Techfest Starts On January 24

Techfest, the Annual International Science and Technology Festival of Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IIT-B), is all set to start from January 24. This is for the first time the Techfest is going to global as students from Sri Lanka, Dubai and Denmark are going to participate in the fest.

Techfest, is popular among science and engineering students across the country.

A competition for legged robots for the first time named the 'arthrobot' is being introduced by the organizers. The participants are expected to build a legged robot which can pass through a designated path in the least possible time.

They are expecting participants to build a biped (having two feet) robot, which is very difficult at institute level. "We will definitely get quadrupeds or six-legged robots," added Shintre.

Around 20 teams will participate in the initial rounds. Three teams from each centre will participate in the finals at Mumbai.

Besides the competitions, Techfest is also offering a platform for innovative ideas. 'Prayaas', one of their competitions, will allow participants to present their ideas on how to use renewable sources of energy. There will also be workshops on ethical hacking and archery.

Techfest 2009, scheduled from 24th to 26th January, promises to carry the legacy handed over to it through eleven years and bring a bigger and a better Techfest.

UGC plans big changes in education

Now students may be able to pursue courses in segments in universities as per their preferences if the recommendations of a UGC committee on academic reforms are accepted by the institutions.A committee, set up by the University Grants Commission, has suggested a slew of reforms, including credit accumulation and transfer, semester system and taking feedback about teachers’ performance from the students.

The recommendation on credit accumulation and transfer will help students to pursue courses in segments in universities as per their choice.

“The committee has recommended a number of academic and administrative reforms to be followed by the universities. We are now examining these suggestions,” UGC Chairman Professor Sukhadeo Thorat told PTI.

The committee has suggested the universities to start credit accumulation and transfer system. It recommended that each academic programme should have certain credits, and the student can complete part of the programme in a specific university and accumulate certain credits from there. The rest of the course can be pursued from another university to complete the course.

“This will facilitate students mobility at national and international level also. For this, the institutions should have credit transfer system and agreement for students’ exchange,” Thorat said.

As per the system, a student can also do a course in parts in various departments within an institute.

If the credit system is introduced, marks will be changed to grade and students will be awarded grades like A, B, C and D depending on their performance.

The recommendations have come at a time when the UGC is planning to launch a scheme to facilitate M Phil and PhD students to do part of their coursework outside the university where they are pursuing studies.

Besides, the committee suggested that universities should introduce semester system instead of annual examinations. Currently, the central universities in the country including Delhi University and Jawaharlal Nehru University have semester system.

The committee is of the view that the institutions should not focus more on written tests but on continuous assessment.

The commitee also suggested the institutions to take feedback from students about the performance of teachers.  Students are the best judge to assess teachers, it said.