Monday, 24 November 2008
 
 

Int'l civil aviation university to come up in Hyderabad
   

Concordia University of Canada has decided to set up an aviation-focused university in India's first aerospace special economic zone, coming up in Andhra Pradesh. Officials hope that the university would start offering programmes next year while the campus would come up in 2010. The proposed International Civil Aviation University (ICAU) will be developed as a centre of excellence with sister campuses in Montreal (Canada) and Toulouse (France).
Dale Doreen, executive director of the International Centre for Aviation Management Education and Research at John Molson School of Business, Concordia University, told they were looking for Indian partners for the university.
The university, which is looking for local investors for this $40-50 million project, expects that 10,000 students would enroll for its various programmes after a few years. The foundation stone for the aerospace SEZ was laid on Wednesday at India Aviation-2008, India's first conference and exhibition on civil aviation.

The university plans to offer undergraduate and graduate training programmes in engineering and management. Initial programmes proposed include BSc Mechanical Engineering, MSc Aeronautical Engineering, BSc Aviation Management, Msc Air Transport Management and Aviation MBA.

The university will span across three campus locations - Hyderabad, Montreal (Canada) and Toulouse (France) - bringing together significant industry players in the aerospace market. "State-of-the-art electronic communications will link ICAU with its sister campuses to foster exchange and attract international students. There will be training programmes and joint classes to give Indian aviation industry a global perspective," Doreen said. He also said as the aviation industry in India and the region was growing rapidly, it was facing the challenge of human resources development.
"The university will serve as a first class centre for training, research, and hosting of international events. It will empower industry players to participate in the design of specialised curriculum which meets their needs and finance education programmes relevant for the general aviation industry," Doreen said.
 

ISRO to set up astronaut training institute
   

Bangalore: Buoyed by the successful launch of the country's maiden unmanned moon mission Chandrayaan-1, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is all set to start an institute to train astronauts for its planned first manned space mission by 2015, said a top official. "Bangalore is our chosen destination to set up a state-of-the-art institute to train astronauts for our manned space mission. We have already got 40 acres of land near the new airport at Devanahalli (about 35 km from city centre) and the state government has promised to provide us with another 100 acres soon," ISRO chairman G. Madhavan Nair told.
"We are hopeful that the institute will be functional by 2013. The project will cost us around Rs 10 billion and currently we are working on a detailed roadmap for the astronaut institute," added Nair, on the sidelines of a felicitation function for ISRO's scientists by Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa.

Congratulating the scientists and top officials of ISRO, including two former chairmen of the organisation, K Kasturirangan and U R Rao, the chief minister said the state would extend all possible help for further growth and development of the country's space research and exploration.

"I heartily congratulate the scientists of ISRO and allied institutions on the successful launch of the moon mission," said Yeddyurappa, who gifted a huge painting depicting various stories from the epic Mahabharata, to the space scientist community on their achievement.
After the function, the chief minister got a first hand account of IDSN from the scientists. The network performs the important task of receiving the radio signals transmitted by the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft. It sends commands to the spacecraft at a power level of up to 20 kilowatts. IDSN has two large parabolic antennas, one of 18 m and the other 32 m diameter. (IANS)

 
   

Varsities need to observe

   

New Delhi: A conference of the Vice Chancellors & Directors of Central educational institutions was organized at the Vigyan Bhawan on the eve of 'National Education Day'.
The conference was inaugurated by Mr. Arjun Singh, Minister for Human Resource Development (HRD).
Mrs. D. Purandeswari, Minister of State - HRD (
In his inaugural address, Arjun Singh expressed the hope that the deliberations would reinforce the collective commitment of all to meet the goals of bringing
He elucidated that the principle of equity implied not merely a right of all to exist, but a right to flourish and grow.
He emphasized the need to focus on education of minorities and the need of all Central Universities and institutions to scrupulously observe
He expressed the hope that the

He expressed the hope that the academia and the Ministry of
In his opening remarks, Mr. R.P. Aggarwal emphasized the need for optimum and timely utilization of funds for providing quality infrastructure and facilities for
After the inaugural session, a thorough review was taken on important issues like, status of utilization of

Mrs. D. Purandeswari gave the concluding remarks and said that bringing excellence even in routine jobs in the
She also emphasized the need for regular sharing of the information and joint working so as to make mid-course corrections as and when required in the various guidelines and procedures.

In the evening, a panel discussion was held on "Issues related to Higher Education in the XI Plan" which was presided over by Mr. R.P. Aggarwal along with Prof. Sukhdeo Thorat, Prof. Goverdhan Mehta and Prof. A Gnanan as the panelists.