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Nagaland University will launch new undergraduate (UG) courses in Basic Sciences from the 2025-26 academic year. The university will also set up a Multidisciplinary Research Centre running advanced programmes under the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.

Nagaland University Vice-Chancellor Professor Jagadish K Patnaik stated that the Nagaland University plans to launch new undergraduate courses in Basic Sciences from 2025-26, along with a Multidisciplinary Research Centre. The university aims to provide world-class research and training in these fields. The new center will offer 3-year and 4-year UG courses in Botany, Chemistry, Mathematics, Physics, and Zoology, with an intake of 50 students. The university will also launch integrated postgraduate and PhD programs in science and social science, as well as integrated PhD courses.

Integrated postgraduate and PhD programs in science and social science will be launched in the near future focusing on interdisciplinary research. Integrated PhD (PG + PhD) courses will also be included.

To ensure flexibility, the university will implement the Academic Bank of Credit (ABC) mechanism to allow students to bank, transfer, and redeem credits. The eligibility for UG and integrated PG courses includes first-class (60 percent) records in all the previous academic enrollments up to Class 12 and CUET (UG) valid scores in the relevant subject.

These programs will improve the art, humanities, natural and social sciences, and communication competencies of students through problem-solving and critical thinking. The programs will also allow students to change majors within broad areas once they have completed their first year. The new projects are expected to enhance the academic standing of Nagaland University and expose students to varied learning experiences.

340 Indian universities will be accepting the Common University Entrance Test (CUET-UG) 2025 scores, bringing in a uniform admission process for undergraduate studies. The National Testing Agency (NTA) will administer the test, which will include subjects such as science, commerce, arts, humanities, and social sciences across 13 languages. 

According to UGC Chairman M Jagadesh Kumar, CUET relieves students of the strain of taking several admission tests. The deadlines for applications and fees are March 22 and March 23, respectively, with the admission card being released in April.

National Testing Agency (NTA) is the organization that conducts exams.

Dates of the Exam: May 8–June 1, 2025

Exam Mode: Computer-Based Online Test (CBT)

Science, business, the arts, humanities, and social sciences were among the topics discussed.

13 languages are spoken, including Bengali, Tamil, Hindi, English, Marathi, and others.

Why CUET UG 2025 is a Game-Changer?

According to UGC Chairman M Jagadesh Kumar, CUET lightens the load of students by eliminating multiple entrance tests. Students now get to apply to multiple universities with one national-level test, eliminating unnecessary stress and providing a common platform for UG admissions in various streams.

Important Dates

Closing Date for Applications: March 22, 2025

Deadline to submit fees: March 23, 2025

Release of Admit Cards: April 2025

Exam locations: both inside and outside of India

Results Announced: July 2025

How Do I Apply?

Visit cuet.samarth.ac.in, the official website.

Enter your information and submit the required files.

The application fee must be paid by March 23, 2025.

Download the confirmation page, then print it out.

 Several schools and colleges in Nagpur were closed on Tuesday, with some closing down voluntarily and others being directed to close by the authorities following large-scale violence in the city after a protest against Mughal emperor Aurangzeb's tomb. 

District collector Dr Vipin Itankar confirmed that the closure order was restricted to educational institutions within the affected areas.

"We have directed the closure of all educational institutions in the affected areas. No orders have been given at the district level, as the law and order situation is normal in other areas," Itankar explained.

Other schools chose to shut down as a precaution. One school, just short of 10km from the center of the unrest, closed down for the day. The principal said, "Many of our students are from the affected area, and we felt it best to close as a precaution."

District education officer Rohini Kumbhar further stated that school principals were free to announce holidays if they felt the situation in their locality was not safe.

"Schools are free to make decisions on the safety and welfare of their students," Kumbhar said.

Aside from schools, even the owners of school buses adopted a cautious stance. Samar Jog, an executive member of School Bus Owners Association, said, "We decided to leave route closure to members' discretion. But most chose not to travel today. Of about 1,200 buses in the district, with 750 plying within the municipal limits, buses in rural areas will probably keep running."

Karnataka Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot on Monday stressed the need to make NSS a people's movement and asked students to inculcate positive thinking, work for the welfare of society, and be the driving force behind social reform.

He was addressing after awarding the NSS State Award for 2022-23 at a function organized by the State cell of National Service Scheme (NSS) and the Youth Empowerment and Sports Department at Raj Bhavan.

In his speech, Gehlot urged students to actively participate in NSS along with their studies.

Citing Swami Vivekananda, the Governor said, "Youth power is the foundation of any nation's progress," a statement issued by Gehlot's office read. He said that NSS volunteers, driven by Vivekananda's vision of self-reliance, bravery, and self-confidence, are contributing substantially to society and the country.

Their activities involve cleanliness campaigns, health awareness campaigns, tree planting, relief and rehabilitation in natural calamities, literacy drives, conservation of nature, and encouraging national integration and social harmony in rural as well as urban regions.

He also emphasized the NSS volunteers' active participation in large national campaigns like the Make in India campaign, which focuses on making India a manufacturing hub of the world; the Digital India program, which targets the conversion of India into a digitally empowered nation; and the Swachh Bharat Mission, aimed at building a clean and green India. Gehlot appreciated the outstanding work done by more than five lakh NSS volunteers in Karnataka and congratulated the awardees on their commitment and work.

Looking into the history of NSS, the Governor pointed out that since 1969 with 40,000 volunteers, it has turned out to be one of the largest youth volunteer organisations in the world.

