News from the world of education: May 7, 2025

The Hindu

07-05-2025

Workshop on GenAI
Great Learning will host a two-hour workshop titled Become AI-Ready 10X Faster: A Workshop on Gen AI and Low-Code, on May 10 at 12:00 p.m. Tech enthusiasts, and students looking to harness the power of Gen AI with minimal coding expertise can attend the workshop at a fee of Rs.99. Details at https://tinyurl.com/36tmhfww.
MBA 2025 prep programme
Career Launcher invites applications to BLACKI Batch, an MBA 2025 preparation programme to help students get into Indian B-schools. It provides end-to-end preparation, covering CAT and Non-CAT entrance exams.
Eligibility: In phase 1, students with an academic profile of 90/90/80 will be selected, and will be eligible to take part in Phase 2. In Phase 2, a 25-minute test will be conducted to assess students' aptitude skills.
Further details on the programme, eligibility, and more at https://tinyurl.com/427d5v4b
Admissions and scholarships
Scope Global Skills University has opened admissions for 2025–26. For details on courses, application, eligibility, and more, visit https://sgsuniversity.ac.in/
Kraftshala has launched its Post Graduate Programme (PGP) in Sales, Marketing and Business Leadership. Students from all fields can apply by May 20. Details at https://tinyurl.com/23dr4myh
The University of Sheffield, the U.K., invites applications for its Masters in Public Health course starting this September.
Eligibility: A three-or-four-year Bachelor's degree from a recognised university, with a minimum of 60% in any subject or a medical degree. IELTS 6.5 (with 6 in each component) or university equivalent.
Scholarship: 75 International Postgraduate Taught Merit Scholarships in 2025 with each scholarship being a competitive award worth £10,000 towards the original tuition fee.
Details at https://tinyurl.com/3428vvjd
IIM Bangalore invites applications to its Bachelor of Business Administration in Digital Business and Entrepreneurship BBA (DBE) programme.
Eligibility: Pass in any recognised class 10 board. A pass in class 12 or equivalent with a minimum of 60% marks or equivalent Cumulative Grade Point Average in recognised board exams for general category and NC-OBC and EWS category candidates; 55% marks or equivalent CGPA for SC, ST and PwD (>= 40% disability) candidates. Candidates can take the IIMB Entrance test or can apply with their 2023, 2024, or 2025 CUET (UG) General Test scores (i.e., only Section III), or 2023, 2024, or 2025 JEE Main scores.
Deadline: June 17
IIMB DBE Entrance test: July 20
Details at https://tinyurl.com/rk72hkrw
Registrations are in progress for the Management Aptitude Test (MAT) May cycle.
Eligibility: Candidates must be graduates in any discipline; final-year UG students.
Schedule: Paper-Based Test (PBT):
Exam date: May 31
Deadline: May 25
Computer-Based Test (CBT):
Exam date: June 8
Deadline: June 2
Details at mat.aima.in
Pearl Academy invites applications for Bachelor's and Master's degree programmes.
Eligibility: For Bachelor's, a 10 + 2 pass in any stream; for Master's, a Bachelor's degree/diploma from a recognised university, in any stream. For UG and PG, candidates will have to appear for an entrance exam which includes a written exam and personal interview and showcase their portfolio.
Deadline: May 27
Details at https://tinyurl.com/2x88k57p
Macquarie University, Australia, announced its Early Acceptance Scholarship worth AUD 40,000.
Eligibility: UG and PG Indian students aspiring to commence their studies in 2025 and 2026. They must be a citizen of India; accept a Letter of offer and pay the commencement fee by the deadline; remain enrolled in each compulsory study period, and must not be a recipient of a government sponsorship or scholarship that covers full tuition fees, unless approved by the university's scholarship team.
Rewards: AUD 10,000 annual scholarship for each year of study, towards tuition fees covering all coursework degree programmes taught at the Sydney campus.
Details at https://www.mq.edu.au/
The University of Birmingham Dubai has launched the 125 Scholarship initiative.
Eligibility: Awarded to Indian students enrolling this September, who exhibit the highest standards of academic excellence. Students for UG and PG programmes will be considered.
