The 21st convocation of the top-ranked Manipal University was held at the varsity’s state-of-the-art 600-acre campus in Manipal over three days — November 21, 25 and 28 — during which over 3,294 graduating students were awarded undergrad, postgraduate and doctorate degrees. The impressive ceremony was presided over by chief guests A.S. Kiran Kumar, chairman, Indian Space Research Organisation; Srinivas Prasad, CEO Philips Innovation Campus, Bangalore and Faizal E. Kottikollon, founder and chairman, KEF Holdings, Dubai, UAE.

In his convocation address, Kiran Kumar advised the graduating students to “innovate to remain competitive”. “Innovation and technology have become the hallmarks of modern society. We need to think exponentially, not linearly. We should remain flexible enough to adapt innovation processes and not be afraid to break things, to remain competitive in this fast changing world of technology advances,” he said.

Faizal Kottikollon, a graduate of the Manipal Institute of Technology, recalled how a world-class engineering education and the values of hard work and discipline acquired in Manipal had helped him transform into a successful entrepreneur.

Ranked #3 among private universities countrywide in the EducationWorld India University Rankings 2015, Manipal University comprises 19 institutions with an aggregate enrolment of 28,000 students instructed by 2,500 faculty.

Cambridge professional development workshops

Cambridge University Press India Pvt. Ltd concluded a series of Cambridge Professional Development Day workshops across India for teachers of 415-plus CIE-affiliated schools in India. The workshops were conducted by Simon Lind, professional development manager at Cambridge University Press, UK.

The workshops — held in Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai — engaged with over 350 teachers across India. The seminars were conducted interactively to encourage teachers to explore CIE’s philosophy of teaching.

“The workshops were highly interactive with teachers fully involved in experiential learning. They were inspired, enthused, motivated and ready to initiate new innovations in their classrooms. It was an absolute pleasure working with so many passionate teachers willing to learn and dedicated to improving the learning experiences of their pupils,” says Lind.

Next-Genius Olympiad winners

Next-Genius Olympiad 2015, an online critical thinking competition conceptualised by Edukul Solutions Pvt. Ltd, Mumbai, a company promoted by career counsellor Neeraj Mandhana, attracted participation of 17,600 students from 1,080 schools across India. After careful statistical analysis of their test performance, webcam data and personal interviews, conducted by a jury comprising Dr. Dennis Hanno, dean of admissions at Wheaton College, Grant Gosselin (USA); Naveen Mandhana, director, Videocon; marketing consultant Nobi Gupta and Dilip Yawalkar, chief technology officer of Samsonite, 250 students were awarded merit scholarships valued at Rs.2.5 crore together with certificates.

Among the winners: Anoushka Agarwal of Dhirubhai Ambani International School, Mumbai, Arjun Choudhary, Army Public School, Pune and Shraavan Prahlad of Podar International School, Kalyan.

“I am delighted to see such a strong display of intellect and critical thinking by the 17,600 teens who participated in our Olympiad this year. I would also like to thank all the 1,080 participating school principals and Olympiad coordinators for bringing this unparalleled opportunity to bright students at your school,” said Neeraj Mandhana, managing director of Edukul Solutions, speaking on the occasion.

Tata ClassEdge-CMS concordat

Tata ClassEdge, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tata Industries — a focal company of the Mumbai-based Tata Group — signed a partnership agreement with City Montessori School (CMS), Lucknow, the world’s largest (multi-campus) city school (51,000 students) according to Guinness Book of Records, to improve learning outcomes through innovative uses of technology, in Lucknow on November 18. The agreement has been signed for 877 classrooms of CMS, “the largest implementation of technology in any school globally,” according to a company press statement.

“We take great pride in partnering with the best schools in India and it is encouraging to receive this vote of confidence from CMS. We learn a lot by working with progressive schools like CMS, and it helps us remain at the forefront of introducing new technologies and innovation in classrooms,” says Nirav Khambhati, chief executive of Tata ClassEdge.

“We are proud to have partnered with Tata ClassEdge as the availability of textbook-mapped interactive media, worksheets, quizzes and labs, lesson planning and activity-based learning methods in the ClassEdge content will further enhance the engagement levels of students. ClassEdge Connect, the collaborative app of Tata ClassEdge platform, makes use of our biggest asset, the collective wisdom of our teachers, by enabling them to share best practices and resources across our different campuses,” adds Dr. Geeta Kingdon, president and chief operating officer of CMS.