KIIT School of Languages (KSOL) organized 4th Virtual Induction Meeting to formally welcome 113 students from different Schools & Departments of the KIIT Group of Institutions to nine different Language Proficiency Certificate courses of the Fourth Session (October-December, 2021). The event was graced by Dr. Jnyana Ranjan Mohanty, Registrar, KIIT-DU; Dr. Mrutyunjay Suar, Director General-R&D; Prof. (Dr.) Harekrishna Satapathy, Former Vice Chancellor, KISS DU; and Dr. Biswajit Das, Dean, KSOL. The session was initiated and moderated by Mr. Sameer Kumar Das, Deputy Director, KSOL.

The fourth session registered a total 113 enrolments from 14 different Schools of KIIT Group including KISS, KIMS, Faculty Members, Staff and their relatives. The Schools of Computer Engineering, Law and Electronics Engineering are the biggest contributors for the fourth session admissions with 28, 21 and 12 enrolments respectively. French, Japanese and German become the top three language preferences with admissions of 23, 22 and 19 respectively. Spanish, Communicative English, IELTS Preparatory and Odia had enrolments of 14, 12, 9 and 11 respectively.

All the 9 language trainers – Dr. Trupti Mishra (Sanskrit), Ms Sally Saleh (Arabic), Ms Amrita Chhotaroy (Communicative English), Ms Suchismita Bastia (IELTS Preparatory), Ms Prajna De Nandi (Japanese), Dr. Pramodini Jena (Odia), Mr Pravin Kumar Gupta, (German), Mr Asit Swarnakar (Spanish) and Mr Subhrangshu Mohanty (French) welcomed their respective students for the upcoming session.

KIIT School of Languages (KSOL) organized an Online Panel Discussion and Q&A Session titled “IELTS Preparatory-Ask the Experts” on 7th October 2021. The IELTS Orientation event is organized by British Council Certified IELTS Trainers, Suchismita Bastia and Amrita Chhotaroy, in association with Venkatakrishnan Karthik, a student of Mechanical Engineering and an IELTS (Academic) Achiever. Dr Biswajit Das, Dean, KSOL gave the welcome remark by highlighting the significance of taking on-time preparatory classes from experts to score good grades in IELTS, the highly on-demand English certification test required by almost all prominent Universities worldwide. The session was initiated by Mr. Sameer Kumar Das, Deputy Director, KSOL.

Panel Discussion was moderated by Amrita Chottaroy who started with a power-point presentation on IELTS followed by 30 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for the panellists. Karthik who got an impressive 7.5 Band Score in the IELTS (Academic) Exam held this September, which qualifies him to every reputed Universities globally, answered most of the questions on requisite mindset and preparedness for sailing across IELTS. He attributed his success to the rigorous and personalized IELTS coaching he received from KSOL.  Q&A session with the audience was highly enriching, interactive and informative with satisfactory responses to all the queries asked by interested students.

KIIT School of Languages (KSOL) in association with NEC Japanese Language Academy (NJLA), New Delhi organized online orientation lecture “Japan – A Window of Opportunities” on 5th October 2021. Dr. Biswajit Das, Dean, KSOL gave the inaugural address about benefits of learning Japanese and welcomed the guest speakers from NJLA and the student participants.

The orientation event helped the audience to know how learning Japanese Language can improve career prospects.

The presenters of the orientation lecture were Ms. Srishti Arora, Manager and Sales Head, NJLA and Ms. Kazue Khurana, Deputy Head of Academics, NJLA. Ms. Srishti Arora is a Japanese language expert with more than 10 years of experience working in a Japanese organization. Ms. Kazue Khurana is a Native Japanese Language and Cultural trainer with more than 25 years of experience in Japan, India and the United States.

An elaborate presentation on NEC Group’s activities in India and Indo-Japan business engagement with scope of career avenues was done by Ms. Srishti through slides and quizzes. She highlighted the demand of Indian talents in Japan and the prerequisites to get job opportunities in the Japanese industry. Ms. Kazue Khurana, the native trainer, presented on some key aspects of Japanese language which is similar to Hindi and how it is easier for Indians to understand and learn the language and culture of Japan.

