Globally, Insead based in France and Singapore is ranked as the top B-school followed by London Business School, and the University of Chicago: Booth. Even as European colleges have got the top places, it’s the US-based institutes which have continued to retain their dominance over the ranking index.

FT Global MBA ranking 2021: The Indian School of Business (ISB) is ranked as the best institute in India by the Financial Times’ Global MBA rankings which lists the top 100 MBA courses offered across the world. ISB has taken the 23rd spot across the globe. A total of five institutes from India have been ranked among the best 100 MBA colleges in the world. Apart from ISB, the rest of the representations from India are from the IIMs.

Globally, Insead — based in France and Singapore — is ranked as the top B-school followed by London Business School, and the University of Chicago: Booth. Even as European colleges have got the top places, it’s the US-based institutes which have continued to retain their dominance over the ranking index. A total of 9 out of the top 20 institutes are from the US.

Here’s the list of top B-schools in India –

Rank 23: Indian School of Business
Rank 35: IIM Bangalore
Rank 44: IIM Calcutta
Rank 48: IIM Ahmedabad
Rank 94: IIM Indore

Top 10 in the world –

Rank 1: Insead
Rank 2: London Business School
Rank 3: University of Chicago: Booth
Rank 4: Iese Business School
Rank 5: Yale School of Management
Rank 6: Northwestern University: Kellogg
Rank 7: Ceibs
Rank 8: HEC Paris
Rank 9: Duke University: Fuqua
Rank 10: Dartmouth College: Tuck

The ranking is calculated based on the salaries drawn by the alumni three years after graduation, quality of research, value for money, among others. This year, Harvard, Stanford, and Wharton have suspended participation.

(Picture: Indian Express)

