Thread for updates in TN Education. TN having around 420 Engineering Colleges, numerous Arts and Science, Polytechnic, Business schools and Medical colleges.
Some them are ranked in Top 10 in the Country.

Tiruvannamalai-based SKP Engineering College today announced a tie up with Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan in the field of Nanotechnology.

"We had a series of meetings with Tokyo Insitute of Technology President Kenichi Iga and Vice-President Ichiro Okura and have decided to conduct research at Tokyo Institute of Technology by our college students and staff" college Chairman K Karunanithi said in a press release here.

As per the agreement, students of the respective institutions would share knowledge and ideas.

A modern lab on VLSI design would be constructed at a cost of Rs five crore and a post-graduate programme in VLSI Design would be introduced in next academic year, he said.

The MoU would be valid for five years, he said, adding an International seminar on Nano technology and electronics circuits would be conducted in December 2010.

Source: http://news.chennaionline.com/newsitem.aspx?NEWSID=e22f469d-e51f-4971-8003-fb14a8a23012&CATEGORYNAME=CHN

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The Japanese-based Learning System Inc, developers of creative computing and robotic education programme for schools, have signed an Memorandum of Understanding with the Chennai-based BVM Global Education Trust, to impart robotic education in Bala Vidya Mandir school at Adyar, Chennai.

The course will begin in all the BVM Global Schools from the academic year 2010 as part of school curriculum for students of sixth to ninth standards. Similarly the school will also conduct “after school programme” for the benefit of other school children and others, who are interested in the course.

The President of Learning Systems, Masao Ishihara, who was in Chennai to sign an MoU with the Managing Trustee of Bala Vidya Mandir and BVM Global Schools, A. S. Ramana Prasad here on Thursday.

In a chat with The Hindu, Mr. Ishihara said that robotics had been popular and effective among the students of developed countries such as North America, Japan, Korea and some parts of European countries.

The educational systems in Japan and Korea had been keen in promoting robotics as an academic course at the school level. “It encourages students to use their imagination, try out their problem solving skills and work in a team. It also enables students to contribute to the process of designing, building and testing solutions,” he said.

About robotic education, Mr. Ishihara said Learning Systems provided the best robotic kits, which had been selected for specific education purpose, with creative computing software and progressive curriculum activity packages.

It enables students to get a head start on simple robotics by building models, attach sensors and motors that were plugged into a computer and configure behaviours using a simple programming tool developed by Learning Systems.

Over a period of time the students would have learnt to design programme and control fully functional model, he said.

The students use software to plan, test and modify sequences of instruction for a variety of life-like robotic behaviours.

Similarly, they also collect and analyse data from sensors, using data logging functionalities embedded in the software. Robotic education is an open-ended problem finding and solving focused education programme.

On the robotic course, S.S. Nathan, Chief Executive Officer, BVM Group of Schools, said creative computing and robotics (CCR) programme was a whole new way for Indian school students to learn STEM subjects (science, technology and engineering and mathematics) through experimenting with leading edge software and robotic kits. It consisted of 30 classes of each 80 minutes of lessons.

Mr. Prasad said the school would be charging a minimum fee for the course from the student. The fee would be shared by both the players on accepted ratio. The school would have to invest in a robotic lab, where in every two student would have one netbook and a robot. Similarly, the school would be hiring trained tutors for the training the students.

Source: http://beta.thehindu.com/education/school/article267516.ece

With the Cabinet nod to the Foreign Educational Institution Bill, allowing foreign education providers to set up campuses in India, Chennai has got the first ‘pedagogic’ call from the overseas.

The US-based Virginia Tech University has chosen Chennai to establish its Indian campus in collaboration with Marg Ltd, the diversified infrastructure major, on the outskirts of the city. The Indian edition of Virginia Tech, which has been touted as the future Asian hub of the education major, will offer advanced education and research in the fields of nanoscale science and engineering, nano biotechnology, biotechnology, information technology and automotive engineering. Virginia Tech will manage the campus and design its academic programmes, research facilities and labs.

“This will be a joint venture and other modalities are being worked out as the new Bill will be taken up by the lawmakers very soon. The Marg has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Virginia Tech and we expect the campus to be operationalised by July 2011, said Marg Ltd chairman & MD GRK Reddy.

The 30-acre campus is expected to come up at Marg’s flagship Swarnabhoomi project which will feature innovation centres and draw upon Virginia Tech research resources such as the Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science and the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute and the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute at Virginia Tech. The centres will work with industry to capitalise on innovation research and emerging market opportunities in India and the region. The campus will be managed and operated by a joint trust in the knowledge hub of Marg Swarnabhoomi. Marg will be developing the required infrastructure for the trust to establish the university.

Reddy said, “The MoU with Virginia Tech is a proud moment for us, as we will be a part of promoting world class education through the university, which will help address the global opportunities at large.” Marg Swarnabhoomi has been designed to be an aspirational habitat based on the principles of new urbanism, where business, living and learning will coexist in a stress free atmosphere. At Marg, we strongly believe in inclusive living, and are confident that this initiative will help in enhancing and enriching the lives of the future generations.”

Charles W Steger, president of Virginia Tech said, “This is a historic moment for Virginia Tech. Virginia Tech, India will create a place in India where engineers, students, and high tech science professionals from the United States...

Source: http://www.financialexpress.com/news/Virginia-Tech-varsity-to-set-up-campus-in-Chennai/595290/

Cross posting from another thread.
VIT Vellore, TN. One of the best Engineering College in India
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PSG College, Coimbatore, TN. Rated one of the top rated Tech college in India.
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CMC Medical College, Vellore, TN. Rated 2nd best in India after AIIMS.
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JIPMER Medical College, Puducherry. All India Rank 4.
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Sri Ramachandra Medical College and Reseach Institute, Chennai. One of top rated medical college in India.
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175 old Madras Medical College (MMC), Chennai. All India rank 6.
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Mahatma Gandhi Medical College and Research Institute, Puducherry
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SRM University, Chennai
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Madras Christian College spread across 365 acres opened in 1837 and consistently rated India's top ten College in Arts, Science and Commerce.

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Seventy-nine new applications from the State have been received by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) for approval to start new institutions. Of these 48 are for engineering colleges, 21 for management colleges, nine for integrated campuses and one for a school of architecture.

P. Mannar Jawahar, southern region chairman, AICTE, said a meeting would be held on March 27 to finalise the formalities for scrutinising committees. The process of approval was expected to be completed by May-end.

The State government had earlier indicated its opposition to new engineering colleges being started when a number of seats went unfilled in the previous year's counselling process. But, a senior government official said they would not intervene in the applications process of the AICTE this year as it was at an advanced stage.

In another issue, over 100 students of postgraduate programmes in various colleges affiliated to Anna University were found to have taken up full-time courses while they were working in various capacities.

After the students represented to the Vice-Chancellor, a committee was formed and found that attendance registers were falsified by certain colleges.

