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In a key move, Delhi University has decided to promote all postgraduate students of the 2024–25 batch into their second year. The university is set to roll out a new PG Curriculum Framework–2025 with the aim of making the transition smooth, thereby not causing academic disruption to roughly 11,000 learners.

Delhi University has decided to promote all postgraduate students enrolled in the session 2024–25 into the second year, notwithstanding whether they appeared for or cleared their first-year examinations.

This decision has been taken to ensure a smooth academic transition and as a preparatory step for implementation of the Post Graduate Curriculum Framework–2025 at the university.

The structure suggested is designed on the basis of the National Education Policy and is likely to replace the existing Choice-Based Credit System and Learning Outcome-based Curriculum Framework.

This incompatibility, according to university officials, was due to a structural mismatch between the new model and the two existing frameworks.

The officials said the retention of students in older systems would lead to an academic disruption besides delaying the implementation of a new curriculum.

"Keeping students under the previous frameworks would have created gaps in course continuity. The decision ensures that no student's academic journey is disrupted," said a senior university official involved in the transition process.

The move will affect around 11,000 students enrolled in over 80 postgraduate programs at the university.

Thus, all eligible students will now be promoted to Semester III as regular learners, thereby allowing the institution to complete the shift to PGCF-2025 without overlap between the old and new structures.

Officials said it only applies to the 2024-25 batch and will not set any kind of precedence for subsequent years.

They termed this an administrative necessity in these times of curriculum reform.

PGCF-2025 aims to align postgraduate learning to the aspirations of NEP through its multidisciplinary courses, flexible learning paths, and skill-based evaluation. The curriculum also focuses on research exposure, cross-departmental electives, and a shift away from rote learning to application-based understanding. The decision to promote has come as a respite for the thousands of students while a section of the faculty expressed apprehensions over its long-term implications. They believe the move to automatic promotion would weaken the assessment process and affect academic rigour. However, university officials argue that such a decision was reached after much deliberation and that academic standards would be maintained by follow-up assessments under the new curriculum. Delhi University said the promotion process would be completed before the beginning of the next academic session and detailed guidelines in this regard would be shared soon with all departments.

The Enforcement Directorate conducted raids on Tuesday at Faridabad's Al-Falah University, which, sources said, has emerged as an epicentre of a terror module that carried out a blast in the national capital last Monday.

The action taken by the agency also covered the Al-Falah charitable trust and its trustee Jawad Ahmad Siddiqui, founder of the university running a medical college where doctors accused of running terror modules were employed. Umar un Nabi, the alleged bomber from Kashmir, was among this group of doctors.

"In a coordinated enforcement operation at 5:15 am, officials executed search actions at more than 25 premises connected with the Al-Falah group in Delhi NCR. The operation forms part of an ongoing investigation into financial irregularities, use of shell companies, accommodation entities and money laundering," said an ED source.

The role of Al-Falah Trust and related entities was under investigation, the source said and added that nine shell companies linked to the group, all registered at a single address, were under scanner.

"Prima facie discrepancies have been noted in claims regarding University Grants Commission and National Assessment and Accreditation Council recognition," the source said.

The agency's investigation is based on FIRs lodged by the Delhi Police relating to cheating and forgery, pointed out by the NAAC. Last week, the Council had issued a show-cause notice to the Al-Falah University for displaying fake accreditation on the university's website. It was "misleading", the Council said, and against its norms.

The Centre had asked the ED to assess and analyze the structure of funding of the university and its affiliated colleges following which it registered a case to initiate a formal probe.

Preliminary findings by the state police forces have suggested that a conspiracy for making an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) as well as to carry out an attack was hatched at the premises of the Al Falah School of Medical Sciences and Research Centre.

ThePrint had reported that Al-Falah Charitable Trust trustee Jawad Ahmad Siddiqui and his brother Hamood Sidiqqui have long been accused of financial misappropriation and fraud in the name of investment. His brother Hamood was arrested in Hyderabad by Indore Rural District police on Sunday.

