rewrite News from the world of Education: February 12, 2025 in 6 to 8 words

SBI Youth for India Fellowship

The SBI Foundation, the CSR arm of the State Bank of India Group, has opened registrations for the 13th Batch of its 13-month SBI Youth for India Fellowship, which focuses on 12 thematic areas including Health, Rural Livelihood, Food Security, Environmental Protection, Education, Water, Technology, Women’s Empowerment, Self-Governance, Social Entrepreneurship, Traditional Craft, and Alternate Energy.

Eligibility: Citizens of India, Overseas Citizens of India who will complete a Bachelor’s degree before October 1, 2025, or are graduates between the ages of 21 and 32 and are eager to contribute to rural development.

For details, visit http://apply.youthforindia.org

iDesign Competition 2025

Wipro Commercial and Institutional Business has launched the iDesign Competition 2025 on the theme Reimagine Well-being, which challenges participants to design lighting and seating solutions that enhance user well-being in the workplace, fostering comfort, productivity, and sustainability.

Eligibility: Design students. Entries can be submitted individually or in a group of three.

Deadline: March 2.

Details at https://tinyurl.com/3tk9aamt

CAUSE 2025

CMR University has launched CAUSE 2025, a Design Thinking Challenge on themes such as Sustainable City, Creative City, Enterprising City, Building Your City, Safe City, and Future Now City.

Eligibility: Students in any year of UG or PG degree or those who are taking a gap year. A team must have minimum two and maximum six members.

Deadline: February 18

For more information, visit https://tinyurl.com/22uaxbra

Admissions open

The University of Sheffield, the U.K., invites applications for its M.Sc. Drug Discovery Science course starting in September. International Postgraduate Taught Merit Scholarships are available.

Eligibility: Three-year Bachelor’s degree Chemistry, Medicinal Chemistry, Pharmacy, Pharmaceutical Engineering with minimum 60% from a recognised university. Overall IELTS score of 6.5 with 6 in each component) or university equivalent..

Visit https://tinyurl.com/56d5uecx for course details and https://tinyurl.com/4rbbvunn for scholarship details

JD Institute of Fashion Technology invites admissions for its Diploma programmes in Event Management, Fashion Business Management, Photography, Makeup and Hairstyle Artistry, and CAD jewellery design and certified courses in Furniture Design, Interior Decoration, Interior Styling, Vastu Science, Fashion CAD, and Lingerie Design. For details, visit https://www.jdinstitute.edu.in/

IIIT Vadodara has launched online B.Sc. programmes in Computer Science, Data Science and Analytics, and Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, in partnership with TeamLease EdTech. For details, visit https://tinyurl.com/yc2v9x78, https://tinyurl.com/yt4tvevr, and https://tinyurl.com/mrxunttk

Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan’s SPJIMR has opened applications for its Fellow Programme in Management (FPM), which has been officially recognised as equivalent to a Ph.D. from an Indian university by the Association of Indian Universities.

Eligibility: A Master’s degree or four- or five-year Integrated Master’s degree in any discipline with first-class or equivalent Grade Point or a professional qualification such as CA, ICWA, CS, with at least 55% marks. Valid score in CAT, GMAT, GRE, GATE, ATMA, UGC-NET, UGC-JRF is required.

Deadline: February 25

Details at https://tinyurl.com/3b4zvf53

Noida International University has introduced online courses such as BBA, MBA, M.A in Journalism and Mass Communication, and M.S.c Mathematics. For details, visit https://niu.edu.in/niuonline/

The Indian School of Development Management has opened admissions for its 11-month Post Graduate Programme in Development Management (PGP-DM) for 2025.

Eligibility: Graduates from any stream with minimum 60% in Class 10 and 12

Details at https://tinyurl.com/2t25tmjm

Scholarships available

The University of Manchester2, the U.K. has launched several scholarships for Indian students such as Global Futures Scholarship for UG and PG students; the GREAT scholarships, the Humanities Postgraduate Scholarships; Manchester Humanities International Excellence Scholarship, and the Humanitarian and Conflict Response Institute Taught Masters Scholarships. For details, visit https://tinyurl.com/5y2uc5hd

In partnership with the British Council and the GREAT Britain Campaign, the University of Sheffield, the U.K., is offering one scholarship worth £12,500 to students from India applying for postgraduate taught courses.

Eligibility: Passport holders and a current resident of India with an offer for a course commencing this autumn and are self-funded students.

Deadline: May 12

Details at https://tinyurl.com/3tp55v2y

The University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, the U.K., is offering scholarships to the value of £5,000.

