IT is a rare honour for 48-year-old Sait Sahul Hameed attached to the C Abdul Hakeem College, Melvisharam, near here.

The World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) in France has designated him as an expert, the only person in the country to be bestowed the honour as the OIE Reference Laboratory (RL) for Whi te Tail Disease (WTD). Ham eed is a reader at the aquiculture biotechnology division of the zoology department.

The OIE is an inter-governmental organisation with headquarters in Paris and is responsible for improving animal health worldwide.It has 172 member countries.

“While there are 35 RLs in the USA, 38 in UK and three in China, this is the first time India gets this honour,” Hameed noted.

As per the OIE norms, the RL here would officiate as a centre of expertise for standardisation of diagnostic tech niques for WTD.

Hameed’s contribution in the field of aquatic animal diseases and aquiculture biotechnology for the past 22 years especially on White Spot Syndrome Virus (WSSV) of shrimp and White Tail Disease (WTD) of prawn have already received worldwide recognition. These two dis eases, identified by him re cently, could cause severe eco nomic loss (estimated around Rs 2,000 crore per year) in the shrimp and prawn culture industry.

The low-cost diagnostic kit, Dr Sahul’s Kit, to detect WSSV has been developed by him and transferred to an industry for commercialisation

 “OF the 75 students who wrote the exam, only one passed. It was not unusual to see all 75 fail too. Such was the stress on quality in 1970s,” says Justice A K Rajan, an alumnus of Madras University, who pursued a Masters degree in Law (Constitutional Law and International Law) in 1974.

Presently the chairman of Coastal Aquatic Authority, Rajan recalls the hours spent with Prof Rama Rao, Prof Krishna Shetty and Prof Radhakrishnan and says, “Students used to hold discussions on various issues. We learned a lot from each other.’’ No wonder, he presented a paper on the right of a coastal state to create an exclusive economic zone on the high seas’, at a time when the country didn’t even have a legislation on the issue. What more, it was selected as the best paper at the United Convention on the Law of the Sea in 1982

 The SSC Board on Thursday announced the schedule for remittance of examination fee by candidates for the SSC public examinations to be held in March 2009. The last date for payment of the fee is October 16.

However, candidates who fail to pay the fees during the period will be allowed to do so till October 31 with a penalty of Rs 50. Any further delay will invoke a fine of Rs 200 till November 17 and Rs 500 till December 3.

 Kakatiya University has entered into MoU with Hyderabad based DOCTUS for conducting PG Diploma in Medical Transcriptions course. DOCTUS will provide teaching and training to the students and also arrange for placements after the completion of the course. University Registrar Prof. N. Satyanarayan, State Council of Higher Education Secretary Dr. M.D. Christopher, DOCTUS representative Dr. Sucharitha Reddy signed the papers on Tuesday in the presence of Vice-Chancellor Prof. N. Linga Murthy.

 Andhra University and Wipro are organising a mega job fair for degree and PG holders of arts and science streams at the AU Ambedkar Assembly Hall here on Saturday and Sunday.

Wipro needed 400 candidates for its BPO Kolkata, V-C B. Satyanarayana said at a press conference on Thursday.

The job fair would be held from 10.30 a.m. to 3.30 p.m. There would be an orientation programme at 11 a.m. on the first day at the venue.

A candidate visiting the job fair has to bring along a passport size photograph, resume and proof of identity and address. Proof of experience could also be attached.

 A group of students and 12 academics of GITAM University and Andhra University have visited Brandix India Apparel City (BIAC) at Achyutapuram.

Objective  The tour was conducted with the objective of promoting interaction between university academics and BIAC staff while showcasing the apparel company as a potential employer for university graduates. Academics and students from engineering, technology, architecture and management took part in the tour. BIAC is being set up with an investment of US$1 billion. The park is set to offer 60,000 jobs. Coming up on 1,000 acres, BIAC is expected to provide a platform to unlock the massive synergies that India offers as a textile destination.

