"A small hardware placed at the location will ensure that 100 metres around the area becomes the bluetooth hotspot, where people get an alert about promotional offers in the surrounding retail environment. The applications could be audio or video images, which can be downloaded and shown at the counter to avail of the discounts claimed by the message," says Gautam Jayaraman, head of sales at Value First.
The Certificate Programme in Business Administration offered by the Institutes of Management has not found favour with information technology companies.
While some have announced setting up of a PE club for aspiring entrepreneurs, others plan courses, special lectures and seminars to create awareness about the booming sector. Students of the Post Graduate Programme for Executives at Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, will go through a course on PE in their last term between December and February.
In a unique initiative, students from IIM-Ahmedabad will work with Communist Party of India - Marxist politburo member Sitaram Yechury and help in planning for the Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme this year. They will be involved in the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme and Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. Provisions of the Right to Information Act will be analysed. Students will assess funds spent by the constituency and create a monitoring system.
With around 50 students interested in being members, the club will be a forum for students interested in all aspects of private equity and venture capital. As part of formalising the club, the students are holding the first intra-institute event called the 'Zen of Investing', where the club plans to invite alumni working in the area of private equity, besides involving the faculty and students for the activity.
Chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries, Mukesh Ambani is understood to have expressed interest in footing the salary bills of international faculty at the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore.
After supplying Micro Electrical Mechanical System-based (MEMS-based) Inertial Navigation System to the Navy and the Airforce, Whirlybird Electronics, the co-incubated company of Indian Institute Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A), is looking for markets in the automation and automobile industry.
Two ex-IIT Kharagpur students have decided to come out of their comfortable professional zones to create a venture called 'Demazi', which would enable SMEs to create their own IT solution online at a minimal cost. SMEs owners can log on to the website and key in the requirments they need from the software.
Institutes are encouraging students to work hands-on with the underprivileged of society.
Nothing seems to dampen the spirit of Gujarat's textile industry when it comes to investments. Inspite of the issues arising due to rising input costs, the state government is expecting to witness MoUs worth Rs 10,000 crore (Rs 100 billion) in textile sector at the Vibrant Gujarat Global Investor's Summit 2009. During the summit, the state government will be luring several textile machinery manufacturers from overseas to set up base in the state.
The central government's view of exploring public-private partnership (PPP) in the establishment of new institutes of higher learning has a private hand, right from the first step.
For students aspiring to take up post graduate studies at Canada and getting a work permit subsequently, there is good news. International students will now be able to obtain an open work permit under the Post-Graduation Work Permit Programme, with no restrictions on the type of employment and no requirement for a job offer.
The premier Indian Institutes of Management will have to draw on all their management skills to solve the current financial imbroglio they are in. On the one hand, the fee hike by IIM Ahmedabad and IIM Bangalore has caused heartburn not only among students and the Union Human Resource Development Ministry but also among the other IIMs who say they were not consulted despite an existing agreement to do so. IIM-A and IIM-B have said that a fee hike is a prerogative of their own
Ahmedabad-based Malibu Plastica, a manufacturer of polycarbonate plastic sheets, is working on redesigning the metal tops of post boxes, which would make it rust-free and weather resistant. This is the first time such a project has been undertaken.
The government appears to have hit upon a novel faculty-sharing solution to tackle the shortage of quality faculty at the premier Indian Institutes of Technology. The shortage will accentuate now that eight new IITs have been announced.
For those mulling their first job offer and wondering if they are being paid right, here is a website that could give an indication.
The Delhi Daredevils, IPL's Delhi team which is owned by the GMR Group, has recruited a student of the Postgraduate Programme in Public Policy and Management (PGP-PMP) from the institute to manage its operations. Colonel Vinod Bisht, the student, has been hired as assistant vice-president (operations) for the company for a Rs 30-40 lakh package.
When Samir K Barua took over as the director of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A) in November 2007, he had listed knowledge creation, hiring and retention of faculty members and increasing contacts with the industry as his priority work areas. Four months on, Barua is planning a number of initiatives in the upcoming academic year towards achieving his objectives.
CPI (M) politburo member Sitaram Yechury has outsourced the planning of the Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme in West Bengal to IIM-A students. Students will be involved closely with the constituency's role in the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) and Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. 4-5 students will work on this project and will be guided by faculty advisors. This project will enable students to understand the working of government and public policy.
Five school students got together to create a car out of scraps for just Rs 11,000. They spent two years sifting through scrapyards to find appropriate material for the car.