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Mobile app contest targets Indian students

University of Delhi launches a mobile app competition open to students, who have to submit a working prototype which will eventually be available for download on the university's Web site.
Written by Nitin Puri, Contributor

The University of Delhi has launched a competition that's open to students, who have to submit a working prototype of a mobile app which will eventually be available for download on the university's Web site. 

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According to The Times of India, the mobile app contest aims to encourage students to create a working prototype--featuring the university--to be made available for download via the university's Web site. Information which should be available through the app includes, but is not limited to, information featured on the university's Web site, along with admission, examination, directory, college or department sites, workshops and conferences, lecture series, cluster information center, foreign students, and student evaluation criteria.

Winners will receive both a cash prize and certificate from Delhi University. The app will be available initially only on the Google Android platform, and will be available as a direct download from the university's Web site with acknowledgment given to the developers.

Personally, I don't see how this mobile app competition is any different than simply creating a mobile version of the university's Web site. While the concept and contest will appeal to students who would like to be mobile developers in the future, perhaps it is the cash prize and certificate that make attractive additions to their CV.

In order for the university mobile app to be considered an app, there should be more interaction with users and Delhi University itself. At present, this just appears to be a condensed, mobile version of the university's Web site which itself is detailed and large. Perhaps what the university officials are looking for is indexing the site to a smaller size, providing only the most requested and relevant information.

Why not have the Computer Science department and Webmaster at Delhi University create this condensed mobile version of the Web site to begin with? Furthermore, why hasn't it already done that? Generally speaking, Indian post-secondary colleges and universities lag in terms of technological developments, and mobile app development is one of them. Another area they lag in is their presence on social media for both current and prospective students, especially on both Facebook and Twitter.

Personally, what I would like to see with the Delhi University mobile app is connectivity and an interface with social media as this would engage more users. Then again, I'm neither a Delhi University official nor student so I’ll leave that to someone else.

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