IIT AND KOTA

The JEE (Mains) 2014 final merit list used for admission to various Undergraduate Engineering Programmes is based on 40% of marks scored in School Boards and 60% weightage is given to marks scored in JEE (Mains) . As exams approach its time to study smart so you can perform your best at the JEE Mains examination in April 2014. Here are some tips! Paper 1 B. E/ B. Tech aspirants are required to attempt Paper 1, which consists of objective-type questions divided equally amongst Maths, Physics and Chemistry. The exam may be attempted through computer based testing or pen and paper based testing. Paper 2  B.Arch. /B. Planning aspirants are required to attempt Paper 2 which can only be attempted by pen and paper based testing. The exam is based on Maths (objective-type questions), Aptitude Test and a Drawing Test.  Candidates interested in applying for both B. E/ B. Tech and B.Arch./B. Planning can attempt both Paper 1 and Paper 2. TIPS: - Do not neglect your school studies as

The state government of Odisha has decided replace the Odisha Joint Entrance Exam (OJEE) with the all-India Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Main for the 2014 - 2015 academic session. The selection of students for admission to engineering courses in the institutes in Odisha will be done through JEE (Mains) 2014 only. The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has officially announced that the all India level engineering entrance exam, JEE Main 2014 (Joint Entrance Examination) would be conducted on 6 April, 2014 (offline) and from 9 - 19 April, 2014 (online.) This will be the first time that Odisha will be part of the JEE (Mains) system. Other states such as Maharashtra, Nagaland and Gujarat also plan to opt for JEE Main instead of their own state level examination. There would be two ranks for candidates who qualify in the examination. While the State rank qualifiers would be able to study in Odisha, the all-India rank would help them pursue engineering courses in a

India will help Mauritius set up an institute similar to the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and recognize each other’s degrees, the human resource development ministry said on Thursday. IIT-Delhi will help set up an International Institute of Technology Research Academy (IITRA) in Mauritius, according to an agreement between the two nations. IITRA will start operations from 2014 and provide an educational platform for full-time and part-time post graduate research leading to masters in science and Ph.D. degrees of IIT-Delhi in specific areas. IITRA aims to attract foreign researchers and students to Mauritius, mainly from Africa and Asia, and build core research infrastructure including faculty and facilities as per norms laid by IIT-Delhi. Another agreement was signed between the Association of Indian Universities and Tertiary Education Council of Mauritius for mutual recognition of educational qualifications.

For the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), this placement season may be much beyond their expectations. IITs say, given the economic scenario, they expected placements to be a muted affair, but the response from companies has been quite good. There is more. Placement cells have recorded an increase of 10-20% in average salary levels. The highest salary offered has seen an increase of around 20-90 per cent as compared to last year. Final placements on IIT campuses begin on December 1. "Given the slowdown, we wondered if the placements would be as decent as last year but a good number of companies have confirmed participation allaying our fears," said a placement official from IIT Bombay. A US-based software major has offered the highest salary (so far) of Rs 1.30 crore per annum, to an IIT Bombay student. However, an institute official said this cannot be confirmed till placements begin as the final offer has not been made yet. Last year Samsung (Korea) offered the

  Telecom company Vodafone India is stepping up its campus recruitment plans with greater focus on succession planning and creating a leadership pipeline. It has been increasing the intake of management trainees and hiring from technology campuses, with specific plans to go to the premier Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs). The company also plans to launch its first summer internship programme for tech students this year. The number of trainees will go up to 90 for 2014 from 60 in 2013. Of these, 65 will be management trainees, 20 technology trainees, and five in departments such as finance and marketing. "Two years ago, we were taking just 25-30 people. Focus on investing in more freshers who can be groomed for top roles is becoming a secular trend in telecom," says Ashok Ramchandran, director, human resources, Vodafone India. "Time to success is much lower; cost of failure is much higher. You need a pool of young people with fresh ideas and steeper lear

With less than a fortnight to go for placements to begin at the IITs, the most talked-about thing on the campuses is perhaps the fact that  Facebook  and  Twitter   are not coming for this year's placements. And  IIT Kharagpur  is no exception. The administration is, however, putting up a brave face. Since Twitter never recruited from IIT-Kgp, it only has to lick the Facebook hurt. Last year, the social media site had recruited four students from here. The rest of the recruiters have confirmed their participation to IIT-Kgp, though the number of students that will finally get picked up at the end of placements might be sizeably lower than last year. Last year, 131 students got selected. Perhaps more than Facebook, the campus is ruing the fact that  Rio Tinto , the mining major from Australia, will not participate in placements this year. It has wound up its India operations after completing its contract here, said the institute's placement cell. Similarly,  Mitsubishi ,

The Indian Institute of Technology, Bhubaneswar (IIT-BBS) organised a social campaign ‘Prayatna’ as a part of its annual socio-cultural fest Alma Fiesta recently. During the campaign, the students of the institute visited different schools to propagate eco-friendly ideas and encourage the school students to ‘go green’. An essay competition on innovative green ideas was organised and winners will get an opportunity to express their ideas at IIT fest on January 10, 2014.