Many students who were working as lecturers in engineering colleges submitted their resignations and requested the university to allow them to complete their degrees.

Dr. Jawahar said the university had decided not to disqualify the students. They would be asked to complete the six semester part-time ME programme instead of the four semester full-time programme and were being let off without any other penalty.

Source: http://www.hindu.com/2010/03/25/stories/2010032556350400.htm

:cheers::cheers: sathishanu, thanks for starting this long-due thread!

http://www.amitbhawani.com/career/Images/L/Loyola-College-Chennai.jpg

Loyola College has been inexistence since July 1925 and since then has been known to be one of the institutions offering quality education in India. It has been consistently rated as one of the top 10 arts and science colleges in the country.

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A part of the campus overlaps with the Guindy National Park, one of India's oldest National Parks...

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The oldest engineering college outside Europe started in May 1794

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very good start...sathishanu. With the Foreign Education Bill, more news is expected in this sector.

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http://www.hindu.com/2010/03/26/images/2010032663450201.jpg

CHENNAI: The signing ceremony for a new long-term endowment, Pemanda Monappa Scholarship, which will guarantee one fully paid annual scholarship for south Indian students to pursue post-graduate studies at Cambridge University, was held at the British Council here on Thursday.

Speaking at the function, Editor of The Hindu N. Ravi referred to the “long and glorious connection” between India and Cambridge University, an institution which has so far produced three Indian Prime Ministers, including Manmohan Singh.

Mr. Ravi added that it would no longer have to be the case that "only those from the most privileged backgrounds in south India" could afford to study at one of the world's greatest universities.

The generosity of the endowment, said Michael O'Sullivan, Director of the Cambridge Commonwealth Trust, would ensure the long-term future of the scholarship. He hoped that it would “change the life of someone who will change the lives of others''.

British Deputy High Commissioner Mike Nithavrianakis said that he fully supported the new programme, and praised the attitude of Indian students for placing so much importance on their education.

President of the Association of British Scholars and former bureaucrat P. M. Belliappa is responsible for establishing the new scholarship in the name of his father, Pemanda Monappa, a highly decorated police officer who served in all the four southern States. Mr.Belliappa expressed his support for the increased internationalisation of higher education and a hope that the new scholarship, in time, "would produce another Manmohan Singh''.

Source: http://www.hindu.com/2010/03/26/stories/2010032663450200.htm

“Madras University planning to introduce cyber criminology in curriculum”

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Commissioner of Police T. Rajendran interacts with participants at an international conference on Cyber Criminology in Chennai.

CHENNAI: Awareness of cyber crime should start from high school, Commissioner of Police T. Rajendran said here on Tuesday.

He was speaking at a two-day international conference on cyber criminology organised by the Department of Criminology, University of Madras.

Mr. Rajendran said that children are well-versed in computers these days and, therefore, “cyber sensitising” them was essential.

“A subject on cyber crime should be made part of school syllabus,” he said.

Mr. Rajendran also suggested mooted an international apex body to speed up investigations into cyber crime cases, as in many cases, the accused operated from abroad.

Madras University Vice-Chancellor G. Thiruvasagam said that the university is planning to introduce cyber criminology in its curriculum. Topics of discussion at the seminar included cyber crime prevention, information security, national and international cyber laws, technological and legal challenges of cyber crime.

The Asian Society of Cyber Criminology, a forum to address issues related to cyber crime, under the Department of Criminology was also inaugurated at the event.

Source: http://www.hindu.com/2010/03/26/stories/2010032650850300.htm

I studied in Loyola college only, it did not have proper infrastructure facilities while i was there 97-00. not sure how it was top rated college.

Good thread satishanu :cheers:

I studied in Loyola college only, it did not have proper infrastructure facilities while i was there 97-00. not sure how it was top rated college.

Source: India Today-AC NELSEN-ORG-MARG Survey 2008

Top Arts colleges:

1. Loyola College, Chennai
2. St. Xavier's College, Mumbai
3. St. Stephen's College, Delhi
4. Presidency College, Kolkata
5. Lady Shri Ram College for Women, Delhi

Top Science colleges:

1. Loyola College, Chennai
2. St. Xavier's College, Delhi
3. Presidency College, Chennai
4. St. Xavier's College, Mumbai
5. St. Xavier's College, Kolkata

Top Commerce colleges:

1. Shri Ram College of Commerce, Delhi
2. Loyola College, Chennai
3. St. Xavier's College, Kolkata
4. Lady Shri Ram College for Women, Delhi
5. Symbiosis Society's College of Arts & Commerce, Pune

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One of the oldest and top science colleges in the country with a famous list of alumni including Nobel laureate Sir C.V.Raman and some Bharat Ratna awardees. :cheers::cheers:

Source: India Today-AC NELSEN-ORG-MARG Survey 2008

Top Arts colleges:

1. Loyola College, Chennai
2. St. Xavier's College, Mumbai
3. St. Stephen's College, Delhi
4. Presidency College, Kolkata
5. Lady Shri Ram College for Women, Delhi

Top Science colleges:

1. Loyola College, Chennai
2. St. Xavier's College, Delhi
3. Presidency College, Chennai
4. St. Xavier's College, Mumbai
5. St. Xavier's College, Kolkata

Top Commerce colleges:

1. Shri Ram College of Commerce, Delhi
2. Loyola College, Chennai
3. St. Xavier's College, Kolkata
4. Lady Shri Ram College for Women, Delhi
5. Symbiosis Society's College of Arts & Commerce, Pune

Loyola College during 97-00
did not have proper restrooms, during emergency times i used to rush to hostel for it.though it had a namesake toilet at that time.during my recent visits i found the facility better than before.

^^ So you have the answer to your question.

sastra university.. one of india's top private universities...

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http://www.hindu.com/2010/03/27/stories/2010032765120400.htm

CHENNAI: The State government is planning to increase the number of seats in the postgraduate specialist medical courses this year, Health Secretary V.K. Subburaj said here on Thursday.

Speaking at a function organised to mark the 75th anniversary of the Barnard Institute of Radiology and Oncology at the Government General Hospital, he said that in the coming academic year medical colleges would admit 300 students in various specialty postgraduate courses.

The Health Department has also purchased Rs.10 crore worth digital X-rays for 10 medical institutions, including some taluka hospitals.

The delay in getting new equipment for the hospitals was not due to fund constraint but was a procedural issue, he said.

New equipment need suitable buildings and technicians had to be trained to adhere to proper safety procedures.

These procedural details had to be handled before the equipment is provided for use, Mr. Subburaj said, unveiling the statue of Captain T.W. Barnard. (Capt. Barnard had been chosen by the British government to set up the Institute of Radiology at the GH.)

His daughter Barbara King handed over the silver salver presented to her father on his retirement in 1940 from the hospital.

The salver has the signatures of doctors who worked in the Institute at that time. Ms.King recalled her father's work in India and returned the salver to Hospital Dean J. Mohanasundaram, saying the memento should remain with the hospital where her father had served for six years.

