Education Briefs

Peace scholarship students from Mexico, India, Cambodia, Indonesia and Fiji arrived in Oz on July 11 to spend one-two semesters studying at an Australian university as part of the Peace Scholarship Program.

An initiative of IDP Education Australia, the Peace Scholarship Program provides bursaries to meritorious and deserving students from around the world. Students will attend one of 24 universities across Australia where they’ll study for one or two semesters at their option. The 41 students are the third group of Peace Scholars to commence study in Australia.

Welcoming the Peace Scholars at the University of Technology, Sydney, Prof. Deane Terrell, chairman of the Peace Scholarship Trust, said this year’s scholars have demonstrated their commitment to helping others by assisting with tsunami relief efforts and involvement with the United Nations. "It is inspirational to see the work you’ve done before you even came here, and we wish you success during your time in Australia," said Terrell.

Since the Peace Scholarship Program began in 2004, over 100 students from seven countries have benefited. Following award of scholarships, students receive a tuition fee waiver for one or two semesters and cash contributions towards living and travel expenses. The programme has already secured free tuition for over 300 study abroad semesters up to 2007.

The Peace Scholarship Program aims to promote global peace and understanding through international education experiences. It provides scholarships for meritorious and deserving students from around the world, and was developed following the September 11 terrorist attacks on the USA in 2001.

The University of California (UC) and four other American universities will join with Indian institutions led by the Coimbatore-based Amrita University to enhance science and engineering education in India through a new satellite e-learning network. Funding for American participation in the programme will come from Qualcomm Incorporated, Microsoft Corporation and Cadence Design Systems Inc. Education, research and corporate representatives convened in Washington D.C. on July 20 to sign a three-year memorandum of understanding, timed to coincide with the official visit of prime minister Manmohan Singh to the United States.

"We are delighted to forge this new partnership between Indian institutions and the UC," said Gretchen Kalonji, director of international strategy development in UC’s office of the president. "By expanding opportunities for international academic collaboration in critical fields, this partnership will not only help keep the University of California competitive — it will help drive global innovation and economic prosperity."

Under the agreement, UC Berkeley and UC San Diego, Carnegie Mellon and Cornell universities, the State University of New York at Buffalo, and Case Western Reserve University, will encourage their engineering faculty to spend a quarter or full semester of sabbaticals at Amrita University in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Amrita University will extend use of its e-learning centre, making it possible for education programmes to be beamed over Edusat (a satellite launched by the Indian Space Research Organisation) to educational institutions across India.

Composed of four relatively new campuses, Amrita University — established by the globally renowned humanitarian organisation Mata Amritanandamayi Math — is developing world-class undergraduate and graduate engineering courses to be delivered over Edusat. "The US universities in this agreement are first-tier engineering schools that can help offset the imbalance in the quality of professors in India’s fastest growing colleges and universities," says Venkat Rangan, vice chancellor of Amrita University. "With the help of American professors, these satellite courses will turn students into top-level engineers, not just for India, but potentially for Ph D programmes and businesses in the US as well."

An MOU signed on July 29 between XL Results Foundation, Singapore, the largest network of entrepreneurs in Asia, founded by the legendary Roger Hamilton ("Asia’s leading wealth consultant") and MATS School of Business & IT, Bangalore founded by edupreneur R. Chenraj Jain, is likely to provide a major boost to entrepreneurial education in India.

"MATS has developed into a proven launching pad for the domestic student incubates. We have reached the point of take off for transforming incubated companies into global players. We are looking to the XL Results Foundation to help catalyse the process and help incubated companies to network globally," says R. Chenraj Jain the director of the Jain Group of 21 education institutions.

XL Results Foundation is Asia’s premier entrepreneur, networking and coaching community. The foundation is run by an elite team of life members who are trained and certified in life coaching and wealth consultancy. XL provides life members with a list of scheduled events in each Asian country to network, exchange opportunities and resources. Ten percent of all revenue of the XL Results Foundation is contributed to good causes in each country as part of the foundation’s global ‘World Wide Wealth: Making Money to Give Away’ programme.

In a major effort to boost the inflow of domestic and foreign tourists, the Karnataka government’s department of tourism has initiated a radical change in its brand identity. The new identity revealed to the media on July 27 is the outcome of a six-month research study commissioned by the department last year.

"The research study indicated that the previous logo depicting a stone chariot with the baseline ‘theatre of inspiration’ failed to convey the multiple attractions of Karnataka as a tourist destination. It suggested that Karnataka was merely a heritage destination. The new multi-colour logo with the baseline ‘one state many worlds’ will inform tourists about the numerous heritage, business and leisure attractions of Karnataka," said Mahendra Jain, commissioner of tourism, speaking on the occasion.

D.T. Jayakumar, minister of tourism in the state government of Karnataka is also enthused by the new brand identity of the department of tourism which supervises the operations of the Karnataka State Tourism Development Corporation. "Karnataka with its 320-km coastline, world-famous waterfalls, Western Ghats and numerous ancient temples is unknown as a leisure destination. Therefore we have written a blueprint to spend Rs.1,000 crore, of which Rs.615 crore will be spent on improving seaside destinations on the Mangalore-Karwar coastline," said Jayakumar who also disclosed that for the first time in 15 years KSTDC recorded a profit of Rs.30 lakh in fiscal 2004-05.