Category: Uncategorized

KESHAV KUMAR

Vivek Mohan, a National Film Award winner, who has also been Natonal Jury twice in Indian Panorama of International Film Fest of Goa, has said governments must provide enough space for children to play, particularly in hill areas.

Vivek, who hails from Shimla and is based in Mumbai, depicted the plight of children through a docudrama “Shivaji Park of Shimla” to underline his point. The 22 minute film depicted children playing in the only available open and level space in Shimla – the Ridge.

Delivering a Guru Talk at Shoolini University, he said there was an urgent need to provide open spaces in parks and playgrounds to give children an alternate creative activity to keep them away from mobiles and nefarious activities at this tender age.

He related the Ridge to the famous Shivaji Park in Mumbai. The Ridge witnesses and hosts all kinds of political, religious and social activities except allowing kids to play for few hours at least even on Sundays.

He said the documentary made an impact with the government which began opening up parks and other spaces for the children to play.

He said he evolved a comprehensive strategy to sensitise the government as the film alone could not have made the impact. He started a social media campaign and also spread his word through the mainstream media.

He went nostalgic about his experience of playing cricket with a ball made with socks. He said “if we do not provide playgrounds and open spaces to the children, they will only play on mobile inside the room. If you want to hear chirping of birds, you have to go outside”.

Vivek Mohan told students to be patient in life as nothing can be achieved overnight. He further added, “Whether you are writer, painter or singer or in whatever profession, you have to be sensitive to the society. You can’t create until you feel pain.”

ALISHA GARG

Nargis Qadri, a student from Afghanistan pursuing MBA at Shoolini University, says she came on a student exchange programme for 4 months and it was then that she decided to pursue her MBA from here.

She liked the environment, calmness, people and the way of teaching here. She further adds that it was her father who supported her throughout and encouraged her to come to India.

When asked about her hobbies, she said that her hobbies include playing basketball and listening to songs. Besides this, she loves listening to Hindi songs. Arijit Singh and Armaan Malik are her two favourite singers. She loves cooking and misses Afghani food sometimes. Cooking makes her joyful and provides relief from stress.

When asked about her wishes she said she wants to open a school for orphans and provide them with a good education. She feels education is a basic necessity in one’s life and everyone must be able to acquire it regardless of financial sources.

There are some days when she feels homesick but then she spends time with her native country friends and goes out to explore new places. She is fond of seeing and trying new things every day.

In the university, Namrata, Sejal and Radhika are some of her best friends. Regarding faculty, she said Dr Nitin Gupta is a very co-operative teacher and has helped her throughout her studies. Talking about taking up a job she said her first preference would be to get a job in India and work here for some time.

Nargis misses her family but she is able to talk to them on a daily basis. She has recommended her siblings to study in Shoolini University and pointed out that her brother might come to pursue BBA from here in the next few months.

She doesn’t understand Hindi and has difficulty communicating in English as well but with time she has started understanding English a bit.

Overall she says she is easy to get along with and makes friends easily and is good at creativity. She also shared that she loves to travel. She has visited Ajmer Fort in Rajasthan and loved the culture, serene beauty and royalty of that place. She is looking forward to visit more such places in India.

A state-of-the-art Cancer Research Centre, with facilities for cutting edge research on cancer biology, has come up on the University campus.

The facility, which houses five different research groups actively engaged in the research on various aspects of cancer biology like herbal cancer therapy, cancer immunotherapy, drug delivery and chemical biology group, was formally inaugurated on Thursday by Mr Raj Khosla, a philanthropist from Thailand.

Vice-Chancellor Prof PK Khosla said the Centre has been built with an endowment fund of Rs one crore donated by Mr Raj Khosla, for strengthening of cancer research in the University.

The Vice-Chancellor said the Centre also contains a state of the art food and drug testing laboratory funded by the Ministry of Food Processing Industries. 

