With the date for the students' union elections declared, student wings of various parties have gone into campaign mode. The parties in the top two varsities in the state - Ravenshaw and Utkal — are too busy preparing for the polls. Putting all major political parties behind, the All India Democratic Students’ Organisation (AIDSO) announced its list of candidates first for the various posts at Ravenshaw University.

AIDSO candidates claimed that their party had been staging protests against various irregularities and demanding better facilities for students. They are also protesting against the hike in re-admission fees. Campaigning is also on in full swing at Utkal University. The Biju Chhatra Janata Dal (BCJD) has finalised its candidates for the various posts. The National Students’ Union of India has also declared its list of candidates. While Amit Kumar Jena of the history department is the presidential candidate for BCJD, NSUI has nominated Subrat Behera for the post.

Recruitment drive

It’s celebration time for the students of Institute of Technical Education and Research (ITER). Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has recruited 875 out of the 1,450 students from the institute who applied for campus recruitment. This is the biggest-ever recruitment made by any company at the institute. The students selected for recruitment were drawn from BTech, MCA and MTech streams of the 2013-16 batch. TCS had earlier recruited 727 students from the institute in 2012. Apart from TCS, companies such as TVS Motors, Deloitte and Calsoft visited the institute, offering students salary packages exceeding Rs 5 lakh per annum, the highest being Rs 7 lakh offered by Calsoft.

Seminar

The students of Government Women’s College in Sambalpur participated in a seminar on gender discrimination. The seminar, which was sponsored by the University Grants Commission (UGC), was organised on the institution campus. Bidyut Kumar Mishra, professor, Wildlife Institute of India, attended the seminar as the chief guest. “Compared to men, women shoulder much more responsibility and burden,” Mishra told the students. The seminar was presided over by the principal of the college, Ramesh Chandra Mishra. Santosh Das, the former principal of the college, also spoke to the students. He stressed on the need of women empowerment. “The women who are in higher positions have succeeded in bringing changes in the system as well as in the society,” said Das.

Bronze medal

Brijesh Arora, a student of masters degree programme in rural management at the Xavier Institute of Management (XIMB), Bhubaneswar, bagged a bronze medal at the Flame Students' Award, which is given to the best summer project in rural marketing by students of various management institutes across the country. The awards, which is in its ninth edition this year, was presented by Rural Marketing Association of India and Ayurvet, with a view to recognising initiatives, which have enhanced the understanding of various phenomena in the market place. The students presented projects on “Identifying potential scope of digitising financial payments and services in agriculture in India.”

Mobile library

Traditional method of education is a thing of the past now. The advent of digital education has given a new dimension to classroom learning. Rockstand, a mobile learning platform, has tied up with Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT) and Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS) to provide students easy access to eBooks, eMagazines and eNewspapers on the campus through mobile library. The partnership intents to achieve two objectives: first to empower underprivileged students at KISS by helping them learn and develop skills through regional contents that are available in the library kiosks and secondly, to enable students at KIIT University to access reading materials beyond their curriculum, further expanding their knowledge horizon. As a part of this initiative, Rockstand would be providing 5 tablets on the campus for students to read and learn in a digital learning set-up. The roll out has already taken place followed by multiple training and demonstration sessions, which was arranged by Rockstand for students and staff members from 20 departments across these institutes.

Awareness camp

An entrepreneurship awareness camp was conducted at the College of Engineering and Technology (CET) in Bhubaneswar last week. The camp, supported by Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India (EDI), Ahmedabad, aimed at promoting entrepreneurship as a career option among the students and providing them with an insight into various business opportunities in manufacturing, trading, and the service sector. The participants got the chance to interact with experts and garner business opportunities. The EDI, an autonomous and non-profit institute set up in 1983, aims to become a catalyst in facilitating the emergence of new generation entrepreneurs. Students visited the Odisha State Cooperative Milk Producers’ Federation Limited plant on the last day of the camp. Appreciating the initiative taken by the college, a participant said the event not only enlightened the students about entrepreneurship and its various aspects, but also opened a new career path for them.

Musical extravaganza

The monthly cultural function at Utkal Culture University was organised at the Rabindra Mandap on Saturday. The highlight of the evening was a Chhau performance, where the young dancers enthralled the audience. The students also sang popular songs from various Odia films. A chorus performance was also held where various ragas of Odissi were sung to the accompaniment of the tabla. The teaching staff also performed at the event. The vice-chancellor of the university, D.N. Jena, inaugurated the programme.

Celebrating Hindi

A weeklong celebration was held at Indian Institute of Mass Communication in Dhenkanal to mark Hindi Divas that began on September 14. A number of essay, debate and quiz competitions were organised in Hindi throughout the week. A cultural programme was also conducted where the students staged plays, sang qawalis and danced to popular Bollywood songs. Celebrations were also held at National Institute of Technology (NIT), Rourkela. The institute organised poetry reading sessions, quiz, and crossword competitions in Hindi. Sunil Kumar Sarangi, the director of the institute, spoke on the use and scope of Hindi and its relevance as a link language at the all-India level. Hindi Divas was also celebrated at Indian Institute of Technology in Bhubaneswar.

Engineers’ day

Young engineers from various institutes gathered at the Jayadev Bhavan in Bhubaneswar to celebrate Engineers’ Day. Around 21 technical students were awarded the Visweswaraya Prativa Puraskar for their contribution in research, social service, Odissi, Youth Red Cross and NSS activities at the event conducted by the youth group, Evergreen Forum. Ramesh Chandra Majhi, the state minister for commerce, attended the event and emphasised the role of engineers in the development of the country. Students from institutes like Nalanda Institute of Technology, Silicon Institute of Technology, Trident College, Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology, Rajdhaani Engineering College, Indus College and Gandhi Group of Institutions took part in the event.

Welcoming freshers

The School of Professional Studies wing of Dhaneswar Rath Institute of Engineering Management Studies organised a welcome party for the freshers last week. The students of BBA and BCA had organised the function at the college that included cultural programmes, introduction sessions, group activities and interaction with faculty members. Students performed dance numbers, Odia dramas, songs and recitation programmes on the occasion. Senior students, who consider the welcome ceremony as an occasion to know each other, had come up with innovative ways to celebrate the occasion. The director of academics, Debadutta Choudhury, inaugurated the programme and emphasised on the inherent talent of students. on the inherent talents in students.

Anwesha Ambaly