Eligibility: Self-funded, international (non-EU) fee-paying students joining an on-campus postgraduate taught course at the Faculty of Engineering in September.

Deadline: September 12

In addition, the Faculty of Engineering is also offering a limited number of Dean’s International Excellence Awards for postgraduate taught applicants.

Eligibility: UK first class UG degree or international equivalent

Deadline: July 31

Details at https://tinyurl.com/mr7ff7h9

Civil Services Prep

Career Launcher has relaunched its CSAT preparation programme for the Civil Service Examination 2025. It will feature over 150 hours of live interactive online classes and is available offline and online. The new batch will commence on February 17. Details at https://tinyurl.com/2wfxtxpu

Events

Navneet Education has launched Navneet AI, a platform that offers teachers easy access to knowledge and resources and an interactive platform to create quizzes, homework, PPTs, flashcards, summary, and more.

Great Learning has launched AI Mentor, a personal learning coach to support students with doubt resolution and guidance on projects, and AI Teacher, which customises lessons based on learners’ context, identifies knowledge gaps, and provides feedback on their progress.

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India held its convocation across 11 cities with 19,075 new Chartered Accountants receiving their certificates. C.V. Ananda Bose, Governor, West Bengal, was the Chief Guest.

Amity University Gurugram, Haryana hosted its 11th convocation with 1,528 students receiving their degrees. It also recognised Dr. Arvinder Singh Soin, Group Chairman and Chief Liver Transplant Surgeon, Medanta Institute of Liver Transplantation and Regenerative Medicine; Sreenivasa Reddy Sunkara, Managing Director of Government Affairs and Public Policy at Google India; Anil Agrawal, founder and CEO of Airox Nigen Equipments Private Limited; and Prof. Andrew M. Lynn, researcher at JNU, for their work.

Muthoot Finance has announced scholarships worth Rs. 1 crore for students of Classes 8 and 9 across 788 districts of the country as part of the 15th anniversary celebrations of the Muthoot M George Excellence Awards.

GITAM (Deemed to Be) University has appointed Prof. Errol D’Souza as its new Vice-Chancellor. He is an economist and the former Director of IIM Ahmedabad.

MDI Gurgaon hosted Imperium 2025, its annual festival for B-Schools. This year’s theme was Viva La World.

The Health Centre of the Central University of Tamil Nadu (CUTN), in collaboration with the National Service Scheme, Red Ribbon Club, and Thiruvarur Medical College Hospital, organised a blood donation camp. Students, faculty, and staff participated.

Sharda University hosted Chorus, its annual festival on the theme Carnival of Colours. Students from over 100 countries participated.

Over 250 students of ITM Institute of Hotel Management have been placed in global hospitality establishments. Recruiters include Zilwa Attitude, Shangri-La, Grand Hyatt Washington D.C., Ritz Carlton Dove Mountain among others.

Plaksha University has launched the D.S. Brar Centre for Girls and Women in STEM with support from Mphasis, to promote an inclusive ecosystem for girls and women in STEM.

The third Annual ASU+GSV and Emeritus Summit saw thought leaders and innovators from across sectors explore solutions for education and the future of work in a world shaped by generative AI.

Salaam Bombay Foundation hosted the 19th edition of Bal Parishad, its children’s health convention. Health advocates from government schools voiced their concerns and solutions for a healthier future. The Young Changemakers Award was launched to honour student leaders who have actively contributed to creating tobacco-free schools and healthier communities.

ALLEN Career Institute held its first pan-India student summit Sangam where it announced free revision tools for all exam-takers across India on the ALLEN App to help students prepare for their Board exams, IIT JEE, and NEET, among others.

Vivekanand Education Society’s College of Architecture hosted a session titled Down to Earth as part of the Harit Prem Bharat Mahotsav. Over 500 VESCOA students, and 100 students from other institutions, participated.

Southern Cross University (SCU), Australia, has announced the Access25 initiative, which sets tuition fees for international students at $25,000 per year. A delegation from the institution engaged with faculty from IIBT Bombay, Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology, and Datta Meghe Institute of Medical Sciences on sustainability and partnerships in this regard.

The RBL Bank Shiksha Scholarship has been launched to provide financial support and mentorship to UG students from economically-weaker sections across India. It will offer financial assistance up to Rs. 20,000 per student per year or the actual course fees, whichever is lower.

A team of researchers from Newcastle University have shown how AI can determine the course and severity of aggressive skin cancers, such as Merkel cell carcinoma. The findings have been published in Nature Digital Medicine and the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.

