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	Catch up with the latest happenings in the career world.

B Sc Comp Sc introduced in DU  
After scrapping the two BIT and BIS courses, the Delhi University (DU) has introduced a three-year B Sc Computer Science (Hons) from this academic year. The entrance examination for the course will be held on july 14. Eligibility condition: class XII exams pass with Mathematics as a subject. The prospectus is available from the Department of Computer Science, DU Arts Faculty.

Online courses for cops  
The Police Training College (PTC) has launched a Website: www.ptcdelhi.org, which offers study material, features on law and order, laws, workbooks educational material on police procedures and refresher material, to the city's policemen. According to joint commissioner of police (training), Kiran Bedi, the the online method of education would do away with all excuses of policemen related to the non-availability of timely training material and reference material. The matter would be available online all the time for reference of city cops of all grades. It is hoped that the Website would also help the trainers of various police refresher programmes. The site is not a one-way street but an interactive one where the feedbacks from those undergoing training could be received.

Creating New Grandmasters  
The world's first chess doctorate is being developed by a Scottish University, which aims at producing supercomputers capable of defeating the greatest of grandmasters in the game today. Peter Vas, professor of artificial Intelligence at Scotland's Aberdeen University claimed, his computers would be as clever as 1,000 Elinsteins. Vas is on the lookout for around 40 graduates for the three-year PhD course which aims at creating computers which can think and learn by themselves. Eligibility conditions for prospective candidates: high proficiency in maths and computing skills and should be in the top rung of their national chess rankings. Vas said the new supercomputers would combine the intelligence of the world's finest human minds.

Govt Vs the private schools  
According to a report, the performance of the pass percentages in private schools has been declining steadily while those of government schools has been improving. In the past few years. This trend is evident in the class X results of Delhi. The pass percentage in private schools in 1998 was 87.7 per cent which fell to 86.4 per cent last year. Compared to this, the government schools have seen an increase from 31.8 per cent to 37.9 per cent. However, the government school results for class XII saw a dip in the percentage this year, the private schools have not fared well either. Their percentage saw a dip from 83.4 in 1998 to 82.9 per cent this year.

MCD against the Delhi Govt.  
The Municipal Corporation of Delhi had blamed the Delhi government for practising discrimination in releasing plan funds for education, says a report. According to Prithviraj Sawhney, a standing committee member, the Delhi government itself has managed to utilise only 30 per cent of its budget for education in the past couple of years. The MCD receives nearly Rs.500 crore in plan funds, to run its major programme on these funds. Another allegation levelled against the Delhi government is concerned with the recruitment of teachers. Currently, MCD is facing a shortfall of 2,000 teachers, and has sent requisiting letters to the government to get more teachers appointed.

Free Education For TN Girls  
The Tamil Nadu government would provide free education for adi dravidar girl student up to PG level, state education minister M Thambi Dural announced. He said the government would strive to make Tamil Nadu a model state. The government was also taking steps to alleviate the suffering of the people in the state due to shortage of drinking water.;

BIT, BIS Courses Scrapped  
The UGC has decided not to grant recognition to the four-year Bachelor of Information Technology/ Sciences courses being offered by various universities, including the Delhi University, UGC chairman Hari Gautam said,"the universities will be allowed to take fresh admissions in BSc (Hons), be it Information Science or Computer Science, from this year." However, those students already enrolled would be allowed to finish the courses with the BIT/ BIS nomenclature. In a recent development, DU has decided to scrap both the courses from its curriculum henceforth.;

'English pinch' in Bangladesh
proud of its Bengali linguistic heritage, the former British colony of Bangladesh is now facing the "English pinch" in global competition in information Technology. Bangladesh has suddenly found itself trapped in a situation where there is no alernative to English. Misspelt billboard signs and restaurants which welcome customers with the friendly but baffling: "you be in our guest and please like any menu from arrangement ultimate sea food" point to a need to improve English standards. Commentators agree that the nation has no choice but to enhance English language skills to face global competition. Bangladesh should learn from India's example and set up a "knowledge triangle", like that of Banglore, Chennai and Mysore, to face global competition, voiced a resident.;

