Manipal University makes news!

Manipal University has been prominently featured in the latest issue of Campus Journal (dated May 11th, 2008).

The popular student publication has carried two written pieces highlighting achievements by the students from the Department of Information Technology at Manipal University and the recent campus visit by mathematical genius Shakuntala Devi.

The latest issue of Campus Journal carries two articles featuring Manipal University
- Photograph by Joseph John

The first article is about the UOWD Software Development Trade Show (SDTS 2008). Manipal University placed second at the event, based on the creation of a software project - 'Virtual Classroom' - by students from the Department of Information Technology.

The second article talks of Shakuntala Devi's recent visit to Manipal University's Dubai Campus. The calculating wizard's hour-long interaction with students and other snippets from her interview with media students are mentioned in the article.

IT Students Emerge Winners at the UOWD Software Development Trade Show

Proud team of the winning project 'Virtual Classroom'.

(Left to Right - Nikhil Pankaj Dayal, Saransh Yadav, Ms. Suman Patgar, Mr. Vishwesh Akre and Mohammad Usman Zafar)

Department of Information Technology at Manipal University, Dubai participated in Software Development Trade Show (SDTS) 2008 organized by University of Wollongong, Dubai (UOWD) on Monday, 5th May 2008, securing second place in a tough competition vying 12 other universities from all over the UAE.

Of the 22 projects contending for the award, the Department of Information Technology showcased a project titled ‘Virtual Classroom’, a design conceived by Mohammad Usman Zafar, Nikhil Pankaj Dayal and Saransh Yadav – third year students of BSc. Information Technology, under the supervision and guidance of their senior lecturers Ms. Suman Patgar and Mr. Vishwesh Akre. The winners were awarded certificates and digital cameras each.

“The project is still under development,” says Usman, a participant of the project. “It approximately took 3 months for us to work on the project that we titled ‘Virtual Classroom'. Some of the features of this project include audio broadcasting over the LAN (Local Area Network) where students can ask questions to their teachers over VoIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol), text chat over the LAN and virtual whiteboard where teachers can draw diagrams that can be viewed immediately by students on their screens.”

Few of the other universities in the competition included University of Wollongong, BITS-Pilani, American University of Sharjah, Ajman University of Science and Technology, American University of Dubai, Khalifa University and Higher Colleges of Technology.

Dr. B Ramjee, the Director of Manipal University, Dubai, expressed his heartfelt congratulations to the team members and faculty for the outstanding job.

E-Government Workshop Sets the Finale for Technologic '08

Day 3 - Glimpses of 'Workshop on e-Government' held by Dr. Usman Zafar. (Photographs by Kulsoom Ali)

Organized by the Department of Information Technology, workshop on e-Government (A GCC Scenario) was conducted by Dr. Usman Zafar in the auditorium today, wrapping up the final segment of the three-day event Technologic '08.

Dr. Usman Zafar is the regional IT Director for MENA & ASIA at IBM-IHB Australia who illumined the audience with strategies of e-government, accentuating the scenario of GCC countries in particular. He was also invited yesterday to evaluate students' projects exhibited at the event.

With this, the successful event Technologic '08 comes to an end with an anticipation to see a much higher dynamism in the annual event next academic year.

Winners Announced for Best Software Development Programs in Technologic '08

The much anticipated results for the best software development programs exhibited in Technologic '08 are:

1st Place
Project Title: 'Multimedia Based e-Learning Application'

Team Members: Shijil, Maheesha Jaleel and Abhishek Padhi (Third year students) (Photograph by Kulsoom Ali)

2nd Place
Project Title: 'Information Technology Automation System (ITAS)'

Team Members: Aaliya, Farha and Arwa (Third year students) (Photograph by Kulsoom Ali)

Warm felicitations to the winners!

Information Technology Students Unfurl their Technical Proficiencies

Students display their exhibits on the second day of Technologic '08. (Photographs by Kulsoom Ali)

With the second day of the ongoing event Technologic ’08, students of Information Technology department demonstrated their capabilities through technology related exhibits today.

The application-based software presentations that were held by the students yesterday were on display today for the visitors to observe the technical aspects and working of their creations. Few among the many noteworthy exhibits were the ‘Digiplacement’, ‘Alumni and Community Portal’ and ‘Multimedia Based e-Learning.’

“We designed Digiplacement program for a recruiting purpose,” says Jazeera, a third year student of Information Technology in collaboration with her team member Sabah Khan. Describing the project in brief, she says, “It provides an opportunity for students by allowing institutions and companies to easily track deserving students.”

The ‘Alumni and Community Portal’ is a combined brainchild of Disha Shetty and Nandini Sreekumar, third year students of the same department. It is an online portal for all graduated students of IT department to be in touch with each other. Asked about the release date of the portal, Disha says, “It will be linked to http://www.mahedubai.com/ officially in May 2008.”

‘Multimedia Based e-Learning’ was one among the many appealing projects in the exhibition. The aim of the project is to automate the process of organizing lecture notes and study material by the faculty and create e-learning resources from them, for the purpose of distribution amongst the faculty and students for reference purpose.

Now, the students impatiently wait for the prize distribution that awards the students with the best project display. Students and faculty will assemble at 3:00pm for the results in the auditorium today. Look out for further updates on the winning team on this blog.