Prof Khosla said the future goal of the Centre is to develop better formulations to control different forms of cancer by innovative cancer therapies. The Centre has experienced research groups and state of the art infrastructure facilities also envisages attracting funding from national, international and private funding bodies so that it can be a Centre of excellence in cancer research in the country and across the globe.

The prime area of focus of Shoolini University is on the Sustainable Utilization of Himalayan Biodiversity for the betterment of society in general and Himalayan states in particular. One of the main areas of research is to utilise the medicinal wealth of the Himalayas for the treatment of cancer. 

For that, the researchers of Shoolini University have already made significant progress and developed formulations as immunostimulators and efficient drug delivery systems to fight various types of cancer. In the past 10 years of its establishment, Shoolini University has created modern infrastructure in the form of labs and research equipment from intramural and extramural research funding to cater for the needs of cancer biologists in the University. 

AAYUSHI SHARMA

Artificial intelligence is gaining popularity nowadays and is thus in demand but what does the new generation think about it? Here are some views of students about the impact of artificial intelligence on future jobs.

Vince Paul (BBA Sem 1)

No, I don’t think Artificial intelligence (AI) will take away jobs because we are the ones who have created it. To say that these will take over human jobs is not correct, because even after making AI perfect, there are some jobs that they won’t be able to do. Human intervention would be always required.

Barun Nath (B.Tech. Biotechnology Sem 7)

For the complete success of Artificial Intelligence technologies, there would be a requirement of a large number of developers specialised in the various subjects. This would, in turn, lead to the recruitment of a large chunk of software engineers and research scientists to solve and implement an automated world that mimics the characteristics of an advanced computer system.

Mayank Gautam (B Pharmacy Sem 1)

New technologies such as Artificial intelligence have the sole purpose of automating various technologies and coming up with new creative innovations to translate this potential of AI into a useful one. It would be interesting to watch how technology takes over humanity in a jobless society where the currency is machine-generated and intelligent machine agents will replace our existence.

Ashutosh Singh (MBA Sem 1)

Artificial intelligence will not take away jobs rather it will create new ones. The research states that while AI could displace roughly 7 million jobs in the country, it could also create 7.2 million jobs, resulting in a modest net boost of jobs. The more machines will be there the more manpower will be required.

Shivani Gautam (BA LLB Sem 1)

Every job or a task has some level of automation associated with it. With the cognitive mind power of Artificial intelligence supported devices, it would slowly replace this automation arrangement, raising it to a level that would not only simplify their jobs but also ensure higher efficiency and accuracy as compared to the work done by humans.

Garima Faujdar (BA (Hon.) English Sem 1)

 I think AI will take away more jobs as compared to creating new ones. AI will change this world but we should be prepared to deal with upcoming challenges and drawbacks. Though technology isn’t inherently good or evil in the hands of humans, it has a great capacity for both. I’d certainly prefer the good over the evil, and that will be dependent on the choices that we make today.

Pushpgandha Tiwari (B Tech. BioTech Sem 1)

AI can help to shape and define the educational experience of the future. AI systems are being used to augment tutoring with personal, conversational education assistants. AI may just replace teachers in some instances for better or for worse. But no one has to worry about Robot or Terminator kind of circumstances because the machines almost certainly won’t rise during the lifetime of anyone!

Lashika Madaan (B Tech. Food Technology Sem 1)

AI is not going to take away jobs. It will displace some jobs, yes, but it will more likely change what human workers do. I believe the panic over AI eliminating huge number of human jobs is misinformed. I’m not alone. There are experts who believe AI will actually create a plethora of new jobs many of which we don’t even know what they’ll be yet.

SNL TEAM

Hostel students in the Shoolini University campus can look forward to a complete makeover and upgradation of hostels and related facilities from the next academic session.

The University has signed an agreement with the world’s leading Student Housing organisation Good Host Spaces (GHS) – and is in the process of handing over the charge to manage and operate housekeeping for current hostels and for future expansions.

‘Our aim is to provide international quality hostels to our students which would be second to none in India”’, said Vice-Chancellor Prof PK Khosla adding that ‘it is part of our new journey towards our vision for Shoolini 2.0”.’

