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A sorry came from Harvard when a message online, posted by its team teaching ancient Indian languages, upset some Hindus. The comment had ties to studies of old texts and sparked strong reactions among believers.

Friday brought words from the office, expressing strong regret over sharing a thoughtless picture tied to their Sanskrit course. Though brief, the message stressed years spent teaching the language, standing by its ideas and heritage. Behind the scene, effort continues to honor what Sanskrit carries through time. Mistakes happen, yet dedication does not fade easily here. The past matters, so does how they move ahead quietly.

The statement also said internal processes around social media are being reviewed. "We are reviewing our internal social media process to ensure future posts more accurately reflect the mission and values of the Department, " it noted.

Now here's something clear, the department made sure folks wouldn't mix things up. That job posting? Got nothing to do with Lakshmi Mittal and Family South Asia Institute. Turns out, they're two different setups under the same university roof.

What's the controversy?

Something stirred when a picture popped up for the college's beginner Sanskrit class. A group called CoHNA, standing for Hindu voices across North America, took issue with how it showed both Sanskrit and Hindu beliefs. They claimed the visual sent a hostile message about their faith, calling the post outright prejudice against Hindus.

The artwork in question -- titled Master of Puppets -- was created by Indian artist Anirudh Sainath under the brand Molee Art, according to a few social media users. The piece drew on themes from the Mahabharata and depicted Krishna's Ras Leela, claimed netizens. 

CoHNA has welcomed the department's apology, calling it a rare instance of a university department formally expressing regret over such concerns. In posts on X, the group said it was encouraged to see respect shown towards Sanskrit, "an ancient language that has influenced civilisations across the world".

On its website, Harvard describes 'Classical Sanskrit' as a language that shaped intellectual and cultural life across South Asia for nearly three millennia. It notes that the language has been called "the language of the gods" and that major literary, philosophical and scientific works were composed in it.

Harvards South Asian Studies department teaches Sanskrit, starting from the basics, moving up through more complex forms. Instead of just grammar drills, learners explore grand epics: the Mahabharata shows up early, then the Ramayana joins later. Philosophy pieces mix in alongside poetry, building depth across lessons. Surprisingly, new students hear that Sanskrit might feel simpler than expected. By June, after months of steady work, reading classics like the Bhagavad Gita becomes possible, if youve got a dictionary nearby.

Built in India, the platform includes Vasu AI Coach, LE AI Interviewer and LE AI Quality Compliance Specialist to streamline decision-making and compliance

Leverage Edu, a leading global education-to-employment platform, has launched LE AI, its proprietary suite of agentic AI systems designed to transform international education and talent mobility.

Built and deployed from India, LE AI brings together a coordinated suite of purpose-built AI products such as Vasu AI Coach, LE AI Interviewer and LE AI Quality Compliance Specialist. These products are designed to power decision-making, evaluation and compliance across high-stakes workflows.

Early deployment of LE AI has already delivered measurable results, including 5 times higher enrollments enabled by structured AI interviewing, the elimination of over 20,000 hours of manual interviews, and a reduction in student application turnaround time from 6-7 weeks to 2 hours.

LE AI’s agentic systems are built as governed decision engines, combining LLM-based reasoning with retrieval-augmented generation over verified institutional, policy and eligibility data, alongside deterministic rule engines for validation. This distinction ensures outputs are auditable, explainable, and correct by design, enabling deployment across 27 countries spanning complex, evolving regulatory environments.

Akshay Chaturvedi, Founder and CEO of Leverage Edu, said the company is at an inflection point where AI is shifting from experimentation to core infrastructure in education and talent mobility.

LE AI is AI embedded at the foundation, enabling trusted decisions, scalable evaluation and faster access to opportunity for students worldwide, he said.

India is definitely set to become a global power in applied AI. It is with great pride that we reveal the tech that was built here, that is now helping students from all around the world access education and employment on a scale never seen before, he said.

Vasu AI, a Coach Who can be reached through WhatsApp, offers personalized, eligibility, based guidance to students, thus, empowering them to take informed decisions with self, assurance. LE AI Interviewer is a smart AI interview tool that can carry out a structured interview, analyze the answers of candidates based on the set rubrics and allow making decisions with high confidence while also escalating the cases of borderline decisions for human review.

LE AI Quality Compliance Specialist leverages automation to review applications and documents for eligibility, completeness, and genuineness. It not only helps in considerably speeding up the processing but also increases the level of trust, and the quality of decision, making.