Free courses on the Web
Change in school syllabus If NCERT had its way there would be just one book combining subjects such as histort, geography, economics and civics from primary to class XII. Not only this, there would be no more lagarithms, vital statistics and trigonemetric tables in the new syllabus. According to NCERT, this was an attempt to reduce the burden of learning in schools, a lot of which was obsolete. The recommendations of NCERT are that students of classes 6 to 8, study ancient, mediaeval and modern history as well as about the corresponding periods of world history, and contemporary India would be in focus for classes IX and X, while the study of economis and the study of civics would get more attention. In mathematics, more emphasis would be laid on commercial mathematics such as profit and loss, simple and compound interest and probability. Similarly English textbooks would be rewritten.;

 Free courses on the Web
The Masscachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), a reputed American teaching institution, has placed the contents of all its courses in the Internet, thus enabling the public to access free of charge MIT's courses through the Net. Within two years MIT would launch 500 of its courses through the Web and within a decade there would be 2,000 courses that one could access. At present Indian students have to pay to access the Internet sites of NIIT and Aptechm, the two biggest IT trainers in India. But as MIT is offering its courses free of charge, through the Net the situation might change for these two players. MIT's Media Lab is currently exploring the scope in India for two initiatives, which are 'Digital Nation' and 'Design that matter', which aim at addressing grassroot problems by using hi-tech tools.;

 Building leadership
An organisation needs a champion. And the more  powerful and visible the champion is, more likely the change will be successful. Says Vivel Agarwal, CEO of e-Gurucool.com,"The leader of the organisation is the most effective communicator of the importance and necessity of change to the work force. CEOs must serve as change agents.

 Culture change

The culture of an organisation can facilitate change by making the work force more comfortable and receptive to reinvention. "Implemented well, managers can help transform the organisation without making it a looming threat",says P Chandra Mohan, VP-HR, Apara Enterprise Solutions. However, change cannot be sustained without the participation of the organisation's work force. Says Govil, "Employees should be given responsibility and authority to change the process, held accountable for failure, and rewarded for success."

Even important stakeholders, including customers and the work force chief, should be surveyed to help define appropriate change, develop understanding of progress, and identify high-leverage areas for reinventions. "The results of these measurements can then be shared with the work force." says Prof Prahalad.
 
 Education and training
For implementing culture change in an organisation, what is needed is formal education and training, communication, changes to corporate infrastructure (especially to the HR systems), and financial incentives. But, more importantly,"education should provide employees with the necessary skills to implement change", adds Nigam.

 Measuring and rewarding performance
Most best-practice organisations measure progress and status. For this,"traditional performance and financial measures are used, but "

 The fallouts
"While the positive point is that it breaks one out from the rut and can influence rapid growth, uncontrolled change can cause severe upsets", says Sudhir Goel, VP (Project), AmSoft Information Services. Moreover, of an organisation has not done its groundwork and is not prepared for change, reinvention can become "threatening and can challenge the usually comfortable status quo," asserts Amit Govil, MD, Sapient India. It may even raise the possibility of job loss. Thus, "timing is crucial", says Ravi Nigam, CEO of Tasty Bite Ltd. "A product launched at a wrong time can have counter productive results", he adds. Hence, before implementing change, "a forecast is necessary which includes planning, risk assessment, impact analysis, training, execution, and a feedback", says Keshub Mahindra, the Wharton - educated chairman of Mahindra & Mahindra.
So how does one go about it?

 A course in magic
The Isle of Avalon Foundation, near the magical Glastonbury Tor, in Britain, is offering a part-time course in witchcraft for the 21st century though broomstick flying and Harry's favourite sport Quidditch are not in the curriculum. Avalon coordinator Collette Barnard said that this was the first time they had run a course like this. The courses are on weekends only and designed to last a year, informed Barnard. He also said, many of their students had already been with them for three years and would stay on for more.