The University of Virginia drew a record 48,000 applications for the next class in Charlottesville – about 15 percent more than the year before.
Freshman applications to the University of California at Berkeley crossed into six figures for the first time, totaling more than 112,000, up 28 percent. Harvard University’s total spiked to an all-time high of 57,000. That’s up 42 percent.
The sudden explosion in demand for these and other big-name schools is another ripple effect of the coronavirus pandemic that could reshape college admissions for many years to come. The pandemic has given huge – and in some places, decisive – momentum to a movement to reduce or even eliminate the use of admissions testing at highly competitive colleges and universities. That, in turn, has lured more applicants to the upper tier of the market. U-Va. and Harvard were among a large bloc of schools that temporarily suspended their requirements for SAT or ACT scores because the public health emergency prevented many college-bound students from taking the exams. Students could choose whether to send scores to these schools under a policy known as “test-optional.”
On Friday, U-Va. President James Ryan said the public university will extend its test-optional policy for another two years, covering students who are now sophomores and juniors in high school.
“We believe this is a reasonable and humane response to one pressure that our prospective students are facing as a result of COVID-19,” Ryan said in a statement. “We want students to focus on things they can control: doing their best in school; cultivating their curiosity; contributing to their families, schools, and communities. In a moment where so many things are uncertain, we hope this decision makes the admissions process more accessible and equitable for students who are considering the University of Virginia.”
Harvard said Friday it will be test-optional for one more year – covering those who are now high school juniors – and reiterated that those who do not submit scores “will not be disadvantaged in the application process.”
UC-Berkeley has taken a more radical step. It removed the SAT and ACT from admission decisions, a policy known as “test-free” or “test-blind.” A state court last fall ordered the UC system to apply that policy across all its campuses for this year’s applicants. The system’s approach to admission testing for coming years is still in some flux, but the UC governing board voted last spring to phase out the SAT and ACT.
The College Board, which owns the SAT, said it supports “flexibility in admissions during the pandemic.” The rival ACT takes much the same position.
“I think a lot of schools are going to stay test-optional,” said ACT chief executive Janet Godwin. But she said research shows that “higher ed still does see value in scores for a whole bunch of reasons.”
Testing, she said, helps colleges connect with potential applicants and vice versa. She said she worries that many students might miss out on opportunities if they don’t take an admission test. Access and equity, she said, are “the driving force behind everything we do.” About a quarter million students are registered for the ACT’s next test date on Feb. 6.
Overall, the strength of the student pipeline into higher education during the pandemic appears uneven.
The Common Application, an online portal for hundreds of colleges and universities, reports that about 1 million students applied this year ahead of January deadlines. Application totals fell modestly at public universities with fewer than 10,000 undergraduates and at small private colleges that tend to admit most applicants.
There was also a 2 percent dip in applicants with enough financial need to receive fee waivers, and a 3 percent drop in those who would be among the first in their families to go to college. Jenny Rickard, president and chief executive of the Common App, said she was “very concerned” about those declines.
But the Common App found a surge of applications to schools with national and global reputations. At large public universities, including state flagships, totals rose more than 11 percent. At private schools with more selective admissions, they rose more than 17 percent.
Shifts in admissions testing policy, experts say, played a key role.
“This barrier, i.e. standardized testing, was taken down, and maybe some students put their hats in the ring who otherwise wouldn’t have,” said Eric Furda, who recently stepped down after 12 years as dean of admissions at the University of Pennsylvania.
Test-optional policies have helped hundreds of thousands of students this year who struggled to find a time and a place to take the SAT or ACT. But advocates say they also are helping students realize that their courses and grades in high school are what matter most.
Stephanie Sylla, 17, a high school senior from Woodbridge, Va., spent months last year preparing to take the SAT in August. Sylla said she went “hard core” starting in June, practicing as much as two hours a day, reading test-preparation books, getting the feel of the three-hour exam. She wanted a score to align with her credentials as a student with a strong grade-point average, a transcript full of challenging classes and time spent on extracurricular activities such as debate and varsity volleyball. A daughter of immigrants from the West African nation of Guinea, Sylla said college is vital to her and her family. Shortly before the test date, she got an email saying her SAT session had been canceled because of the pandemic.
She tried to register for a September session but found nothing available. It sunk in for her that she could forgo testing. Initially skeptical of test-optional policies, she had learned more about the issue from a U-Va. admissions officer who assured Sylla and other classmates that applications would be judged, regardless of whether they submitted a score, on the strength of their entire academic record and other accomplishments and life experiences.
So Sylla has applied, without scores, to U-Va. and a range of other competitive schools. The test-optional policy, she said, “really changed my perspective on how I look at my achievements.” What she has done in and out of school is enough, she said, to give a picture of her college potential. “It’s really helped build confidence in what I’ve been able to do.”
Some schools, such as Bowdoin College in Maine, have been test-optional for decades, while others joined the movement more recently, including the University of Chicago in 2018. But the pandemic has accelerated the trend. Many universities launched multiyear experiments with test-optional policies last year or ended testing requirements permanently.
Several ultra-selective schools that had announced one-year pauses in testing requirements are extending those measures. Williams and Amherst colleges, prominent liberal arts schools, will be test-optional for those applying to enter in 2022 and 2023. Columbia and Cornell universities, like Harvard, have suspended testing requirements for the 2022 cycle, and others in the Ivy League appear likely to follow suit.
“All of the challenges that we saw last year still remain,” said Logan Powell, dean of admission at Brown University. Powell said Brown’s applications under the test-optional process are up 26 percent, with gains across demographic groups including first-generation students.
Cornell said it received 17,000 more applications than the year before. That was a major increase, although 2020 figures were not immediately available for comparison. Jonathan Burdick, the vice provost for enrollment, said applications rose from first-generation, low-income, rural, Black and Hispanic groups. Some of Cornell’s programs, in business, agriculture and architecture, are experimenting with test-blind admission.
“We’re accumulating great information about how students respond and how to conduct whole-person reviews with either far fewer or no SAT/ACT scores,” Burdick wrote in an email. “We expect to put this new knowledge to use as we consider how to continue reducing admission barriers while maintaining highly selective standards over the next couple of years.”
This month, Pennsylvania State University added two years to its test-optional policy. What was once a pandemic-driven emergency measure has become, effectively, a longer-term experiment for the public university. Applications to the Penn State flagship campus are way up, said Robert Springall, executive director of undergraduate admissions. More than half of the 78,000 applicants did not submit scores.
“We wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to really think and assess how the first test-optional cohort does,” Springall said. Two more years, he said, “gives us the opportunity to really do a fair assessment.”
Maryland higher education officials will soon weigh testing policies for coming years. The University of Maryland at College Park reports that applications in this test-optional year surpassed 41,000, up more than 25 percent. Just over half did not send SAT or ACT scores. “We are seeing increases across the spectrum in diverse applicants,” said James Massey, U-Md.’ s director of undergraduate admissions. “We’re happy to have a deeper pool, obviously, as most institutions would be.”
(Picture: Times Herald)

When you go to University, it is very important to be successful. University prepares you for your future job. When you apply for jobs, your future employers will look at your university transcripts. In addition, if you want to go to professional or graduate school, you will need to do well. There are a number of steps you can take to be successful at University, including taking advantage of an essay writing service. Read on to learn how to be successful in school.

1. Don’t Skip Your Classes

Oftentimes, college students have a budget of how many classes they will cut each semester. It’s easy to think you will get the notes from someone else. However, getting the notes isn’t the same thing as being there, so you will miss some of the content. That will likely affect you when it is time for the exams. You should plan to go to your classes so that you are prepared for your exams.

2. Use a Planner

When you go to the University, you will not have your parents there to remind you of what you need to do. It will be your responsibility to go to your classes, study, and get things done. The best way to manage this is to have a planner and write out what you need to do every week. You will be more organized, and you will be more successful as well.

3. Get to Know Your Professors

In addition to teaching your classes, your professors will have office hours throughout the week. This time is specifically set aside to work with students and help them understand material. You should get to know your professors and go over anything you have questions about. Students often don’t realize how easily they can understand concepts if they simply ask the questions. Something that seems ridiculously complicated might be cleared up very easily by asking the questions.

4. Take Advantage of Essay Writing Services

Sometimes it can be overwhelming to balance all of your courses with work, studying, and writing papers. Some classes will require papers, and you may not have enough hours in the day to get it done. Rather than pulling an all-nighter and stressing out over it, take advantage of an essay writing service. These people know how to get the paper done quickly, and it can be a learning experience for you as well. When you have an example of how the paper should be done, you can learn tips for writing your next paper.

