Category Archives: Education

IIT-Hyderabad tops in research among new institutes

Education, Records, All, Science & Technology

The Indian Institute of Technology here has taken the lead among the eight new IITs in quality of research.

Equipped with strong research facilities, IIT-H has been rated nine on the h-index along with IIT Ropar, while the other six IITs in Patna, Indore, Mandi, Jodhpur, Gandhinagar and Bhubaneshwar were rated in the band of two and five. This was revealed in a recent journal citation assessment commissioned by the new IITs.

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The h-index, named after Argentine-American physicist Jorge E. Hirsch, measures the impact of a scientific research publication of an institution or an individual researcher based on the number of citations per publication.

The assessment revealed that research from IIT-H had been cited 535 times compared to 362 for IIT Ropar. The figures for most other new IITs are in just two digits.

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Expressing happiness over the development, IIT Hyderabad Director U.B Desai credited the faculty for the honour.

Next target

The effort now will be to improve the h-index to 40 and then to 50 from the existing nine, he said, while admitting that it would take a while for the fledgling institute to reach the position.

Prof. Desai said the institute was currently working on 75 projects. The institute, with 150 full-time faculty members, also has the most number of students (1,355) pursuing various courses.

Among these, around 300 are Ph.D students, indicating the institute’s strong focus on research.

New campus

Prof. Desai said the institute, currently functioning from Yeddumailaram near the ordnance factory at Medak, will move to its permanent campus at Kandi near Sangareddy in the next academic year. Student hostels will be constructed by March next and the main academic building by May.

“I have set up committees to ensure the campus development programme is on track,” he said.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad / by R. Ravikanth Reddy / Hyderabad – October 28th, 2013

It’s ‘London calling’ for ACA academy boys

Education, Sports, World Opinion
Andhra Cricket Association director and former India wicketkeeper M.S.K. Prasad./ File photo / The Hindu
Andhra Cricket Association director and former India wicketkeeper M.S.K. Prasad./ File photo / The Hindu

Talented players, both in cricket and in studies, to be benefited

Andhra Cricket Association director and former India wicketkeeper M.S.K.Prasad’s words would be music to the ears of parents of the 100-odd players harnessing their skills at three residential academies at Vizianagram, Mangalagiri and Kadapa.

“Talented players, both in cricket and in studies, will be helped to pursue their higher education in the University of East London.

Their education will be sponsored by ACA and Telugu Association of London (TAL), and this will help them get part time jobs under ‘earn-while-learn’ system,” said Mr. Prasad, who visited London recently to market the newly-spruced up multi-crore cricket infrastructure.

THREE ACADEMIES

ACA has set up three academies in Andhra region with state-of-the-art playing fields including provision for indoor stadiums by spending crores of rupees. “We need to generate income to maintain these structures.

This sojourn was meant to bring in teams from aboard to make use of these facilities”.

Mr. Prasad interacted with one Akram Malik, a representative of the university and also with the members of TAL during his week-long stay. “This is a golden opportunity for the players as they can get the best of education from this prestigious institution”.

Mr. Prasad’s endeavour to market the stadiums met with a fair amount of success as the county heads of Kent, Lancashire, Middlesex and Surrey showed interest in making use of the stadiums during their off season.

“English county teams prefer to use facilities at Sri Lanka and Dubai during their off and pre-seasons. Now they can make use our facilities which are world-class”.

Prasad also interacted with European wing of the International Cricket Council (ICC) and Junior Global Academy at Dubai.

“Former Pakistan all-rounder Mudassar Nazar, who heads the Dubai academy, was impressed with our vision and soon we will chalk out a schedule,” he added.

VISUAL PRESENTATION

The former India wicketkeeper made an audio visual presentation and distributed a colourful booklet featuring the facilities and other information such as places of tourist interest, hotels and cuisine.

He said England witnessed torrential rain during cricket’s off-season and the practice schedule often went haywire owing to poor playing conditions.

“The academy will be vacant as our boys will be busy touring and playing for Andhra and India. They can use the services of our coaches, physiotherapists, and trainers as well. We are keen to bring them to coastal Andhra for a reasonable fee. The second and third rung players who wish to make to the main county team can make use of these facilities”.

He also held discussions on exchange tours to give a chance for academy players to play in English conditions against county players.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Vijayawada / by J.R. Sridharan / Vijayawada – October 03rd, 2013

Marine police academy to come up at Machilipatnam

Business & Economy, Education

Vijayawada :

If all goes well, Andhra Pradesh  could become one of the two states in India to house a national-level marine police academy. The chances of a marine police academy to be set up in the state brightened on Monday when a high level delegation, headed by principal secretary (home) T P Das, visited the proposed site for the academy at Pedapatnam near Machilipatnam. Inspector General of Police (Marine), K Srinivasa Reddy and Krishna district SP J Prabhakara Rao accompanied Das during his field inspection.

