leigh College, India.

The ‘Management Fest’ was organized simultaneously at St. Columba’s School, New Delhi, Fort William Stadium, Kolkata and Wigan & Leigh College Campus in Mumbai.

A series of games based on risk taking, strategy formulation abilities and numerical abilities were organized. It brought out the team building abilities, planning and analysis, contingency, networking and communication skills of the participating colleges and management institutes.

Surprisingly, some of the undergraduate colleges faired better than the management institutes, with Jesus and Mary College securing the first position.

The college also hosted the ‘Integrity Workshop’ for its media students. The workshop held at Dum Duma Lake was attended by 66 students, who participated in series of adventurous activities.

Cultural Conclave

BLS Institute of Management, Ghaziabad, organised a unique three-day cultural conclave on its premises recently in which well-known Punjabi pop singer, Mikka, was the chief guest.

Various contest to choose the best in Western and classical dance, singing and choreography was held on the occasion. At the very end of the cultural conclave, a fashion show was organised in which Sunny, Nitin and Heena were adjudged the best models.

Vandana won the choreography contest. ‘Mr Symphony’ title was won by the well-known DJ and a student of this institute, Yatin Vashisht. The second BLA Memorial Basketball Tournament was also organised to mark this occasion, in which about one dozen different teams from various colleges of Ghaziabad participated. The boys from BLS won the tournament.

Inputs by Nalini Ranjan

Changes in ninth class syllabus from next session
Our Correspondent

Sonepat, February 26
The Board of School Education Haryana is contemplating to change the academic course of ninth class students from the next session in the state.

Giving this information, Mr Mahinder Singh Mor, Secretary of the Board, told mediapersons at Gohana town, 35 km from here yesterday that the Board had decided to change the syllabus of ninth class from the next academic session to lay stress on Haryana culture and social values.

He disclosed that the Board has passed the annual Budget of Rs 38 crore and sought the sanction of the state government for the recruitment of 250 employees who would be absorbed in the office of the Board.

Mr Mor disclosed that the annual examination of middle and matriculation would be started from April 1 and plus two examinations from March 7. All the arrangements for holding fair examinations have already been made by the Board.

The Board, he said, has set up 1,500 examination centres in the urban and rural areas of the state for the middle and matriculation examinations and 900 centres for the plus 2 examinations.

According to Mr Mor, as many as 3.50 lakh students would appear for the matriculation examination and 2.14 lakh for the plus 2 examinations whereas 4 lakh would take the middle standard examinations.

The Board, he said, has also formed flying squads to check the copying menace and outside interference during the examinations.

Moreover, the Board has also sought assistance from the district and police administration for this purpose.

Meanwhile, the state government has changed the timings of the schools between March 7 and April 19 next. According to the new schedule, the schools will open at 7 am and close at 12.30 pm.

This step has been taken in view of the ensuing annual examinations which will start at 1.30 pm and end at 4.30 pm.