5. Take One Class Each Semester That Satisfies Your Intellectual Curiosity

In addition to general studies requirements and requirements for your major, you will have electives as part of your courses needed for graduation. Each semester, choose one elective that is something you want to learn about. This will provide balance in your education so that you have something you look forward to doing as a part of your studies.

6. Study Efficiently

Many students are not aware that a lot of your learning is done outside of the classroom. You will have lectures where your professors discuss concepts and teach you, but it is up to you to read the assigned reading and take notes. You need to plan time every day to devote to studying for your courses. If you wait until the exams, you will not be able to prepare. Taking notes on your reading every week and keeping them organized will make it much simpler when you are getting ready for the final.

7. Learn About Professors Before You Take Their Classes

It is a good idea to learn as much as you can about professors before you sign up for their classes. You may be able to find an online lecture and ask other students. You can find out whether the professor has a straightforward teaching style or whether he or she is engaging and interesting. You want to learn as much as possible in your classes, so it is a good idea to make sure that you find out if people have had bad experiences with a professor.

8. Answer the Questions Literally on Exams

Usually professors have planned every question they ask you on an exam, and they will expect you to respond specifically to that question. It may be tempting to fill in other information, but you should look at the question and answer exactly what is asked. Try to draw on your lectures, your reading, and other information and develop an answer based on the question. Most of the time, your professor will have hinted at what kinds of questions will be on the exam during the lectures. Pay attention to what your professor talks about because he or she will spend more time covering topics that are likely to appear on your tests.

Indian professor Shobhana Narasimhan from JNU has been elected as an International Honorary Member to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein and Nelson Mandela have been a part of this list.

Professor Shobhana Narasimhan from the Theoretical Sciences Unit (TSU) at the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), an autonomous institute under the Department of Science & Technology, has been elected as an International Honorary Member to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

The American Academy of Arts and Sciences honours scholars and leaders who have distinguished themselves in the sciences, arts, humanities and public life. The list of previous International Honorary Members includes Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein and Nelson Mandela.
Prof Narasimhan heads the Computational Nanoscience group at JNCASR. She has done significant work on the rational design of nanomaterials, examining how the lowering of dimensionality and reduction of size affect material properties.

Her work is relevant for a number of different applications, such as nanocatalysts for clean energy applications, and magnetic materials for memory storage.

Her group predicted that the morphology and reactivity of gold nanoparticles deposited on oxide substrates can be tuned by doping the support with electron donors or acceptors.

Prof. Narasimhan has also been very active in the promotion of women in STEM in India and abroad. She was a member of the Working Group for Women in Physics of IUPAP.

Since 2013, she has been co-organizing Career Development Workshops for Women in Physics at the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) in Trieste, Italy, and the ICTP-EAIFR in Kigali, Rwanda.

She became a Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, India in 2011 and also received the Stree Shakti Samman Science Award in 2010 and the Kalpana Chawla Woman Scientist Award of the Government of Karnataka in 2010.

Prof. Narasimhan was a member of two committees set up by Govt. of India – the National Task Force on Women in Science, and the Standing Committee on Women in Science, to advise the government on how it can promote the cause of women scientists.

She has been involved with the Quantum ESPRESSO group as well as ASESMA (the African School for Electronic Structure Methods and Applications) in teaching solid-state physics and Density Functional Theory in workshops in Asia and Africa. She is a member of the Executive Committee of ASESMA, and also a member of the Scientific Council of the ICTP-EAIFR (East African Institute of Fundamental Research) in Kigali, Rwanda.

Before joining JNCASR in 1996, Prof. Narasimhan completed her Master’s at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay, in physics, and a PhD in physics at Harvard University under the supervision of Prof. David Vanderbilt. She worked as a postdoc at Brookhaven National Lab in New York, USA and then at the Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society in Berlin, Germany. She was also formerly the chair of the Theoretical Sciences Unit, as well as the Dean of Academic Affairs at JNCASR.

HarperCollins Publishers India will be publishing three new books by Amitav Ghosh, winner of the prestigious Jnanpith Award and one of the most acclaimed Indian writers. The first of these, ‘Jungle-nama’, to be published in is a verse adaptation of an episode from the epic of the Sundarbans, the legend of Bon Bibi. The second book is a new collection of essays, while the third one is a work of non-fiction based on his research for the Ibis Trilogy.

Ghosh said, “They will be out in 2020, 2021 and 2022. I am immensely passionate about these books and I hope that my readers will enjoy reading them as much as I have liked working on them.”

Udayan Mitra, Publisher–Literary at HarperCollins India, who acquired the books, added, “Amitav Ghosh is a truly exceptional writer; every new book from him is a publishing event and a delight for booklovers everywhere. It is a great privilege for us at HarperCollins India to be publishing his next three books which are going to make for fascinating reading.”

Amitav Ghosh’s work has been translated into more than thirty languages and he has been honoured across the world for his work.

In 2019, Foreign Policy magazine named him one of the most important global thinkers of the preceding decade.

The same year, the Jnanpith Award, India’s highest literary honour, was conferred on him — making him the first English-language writer to receive the award.