More than 200 participants joined this highly informative and interactive Japanese orientation lecture.  Audience asked several questions to the experts from NEC Academy and got satisfactory replies. The session was initiated and moderated by Mr Sameer Kumar Das, Deputy Director, KSOL.

KIIT School of Languages (KSOL) organized an online Valedictory Meeting for the 3rd Batch (July-September, 2021) students of Certificate Course in Language Proficiency & Skill Development on successful completion of their course on 2nd October 2021. The meeting was graced by Dr. Samaresh Mishra, Director-Student Affairs, KIIT Deemed to be University and Dr. Biswajit Das, Dean, KSOL.

All the eight foreign language trainers- Ms Suchismita Bastia (IELTS Preparatory); Dr. Pramodini Jena (Odia); Ms Sally Saleh (Arabic); Ms Amrita Chottaroy (Communicative English); Mr Subhrangshu Mohanty (French); Ms Prajna De (Japanese); Mr Asit Swarnakar (Spanish) and Mr Pravin Gupta (German) – shared their valuable teaching experience and the development imparted to students in a short span through interactive sessions and comprehensive syllabus.

Several students expressed gratitude to their respective trainers for excellent teaching and guidance and commended the efforts of the School of Languages while sharing positive feedback on overall course delivery. The staff and faculty members who opted for various language courses like Prof. Dipanwita Sinha, Assistant Professor, KIIT Law School; Prof. Bibhudatta Sahoo, Assistant Professor, School of Yoga; Prof. Ganaraj PS, Assistant Professor, School of Electronics Engineering and Sumanta Parija, Executive Trainee, ICT Cell also shared their comments and feedback.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Samaresh Mishra congratulated all the students and their trainers for successful completion of the course. Dr. Biswajit Das encouraged the students to pursue excellence in building language and soft skills which are required globally for a successful career.

In order to promote learning of Sanskrit Language among students and youth for attaining personal and professional excellence, KIIT School of Languages (KSOL) organized an orientation webinar titled “Relevance of Sanskrit in Contemporary Society and its Scientific Dimensions” on 25th September 2021. A team led by Prof. (Dr.) Harekrishna Satapathy, Former Vice Chancellor of National Sanskrit University Tirupati and KISS Deemed to be University, Bhubaneswar made the presentation for the webinar.

Prof. Satapathy is a renowned educationist and eminent scholar and an expert in Ancient Indian Literature, Ancient Indian Ethics and Jurisprudence with over 40 years of experience in teaching and educational administration. Dr Biswajit Das, Dean, KSOL graced the session with the welcome remark and encouraging words for the aspiring students.

During his one-hour talk, Prof. Satapathy covered the whole gamut of subjects involving Sanskrit as a medium of communication since the advent of humanity which also marked its influence on early European language of Latin and Greek. Projecting Sanskrit beyond the purview of religion, he cited examples of Vedic chanting by Sanskrit scholars to initiate proceedings in the U.S. Senate to explain to explain the universal appeal of the language. He also set examples of how the ancient Indian Jurisprudence of Dharma and Satya has dominated today’s system of Governance and Justice through their motto of  Satyameva Jayate (Truth alone triumphs) and Yato Dharmastato Jayaḥ (whence justice (dharma), thence victory) respectively derived from Upanishads written in Sanskrit. He stressed on the pursuit for learning of Sanskrit along with professional studies to enrich our day-to-day life for attaining a healthy lifestyle as well as spiritual, intellectual & economical well-being.

Around 200 people attended the seminar. The Q & A session was very interactive where many students asked their genuine concerns.

School of Languages, KIIT Deemed to be University, Bhubaneswar organized a virtual lecture on “An Introduction to Romanticism” on 24th August 2021. Dr. Nishi Pulugurtha was invited as the resource person for the lecture. Dr. Pulugurtha is an Associate Professor in the Department of English, Brahmananda Keshab Chandra College, West Bengal.