Books, souvenir

released

On the occasion, two books, Diagnostic Atlas of Paediatric Imaging and Radiology Physics, a textbook on radiology safety, and a souvenir of the department were launched.

Director of the Institute M. Prabakaran traced the history of the Institute and said the salver and the statue would be installed at the Institute building. Dr. Mohanasundaram and Tamil Nadu Medical Service Corporation's Managing Director Sandeep Saxena spoke.

http://www.blonnet.com/2010/03/20/stories/2010032052861700.htm

Chennai, March 19

The Tamil Nadu Government has come out with a clutch of Budget proposals for 2010-11 to provide a fillip to higher education.

The measures include plans to launch a number of new institutions and free education at the post-graduate level in Government arts and science colleges. The State Government has allocated Rs 1,751 crore to the Higher Education Department.

The Finance Minister, Mr K Anbazhagan, addressing the Assembly, said a new university for technology, the Anna University of Technology, will be set up with its headquarters in Madurai for engineering colleges in Madurai, Dindigul, Theni, Ramanathapuram and Sivaganga districts.

Four new Government arts and science colleges will come up in Pudukottai, Theni, Tiruvannamalai and Villupuram Districts and seven new polytechnic colleges will also be set up with Centre's assistance.

The Government will waive the tuition fees for all students of government arts and science colleges in postgraduate courses starting from the next academic year. A new medical college is to come up in Tiruvannamalai, he said.

The Minister also announced plans to upgrade infrastructure at a cost of Rs 93 crore for the new engineering colleges started in the last two years under the Anna Universities of Technology.

Facilities would also be upgraded in Government engineering and polytechnic colleges and government arts and science colleges, he said.

http://www.hindu.com/2010/03/27/stories/2010032764242000.htm

Chennai-born Shankar Balasubramanian of Cambridge University has been named Innovator of the Year by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), Britain's leading agency for academic research and training in non-clinical life sciences.

He has been awarded £10,000 in recognition of his work on Solexa sequencing, the high speed genome sequencing technology. The award, now in its second year, is meant to encourage research that has practical impact on quality of life.

Professor Balasubramanian, who is also the winner of the Commercial Innovator of the Year category, said he was “delighted.”

“None of this would have happened without the support of the BBSRC. Their backing was essential for the blue skies research that gave rise to our original inventions. The continued funding of fundamental science by the BBSRC will be an essential part of future enterprises and ultimately, wealth creation.”

Professor Douglas Kell, BBSRC chief executive, said: “The BBSRC is pleased to be able to recognise and reward researchers who are making extraordinary progress in translating their research into applications that are of benefit socially and for UK Plc.”

Science and Innovation Minister Lord Drayson said turning research into innovation was crucial for future prosperity. “Finding practical applications for scientific discoveries is part of the joy of science. Today's winners make science exciting and relevant, with the potential to generate great benefits for our economy and society.”

Professor Balasubramanian, whose parents moved to Britain a year after he was born, graduated in Natural Sciences from Cambridge University and went on to do a PhD. He worked with David Klenerman of the department of chemistry, to invent low-cost and high-speed genome sequencing technology.

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சென்னைப் பல்கலைக் கழக முன்னாள் மாணவர் ராஜசேகர ஷ்யாம், தனது சொத்தில் ஒரு பகுதியான 18 கோடியே 20 லட்சம் ரூபாயை சென்னை பல்கலைக் கழகத்திற்கு நன்கொடையாக வழங்க வேண்டும் என, உயில் எழுதி வைத்துள்ளார். இதில், முதல் தவணையாக இரண்டு கோடியே 77 லட்சத்து 14 ஆயிரம் ரூபாய், சென்னைப் பல்கலைக் கழகத்திற்கு வந்திருக்கிறது' என, சென்னைப் பல்கலைக் கழக துணைவேந்தர் திருவாசகம் தெரிவித்தார்.

Source: http://www.dinamalar.com/General_detail.asp?news_id=23324

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/Madras-univ-to-offer-dual-ranking-system-in-colleges-/articleshow/5733336.cms

CHENNAI: The University of Madras is planning to introduce two separate categories of ranks and medals — one for autonomous colleges and another for non-autonomous colleges from next academic year — to eliminate disparity between students.

Currently, students of both autonomous colleges and non-autonomous colleges are considered together to determine ranks and gold medals. Separate ranks and medals are being introduced because students of autonomous colleges and non-autonomous colleges were evaluated differently. “As evaluation is not common, we will ensure that ranks and medals are also separate for these type of institutions,” said University of Madras vice-chancellor of G Thiruvasagam at the senate meeting that was held on Saturday.

The university is also planning to eliminate the practice of handing out certificates to students by classifying them as first class holders and second class holders during convocation.

“Some of the colleges give away certificates to first class holders in a batch and second class holders in another batch during convocation. This is discriminatory and parents and students feel uncomfortable,” he added.

Thiruvasagam said : “The university will send out circulars in the first week of next month to all colleges urging them not to discriminate students based on their marks while distributing certificates.”

In another student-friendly measure, the senate approved Madras University Free Education Scheme and laid down the guidelines for selecting students. Thiruvasagam informed the Senate that the 10 students per college would be eligible for the scheme and beneficiaries would be selected in a centralised manner as colleges are not allowed to select. “We will ensure that women candidates are also selected to benefit from the free education scheme. A detailed guideline to select the students will be announced in the first week of next month.”

Detailing the future plans Thiruvasagam told the Senate that adequate and required faculty would be recruited within six months, two professors would be sent to recognised universities of USA to attain orientation about designing curriculum, each department of the university will get at least one smart class room, counselling centre will be made compulsory in all colleges and others. The senate also passed the budget of the university for 2010-11 in which charges exceeds receipts by a margin of Rs 16.32 crore.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/-VIT-comes-up-with-MTech-course-for-IT-co-executives/articleshow/5724956.cms

VELLORE: In a first of its kind industry-academia tie-up in the country, information technology major Cognizant has joined hands with VIT University to offer an MTech degree programme in software development and management exclusively for its executives.

“A special curriculum appropriate to IT with emphasis on software engineering, particularly software programme management, has been developed jointly by faculty at Cognizant Academy and the VIT. Although Cognizant has worked with academic institutions, this is the first time we are sending our staff to attend a course specifically tailor-made by a university,” Cognizant vice-chairman Lakshmi Narayanan told TOI on Saturday.

The course will be a two-year full-time traditional master’s degree programme for managerial staff of the company. “I don’t believe there is any other course that combines development engineering and management aspects,” Lakshmi Narayanan said after participating in the VIT’s 10th University Day celebrations.