Value: Up to 50% of tuition fees
Details at https://tinyurl.com/5cb5e8xk
Events
Appointments
The Lalit Suri Hospitality School appointed Anupam Mukherjee, former General Manager, Fortune Park Hotels Ltd., as the new Dean and Head – Operations.
Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai (GLIM) appointed Debashis Sanyal as its new Director. Before this, he served as director at GLIM Gurugram, Vice Provost-Management and Dean at NMIMS University, Mumbai, to name a few.
Sanjeev Vidyarthi, architect, urban designer, spatial planner, joined Anant National University as Provost.
The School of Liberal Studies and Media at UPES hosted Prof. Miles Hewstone, Professor Emeritus at the University of Oxford, to discuss Liberal Studies: A Degree or a Superpower? He also shed light on why Liberal Studies, especially Psychology, Political Science, History, and Journalism, were not just relevant, but indispensable in today's polarised and digitally driven world.
The University of York, the U.K., recently announced plans to open a new campus in Mumbai. Its first cohort is expected to arrive in 2026. It will offer UG and PG programmes in Computer Science with AI and Cyber Security, Business, Economics, and more.
IIM Kashipur hosted its 12th convocation where 598 students received their degrees. These included 319 students from MBA, 161 students from MBA (Analytics), 34 students from Executive MBA (E-MBA), 72 students from Executive MBA in Analytics (EMBAA), and 12 students from Ph.D.
The A4G Impact Collaborative (AI for Good) launched Responsible AI—Governance and Ethics Symposium hosted at Delhi Technological University. Anil Antony, National Secretary and National Spokesperson, BJP, was a panellist. Panel discussions included Human Values and Legal Frameworks for AI Integration, featuring insights from philosophers, ethicists, and legal scholars, and AI's Impact and Societal Governance Models with insights from economists, technologists, and policy experts.
Quest Global announced a $10 million endowment to Rensselaer Polytechnical Institute (RPI) and established the Ajit Prabhu Catalyst Endowment and the Ajit Prabhu Catalyst Fund. It is aimed at advancing engineering innovation and entrepreneurship and to equip RPI students and faculty to solve challenging engineering problems of the present and future.
Mahindra University's Internal Quality Assurance Cell and the Confederation of Indian Private Universities, organised the Bharat Higher Education Summit 2025 themed Building Next Generation Leaders in Higher Education. Prof. T. G. Sitharam, Chairman, AICTE, delivered the inaugural address. Panellists and keynote speakers stressed on the importance of aligning higher education with global standards while also embracing indigenous knowledge systems, digital innovation, and experiential learning.
O.P. Jindal Global University, in collaboration with ATLAS SkillTech University and upGrad, hosted a national seminar on The Future of Online Education and Skills Development – Towards Viksit Bharat 2047. The Presidential Address was delivered by Ronnie Screwvala, Co-Founder of upGrad and Swades Foundation.
BML Munjal University, in partnership with the NHRDN Rewari-Alwar Chapter, hosted the third edition of its Women in Leadership (WIL) Conference themed Power, Progress, and Possibilities. It included a panel discussion on The Future of Work: AI, Innovation, and the Changing Leadership Landscape where leaders from IBM, JSW Group, Hero FinCorp, and Kent Engineering explored the impact of AI on leadership, skills, and workplace dynamics.
Smiling Tree collaborated with Hansraj College, University of Delhi, for a green outreach programme at PM Shri Composite School, Sambhal, Uttar Pradesh, where over 35 students participated.
Birla Institute of Management Technology held its 37th convocation where 713 students received their degrees. Jagdeep Dhankhar, Vice President of India, was the chief guest.
Duolingo has launched 28 new courses for Indian learners, where they can learn languages such as Spanish, French, Korean, Japanese, and German in Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, and Telugu. They primarily support beginner levels (CEFR A1–A2) and include immersive features such as Stories, to develop reading comprehension, and DuoRadio, to develop listening comprehension.
ITM Skills University hosted The BBA Conclave: Shaping Business Minds to empower future business leaders. Students gained insights into topics of digital transformation and the modern banking sector by interacting with industry experts including Ramakant Raju, a MICA alumnus with expertise in Digital Marketing and E-Commerce; Siddhartha Kalhansa, the Vice President of Axis Bank, to name a few.
