The proposed film institute course of Madurai Kamaraj University has failed to generate interest among students.

In the online admission test conducted at 11 centres across the country on July 29, there were hardly 20 students who appeared, thereby forcing the varsity authorities to extend the last date for admission. They are also trying to have spot admissions for interested candidates.

Attempting to launch an innovative programme, the university had geared up to introduce five-year regular course called ‘Masters in Film and Electronic Media Studies’ for which it is planning to admit 120 students in two batches.

“The online test for our film institute course is over and we are not happy with the response . Maybe the concept of online test for admissions did not go down well with students . Film institute is a big venture for us and all efforts will be made for its success,” Kalyani Mathivanan, Vice-Chancellor, told The Hindu on Wednesday when contacted.

Already, a couple of days ago, an advisory board comprising prominent personalities from the film industry had been constituted and the varsity officials are now in the process of circulating the syllabus to members of Academic Council for their approval.

Expecting to get gradual response from candidates interested in entering film industry, contents of the five-year integrated course being launched this academic year have also been put on the varsity’s website. In view of the unsatisfactory response, the authorities have postponed the launch date to September hoping to get candidates by then.

It was earlier planned to have a launch around August 15. For the Masters in Film and Electronic Media Studies, which is a five-year course, the eligibility for admission is a pass in higher secondary examination or intermediate or its equivalent. The age limit for students is not above 21 years as on July 1. The university will admit students at its spot admission centres in Madurai, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, New Delhi, Thiruvananthapuram, Cochin, Chandigarh and Ahmedabad.

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp ... 715293.ece

A four-member team from Anna University has been deputed to Madurai to facilitate the completion of merger formalities of Anna University of Technology-Madurai, which has now become the varsity’s regional centre.

M. Alagar from the Chemical Engineering Department, Anna University, assumed charge as Regional Director in-charge, here on Wednesday.

In his 34 years of experience, he has held assignments in multimedia, student affairs, affiliation of engineering colleges, research and planning and development.

Following the State Government’s policy decision to merge the Anna University of Technology-Madurai with Anna University, the merger process has been taken up in such a way that it will not affect academic and student issues.

Same is the case with the Anna Universities of Technology at Tirunelveli, Tiruchi, Coimbatore and Chennai, which were also merged with Anna University to make it a single entity as it was earlier. As per the notification, which stated that the merger would come into effect from August 1, Vice-Chancellor R. Murugesan and Registrar E. B. Perumal Pillai got relieved from their posts on Tuesday.

The four-member team will facilitate smooth transition and complete the remaining merger formalities as per the instructions of the State Government.

While the Regional Director in-charge will continue here, the other three members in the team -- S. Srinivasan, Finance Officer, S. Chelladurai from Department of Physics and A. Nandakumar from finance section -- will stay for a couple of days to complete the formalities pertaining to merger of AUT Madurai, which was established in 2010.

It is expected that the Madurai Regional Centre of Anna University will have three deputy directors to look after issues related to engineering colleges and student welfare.

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp ... 715292.ece

I hate JEYA!

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Eleven constituent arts and science colleges have been opened, one each in Edapadi (Salem district), Kanyakumari (Kanyakumari), Vedasandur (Dindigul), Modakurichi (Erode), (Thirumangalam (Madurai), Thiruvottiyur (Tiruvallur), Paramakudi (Ramanathapuram), Kadayanallur (Tirunelveli), Aruppukottai (Virudhunagar), Nagapattinam (Nagpattinam) and Arakkonam (Vellore).
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http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/tam ... 754987.ece

Tirumangalam government arts and science college inaugurated

Spot admission is going on for five-year integrated regular course, Master of Film and Electronic Media Studies, of Madurai Kamaraj University. The last date for admission is August 30.

A release said that students can opt for specialisations among direction, cinematography, editing, script writing, acting, graphics, and animation. Eligibility to join the course is a pass in higher secondary. To bridge demand-supply gap and to celebrate 100 years of Indian film industry in 2013, the course was launched. The programme will nurture young minds who are passionate about films and electronic media.

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp ... 783323.ece

107 birth anniversary of ‘Madurai Gandhi’ celebrated at Gandhi Museum

Industrialist N. Mahalingam, Chairman of Sakthi Group of Companies, Coimbatore, and the Chairman of Gandhi Memorial Museum, has proposed the creation of a deemed university in memory of N.M.R. Subbaraman, a Congress leader who was fondly known as ‘Madurai Gandhi.’

Such a university will address the shortage of quality institutions of higher education in a country that has a population of over 120 crore.