A Bangladesh tribunal on Wednesday sentenced opposition leader and former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to death for crimes against humanity in connection with the deadly crackdown on protests against the government last year. Tried in absentia, she has been living in exile in India since she fled amidst the crisis. Her former interior minister and police chief were further condemned in the verdict for ordering lethal force against protesters.

These demonstrations, which began largely because of widespread anger among young Bangladeshis against their highly controversial government quota system, turned into political unrest in the country.  30 percent of civil service jobs had been reserved since the independence war in 1971 for veterans and their descendants in a policy increasingly seen as cronyism favoring the supporters of Hasina's Awami League party. 

In 2024, against the backdrop of rising unemployment, students and young graduates went on mass protests to demand a merit-based system. Demonstrations engulfed the whole country, having started from university campuses where protesters mobilized on social media. Unrest spirals into violent clashes between police, ruling party supporters, and demonstrators; hundreds injured, over 100 reported dead. After the interim government came to power, Bangladesh drastically cut down the quotas to just 5% of the government jobs and now they are available only for descendants of veterans. 

Meanwhile, Bangladesh's new leader Muhammad Yunus has been working on stabilizing the economy through increasing foreign reserves and obtaining loans from the IMF. Hitherto, political instability and violence remain huge challenges. Hasina denies the charges and has labeled the tribunal politically motivated. None except former police chief Abdullah al-Mamun appeared in the courtroom to hear sentencing. The court outlined the extent of violence during the crackdown, which United Nations reports confirm resulted in hundreds of deaths. The judgment coincided with rallies by Hasina's critics in Dhaka amid tight security. The diplomatic tensions remain high as Bangladesh has requested her extradition from India, which so far has refused that demand. This quota reduction is far from the structural reforms that the leaders of the student protests have continued to demand in pursuit of justice over the lives lost. What began as a movement for fairness in government hiring quickly turned into a fundamental challenge against systemic corruption and the absence of meritocracy. 

While the agitation underlines the powerful role that Bangladesh's youth have played so far in shaping the nation's political and social future, yet this is a turning point and speaks to the bigger reckoning taking place in Bangladesh between legacy and reform, privilege and merit, repression and democratic aspiration, led in no small measure by a generation of students unwilling to settle for less than justice and fairness.

Oakley Capital Investments Ltd on Tuesday announced it has reaffirmed its commitment to its K12 investments portfolio, including international school operator Affinitas Group LLP.

The Pembroke, Bermuda-headquartered private equity firm offers exposure to the education, technology, consumer and business service sectors through its funds that are managed.

OCI revealed that Oakley Capital Fund IV has consented to partially unwind its stake in the K12 portfolio ranging from kindergarten to high schools. Oakley Capital will dispose of its majority share at an approximate 6% premium over the carrying value at June 30, while funds controlled by it will hold a minority stake.

Consequently, OCI anticipates to receive about GBP25 million of look-through proceeds and a 3 pence per share uplift to its net asset value at June 30, which stood at 742p per share.

The transaction calls for Oakley Capital and two third-party investors to infuse new money in K12, with OCI expecting a GBP25 million indirect contribution through Fund VI.

Affinitas is a network of 20 European and American international schools established by Oakley in 2022. Oakley also announced on Tuesday that it has hired Thomas Rajzbaum as the new chief executive of its education business.

"Before joining Affinitas, Thomas was an EQT Group Partner, a global investment group, where he built the French office for its infrastructure funds and orchestrated its Education sector strategy throughout Europe," Oakley said.

The private equity group is anticipating the new K12 commitment to support a growth of Affinitas, which it claims has "a strong pipeline of new schools wanting to join the group".

Peter Dubens, Managing Partner at Oakley, explained this was the company's "eighth education investment and our thirteenth year in the K12 sector, which we remain very positive about as one of the most appealing in the industry".

OCI shares fell 0.4% to 560.00 pence at midday on Tuesday in London, and have increased by 11% over the last 12 months.