Dr. Pulugurtha presented an audio-visual lecture on the central tenets of Romanticism, starting with a talk about Coleridge’s Biographia Literaria, as well as about the great contributions of female artists, poets, and writers like Anna Barbauld, Charlotte Smith Mary Robinson, Hannah More, Anna Seward, Helen Maria Williams. She talked about how romanticism is based on the principle of organic growth, and is characterized by imagination, expression of emotions, feeling for nature, new interest in external nature, an interest in man and the relation of man to God, and interest in the human soul. The lecture came to an end beautifully by discovering one of the lesser-known works of romanticism that we all knew as a child, ‘The Star’ rhyme by Jane Taylor.

The lecture was followed by a Q & A session moderated by Ms. Akankhya Sahu and Ms. Simran Das, students of B. A. in English. Questions comprised discussions of the concepts integral to German and British romanticism. The vote of thanks was gracefully delivered by Ms. Simran Das.

The event was organised by a team of students from UG and PG programmes of English, namely, Ms. Ranjita Majumder, Ms. Vaishali Gupta, Ms. Akankhya Sahu, Ms. Esther Olive, Ms. Pratyushi Priyadarshini, Ms. Sarbani Sengupta, Ms. Simran Das and Ms. Naazia Gulnar. The lecture was a result of the guidance of Hon’ble Dean, KSOL, Dr. Biswajit Das and coordination of Prof. Debanjali Roy, who conceptualized and curated the academic event.

The lecture was graced by the presence of Dr. Sahel Md Delabul Hossain, the Academic Coordinator of the School of Languages and other faculty members of the School. Attended by students, scholars and academics across the country, the event garnered appreciation and highly positive response from the audience.

 KIIT School of Languages (KSOL) successfully organized an online lecture on the title “World Literatures and Web 2.0” which was delivered by Dr. Koel Mitra, Assistant Professor, The Neotia University, Kolkata.  The lecture aimed to explore the relationship between the interconnections among different literary fields and cultures and the interactive platform of Web 2.0.

Dr. Mitra began the lecture by defining Web 2.0 as a multidirectional model where the server and the user both can contribute, as opposed to the unidirectional model of Web 1.0. She clarified that instead of discussing the digital archives and digitization processes of literary and non-literary texts which are few of the common research areas in the field of digital humanities, she would be focusing on digital writing and how it changed the notion of authorship and copyright, as it has been understood by conventional market.

The lecture addressed the issues of collaborative authorship and the way it challenged the traditional method of reading and readership, where the typicality of context-text-supplement is questioned and reversed. Dr. Mitra used the example of the multilingual platform of Wikipedia, where multiple authors contribute to creating a text, the language is standardized and the readers are allowed to modify the content.

The lecture was followed by a lively interaction session and many from the audience asked questions on field literature as well as digital humanities. To answer a question on the availability and accessibility of digital media to the indigenous communities of different countries, Dr. Mitra acknowledged the existence of the digital divide and said that the divide existed even before the advent of the internet. However, she expressed her hope that one day, people would overcome the divide and welcome Web 3.0. She also addressed questions on the issues of surveillance and moderation in Web 2.0.

The Online Lecture was attended by people from different Educational Institutes from India and abroad and all of them expressed their willingness to attend more of such lectures and webinars. The event was moderated by Ms. Prerna Guha, a student of M.A. in English, KIIT-DU. The poster of the Webinar was designed Ms. Vaishali Gupta, M.A. English and logistics were handled by Ms. Shatabdi Mishra, M.A. English.

The event was graced by Dr. Biswajit Das, Dean, School of Languages and other faculty members from the School. The Online Lecture was organized and curated by Dr. Gourab Chatterjee, Assistant Professor, School of Languages. The lecture commenced with a Welcome Address by Honorable Dean, followed by an Introductory Speech by the hosts, and the introduction of the speakers. The programme was well-curated and managed by a team of students.

KIIT School of Languages (KSOL) successfully organized a wellness webinar on “OM Chanting and its impact on Stress Management” for students, faculty members and staff of the University. The talk was presented by Dr Biswa Bandita Kar, Dean, School of Yoga, KIIT who explained the healing effect of Pranayam particularly OM Chanting on the human body and mind through cosmic vibrations and awakening of Kundalini Chakras to overcome stress & physical ailments.