“Will You Play With Me?” a children’s book by Dr. Chitra Dinakar, a thought leader in the field of food allergy, depicts a series of heartwarming scenarios to model empathy and inclusivity for young children exposed to individuals with disabilities.

In this captivating children’s book, characters subtly embrace each other’s differences and reframe ways to interact meaningfully and play together. The child engaging in the kind and caring action is rewarded by appreciation and fun.

Illustrations in the book are by Akshay Dinakar, who is a product designer who graduated from Stanford University. He is an entrepreneur focused on the intersection of engineering and personal wellness.

Loving children comes naturally to this physician of Indian origin. The opportunity to help care for the health and well-being of children, was compelling and irresistible, which inspired her to take up this noble Medical profession.

On graduating as the valedictorian from high-school, she was fortunate to be selected to join one of the premier medical institutions in India, Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER).

Dr. Dinakar is a Clinical Professor at Stanford University and a nationally renowned pediatrician and allergist/immunologist. She believes it is vital to nurture young children, who are naturally accepting and impressionable, to be sensitive to the challenges of disability.

According to Dr. Dinakar, “I wrote this book mainly to spread awareness and encourage empathy, and to raise money for cancer and disabilities research and cure.”

“I have been working on this book with Akshay on this book for some months now. The idea came to me when I was paralyzed from the intrathecal methotrexate toxicity, in July 2019,” says Dr. Dinakar about the origins of the book. “However, I have been mostly in the hospital or infusion centers, and it was hard to make time and energy for this. But we are very excited, Amazon has published the book online.”

Prof. Kuzhikkalail M. Abraham, a pioneer in the development of rechargeable lithium and lithium ion batteries, was honored with the Academic Excellence Award at New England Choice Award gala at Westin Hotel in Waltham, MA on Nov. 15, 2019.

Berklee College of Music President Roger Brown, who has promoted Indian music and encouraged Indian musicians through scholarships, was among the other seven Indian American achievers from a variety of fields and a non-profit organization who were  awarded the prestigious New England Choice Awards 2019.

About 400 entrepreneurs, corporate executives, philanthropists, educators and community leaders attended the New England Choice Awards gala. INE received over 350 nominations for these awards. A jury of 12 individuals selected the final winners. Click here to meet the 2019 judging committee.

The work Prof. Kuzhikkalail M. Abraham and his research team carried out in late 1970s and early 1980s contributed to the demonstration of one of the first practical rechargeable lithium battery and helped transform Li-ion batteries from a laboratory curiosity to a technology indispensable for everyday life today.

He is also inventor of the ultrahigh energy density non-aqueous lithium-air battery which is under development in many laboratories around the world and has been subject of thousands of journal publications and many symposia in lithium battery meetings world-wide.

“When I started my career forty three years ago, rechargeable lithium battery was a mere laboratory curiosity,” Prof. Abraham said. “Fast forward four decades, they have become household items which we cannot live without as they power all the mobile devices essential for everyday life. I have the extreme satisfaction that I have been able to contribute to the practical realization of this very important technology. I also have the satisfaction of training and educating young colleagues and students in the lithium battery field, and they are now carrying on the work and contributing to the future growth of this important technical field.”

Recalling his past, Dr. Abraham said, he grew up in a modest middle class family in a village in Kerala as the oldest of nine children. College education was not something most young people in that part of the country thought about. “Two close family members inspired me in different ways to become successful. My maternal grandfather with whom I spent a lot of my early life encouraged me to study hard and achieve the highest education I could. Another person who was very important in my early life was my uncle (father’s younger brother) who provided financial assistance for me to attend college. I am pleased that I have been largely able to live up to their expectations.”

The simple principles he uses in his everyday life, Dr. Abraham said, “Firstly, whatever work I am involved with, try to do the best job I can. Secondly, success is not measured by the number of tasks a person starts, but by the number of tasks the person completes. These principles have allowed me to sustain a relatively long work life with enjoyment and with technical and financial success.”

The important thing is to recognize the mistake and figure out what has occurred, Dr. Abraham said. “This happened to me in an experiment my colleague and I were conducting. We recognized that the unexpected results were due to an error in the experimental procedure, but characterizing what had happened led to the invention of the Lithium-air battery, the highest energy density battery presently known.”

“New England Choice Awards has become one of the important platforms to showcase the rewarding work done by Indian Americans in New England and those who contribute to enrichment of our community. It is great to see the bar get raised every year,” INE MultiMedia, a non-profit organization, that organized the event, said

Three Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) between Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey and two academic institutions in India were signed as part of a seven-day, six-city trade mission led by Governor Phil Murphy to strengthen economic ties and promote business investments in New Jersey.

Two MOUs were signed with the Shreemati Nathibai Damodar Thackersey Women’s University (SNDT) and one with the Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar (IITGN).

Rutgers and SNDT will collaborate on scientific research in agricultural, nutrition and food technology innovation and pursue the development of an AgriFood accelerator and incubator programs. The agreement with IITGN will promote student and faculty exchanges between the institutions and collaborative research projects, workshops or conferences, according to a press release.

“Rutgers understands the value of international partnerships in fostering academic and research opportunities in today’s interconnected world,” said S. David Kimball, Senior Vice President for Research and Economic Development at Rutgers University. “We look forward to these alliances with SNDT and IITGN and promoting the advancement of academic, research and educational exchanges that will open new doors for faculty and students at all three institutions.”