‘Their tech-enabled platform will give our students a hassle-free service experience, collaborative study and hang out rooms, various indoor and outdoor sports, next level of retail experience with the outlets starting from the Unisex saloons to Daily needs, stationary, multiple food outlets and quality mess services for the students to have a memorable campus life and excel in their academic performance. We are also in discussion to start a swimming pool and student club at Shoolini”’, he added.

GHS, which has a presence in multiple locations across India and is the country’s largest independent student residential body, has deep expertise in managing student housing globally and in India. In India, GHS manages student housing at Manipal University, Jaipur and at several institutions in Bengaluru with a total of 29,000 rooms.

Prof Khosla said ‘GHS will operate our student housing operations under the brand name of New Door, and shall take over complete responsibilities of providing quality accommodation and the highest level of safety, security and state of the art services to the student community.’

The University currently has half a dozen hostels for boys and girls which can accommodate about 2000 students. It is proposed to increase the capacity in view of the growing demand.

RANJEET KUMAR YADAV

A batch of Bhartiya Sanskriti Open Elective visited Bon monastery at Dolanji, located at a distance of 12 kilometres from the University campus, as part of their syllabus.

The Bon Monastery, one of the main tourist attractions in the Solan district, is an offshoot of the Menri monastery which is the second oldest monastery in the world.

The group met the head monk of the monastery who explained the basic tenets of Buddhism. Although Buddhism originated in India, it reached Tibet through a Monk from Nalanda whose name was Padmasambhav. The Monk said that they are similar to followers of Mahayan panth of Buddhas but they worship their holy God who was born before Buddha.

The Monk also pointed out that Bon tenets are somewhat similar to Hindu rituals and deities. For instance Bon have Kali Mata, whom they call Sijal. They also believe in Yamaraj who is known as the God of death. They have Swastik symbol everywhere in the temple.

The monastery has a huge library where lots of books are available and meditation lessons are also given. Bon Monastery has its own in-built system and institution of education which goes on till PhD.

The second round of campus placements drive in Shoolini University witnessed a host of top companies picking up students for jobs and offering attractive packages.

About 125 students received job offers while 30 others have been shortlisted and would be recruited when vacancies arise.

The muscat-based 150-year old company, Khimji Ramdas, has shortlisted five students with an offer of Rs 18 lakh annual package. Another MNC, Liechtenstein-based manufacturer Hilti has already hired a student with a package of Rs 12 lakh per annum.

Besides the MBA students, those from a pharmacy, food technology, computer science, chemistry and biotechnology have been offered jobs during the current placements season.

Abbott, Nestle, Hindustan Unilever Limited, Hilti, ICICI Bank, Hughes Systique Corporation, Khimji Ramdas, Genpact, Luminous Schneider, Future Generali, Easy Diner, Altruist Technologies, Dr Morepen Laboratories, ICICI Securities, Cremica and Roots Analysis are among the key recruiters who have already visited campus for the placement of the students from different departments. 

Shoolini University Director-General Mr Arvind Nanda said the companies that are expected to visit shortly are Times Of India, Bharti Airtel, HDFC Bank and Magma. Two more rounds of admissions would be conducted in January and March next year.

Since the last 3 years all the eligible and interested MBA students have been placed in top companies, he said and added the placements record of other departments has also been very encouraging.

MANSI GUPTA

‘Shoolini days were like a rollercoaster ride to me’,” recalled Rahul Rana, an alumnus of Shoolini University, who is currently working with the well-known Multi-National Company, KPMG India. He considers the days spent in Shoolini to be the most memorable and great times. Rahul said, ‘If I am asked to sum up my two years at Shoolini it would be like, Induction – SPRINTs – Exams – Education tours cultural events – fun and learning”.’

‘In terms of my career perspective, I would say the SPRINT programme was the most amazing thing I attended in Shoolini, as it surely prepared me for my professional life.”’