While mentioning the transcendental effect of OM Chanting, Dr Kar elaborated the physiological influence of Pranayam and meditation due to which secretion of the body’s stress hormone, Cortisol, gets reduced to 85% if a person chants OM 108 times a day. OM chanting helps in generation of B-Cell and T-Cell which builds the immune system and minimizes the harmful effect of stress hormones.

She said the Yogic mental therapy of OM chanting, meditation and sound vibrations helps in improving cognitive functions like memory, concentration, perception and learning efficiency. Due to OM chanting secretion of Melatonin hormone increases which results in good and stress free sleeping with proper circadian rhythm and synchronizing effect of Delta waves from brain in less amplitude. She also explained how the vibrational aura of OM chanting arouses  consciousness and helps in realizing the Turiya state of Sleeping i.e. pure consciousness as mentioned in Mandukya Upanishad which is a combination of earlier 3-states of awake, dream-filled sleep and deep sleep.

Dr Kar suggested the therapy of pressing each finger tips 20 times a day to get relief from stress, sleeplessness, high blood pressure and sugar related problems.  She said OM chanting creates vibrations in the 5 –points of the spinal cord which has a healing effect in back pain, ageing issues, ailments related to spinal cord.

The session was initiated and moderated by Mr Sameer Kumar Das, Deputy Director and Dr Biswajit Das, Professor & Dean, KIIT School of Languages gave the welcome remark by highlighting the immense contribution of Dr B. B. Kar for research and projects in diversified fields of science, spirituality and yoga.

Dr Sahel Md Delabul Hossain, Assistant Professor and Coordinator, KSOL concluded the session with his observations and responses towards the far-reaching benefits of meditation and OM chanting for maintaining the  physio-neuro-spiritual  order of life. He extended a vote of thanks to the speaker and audience on behalf of the KIIT School of Languages.

School of Languages, KIIT (Deemed to be University) organized the Students’ Orientation Programme for the Undergraduate (B.A. English Hons.) and Postgraduate (M.A.) courses of Third Semester (Autumn 2021-2022) on July 26, 2021.

KSOL dedicates the first day of the session to welcome the students to the beginning of their journey to a new academic session and encourages for the specified necessity of maintaining a positive attitude towards learning, compassion for humanity and for overall wellbeing. The programme deliberates on the academic course plans of the semester, the course curriculum, pedagogy, course outcomes and the activities students will be engaged in across the semester.

The programme helps clarify the nuances of the course and the pedagogic practices, students’ expectations and observations. The timetable, syllabus, course plan and activity calendar were circulated on the same day. The students shared their experiences of the last academic session and thanked the combined, meticulous efforts of all the members of the school for their contribution to their academics, co-curriculars and overall well-being.

The programme ended with vibrant interactions among students, staff and faculty members of the school.

Online Academic Audit (2020-21) for different programs at the School of Languages, KIIT-DU was organized on 23^nd July, 2021. The purpose of the academic audit was to ensure qualitative measures for Online Teaching, Learning, and Evaluation followed at the school. The expert auditor, Dr. Prafulla Chandra Rath, Associate Prof of English, Principal, Kamala Nehru Women’s College Bhubaneswar, Odisha was welcomed by Prof. Tanmoy Putatunda, Assistant Professor, School of Languages.

Dr. Sahel Md Delabul Hossain, Assistant Professor & Coordinator, School of Languages introduced the School and its programmes and courses to the auditor. Prof. Rath had an inquisitive session with Dr. Biswajit Das, Dean, School of Languages; the presenter of the School’s Academic report Dr. Sahel Md Delabul Hossain; and the other faculty members of the school. Dr. Rath was very much appreciative about the teaching-learning methods the School has adopted and savoured during the academic session 2020-2021.

Dr. Rath also emphasized on refreshers courses and workshops for the faculty members of the school and also suggested to map them as in regular academic activity. He also stressed on the need for research culture. He also made constructive suggestions for modular course structure and pyramid style department functioning.