The Union home ministry had decided to fortify coastal security after the terror attack in Mumbai in 2008 and as part of it allotted massive funds to the coastal states to set up special marine police units along their coastlines. Although many states, including Andhra Pradesh, have dedicated marine police stations, the police personnel are not properly trained in combat operations at sea.

Initially, the Union government had asked the coast guard wing to impart training to the marine police personnel in their respective areas. But later, the central government decided to establish two specialized marine police training academies which, according to sources, would be set up on the East Coast and West Coast respectively.

Accordingly, the Centre has reportedly agreed for the national-level training academy to be set up in Andhra Pradesh on the East Coast. The marine IG K Srinivasa Reddy pursued the matter with the Centre and state authorities. Sources said the Union home ministry reportedly sought about 300 acres for the training academy and the revenue officials at Machilipatnam proposed to allocate a 200-acre site near Pedapatnam village.

“We have visited the site and verified the documents. We have to send a detailed report to the Centre for the grant of the training centre,” TP Das told the media after the field visit. He said a team from Delhi too would visit the proposed site before taking a final call. If granted, the academy at Machilipatnam would be the first on the East Coast.

Sources said Tamil Nadu and Kerala too were lobbying for the training centre.

It was learnt that the Centre would take into account the upcoming rocket launching centre near Nagayalanka in Krishna district, ISRO centre in Nellore and KG basin of Rajahmundry before setting up the training centre near Machilipatnam as it’s also important to safeguard these highly protected institutions.

At present, there are around 15 marine police stations in the state with about 200 police personnel working in the wing. Along with the AP marine police, the staff from marine police wings in other states too would be provided training at this national academy on subjects like strengthening the intelligence network in the waters, utilization of communication network and surveillance.

source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Hyderabad> Training Centre / TNN / October 22nd, 2013

Dr Vizarat Rasool Khan passes away

Education, Leaders, Records, All
Vizarat Rasool Khan.
Vizarat Rasool Khan.

Hyderabad:

Renowned academician and former MLA, Dr Mohd Vizarat Rasool Khan, passed away here, on Monday, after prolonged illness. He was 66.

As the founder and chairman of the famous Shadan Group of Educational Institutions, which runs a chain of professional colleges and other educational institutions in the city, Dr Khan worked relentlessly for the upliftment of Muslims by providing them vast educational opportunities. He established 56 educational institutions, right from KG to PG. More than 20,000 students are enrolled in his institutions.

Born on December 22, 1946, Dr Khan is survived by wife, Shadan Vizarat Rasool Khan and four sons. Dr Khan was earlier elected to the AP Legislative Assembly from Asifnagar constituency on MIM ticket.

He was instrumental in setting up Deccan Medical and Engineering Colleges and other institutions of Darusalam Educational Trust in 1984 and after parting ways with MIM, he had set up his own education empire under the name of Shadan.

Dr Khan started the second minority engineering college in the city after Deccan Engineering College. He had also established a medical college and a women’s minority medical college in the city, the first of its kind in Asia.

According to family members, Namaze-Janaza will be held on Tuesday after Zohar prayer at Masjid Shadan, inside Dr. VRK Medical College Compound, Peerancheru .

His dream was to set up a autonomous minority university for which he has been striving hard for the past five years.

source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com / Deccan Chronicle / Home> News> Current Affairs / by DC / October 22nd, 2013

Mahbubnagar girl excels in Telugu, bags gold medal

Education, Records, All
Graduates celebrating after receiving their degrees and medals at the XVth convocation of the University of Hyderabad at Gachibowli in Hyderabad on Tuesday | A Suresh Kumar
Graduates celebrating after receiving their degrees and medals at the XVth convocation of the University of Hyderabad at Gachibowli in Hyderabad on Tuesday | A Suresh Kumar

A graduate from Nawabpet mandal of Mahabubnagar was the star of the show at the 15th convocation ceremony of University of Hyderabad held at the Brahma Kumaris Shanti Sarovar, Global Peace Auditorium on Tuesday.

A Bharathi, who received a gold medal in the 5-year Integrated Master’s programme in Telugu, is the first one from her village to pursue higher education in a university. However, Bharathi wants to pursue higher studies and become a politician. “I am extremely proud. I want to study further, get a good job and settle down in life. But my dream is to become a politician and work for poor,” stated Bharathi.