IITGN also signed academic exchanges with three other New Jersey universities: Rowan University, New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), and New Jersey City University (NJCU).

“Globalization is one of the core pillars of IIT Gandhinagar’s educational philosophy. We are excited about partnering with some of New Jersey’s leading public universities to create new opportunities for students and faculty of all our institutions for academic and research collaborations,” said IITGN Director Sudhir Jain.

Pavita Howe, director of the Office of Research and Economic Development’s TechAdvance Fund, represented Rutgers University on the economic mission trip to India as part of the New Jersey delegation that joined Governor Murphy.

“India is a major source of cutting-edge research as well as entrepreneurial creativity, and this business mission was an important first step in developing new relationships that will result in valuable research collaborations and business opportunities,” added Howe.

New Jersey has one of the fastest growing Indian population with nearly 300,000 Indians living in the state according to the Census. The delegation’s mission was to highlight the state’s innovation ecosystem with one of New Jersey’s largest trade and investment partners, cultivate international investment opportunities in the Garden State, and deepen cultural and educational ties between New Jersey and India.

The New Jersey delegation included First Lady Tammy Murphy, Choose New Jersey President and CEO Jose Lozano, New Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJEDA) CEO Tim Sullivan, and other senior administration, Choose New Jersey officials and representatives from NJIT, Rowan, Princeton University, and New Jersey City University.

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a leading national research university and the state of New Jersey’s preeminent, comprehensive public institution of higher education. Established in 1766, the university is the eighth oldest higher education institution in the United States. More than 70,000 students and 23,400 full- and part-time faculty and staff learn, work, and serve the public at Rutgers locations across New Jersey and around the world.

The first round in the lawsuit against Harvard University’s admissions program yielded a decisive victory for the status quo on affirmative action in higher education, with a federal judge ratifying how one of the world’s most prestigious schools uses race and ethnicity to choose a class and rejecting claims of discrimination against Asian Americans.

But the plaintiff, Students for Fair Admissions, which lost on all counts in the judge’s ruling this week, pledged an appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit. Eventually, the case could reach the Supreme Court. That would provide opponents of affirmative action another potential opening to overturn decades of precedent from the high court allowing race-conscious admissions, in a limited way, without racial quotas.

Most observers read Tuesday’s decision from U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs in Boston as an endorsement of an admissions system used at many selective colleges. That system, known as “holistic review,” takes race into account as one among many factors in a prospective student’s background.

“It appears to be a slam dunk for Harvard,” Peter McDonough, vice president and general counsel for the American Council on Education, said after the ruling. “It is close to a slam dunk for colleges and universities across the country.” The council, a prominent advocate for higher education, had joined with other groups in a friend-of-the-court brief supporting the Harvard model.

McDonough acknowledged that a potential Supreme Court showdown looms. “But for today the story line is the unambiguous nature of the judge’s ruling,” he said. “The judge has taken 130 pages to forcefully say ‘Harvard wins.’ ”

Critics of race-conscious admissions lamented the ruling. They accused Burroughs of shrugging off questions the suit raised about why Asian American applicants tended to receive lower ratings from Harvard admission officers for their personal qualities.

“Today marks a dark day for millions of Asian American children nationwide,” Yukong Zhao, president of the Asian American Coalition for Education, said in a statement. “Our nation has witnessed another immoral attempt by America’s ruling class to continue their institutionalized discrimination against Asian American children and treat them as second-class citizens with regard to educational opportunities.”

Another group applauded the decision as a “critical victory” for Asian American students. “While we must do more to ensure that Asian American students do not face unequal opportunities through harassment, stereotyping and language barriers,” said Aarti Kohli, executive director of Advancing Justice-Asian Law Caucus, “the use of race-conscious admissions policies – which safeguard against discrimination – is an important step.”

Roger Clegg, general counsel of the Center for Equal Opportunity, which opposes what he described as racial preferences, said the ruling was not a surprise. “I don’t think it’s going to change the trajectory of what I think everybody expects to be a case that ends up before the Supreme Court,” he said. Clegg pointed to survey data from the Pew Research Center showing most Americans don’t support the use of race in admissions.

Affirmative action is not a universal practice in admissions. Several states, including California, ban race-conscious admissions in public universities. But a substantial number of competitive private and public schools acknowledge taking race into account.

Students for Fair Admissions, which says it represents rejected Asian American applicants, filed its suit in November 2014, alleging violations of civil rights law and of Supreme Court mandates. The group claimed that Harvard intentionally discriminated against Asian Americans, that it sought to “balance” its admitted class to meet preconceived targets for racial and ethnic groups, that it leaned too heavily on race as a factor in admission deliberations, and that it failed to give adequate consideration to race-neutral alternatives.

Burroughs rejected all the claims. The judge wrote that testimony from Harvard admission officers denying discrimination was “consistent, unambiguous and convincing.” She also noted that the plaintiff chose not to put an individual face onto its case. There was no individual analogue to Bakke, Grutter, Gratz or Fisher – all surnames of plaintiffs from previous eras who became part of the Supreme Court’s record on affirmative action.