 Searching for a common script
According to the Union Human Resource Development Minister, Murli Manohar Joshi, it is necessary to have a common script for all Indian languages. This, he said, could be brought about by the development opment of a uniform computer language. The scientists and technologists of the country have been asked to prepare a common standard scientific font and software for all Indian languages. The government also proposes to make Sanskrit the linguafranca in the country. The plan is to use Sanskrit as the base language for computerised translation, and Sanskrit grammar is exactly suited for the task. To provide a fillip, Sanskrit students would be given employment on a priority basis in the Departments of Education, Culture, Tourism, Art and Archaeology, Youth Affairs and Museums under the Central and state government.

 Achieving merit
Arjun Jayavadanbhai Jariwala, a 12 year-old-boy, from Surat, Gujrat, and a student of Shri Pranlal Hiralal  Bachkaniwala Vidyamandir, has been named a merit award winner in the thirteenth Annual Lions International Peace Poster Contest. The grand prize winning poster was created by a 11-year-old boy from American city, Guadeloupe Jariwala's winning poster was chosen for its originality, artistic merit and portrayal of this year's theme, 'United in Peace'. He was one of the 23 merit award winners. The posters were chosen from more than 3,25,000 entries drawn by children aged from 11years to 13years from 66 countries. Jariwala would receive a cash award of US$500 and a framed certificate of achievement. The posters had been on display this April at Lions Clubs International Headquarters in Oak Brook, Illinois, USA.

 People Of The Year Awards
Shabana Azmi, MP and film actress, gave away the 'Limca Book of Records People of the year Awards 200 and 2001 at a function in New Delhi recently. The recipients include  M Okendra Kumbi(topairy artist), N Dinko Singh(boxer), Santosh Yadav(mountaineer), Arun Bhatia(IAS), I M Vijayan(footballer), Dr K M Cherian(heart surgeon), Chithra Nair(Singer), S Vijaylakshmi(chess player), Pandani Kuttani Kuttappa(founder Kodava hockey Academy) and Siddhartha Basu(Quiz Master). Also present on the occasion was the coke president and CEO Alex Von Behr who expressed the companies pleasure to be associated with the book. 

 A Walk Through Antarctica
Kanwal Vilku, a doctor by profession and currently chief medical officer in CGMS, was part of the 19th Indian Antarctica Expedition, where she stayed for 16 months. She was the only Indian woman chosen to spend a winter in Antarctica. The expedition had 47 members, including her. Her work involved periodic medical check up with members with occasional cooking duties. Kanwal said that living in a desolate place like Antarctica was a unique experience. She said that her spare moments were spent on planting the beautiful surroundings, and walk for 14 to 15 kms  a day.

 IT Receives A Blow
The IT education sector in Andhra Pradesh is undergoing a recessionary trend, especially after the slowdown in the US economy, according to a report. The Andhra Pradesh State Council of Higher Education (APSCHE) received only 40 applications for its Bachelor of Computer Applications(BCA) colleges last year as compared to 120 applications that were received last year. The retrenchment in IT jobs in the US and elsewhere has resulted in a decline of interest in minds of people who wanted to set up BCA colleges over there.

 Excellence In Education Honoured
Leading publishing house S Chand have instituted awards to recognise excellence in the field of education. On March 31, at a function held in the capital,  the S Chand Educational Awards-2001 were conferred on achievers from different fields. Delhi education minister Narendra Nath gave away the awards. Eminent scholar and expert on constitution, M V Pyiee was bestowed with Shyam Lal Gupta Memorial Award for life time achievement in education. The award comprised of Rs 51,000 and a citation. Rajendra Kumar Gupta Memorial Award was given away to B P Khandelwal for his outstanding contribution in education. Other recepients  included Civil Services Examination 1999 topper Sorabh Babu; CSE 1999 female topper Manju Bajpai; All India Pre Medical/ Pre Dental Entrance examination topper Sumeet Jain; IIT JEE-2000 topper Nitin Gupta; CBSE class XII topper V Subramanian; and CBSE X 2000 topper Viju Bharathan.

