(1 September 2007 1:58 pm)

MUMBAI: Hyderabad-based social media website for students Bharatstudent.com has launched Campus Awards 2007 as a platform for grading the best schools and colleges across India.

According to an official release, over 1,00,000 schools and colleges across the country have been considered for the awards. Shortlisted campuses will have to nominate themselves with necessary information at the Bharatstudent.com/campusawards.php.

Winners in each category will get the option of getting either their campuses equipped with Wi-Fi connectivity or their computer labs refurbished.

Judging criteria will be factual data from schools and colleges, testimonial voting by students/staff and alumni, followed by objective analysis by a panel of experts. Pricewaterhouse Coopers is the process validator for the entire exercise.

Says Bharatstudent.com CEO Vishnu Vardhan Induri, "Campus Awards 2007 is a unique platform to grade the best campuses on perceptional and factual parameters. This will give an in-depth analysis on schools and colleges in India and also encourage the management to put in their best efforts."

The Campus awards will be presented across 14 categories awarding the best primary school, secondary school, junior college, arts college, science college, commerce college, engineering college, medical college, law college, campus of achievers, best infrastructure, sports, academics and alumni.

When asked how he planned to promote the awards, Induri said, "We have not appointed a creative agency and we will use our in-house resources to promote it. We will soon kick off ground events and below-the-line activities in campuses to spread awareness about the awards."

The website has undergone an upgrade and consists of elements like social networking, campus (video sharing), counselling for studying abroad and posts from campus representatives.

Induri said, "We plan to hire about 200 students in India and 100 students studying abroad as campus representatives who will report campus happenings and guide prospective students trying for admission in their school/college. So the model will work basically on user generated content (UGC)."

Bharatstudent.com is a web property of Axill Europe Ltd, a $400 million company focused on the internet and digital media. Axill is a subsidiary of Northgate Technologies Ltd.