Students for Fair Admissions, Burroughs wrote, “did not present a single Asian American applicant who was overtly discriminated against or who was better qualified than an admitted white applicant when considering the full range of factors that Harvard values in its admissions process.”

The judge wrote that Harvard’s record was not perfect. In a footnote, she wrote that “some slight implicit biases among some admission officers” may have affected the personal ratings of certain applicants. “While regrettable,” she wrote, such biases “cannot be completely eliminated in a process that must rely on judgments about individuals.”

She also admonished Harvard to follow the Supreme Court’s dictate from its most recent ruling on affirmative action, in 2016: that universities must continue to use data to scrutinize the fairness of their admissions programs and “assess whether changing demographics have undermined the need for a race-conscious policy.”

But Burroughs generally accepted the premise behind Harvard’s efforts: that consideration of race was necessary for the university to maintain a diverse campus. The judge cited the experience of Ruth Simmons, former president of Brown University and current president of Prairie View A&M University, as “perhaps the most cogent and compelling testimony presented at this trial.” Born in a sharecropper’s shack in Texas, Simmons became a pioneering African American leader in higher education.

Burroughs quoted Simmons at length in the conclusion of her ruling. “It’s very hard for me to overstate my conviction about the benefits that flow to all of these areas from a diverse undergraduate student body,” Simmons testified. “I know something about the lack of diversity in one’s education. . . . My father was a janitor, my mother was a maid. They had been sharecroppers, they had few opportunities. I lived through that. I remember it. So to me, the benefits that flow to students is they get a better education, a deeper education, a truer education to deal with what they’re going to have to deal with in life.”

The judge then added: “For purposes of this case, at least for now, ensuring diversity at Harvard relies, in part, on race conscious admissions.”

Doha, Qatar – September 18, 2019 – Located in the heart of one of the most advanced media and communication schools in the world, The Media Majlis at Northwestern University in Qatar, which is dedicated to the exploration of journalism, communication, and media in the Arab region, has opened at Northwestern University’s campus in Doha.

The Media Majlis features a multi-screen façade, as well as space where exhibition content and technology converge. The technology elevates visitors’ experience by inviting them to participate in a global conversation on a continually changing media landscape.

Drawing its name from the traditional Arab majlis—or gathering place—the museum seeks to be a vital source of interpersonal communication that connects values of local culture to universal and global concerns. All exhibitions are bilingual in English and Arabic, adding to the museum’s global essence and eliminating language barriers from telling the full story.

“The Media Majlis, a decade in the making, is a space where our students and faculty, as well as the general public can engage with content that examines media influences and impact,” said Everette E. Dennis, dean and CEO at NU-Q. “The museum’s programming, which will explore everything from Arab representations in film, to censorship and identity, underscores the importance of media in society and draws on images and materials from local sources and global collections.”

A group of international media scholars and experts formed a Content Advisory Board that advised the university as it developed this unique museum where its exhibitions and programs are incorporated into the school’s curriculum and all exhibitions and programming is open to the public.

A member of the advisory board, Lisa Corrin, the director of the Block Museum of Art at Northwestern University in Evanston, noted the connection between the mission of the Media Majlis and the academic program at NU-Q.

“The museum’s mission is to amplify the raison d’etre of Northwestern University – to be a portal through which young minds can learn to think critically about how the vast media landscapes shape our world and in turn how they can use these platforms to have influence in and beyond Qatar,” she said.

Exhibitions at the Media Majlis are curated so that visitors can journey through media-centric themes, exploring hundreds of images and films, as well as scores of original interviews – developed in-house – with scholars and professionals who are experts on the museum’s current exhibition topic.

The Media Majlis’s inaugural exhibition, Arab Identities, images in film, considers how over a century of film history has shaped and been shaped by notions of Arab identities. The exhibition, which features clips from more than 200 films ranging from the 1880s to the present day, is accompanied by loans posters, lobby cards and drawings from regional private collections in Kuwait and Beirut, as well as international, including a print from 1851 on loan from the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. The exhibition will be on view through December.

The Media Majlis is surrounded by academic resources and learning spaces. Located in the building that houses Northwestern’s campus in Qatar, it has access to a projection theatre for screening films, a black box for theatrical dramas, and a world-class fully-automated Newsroom, along with an auditorium that seats more than 100.

This space provides the Media Majlis with the opportunity to offer programming tied to each exhibition. Pamela Erskine-Loftus, director of the Media Majlis said, “Our exhibitions are complemented by a series of programs and publications that examine and discuss various angles to provide audiences with a 360-degree engagement experience, leaving them more empowered and knowledgeable to make their own opinion on the subject at hand.”

For the current exhibition, Arab Identities, images in film, programming includes exclusive film screenings with prominent filmmakers such as the director of the Academy Award nominated “Paradise Now,” Hany Abu-Assad; Palestinian filmmaker Annemarie Jacir; and the Syrian directors and sisters Soudade Kaadan and Amira Kaadan.

In addition to the screenings, programming also includes panel discussions on topics such as the art of critiquing film, the challenges of becoming an Arab filmmaker, and how the history of the Arab world changes alongside an ever-changing environment of film and journalism.

