Education Briefs

South Asia’s most glamorous sporting event returns to Hyderabad in 2005, for the third consecutive year, from February 7-12 under the aegis of the Sports Authority of Andhra Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh tourism. Following the phenomenal success of this tennis tournament during the past two years, the Hyderabad (Women’s) Open 2005 promises to be a showdown featuring some of the best players in Asia and the world. The cut-off has been applied at a world-ranking of 148, and the list includes ten Top-100 players.

The list of participants features the winner of the inaugural 2003 WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) Indian Open, Tamarine Tanasugarn and runner up at last year’s tournament, Maria Kirilenko. Other stars participating in the Hyderabad Open 2005 include former world No. 20, Tatiana Panova; the world’s fastest rising woman player Na Li; and former junior French Open champion, Anna-Lena Groenefeld.

Comments Mahesh Bhupathi, managing director of Globosport, which manages the tournament: "When we first brought the event to Hyderabad, we were not sure of the response. But thanks to the support of the honourable chief minister, Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy; the Union minister of state for tourism, Smt. Renuka Chowdhury; the government and people of the state, the tournament which first showcased Sania Mirza to the world continues to be one where the best in Indian tennis find their feet and prove their mettle."

"This tournament has made a name as a place where players achieve breakthrough performances. I am happy to see the winners of the last two years Tamarine Tanasugarn and Iroda Tulyaganova return. But I am even happier to see some of the best young players like Na Li and Maria Kirilenko arrive to make a statement, hopefully together with our Indian girls," adds tournament director Krishna Bhupathi.

The Bangalore and Manipal based Manipal Education & Medical Group (MEMG) has made a contribution of Rs.1 crore to the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund to assist victims of the giant tsunami that ravaged South and South-east Asia on December 26. This contribution is in addition to Rs.1 crore donated to the Sri Lanka Prime Minister’s Relief Fund.

Expressing grief over the calamity, Dr. Ramdas Pai, president of MEMG says, "We believe it is our duty as corporate citizens to address such issues not just at home but also in our neighbourhood. Every employee in MEMG institutions has willingly contributed one day’s salary to the cause. Students from across our campuses are also contributing. We have matched — and will continue to match — these voluntary contributions rupee for rupee. Moreoever we have sent two teams of doctors with full medical supplies to Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka in their time of need."

On several occasions in the past, Manipal Education & Medical Group has stepped forward to contribute towards humanitarian causes like the Gujarat earthquake, drought relief and the Orissa cyclone. Established in 1953, the Manipal Group provides high quality professional education in the health sciences, engineering, management and patient care. The Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE) was the first private university approved by the government of India in 1993. Today the Manipal Group comprises two universities, 24 professional colleges, 11 hospitals (with six teaching hospitals) and 80,000 students from over 48 countries. MEMG has eight campuses in Manipal, Mangalore, Bangalore, Sikkim, Malaysia, Nepal, Dubai and Muscat and over 160,000 alumni.

24x7 learning, a leading provider of consulting and implementation services in the enterprise learning space in partnership with SkillSoft Inc USA, has launched a comprehensive suite of advanced project management study programmes which address business and technology skills and techniques for planning, tracking, controlling and monitoring business projects. This suite of courses are aligned to the Project Management Institute’s PMBOK guidelines and will help Indian IT professionals qualify as certified project management professionals.

Comments John Catlin, director of SkillSoft Asia-Pacific: "With Indian service providers across knowledge sectors winning and handling very large, complex and global projects, it has led to increased focus on management of such projects and growing demand for talent with project management skillsets. At SkillSoft, we have the most extensive e-learning catalogue in the industry comprising 3,500 courses across 22 major solution areas and 15 languages in the area of project management, a depth of content that is notches ahead of what is available. We believe that our range of courses will meet local requirements and are happy to have 24x7 Learning as our partners."

Adds Anil Chhikara, chief executive of the Bangalore-based 24x7 Learning, "We already have the most comprehensive consulting, product and service offering in the enterprise learning space and this partnership with SkillSoft adds content to that mix. We hope to impress Indian corporates of the benefits of this huge synergy and what it does in terms of their ability to leverage their investments in e-learning."

Sulekha.com has joined hands with AID (Association for India’s Development) to raise funding to help with the relief and rehabilitation of the thousands of people in southern India devastated by the tsunami tragedy of December 26. Within 36 hours of the tsunami, Sulekha’s global community contributed over $250,000, with 50 percent contributed by Sulekha.com’s matching fund.

"While AID is working at providing relief at the grassroots level and raising money, Sulekha.com is tapping the Indian community worldwide to raise funds for AID’s relief efforts. Sulekha matches dollar-for-dollar all contributions made to AID through Sulekha.com, in effect doubling all donations instantly. Contributions to AID Inc. are tax-deductible in the US. Donations can be made at www.sulekha.com/aid," says Arti Patel of Sulekha.

Sulekha.com is a global, interactive platform for connecting people of Indian origin worldwide. Millions of Indians worldwide learn, interact, network and transact through Sulekha’s popular portfolio of interactive services such as classifieds, professional networking, ticketing, blogs, forums etc. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, Sulekha has offices in Seattle, Chennai, Hyderabad and Bangalore and a long track record of raising money for social causes.

The Association for India’s Development is a charitable non-profit organisation with over 40 chapters in the US and has received the highest four star rating of Charity Navigator, America’s best-known independent evaluator of charities. AID projects and partners have also received several national and international awards and citations.