Prof. Debanjali Roy, Prof. Tanmoy Putatunda, Prof. Subhrangshu Mohanty, Prof. Pravin Gupta and Dr. Gourab Chatterjee also engaged in the interaction and discussed the innovative practices in the School. Mr. Sameer Kumar Das, Deputy Director elaborated on the Language Proficiency Courses (quarterly programmes) that the school offers. Dr. SMD Hossain was assisted by the team of the faculty members in compiling data. The session ended with a final audit report compilation and a Vote of Thanks.

School of Humanities, and School of Languages KIIT (Deemed to be University), together organized a Talk Show on “The Truth of Writing: Let Our Stories be Told”with two contemporary Indian English Authors Ms. Jashodhara Chakraborti and Mr. Durjoy Choudhury. The interaction intended on sharing of experience by the speakers as contemporary writers, and also on notes of inquisition from the students and the audience.The Talk Show was full of lively interactions among the speakers, hosts and the audience.

The event was graced by Dr. Jnyana Ranjan Mohanty, Registrar KIIT (Deemed to be University) Bhubaneswar; Dr. Biswajit Das, Dean, School of Languages; Prof. A K Sen, Dean in-Charge, School of Humanities and Dr. Sukanta Chandra Swain, Associate Dean, School of Humanities.

The Talk Show was organized and curated by Dr. Sahel Md Delabul Hossain (Convener), Assistant Professor of School of Humanities, and Coordinator, School of Languages, and Dr. Gourab Chatterjee (Co-Convener), Assistant Professor, School of Languages. The talk show commenced with Introductory Speech by the hosts, and the introduction of the speakers. The programme was well curated and managed by team of student from the School of Languages.

KIIT School of Languages (KSOL) organized a Virtual Induction Meeting to formally welcome 129 students from different Schools and Departments of the KIIT Deemed to be University to its eight different Language Proficiency Certificate courses of the Third Session (July – September 2021). The event was graced by Dr. Jnyana Ranjan Mohanty, Registrar, KIIT-DU; Dr Biswajit Das, Dean, KSOL and Dr. Saranjit Singh, Director-IEC & Placements. They encouraged the newly joined students with their remarks and insight on industry perspectives of foreign language learning.

The Third Session registered a total 129 enrolments from 15 different Schools of KIIT-DU, faculty members, staff and their relatives. The Schools of Computer Engineering, Law and Electronics Engineering are the biggest contributors for the Third Session admissions with 34, 28 and 17 enrolments respectively. German, French and Spanish become the top three language preferences with admissions of 28, 27 and 22 respectively. Japanese, Communicative English and Arabic courses had enrolments of 13, 11 and 3 respectively. Two new courses did fairly well with enrolment of 9 for Odia language and 16 for Advanced English (IELTS Preparatory).

All the seven language trainers namely Ms. Amrita Chhotaroy (Communicative English & IELTS Preparatory); Ms. Sally Saleh (Arabic); Dr. Pramodini Jena (Odia); Mr. Subhrangshu Mohanty (French); Ms. Prajna De Nandi (Japanese); Mr. Asit Swarnakar (Spanish); and Mr. Pravin Kumar Gupta (German) welcomed their respective language students with encouraging words.

KIIT School of Languages (KSOL) organized Online Valedictory Meeting for the 2nd  Batch (April-June 2021)  Foreign Language Students on 22nd June 2021 on successful completion of the 3-months Certificate Course in presence of Prof. Jnana Ranjan Mohanty, Registrar, KIIT Deemed to be University and Dr Biswajit Das, Dean, KSOL. The session was initiated and moderated by Mr. Sameer Kumar Das, Deputy Director, KSOL.

 All the six foreign language trainers- Ms Sally Saleh (Arabic), Ms Amrita Chottaroy (English), Mr Subhrangshu Mohanty (French), Ms Prajna De (Japanese), Mr Asit Swarnakar(Spanish) and Mr Pravin Gupta (German)- shared their valuable teaching experience and the development imparted to students in a short span through interactive sessions and comprehensive syllabus.