First day of Technologic ’08 sets in motion

Glimpses of the event Technologic '08 - Day One

Over the years, technology has sizably emerged as an indispensable part of our lives. With continuous streamlining and modernization of electronics, technological experts in diverse fields are striving to come up with the best technological inventions to facilitate comfort for the users.

Competing with such pace of developments and mastermind inventions, the promising students and faculty of the Department of Information Technology at Manipal University, Dubai campus are holding the event Technologic ’08 to showcase various projects, models and presentations related to Information Technology.

The first day in series of Technologic ’08 unfolded today, inaugurated by Dr. Ramjee, the director of Manipal University, Dubai. After the recitation of the Holy Qur’an by a student from the department, Dr. Ramjee addressed the audience with a welcome speech followed by a short yet creative flash presentation on the forthcoming programs to be introduced in the department.

The department specially invited Mr. Sudhir from NASCOSYS, a business broadcast solution provider, who delivered a presentation on Multimedia and Animation. Among the guests was present Dr. Faiz M. Ishaq too, a working professional from Pakistan, enlightening the audience with a discussion on supercomputers and Play Station 3. He was presented with a memento by Dr. S.K. Pandey, the head of department of Information Technology.

Also esteemed with the mementos by Dr. S.K. Pandey were Mr. Jawid Nazir and Mr. Zaheeruddin Ahmed, the faculty members of the department.

Among the presentations conducted by the faculty, Mr. Jawid held a presentation on CISCO Networking Academy and Mr. Zaheeruddin announced the introduction of one-year certificate course in ‘Graphic and Design’ to be implemented in September.

The second half of the event was scheduled to hold software presentations by students where they exhibited application-based softwares coded by themselves as part of their projects. One such striking project designed by a group of five students was the Kidroid, an Artificial Intelligent Machine that is used for object deliverance. (Centre image in the collage above)

Students will showcase their talents and exhibits in rooms 203, 204 and 205 from 10:30am – 3pm tomorrow (23rd April) on first floor. Do come and appreciate all their efforts for making this event a success.

Seminar held on E-Commerce for Students of Information Technology

Mr. Lalit Sharma, the digital strategist working in McCann Erickson Worldwide Advertising (New Delhi) paid a recent trip to Dubai. He visited the Manipal University to conduct a seminar regarding e-commerce for the department of Information Technology. Supported by a PowerPoint presentation, he described the transactions conducted over the Internet and presented a case study on the newspaper ‘Times of India’ for better understanding.

The day in pictures:

Mr. Lalit Sharma interacting with students. (Photograph by Kulsoom Ali)

Students and faculty all ears to the seminar. (Photograph by Kulsoom Ali)


Students jotting down the salient points. (Photograph by Kulsoom Ali)


A PowerPoint aided case study on Times of India, specifically relating to the structure of e-commerce. (Photograph by Kulsoom Ali)

Updates: Information Technology Event - Technologic '08

Organized by the Department of Information Technology, the event Technologic ’08 is scheduled to take place this week.

The aim of the event is to exhibit the talent of the IT students. The event provides them an insight to the various technological aspects involved in various emerging technologies in the field of Information Technology today.

The agenda of the event is:

Date: April 22, 2008
Details: Talk on Sony Play Station and Super Computing by Dr. Faiz M. Ishaq
Time: 12:00pm – 1:00pm
Venue: College Auditorium

Date: April 23, 2008
Details: Showcase of students’ talents and presentations
Time: 9:00am - 3:00pm
Venue: IT Department, 1st floor

Date: April 24, 2008
Details: Workshop on e-Government: Success and Failures – a GCC Scenario
Time: 9:30am – 4:00pm (Lunch Break: 1:00pm – 2:00pm)
Venue: College Auditorium

For more information, please contact Ms. Sophia Rahaman- (050) 42-29-943 / Email: sophia@mahedubai.com

Workshop on e-Government: Success & Failure - A GCC Scenario

Dr. Usman Zafar, the regional IT Director for (MENA & ASIA) at IBM-IBH Australia will be gracing his presence at the event ‘Workshop on e-Government: Success and Failure – A GCC Scenario’ organized by the Department of Information Technology at Manipal University, Dubai campus.

Workshop Details:

• E-Government: Strategy and Roadmap
• Ajman e-Government Case Study:
  - As-Is Analysis
  - Consulting Engagement Issues
  - Best Practices
• Why GCC countries cannot claim major success in businesses via eGovernemnt projects?
• Digital Dividence
• Brainstorming session

The workshop details are:

Date: Thursday, April 24th 2008
Time: 9:30am - 4:00pm
Lunch: 1:00pm - 2:00pm
Venue: Manipal University Auditorium, Block no. 7, Academic City

Registration Details:

Fee: AED250

Last date for registration: April 20th, 2008

Contact details for registration:

Ms. Sophia Rahaman (050) 42-29-943 / Email: sophia@mahedubai.com

Mr. Vishwesh Akre (050) 88-27-445

Manipal University, Dubai Campus, Block no 7, Academic City, Dubai

Department of IT organizes Technologic '08

The Department of Information Technology (IT) is holding its annual exhibition titled Technologic '08 on the 22nd and 23rd April, 2008.

The purpose of the exhibition serves a platform for students to exhibit their talents, skills and innovative technological concepts through a display of models, prototypes and software modules.

Further details of the event will be updated soon.