He was addressing the 107 birth anniversary celebrations of Mr. Subbaraman organised at the Gandhi Memorial Museum here on Friday by Tamil Nadu Gandhi Smarak Nidhi and Madurai Gandhi Mandram. Besides having held the position of Chairman of the Madurai Municipality, he was also elected to the Lok Sabha from the Madurai Parliamentary Constituency in 1962.

“A country like the U.S. which has a much smaller population than us is endowed with a lot more higher education institutions and universities. Unlike India, the U.S. does not have the system of affiliated institutions and each university is independent.”

Mr. Mahalingam also noted that Mr. Subbaraman worked alongside tall leaders such as Vaidynatha Iyer, who spearheaded the temple entry movement for dalits, and U. Muthuramalinga Thevar, the leader of the All India Forward Bloc.

R. Rengasamy, Secretary of Gandhi Museum, said that Mr. Subbaraman set exemplary standards of integrity in public and political life.

T.R. Dinakaran, treasurer of Gandhi Musuem, M. Mariappan, vice chairman, M.M. Vishwanathan, secretary, Madurai Gandhi Mandram, K.M. Natarajan, chairman, Tamil Nadu Gandhi Smarak Nidhi, P. Subramanian, Secretary, Tamil Nadu Gandhi Smarak Nidhi, A. Radhakrishnan, secretary, Sevalayam Students Hostel, P.M. Rani, Headmistress, N.M.R.S. School, S.P. Gitabharathi, chairman, Sidhashram and orator T.K. Subramanian spoke.


http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Mad ... 788589.ece

Link posted originally by Ananth/SSC.

Bodi Engineering college to start functioning from this month !!

Government Engineering College at Bodinaickanur will start functioning this month. A total of 285 students were admitted to the college this year, said Minister for Finance O. Paneerselvam.

After distributing gold for ‘mangalsutra’ and marriage assistance to beneficiaries at a function held here on Saturday, he said that this engineering college would cater to the needs of rural students in southern districts. Students from Dindigul, Virudhunagar, Madurai and Theni districts were admitted to the college this academic year.

Meritorious but poor students who got admission to the college could pay Rs.9,000 as fees, which was much lower than the fees charged by private engineering colleges.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/tamil-nadu/article3848476.ece

Despite a bandh call given by opposition parties on September 20, the School Education Department has on Tuesday evening announced that schools will function as usual and the quarterly examinations will be conducted as per schedule.

Officially, it had now been declared that Thursday would be a working day and the examination scheduled for Class X and Class XII would be held without any postponement. “This is applicable to all schools.”

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp ... 913400.ece

But most of the schools in Madurai had already declared as holiday.

The university plans to have tie-ups with airline offices, travel agencies, package tour operators and the hospitality sector

Madurai Kamaraj University here is to give special focus for the just introduced Master of Tourism and Hotel Management integrated course in view of its employment potential and self-employment scope.

At the Academic Council meeting held on Friday, Vice-Chancellor Kalyani Mathivanan said that the five-year course would facilitate holistic development towards greater employability and students would acquire competency through theory and practical curriculum.

The tourism and hotel management course covers all related areas of the field, including language skills, cultural studies, computer skills, tourism, food and beverage services and hospitality, apart from airline ticketing, cargo management, travel management, ecotourism, entrepreneurship studies, front office operations, accommodation management, food production, food safety and nutrition, event management and marketing .

The Vice-Chancellor, in her introductory note, said that the varsity would have institution-industry tie-ups with tourism stakeholders such as airline offices, travel agencies, package tour operators and hospitality sectors that cover institutional catering and industrial catering.

NEW COURSES

From this academic year, three new courses are being offered. They are M. Sc. (Peace Making) and M. Phil in Marine Environmental Studies and English Language Studies. “These courses are very significant, relevant and answer the current academic needs,” Dr. Kalyani Mathivanan said.

The university has constituted a Curriculum Development Cell as per the guidelines of Vision 2023 of the Chief Minister for which Rs.50 lakh has been released.

To create ‘Go-Green’ campus, the university has entered into an MoU with Auroville Foundation and a special panel was constituted to look into all aspects. It is working out a proposal to have a tie-up with the Department of Posts for selling applications for distance education students. Once this arrangement is through, the students can collect applications and submit them through post offices.

The University Health Centre will shortly start functioning as a multi-speciality health centre with a 24-hour pharmacy catering to the needs of people in the vicinity of Madurai Kamaraj University campus.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Mad ... 929008.ece

- Source : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/nri/ ... 558374.cms

Wow...that's really a great news for me, specially.. Hope they get into action immediately than setting their targets on long term, unlike previously proposed Kamaraj Memorial Medical college by Vadamalayan hospitals+Kamuthi Nadars association near Tirumangalam and CSI Institute of medical sciences by CSI Madurai-Ramnad diocese near Pasumalai..:cheers:

Nice to see Medical project in and around Madurai.