“We took a very long time to design the curriculum,” VIT University chancellor G Viswanathan said. According to VIT University pro-chancellor Sekar Viswanathan, the first batch of 25 students would get an opportunity to interact with experienced faculty at both VIT as well as Cognizant Academy.

http://www.hindu.com/2010/03/29/stories/2010032953970300.htm

VILLUPURAM: For achieving the ambitious target of raising the rate of access to higher education from 12 per cent to 30 per cent, as against the world average of 23 per cent, large investments are needed.

It can be accomplished only through joint efforts by the Centre, State governments and the private participants, said G. Viswanathan, Founder and Chancellor of VIT University, Vellore.

He was delivering the convocation address at the 10th Graduation Day of Theivanai Ammal College for Women here on Sunday. Mr. Viswanathan said the State governments were shying away from setting up new universities because it would take huge investment and vast stretches of land.

The State governments simply did not have the kind of funds required for starting new universities because all their resources were exhausted in promoting primary and school education, he said.

In 2007, the National Knowledge Commission headed by Sam Pitroda had suggested setting up of 1,500 new universities, but in the past three years only 50 had come up.

For the proposed three Central universities, the government had earmarked an amount of Rs.3,300 crore, but comparing with the scale of investments being made by China on education it would pale into insignificance. In China, even a university of moderate size would have tens of thousands of students on its rolls, with an annual budget of Rs.2,000 crore to Rs.3,000 crore.

Mr. Viswanathan pointed out that five decades ago the Dr. Radhakrishnan Committee recommended 6 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product to be invested on education but even now it stood at only 3.5 per cent.

If the avowed objectives of “expansion, inclusion and excellence” were to be achieved, the so-called “mushrooming” of colleges was important, with stress on adequate laboratory facilities and qualified faculty.

Mr. Viswanathan lauded the college management for providing women access to higher education in an educationally and economically backward area.

The Chancellor said that from the next academic year VIT University would award a gold medal to the best outgoing student of Theivanai Ammal College for Women.

S. Senthil Kumar, College Secretary, and Principal Kasturibai Dhanasekaran, also spoke. On the occasion, 481 graduates received their scrolls, including three university gold medallists.

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HARNESSING POTENTIAL: The Institute of Entrepreneurship and Career Development building on Bharathidasan University campus in Tiruchi.

Starting from scratch since its inception during mid-2004, the Institute for Entrepreneurship and Career Development (IECD), Bharathidasan University, has come a long way, filling the serious gap in the university educational system by organising entrepreneurship and career development programmes/courses and entrepreneurship sensitisation camps for various target groups.

It has been designing and operating various skills-based and career-oriented short-term certificate courses, diploma, advanced diploma and PG diploma courses for student and non-student school dropouts and unemployed youth. So far, the institute has trained 14,567 candidates: 7,187 through EDPs; 4,398 through short-term courses at the campus; and 2,982 through the off-campus mode. Of them, 2,576 candidates availed themselves of the benefit of scholarship.

Employment opportunities were created for 2,339 students of affiliated colleges, including 1,448 girl students, through campus interviews; 2,476 non-student youths through the on-campus programmes, and 2,561 youths through the off-campus programme. Currently, 1,007 students, including 557 girls, are undergoing the various certificate and diploma programmes. As many as 6,778 students have been enrolled under the SUITS programme. The institute has trained 7,187 persons, mostly belonging to weaker sections of the society, in entrepreneurship development, and has shaped 64 trainees as young entrepreneurs in service sector.

Among the unique programmes are the trainings offered in basic computer operations to deaf and dumb, and instrumental music (keyboard and guitar) to the visually-impaired. Roping in MNCs, the IECD has been at the helm of organising campus interviews for undergraduate and postgraduate students of the university and affiliated colleges.

Alongside offering Skill-based and Career Oriented Continuing Education Programmes through industrial/ institutional tie-ups, leading to Certificate /Diploma / Advanced Diploma / PG Diploma, the IECD has established 87 Entrepreneurship Development Cells (EDC) at college level, conducted coaching classes to Group I and II aspirants among rural youths, evolved skill-based electives (41 Credit Courses under CBCS) to UG Students of Tamil Nadu, initiated the School - University - Industry - Tie-ups Scheme (SUITS) for school children in Tamil Nadu, and offered specialised Skill /Vocation Based Certificate Programme to Rural Artisans.

The IECD has received through the university Rs. 14 lakh from the University Grants Commission for conducting certificate / Diploma /Advanced Diploma in e-Commerce and Entrepreneurship and Career Development during XI Plan period. At present, 85 UG Students of affiliated colleges are undergoing the courses.

The institute has extended its reach to Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh as well. Over 7,700 students are benefited by the IECD's courses. The institute has been acting both as entrepreneurial training and consultancy institute for empowering the youth, according to K. Parthasarathy, Professor and Head, Department of Life-Long Learning, who has been holding full-additional charge of the IECD since its inception.

The IECD was conceptualised and established as per the UGC's X Plan guidelines on Adult, Continuing Education, Extension and Field Outreach, with the philosophy of continuing education as part of the total education programme of the institution; integration between formal and non-formal education and out-of-school learning process; reaching out to the larger sections of adults through the university system and specially deprived groups for the purpose of equalisation of educational opportunities; and introduction of courses offered on campus, off-campus, online and through e-learning.

With an initial university funding of Rs. 10 lakh, the institute, functioning as an autonomous entity, has so far returned a whopping amount exceeding Rs. 2 crore to the university by operating the plethora of programmes. The target group for various courses includes student and non-student youth, current students of schools and colleges, school dropouts, employees, SHG members, senior citizens and junior citizens of the society and physically-challenged persons above the age of 5 years to over 80 years, said Dr. Parthasarathy.

K. Subburaj, Chairman and Executive Director, Cethar Vessels Private Limited, has agreed in principle to provide grant-in-aid of Rs.2.5 crore at an average of Rs. 25 lakh per annum for 10 years continuously for training and making the youth skilled in service sector and also making them as entrepreneurs through the establishment of Lab for Innovation / Skill Development at the Khajamalai Campus. The preparatory work is in progress, Dr. Parthasarathy said.

The institute has been empanelled by the Ministry of Micro and Small Enterprises, Government of India, under Rajiv Gandhi Udyami Mitra Yojana Scheme, for imparting training and playing a lead role for the socio-economic development of youth in general and unemployed youth in particular for making them entrepreneurs with the financial support of the Government of India.

Source: http://beta.thehindu.com/education/article320957.ece

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/chennai/centre-nod-knowledge-network-544

April 4: The Union cabinet has cleared a proposal to interlink all medical and agricultural universities, technical institutions and research libraries under the national knowledge network at a cost of Rs 6,000 crore over a period of five years, Union minister for communications and IT, A Raja said. :cheers:
Laying the foundation stone of the Software Technology Park of India at Kalapet at a cost of Rs 20 crore on Sunday, Mr Raja said the national knowledge network would enable students of universities and research institutions to have interaction, share knowledge, collaborative research and augment their skills. The STPI at Puducherry would also be linked with the national knowledge network.
“Although the country has policies for telecom and water, we don't have a separate policy in the information technology sector. There is a need for evolving such a network. The Union government had implemented a semiconductor investment policy and a MoU was signed at a cost of Rs 2.60 crore,” Mr Raja said. He also said that Ta-mil Nadu was the first state in the country to have come out with an IT policy.

