Students of College of Arts and Crafts, Patna, would be able to pursue masters and PhD at the institution from the new academic session. Picture by Ranjeet Kumar Dey

Cimage College would provide 20 per cent to full scholarships to students taking admission in the new academic session, announced director Neeraj Agrawal on June 14.

The college administration has also decided to provide vocational training. “Students from Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes would be provided full scholarship. BBA students would be provided free coaching to prepare for competitive examinations,” Agrawal said.

He added: “We would conduct an entrance examination on June 22. The examination scores would be taken into account for admission to various courses apart from the Plus Two results. The students securing 40 per cent to 60 per cent in the entrance test would have to take the “bridge course” before getting admission to respective courses.”

More degrees

College of Arts and Crafts, Patna, would offer MFA and PhD from the new academic session.

At present, the college offers undergraduate course (BFA).

“Every year, many students move to other states to pursue MFA and PhD. Now, the students don’t need to go outside the state,” college principal Chandrabhushan Srivastava said.

“There has been a lot of development in the college. At present, the duration of the BFA has been made into a four-year course. Earlier, students who had passed Class X could take admission to the course. Now, an applicant needs to have a Plus Two degree,” Srivastava said.

Newsroom funds

The mass communication department students of Patna College who have been deprived of their practical classes because of lack of newsroom can now heave a sign of relief.

University Grants Commission (UGC) has provided Rs 20.6 lakh to the college to develop a newsroom so that mass communication students can have practical experience.

A source said the college administration had demanded Rs 28 lakh in the detailed project report for the facility.

The college has already received Rs 10.3 lakh.

The rest of the money would be provided after the completion of the work. Principal Rash Behari Das said the newsroom would be equipped with hi-tech facility.

“We have earmarked a 600sqft area in the Bhasha Bhavan for starting our newsroom which would be a Wi-Fi studio. There would be 15 computers in the newsroom apart from a digital camera, photography laboratory and software which can help students learn editing and page-designing,” he said.

Delegates release a souvenir at the NIT seminar. Picture by Ranjeet Kumar Dey

Hostels makeover

Patna University hostels will get a makeover.

The state government has already initiated the process by floating tenders for the selection of the contractor who would take up the renovation work. Sources said while Rs 98 lakh has been provided for the renovation of the Minto and Jackson hostels, Rs 68 lakh and Rs 8 lakh have been provided for the renovation of the Iqbal and New hostels, respectively.

Sources said renovation work has already been started in some hostels of PU and this is why boarders have been given notice to leave the hostel for the renovation work.

Minto and Jackson hostels have been included in the heritage building list of the government. So, the renovation work of these two hostels has been given to Bihar State Education Infrastructure Development Corporation.

Boarders of PU hostels are very happy with the renovation work. “We have been demanding the renovation for a long time. We are happy that government has finally woken up and has started the renovation work” said Amit Kumar, a boarder of Minto hostel.

Engineering meet

Experts spoke at length on the recent development in civil engineering at a two-day national seminar at National Institute of Technology in Patna on June 13.

C.P. Sinha, a former teacher of IIT-Roorkee, was the chief guest. He emphasised on the need of sound computer knowledge for the civil engineering students.

“There has been many changes in the field of civil engineering. So, sharing information with each other has become very important for the persons working in this field.”

Sinha also talked about the need of adopting new Russian technology for progress in the field.