The Media Majlis was officially dedicated by Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, chairperson of the Qatar Foundation, along with Her Excellency Sheikha Hind bint Hamad, vice-chairperson and CEO of the foundation; Morton Schapiro, president of Northwestern University; Jonathan Holloway, provost; and Dean Dennis.

To learn more about the museum and its programs, please visit: https://mediamajlis.northwestern.edu/en

Northwestern University in Qatar draws from its parent organization, Northwestern University (Evanston, Illinois), a distinguished history, famous programs, and an exceptional faculty. Founded in partnership with the Qatar Foundation, NU-Q provides a framework through which students explore the world and, ultimately, shape its future through its distinguished programs in communication and journalism and strategic communication, and the liberal arts.

Government of India launched a scheme called “Scholarship Programme for Diaspora Children” (SPDC), in the academic year 2006-2007, for the wards of Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs) and Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) to assist them in pursuing Under Graduate courses in Indian Universities/Institutes.

Under SPDC scheme financial assistance for specific undergraduate courses in Professional and Non-Professional courses (except Medical and related courses)is provided towards tuition fee, admission fee and post admission services. The scheme is applicable to NRIs and PIOs from 66 countries.

Under the scheme, PIO/NRI students are awarded a scholarship of up to US$4,000 per annum for payment of tuition fee, admission fee and post admission services for Undergraduate courses in Engineering, Technology, Humanities, Liberal Arts, Commerce, Management, Journalism, Hotel Management, Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and other courses. The scholarship is applicable to students who have already secured admission in an Indian institution. Admission is  permitted only in Central Universities, NAAC “A” Grade Institutions, National Institute of Technologies (NITs), School of Planning & Architecture (SPAs), and Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIITs) as covered under Direct Admission of Students Abroad (DASA) scheme.

In case of any technical assistance, please contact following: SPDC Portal Support Team, EG & IT Division, MEA, 1025, A Wing, Jawaharlal Nehru Bhavan, 23-D Janpath, New Delhi 110011, Email: technicalcellegit@mea.gov.in, Tel. +91 11 4901 8371

In case of any assistance/clarification regarding Scholarship Programme for Diaspora Children, please contact following: Section Officer, OIA II Division, MEA, 925, Akbar Bhawan, Chankyapuri, New Delhi 110021, Email: so1oia2@mea.gov.in, Tel.: +91 11 2419 7927; Or Visit www.spdcindia.gov.in

The husband-wife team of Sanjib Biswas and Anuradha Mazumdar last month opened C0deEX, an Acton, MA-based school to teach coding to kids of age group 6-14; and almost a month-and-a-half later the C0deEX Panther team won the first prize in a major robotics competition.

“On August 9th, 2019 middle school students from the Acton C0deEx Panther robotics team watched their computer program control a satellite on the International Space Station (ISS) during the finals of the Zero Robotics competition,” C0deEX said in a statement. “C0deEx Panther, after winning the State Championship competing against fifteen other teams from around the state on July-27th, 2019 was representing Massachusetts at the ISS (International Space Station) final.”

For the ISS finals, teams from all over the northeast gathered at MIT Stata Center to join a video conference with other teams from around the world. NASA astronauts Andrew (Drew) R. Morgan, Christina Koch and Aleksandar (Sasha) Aleksandrovich Skvortsov Jr. facilitated the competition and provided live commentary which was telecasted live to MIT Stata Center and  16 others physical locations across USA, Russia and Puerte Rico.

Three hundred teams and more than 2,000 students across USA, Russia and PuertoRico participated in this competition. The ground teams watched the Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellites (SPHERES) on the ISS competition.

C0deEx Panther’s code went head on with code written by 16 finalist teams. After being the winner in the Team A bracket, C0deEx Panther also beat the Teams from Team B securing the first position in 2019 International Zero Robotics Competition. The C0deEx Panther team consists of 5 students from Acton/Boxborough and Westford.

Zero Robotics is a summer STEM program for middle school students that “seek to inspire our next generation of great minds by allowing them unprecedented access to space at the middle school level.” The students spend five weeks learning about programming, engineering, and space exploration, while developing code to control satellites known as SPHERES. During this five-week program, the students rely on a simulation environment from MIT to develop their code. After the state finals, the international finalists’ code is tested on physical SPHERES at MIT before being uploaded to the ISS.

The program culminates in a tournament where winning teams’ SPHERES compete aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Middle school participants will get to see the SPHERES operate in space via a live feed from the ISS while NASA astronauts provide real-time commentary. Each year’s game is motivated by a problem of interest to NASA and MIT.

Government of India launched a scheme called “Scholarship Programme for Diaspora Children” (SPDC), in the academic year 2006-2007, for the wards of Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs) and Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) to assist them in pursuing Under Graduate courses in Indian Universities/Institutes.

Under SPDC scheme financial assistance for specific undergraduate courses in Professional and Non-Professional courses (except Medical and related courses)is provided towards tuition fee, admission fee and post admission services. The scheme is applicable to NRIs and PIOs from 66 countries.