Slowly and steadily, Indian higher education campuses are upgrading their facilities to world standards. :cheers::cheers:

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/chennai/facebook-links-varsity-students-542

April 4: From being a platform for interaction and sharing views, social networking sites are transforming the way of communication between the administration and students at VIT University.
The VIT administration has been using social networking site Facebook to establish a friendly atmosphere among students, parents, alumni and faculties, besides encouraging students to come up with new ideas to run the administration effectively.
Launched on February 7, the VIT page on Facebook got 9,000 users in two months. “We have created our own page in the social network site to reach the students,” said university pro-chancellor Sekar Visw-anathan, who spends an hour everyday to go through the page.
The university has provided BlackBerry phones to 35 faculty members. “Nearly 15 students a day post their problems and also solutions for them on the site. The faculties also respond to the queries in two seconds using the modern gadget," said Mr Sekar.
The university has also created a channel, VIT Social, on YouTube. Important lectures are uploaded on the channel. It also plans to register on Twitter soon. “One of our students posted his problem in getting visa to China on Facebook. Within five minutes, I was able to solve the problem while I was travelling in a high-speed train in China on March 18,” he recollects.
Besides this, the social networking site helps students to update the happenings inside and outside the university campus. “I posted the idea of having an exclusive page for the university on Facebook. The pro-chancellor immediately asked me to go ahead with it,” said second-year B.Tech (Computer Science) student Rohit Mishra who is administering the VIT page. It also helps get redressal quickly, said III-year Mechanical and Energy department student Saurabh Jain.

http://www.hindu.com/2010/04/07/stories/2010040758050800.htm

http://www.hindu.com/2010/04/07/stories/2010040751290200.htm

http://www.hindu.com/2010/04/07/stories/2010040753020400.htm

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/Kingfisher-ties-up-with-Anna-Univ-to-cut-down-emission/articleshow/5772063.cms

CHENNAI: Kingfisher Airlines has tied-up with Anna University to carry out joint research in order to cut down carbon emissions and introduce bio-fuel.

This is the first time an airline has signed an MoU with a university for research. Under the four-year agreement, a joint research for `aircraft emission optimisation and forecasting module' will be carried out.

...

http://www.hindu.com/2010/04/12/stories/2010041262870800.htm

MoU signed with National Law School of India University

http://www.hindu.com/2010/04/12/images/2010041262870801.jpg

CHENNAI: The Indian Maritime University (IMU), Chennai, will enter into an academic collaboration with the Malta-based International Maritime Law Institute in June to provide specialised course in Maritime Law. Besides, it will also set up the Department of Maritime Law this year, said Union Shipping Minister G.K. Vasan on Sunday.

...

Source: Hindu
http://www.hindu.com/2010/04/17/stories/2010041762980500.htm

School education infrastructure in the State will get a huge fillip with the allocation of over Rs.10,000 crore for the school education sector.
Detailing the schemes and plans for the last year of the five-year term of the DMK government, School Education Minister Thangam Thennarasu said this was the highest allocation ever for school education. The government was committed to providing an equitable system of education to all in the State.

“We want to make available the same kind of education to all…Rome was not built in a day. We are working on the infrastructure in all schools so that a few years down the line all schools will have good infrastructure.”

......................
In all, the government allocated Rs.39,643 crore for school education from 2006 to 2011. This was 88 per cent more than the allocation in the previous five years, he said. Between 2006-2010, as many as 341 primary schools were opened, 2,408 were upgraded middle schools, 445 middle schools were upgraded high schools and 435 high schools upgraded higher secondary schools. The Minister said the first step towards an equitable system of education was making uniform syllabus. This would be done at Class 1 and 6 this coming academic year. In all other classes, it would be introduced the next year.

...... The Minister said that at the primary level, dropout rate had come down from 3.81 per cent in 2005-06 to 1.02 per cent in 2008-09. At the upper primary level, the dropout rate declined from 7.58 per cent in 2005-06 to 1.88 per cent in 2008-09. :cheers:Tamil Nadu is in the fifth place in the education development index as per the research findings by the National University of Educational Planning and Administration.:bash:

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/chennai/foreign-degree-still-edges-home-draw-664

April 19: Several deemed universities in Tamil Nadu claim they have come of age, in the global perspective — offering state-of-the-art facilities in classrooms, libraries and laboratories. Besides, their campus-interviews for jobs in MNCs and top-class corporates have been fruitful for students. Has all this slowed down the traffic of students seeking education abroad?
No, say foreign missions and Indian students, citing various reasons.

Speaking to the Deccan Chronicle on Monday, Ms Padmavathi Chandramouli, student counsellor, DAAD-German Academic Exchange Service, said we can positively say as far as student visa in the southern region is concerned, compared to 2007, 2008 saw a near 10 per cent increase; compared to 2008, there was about 40 per cent increase in student visas issued from the southern region to Germany in 2009.

Based on these factors, we can definitely say that more Indian students are going to Germany for higher studies and research in the past two years and also that interest to pursue higher studies and research in German universities is increasing sharply, she added.

...

^^ Except for a few deemed universities which were doing good even before they were deemed, I don't think most of them have improved even in recent times. :ohno::ohno:

This is another important concern.

Money makers will now loot the people through CBSE school, TN gvt should strictly ask to Center not to approve more CBSE school district wise. And they should list the schools which don't have the permit.

News translation: Nearly 150 CBSE schools have mushroomed in the state without No objection certificate from state government. These schools are not ready to accept with state government's policy on uniform education as it will affect the income of these private schools. These CBSE schools are charging 25000-50000 rupees from the students as donation.

http://tm.dinakaran.com/pdf/2010/04/21/20100421b_005105018.jpg

Dinakaran

Arul, it should be "without the no objection certificate from the State Govt."

http://www.hindu.com/2010/04/22/stories/2010042251390300.htm

CUDDALORE: Annamalai University will soon introduce tele-conferencing system in place of contact classes for select subjects under distance education mode, said Vice-Chancellor M. Ramanathan.

...

Seventeen new programmes, including M.Sc in building and real estate valuation, postgraduate diplomas in mobile computing and cyber security, and, diploma in bio-pesticides production technology would be introduced from this academic year.

...

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/chennai/tamil-nadu-engg-colleges-may-shun-aieee-list-408

April 25: Tamil Nadu engineering colleges that admit students from All India Engineering Entrance Examination’s (AIEEE) common list of students are likely to withdraw their arrangement with the examination authority after it took a unilateral decision this year not to share seats with the colleges.