An Indian student in the US on a student visa lost thousands of dollars to impersonators posing as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers.

The development comes in the wake of increased enforcement action by President Donald Trump, with ICE making more arrests across the US. Amid all this, there have been cases of impersonators passing themselves off as ICE officials.

As reported by Newsweek, Shreya Bedi travelled to the United States from India in 2022 on an F-1 visa to study Master's in Human-Computer Interaction at Indiana University Bloomington.

She was approached by scammers on May 29 and informed that she was engaged in immigration offenses and threatened into buying $5,000 worth of gift cards as "bond" payments so that she could be released from arrest and deportation.

"I was totally scared and crying the whole time," said Bedi, a UI designer.

The ICE agent digital arrest scam in the US

Shreya Bedi was contacted on May 29, disrupting her life and propelling her deeper into a scam scheme, Newsweek reported.

She was informed by the scammer that she had not reported her immigration number and was breaking the country's immigration laws.

"He provided me with his name and his badge number and said to search his office information by going on ice.gov and looking up the office in Maryland. I could observe that it was the same phone number he was calling from," Bedi said.

In one common digital arrest scam method, the caller informed Bedi that she might not hang up or call anyone. She was informed that her phone was being monitored.

Another scambaiter also called the woman on a spoofed number, introducing himself as a representative of the Olympia Police Department. In the second call, he informed her that she had an arrest warrant unless ICE would acknowledge that they were investigating her case.

"I felt so trapped because they kept me on the line for three straight hours, reminding me all the time that hanging up or calling somebody would sabotage my case and make it worse. I was too afraid to take the chance," she said.

The scammers caused Bedi to purchase gift cards of $5,000 from Apple and Target and have them read over the phone. She was assured that an officer would call her to take up the cards and bond papers, but nothing of that nature occurred. On the return journey, she realized that she had been stolen from and reported one of her friends, who told her that such incidents were being shared online.

Shreya Bedi is attempting to fundraise on GoFundMe and cautioned other students against falling into the trap.

ICE criticized the stunt, declaring that impersonating agency officials is not just risky but also illegal.

"Ice strongly condemns impersonating its officers or agents. That is a dangerous, and illegal act. Impersonators can be prosecuted for a variety of criminal charges at both state/local, and federal levels (under 18 USC 912)," the spokesman was quoted as saying in the report.

A California student of bioengineering has made waves on social media after rejecting an internship offer at NASA. The student cited the requirement for a political shift in the current administration. The move has attracted widespread commentary on social media platforms.

Daniela Lucas, age 26, and PhD student at University of California San Diego, recorded and shared on TikTok. In the clip, she refuses to accept NASA's Human Health and Performance internship offer. The words written alongside in the clip, as noted, indicate she spent years gaining this offer. Lucas wrote in her caption it was difficult rejecting the offer for reasons under the current administration.

The video collected thousands of views. Social media users posted mixed remarks. Some mocked her decision. Others praised her for standing by her beliefs. One user said NASA avoided a crisis. Another said her decision was wise. Some users said political leaders can learn from her commitment.

Lucas migrated from Venezuela in 2015. She comes from a family of a doctor. She got a full scholarship to study at Miami Dade College. She is currently pursuing a PhD in bioengineering at UC San Diego.

NASA's internship program is considered one of the most respected programs in any discipline. It surpasses internships at Google, Apple, SpaceX and the CIA. Many interns build long-term careers at NASA. Some have even turned into astronauts or researchers.

NASA was funded by President Donald Trump while he was in office. The funding increased to over $22 billion. Plans included returning man to the moon and later to Mars. Lucas' internship was related to that mission.

But recent reports show budget reductions on the books. NASA's budget will decrease by 20% in 2026. Research departments would suffer under the reduction. The Trump administration is also urging the defunding of diversity programs in government agencies, including NASA. Biden has added to those efforts before, investing in them with $20 million.