Unstop recently released the Dream Companies 2025 list, which mirrors the dreams of students from the country's B-schools and E-schools. Key findings include — Google ranked as the top employer choice among students, while Microsoft was placed second with E-School students and third among their B-School counterparts; other favoured employers included HUL, followed by ITC and Nestlé; in the General Management category, Tata Administrative Services is the top recruiter, followed by Reliance Industries Limited and Aditya Birla Group, to name a few.
A Mega Mock Test was organised by Motion Education to boost aspirants' confidence, before the NEET-UG 2025 exam on May 4. Over 8,000 aspirants attended the mock test.
ITM Vocational University, Vadodara, conducted LITMUS 2025, its annual festival.
IIT Guwahati's research team developed a multi-functional aerogel with potential to address some of today's most pressing environmental challenges including wastewater treatment, industrial pollution, and oil-water separation. The findings were published in the international journal Carbon (https://tinyurl.com/34pk8d2d) and were co-authored by Prof. Giri along with his research scholars, Koushik Ghosh, Sanjoy Sur Roy, Sirsendu Ghosal, and Debabrata Sahu.
IIT Roorkee has developed a personalised Heat Stress Risk Index Forecast system to strengthen urban climate resilience and public health preparedness. Kshitij Kacker, a Prime Minister's Research Fellow Scholar, Prof. Mahua Mukherjee, from the Department of Architecture and Planning, and Prof. Piyush Srivastava, from the Centre of Excellence in Disaster Mitigation and Management spearheaded this research.
Professor Indrajit Shown from the Department of Chemistry, Hindustan Institute of Technology and Science, Chennai, developed a photocatalytic system that transforms harmful carbon dioxide (CO2) into valuable renewable fuels using sunlight. He worked in collaboration with Li-Chyong Chen's team from National Taiwan University, to engineer a ZnS/ZnIn2S4 (ZIS) heterostructure photocatalyst, which utilises solar energy to efficiently convert CO2 into hydrocarbons. This research has been published in the journal Nano Energy.
A Nagaland University-led multi-institute research team has developed a cost-effective method to create Supercapacitors. It is an advanced material for building next-generation energy storage devices. The study was conducted by Suraj Kumar, a DST-INSPIRE Fellow, Nagaland University, working under the joint supervision of Prof. Dipak Sinha, Chemistry Department, Nagaland University and Prof. Dinesh Rangappa from Visvesvaraya Technological University, Karnataka. The team also included Priyakshi Bora from Nagaland University, Kunal Roy from Visvesvaraya Technological University and Navya Rani M. from Nagarjuna College of Engineering and Technology. The findings were published in iScience and can be accessed at https://tinyurl.com/yp9wszkk.
IIM Bangalore held the valedictory ceremony of the seventh cohort of the N. S. Ramaswamy Pre-Doctoral Fellowship (NSR Pre-doc) programme. The batch comprised 13 scholars.
The Isaac Centre for Public Policy at Ashoka University concluded its first Annual Growth Conference 2025. Discussions on employment, the rural economy, and the role of developed states in driving national progress, were held. Dignitaries included V. Anantha Nageswaran, Chief Economic Advisor, Government of India; Suman Bery, Vice Chairman, Niti Aayog; Atul Tiwari, Secretary, Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, among others.
The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India celebrated Accounting Standards Day themed Navigating the Financial Reporting Landscape. It aimed to raise awareness about the role of Accounting Standards in the preparation of financial statements. Rekha Gupta, Chief Minister, Delhi, was the chief guest.
MAAC organised 100 Hours, a tech-led challenge to make 3D animated movies and digital-first films for its students across India. The theme was Technology and Human Co-existence for 3D Animation and Women's Safety, Artforms and Mental Health for Digital Filmmaking. A creative movie-making marathon as part of the event.
Rochester Institute of Technology recently introduced the Tiger Stripes Programme through which students engage in real-world challenges through virtual internships, events, competitions, and skill-development courses. It also incorporates masterclasses, skill certifications, career coaching, mentorship, global contests and more.