Thanjavur-based SASTRA University, one of the four deemed institutes in Tamil Nadu that admits students from AIEEE’s common list of students, has criticised AIEEE’s centralised counselling board (CCB) for its order that participating institutions must surrender all their seats to the board, thereby doing away with the regular practice of allowing the institutions to retain a certain percentage of seats.

SASTRA University vice-chancellor R. Sethuraman told Deccan Chronicle on Sunday that many private universities admitting students with AIEEE scores had published advertisements for admission based on the practice of previous years in which a certain percentage of the seats were offered to the CCB. In SASTRA’s case, 30 per cent of the varsity’s seats had been offered to AIEEE.

...

When is the 12th state board exam results expected to be out?

http://dkn.dinakaran.com/pdf/2010/04/27/20100427a_004107008.jpg

Nearly 100 students from various schools in Chennai are all set to begin a journey that would take them to the fascinating world of space research.

For the next 10 days, these students will get a chance to crawl through rocket tunnels, lunch with astronauts, interact with scientists at NASA and visit the Hall of Fame.

Space Kids India, an educational mission to Kennedy Space Centre launched by the World Travel Club, will take the students on a science and entertainment trip to the American space agency, Orlando and Universal Studios.

Speaking to the students over telephone at the launch of Space Kids India here on Monday, Mylswamy Annadurai, Project Director, Chandrayaan-I, said it was the chance of a lifetime for the students to get a taste of space by visiting the most respected space agency in the world.

Urging the students to make good use of the opportunity, he observed that the visit would spur interest among students to learn more about space.

Several innovative measures are on the anvil at Chandrayaan to strengthen the mission.

U.S. Consul General in Chennai Andrew T. Simkin said the students were in their formative years and a visit to NASA would broaden their perspective about science. “Indian students have been giving their best in various fields. India and U.S. are the only two countries that have strong capabilities to explore various avenues in science,” he said.

The students participating in the tour will be exposed to the world of space sciences, robotics and nuances involved in designing a space shuttle. They would be taken around NASA and will be explained about how space shuttles are assembled and where the astronauts are trained.

They will visit the Kennedy Space Centre's shuttle landing facility to see the vehicle assembly building. Students from Shree Niketan Matriculation Higher Secondary School, Velammal Matriculation Higher Secondary School, PSBB Group of Schools, Church Park, Zion Matriculation Higher Secondary School, and M.K.M Matriculation School will participate in the tour.

Source: http://beta.thehindu.com/news/cities/Chennai/article411105.ece

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2010/04/29/stories/2010042950872100.htm
The Thiagarajar School of Management (TSM) has been conferred autonomous status by UGC & Madurai Kamaraj University . The conferment is based on the visit by the UGC expert committee under the chairmanship of Prof R C Sobti, Vice-Chancellor, Punjab University. The status will facilitate TSM in providing industry-oriented curriculum which would enhance the placement prospects.

Banks say -use e-statements & e-banking-save paper -save trees ;
To save our valuable environment ;
Nice most of us these days shifted to such system - e-banking/e-statement/ATM/net banking/ online transfers & transactions, etc, etc...
Y not our Governments & education departments-use their Good will to implement such practices in schools & colleges by way of using e-systems eliminating Text books & note books-which could save a lot of trees;
Is it not possible?

Banks say -use e-statements & e-banking-save paper -save trees ;
To save our valuable environment ;
Nice most of us these days shifted to such system - e-banking/e-statement/ATM/net banking/ online transfers & transactions, etc, etc...
Y not our Governments & education departments-use their Good will to implement such practices in schools & colleges by way of using e-systems eliminating Text books & note books-which could save a lot of trees;
Is it not possible?

Really good Idea.

94 applications sent to AICTE for approval for new colleges

Coordination committee for counselling formed

Around 50 new engineering colleges are expected to be started in the State with an additional 12,000 seats from this year.

Applications forms for the Tamil Nadu Engineering Admissions will be issued from May 3 and the university is gearing up for single window counselling, P. Mannar Jawahar, Vice-Chancellor, Anna University, Chennai, said here.

Last date

Speaking to The Hindu on Saturday, Dr. Jawahar said 1.8 lakh application forms had been printed by Anna University and they would be issued at 58 places across the State from May 3 (Monday). The last date for submission of application forms is May 31.

“Based on last year's experience, we have supplied more application forms this year. Last year, 1.6 lakh forms were printed, but this year the number has been increased to 1.8 lakh,” he said. The Vice-Chancellor was in the city to participate in ‘The Hindu Education Plus Career Fair 2010,' which was organised to guide students/parents on various courses and careers available.

Dr. Jawahar, who is also the Southern Region Chairman of the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), said 94 applications were sent to the AICTE from Tamil Nadu seeking approval to start new colleges. “The approval is awaited. But, we expect an increase of 12,000 engineering seats through the new colleges this year,” he said.

Totally, there are 454 engineering colleges in the State with a seat capacity of 1.65 lakh.

30,000 seats left

vacant last year

“Last year, 30,000 seats were left vacant as only 1.35 lakh students joined engineering colleges. Seats are available in excess and every one who applies will get an engineering seat in some college or other,” he said.

------------
------------

Source: http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/02/stories/2010050259850100.htm

I would rather prefer engineering courses with different specialization for the future like mechatronics, intelligent transport systems, Nanotechnology , Feul Technology and so on rather than the regular ones.

Atleast MCA has lost value now.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/City/Chennai/TN-cements-presence-in-civil-service-127-in-this-yr/articleshow/5900692.cms

Tamil Nadu continued its stride into the echelons of civil services, with 127 candidates making it to the elite national list of 875 who cleared the final exam and interviews conducted by the Union Public Service Commission. The UPSC results were published on Thursday.

With this, the state has bettered last year’s record of 100 candidates making it to the IAS, IFS, IPS and group A and B services of the central government.


Many of the successful candidates from the state — such as Mohan Gopu, the son of a construction labourer — are from a poor economic and social background. The list also includes two disabled persons who fought against all odds to emerge successful. Around 675 candidates from the state appeared for the main examination, of which 252 qualified for interviews. A majority of the students opted for public administration, geography and sociology for the mains.

There is an increase also in the number of candidates who wrote the examination and qualified for interviews when compared to the previous year.

When is the results for 12th exam expected?

Also is NIT trichy still part of the state counselling or should the students write AIEEE for NIT trichy?

NIT trichy never comes under part of State counselling...

When is the results for 12th exam expected?

Also is NIT trichy still part of the state counselling or should the students write AIEEE for NIT trichy?

Yes. Students have to write AIEEE to get admission in NIT, Tiruchy. It is always like that only and never came under state councilling.

When is the results for 12th exam expected?

Also is NIT trichy still part of the state counselling or should the students write AIEEE for NIT trichy?

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/City/Chennai/TN-cements-presence-in-civil-service-127-in-this-yr/articleshow/5900692.cms

127 out of 875 ..Very Good show. But 'The Hindu' concentrated more on that 'Kashmiri guy, instead of this accomplishment.

