Chandigarh, November 28
With a view to cracking down on institutes offering technical education without taking mandatory approval from it, the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has released a list of such erring institutions.

The list mentions the names of the institutes offering technical education programmes in engineering and technology, management, computer applications, architecture and town planning, pharmacy, hotel management and catering technology, applied arts and craft, in India with or without any foreign university collaboration, without the approval of the AICTE.

The institutes on the list in this region are ACTH Management, Sector 9, Bells Education and Research Society, Sector 34, GCS Computer, Sector 9, ICEI, Sector 34, ICFAI Business School, Gurgaon and Chandigarh, Regional Study Centre Directorate of Distance Education, Sector 37, VVTS, NAC, Mani Majra, ICAII Institute of Management and Technology, Mohali Campus, Phase VII, and its Chandigarh campus in Sector 33, IILM for Higher Education, Sector 53, Gurgaon, International Institute of Hotel Management, Sector 32, Gurgaon, Shree Balaji Institute of Computer Science, Sector 14, Panchkula, J.K. Business School, Sector 14, Gurgaon College of Hospitality and Tourism, Gurgaon, Ansal Institute of technology, Sector 55, Gurgaon, and the Institute of International Management and Technology.

In Punjab, the prominent unapproved institute are the Canadian Institute for International Studies, Jalvehra village in Fatehgarh Sahib district, with a city campus in the Industrial Area, Mohali, North India Institute of Hotel Management, Gulmohar Complex, Zirakpur, and GSC in Patiala. As per the circular issued by Dr K. Narayana Rao, member secretary, AICTE, “Students are advised not to take admission to courses run by any institution, which has not been approved by the AICTE. Students desirous of joining any technical programme of any institution must confirm the status of approval either through the AICTE website “www.aicte.ernet.in” or the directory of approved institutions and programmes or from Information and Facilitation Centres at the AICTE Headquarters, New Delhi, and regional offices located at Bangalore, Bhopal, Chennai, Chandigarh, Kanpur, Kolkata and Mumbai”.

The circular further stated that, as per information available till date, 169 institutions were found to be conducting courses in the field of technical education without obtaining the AICTE approval.

As many as 104 institutions were conducting technical education programmes in collaboration with foreign universities without the AICTE approval.

It may be mentioned that, as per AICTE Act (52) of 1987 and the regulations laid down there under, approval is mandatory for any institution offering technical education programmes in engineering and technology, management, computer applications, architecture and town planning, pharmacy, hotel management and catering technology, applied arts and craft, in India with or without any foreign university collaboration.

Chandigarh, November 28
In all fairness to the fair sex, the region’s first-ever stand-alone women business school is all set to come up on the Chandigarh-Patiala highway.

For the purpose, land has already been acquired and the matter has been placed before the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) for the issuance of letter of intent. Punjab government’s approval and Punjab Technical University’s affiliation has also been sought by the Aryans Business School (ABS) for establishing the institute.

The institute, Aryans Business School for Women expects to undertake the admissions process for the 2008-09 session. The development is significant as data provided by the Centre for Women Business Research, based in Washington, says women have 50 per cent or even greater stake in nearly 11 million private companies based in the US.

“A similar trend is now emerging in India,” says ABS chairman Anshu Kataria. “Even now the ratio of women managers in the corporate world is on a rise.”

Otherwise also, the popularity of management studies among women can be gauged from the fact that nearly 13,000 candidates took CAT on November 18 at Chandigarh alone. Out of the total, a substantial number of candidates were women.

Giving reasons behind the move to establish an all-women management institute, Kataria says in the interior of Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir people are still not comfortable with the idea of sending girls to co-educational institutes for higher studies, even though women prove to be better managers with superior administrative and professional skills.

Chandigarh, November 28
‘Texstyle week’, which is a regular feature in clothing and textiles department at the Government Home Science College, Sector 10, was held from November 20-28.Various competitions, including knitting, cross-stitching, embroidery, fashion illustration etc were held during this week. The final event which was held today was that the students of Msc (Clothing and textiles) and PG Diploma in fashion designing constructed bustier as a part of their in house production. The students modeled these bustiers in the college today. The judges were Dr Sukvarsha Nirula(principal, Govt Home Science college), Dr Kavita Maria, former head of department, C&T dept. Govt. Home Science college, Bavnet, principal EIDOS institute and Anu Gupta, associate professor, NIIFT.

WORKSHOP: ‘Best out of Waste Workshop’ a three-day workshop ended at the Government College, Sector 46, today.The exhibition was organised by a group of 40 students of Fine Arts department and NCC volunteers pooling their talent to create utility items out of waste we would ordinarily chuck into dustbin. The students were led by their teachers Guneeta Chadha, lecturer in fine arts and Mona Singh, lecturer in history, in collaboration with CEVA (center of education and voluntary action).

The students turned used CD’s, tetra packs, tins, jars, shoe boxes, buttons etc into artistically designed products that one can use everyday. A group of girls fashioned colourful jewelry and belts made out of waste while the boys bend wires to make badges of their initials. Director higher education, Raji P Shrivastava was the chief guest on the occasion. The director also released the college newspaper, ‘Different Strokes’ compiled by the students of the newly started functional English course.

Chandigarh, November 28
A 40-member contingent from the affiliated colleges and teaching departments of the Panjab University is going on November 29 to participate in the North Zone Inter-University Youth Festival to be held from December 1 to December 5, 2007, at Ch Shauji Maharaj University, Kanpur. The participants will be competing in the items of dance, theatre, literary, fine arts and music. In all they will be, participating in 20 items. The contingent is led by Prof K.L. Sodhi and Prof Preeti Phoolka.

CONDEMNED: The Panjab University Teachers Association has condemned the alleged intimidation of the chairman of the department of laws by students in his office. In their statement issued today, the members said, “we believe that nobody ever can achieve justice through arm twisting, bullying and intimidation. It is all the more pitiful that justice has to be sought through ‘pulls and pressures’ within the department of Laws, and not by following laws in letter and spirit”.

Further, it states that we also expect that nobody should misinterpret university rules and regulations to favour a few at the cost of broad institutional interests. Condemning the violence in all forms on the campus, they appealed to the students in general and their representatives in particular, to work for upholding cordial teacher-students relations so that the academic reputation of the university could be taken to new heights.

SEMINAR: The department of sociology, PU, organised a weekly seminar on ‘The Social Implications of HIV/AIDS.’ The panellists were Renu Gandhi, Dr Joginder Mukerjee and Dr Avinash Jolly. Dr Gandhi dealt with risk behaviour activities of youth and highlighted the importance of prevention of HIV/AIDS. Dr Jolly stressed the need to generate the awareness among youth and suggested measures regarding STD/HIV/AIDS. Dr Joginder Mukerjee dealt with issues relating to counselling of HIV/AIDS affected patients. She highlighted that counselling should be patient friendly, convincing, convenient and must deal with empathetic understanding. The seminar was well attended by students and teachers of the university.

The matter was placed before the judicial side after Chief Justice Jain took cognisance of the report carried in an English daily on November 27. The news item from Ambala had stated that cartels smuggling hi-tech gender identification kits into Punjab had ventured into the adjoining state of Haryana