Bayer Fellowship Programme
Mumbai, January 23. In collaboration with Bhubaneswar City Knowledge Innovation Cluster Foundation (BCKIC), the Thane-based Bayer Cropscience Ltd, a subsidiary of Bayer AG, Germany has launched the Medha Fellowship Programme, exclusively for students from economically weaker sections. Under this programme, Bayer will fund the education of 125 scholars engaged in agriculture and life sciences research. The company will provide financial assistance of Rs.20,000-40,000 per month to Masters and Ph D students for a period of two and three years. The company has pledged Rs.10 crore for this programme.

“At Bayer, we are committed to supporting education, research, innovation, and providing inclusive opportunities for all sections of society. Through the Medha Fellowship Programme, we are extending our support to students from economically weaker sections and women scholars, encouraging and supporting them to play an active role in nation-building,” says D. Narain, president of Bayer Cropscience.

DPS-Jaipur Tennis Academy
Jaipur, January 10. Delhi Public School, Jaipur (DPS-Jaipur) announced the launch of the Devyani Jaipuria Tennis Academy (DJTA). Spread over 15 acres, DJTA was launched with the commencement of the Devyani Jaipuria Under-14 and Under-16 Tennis Championships staged between January 9-16. “This world-class training facility will equip young boys and girls from across the country with the skills required to compete in state, national and international tennis tournaments,” said Devyani Jaipuria, pro vice chairperson of DPS-Jaipur.

The academy will be spearheaded by India’s Davis Cup coach Zeeshan Ali, former national tennis champion and Davis Cup player. “I am thrilled to associate with DJTA to usher in a new era of tennis excellence in India. Our vision is to equip students not only with skill training but also to guide them to attain peak mental and physical fitness through planned nutrition,” he added.

IIM-U-Communeeti agreement
Udaipur, January 3. The Centre for Development Policy and Management (CDPM) of the Indian Institute of Management-Udaipur (IIM-U) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Communeeti, a Delhi-based public policy think-tank and research organisation. Prof. Ashok Banerjee, director, IIM-Udaipur and Pratyush Prabhakar, founder-director of Communeeti, signed the MoU under which the two parties will engage in collaborative research and consultancy projects.

“This MoU will enable us to build a foundation and drive focused research and policy-making related to the public policy and development sector. We will disrupt industries, the nation, and society towards a better future, and we will continue to collaborate in other areas of mutual interests in future,” said Banerjee, speaking on the occasion.

Infinity 2023 Math Championship
Mumbai, January 17. In association with the top-ranked Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS Pilani, estb.1964) and University of Waterloo (Canada), the Mumbai-based Aditya Birla World Academy (ABWA, estb.2009) successfully conducted Infinity 2023 — The Ultimate Math Championship. This annual transnational championship which attracts students from UAE, Oman, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, encourages students to demonstrate their math capabilities and creativity. The final round of the 2023 competition was staged on January 14-15 at Mumbai University.

School teams declared Infinity Champions of the Year 2023 were ABWA (senior category); Oberoi International, Mumbai (advanced category). The Mathematician of the Year 2023 trophy was awarded to Naman Jain of The International School, Bangalore and Suhaan Mobani of ABWA in the senior category. Lakshay Bansal of Neerja Modi School, Jaipur and Ayaan Khan of Indian School, Oman were also felicitated.

“The key take away has been that participants learned to fearlessly dream about applying maths to real life problems of social importance,” said Dr. Sudhirkumar Barai, director of BITS Pilani, speaking on the occasion.

Masters Union’s TBM programme
New Delhi, January 4. The Gurgaon-based Masters’ Union (MU, estb.2020), a new age B-school, launched its experiential undergraduate programme in technology and business management (TBM). Under this programme, MU has budgeted $10 million (Rs.81.9 crore) to mentor students. The four-year undergraduate programme offers visiting faculty from the world’s top-ranked universities including Oxford and Harvard, as also CEOs of blue-chip companies such as Amazon, Apple, and IBM.

“In India, business education at the bachelor’s level is largely a formality prior to students enrolling for postgrad MBA programmes at home or abroad. Our objective is to add genuine value to the four-year undergrad programme. The new-age TBM programme based on experiential learning and global exposure will produce business leaders prepared to promote successful enterprises or run large organisations immediately after graduation,” says Pratham Mittal, founder-director of MU.