American presence at India's campus placements this year will be conspicuous by its absence. Apart from Facebook that isn't visiting any of the IITs, most US companies that do not have operations in India have not registered for placements at the country's tech schools. There's no trace yet of  Twitter , which paid big bucks in the last recruitment season. Slot Zero, the promising opening day of campus placements on December 1, has probably never looked less American.  While most students and faculty members were tight-lipped about the no-show of American companies, several job aspirants said the  US visa   issue last year was a great concern and many American companies that hire in large numbers—and with big pay packets—had decided to stay away from Indian engineering college campuses now. Last year, the annual quota of 65,000 H1-B work visas were snapped up by job-immigrants even before graduating techies had their first degree in hand, forcing many to take an unpaid

Science could save elephants  where political will has failed. IIT-Delhi has designed heat-and-motion sensors that can be fitted on railway tracks to act as an early warning system on movement of animals. The device will be field-tested for the first time on the 165-km tracks between North Bengal's Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar, where 18 elephants have been run over by trains this year alone. Last week, an express train crushed six elephants at Jaldhaka, ramming one of them through the rail bridge where the mangled carcass hung for days as train and after train passed over it. Fifty-two elephants have died in this corridor since 2004. An official of the ministry of environment and forests confirmed receiving the proposal from IIT-Delhi. "The institute was given the go-ahead in July and there were plans to field-test the early-warning device in Uttarakhand's Rajaji first. But keeping in mind the rising jumbo deaths on North Bengal's killer tracks, we might run the pilot te

Tasting success in the solar technology, the Ind­ian Institute of Techn­ology (IIT), Madras, will soon come out with a cost-effective battery technology, which could be used to store large quantity of electricity.   Speaking to DC on Satu­rday, IIT-M director Prof. Bhaskar Ramamurthi said that several faculty at the institute had started their research on optimisation of electricity and appropriate battery technology.   “We are working on lower life cycle cost. We are looking at bulkier, non portable, batteries, which would be used for fixed use. Centre for decentralised photovoltaic systems in our institute is working on how to handle problem of load shedding and harness solar power locally,” he said.   Prof. Ramamurthi says that India en­joys solar power for over 300 days in a year from 9 am to 4 pm with variations. Pointing out that the present solar tech had mismatch of production and storage (battery) of electricity, he said that a person had to spend Rs 14 to stor

In a joint initiative, the Indian Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar (IIT-Gn) and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), US, will develop a series of faculty development programmes for improving education in electrical engineering. Though the programmes will improve instruction in electrical engineering across the nation, the pilot project will begin from Gujarat. In fact, the state's engineering institutes will experience the specialized programmes this month itself between November 13 and 17. The FDP was envisaged in 2012 during a meeting of IIT-Gn and IEEE officials and a rigorous course content in four key areas of electrical engineering - introductory electronics, electronic devices, circuit analysis, and digital systems - was developed. "Before launching the FDP at the national level, we decided to conduct a pilot project for the electrical engineering faculty in Gujarat," said Prof Sudhir Jain, director, IIT-Gn. The pilot project wi

Parents of students who aspire to get into NITs and IITs feel the eight facilitation centres announced by CBSE for the State to help aspirants with the admission process are not adequate. Starting this year, the admission process of JEE (mains) – the entrance exam for IITs and NITs and other reputed engineering colleges – goes completely online. Parents feel Tamil Nadu, with a high number of applicants could do with more assistance. Nearly 40,000 students from Tamil Nadu wrote the exam last year. The application process began on November 15 and will go on till December 26. Facilitation centres, said CBSE officials, will guide aspirants through the admission process – online submission of forms, documents, signatures, photographs, preferences and fees – free of cost. In Tamil Nadu, only three schools in Chennai and one each in Madurai, Tiruchi, Vellore, Tirunelveli and Coimbatore have been designated as facilitation centres. Other States like Maharashtra and Gujara

Setting up educational institutions of national repute such as IITs, IIMs in Seemandhra will be a tough task. Officials say the budgetary allocations being made to the Union human resource development ministry every year as part of the ongoing XII Five-Year-Plan (2012-17) will not be sufficient for the purpose. The current allocations are not adequate to meet the budgetary needs of existing institutions, which are exploring various options such as increase in fees, and cut in scholarships. Officials estimate that nearly Rs 8,500 crore would be required to set up these institutes in Seemandhra, and the XII Plan allocations will have to be increased manifold. More than funds, it’s the amount of time that would take to set up these institutions. For instance, the proposal to set up IIT-Hyderabad was first mooted in 2001 by the then TD government but it took over seven years to materialise in 2008. It is still running from the temporary campus at the Ordinance Factory in Medak. F

Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Admi Party (AAP) has harnessed hundreds of the most fertile young minds in the Capital. Young students - some too young to even vote this time - from the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi (IIT-D) are firing up the AAP campaign engine. Kejriwal is an IIT alumnus too. Almost 500 students from IIT-D are working around the clock to ensure that AAP has a gamechanging impact in the upcoming Delhi Assembly elections. From managing social media accounts, creating websites to promote the party and going door to door for campaigning, the young students are going the distance for the political party of their choice. "We go in groups to various constituencies and meet people personally. Each volunteer talks to a family and informs them about the plans of AAP. We also listen to their problems and make a note of it, which we later on give to our AAP candidate in that constituency so that solutions can be found," said Anil Kori, a former

Starting next year, post-graduate students and research scholars at IIT- Madras can be co-guided in their projects by academic experts in Australia, along with their professors at their institute. As part of a collaborative programme launched by IIT- Madras with the University of Melbourne recently, students from the institute will also get to spend about a year in Australia for their research. Dean of International and Alumni Relations at IIT-Madras, Prof. R. Nagarajan said the multi-million-dollar scholarship programme — Melbourne-India Postgraduate Program — will link the University of Melbourne with IIT- Madras, IIT-Kanpur and the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore (IISc). This will help researchers in these institutes carry out research jointly and also facilitate collaborative supervision of Ph. D work, he added.  “University of Melbourne has a very strong research culture. And, spending some time doing work there will only make our students and faculty members better