A view of the IIT Kharagpur campus

A career guidance workshop on preparing for IIT-JEE will be held at the Science City Auditorium, Calcutta, on January 31. Worried by the dwindling number of students making it to the IITs from the city, IIT Kharagpur students and alumni have come up with a novel “mentorship model of education” which they hope will guide IIT aspirants in a better way than do ordinary coaching institutes.

The workshop is aimed at helping students clarify career related issues and make informed choices about their future. The focus will be on helping students prepare for IIT-JEE and other engineering entrance exams, and why Calcutta is lagging behind when it comes to doing well in all-India exams. Alumni and IITians with diverse interests would be present, interacting with and clearing doubts of the students.

The principal components of the workshop — which is meant for students of Classes XI and XII — will include a presentation, an interactive session and a quiz on aptitude and self-awareness. There will be two sessions of two hours each. Students need to register and book a seat for themselves. They can also bring one parent along with them. The registration fee is Rs 100. For further details, contact Rajiv (rajiv1985.iitkgp@gmail.com/ 9831584441) or Nishant (nishantsah@gmail.com / 9332548028).

Rajiv Agarwal

BTech (batch of 2008), IIT Kharagpur

CALCUTTA

Testing times

The J.D. Birla Institute hosted an interactive session on Managerial Challenges in the Global Supply Chain and Critical Skills for Graduating MBAs for faculty and students of the department of commerce and home science on January 14. The lecture — delivered by Kaushik Sengupta, associate professor at Hofstra University, New York — was organised by Supersoft, an NGO that conducts training on personality development and soft skills.

Sengupta has taught at the Indiana University, Michigan State University and Bucknell University in the US and is currently involved in teaching and curriculum development for BBA, MBA and executive MBA programmes. He specialises in the areas of operations management and supply chain management.

Describing the managerial challenges in the global supply chain, Sengupta highlighted the cause and effect of the recession that has hit the global economy. The Satyam scandal was also a subject of discussion, and he concluded by saying that every company must make use of their good times in order to deal with the challenge of bad times.

Sreetama Dey, department of commerce, J.D. Birla Institute

The Vivekananda Institute of Environment Management (VIEM) in association with the Eastern Zonal Cultural Centre (EZCC), Government of India, celebrated National Youth Day — on January 12, the birthday of Swami Vivekananda — through a daylong programme at Purbashree, EZCC complex, Salt Lake, Calcutta. There were discussions and quiz contests on Swamiji. A sit-and-draw competition was also held. Sonali Bose of Beliaghata Deshbandhu Girls’ High school topped the elocution contest while Satarupa Dutta of Heritage Institute of Technology stood second. The cultural programme consisted of song and dance performances. Blankets and monetary help were distributed amongst the poor and needy.

Tasneem Sayeed,

Heritage Institute of Technology

Sikkim Manipal University (SMU), a state government university recognised by the UGC, has announced admissions for its Spring Drive, 2009. The university offers graduate, postgraduate and diploma programmes across 10 disciplines, including allied health, information technology, mass communication, biotechnology, fashion design, hospitality, telecom, commerce and management.

A downturn is a great time for working professionals to revaluate their career and arm themselves with better skills and enhanced levels of knowledge.

The SMU distance education method provides self-learning material, face-to-face faculty counselling, VSAT lectures and flexible e-learning modules. Application forms are available at over 600 learning centres across the country. For details, log on to www.smude.edu.in.

NEW DELHI

Young engineers

The 2008-2009 Future Cities India 2020 competition was won by the students of Manava Bharati India International School, Panchsheel, New Delhi. Launched by the ministry of science and technology and Bentley Systems, Incorporated, the programme is a partnership among the government, universities and the business community to promote and inspire young students to consider careers in the infrastructure design and engineering professions. It encourages students to use their design skills, along with Bentley’s software, to help modernise India’s cities for the year 2020. This year’s challenge centred on Indian Railway’s plans to turn the country’s ageing railway stations into world-class facilities. Student teams submitted conceptual designs for the rehabilitation of the New Delhi railway station, the first of 22 stations on the redevelopment schedule.

Members of the winning team included Harkeerat Singh, Sambit Ghosh, Ujjawal Gupta and Shwetank Chaudhry. The second prize went to Amity International, Gurgaon.

The competition is open to all Class XI students from schools in Delhi and the national capital region. For details about Future Cities India, visit www.futurecitiesindia2020.co.in.

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