As part of its 150th year anniversary celebrations, the University of Bristol officially opened its Mumbai Enterprise Campus in Powai on Tuesday, thus signalling a move towards the global expansion of the university. The university is one of the six institutions that were handed a letter of intent by the University Grants Commission last year to set up campuses in Mumbai.

At the inauguration, the management team revealed a series of partnerships with industries and academia, among which is a collaboration with the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, coupled with a philanthropic gift of 1.5 million in India, UK research collaboration and a student mobility drive between the two countries.

The Mumbai campus, the university’s first international campus, is set to open in August 2026 near Powai Lake, directly opposite IIT-Bombay. Its nearness to the top engineering college should facilitate joint work on various academic activities such as the invention of new teaching and learning methods.

The university has also inked an MoU with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), which has a significant presence in the UK. The MoU is targeted at collaborating in the areas of artificial intelligence (AI), industry, based learning, live projects, placements, and talent mobility initiatives across India and the UK. This partnership is considered one of TCS' major global university alliances. Bristol, recently awarded AI University of the Year 2024, houses Isambard, AI which is touted as the fastest university supercomputer in the world.

"...In a world where AI is transforming everything from education to employment, being able to work at a global scale, to influence those transformations will be absolutely crucial for universities and particularly for the University of Bristol, because we host the UK's national AI supercomputer and we feel very responsible for ensuring that it's an ethical transformation as we move into that new AI-enabled world," told Professor Evelyn Welch, Vice-chancellor and President of the university, to TOI during an interaction.

Venguswamy Ramaswamy, Global Head of TCS Education and TCS iON, in a press statement, said, “This partnership with the University of Bristol represents a powerful convergence of two organisations committed to shaping the future of AI-driven innovation... Together, we will create pathways that blend cutting-edge research with real-world industry application, strengthen talent readiness, and expand mobility and community initiatives across India and the UK..."

Beyond TCS, Bristol confirmed partnerships with other industry leaders and British Council, and the Shanta Foundation, signalling an integrated approach combining research, finance, industry and cultural collaboration. A key financial boost comes from a £1.5 million donation from the Shanta Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Waymade Capital and co-founded by Bristol alumnus Bhikhu Patel.

Patel, in a statement, said, "...This gift from the Shanta Foundation will benefit students, both in India and in the UK, through scholarships and travel, creating exciting opportunities and developing further connections between our two countries.”

Professor Welch added, "Our new alliances with leading industry partners and the philanthropic support will create unparalleled opportunities for students, researchers, and communities in both Mumbai and Bristol."

In its first year, the campus is expected to enrol up to 250 students across undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in data science, economics, finance and immersive arts, a unique programme, which will be suited for the city's creative industries. Student numbers are projected to exceed 2,500 by year five. The initiative aligns with India’s National Education Policy (NEP). The fee for undergraduate programmes has been pegged at Rs 15 lakh and for postgraduate ones at Rs 20 lakh. The university will be working towards making scholarship schemes available to needy students.

Further strengthening the transnational link, Bristol has launched the Isambard Global Visiting Professorship Scheme. The first appointee is Kushe Bahl, a lead partner at McKinsey who heads the firm’s AI, digital and analytics work in India.

Additionally, a new collaboration under the British Council’s Climate Skills Programme will work with 80 young people across Bristol, Mumbai and Thane, equipping them with green skills through training, mentorship and grants.

Alison Barrett MBE, Country Director India at the British Council, said, “The British Council’s Climate Skills programme reflects a shared commitment to preparing young people for the challenges and opportunities of the future. We are delighted to forge a new meaningful partnership between University of Mumbai and Bristol University, through the Climate Skills Global Collaboration Grants. The partners will mentor talented young people in the UK and India to develop green skills, strengthen climate resilience and employability..."

Kasturba Medical College (KMC), Manipal, a constituent institution of the Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE), has received recognition from the Singapore Medical Council (SMC). This adds to its list of global accreditations.

At the time of its inception in 1953, KMC had been recognized by the General Medical Council of England.Later on, the college has also been recognized by the medical councils of Australia, Malaysia and Sri Lanka. The educational facility in question is accredited by the World Federation for Medical Education (WFME) in the United States. Having recently been recognized by the Singapore Medical Council, KMC now has the backing of six international bodies.

Singapore Medical Council is regarded as one of the top medical regulatory authorities in the Asia, Pacific region. After a thorough examination of KMCs curriculum, clinical training, evaluation methods, management and the qualifications of its graduates, the council has decided to add KMC to its list of 120 recognised international medical colleges.

