Campus placements in progress at KIIT University, Bhubaneswar. (Below) Preparatory classes for All-India Vayu Sainik Camp at 1 Orissa Air Squadron, Bhubaneswar. Telegraph pictures

Beyond academics

A whopping 708 students of KIIT University, Bhubaneswar, were recruited by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) during a campus placement on September 18. The selected students, will pass out in 2012, belong to B.Tech, M.Tech and MCA streams. A total of 915 students had made it to the final round. Among them were three tribal students from the Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS). Last year, the company had picked up 658 students during campus placements. Besides TCS, companies including Shapoorji Pallonji, Tata Steel, Atkins, Sap and Deloitte have selected more than 100 KIIT students, whereas companies such as Wipro, Siemens, Capgemini, Aricent, Punjlloyd and Accenture are scheduled to come by the end of this month. On September 15, the university celebrated the 44th Engineers’ Day in all its engineering schools and KIIT Polytechnic. This day is celebrated in the country to commemorate the birthday of legendary engineer M. Visvesvaraya. Eminent nuclear scientist Anil Kakodkar (chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission of India, and director of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre) was the chief guest. Speaking on the theme ‘Engineering Preparedness for Disaster Mitigation’, he said engineers are supposed to be organised in an unorganised environment.

Air wing camp

Preparatory classes for All-India Vayu Sainik Camp, the most prestigious camp in NCC Air Wing, began at 1 Orissa Air Squadron, Bhubaneswar, last week. The classes are conducted as part of technical training activities by the staff of the unit under the guidance of wing commander Bikash Kanungo. Cadets from four colleges of the state — BJB College, College of Basic Science and Humanities, Ekamra College and Maharshi College of Natural Law — are being trained in flying, firing, skeet shooting, aeromodelling, foot drill and rifle drill. Twenty-nine cadets would be shortlisted to represent the state in the national level camp in Bangalore.

Blood donation camp organised by Ravenshaw Youth Red Cross unit. (Below) A student being felicitated at an event organised by the Institute of Cost and Works Accountants of India, Cuttack and Bhubaneswar chapter. Telegraph pictures

Nephrology course

Kalinga Hospital in Bhubaneswar achieved the feat of being the first private hospital to start a post-doctoral course in nephrology. This recognition was awarded based on criteria delineated by the National Board of Examination (NBE), which includes availability of state-of-the-art nephrology infrastructure with various parameters and numbers of dialysis and kidney transplants done. The NBE of the Union ministry of health has granted recognition to start diploma in national board (DNB, Nephrology) course from the coming academic session. Till now, aspiring doctors used to go outside Orissa for higher studies in nephrology. With the introduction of the post-doctoral course in Orissa, the region will benefit as diabetes is on the rise.

Singing stars

Twenty students of Ravenshaw University, Cuttack, have been selected as “Voices of Ravenshaw” for the year 2011-12 in a singing talent hunt organised by the university last week. As approved artistes of Ravenshaw Radio, the campus radio station, their song recordings would be played throughout the year in the “Music Room” programme everyday. Their songs will also be archived. They will be awarded certificates as “Approved Artistes of Ravenshaw Radio” at the annual function of the dramatic society next year. They can also record an audio CD of their favourite songs. On September 20, the Ravenshaw Youth Red Cross unit organised a blood donation camp at the varsity’s commerce block, which was followed by a cancer awareness camp.

Freshers’ day

The Temple City Institute of Technology and Engineering (TITE), Bhubaneswar, organised a low-key freshers’ day celebrations for the newcomers. Noted writer Haraprasad Das inaugurated the programme and advised students to manage their time judiciously and do something worthwhile. Educationist Subhash Chandra Mishra was the chief guest. He stressed on quality technical education for creating first-rate technocrats. TITE’s director Priyadarshi Tripathy and faculty members were also present.

Agriculture training

A 14-day national-level training programme on ‘Implementation of frontier technologies for enhancing water productivity in agriculture’ was organised at the directorate of water management, Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), Bhubaneswar, from September 6 to 14. Sponsored by the National Agricultural Innovation Project, 18 trainees from 11 states, including Orissa, participated in this training programme. The course was designed by combining theory and practice on different issues of water management for sustainable agricultural production with emphasis on enhancing water productivity for improved livelihood of farmers.

Legally speaking

While speaking at the dedication ceremony of SoA National Institute of Law (SNIL), Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan University, Bhubaneswar, former Chief Justice of India, G.B. Pattnaik said urgent steps were needed to repair the cracks in the legal education system in the country in the changing era of globalisation. Pointing out that the standard of legal education has deteriorated in the country after Independence, he said there was a huge growth of institutions imparting legal education with no method of assessment of quality of education. “Lack of researchers in law and the absence of due emphasis on research and publication in the existing law schools have led to the absence of an intellectually vibrant environment,” he said. Ashok Parija, chairman of Bar Council of India, said though there were 900 law schools in the country, they did not have adequate faculty to impart legal education to the students and this was an area that had been completely neglected over the years.

Felicitation

The Institute of Cost and Works Accountants of India (ICWAI), Cuttack and Bhubaneswar chapter, organised its 47th oral coaching class inaugural function on September 18 to welcome freshers and felicitate students who cleared the June 2011 term examination conducted at the all-India level. Forty students cleared the final exams while 109 got through the intermediate level and they got certificates of appreciation and other prizes. Rajkishore Barik, who became cost and management accountant at the age of 23, received the “Young CWA award”. ICWAI also awarded the family of a final term student, Ballav Kumar Samal, who died of liver cancer recently. Shilpi Sampad