Tripura will soon have an Indian Institute of Information Technology with the Centre approving a proposal for it.

"Though no formal letter has been received by the state government yet, we came to know that the human resource development ministry has issued a notification, clearing the proposal for establishing the IIIT," special secretary to higher education Kishore Ambuly said.

During his recent visit to Tripira, HRD minister Kapil Sibal had said one IIIT would come up at Agartala to give a major push to the IT sector in the state.

The state government has identified 50 acre land at Bodhjungnagar, about 12 km away from here, for the proposed IIIT, an official said.

The IIIT would be set up on Public Private Partnership (PPP) model, he said, adding that ONGC, OTPC, NEEPCO and six private players of West Bengal have agreed to invest in the project.

An amount of Rs 128 crore is expected to be spent for setting up the proposed IIIT.

According to M M Chaturvedi, programme co-ordinator, CIC, this programme is not an engineering programme but involves maths as an integral component, which is taught during the entire course. The programme includes training in core mathematics, information and computer technology (ICT) and science disciplines and additional courses on innovation and technology management, entrepreneurship, business, communications, etc. Since innovation is a fundamentally application oriented domain, there is a strong focus on problem solving and project work and training on building solutions for real world problems.

DU had set up the CIC in 2011 with the objective of fostering an ecosystem of innovation and connecting research with application for the benefit of society. It aims to support application-oriented research to solve real world problems by developing ideas into innovative applications that can be commercialised successfully. The course focuses on developing affordable innovations that reach a large number of people and at the same time are commercially viable, sustainable and relevant, explains Chaturvedi.

During this programme, students work on real life problems faced by the society. For each problem, students first prepare a mathematical algorithm and then simulate it on the computer for testing. After testing, they come up with relevant solutions with help of members of the faculty.

Since the programme is very new, students have not been able to complete their projects, which they choose on their own. Multipurpose robots, designing the wings of a plane, roller coaster design, etc, are some of the projects students are working on at present, says Chaturvedi.

Maths, computational skills, computer languages and communications skills, among others, comprise the course module. In the third semester, students need to pick their major from the three main streams of electronics, bio-informatics and system biology, or commerce and economics.

To be eligible for the programme, students need have passed +2 (minimum aggregate of 60% in four subjects) in any stream with maths and any one language as a compulsory subject. There is a written test followed by an interview. The fee of the course is Rs 5,000 per-semester. Last year, for a total of 40 seats, we received over 2,000 applications. This year we are hoping for even better response, says Chaturvedi.

As to advantages of the programme, Chaturvedi says, The programme encourages innovation; it allows students to develop ideas into innovative applications and lets students develop meaningful linkages with various segments of the society.

The dates for the entrance exam will be announced in June. For more details about the course and application forms, log on to cic.du.ac.in

Source: TOI

The Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode (IIMK) is all set to open a satellite campus at Kochi. The campus will be initially housed within Info-park and will focus on executive education. The campus is expected to be functional by October 2012 and start its offering before the end of the year. Completion of the entire campus is expected within the next three years.

IIMK is the only institute in the country that has an internationally accredited Executive Management Education Programme. Hence the proposed campus intends to expand the offerings of the institute in this field by starting full-time and part-time programmes that are targeted towards the middle and senior level executives. Alongside there will be long-term and short-term as well as specialised courses for executives of the IT sector.

Initially, the satellite centre will be offering a one-year executive MBA programme as well as part-time programmes for two years. In addition to it, a large number of short durational management development programmes too will be available.

By positioning its satellite campus, IIM Kozhikode is planning to support the growth and development of business and industry in the region. As the campus will be located inside the Info-park Kochi, it will directly help the executives at the park to hone their management skills thereby enhancing the competitiveness of Indian IT sector and boost the IT sector growth of the state.

It will also support IIMK's mission of inclusive education as the institute is planning to incubate a finishing school to offer specialised programmes for people belonging to marginalised sections of the society. This will be done with a view to enhance their skills to enable them to be a part of the Indian growth story. However, this will be taken up once the full-fledged campus is functional at Kochi.

Source: TOI

Read About IIM Kozhikode

The long wait for free laptops promised by the State government finally comes to an end, at least for some students. Final year engineering students of Anna University will be given the laptops from next week, according to a communication from the IT department to the University administration. This will include 991 students from the College of Engineering Guindy, Anna University of Technology Chennai, School of Architecture and Madras Institute of Technology.

