The 7th national student management quiz takes place at the Srusti Academy of Management and (below) students of the psychology department of BJB Autonomous College attend the annual function. Telegraph pictures

Win-win formulae

Utkal University, Bhubaneswar, defeated Birla Institute of Technology (BIT), Mesra by five wickets in the finals of the the T20 SoA Premier League to lift the title at Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan (SoA) stadium here on March 19. After winning the toss, BIT captain Mateen Khurshid elected to bat first but the team could manage only a total of 92 for nine in the allotted 20 overs. Utkal overhauled the target in 12.4 overs with the loss of five wickets. For BIT, only Utpal Anand (25) tried to wage a lone battle as the Utkal bowlers led by skipper Ananda Sahu (3/14) — declared man of the match — and Lagnajit Bej (2/15) ravaged their batting line up with some tight bowling. The BIT batsmen, in fact, began well and the score stood at 47 for one at one stage. But they lost eight quick wickets while adding another 45 runs to the total. The trophy and a cash award of Rs 50,000 was presented to the winners while the runners-up picked up a cash prize of Rs 30,000. Naba Patnaik, vice-president of the Orissa Cricket Association, who was the chief guest, S.C. Mishra, vice-chancellor of SoA University and Gopabandhu Kar, managing member of the university, gave away the prizes. Girija Rout of Utkal University was adjudged the man of the series while Ananda Sahu (also Utkal) and Rahul Hota (Ravenshaw University) were declared best bowler and best batsman of the tournament, respectively. The participating teams included SoA University, Utkal University, Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology, Andhra University, Gitam University, Visakhapatnam, Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, Vir Surendra Sai University of Technology, Burla, Sikkim Manipal University, Ravenshaw University, Cuttack, International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT), Bhubaneswar, Trident Academy of Technology, Bhubaneswar and Biju Patnaik University of Technology.

BJB’s history fest

The annual function of the history department of BJB Autonomous College, Bhubaneswar, was held on March 18 on the college campus. The former registrar of Fakir Mohan University, Hemant Kumar Parija, was chief guest and spoke on maritime activities of ancient Orissa. A colourful cultural presentation followed the meeting. The undergraduate students of the first, second and third year of history presented an array of dance and music programmes. The annual function of the Sanskrit and economics departments of the college was also held recently.

The captain of the winning Utkal University cricket team receives the SPL trophy and (below) a speaker addresses students at a seminar at Ravenshaw University in Cuttack. Telegraph pictures

Ravenshaw’s Japan ties

Ravenshaw University, Cuttack, recently inked a pact with Hiroshima Kokusai Gakuin (HKG) University of Japan, making it the first university from the state to tie up with a Japanese university. The agreement was to promote exchange of research scholars, students, and members of the faculty between the two universities. It also aims to encourage collaborative research in a number of areas such as bio-remediation of urban wastewater and mine wastewater, water quality, environmental technologies, waste management, computer science and electronics, renewable energy and so on. Ravenshaw’s dean of administration Nachiketa Das and Ken Sasaki, a professor of HKG, signed the MoU. Along with Sasaki, another professor Toshiro Endo also visited the campus and was present during the signing, which took place in the vice-chancellor’s chamber.

XIMB is quiz master

Students of Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar (XIMB) bagged the top honours at the regional round of the 7th National Student Management Quiz organised by the All India Management Association. The quiz contest, held at Srusti Academy of Management on March 16, saw participation from 32 teams from the eastern region. While XIMB students took the first two positions, the team from Bhilai Institute of Technology, Chhattisgarh, finished third. The winners were awarded trophies and certificates. The quiz aimed at providing an opportunity to budding managers to update themselves on new concepts and trends in management in an atmosphere of fun and infotainment. The champion team of XIMB will represent the eastern region in the final round of this all-India quiz competition scheduled for March 26.

Psych interlude at BJB

The annual function of the psychology department, BJB Autonomous College, Bhubaneswar, was held on March 17 at the auditorium of the arts block. The chief guest, Jyotirmaya Mohapatra, dean of the Institute of Business and Computer Studies (SoA University), Bhubaneswar, spoke about industrial counselling and the importance of psychology in professional fields. The seminar secretary read out the annual report highlighting the achievements of students in co-curricular and extra-curricular activities. Aradhana Panigrahi (2008-2011 batch) was felicitated by the head of department, Geetika Patnaik, and college principal Dusmanta Sahu as the ‘Best Graduate’ in the arts stream. Other students, S. Jasoda Reddy, Barsha Basumallick (both final year), Akshaya Kumar, Tanisha Singh (both second year) and Padmaja Tripathy, a first-year student, were also felicitated for having won awards in a seminar paper presentation and quiz competitions. The department had earlier organised a UGC-sponsored state-level seminar, ‘Counselling for Career Prospects in Psychology’.

For job givers

A day-long industrial motivational seminar was organised at Ravenshaw University, Cuttack, on March 22. Organised by the Micro, Small and Medium Scale Industries Enterprises Development Institute (MSMSIEDI), Government of India, in association with the department of industries, government of Orissa, the aim was to inform students about entrepreneurship skills and new challenges in the market. “The main objective was to inculcate among the students the importance of entrepreneurship and its applicability in every field. We also stressed on intelligence quotient, emotional, social and cultural quotient which are essential for all-around development,” said the head of commerce and business management, Sanjay Sathpathy. The speakers on the occasion urged students to be job givers rather than job seekers; that is essential for the development of the country and state. The seminar was attended by the state director of industries, K.N. Khatai, principal secretary, government of Orissa T.N. Ramchandru, and the director of MSMSIEDI, Government of India, K. Laxman Rao.