 Recruiting The Best
The German Bank, Deutsche's investment banking arm has found a new method of recruiting personnel, mostly from the India Institutes of Managements. Under the procedure, the investment banking arm  of the bank called for essays from the passingout batch of students at IIM Ahmedabad, Kolakta and Bangalore on six topics relating to finance, investment and information technology(IT). Over 200 students from IIM campuses wrote on subjects like IT start-ups. This method had helped to evaluate the knowledge, learning and  presentation skills of the students. The students can get an  opportunity to get top placements in places like London and Singapore.

 Boom In Software Exports
Delhi is giving tough competition to Karnataka, in software exports, where it came a close second with exports worth Rs 3,927.47 crore as compared to Karnataka's exports which amounted to Rs 4,267.94 crore, during 1999-2000, according to a report. Andhra Pradesh with a reputation of being technologically advanced, does not even figure among the top five states. According to top government sources, the state wise trends for the year 2000-2001 would be more or less  the same. The software exports of the country, in the year 2000-2001  would exceed the target of Rs 23,100 crore, and reach a figure of Rs 27,500 crore. This would mean a percentage increase of 58.96 percent.

  ITC Digital Talkies
Digital Talkies (DT), is a comprehensive entertainment company started last year by film maker Shekhar Kapur, industrialist Hari Bhartia, advertising and marketing professional Suhel Seth, and Pia Singh (CEO, DT), with an aim to produce high quality entertainment content using digital film making tools. Six months later DT organised India's first digital film festival between March 26-30, 2001 in New Delhi. Speaking at the launch of the festival Shekhar Kapur reiterated that they wanted to create film communities, "learn by mistakes, domain and right to make films doesn't remain the purview of experts!" The event comprised of film screenings, seminars conducted by eminent international film making personalities, awards ceremony and a "technology mart".

  UN Award for Scribes
The UN Correspondents Association has called for entries for its Seventh Annual UNCA Awards for best written and electronic media coverage of the UN and its agencies, and for The Second Annual UNCA/ Ranan Lurie Award for Political Cartoons. The prizes are $5000 gold, $2,500 silver and $1000 bronze awards for media coverage and the costs of the first prize winner's trip to New York to be met by the association if necessary. The awards are open to all journalists in any media for the best books, stories radio or TV programmes, etc, published in the 12 months before August 1, 2000. Entrants should send two copies each of their entry to : Millennium award, UNCA, United Nations, New York NY 10017, USA.

   Arena Multimedia
Arena Multimedia, Asian Leader in Multimedia Education with 200 centres in six countries is offering a new course in Media Convergence combined with Multimedia and web Engineering. The course is called 'Triple Certification in Multimedia, Web Engineering and Media Conbvergence'. The course is comprehensively integrated to offer students training in multimedia applications, web engineering  and media convergence. Career opportunities would be available to students in high profile industries such as animation industry, entertainment, print and publishing and advertising. The course also equips the student in wireless graphic communication, broadband convergence and electronic publishing. The curriculum accommodates the most advanced technologies. The triple certification is conducted in six semesters.

The roads to B-Schools will not get smoother than this. The budget unbundled softer loan options for Indian students and now even the B-Schools are joining hands with the FIs to make things easy for those who have advanced  scholarly hooves. The Indian School of Bussiness has made its foray to cast a spell on the B-School hopefuls with their financial aid options. What's more is that ISB has adopted an American financial aid style with a more desi packaging. Lapping up the ISB philosophy are Mckinsey & Company, HSBC, Citigroup, HDFC and ICICI Bank. "We want  to make this programme financially viable for the students and give them equal opportunity to try all options," says Dipak Jain, Associate Dean, Kellog Graduate School of Management who is also part of the academic advisory committee at ISB.