KIIT World School, in collaboration with Teach a Man to Fish hosted the School Enterprise Challenge, where students showcased a range of products and services at a specially curated marketplace on campus. A Shark Tank-inspired competition, where student entrepreneurs pitched their business concepts to a panel of industry experts, was also part of the event.
NIIT University recorded a 100% placement for its students. Recruiters included Ernst and Young, Cisco, Morgan Stanley, PWC, Data Security Council of India, IBM, Genpact, and Western Union, to name a few.
Modern Public School, Shalimar Bagh, hosted the TEDxYouth@MPSShalimarBagh event themed Passion to Purpose where speakers shared their transformative journeys with students. Dignitaries included Amit Sia, actor; Gaurav Malik, Squadron Leader and ADC (Military) to the Governor of Punjab; Ummul Kher, IRS officer, Huma Siddiqui, journalist, among others.
BML Munjal University launched the Centre for Child and Youth Transitions (CCYT), an interdisciplinary hub dedicated to research, teaching, and policy and advocacy for young people. It is spearheaded by Anandini Dar, a scholar in childhood and youth studies, and Suchismita Chattopadhyay, CCYT, a scholar in Youth and Gender studies. The centre aims to foster youth-driven advocacy and policy engagement by actively collaborating with student groups and youth organisations to inform policy, shifting away from traditional top-down models, and more.
Rewards and laurels
Gowripriya Nair and Arathi Venu, PhD scholars from the Department of Hepatology at Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences won the first and third prize respectively, at the sixth National Conference on Critical Care and Infections in Liver Diseases, organised by the Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences, New Delhi.
O.P. Jindal Global University was awarded Gold in the Times Higher Education Online Learning Rankings 2024; it ranked no.1 in India for Law, and received top global rankings in Arts and Humanities, Politics, Business, Economics, and Social Sciences. in the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2025.
QS Executive MBA World University Rankings 2025
IIM Bangalore's Post Graduate Programme in Enterprise Management (PGPEM), retained its standing as the only Indian B-school ranked among the top 50 globally.
IIM Kozhikode's Executive Post Graduate Programme (EPGP) was ranked 22nd in the Asia Pacific region and #2 among IIMs.
Anant National University was recognised as the Centre of Excellence by the Government of Gujarat.
MoUs and partnerships
Medhavi Group and Patanjali Japan Foundation signed an MoU to offer skill-based programmes aligned with the workforce needs of India and Japan. Under this collaboration, both institutions will co-develop NSQF-aligned vocational programmes with a focus on international job-readiness.
Saras AI Institute signed an MoU with IIT BHU to launch an eight-week foundational course, Powers of AI, as an open elective for IIT BHU students. It is not limited to Computer Science or Circuit branches, but to all UG students across disciplines. It offers an entry point into AI with no prior coding or Maths experience required. As part of the collaboration, the two will also co-develop AI Evaluator, an AI-powered assessment tool.
IIT Kanpur signed an MoU with the Wadhwani Foundation to launch the Wadhwani School of Advanced Artificial Intelligence and Intelligent Systems for advanced AI, cybersecurity, robotics and AI policy. Admissions for the first batch of Department of Intelligent Systems students will begin in 2026.
The National Institute of Technical Teachers Training and Research, Chandigarh, launched the CopConnect Cyber Wellness Clinic, in collaboration with the Information Sharing and Analysis Center, and supported by Zscaler. The initiative aims to create cybersecurity awareness among students, educators, and law enforcement personnel.
IIT Roorkee has signed an MoA with the Himalayan Environmental Studies and Conservation Organization, Dehradun, to promote sustainable development and innovation in rural and Himalayan regions. The collaboration focuses on developing low-cost, eco-friendly technologies tailored to the challenges of the Himalayan region. Joint research projects, PhD and internship opportunities for students, among others are also a part of this collaboration.
Oracle and Andhra Pradesh State Skill Development Corporation have collaborated to provide skills development training to 4 lakh students across the state to enhance their employability. The programme will be delivered for free as a digital learning experience through Oracle MyLearn, from Oracle University.
Broadridge has signed an MoU with Lovely Professional University for industry-academia collaboration. As part of the initiative, Broadridge has introduced a Train the Trainer programme where its SMEs will mentor LPU faculty to ensure effective knowledge transfer.