He was raised by his mother, who is working with Anand Group Parwanoo, after his father’s sudden demise. He is associated with management consulting under the customers and operations department of KPMG. His job profile is helping the clients get entry into new markets and segments. He also works on introducing new technologies in the market.

Rahul’s interests include sports, dance, interacting with people from different nations and communities. He also loves travelling. When asked about his biggest achievement to date he shared: ‘I still want to achieve much more in my professional life.”’

He said he was made an offer from the CEO of one of the well-known companies to work with him directly while he was doing his MBA. It was then I realised I have the great calibre and the proposal that was kept in front of me, gave me extraordinary and cheerful feeling as it was more than I could ever think of”.

Before he joined the university he admired the famous actor Shah Rukh Khan but the day he heard Pro-VC Atul Khosla’s lecture for the first time and had an interaction with him his ideal changed.

He sees himself as a perfect professional and wants to adapt his way of doing everything in life. He always loved the environment of the university that gave him positive vibes. His message for the current students is, ‘Always aim and dream high, the faculty you are provided with is the best, seek their support and you can achieve anything.”’

YASH CHANDRA

The other day one of my teachers asked me, who am I? At that point of time I blanked out and couldn’t figure out who am I? But today I saw a news that a 26 year old doctor was raped and burnt and that incident led to provoke my mind to raise a question: Who are we?

I’m asking you now and to all the human beings there outside – have you ever thought who you are?

I don’t have the complete answer but all I know is that we are not human beings, definitely we are not. While I’m writing this, my heart is crying out. I don’t know why but may be due to the horrible news that I watched. How can any sane human do this? Rape a girl and burn her or even molest a girl or even think of all this?

On the one side we worship Goddesses and on the other there are these kinds of so called men who indulged in brutal acts such as rape and murder. What’s happening to the society? Who is responsible for such incidents? Surely our society should collectively my hang its head in shame.

Sometimes I think we have no humanity left in ourselves anymore. We have just turned into some kind of robots who are just doing what they have been told to do. I really think what all was going on in their head when they were indulging in such brutality. As far as we are concerned we are just sharing the news on social media. There would be some criticism of the government and that of the judicial system and then all will forget about it.

We need to look closely at our society and what kind of values are being imparted to the children in the schools and in the homes.

It’s our duty to teach not only our sons but our brothers, cousins and sometimes even fathers that this is not right and to how to behave with females. We also must make the society aware of the dangers and raise our voice against sexual harassment. We must tell the youngsters about equality and the need to respect the other gender.

Discussing words like sex and rapes are considered a taboo in the society. Most families do not discuss such issues at home. But why not?

It is important that right values are imparted from home. How men treat their wives and what women have to say about other women. Children get influenced by what they see at home. If their father is not treating their mother with respect they get an idea that it is normal to treat women with disrespect. Similarly mothers and sisters have to inculcate values and respect for other women and sensitise children towards equality and respect for all human beings and particularly for the females.

To my mind education is everything and it must start from home.

BHAVNA

Ahmad Waleed Salehi, an exchange student from Afghanistan, is making the most of his stay on the campus by spending quality time in the Yogananda library.

A student of Computer Science in the Faculty of Engineering and Technology, he has the distinction of spending the most time in the library during the month of November among all students.

Salehi said it was his dream to study abroad, especially in India, and it got fulfilled when he came to Shoolini as an Exchange student. He is so impressed with the University and the campus that he has decided to enrol for his Master’s degree after completion of his 6 months exchange programme.

When asked about his early days here, he said on the first day he felt money and wanted to get back to Afghanistan. Over the days he made several friends and found the people very warm and friendly and now he doesn’t want to leave!

Reading books is his favourite hobby as he loves spending time with books and says the magic of books draws him to the library. His other hobbies are playing football, badminton, pool and swimming. On being asked about his favourite books he replied that his favourite book is ‘The Magic of Big Thinking‘. He said, ”It is the best book I have ever read in my life and I would suggest every student to study this book”.