Confluence 2016: Global Technology, Innovation & Entrepreneurship Summit, a two-day event held at the Amity University campus in Noida on January 14-15, attracted participation of academics and corporate leaders from India and around the world.
Among the delegates were representatives of some of the world’s top-ranked higher ed institutions including Cambridge and Nottingham universities in the UK; Massachusetts, Purdue, Stanford and Cornell universities in the US; University of Cape Town, South Africa; University of Technology, Sydney (Australia); Istanbul University, Turkey and Intel Corporation, USA among others.
During the two-day summit focused on the theme ‘Cloud system and big data engineering’, Amity University, Noida — ranked among India’s Top 5 private universities in the EducationWorld India University Rankings 2015 — signed six MoUs (memoranda of understanding) with participating institutions including the University of Massachusetts, USA; Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada; and Intel Corporation, to co-operate in inter-disciplinary research.
“We are delighted with the MoUs and international alliances forged at Confluence 2016. Under the MoU signed with Intel, Amity will co-develop a state-of-the-art Hi Computing Laboratory at Amity which will benefit students immensely,” said Dr. Ashok K. Chauhan, founder-president of the Amity group of institutions, speaking on the occasion.
Wharton’s young leaders programme
Knowledge@Wharton High School (KWHS), a unit of the global Knowledge@Wharton network of online business journals at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, has invited applications from high school students for its forthcoming 2016 summer programme, KWHS Global Young Leaders Academy.
Launched last year, the objective of the academy is to promote entrepreneurship, leadership, business and finance skills among secondary school students around the world through classroom content, exchange programmes and competitions. The intensive three-week academic programmes will be held at Wharton in Philadelphia between May-July 2016. High school students aged 15-18 years are eligible to apply through BrainGain magazine, a study-abroad online magazine collaborating with KWHS on this programme. The last date for applications is March 31, 2016. Applications can be submitted online on http://wharton.braingainmag.com. The fee for the two-week programme is US $5,000 (Rs.3.4 lakh) per student including tuition, on-campus lodging and board.
“Governments in emerging economies are stressing the need for radical policy transformations to accelerate education and skills-building among young people to make each country more globally competitive. We believe the KWHS Global Young Leaders Academy will give high school students an opportunity to learn so they can become successful, compassionate and ethical business leaders of the future,” says Mukul Pandya, executive director and editor-in-chief, Knowledge@Wharton Network.
British Council launches myEnglish
British Council, the UK’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities, launched myEnglish, a unique “blended learning course” in Bengaluru on January 13. myEnglish combines the latest education technology and student-centred classroom instruction to improve students’ English language skills. This comprehensive course will be available at six levels, in customised nine-week training modules.
Under the blended learning format, students access learning materials online under teacher guidance, and participate in practice tests through weekly online ‘virtual classrooms’. Additionally, students attend face-to-face sessions to develop speaking skills through group discussions.
Comments Sharon Memis, area director, West India of the British Council: ‘There’s been a paradigm shift in learning over the past few years. People are looking for flexible, new ways to skill themselves. myEnglish is a response to that need.”
The course focuses on language skills, communication in real life contexts, grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation and self-study skills. After a successful launch in Pune, this course is now being offered to the general public in Mumbai and Bengaluru.
Arora adjudged women’s champion
Meenal Arora, member of the management of DPS, Pinjore and director, Shemrock & Shemford group of schools, has been adjudged a winner in the #100 Women Contest, organised by the Union ministry of women & child development. Arora was among 100 women achievers felicitated by President Pranab Mukherjee on January 22 at Rashtrapati Bhavan, Delhi.
Arora was voted a woman achiever in the category of ‘women empowerment’, for her contribution to raising education standards and empowering women in her schools. Shemrock & Shemford group of schools comprise 525 owned and franchised preschools, primary and senior schools with an aggregate enrolment of 300,000 children across India, Nepal and Bangladesh.
An estimated 70 percent of the 525-plus Shemrock and Shemford branches are owned and managed by women franchisees, while an additional 5,000 women are employed as teachers and principals.