The Joint Entrance Exam conducted by the Indian Institute of Technology is for the first time going overseas. It will be held simultaneously in Dubai on April 13 next year.

Setting up a centre in Dubai is in line with the seven IITs asking the Union human resource development (HRD) ministry to encourage foreign students for a good mix of “unlike minds with different backgrounds” to enhance the academic environment and exchange on campuses.

According to data from IIT-Bombay, the nodal IIT co-ordinating JEE 2007, there were 120 foreign students who took the JEE last year. However merely six qualified. Over and above their capacity for BTech courses, the IITs can admit 10% as foreign students. In fact, last year, the IITs had evinced interest in taking the JEE outside the country. However, “due to logistical problems, that was not possible,” said an IIT official.

More : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Music connoisseurs in the Capital are in for a special treat as the internationally renowned Signum Quartett will cover three centuries of music at Indian Institute of Technology here this Saturday.

Hosted by Max Mueller Bhavan/Goethe-Institut in collaboration with the Society for Promotion of Indian Classical Music and Culture Amongst Youth, passes for the string quartets will be available at the Max Mueller Bhavan reception on a first-come-first-serve basis.

Comprising Kerstin Dill (violin), Annette Walther (violin), Simon Tandree (viola) and Thomas Schmitz (cello), Signum Quartett successfully performed in Chennai and Puducherry in 2006. It is now embarking on an extensive tour of South Asia at the invitation of the Goethe-Institut/Max Mueller Bhavan.

More : hindu.com

The student of IIT, Kharagpur, who had accused his teacher of demanding a bribe to change his assessment, reportedly confessed before the inquiry committee, set up to probe the charge, that he had actually wanted to pay the teacher for his grade change.
The Statesman had reported yesterday that Subhas Kumar, an undergraduate student in the naval architecture department, was among the 14 first-year students of IIT, Kharagpur, to have been retained in the institute following a relaxation of promotion rules. All the students belong to the SC/ST category.

According to sources, the three-member inquiry committee set up by the institutes director recorded Subhas Kumars statement on 16 August wherein he reportedly admitted to have offered to pay his teacher, Dr S Chakraborty, to change his grade. The inquiry committee also recorded the statements of the two witnesses to the alleged demand, Deepak Raj Kindo and Ravi Kumar, on the same day. The Statesman has learnt that some of the students who had failed to secure the required credits had also approached a few other professors of the institute to change their grades. When the professors declined to oblige them, they were allegedly threatened on the phone. However, none of the professors lodged any official complaint with the institutes administration.

More : thestatesman.net

Applicants for visas or those planning to selling their cars usually need to go through long queues to get official attestations on multiple copies for verifying the authenticity of identity proof(s).

The process becomes increasingly frustrating as a bagful of documents needs to be carried to government offices, apart from praying for the mercy of the coveted signature.

An IIT-Delhi professor is now working on a model which would help cut short such long waits.

More : cities.expressindia.com

In an action packed morning, IIT-Delhi Registrar Colonel Rajinder Singh was suspended on Friday. The institutes Director, Surendra Prasad said this was an inevitable step.

On receiving the suspension notification, security officials sealed the Registrars office. In an unprecedented reaction, Singh called the Police Control Room alleging he was being forcibly thrown out of the office. Singh said his suspension was a result of his seeking information from the Central Vigilance Commissioner regarding the release of Endowment Funds for foreign junkets of faculty members during the first week of July 2007.

More : hindustantimes.com

A senior officer at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Kharagpur has accused the institute of suspending him for using the Right to Information Act to point out alleged irregularities in the appointment of top administrators.

Kalo Boran Mahapatra has complained to the Central Information Commission (CIC) that IIT Kharagpur suspended him last July after he asked for documents that he claims would have revealed that the selected candidates were not qualified for the posts.

IIT officials, however, said Mahapatra was suspended because of a complaint they had received from income-tax authorities that he had drawn an advance to build a house but had not constructed it.

More : telegraphindia.com

From bootstrapping a business without venture capital to building an effective PR wing, Proto.in- an event showcasing innovative technology start-ups that got under way in the city on Saturday offered insights into various aspects of entrepreneurship as also the aspirations of the IT generation.

The two-day event on the IIT-Madras campus is being organised by the Knowledge Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation of IT professionals in the city.

The foundation has been involved in a string of successful events that has captured the imagination of IT crowds, including Bloggers unconference and Wikicamp.

More : mangalorean.com