Recently, scientists presented their first interpretation of the human genome, part of an ongoing process that is expected in time to revolutionise medicine by treating disease at its genetic roots. Also, scientists in Portland reported they inserted a gene from a jellyfish into a monkey egg, fertilised the egg, and produced a baby monkey with added gene in its cells. This work represents the first time the techniques of genetic engineering were used to alter a primate, intending that the change would be passed on to future generations. Scientists, politicians and others, belive that society needs to grapple with two major controversial aspects of genetic engineering before these techniques are made available to public. One concern is whether genetic engineering should be limited to the trwatment of diseases, or should include enhancement therapies that would boost traits such as height, strength and intelligence. 

Come March and top bureaucrats of  Andhra Pradesh will be back in school to learn a lesson or two on being more people friendly, courtsey the Harward University's John F Kennedy School of Government. To begin with, a batch of 120 handpicked policymakers will attend this programme on good governance, economic reform, management of change and global experience in development. In all, the exercise will involve 

ILO's World Employment Report 2001 has forecast unabated migration of Indian hi-tech workers towards industrialised countries to meet requirements of skilled personnel in their information and communication technologies (ICT) sectors. The recent report says that migration for employment was increasing and there was "freer" movement in ICT sector. 

Two of the best individual entries and one team project were announced the winners of Intel Science Talent Discovery Fair 2001 national finals, held in Mumbai from January 26-29. The Intel STDF 2001 was announced at two levels this year-city and national. The five city fairs  were held in Mumbai, Delhi, Jaipur, Bangalore and Chennai. The categories were : Chemistry, Physics, Biology, Botany, Earth and Science, Maths and Computer Science. Sixty six projects were selected from around 200 projects that competed at the five city fairs. The natonal winners will represent India at the Intel California from May 6 to 12, 2001.

A successful revolution in the field of Biotechnology awaits India after her successful tryst with IT. It is the study of direct manipulation of biological life at fundamental level to produce useful substances. Modern biotechnology has advanced to gene technology and beyond. It is an interdisciplinary subject, covering biomedical research, microbiology, physics,  chemistry, mathematics and engineering. The core application lies in health care, agriculture,  animal husbandry and industry. It can help produce a range of genetically engineered plants and animals and genetically modified food to feed a hungry world; genetically derived sources of energy and new and exciting therapies that no longer treat a symptom but can possibly provide long term therapeutic benefits. One can be a research scientist, teacher, marketing manager, quality control officer, production incharge in the food, chemical and pharmaceutical industry.The following institutes offer related programmes: Msc/ MTech: Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi;AIIMS, Ansari Nagar, New Delhi; GuruGobind Singh Indraprastha University, Delhi; Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat; Anna University, Chennai; Tamil Nadu Agricultural University; Coimbatore; Alagappa College of Technology, Guindy, Chennai; G B Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pant Nagar, UP; Goa University, Goa; Roorkee University, University; Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh; Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar; Punjabi University, Patiala. The The IITs in Delhi , Mumbai and Kharagpur also offer Msc/MTech in biotech.   

Victor Arrence,  Vice-President Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, announced the election of P Somasundaran to Russian Academy Of Natural Sciences(RANS). The RANS is the association of scientists in the field of physics, mathematics, chemistry, metallaurgy and other natural sciences. Among them are the authors of discoveries, inventions, non-traditional technology and new theoritical decisions in principle. A member of faculty of Columbia Schools of Engineering and Applied Science since 1970, Somasundaran was named La von Duddleson Krumb professor in 1983and was chairman of department of Chemical Engineering, Material Science and Mining from 1992 to 1997and is currently director of the National Science Foundation IUCR Centre for Advanced Studies in Surfactants/ Langmuir Centre for colloids & Interfaces.    

Indian Army troops prepare for covert battles in cyberdom, where the enemy's borders are defined on a tabletop personal computer. Starting this academic year, Military Intelligence Training School and Deopt is drawing up plans to introduce a course that will trin army officers the hacker's way. In what was earlier the domain  of teenage geniuses now gets a dekko from the top brass of the Indian Army. So in a connected world what better way to hunt for information than in  cyberspace. Hack into the enemy's systems and glean intelligence that will win the day.  

