Campus connect
A viva voce being conducted through videoconferencing at the Bharathidasan University in Tiruchi.
INSTITUTIONS OF higher education are taking to Information Technology tools in a big way, and teleconferencing is fast turning out to be a convenient mode for students to complete the mandatory viva voce on their dissertations.
Already a handful of colleges in the city have conducted viva voce through video conferencing for the students who have already gone abroad. The Bharathidasan University too joined the list with the viva voce for a student of the Department of Animal Science, held through teleconferencing last week. S. Radha, an M.Sc. student, left for the United States to take up a project work at the Louisiana State University and intended to pursue research there. On her request, the department organised the viva voce with technical support from the Jamal Mohammed College, one of the affiliate colleges of the university. The Head of the Department of Microbiology, Joseph Eye Hospital, and P. Geraldine Veronica Vimala Rani, Reader in Animal Science, Bharathidasan University, were the examiners. The department head, M.A. Akbarsha, coordinated the viva voce.
Though a similar viva voce had been held by the Centre of Distance Education of the university, this was the first instance that a student of the regular stream of the university was extended the facility.
* * *
SEPARATE BINS have been provided to all departments and common places at the Bharathidasan University for proper disposal of plastic waste. The initiative is a follow-up to a recent five-day programme undertaken by the NSS unit, BARD, to remove waste plastic materials from the campus. `Use and throw' plastic materials have been replaced with paper cups in the canteen too.
The NSS unit also organised a blood donation camp, in which 50 students and staff members turned up as donors, and a 45-day `need-based' English communication skill course, recently. The course was handled for two batches by Katie Brewis, a visiting scholar from England to the Department of Economics. The methodologies adopted by her included conversation, group interaction and demonstration.
The NSS unit has plans to organise a special camp at Kozhinji near Keeranur in Pudukottai district in February, according to its programme officer, N. Manimekalai.
* * *
THE RESPONSE to a recent inter-school competition organised by the Department of Social Work, Bishop Heber College, in association with its Rotaract Club, was overwhelming.
Competitions in painting, essay writing, and debate, on `child rights and protection', reflected the problems faced by child labourers, and the study burden. As many as 100 students participated.
At another programme, organised by the department, on `violence against women - an awareness', at Kavalkaranpatti, Urusalanathan, Director, Trust for Rural Development, spoke on exploitation of women in society. She also explained the laws intended for progressive development of women.
Baskar, Media and Documentation Officer, expressed concern at the way women were treated by the media ``as a product.''
Lucy Xavier, a social worker, noted how superstitions affected women, and urged them to develop self-esteem.
The programme was followed by a group discussion in which the participants lamented that they were denied several opportunities in a ``male-dominated society.''
* * *
A `PERSONAL and Executive Effectiveness Programme', conducted recently by Talent Consultancy at the Saranathan College of Engineering, helped final-year students of three departments - Electronics and Communication Engineering, Computer Science Engineering, and MBA - chart out their career.
The resource person, R. Panchanathan, Director, Talent Consultancy, urged the students to discover their potential so that they could succeed in life. Experience made a person stronger, he said, adding that employability was nothing but application of knowledge and experience
For ensuring a spirited response, he adopted a playway method replete with games, group discussions and case studies. The planned sessions provided an opportunity for students to understand their aptitudes, attitudes, and to know where they stood in intra-personal and inter-personal skills, and communication effectiveness — the ingredients for success in group discussion.
* * *
DR. M. Ravichandran, Reader, Department of Economics, Bharathidasan University, has been awarded the Fulbright Fellowship under the Indo-American Environmental Leadership Programme for 2004 - 2005.
He is one among the five in India to receive this prestigious award in recognition of his research work in Environmental Economics. He made his return from his two-month visit to the university a memorable occasion by giving a special lecture on `a two-month experience in a U.S. university", on Tuesday.
He said that during the course of his stay at the Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan, he could observe that no compromise seemed possible as far as quality was concerned. The courses offered at the university level offered the students freedom to make choices that best served them.
As an economist, he could determine that the economic scenario there was passing through a recovery stage. Outsourcing was a buzzword not only in information technology but in many other fields as well, what with huge manufacturing corporations moving some high-wage jobs to low-wage countries. He could find the market flooded with Chinese products and the consumerism vibrant there.
* * *
CATERING COLLEGES in the city have apparently decided to celebrate Diwali a bit differently this time. Members of the Rotaract Club of Jenney's Academy remembered the children of the St. Anne's Convent at Palakkarai and spent a day with them.
A team of 30 students led by the Staff Coordinator, R. Leo Robert, landed at the orphanage and distributed sweets, savouries and crackers to the children. The president of the Rotaract Club, Kirubakaran, urged the students to celebrate the Diwali following safety norms. Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Leo Robert emphasised the importance of awareness among the children about noise pollution, and urged them to work towards making India free from pollution. The club members joined the children in bursting crackers.
(Contributions by S. Ganesan, R. Krishnamoorthy and Prathibha Parameswaran)
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Education Plus
Karnataka
Chennai
Coimbatore
Hyderabad
Madurai
Tiruchirapalli
Vijayawada
Visakhapatnam
