The British School, Delhi and  University of Warwick (UK) will present the second edition of the prestigious Warwick Summer School in Delhi on July 6-10.

According to a Warwick University spokesperson, the summer school has been designed for students entering years XII-XIII (British system) and classes XI-XII (India) who have completed their IGCSE, CBSE, ICSE or equivalent examination. Faculty of Warwick University will provide students with unique insights into the study of economics and finance at the undergraduate level in the UK, and Warwick in particular. In addition to academic lectures and seminars, the summer school will also include personal development sessions, a gala reception and an awards ceremony for students and parents.

“Students entering higher secondary education are invited to this introductory course on economics and finance. It will help them develop an awareness of their economic environment and encourage inquiry and learning at different levels. The objective of the summer school programme is to enable participants to strike a balance between their extra-curricular interests and academic responsibilities,” explains Vanita Uppal OBE, director of the British School, Delhi.

VEX World Robotic awardees

Four children — Anav Agarwal (10), Kashyan Damani (10), Aadit Lakhani (11) and Mahir Shah (11)  — mentored by Asha Sundarajan, promoter-director of the Children’s Technology Workshop, Mumbai, a franchised unit of the Toronto-based Children’s Technology Workshop which has trained over 4,000 students, won the Sportsmanship Award at the 2016 VEX World Robotics Competition, staged in Louisville, Kentucky, USA on April 23.

The VEX World Robotics Competition has earned an entry into the Guinness World Records as the largest robotics competition worldwide. It is partnered and sponsored by globally renowned organisations such as NASA, Texas Instruments, the Northrop Grumman Foundation, among others.

“The teams had to design and build a robot to compete against robots of other teams from around the world in a games-based engineering challenge. The three-day competition attracted participation of more than 1,100 robotics teams comprising over 15,000 students from 30 countries,” says Sundarajan.

This is the first time children from India have won an award at the annual VEX World Robotics Competition.

Young Women in Science scholarships

The Mumbai-based L’Oreal India Pvt. Ltd — a wholly owned subsidiary of the Paris-based L’Oreal S.A — announced the 13th edition of its For Young Women in Science scholarship programme on May 24. Under the programme, L’Oreal India will award 50 scholarships of Rs.250,000 each to meritorious but economically disadvantaged young women, to enable them to graduate in any scientific discipline from a recognised college or university in India.

“We at L’Oreal believe ‘the world needs science and science needs women’. The objective of our For Young Women in Science programme is to provide aid and encouragement to young women choosing careers in science,” said Jean-Christophe Letellier, managing director of L’Oreal India, speaking on the occasion. To be eligible for the scholarships, women applicants (below age 19) should have passed class XII exams with a minimum of 85 percent in PCM/PCB.

“This scholarship is open for study in any field of science: medicine, engineering, information technology, pharmacy, biotechnology, and other graduate courses pertaining to science (B.Sc). Shortlisted candidates will be interviewed by an eminent jury of scientists and academics,” explained Letellier.

Students can apply for the scholarships on www.foryoungwomeninscience.com or download application forms from the website and courier them to L’Oreal FYWIS Scholarships, Buddy4Study, 1st Floor, A-75, Sector-58, Noida, Uttar Pradesh 201301. Deadline: July 10.

HRD ministry higher ed initiatives

Addressing a national conference on ‘Reforming & Rejuvenating India’s Higher Education’ organised by the Education Promotion Society for India (EPSI) in Delhi on May 18, Union human resource development (HRD) minister Smiriti Irani announced a series of new initiatives to help students access quality academic content and other resources to prepare for admission into the country’s premier higher ed institutions.

“Considering the spread of mobile technology that has reached hitherto unexplored areas of the country, we will be launching a Bharat Vani app on May 25 which will provide students with higher education study material in 22 languages. Moreover, within a year, we will provide this content in 100 non-scheduled and tribal languages, for greater reach and accessibility. We are also coming up with an innovative mobile app and portal — IIT Pal — which will provide IIT question papers of the past 50 years to students across the country. The portal and app will also offer video lectures by top notch faculty and audio aid in 13 different languages,” said Irani.

Simultaneously, Irani also unveiled a new education portal www.studyinindia.org, designed by EPSI to bind all education providers of India, and help students avail authentic and complete information on education.