A visit to the Birla Institute of Technology and Science in Pilani is an interesting experience. Pilani is a five-hour drive from Delhi. The town, in Rajasthan’s Jhun-jhunu district, is unremarkable. But, the BITS Pilani campus can leave you mesmerised. It is this magnificent campus—a veritable factory of excellence—that has made the small town of around 50,000 people widely recognised.
Established in 1964, BITS Pilani, which is the top private technical university as per THE WEEK-Hansa Research Best Universities Survey, 2022, has an alumni network that boasts more than 6,000 CEOs and more than 3,000 academicians, including vice-chancellors and directors at prestigious educational institutions across India. BITS now has three more campuses-Dubai (established in 2000), Goa (2004), and Hyderabad (2008). The campuses have identical curricular structures, and, together, have 17,500 students and 935 faculty members.
As we reached the campus, Prof Souvik Bhattacharyya and Prof Sudhirkumar Barai were eagerly waiting to greet us. Bhattacharyya is the vice chancellor of BITS Pilani and Barai is the director of the Pilani campus. Bhattacharyya's spacious office overlooks the new academic block designed by architect Hafeez Contractor. The vice chancellor puts the new block in perspective: "This campus is a wonderful blend of tradition and modernity." The balance is not limited to architecture; retaining and building on effective methods and constantly updating where necessary has helped BITS become what it is today.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der July 24, 2022-Ausgabe von THE WEEK India.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent ? Anmelden
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der July 24, 2022-Ausgabe von THE WEEK India.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent? Anmelden
Angry, Young America
Campus protests against the Gaza war continue to linger as students demand a realignment of US ties with Israel
We need to engage more with communities
Designer Aratrik Dev Varman of the label Tilla has long been a lover of history. One could comfortably call him part-aesthete, part-archeologist, for his clothes dip into vintage styles of the Kutch, Sindh, Balochistan and Afghanistan, bringing alive antique styles and crafts. Tilla, the store and atelier, are situated on a tree-lined avenue in Ahmedabad.
The great luxury slowdown
A year or so ago, if anyone had told me that Tommy Hilfiger would have stolen the show at New York’s Met Gala, I would have laughed. But it seems the end of giant luxury labels is upon us even before we expected it. The American ready-to-wear designer Tommy Hilfiger seems to have created the maximum media buzz at the 2024 Met Gala, according to several data analytics firms.
RAP BRINGS RAPTURE
How indie artistes, especially hip-hoppers, are driving the phenomenal rise of Malayalam music
Employability issues are a narrative created by the corporate world
Prof Yogesh Singh is the 23rd vice chancellor of the century-old University of Delhi (DU). An engineer with a PhD in computer engineering, Singh has an impressive track record of teaching, innovation and research in the area of software engineering. He has more than 250 publications and his book, Software Testing, published by the Cambridge University Press, is well-received internationally. In an interview with THE WEEK, Singh talks about trends in higher education in India, the challenges faced by big universities, and how to make higher education more interesting. Asked about the perception that Indian graduates are “not employable”, he reacts strongly, and emphasises the difference between training and higher education. Edited excerpts:
SERVING WITH DISTINCTION
Conceived as a university like no other, Jawaharlal Nehru University became India's best. Here is how
Mandela Effect and Liar's Dividend
The complex tapestry of AI's impact on society
The other Sabyasachi
I am Sabyasachi Mukherjee, not to be confused with my namesake, the celebrated fashion couturier, declared the venerated director-general of Mumbai’s pride, George Wittet’s Indo-Saracenic jewel, the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya, formerly known as the Prince of Wales Museum.
THE MANGO HUNTERS
'Naadan Maavukal' started out as a Facebook group, but what it does offline has helped conserve many indigenous varieties of mangoes
BJP LEADERS, TOO, HAVE HAD ENOUGH
Farmers’ protest has taken the centre stage in Haryana, which goes to the polls on May 25. Former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda is confident that the Congress, which has been out of power for 10 years, will regain its hold on the state. “People who voted for the BJP are disappointed today. It is clear that they want change,” he told THE WEEK.