IIM-B makes selection criteria public

IIM-B made public its criteria for selecting students for its 2007 batch. It's the first time any IIM has revealed the selection process for admission to the post-graduate programme in management (PGP).This is a fallout of the case involving IIM-B and Vaishanavi Kasturi, a visually challenged girl who filed an application under Right to Information (RTI) Act. After being denied a seat in IIM-B, Vaishanavi sought to know the selection process. Central Information Commission (CIC), hearing the case, had set July 30 as the deadline for IIM-B to make its admission criteria public. IIM-B internally developed a process that seeks to identify the most promising candidates.This has been progressively refined over the years based on data on CAT applicants and academic performance of candidates.

CBSE

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is going to make some significant changes in the exam pattern for both class X and XII from this year.for Class XII, the Maths paper will have a total number of 29 questions including 10 one-mark questions. Earlier the total number of questions was 26.both Social Science and Maths papers of class X will have 30 questions including 10 one-mark very short answer types. In the previous pattern, the total number of questions was 24 and 27 in Social Science and Maths, respectively.both Social Science and Maths papers of class X will have 30 questions including 10 one-mark very short answer types. In the previous pattern, the total number of questions was 24 and 27 in Social Science and Maths, respectively.FROM-edunews.com

AIEEE 2008

The seventh All India Engineering / Architecture Entrance Examination (AIEEE) for next academic session will be held on 27th April 2008 at various centres across the country. The Ministry of Human Resource Development has given the directives in this regard.The entrance test consists of two papers, the first part deals with Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics for BE and BTech courses and second paper includes mathematics aptitude test, and drawing for B Architecture and B Planning.

IIM Shillong

The seventh Indian Institute of Management (IIM) proposed at Shillong, Meghalaya, will become operational from the academic year 2008-09. The new institute will be called the Rajiv Gandhi Indian Institute of Management (RGIIM), Shillong and will get a grant for non-recurring expenditure of Rs 120 crore over a period of five years and Rs 45 crore for recurring expenditure over a period of six years. The government of Meghalaya has provided 120 acre of land free of cost for setting up the institute.In the first year, the institute will admit 60 students. The capacity will be increased to 120 students in the third year and 180 students in the sixth year.Initially, the institute will offer a two-year post graduate programme in management (PGPM) and later it would also offer short-term programmes on subjects of local relevance like tourism, horticulture and hydel power.RGIIM will be initially run from a temporary campus at Mayurbhanj complex. Mayurbhanj complex campus was occupied by the North Eastern Hill University, which has now vacated the premises. A permanent campus for RGIIM will come in the new Shillong township.

Course for Manufacturing Sector

IIM Calcutta is ready to launch a new course for manufacturing sector for Indians to acquire manufacturing skills with the help of IIT Kharagpur and IIT Madras.The course has been recommended by the National Manufacturing Competitive Council (NMCC). The duration of course is one year and the purpose of the course is to train professionals for the manufacturing industry.The course has been launched in collaboration with the Japanese Government. The students will receive technical assistance from the Japanese industry experts visiting as lecturers. Students will also be exposed to Japanese industries by visiting them.

Sushila Mishra

Sushila Mishra, a resident of Nadda Village in the Bangah District of Bihar scored 91 per cent in her class XII boards and also cleared the IIT-JEE exam, but Sushila wasn't able to get a seat at IIT because her father couldn't afford to pay Rs 40,000 as admission fee.Sushila's father approached various banks for a loan, but failed to get any because of his weak financial status.Meanwhile, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar says an inquiry is on to find out why Sushila was denied financial help.

Srinivasa Varadhan

Indian-born Srinivasa Varadhan has been 900-thousand dollar Abel Prize, for his pioneering research in probability theory.The Abel Prize, named for 19th century Norwegian mathematician Niels Henrik Abel, has been given annually by the Norwegian government since 2002 to honor the world's most influential mathematicians.Srinivasa Varadhan has been teaching and conducting research at New York University's prestigious Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, in New York City.His research has applications in many different fields, like finance, population dynamics, and traffic engineering.Varadhan's journey to the summit of the mathematics world began in Chennai, India, where he was born in 1940. He started getting serious about a career in mathematics during his undergraduate years at Madras University. It was in Calcutta, India, where he'd gone to get his PhD in applied statistics, that Varadhan says the urgings of his peers helped steer him from the applied side to the theoretical side of probability.He finished his PhD and Varadhan decided to come to the United States to pursue further research in probability theory at New York University's Courant Institute. He was eventually offered a permanent position there.Srinivasa Varadhan hopes his award will inspire more young people to take an interest in mathematics, and that it might encourage private and public institutions to support math education and research with more funding.




.