"The scheme continues to help mould the personality and character of youth through social service." He reaffirmed the NSS motto, "Not Me, But You," which expresses the ethos of selfless service and compassion for others.

Quoting Swami Vivekananda once more, the Governor said, "Arise, be alert, and do not stop until the goal is achieved." He urged students to take inspiration from the visionary leader and work for the country as "responsible citizens." The NSS was further urged by him to work on all-round development by taking up backward regions in villages and urban areas and making efforts to bring down school dropout rates.

The Governor distributed a total of 48 awards during the ceremony, which included two best universities/directorates, two best NSS programme coordinators, 12 best NSS units, 12 NSS programme officers, and 20 best NSS volunteers who showed exemplary dedication to NSS activities, the statement further added.

The celebrated scholar is awarded for pushing back at conventional literary theory and broadening the boundaries of inclusivity in cultural discussions.

Scholar and theorist Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak has received the Holberg Prize for 2025. Among the world's most prominent prizes for scholarship, the Holberg Prize annually recognises an excellent researcher within the humanities, social sciences, law or theology. It is sponsored by the Norwegian government and managed by the University of Bergen on behalf of the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research and has a cash award of $540,000. Spivak will be awarded the prize on June 5 at the University of Bergen in Norway.

Spivak became a University Professor in the Humanities at Columbia in 2007. A faculty member of Columbia's Institute for Comparative Literature and Society since its inception, Spivak is a revered academic figure. Spivak has been influencing literary scholarship since the 1970s: her landmark essay, "Can the Subaltern Speak? " (1988), remains at the center of postcolonial inquiry. It holds in it the basic principles of her critical and ethical research: that hegemonic discourse silences the voices of groups at the margins of society, and literature has no right to be inclusive or "universal" until it includes those voices.

Spivak has specifically centered her attention on subaltern women, both in discursive practice and cultural institutions. Spivak was born in Kolkata on February 24, 1943. She studied at the University of Calcutta and later at Cornell University. Down the years, Spivak has kept alive her connection with Bengal, working closely with academics and authors like Mahasweta Devi. Her translation of Devi’s short story, “Draupadi”, helped bring the powerful, disruptive text to a wider audience. She starts her foreword to the translation with the words, "I translated this Bengali short story into English as much for the sake of its villain, Senanayak, as for its title character, Draupadi (or Dopdi).

For in Senanayak I find the closest approximation to the First World scholar in search of the Third World, I shall speak of him first." For Spivak, translation is a profoundly political and philosophical enterprise because it makes knowledge democratic. She has translated French philosopher Jacques Derrida's book, Of Grammatology, and brought the theory of deconstruction—defined by the Britannica as "a form of philosophical and literary analysis. that questions the fundamental conceptual distinctions, or 'oppositions,' in Western philosophy through a close examination of the language and logic of philosophical and literary texts"—to English-speaking readers. Spivak deconstructs "Draupadi" with deconstruction methodologies in the aforesaid foreword. 

Spivak has taught in self-supporting primary schools in India's most impoverished sections as part of her ongoing attempt to empower the marginalized to express their experience on their own terms. According to the Holberg Prize citation, "For Spivak, rigorous creativity must intersect with local initiatives to provide alternatives to intellectual colonialism.

Nine books have been written by Spivak, most influential among which is A Critique of Postcolonial Reason: Towards a History of the Vanishing Present (1999). She has edited and translated some of the others. It has been translated into over 20 languages. The quote summarizes her accomplishments briefly: "Spivak's scholarship provokes readers, students, and scholars to "train the imagination" through extended engagement with literature and culture. Beginning with the centre of Western philosophy as a site of critical examination, she has made it possible, facilitated, and encouraged otherwise unimaginable trajectories of critical questioning—both at the centres and peripheries of world modernity.

With less than a week left for the Common University Entrance Test - Undergraduate (CUET UG) 2025 registrations, students are stuck in confusion over choosing subjects with the recent alterations in admission policies.

The National Testing Agency (NTA) has allowed candidates to appear for the CUET UG in subjects they did not study in Class XII, but universities like Delhi University (DU) have clarified that admissions will be given on the basis of school subjects studied. Therefore, students now have to personally check each university's admission requirements, adding more challenges.

CUET UG 2025 registration ends on March 22, and the entrance test will be the door to undergraduate admissions in 302 Indian universities. According to Navbharat Times, in NTA's information bulletin, the name of 46 central universities is mentioned, but in another portion of the same paper, 47 universities are mentioned. CUET UG 2025 comprises:

47 central universities

42 state universities

34 deemed universities

10 other government-aided colleges

169 private universities

Adding to the suspense, NTA has not issued the FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) document for CUET UG 2025 yet, in contrast to last year when 127 questions were solved in an official FAQ list.

Career counsellor Alok Bansal added that FAQs are important, since students cannot always read the whole information bulletin. "FAQ is a necessary process since it gives students short answers to frequent queries," he said.

To sail through these uncertainties, students are taking the help of school teachers. SK Gupta, Chairman of VSPK Education Society, mentioned that teachers are getting lots of calls from students asking for help in the application process.

In the same way, Dr Sanchita Gupta, Principal of VSPK International School, Rohini, also asserted that teachers are personally helping students by reading the information bulletin and offering required clarifications.

The CUET UG 2025 is still an important step in the process of undergraduate admissions, but without definite directions from NTA, students have the task of identifying subject eligibility themselves.