Under the scheme, PIO/NRI students are awarded a scholarship of up to US$4,000 per annum for payment of tuition fee, admission fee and post admission services for Undergraduate courses in Engineering, Technology, Humanities, Liberal Arts, Commerce, Management, Journalism, Hotel Management, Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and other courses. The scholarship is applicable to students who have already secured admission in an Indian institution. Admission is   permitted only in Central Universities, NAAC “A” Grade Institutions, National Institute of Technologies (NITs), School of Planning & Architecture (SPAs), and Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIITs) as covered under Direct Admission of Students Abroad (DASA) scheme.

In case of any technical assistance, please contact following: SPDC Portal Support Team, EG & IT Division, MEA, 1025, A Wing, Jawaharlal Nehru Bhavan
23-D Janpath, New Delhi 110011, Email: technicalcellegit@mea.gov.in, Tel. +91 11 4901 8371

In case of any assistance/clarification regarding Scholarship Programme for Diaspora Children, please contact following: Section Officer, OIA II Division, MEA, 925, Akbar Bhawan, Chankyapuri, New Delhi 110021, Email: so1oia2@mea.gov.in, Tel.: +91 11 2419 7927; Or Visitwww.spdcindia.gov.in

Last date for application is Nov. 30, 2019.

• In its first year, the program will be highly selective, with a cohort of 7-10 students.
• The first MS/MBA Biotechnology: Life Sciences cohort will matriculate in August 2020.
• Applicants must meet HBS MBA Program admission requirements.
• Applicants with non-STEM undergraduate degrees must have substantial background preparation in the life sciences (i.e. advanced coursework or independent laboratory experience).
• Candidates can apply in either Round 1 (September 4, 2019) or Round 2 (January 6, 2020).
• HBS and GSAS will release admissions decisions in mid-December (Round 1) and March (Round 2).

Indian Ambassador to the United States Harsh Vardhan Shringla said that there are more than half a million Indian students studying abroad, with USA as the most favored destination.

He said more than two hundred thousand Indian students are currently pursuing their higher studies in the Unites States. UK, Australia, Canada are other choice destinations for Indian students.

Speaking at the Education Promotion Society of India (EPSI), a not for profit organization from India, Mr. Shringla said the Indian education system is vast in size, as well as its academic offerings.

“However, it is important to note that for half a million students studying aboard, there are more than 30 million students pursuing higher education in India. The Indian Education system is the world’s third largest Higher Education System with 907 universities, 43,000 colleges and a capacity of enrolling more than a whopping 30 million students,”  Mr. Shringla said his speech. “Higher Education Institutions in India offer courses/degrees that are competitive in the world market in terms of quality but are delivered at one-fourth the cost.”

He said a vibrant and diverse education system means a wide variety of courses are available: from the modern and cutting edge to the traditional.

“Indian education ranges from exposure to the latest advancements of science and technology like Virtual and Augmented Reality, Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive Computing to Yoga, Ayurveda, Sanskrit, languages, and classical music and dances,” said Mr. Shringla. “This vastness of the Indian education system directly translates to enhanced opportunities for its students and global learning for an all-round academic and personal development.”

He said a burgeoning IT and Services sector has led to a robust placement oriented education as about 200 of the Fortune 500 companies hire regularly from Indian campuses. India has been and continues to be home to innovation, creativity and leadership.

“The strength of India’s education system may be gauged from the fact that the world’s leading companies are being led by students of Indian education system,” said Mr. Shringla, giving examples that Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft is an alumni of Manipal Academy of Higher Education; Sundar Pichai, CEO, Google Inc studied at Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur;  Ajaypal Singh Banga, President and the CEO, MasterCard, is graduate from St Stephen’s College, Delhi University; Rajeev Suri, CEO of Nokia has studied in Manipal Academy of Higher Education; and Indira Nooyi, CEO of Pepsi Co is an alumnus of Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta.

“Some of the leading world leaders and diplomats have graduated from Indian colleges and universities. Aung San Suu Kyi, incumbent state counsellor of Myanmar, Hamid Karzai former President of Afghanistan, William Kwasi Akuffo former Head of the State of Ghana, Olusegun Obasanjo former President of Nigeria, John Samuel Malecela former PM of Tanzania are few examples,” Mr. Shringla said.

Shringla also said that India witnessed its best phase of macro-economic stability in the past five years. “From being the 11th largest economy in the world in 2013-14, we are heading to become fifth largest economy in the world by end of this year. In Purchasing Power Parity terms, today, India is the third largest economy in the World, after China and USA,” Mr. Shringla said. “India is poised to become a Five Trillion Dollar Economy in the next five years and aspires to become a Ten Trillion Dollar Economy in the next 8 years thereafter.

Due to a stable and predictable regulatory regime, growing economy and strong fundamentals, India could attract massive amount of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) during the last 5 years – as much as $239 billion. This period also witnessed a rapid liberalisation of the FDI policy, allowing most FDI to come through the automatic route. The last five years also witnessed a wave of next generation structural reforms, which have set the stage for decades of high growth.”

He said India also enjoys a distinct demographic advantage.India’s demographic cycle is about 10-30 years behind that of the other countries, indicating that the next few decades present an opportunity for India to catch up to their per capita income levels.

“India will be the world’s youngest country by 2025 with 985 million people in the workforce. (That is, people in the age group of 15-64 years),” Mr. Shringla said.