Short Note: I am sure you remember the discussion about AIIMS hospital at Minister's office.

Same news by DC
A team of non-resident Indian doctors from the US and Canada has embarked on an ambitious medical college project to ramp up medical education in India.

Christened Mandira Institute of Medical Sciences, the Rs 300-crore project will be coming up along Madurai-Rajapalayam national highway near Tirumangalam in Madurai.

The project director Dr P. Madhu, a paediatrician who has moved to Madurai from U.S., said a 300-bedded state-of-the-art multi-specialty hospital would start functioning from November next year while the medical college would be opened in August 2014.

An initiative of NRI doctors from various fields of medicine, he said nine of them from the U.S. and one from Canada, all from various fields of medicine, have joined hands to promote the project.

The uniqueness of the project is that it would be the first corporatised medical institute in the country and it would have many firsts including a Smart MD System, City of Medicine and Virtual Dissection Technology.

Dr Madhu said they were working with two U.S.-based companies to introduce advanced technology such as virtual cadaver dissection technology in medical education.

Madurai has been chosen after an exhaustive survey which revealed that there was a need both socially and market-wise.

Though Tamil Nadu fared better in medical education and health care in comparison with other states, there was still inequity within the state.

While Chennai has 13 medical colleges including 10 private institutions, Madurai has only one medical college and that too run by the government, he reasoned.

Madurai being a temple city, the name Mandira was chosen as it meant Temple in Sanskrit, he said adding that the institute would prove to be a real temple of medical learning.

Dr Madhu said 30 acres have been acquired for the project and acquisition of more lands was in progress though according to Medical Council of India 20 acres were sufficient to start a college.

He also assured that the students would not be fleeced and only the tuition and clinical training fee as per rules and regulations would be collected from them while health care would be provided at subsidised cost.

The hospital would be expanded from 300 beds to 700 beds in the next stage, Dr Madhu said.

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/channels ... ollege-727

Same news by Hindu

A group of 10 Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) based in the US and Canada have come together to start a 700-bed hospital cum medical college in Madurai.

Mandira Institute of Medical Sciences, which is being developed as a corporate entity, is coming up on Madurai-Rajapalayam Road near Thirumangalam at an investment of Rs.300 crores routed through Mandira Healthcare Infrastructure, a company promoted by NRI doctors.

The first phase of the project which will have 300-bed multi-speciality hospital will begin functioning in November 2013.

Thirty acres of land was acquired for the medical college hospital and construction would commence shortly.

Speaking to reporters at a press conference here on Wednesday, P.Madhu, Project Director, Mandira Institute of Medical Sciences, who is now based in the US and had been trained at the Harvard Medical School, said that the NRI doctors had chosen Madurai after a detailed ‘needs assessment’ and market survey.

“There is an uneven distribution of medical colleges and corporate hospitals in the State. Since Madurai caters to the healthcare needs of people in southern districts, we chose to come here and start our hospital in this medically underserved region,” he said.

The NRI promoters had registered their company in India as per procedural requirements and the proposed medical college will have digital technology/ virtual dissection methodology for students which would come through collaboration with US-based company.

According to Dr.Madhu, several NRIs had shown keenness to return to India and this would bring professional management and medical competence for Mandira Institute of Medical Sciences.

“We will have top class paediatrics, gynaecology, general surgery, cardiology, neurology, urology and various other specialities. Once the hospital is ready at the end of next year, we will go for approvals from the Medical Council of India for the medical college which will have an annual intake of 150 students. The medical college is expected to begin from academic session in August 2014,” he added.

Assuring that Mandira management will bear in mind the people’s affordability factor, Dr.Madhu said that expert doctors in and around Madurai would be roped in. “We will invest Rs.300 crore totally in phases and the entire 700-bed project would be completed in five years. To start with, our hospital will provide direct employment to 500 persons and indirect employment to 5,000 people. There will be a huge spin-off effect in this region,” he said.

Seven NRI doctors who belong to Tamil Nadu are planning to move down to Madurai once the hospital is ready and a few more too may join later. The hospital has an office at the construction site near Thirumangalam while the administrative office is in the city.

• A group of NRIs have come together in this regard
• Hospital is likely to be ready by the end of next year

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp ... 941043.ece

Hats off to these NRIs. If many of NRIs are ready to invest and shift to India then why we need to bring FDI ?

+1.

If all the NRIs turn into entrepreneurs, we don't have to depend on Government for luring investments