Dwayne Cameron

Dwayne Cameron -- an award-winning mathematician who received the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics Teaching -- died of a heart attack. He was 60.Born in Middleborough in 1947, Mr. Cameron attended Memorial High School, from which he graduated in 1965. He received a bachelor of arts degree in mathematics from Kansas State University in 1969 and a master's degree in mathematics from the University of New Hampshire in 1980.In addition to being a presidential award winner, he was a Woodrow Wilson Fellow in Statistics at Princeton, an inductee to the Massachusetts Mathematics Teachers Hall of Fame, a Tandy Technology Scholar in Mathematics, a recipient of the Mary P. Dolciani scholarship, and a participant in a variety of National Science Foundation projects.Mr. Cameron started teaching in 1969 at Old Rochester Regional High School in Mattapoisett, and taught there until he retired in 2005.

jobs to youth

The Punjab government signed an agreement with the National Cadet Corps (NCC) to tap the national potential of up to 2 million jobs for Punjabi youth.As part of the agreement, career counselling, skill up-gradation and training sessions will be conducted so that Punjabi youth can successfully compete in the job market.Private security, detective agencies, business process outsourcing (BPOs) and IT accountancy would be the local target areas for employment generation.Vice Chancellors of the Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, Punjabi University, Patiala and Panjab University, Chandigarh have agreed to pool their resources for collaborative enterprises with the state government, the NCC and the recognized private players to create necessary infrastructure for the purpose.

Uttar Pradesh acts to stop cheating in board exams

The Uttar Pradesh government decided to end the existing system of students taking the board exams in their own schools to check cheating during examinations.As per a government order, the 'self examination' system has been banned with immediate effect.The self examination system was introduced by former chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav.Prior to Yadav's return to power for the third time in 2004, the overall results stood at just about 40 percent at the Class 10 level and 70 percent in Class 12.However, they shot up to 74 percent in Class 10 and 89 percent in Class 12 soon after the self examination system was introduced.

Bismillah Khan

Shehnai maestro Bismillah Khan,s name will be enshrined in the minds of children as his life and art become part of the school curriculum for Class 9 students.In its recently published Class 9 English book, the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has devoted an entire chapter on the legendary musician who died at the age of 90 last year.Born on March 21, 1916, Bismillah belonged to the well-known family of musicians from Bihar and took to music at the age of three when his mother took him to his maternal uncle's house in Varanasi. Bismillah was fascinated watching his uncle practise the shehnai.He passed away on Aug 21, 2006.The man who mesmerised generations of Indians with his mellifluous music had wished to give a performance at the historic India Gate. His wish remained unfulfilled after the concert scheduled Aug 9, 2006, was cancelled for security reasons.When India gained independence, Bismillah Khan was the first Indian to greet the nation with shehnai. He poured his heart out into raag Kafi from the Red Fort to an audience which included Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, who later gave his famous 'Tryst with Destiny' speech.

Intel launches Classmate PCs

Intel and HCL have together announced the launch of the Classmate PCs in the Indian market.The two companies announced that this new range of personal computer products are priced in the sub Rs 18,000 range.This personal computer range has been specifically developed by Intel to aid students in their classroom learning.It comes powered with a Intel Processor 900 MHz and comes equipped with Wi-Fi and Ethernet connectivity.

India's first Space University

India's first space university is all set to take wings next month seeking to groom tailor-made experts to fuel the country's satellite and rocket programmes.The Institute, which offers technically tuned courses in space science and technology, has already attracted some of India's bright minds encouraging India's space agency.It would initially operate from the campus of the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre at Thiruvananthapuram, a lead centre of ISRO, which will create a full-fledged infrastructure for IIST on a picturesque site in Ponmudi near the Kerala state capital in about two years.ISRO sources said around 150 students were expected to be enrolled in aeronautical and avionics engineering and integrated MSc in space sciences in the first academic year. Bangalore-headquartered ISRO gets 70,000-plus applications annually from students of other institutions, from which it's able to short-list around 1,500 by way of written tests.ISRO has totally subsidised the education and the students passing out of the IIST are required to serve the space agency for five years. If not, they would have to pay the bond amount.

B N Suresh is IIST director

The Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) dream space technology institute has got its first head.Dr B N Suresh, director, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), has been appointed director of the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST). Suresh will continue to hold the additional charge of VSSC director.The order appointing Suresh - a Padmasree awardee and IIT-Chennai alumnus - as IIST director was issued earlier this month. ISRO’s plan is to start the IIST this year at a temporary campus at the VSSC until the main campus is ready at Ponmudi.An expert on control and guidance systems, Suresh succeeded current ISRO chairman G Madhavan Nair as VSSC director on September 20, 2003.Joining the ISRO in 1969, Suresh contributed significantly to the design and development of satellite launch vehicles, aerospace engineering, aerospace control actuation systems and integrated simulation for aerospace system.He is the recipient of a number of awards including the Dr Biren Rai Space Science Design Award, 1993; the Agni Award of the Defence Ministry in 1999 and the ASI Award instituted by the Astronautical Society of India. He was awarded the Padmasree in 2002.He has also been selected chairman of Science and Technology Sub-Committee of United Nations Committee on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UN-COPUOS).