 The last date for payment of fee for the Special Examination being conducted by Andhra University for B.E., B.Tech. and B. Arch I, II and III year students has been extended from September. 1 to 10.

The examination will be conducted at the AU College of Engineering here on September 30. Hall tickets will be sent to the examination centre three days before the examination, according to Controller of Examinations K. Samrajyalakshmi here on Thursday.

Law seats available  A few seats under the self-finance category in first year L.L.B. programme are available in the AU Dr. Ambedkar College of Law here, informs Principal in-charge A. Rajendra Prasad. LAWCET rank-holders can apply on a plain paper by enclosing a DD for Rs. 300 (Rs. 150 in case of SC and ST candidates) towards fee, drawn in favour of the Principal, College of Law, Andhra University and submit the same to the Principal here on or before September. 16.

 Andhra University Vice-Chancellor releases a book

Engineering drawings form the basics and foundations of the engineering course, said Andhra University Vice-Chancellor B. Satyanarayana and Principal of VITS college of Engineering B.V.R. Gupta at a function held here on Thursday.

Prof. Satyanarayana released a book “Engineering Drawing” written by Prof. Gupta.

Prof. Gupta observed that engineering drawing was the language of engineering and one could not become an engineer without being good at drawing.

Principal of A.U. College of engineering P.S.N. Raju, Principal of ANITS D. Ganapathi Rao, secretary and correspondent of ANITS N. Prasada Raju, and others participated.

 Andhra University is taking steps to improve the employability of students of arts stream, Vice-Chancellor B. Satyanarayana here on Thursday.

“We are planning to introduce soft skills and communication skills in the syllabus also to establish another computer lab and take steps to improve other infrastructure facilities. Arts students too should be in reckoning for jobs in IT sector”, Prof. Satyanarayana said at a press conference. The soft skills and communication skills have already been introduced in the MBA programme.

Placement of AU’s IT and engineering students is more than 100 per cent, it is 100 per cent in the case of management and HRM students and 80 per cent with science students. But it is only half that of science in arts stream, he said.

Aid from DST The Central Government; s Department of Science and Technology has sanctioned Rs. 5 crores to Andhra University towards developing the AU College of Science and Technology as a major research centre, he informed.

AU would receive more than Rs. 20 crores from the UGC for the XI plan, four times more than what it had received during the XI plan, the VC said.

AU sought Rs. 400 crores from the UGC.

Registrar P.V.G.D. Reddy, Principal of Arts College L.K. Mohana Rao, Dean (academic affairs) D. Harinarayana, Dean (students’ affairs) Bhanu Kumar, Placement Officer of Arts College Mohan Venkatram and others were present.

 The Hindu Education Plus is the print media partner

Pune based Symbiosis Institute of Business Management will be organising a corporate mentoring and counselling initiative in Visakhapatnam on September 7, at Hotel Meghalaya from 2 pm to 6 pm.

The programme titled as ‘SIBM Live’ is being organised to help aspiring students in their quest to do an MBA.

Interactive event Established in 1978, SIBM, Pune, is the flagship institute of the Symbiosis family. It is also recognised as one of the leading business schools in the country.

This event is designed to allow prospective MBA students to have an interaction with eminent personalities from the corporate world.

It also seeks to enlighten aspirants about the various career prospects available to them after doing an MBA, clear all their doubts and give them an insight of the corporate world.

‘SIBM Live’ was launched two years ago and this year it will be conducted across four cities: Visakhapatnam, Cochin, Guwahati and Dehradun.

The General Sales Manager of Hindustan Coca Cola Beverages Vijay Bhaskar and Associate Consultant of Cognizant Technology Solutions Arjun Mudaliar would address the students.

The event is being conducted by the admissions team of SIBM. The Hindu Education Plus is the print media partner for the event and pagalguy.com is the education media partner.

For free registration and further details visit www.sibm.edu or e-mail to sibmlive2008@gmail.com or call 020-39116076. Reservations will be made on first come, first served basis