As many as 140 PhDs and 95 gold medals were awarded by governor ESL Narasimhan, the chief rector of the university and was the guest of honour. Honorary Doctorates were awarded KG Subramanyan, Prof Michael Victor Berry, Prof Andre Beteille, Prof Satish C Maheshwari, and activist Aruna Roy in absentia.

During the address, T V Ramakrishnan, professor emeritus, Banaras Hindu University said, “This swadhyaya may help you accept the society, make you a rebel or it may make you see futility. Whatever it does, it will affect you strongly”.  Ramakrishna Ramaswamy, vice chancellor of UoH, presented a report on the university. H Hanumantha Rao, chancellor, UoH presided over the convocation.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Hyderabad / by Express News Service – Hyderabad / October 02nd, 2013

Style gurus to groom city designers

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education
Fashion designer P. Srinivasa Rao./ Photo: V.Raju / The Hindu
Fashion designer P. Srinivasa Rao./ Photo: V.Raju / The Hindu

Women in the coastal belt are very enterprising, says Pattur

The city has high potential for exploring fashion designing. All we need is a new line of thinking; say Sri Nivas Rao Pattur and Rajasekhar Narayan, fashions designers of repute. They were roped in by the city-based Samana Institute for Design Studies (SIDS) as faculty members.

Fashion Designer, Rajshekhar Narayan./ Photo: V. Raju / The Hindu
Fashion Designer, Rajshekhar Narayan./ Photo: V. Raju / The Hindu

Mr. Pattur is the chief mentor-cum-Director of the institute while Mr. Narayan will equip budding designers at the institute with latest knowledge and trends in fashion designing across the world.

Focus

“To make the local youth employable is essential, especially in the light of their rapid migration to bigger cities in search of greener pastures. The focus must now be laid on small cities,” says Mr. Pattur.

Emphasising on the need for creating work locally, Mr. Pattur says the efforts should be in a direction to transform the ‘local’ into ‘glocal’. “Women in this coastal belt are very enterprising. We must build up on our strengths, hand-hold them through this journey towards a successful path,” says Mr. Pattur.

Mr. Narayana, who is a product of the National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad, believes in the magical success of hard work coupled with commitment.

“There is no elevator to success. Our focus has been on imparting quality design education. The best thing about the current fashion scenario is that you get very good stuff here in India itself and one need not travel abroad for shopping for good apparel. Moreover, people are developing good taste and that gives chance to everyone in this field to showcase their talent,” he says.

Quiz him about the prospects for fashion designers and he says: “There is a lot of positivity around. I can see it going only in one direction – up…up…and above”.

The fact that there is a need to give something new every day to the current day fashionist as does not deter the duo. “The only way to usher in change is to educate the local designers and we are here to set the ball rolling for the much-needed transformation in the local fashion scenario,” says the duo.

Mr. Pattur and Mr. Narayan have been made part of the SIDS to impart world-class coaching to students in fashion apparel designing.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Vijayawada / by P. Sujatha Varma / Vijayawada – May 19th, 2013

Vizag boy bags award at HMUN

Education, Records, All, World Opinion
Saketh Roy, a student of class XI, displaying his award that he won at the Harward Model United Nations, held in Hyderabad recently. / Photo: K.R. Deepak / The Hindu
Saketh Roy, a student of class XI, displaying his award that he won at the Harward Model United Nations, held in Hyderabad recently. / Photo: K.R. Deepak / The Hindu

A class XI student of Timpany School Saketh Roy bagged the Best Delegate award at the Model United Nations conducted by Harvard University in Hyderabad recently. Over 1,250 students from 130 schools belonging to nine countries participated. The Model United Nations is an annual feature to recognise and encourage talent in youth in the direction of International awareness and personality development.

As a prelude to the Assembly a message from Secretary General of United Nations Ban Ki Moon was read and the speakers included Chairperson of the Noble prize winning Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change R. K. Pachauri, Jerry Martin, founder of Jerry Martin project, Beena Laksmi Nepram and Birad Rajaram Yajnik among others.

Saketh participated as an individual delegate and represented Poland in the Assembly. The subject of debate was the situation in Europe after the World War II. The delegates were made to travel back in time to a situation after the war and form policies to ensure lasting peace in Europe as well as deal with the arrival of atomic and nuclear weapons. Saketh says, “The level of debate was so high and I am very glad that I got to interact with some of the best minds.”

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Visakhapatnam / by Staff Reporter / Visakhapatnam – September 03rd, 2013

Aga Khan Academy at Hyderabad formally launched

Education, World Opinion

The Aga Khan Academy, one of the educational centres of excellence planned around the world by Aga Kgan Development Network, was formally inaugurated here Friday.

