Indian School of Business team from Hyderabad comprising Bhargava Elamanur and Aditya Jalan won the first prize at the annual NTPC ‘Electron Quiz – 2009' national finals competition held at Power Management Institute of NTPC in NOIDA, near Delhi.

The Team from ICFAI comprising of Raja Satish and Angana Deb won the second prize. The national finals of NTPC Electron Quiz was hosted by noted quiz master Derek O' Brien. R.C. Shrivastava, Director(HR), NTPC Limited gave away prizes to the winners. Fifteen teams from reputed Engineering colleges and Business School from across the country took part in the national finals.

Faculty orientation

The Bharat Institutions, Hyderabad, organised a two-day Faculty Orientation Programme for its faculty at the BIET campus at Mangalpally where more than 300 members participated.

Delivering the keynote address Sai Prakash, academician and scientist, emphasised on adopting innovative better teaching methodologies to address to the needs of present day youth. Aruna, associate professor, St. Joseph College, Guntur enlightened the faculty members on the subject ‘Teaching through hearts', while B.R. Sant, retd scientist from CSIR delivered an excellent lecture on ‘Excellence by way of life'.

A lecture on ‘Stress management And Positive thinking' by Uma Rani, naturopathy doctor associated with Brahma Kumaris, and a lecture on ‘Students counselling - Role of teachers' by Dr. Meena Hariharan of HCU followed.

Dr. Padmaja from Department of Psychology, OU delivered a lecture on ‘Motivating the faculties and students'. Senior faculty in Commerce, V. Santhi said the programme helped teachers to pick up effective methods of teaching.

Best chapter of ISTE

The Indian Society for Technical Education (ISTE) chapter of VNR Vignana Jyothi Institute of Engineering & Technology has won the best chapter of ISTE Award in Andhra Pradesh Section for the year 2009 on the basis of activities carried out during the year. The Award was given away to the Principal of VNRVJIET, C.D. Naidu by the Executive Secretary of ISTE Ranjit Singh during the Golden Jubilee year of ISTE at NIT, Surathkal. Dr. Naidu said it was possible because of the efforts and hard work of the staff and students. The ISTE is a professional society with its head office in New Delhi.

Counselling initiative

Around 200 MBA aspirants participated in ‘Coffee With SIBM 2009', a one-on-one mentoring and counselling initiative organised by Symbiosis Institute of Business Management (SIBM), Pune, at St. Mary's College.

Members of the Aspirant Relations Team of SIBM Pune gave the aspirants insights into how to tackle MBA entrance tests, how to prepare for B-School admissions processes, the advantages provided by an MBA qualification, the kind of learning a full-time residential course imparts to students, as well as what SIBM Pune can offer them in this regard.

Some of the questions asked included how to prepare for the General Knowledge section of entrance tests, what specialisations one can choose from in a B-School, the importance of work experience before pursuing an MBA and the course curriculum followed in various B-Schools. Apart from an interactive forum, the portal includes sections like student and alumni profile, general and business quizzes, brainteasers, word power, basic Maths and business articles – all of which are tailored to help one prepare for an MBA. The portal can be accessed at www. sibmpune.edu.in/iaspire.

Annual Day

St. Ann's College for Women celebrated its annual college celebrations Annofesta recently, a press release said. The celebrations were kickstarted with cultural and literary activities culminating with the Christmas cheer, release said.

The cultural events included solo singing, dance and skit competitions which gave a platform to the students to exhibit their aesthetic talents. The literary events comprised of competitions like photo-caption, collage, elocution and documentary. The students gave wings to their creativity and potential and excelled at various competitions, release added. Professor of Department of History, Osmania ‘University, Venkat Rajam, Director of Hamstech Institute of Fashion Designing Ajita Yogesh, Rev. Father Inna Reddy were present on the occasion.