Civil Service:
Good achievement by TN guys. After so many years of focusing only on IT now they are looking into other areas. TN somehow is not in good position in Management education but I hope soon our student will make it big in that field also.(One reason we dont have very good Management Institutes like IIM until now).

I heard TN students dont show much interest in AIEEE like IIT, any reason why?

Yes. Students have to write AIEEE to get admission in NIT, Tiruchy. It is always like that only and never came under state councilling.

I remember students getting through TN counselling to NIT Trichi, when it was REC.

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/chennai/info-network-boost-research-591

May 10: In a boost to scientific research and education, all educational and research establishments in the country would be networked and migrate to high speed broadband connectivity over the next two years. This would pave the way for sharing of expertise and speedy flow of information on research as well as emerging subjects, according to Prof S.V. Raghavan, scientific secretary, Government of India.

“We are in the process of networking all educational and research establishments in the country through high speed broadband connectivity.
This will facilitate sharing the expertise of centres of excellence with institutes spread across the country and ensure fast flow of information,” Prof Raghavan told reporters on the sidelines of a seminar on ‘National Knowledge Network — Knowledge Transformation Opportunities for Technical Teachers’ which began here on Monday.

He said more than 550 major research institutions in the country would be networked by the end of 2010 as part of the National Knowledge Network. “As on date, 68 major research institutions have been brought under the network. Our mission is to interlink all research and educational institutions in the country by 2012,” he added.

...

Courses pertaining to Recycling & effective use of Garbage & water recycling techniques to be made popular-such effective utilisation of fresh water is achieved, and reduce polluting the environment from Garbage;
Need of the hour even in the present day is -waste handling & effective utilisation of available water.

TN 10+2 results are expected to be out tomorrow at 9:30am.

My School @ Pollachi. School name: Viswadeepthi Higher secondary school.
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_Bma-Ws7COTc/St3wu53cWJI/AAAAAAAAAjU/5ZvbiGWnafc/s640/IMG_3722.jpg

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_Bma-Ws7COTc/St3w_1bNsZI/AAAAAAAAAjo/pXmW8qAE_oY/s640/IMG_3726.jpg

As the leather industry requires skilled and semi-skilled manpower, the Footwear Design & Development Institute (FDDI) and Tamil Nadu Adi Dravidar Housing and Development Corporation (TAHDCO) have come together to launch a footwear manufacturing technology programme for SC/ST students.

Inaugurating the special batch funded by TAHDCO, FDDI managing director Rajeev Lakhara said there was a huge gap between demand and supply of skilled workforce in the leather sector.

“FDDI is starting a full-fledged institute on its SIPCOT Irungattukottai campus to cater for the needs of the industry in the south,” he said.

Another institute is coming up in Kolkata.

Nearly 5,000 technocrats, designers and managers would pass out of FDDI by the year 2012-13 but even that will not be sufficient to meet the growing demands of the leather industry, Mr. Lakhara said.

TAHDCO managing director Chandrakant B. Kamble said the corporation was funding Rs.30,000 per candidate for the short-term training course in the best training institute in the country after which the SC/ST women would be able to get a job with a salary of Rs.5,000 per month.

It was results time for several city schools. Not the class XII results, but the much-awaited decision on fee structure of private schools. The School Education Department on Tuesday handed over individual letters to heads of hundreds of private schools in the city, specifying how much fees they could charge.

This follows the exercise taken up by the Private Schools Fee Determination Committee, a statutory panel appointed by the State government to finalise the fee structure for private schools, after collecting information from schools on their income and expenditure.

Last week, Justice K. Govindarajan, chairperson of the committee, said that the committee, on an average, fixed Rs.11,000 for higher secondary schools, Rs.9,000 for high schools, Rs.8,000 for middle schools and Rs.5,000 for elementary schools in the city.

Around 10 a.m. on Tuesday, heads and correspondents of several city schools gathered at Karnataka Sangha School in T. Nagar for a meeting convened by the Chief Educational Officer. Each school was given an exclusive, sealed envelope with a letter stating the amount that could be charged for each class.

According to an Education Department official, a revised fee structure had been decided for as many as 623 schools. “We have about 820 private schools in the city. The committee is awaiting certain particulars from about 140-odd schools. The new fee structure is ready for all the other schools,” he said.

Names of schools were put up on a notice board and they were grouped in a manner in which about hundred schools would receive their envelopes from an official in one particular classroom.

School heads who received their envelopes eagerly opened it, only to look disappointed soon after. “My school has been prescribed one fourth of the current fee. How do we run the school? How do we pay the teachers?” asked the head of a nursery and primary school in north Chennai.

“Look at my letter. It says we can collect only Rs.640 per year for LKG. That is just a little over Rs.50 per month. Do you think an institution can be sustained with this kind of income” asked another head. Another school was allowed to charge Rs.5,650 for L.K.G. and Rs.9,250 for Class XII.

Schools were also given the option of appealing to the committee within 15 days. “I think I will produce our school's complete accounts, auditor's reports and show them how we have not been charging too high. The government just wants to make it difficult for private schools to function,” said head of a school in Royapuram.

Some schools were told that their fee structure was still being worked out and they would receive the intimation soon. Many of the popular schools in the city are yet to receive any intimation, according to sources. The committee had originally said that private schools under the CBSE stream would also be covered. A section of CBSE schools said that though they gave some particulars to the department, they had not received any intimation on a revised fee structure.

School-specific details on revised fees will soon be available on www.pallikalvi.in, the official website of the School Education Department.

The State government will consider reducing eligibility marks for admission to engineering colleges after consulting educationists, Higher Education Minister K. Ponmudy said here on Tuesday.

The eligibility marks in Plus Two for Scheduled Caste students is 35 per cent, while for others it is 55 per cent. In the current budget session, there were suggestions to reduce the eligibility marks for admissions to avoid seats falling vacant.

Representatives of self-financing colleges point out that deemed universities and other States are using only a minimum pass criterion for admission.

Speaking at a meeting with representatives of self-financing engineering colleges, Mr. Ponmudy said that with a number of seats going vacant in the previous year's counselling, it made sense to allow students with lower marks also to avail themselves of the seats.

Plea to colleges

Referring to the fact that Assembly elections are due within a year, Mr. Ponmudy asked colleges not to ask for fee revision.

He urged the colleges to follow the prescribed fee structure and asked them not to collect capitation fees. As in previous years, a monitoring committee would be formed and action taken against colleges charged with collecting capitation fees.

On the standoff between various self-financing colleges and the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) over the new norms prescribed by the council, Mr. Ponmudy said the AICTE acting chairman had asked Tamil Nadu colleges to withdraw their court cases and comply with the norms.

Replying to a query, Mr. Ponmudy said the V.C. Kulandai Swamy Committee, appointed last year to look into the issue of transforming certain colleges into unitary universities, would submit its report to the Chief Minister on Wednesday.

http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/12/stories/2010051257170500.htm

The State government will consider reducing eligibility marks for admission to engineering colleges after consulting educationists, Higher Education Minister K. Ponmudy said here on Tuesday.