The not-for profit academy which has come up on 100 acres of land donated by Andhra Pradesh government near the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, was formally launched by Aga Khan, founder and Chairman of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) in the presence of Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy and union Human Resource Development Minister M.M. Pallam Raju.

The academy, which is running since 2011, is part of the global chain of such institutions planned by the AKDN and the second one to come up after Mombasa in Kenya. AKDN plans to set up 18 academies in 14 countries of Africa, Middle East, Central and South Asia.

The academy which follows International Baccalaureate (IB) curriculum gives admit students on merit basis and has a strong scholarship programme.

The Aga Khan noted the foundation stone for the academy was laid in 2005. “The aim of the academy is to educate talented young mind for global future,” he said.

The academy follows residential secondary school system and creates multinational environment, he pointed out.

He said the AKDN had taken up restoration of heritage monuments like Humayun’s Tomb in Delhi and Qutub Shahi Tombs in Hyderabad .

Pallam Raju said the country had made great strides in education after Right To Education (RTE) Act came into force. He said 230 million children were sent to schools during last three years and hoped that more would be enrolled in next two years.

“The aim of the Aga Khan Academy, Hyderabad, is to develop home-grown leaders with a strong sense of ethics and civic responsibility, who will contribute to India’s future. By intentionally bringing a diverse group of students to study and live together, the Academy aims to help build understanding and respect across diverse sectors of society,” said a statement by AKDN.

The academy incorporates a professional development centre for teacher training and curricular innovation. The centre through its outreach programme, also extends modern teaching and learning methods to government and other not-for-profit schools.

The agencies of the AKDN work to improve the welfare of people in the developing world, particularly in Asia and Africa.

The AKDN works in 30 countries around the world and employs approximately 80,000 people and its annual budget for non-profit development activities is approximately $600 million.

source: http://www.business-standard.com / Business Standard / Home> News-IANS> Education / by IANS / Hyderabad – September 20th, 2013

BSNL to ring in job training for youth

Business & Economy, Education, Science & Technology

Visakhapatnam : 

Bharat Sanchar Nigham Limited (BSNL) Visakhapatnam Telcom district will kick off its Employability Enhancement Training Programme-2013 in a week’s time to select engineering students of various colleges in the district.

Inaugurating the programme, BSNL senior general manager RMM Krishna said it is aimed at training engineering students from the electronics and communication branch to enhance their employability through silver, gold and platinum certificate programmes. The telecom company will be locally conducting the programme as per an MoU with the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE).

“BSNL has selected 6,793 students from 693 colleges across the country for training at 23 BSNL training centres, including Visakhapatnam. Nearly 300 students from 26 colleges were selected for the programme in BSNL’s Visakhapatnam limits,” Krishna added.

VSRK Prasad, principal, Anil Neerukonda Institute of Technology and Sciences (ANITS), which sent 10 engineering students for the BSNL training programme, said that the students will be given practical knowledge on electronics and communication four hours in a week.

“Though BSNL did not give any job assurance to the participants, the employability programme plays a vital role in moulding their careers. The programme will surely help them encounter challenges in their career,” Prasad said.

Students of the fifth semester will get a BSNL Silver Certificate on completion of the Transmission Switching System and Telecom Support Infrastructure programme, while the BSNL Gold certificate will be issued to sixth semester engineering candidates completing the certificate programme on Broadband Technology, Digital Switching System and Optical Fibre. The BSNL Platinum certificate will be issued to seventh semester candidates completing the Mobilie Communication and IP Networking and Security Certificate programme as part of the BSNL training programme.

source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Visakhapatnam / TNN / September 18th, 2013

Nalgonda student bags pharmacy award

Education, Records, All, Science & Technology

A student from Nalgonda district, Pagilla Balaraju, studying M.Pharmacy at G Pulla Reedy College of Pharmacy, Mehdipatnam, was chosen for the ‘Outstanding Student of the Year 2011-12’, which will be presented at the 64th Indian Pharmaceutical Congress on September 20.

He has done research on drug screening and he also won the second prize at the national-level quiz contest organised by the Pharmaceutical Congress in 2012.

Balaraju, studying PG in pharmacognosy and phytochemcistry, excelled in academics right from 10th class. He got the Pratibha award, along with a gold medal, for securing 90 percent in 10th class. Because of his merit, he had managed to secure a free seat in Intermediate. “Though I got a seat in MBBS, I could not join as I did not have money,” he said.  In PG first year, he stood university first by securing 83 percent marks.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Hyderabad / by Express News Service – Hyderabad / September 18th, 2013