Employers should encourage gossip in the office and not frown on chats around the drinks machines or employees huddled for a chin wag in the canteen, according to a new survey by Britain's industrial society. Gossip is the cement which hold organisations together. Providing communal space such as coffee areas or lunchrooms, allows employees to share information, knowledge and build relations that benefits both company and the employee," said Judith Doyle, who penned the report. Gossip helps employees to realise they are part of a team, encourages friendships and alliances, said the report. Bosses should not see gossip as detrimental to work but rather crucial to the working atmosphere.     

The cream of students from India's premium engineering institutions are being sort after for graduate doctoral programmes at Singapore by the Singapore-MIT alliance, an alliance of the national university of Singapore, Nan Yang Technological University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) of the US. The faculty of SMA was recently in India to visit the IITs and the Indian Institute of Sciences at Bangalore to select candidates for the graduate and doctoral programmes at Singapore.     

India's IT boom has helped shed the tired image of an exotic land of snake charmers, leaving complacency as the only obstacle to entrepreneurial growth. We must recognise however, that there are challenges to surmount, Wipro chairman Azim Premji told delegates at a five - day IT.com expo in Bangalore. He called for a "shared vision" combining industry, government and educational institutions, to foster fresh entrepreneurial talent. "Decades after India was looking for others to help, the IT industry has helped it to be self - sufficient based on our talent. Over the next five years we can build better India...we have made exiting strides in IT. What lies ahead is much more exciting," he added.       

A forum to meet French educational institutions will be held in Delhi, Bangalore (November 30-December 1) and Pune (December 2-3). The forum will provide participants with an opportunity to meet the representatives of leading French Universities, Institutes and 'Grand Ecoles' and the best advice on graduation and PG courses in the areas of management, engineering, tourism management, human and social sciences, fine arts-fashion and design. The forum will be held on November 27 and 28 in the capital between 12 noon to 6 pm at French Information Resource Centre, cultural services, the embassy of France, 2 Aurangzeb Road.    

BBC Worldwide has launched a new television journalism course at the Asian Media Institute in Chennai. It seeks to equip students in up-to-date methods of TV journalism. Mark Young, managing director of Europe, West Asia, India and Africa, BBC Worldwide, said : "Modern journalism requires familiarity with the latest production techniques. Broadcast journalism is a dynamic and growing medium in India and South Asia. Mr Sashi Kumar, trustee, Media Development Foundation, said his organisation is committed to the promotion of excellence in journalism. Four courses, each lasting 10 weeks, will be run every year, with a maximum of 12 students per course. Half the places will be reserved for students who have enrolled in one year academic course at the Asian Media Institute.  

There is good news for all who dream to make a splash in the world of fashion. NIFT has launched a one-year correspondence course in fashion designing and merchandising for the first time in India. All Indians with the basic qualification are eligible for both. There is no written test and the admissions are on a first come first serve basis. Fees : Rs 24000 in two instalments. NIFT also plans to introduce more courses in October in contemporary subjects like fashion retail management a six month certificate programme and a jwellery design programme in collaboration with the world gold council.   

The following institutes are offering the courses

The Institute for the  Physically Handicapped, 4, Vishnu Digamber Marg, New Delhi- 110002

All India Institute of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, Haji Ali Park, K Khadye Marg, Mahalaxmi, Mumbai-400034

Hamdard University, New Delhi

KEM and Seth Medical college, Parel, Mumbai

LD Medical College and Hospital, Sayanath, Mumbai

TN Medical College and BYZ Nair Hospital, Mumbai

Christian Medical College and Hospital, Vellore,Tamil Nadu

National Institute of Training and Research,  Bairoi, Cuttack

National Institute of Orthopedically Handicapped, Bon Hooghly, BT Road, Calcutta

Patna Medical College, Patna, Bihar

Govt Medical College, Ajni, Nagpur

Naturopathy and Yoga Academy, Gandhi Nidhi, Patparganj, Delhi-91 

(Last updated on20 June, 2001)