 Several students expressed gratitude to their respective trainers for excellent teaching and guidance and commended the efforts of the School of Languages while sharing positive feedback on overall course delivery. The staff and faculty members who opted for various language courses like Prof. Dia Sarkar, Assistant Professor, School of Law;  Ms Jayanti Nath, Deputy Director, Girls’ Hostel & Student Affairs; Mr Chandan Kumar Mohapatra, Faculty, School of Yoga; Dr Sarbari Acharya, Assistant Professor, School of Applied Sciences also shared their comments and feedbacks during the valedictory meeting. Students also submitted their inputs on the courses through an online feedback form.

KIIT School of Languages (KSOL) organized successfully the online IELTS counselling lecture on the title “IELTS- Getting ready for a Global Career” by British Council certified IELTS trainers from Bangalore- Ms. Amrita Chhotaroy & Ms. Suchismita Bastia. The lecture presented a holistic overview of the IELTS Exams, its formats and the online IELTS preparatory course offered by the KSOL. The session was very informative, interactive and comprehensive covering almost every aspect of the IELTS and its preparation.

Around 850 people registered to the IELTS lecture. The Q&A session was very interactive where many students asked their genuine concerns for which they got satisfactory replies.  Dr Biswajit Das, Dean, KSOL graced the session with the welcome remark and encouraging words for the aspiring students. The session was initiated and moderated by Mr. Sameer Kumar Das, Deputy Director, KSOL.

IELTS – (The International English Language Testing System) is the world’s most popular English language test. IELTS is jointly managed by British Council, IDP: IELTS Australia & Cambridge Assessment English.

KSOL is offering Advanced English (IELTS Preparatory) Certificate Course for 60 hours duration over a span of three months from July, 2021 onwards exclusively for the students, staff and faculty members of KIIT Group of Institutions.

The School of Languages, KIIT Deemed to be University organized a virtual lecture on “Modernism, Women’s Writing and the First Wave” on 10^th June, 2021 delivered by Dr. Shrabani Basu, Assistant Professor , Department of English, Deshabandhu Mahavidyalaya, Chittaranjan. Her lecture focused on the first wave of feminism and modernism along with its similarities and dissimilarities, taking into account the point at which they converge and depart. Taking several works into consideration, especially Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication to the Rights of Women, the earliest surviving work which talks about women’s rights, Dr. Basu explored the concept of New Woman in the Modern age. The lecture was followed by a Q/A session moderated by Ms. Ranjita Majumdar, a student of M.A in English. The questions which were put forward included the position of gender studies in contemporary age, and the connection between Humanism and Feminism. The participants extended their gratitude to Dr. Basu for delivering a contextual and comprehensive analysis in locating Feminism in the Modern age.

 The lecture was attended by students, scholars and academicians across the country and was appreciated by all participants. The event was graced by Dr. Biswajit Das, Professor and Dean, School of Languages, KIIT-DU, and the Academic Coordinator of the School of Languages, Dr. Sahel Md Delabul Hossain. The Lecture was coordinated and curated by Prof. Tanmoy Putatunda, and Prof. Debanjali Roy, Assistant Professors of the School of Languages, and the students of the Postgraduate Studies in English, KIIT School of Languages. The lecture was curated and coordinated by Prof. Debanjali Roy and Prof. Tanmoy Putatunda, Assistant Professors of the School of Languages with the active support of the students.

School of Languages, KIIT Deemed to be University organized a virtual lecture on “The City and the City: Ideology, Modernism, and Urbanity in Indian Literature” on 5th June 2021. Dr. Dibyakusum Ray was invited as the resource person for the lecture. Dr. Ray is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Ropar. He spoke on the evolution of the post-industrial city space, urban planning and city as an organism and literature on cities in India.

Ms. Ranjita Majumdar, student of M. A. English anchored the session which was graced by Dean, KSOL Dr. Biswajit Das; Academic Coordinator Dr. Sahel Md. Delabul Hossain and other faculty members of the School. The lecture was attended by students, scholars and academicians across the country and appreciated by all participants. The event was curated and coordinated by Prof. Debanjali Roy and Prof. Tanmoy Putatunda, Assistant Professors of the School of Languages with the active support of the students of Postgraduate Studies in English, KIIT School of Languages.