As per the earlier plans, students studying in second and last year of engineering were supposed to get the laptops. “Now, all final year B.E. and B. Tech students and fifth year students of School of architecture will get them,” says M. Sekar, dean, College of Engineering. However, students admitted under the management quota and NRI quota will not be eligible.

As five per cent of the laptops need to be checked manually for errors, Anna University has already designated a committee of 27 professional engineers to look into the working of the machines. “The Ramanujam Computing Centre has been assigned the job and distribution will start three days after we receive the machines. Every student receiving a laptop will be given a serial number that will be registered and also stuck on the laptop. This will help us identify the laptop and also send it for servicing if needed, said Prof. Sekar.

The Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu Ltd (ELCOT) had, by tender process last year, decided on six vendors to provide the laptops. These include Lenovo India Pvt. Ltd that was assigned the largest order of 300,000 laptops, followed by HCL Infosystems Ltd and Acer India Pvt. Ltd, with orders of 200,000 laptops each, Hewlett-Packard India Pvt. Ltd with 65,000, RP Infosystems Pvt. Ltd with 75,000, and Wipro Ltd with 50,000 laptops.

The delivery of most of these vendors, barring Lenovo, was hit by the hard disk shortage created by recent floods in Thailand. “Most manufactures procure their hard disks from companies, including Western Digital, which were much affected by the floods. There is a huge shortage of PCs and laptops. Only bigger companies that have procured them in bulk earlier have managed to keep the flow on,” says an official from the Manufacturers' Association for Information Technology (Mait), which represents hardware companies in India. The association had earlier urged the government to renew its tender or postpone it, considering the sudden shrinkage in the supply of laptops.

The State government had planned to distribute 9,12,000 , as part of its plan to give away 6.8 million laptops over five years to students of government-aided higher secondary schools and colleges. Of these, nearly 6,600 were distributed on September 15.

Source: The Hindu

Read About Anna University,

LOUISE ASHER MP, minister for innovation, services and small business, minister for tourism and major events, Victoria, Australia, tells Aaditi Isaac how Indian students can avail of a range of scholarships

What brings you to India

I am representing the Victorian governments Super Trade Mission, the largest-ever trade mission from Australia, that includes more than 270 delegates from over 200 organisations including vice-chancellors, CEOs and other senior representatives from Victorian public universities and technical and further education (TAFE) institutes, as well as from the private education sector. Creating greater collaborative opportunities to strengthen mutual education and research is the focus of our current mission to India.

Could you elaborate on the Victoria-India Doctoral scholarships

The Victoria-India Doctoral scholarships are administered by the Australia India Institute on behalf of the Victorian Government. Each scholarship is worth $90, 000, over three years, for doctoral research. The mission, while in Delhi on February 21, delivered seven of 10 Victoria-India Doctoral scholarships to top scholars in India for their PhD courses in any one of the universities at Victoria, starting 2012. Research topics include diabetes prevention, novel means of drug delivery, etc. The scholarships are offered in partnership with Victorias universities and offer an attractive new incentive for Indias high-calibre students to come to Victoria to pursue doctoral studies. Also, we have announced 10 more scholarships for the commencement of study in 2013.

50 years of teaching

Traditionally, the UK has been a favourite choice for Indian students. A country with a legacy of the worlds finest writers, poets and academics, Indian students still find the UK to be a coveted academic destination. Celebration of academic feats is also part of its academic culture. For instance, Sussex University is celebrating its 50anniversary this year. While it boasts of three Nobel Prize winners in the sciences, the university believes in offering a stimulating learning environment to its students.
Apart from the departments of science, engineering and management, the university is known for its other departments like global studies, social work and development studies.

Courses offered:

International management, marketing, finance, mechanical, electronics, automotive, computer sciences & IT, software engineering, biotechnology, genetics, neuroscience, economics, development studies, international relations, psychology, law, English literature, sociology, human rights, migration, anthropology and climate change, among others. Chancellors scholarships of 3, 000 are available in engineering, law, social sciences and management. Economics and social development scholarships to the tune of 5, 000 are on offer for a select number of high achievers.

Sussex India office will showcase various courses and offer free advice to students on application process, subject selection and visa briefing on February 28, 29 and March 1, 2012 at Sussex India (Delhi) office (1123, Hemkunt Chambers, 11Floor, Nehru Place, New Delhi - 110019) between 10am and 6pm. A prior appointment is advisable. For details, call the zonal coordinator at 9911798498, 011-46585348.

Source: TOI