Graduates from KMC would be able to practice medicine and undertake post graduation in Singapore as a result of this recognition. Even though the recognition will only officially be in effect from 1st February, it will be applicable to all KMC graduates since the college was founded in 1953.

According to officials, recognition by the Singapore government opens up global career opportunities and enhances the credibility of students who have been educated at KMC. The accreditation will also serve as a bridge for academic collaboration, student and faculty exchange programmes, and joint research projects with institutions in Singapore and other Asia, Pacific countries.

KMC was the 29th medical college to be set up in India. At present, India has 818 medical colleges. KMC is ranked among the top 10 medical colleges in the country.

Overall, compared to the global population, there are not enough doctors as required. It is necessary to increase the number of doctors in proportion to the population as much as possible. In this context, the recognition granted to KMC by the Singapore Medical Council (SMC) will provide further support. Usually, institutions have to apply to obtain recognition from international bodies. However, the Singapore Medical Council granted recognition on its own after assessing the quality standards of various aspects of our institution. This is a matter of pride. It will pave the way for further expansion of the institution. KMC is the leading institution of MAHE, Manipal. Due to the dedicated efforts of Dr T.M.A. Pai in the early years, the institution has now grown to a global level.

France has once again pushed to be a main destination for higher education Indian students. On February 19, French President Emmanuel Macron repeated the country's plan to have 30, 000 Indian students studying in France by 2030.

The target was initially revealed in 2023 after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Paris for the National Day celebrations when he was the chief guest. After that, the French government has introduced several student- friendly measures to facilitate the movement of students for education between the two nations. Since then, French authorities have rolled out multiple student-friendly measures to accelerate academic mobility between the two countries.

The French Embassy in India has introduced a five-year short-stay Schengen visa facility and proposed “international classes” — preparatory programmes combining intensive French language training with academic coursework. The plan is aimed particularly at easing the transition for Indian students entering French universities.

Macron also revealed that the visa and administrative processes will be made simpler, especially for those working towards long term programmes such as doctoral research, thereby indicating France's desire to be a research centre for Indian students.

The major step in academic cooperation is the establishment of the AIIMS New DelhiSorbonne UniversityParis Brain Institute collaboration with the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi also participating. The Indo, French Centre for AI in Health that has been opened by Macron and Union Health Minister J. P. Nadda will concentrate on artificial intelligence, based medical research, brain health and clinical innovation.

Besides education, collaboration in strategic areas, Macron pointed out the need for technological self-reliance on which he revealed that India and France must create AI systems that they can trust together and thus, be less dependent on foreign technologies.

The move is part of a bigger diversification strategy and re-balancing of the partnership towards the research collaboration, student exchange, healthcare innovation and technology collaboration, thus making education a central pillar of the India, France relationship.

Ten Indian students represented the country at the prestigious Obninsk Tech Winter School 2026, an international nuclear technology programme that brought together 120 participants from 47 countries. The programme received over 350 global applications, from which only 120 students were selected — including the Indian contingent.

Organised from February 1 to 7 with the support of Rosatom at National Research Nuclear University MEPhI, the initiative offered hands-on exposure to advanced nuclear science, engineering workshops and collaborative technical training alongside peers from around the world.

During the seven-day programme, students attended masterclasses, specialised lectures and sessions on emerging nuclear technologies under the AtomPRO educational project. The practical training covered key areas such as dosimetry, radiation monitoring, electronics and automation in nuclear power plants, electrical engineering systems, 3D modelling, non-destructive testing and materials science.

Participants also visited major scientific and industrial facilities in the Kaluga region, including the Rosatom Technical Academy, the State Research Center of the Russian Federation — IPPE, and the A. Tsyb Medical Radiological Research Center, along with technology firms working in nuclear diagnostics and applied research.

The programme concluded with the “HackAtom” international championship, where student teams were challenged to develop solutions for the future of nuclear education within 24 hours. Proposed ideas included designing a master’s programme in nuclear waste management, creating an advanced nuclear education campus, and building a global career portal for engineering graduates.

An international team named “Prometheus,” comprising students from multiple global universities including NRNU MEPhI and Tsinghua University, emerged as the winner of the competition.

The participation of Indian students highlighted growing international academic collaboration in nuclear science and reflected rising interest among young engineers in advanced energy technologies and research careers.