The Indian School of Development Management has launched ISDM DataSights, powered by Capgemini, an open-access platform designed to address the critical data challenges faced by the social sector. I

A global survey of 200 new-age entrepreneurs, conducted by Tetr College of Business, has revealed the need for reform in business school curricula. Key findings are: 60% of global entrepreneurs rate current business education as ‘Poor’; 90% demand practical, hands-on learning and industry-relevant curriculum; communication and emotional intelligence continue to be critical skills; and 65% stress the need for cultivating an entrepreneurial mindset in students.

E2E Networks has introduced AI Lab as a Service (AILaaS) to help educational institutions to build and scale AI infrastructure using pay-as-you-go models. It offers pre-configured datasets, models, and tools for hands-on learning, including platforms for inference, retrieval-augmented generation, and AI agent pipelines.

Somok Bhowmik, Avik Pathak, Shivam Pandey, Kuldip Devnath, Abhiroop Sett, Nishant Jyoti, Timsy Bhando, Jawed Akhter, Saurabh Chugh, Ramandeep Singh, and Tarun Kumar Sharma from IIT Roorkee have uncovered a regulatory mechanism in Acinetobacter baumannii, a drug-resistant superbug responsible for life-threatening infections. The study has been published in mBio, the journal of the American Society for Microbiology.

MEASI Matriculation Higher Secondary School, Chennai, celebrated its 40th Annual Day. Academic achievers from all the classes were honoured by the Chief Guest, Srinivasa Naik R., Principal Commissioner of Customs, Govt. of India and Guest of Honour Kannan Rajarathinam, Former United Nations official.

Jaipuria School of Business, Ghaziabad, conducted its two-day International Conference on Emerging Frontiers (ICEF) on the theme Digital Innovation and Sustainable Business Practices. Scholars, researchers, and industry experts from around the globe explored the latest trends and innovations.

Awards and rankings

S. Lokanath, final-year Mechanical Engineering student, Ph.D. research scholar K. Vishnu Raj and professor and dean Ganesh Udupa from Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham were declared the runners-up in the IMTEX Exhibition for their project, which focuses on the development of a cost-effective and durable robotic hand for prosthetic and industrial applications.

Team Smiley from the Vellore Institute of Technology, Bhopal, won the Wabtec Corporation’s Exceed 3.0 Campus Challenge with an innovative concept for Decoding, Categorising and Graphical Representation of Errors with their Frequency.

SSN College of Engineering, Chennai, has received the STARS Gold rating from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education.

MoUs and partnerships

The British Council has signed an MoU with the Government of West Bengal to foster education reform, enhance language learning, and cultural exchange. It also aims to promote skills development, academic leadership, and international cooperation across the educational and creative sectors.

BITS Pilani Dubai Campus has announced the establishment of the Ankitt Gaur Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Blockchain and AI Research for research, innovation, and incubation in Blockchain, AI, and Web3 technologies.

ATLAS ISME signed an Mou with the CFA Institute to launch the Bachelor of Science in Finance (B.Sc. Finance) programme, designed to align with the Chartered Financial Analyst Programme (CFA).

Zinc, in partnership with The Collegiate Path, has launched Ada, an AI-powered counselling platform, in Coimbatore to provide students from Class 8 onwards with foundational counselling, while empowering parents by providing financial planning solutions.

Health Sciences University has partnered with Oxford International Education Group to expand HSU’s Indian reach to educate and train the next generation of healthcare professionals. Through this collaboration, Indian students can opt for an M.Sc. in Global Healthcare Management.

Arizona State University has partnered with Anurag University, Hyderabad, to enable Indian students to pursue a variety of UG and Master’s degrees in disciplines such as Computer Science, Engineering, Business, and Management.

The University of Surrey is set to open an International Branch Campus in GIFT City, Gujarat, in collaboration with GUS Global Services. It will combine the University of Surrey’s teaching and research in business, international finance, computer science, cybersecurity and other areas while ancillary services, such as advice on India entry, student enrolment, campus establishment and more will be provided by GGS.

Kalp Decentra Foundation and Zee Learn Limited partnered to integrate enterprise-grade blockchain technology into high school education. The collaboration will provide students with hands-on experience through Kalp Studio’s professional-grade development platform.

KLH Bachupally has signed an MoU with EC-Council University to strengthen cybersecurity education. The partnership aims to integrate ECCU’s cybersecurity courses into KLH’s curriculum, equipping students with hands-on training.