Hand in hand to work together
Former students of Utkal University, Bhubaneswar, have joined hands to work collectively towards building the brand image of the university through a series of activities. About 100 students from the 1995-97 batches organised an awareness rally and signature campaign on the occasion of World AIDS Day on December 2, which coincided with their alumni meet. Along with the current students, they worked out plans to spread the message of “Getting to Zero: Zero Discrimination, Zero New Infections and Zero AIDS-related deaths” across the state. The activity, the former students said, was the first step to prove their commitment. They have also decided to pool in money to build a corpus fund within a year to carry out regular activities. A 14-member core committee, comprising former students in various parts of the state, has been constituted for the purpose. It will approach the heads of all postgraduate departments of the university with the proposal for restoring the lost glory by March 2014. “We will change the image in the days to come using our professional experience enriched over the years for our very own university with branding and regular leadership and alumni talks. We believe it will be a positive move that will restore its status as the premier university in the state,” said Piyush Ranjan Rout, former student of the varsity and an urban planning consultant. Also on the agenda is a campus beautification drive by 'adopting' a particular stretch of road on the university premises. The varsity's postgraduate council chairman P.K. Mishra said he would extend all co-operation to the alumni to achieve their goal. Special abilities
Special abilities
Youth volunteers from several voluntary organisations and educational institutions in Bhubaneswar observed the International Day for People with Disability on December 3 by conducting a string of events. Swabhiman, a champion of disability rights, organised a daylong festival called Colours of Joy in which disabled children were invited to take part. Students of the Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences, a residential institute for 20,000 tribal students, got inspiring lessons from Jaya Prakash Meher, a visually-challenged scholar from Rayagada district, who was the chief guest on the occasion. Recounting his struggle, Meher talked about how grit and determination can defeat any obstacle. He is now pursuing his postgraduate studies in political science from the prestigious Hindu College of Delhi University. He expressed his gratitude to Kiss founder Achyuta Samanta for bearing his expenses for higher studies and providing him with study materials, including a Braille desktop. Meher aims to appear for the civil services examination. He has lost his father and is surviving with three visually-challenged brothers, mother and a sister. As many as 70 students from Kiss and 15 from KIIT University took part in the event. Hockey champs
Hockey champs
Sambalpur University emerged champion in the Central Zone Inter-University Hockey (Women's) Tournament which concluded at the Biju Patnaik Stadium, Rourkela, on December 2. It defeated the Lakshmibai National Institute of Physical Education of Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, 5-1 to claim the title. For the winning side, Punam Barla scored the maximum goals. A total of 15 teams from the central zone had taken part in the tournament for which hockey veteran and Olympian Michael Kindo was the director. Self defence
Self defence
The higher education department has constituted a district level monitoring committee in each of the 30 districts of the state for implementation of the self-defence training programme for college girls as mandated under the Odisha State Youth Policy, 2013. The committees, to be headed by the respective district collectors, are required to meet on a regular basis to monitor the training programme on the field by visiting colleges and giving suggestions to the authorities and master trainers. Each committee will have on board the district superintendent of police, the chief district medical officer, the sports officer, the NSS programme officer, the senior NCC officer, the senior Youth Red Cross counsellor and the district nodal officer. These bodies would be empowered to make recommendations to the state government on quality improvement of the training programme besides overseeing the arrangements for the same. Energy talk
Energy talk
KIIT University, Bhubaneswar, organised an international conference on renewable energy in association with the Solar Energy Society of India (Sesi) during November 27-29. This was the first-of-its-kind meet in eastern India, said the organisers. The objective of the three-day deliberations was to provide an ideal opportunity to players in the energy sector to display their capabilities to explore huge emerging business opportunities in India and South Asian countries and also to facilitate co-ordination between state governments and the Centre for better production of renewable energy sources. President of the International Solar Energy Society David Renné delivered his inaugural message through video conferencing. Around 500 delegates from India, Japan, Germany and other countries attended the meet, which would henceforth be an annual fixture of the university. Sesi has brought together 100 students from across the country, who are working or willing to work on solar energy applications. Teaching skills
Teaching skills
Ideal School of Engineering, Bhubaneswar, recently organised a faculty training programme on its campus on the theme 'Teaching Methodology and Classroom Management'. Principal of the institute Gyanaranjan Nayak conducted the training sessions, talking about effective education by balancing it with regular skill upgrade and time management.