KIIT School of Languages (KSOL) organized Induction Meeting to formally welcome 133 students from various Schools of the University to six different Foreign Language Certificate Courses of the Second Session (April-June 2021) in presence of Prof. Jnyana Ranjan Mohanty, Registrar, KIIT Deemed to be University and  Dr. Biswajit Das, Dean, KSOL.

 The Schools of Computer Engineering, Law and Electronics Engineering are the biggest contributors for the second session admissions with 35, 24 and 21 enrolments respectively. Overall, 18 Schools contributed students for language courses this time. Along with the students, few faculty members and staff also enrolled for the different courses.

German, Spanish and Japanese become the top three preferences with admissions of 34, 27 and 26 respectively.  French and Communicative English also did well with 25 and 16 enrolments. However, Arabic admission is low at 5 as students need more awareness about the enormous opportunities in the Middle East and Gulf region.

School of Languages, KIIT Deemed to be University organized a Virtual Lecture on ‘The Making of An- Ism out of Existence: Philosophical and Theatrical Manifestations’ on 13th April 2021.

The resource person for the lecture Dr. Asijit Datta, an Assistant Professor and Head of the Department of English of the prestigious Heritage College, University of Calcutta spoke at great length about how existentialism tried to debunk the so called “truths” concerning reason and rationality. Citing the example of the Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus, and Jean Paul Sartre’s existence precedes essence, the philosophy of Existentialism and Absurdity was explored at a great length. The lecture was followed by a discussion session that included questions probing into the matrix of this discourse.

Coordinated by Prof. Debanjali Roy, Assistant Professor, School of Languages, the event was anchored by Ranjita Majumdar and D. Subhasmita, students of M.A. English. It was attended by students, scholars and academic professionals of not only KIIT-DU but academic institutions across the nation.

The event was also graced by Dr. Biswajit Das, Professor & Dean, School of Languages, Dr. Sahel Md. Delabul Hossain, Academic Coordinator, School of Languages and other faculty members of the School. It was an academically enriching experience for students and staff alike.

KIIT School of Languages (KSOL) organized online Valedictory Meeting for this year’s First Batch (Jan-March)  Foreign Language Students on 30th March 2021 on successful completion of the three-month course in presence of Prof. Jnana Ranjan Mohanty, Registrar, KIIT Deemed to be University and Dr Biswajit Das, Dean, KSOL.

Students of French and German language expressed gratitude to their respective trainers Mr. Subhrangshu Mohanty and Mr. Pravin Kumar Gupta for excellent teaching and guidance while sharing feedback on overall course delivery. Though representing different Schools and backgrounds, students got an opportunity to learn together the foreign languages as well as developed cultural perspectives.

Deepabali Majumder (3rd yr Computer Engineering), Subhadip Mukherjee (2nd yr Biotechnology), Somagni Roy (3rd yr Biotech), Bholanath Das (PhD Scholar), Snehagni Roy (3rd yr Biotechnology),   Satadru Das (1st yr Mechanical Engineering),  Aditya Raj Dash (4th yr Civil Engineering) and  Ashna Biswal (2nd yr Computer Engineering) shared their valuable comments and feedbacks during the valedictory meeting. Several students also submitted their inputs on the courses through online feedback form. Most of them now want to enrol for another level of language learning.

Owing to the growing demand of Indian medical professionals worldwide, KIIT School of Languages (KSOL) organized a special online orientation of its different foreign language courses for the students, faculty members and staff of Kalinga Institute of Dental Sciences (KIDS) and Kalinga Institute of Nursing Sciences (KINS).

Dr. Biswajit Das, Dean, KSOL; Prof. Balaji Manohar, Principal, KIDS and Prof. Amarita Lenka, Principal, KINS encouraged the participants by endorsing the need of learning foreign languages and cultures to cater the burgeoning demand of Indian healthcare professionals worldwide and also to the growing medical tourism industry within the country.