Undergrad Publishes Mormon Cricket Genome

A Brigham Young University junior molecular biology major has sequenced the mitochondrial genome of the "Mormon cricket," the insect said to have scourged Utah's early settlers' crops until the miraculous intervention of California gulls.Mormon crickets still affect Utah today - a spray program is in place to treat nearly 100,000 acres in Box Elder County inundated with the pests. Daniel Fenn, a Salt Lake City native, is the lead author on "The complete mitochondrial genome sequence of the Mormon cricket (Anabrus simplex: Tettigoniidae: Orthoptera)," published in the academic journal Insect Molecular Biology.

CBSE

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) plans to introduce grading system for Class X exams from the next academic session. The proposal is with the Ministry of Human Resource and Development (MHRD) waiting for approval.The CBSE plans to introduce a nine-point grading system for class X.The CBSE has also launched a vocational course in financial marketing management (FMM) and plans to introduce more courses in a phased manner

EAMCET 2007

Electronics and Communication Engineering (ECE) was the hot favourite for students on the first day of the EAMCET counselling that began on Thursday in six centres.While the first five rankers in the EAMCET did not attend, sixth ranker Y. Raghavender got the first opportunity to choose. He opted for ECE in Osmania University College of Engineering (OUCE). Minister for Technical Education R. Chenga Reddy handed over the allotment letter to him.Among the top 100 rankers of which only 38 preferred to attend, 32 students got admitted to ECE while six opted for Computer Science Engineering (CSE). For the top 100, JNTU Hyderabad was the most preferred college with 27 students opting for it and 11 choosing OUCE.Figures provided by counselling authorities indicate a massive hike in seats of CSE, ECE and IT while seats in core engineering subjects got reduced considerably compared to last year. With an increase of 1,390 seats, a total number of seats in ECE stands at 27,360.The CSE stream saw an increase of 2,255 seats taking the total to 26,030. Similarly, seats in Information Technology (IT) stream saw an enhancement of 1,710 taking the total seats to 15,025. The biggest loser was Mechanical Engineering where 720 seats got reduced this year from 9,880 seats last year.Seats in Electronics and Instrumentation Engineering (EIE) got reduced by 420. Even the supposedly hot stream this year, Civil Engineering saw a reduction of 390 seats with only 2,360 available now.The Chemical Engineering stream was the worst sufferer with 330 seats reduced and only 965 on offer. Seats were also reduced in Bio-Medical Engineering, Aeronautical Engineering and Applied Electronics & Instrumentation Engineering.in the first spell of counselling, seats would be allotted up to 40,000 ranks till August 6. Counselling for the physically-challenged students would be conducted on August 3 in the first phase.HINDU


.

EAMCET 2007

The counselling for MBBS and BDS courses would start from July 24 and the rank holders who submitted online applications for registration should attend the counselling at any centre of their choice mentioned in the application form.As per the schedule the counselling would be held for EAMCET rankers from first to 1,000 on July 24 for all categories. From 1,001 to 2,500 rankers the counselling would be held on July 25. From 2,501 to 10,000 rankers the counselling would be held on July 26.In the second and third phase the candidates of Backward Classes category and SC and ST categories from 1 to 4,000 would be held on July 27. The counselling for BC-A, B,C, D categories and SC & ST candidates from 4,001 to 12,000 would be held on July 28. For BCE category from 4,001 to last rank would be held on July 28. On July 29 counselling would held for SC and ST candidates only from 12001 to 25,000 ranks.The verification of certificates under Sports and Games quota for rankers from One to 20,000 would be held on July 25 and from 20,001 to last rank on July 26. The certificate verification under CAP category would be held on July 27. For NCC candidates the certificate verification and counselling would be held on July 28.On July 30 counselling would be held for Anglo-Indian category, sports and games

BOSE to include Applied Mathematics in curriculum

The Board of School Education (BOSE)in JK is intending to introduce Applied Mathematics as a subject in secondary and higher secondary classes with an aim to improve math skills of students. The initiative was prompted by dismal performed of students in mathematics in the board examinations recently.In this regard, a two-day workshop ‘Development of Syllabus for Applied Mathematics’ organized by Board’s Academic Division and Curriculum Development and Research Wing, was inaugurated today.In Kashmir division, only 73.5 percent regular and 19.48 percent private candidates passed the Mathematics examination. While in Jammu, the percentage is 70.5 and 30.5 respectively.

killer electrons

USScientists claim to have discovered the force behind ‘killer electrons’ that cause a major hazard to spacecraft, astronauts and satellites at New Mexico's Los Alamos National Laboratory. The report has been published in the July issue of the journal ‘Nature’ Physics.Scientists claimed that this theory might be beneficial for saving the life of astronauts, who may be shot dead through thrust of electron entering on the shell of the earth. According to study published in the journal, ‘Killer electrons are found in the outermost of Earth's doughnut-shaped radiation belts, which circle the Earth and are bound by the planet's magnetic fields. They travel at near light speed and charged with a thousand times more energy than the average dental X-ray.’