All the six foreign language trainers – Subhrangshu Mohanty (French), Asit Swarnakar (Spanish), Prajna De (Japanese), Sally Saleh (Arabic), Pravin Gupta (German) and Amrita Chottaroy (English) – made a strong pitch by elaborating on the significance, syllabus and pedagogy for their respective language courses.

School of Languages, KIIT Deemed to be University organized a virtual Lecture and Interaction session on ‘Challenges and Opportunities for Civil Servants in Liberalized India’ on 20th March 2021. The session was graced by Dr. S. N. Mishra, Dean, School of Management, KIIT-DU. Dealing with the subject of learning leadership, he said, it is already there within us, in our motherland, , in our spirit and mind. “If you have a passion for a particular subject, then pursue it, you will reach excellence”, Dr. Mishra told the participants.

He mentioned that one of the defining features of democracy is the institutionalization of bureaucratic accountability and transparency. The concept of such a system is the ability of ordinary citizens to hold government officials for their actions. Accounting also refers to answerability. It means the organization must be answerable to someone or something outside itself – when things go wrong, someone must be held responsible. Sharing his personal experiences, he said, “The challenge of leadership in India is to transform the so-called mediocre into leaders.” Hierarchical authority, job specialization and formalized rules are the three features of bureaucracy, he mentioned.

The interaction was followed by the Q & A session. Questions posed included ‘Relationship between social media and the bureaucracy of Weber’, ‘Misuse of civil servants by politicians’ and more.

The KIIT School of Languages organized a Special Lecture in Indian Classical Literature for students of its B.A. English (Hons.) course on 20 January 2021, over Google Meet. The invited speaker for the lecture was Dr. Subrata Sinha, Assistant Professor, St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata. His talk was titled “Quest for an Ideal Feminine: Reception of the Abhijñānaśākuntalam in 19th Century Bengal”.

In his lecture, he spoke at length about three stellar personalities from 19th century Bengal, viz. Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar, Bankimchandra Chattopadhyay, and Michael Madhusudan Dutt, and their different interpretations of the character of the protagonist Shakuntala from Kalidasa’s Abhijñānaśākuntalam.

Alluding to examples from several texts, recensions and translations, he went on to discuss how the different literary and critical interpretations contributed towards the contemplation of an ideal feminine character, with references illustrating how the evolving interpretations helped in the acculturation of the said concept.

KIIT School of Languages organized its first foreign language counselling webinar on the topic “Importance of German Language: Higher Studies in Germany, Career Prospects and More” on 9th January, 2021. The counselling lecture was presented by a Senior German Language Specialist, Mr. Dusmanta Kumar Chakra from Pune, Maharashtra. The session was very informative, interactive and comprehensive covering almost every facets of concerns related to Germany.

Mr Chakra, who has been teaching German language for last 25 years and has widely travelled Germany and Europe, addressed all the queries of students related to admission, visa, selection of Universities, work culture, job timings, work permit, accomodation, minimum expenses for stay during the study period and many more. The Q&A session was very interactive where many students asked their genuine concerns for which they got satisfactory replies.

The session was initiated and moderated by Mr. Sameer Kumar Das, Deputy Director. Dr Biswajit Das, Professor & Dean, KIIT School of Languages gave the welcome remark.

The German counselling lecture got overwhelming response from various segments including students, faculties and deans of different Schools and Departments of KIIT Deemed-to-be University.  Around 500 people participated in the session.

The Inauguration & Orientation Ceremony of B.A. English (Honours) and M.A. English Degree courses were held online on 2nd November 2020. Dr. Achyuta Samanta, Founder, KIIT & KISS virtually inaugurated the batches in the presence of Prof. Hrushikesha Mohanty, Vice Chancellor; Prof. Sasmita Samanta, Pro-Vice Chancellor; Prof. Jnyana Ranjan Mohanty, Registrar; and Prof. Biswajit Das, Dean, School of Languages.

More than 60 students and their parents, and the respective faculty members of the School and the University participated in the ceremony over a virtual platform.