The eligibility marks in Plus Two for Scheduled Caste students is 35 per cent, while for others it is 55 per cent. In the current budget session, there were suggestions to reduce the eligibility marks for admissions to avoid seats falling vacant.

Representatives of self-financing colleges point out that deemed universities and other States are using only a minimum pass criterion for admission.

Speaking at a meeting with representatives of self-financing engineering colleges, Mr. Ponmudy said that with a number of seats going vacant in the previous year's counselling, it made sense to allow students with lower marks also to avail themselves of the seats.

Plea to colleges

Referring to the fact that Assembly elections are due within a year, Mr. Ponmudy asked colleges not to ask for fee revision.

He urged the colleges to follow the prescribed fee structure and asked them not to collect capitation fees. As in previous years, a monitoring committee would be formed and action taken against colleges charged with collecting capitation fees.

On the standoff between various self-financing colleges and the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) over the new norms prescribed by the council, Mr. Ponmudy said the AICTE acting chairman had asked Tamil Nadu colleges to withdraw their court cases and comply with the norms.

Replying to a query, Mr. Ponmudy said the V.C. Kulandai Swamy Committee, appointed last year to look into the issue of transforming certain colleges into unitary universities, would submit its report to the Chief Minister on Wednesday.

http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/12/stories/2010051257170500.htm
:bash: OMG where are we headed? Getting admission at 90's was a prestigious one. Instead of raising the quality we are downgrading. Engineering will loose its shine with this trend...

The system will find it's balance on its own. Most elite recruiters are looking at scores
(> 70%) in 10th,12th and in Graduation.

There are recruiters who are only looking for skill sets and not much bothered about scores.

It is also true that some Guys are late starters and can perform very well in Graduation though they had poor scores in school.

Govt. will always look at targets to be met like admission in Std 1,drop out rate at 10 th,12 th. and percentage of students entering Higher education etc. A compromise in Quality and Quantity can always be expected..

It should be left to the student to struggle and come out successful in life.

Government should focus on vocational training and building specific skills rather than trying to make everybody an engineer.

Students who took the Class XII Higher Secondary Examination this March have recorded a pass percentage of 85.2, according to the results declared by the Directorate of Government Examinations here on Friday. This is a 2.2-percentage point increase over last year's 83 per cent.

While the overall pass percentage is the highest this decade, the percentage of students securing a first class (above 60 per cent) has fallen to 52.8 per cent from 55.66 last year.
------------------------
------------------------

Source: http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/15/stories/2010051556080400.htm

CHENNAI: The Assembly on Friday saw the adoption of five Bills on higher education, including those to make Anna University, Chennai, a unitary type university again, and provide for the removal of Vice-Chancellors of such technology universities.

By amending Anna University - Chennai Act 1978, the institution will be of the unitary type and will comprise the College of Engineering besides the Alagappa Chettiar College of Technology and the Madras Institute of Technology, Chromepet.

The decision to make Anna University unitary type university again has been made considering that 136 engineering colleges are affiliated to it and teachers of the university are unable to involve themselves in research work but have to spend most of their time on matters such as supervision of admissions and examinations.

Another Bill envisages the establishment of Anna University of Technology, Chennai. This will be of the affiliating type.

An important part of the third Bill pertains to the removal of Vice-Chancellors of technology universities in Tiruchi, Coimbatore and Tirunelveli. They will not be removed from office except by an order of the Chancellor passed after enquiry. The enquiry panel will comprise a judge of the High Court, a government officer not below the rank of Chief Secretary and a Vice-Chancellor of any university in the State. Similar provision has been included in respect of the other two universities.

This Bill is also aimed at changing the names of Anna Universities of Tiruchi, Coimbatore and Tirunvelveli as Anna Universities of Technology for the respective areas.

Consequent to the move to form Anna University of Technology, Madurai, the government has decided to exclude Madurai, Theni, Dindigul, Ramanathapuram and Sivaganga districts from the jurisdiction of the Anna Universities of Technology, Tiruchi and Tirunelveli.

http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/15/stories/2010051563941000.htm

Government should focus on vocational training and building specific skills rather than trying to make everybody an engineer.

There are many Schools offering Vocational Courses in Tamil Nadu and lots of Students do opt for such courses, so that they can start earning to support their Parents...

More ..

http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/15/stories/2010051562430200.htm

Then, a vast section of Students more than 1.5 Lakhs who discontinue Academic studies befor 10th,enter "Industrial Training Institutes " for getting ITI Certificates in many Trades.

More than a Lakh of Students after 10 th, opt for Diplomo Courses in various Engg disciplines ( Polytechnic)

The system is almost similar in all States, I suppose.

But, Engineering Education has it's own Charm amongst ambitious Parents and Students. There are more than 1.8 lakh seats available in TN. More than 6.0 Lakhs students have passed in 12th class. Students choose Engg,Medicine, Arts and Science,Law,Agriculture, Para Medical, Catering,Tourism.Navigation,Teacher;s Training etc etc. Ideal situation will be there should be some shortage of available courses for these students. But,due to Economic condition many ,I think opt to stay put after 12th, without pursuing further studies.

Last year more than 30,000 Engg seats went vacant. There may be many Parents who are rich enough to afford Engg education but their ward scored very less marks and Govt and Engg Colleges want to pull them into the system.

Ideally, all 6.0 Lakh students should get admitted for Higher Education to become a Graduate,so that TN can announce its arrival, comparing to situation prevailing in many well off Countries.

The coming academic year will be significant, crucial and even historic for the School Education Department in many respects.

Historic, as it brings into effect a uniform curriculum for the four streams of school system — State Board, Matriculation, Anglo-Indian and OSLC — for Classes I and VI this year.

Significant, as ‘Samacheer Kalvi' (Equitable Standard School Education) promises to incorporate the best of every stream, and taking cues from the NCERT, to offer an enhanced, child-friendly education.

Crucial, as there are various hurdles to be crossed for the school managements awaiting textbooks, teachers awaiting instructions and guidance on the new syllabus, and above all, the anxiety among parents of Matriculation school students who are considering switching Boards.

While the Tamil Nadu Textbook Corporation has started despatching textbooks, for a majority of subject teachers, the syllabus uploaded in www.pallikalvi.in, the official website of the department, has been the only source of information.

...

http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/17/stories/2010051760100300.htm

Edexcel, part of Pearson group, U.K., providing academic and vocational training to schools and colleges, plans to partner 40 institutions in Tamil Nadu as part of expansion plans, a top company official said on Monday.

“The 40 institutions would also include public and private educational institutions,” Edexcel International Business Manager, Mr David Davies said.

Edexcel currently partners two institutions — Everonn and Cornerstone in Tamil Nadu to provide training in various sectors including vocational subjects. Besides setting up affiliate firms in Tamil Nadu, the company also plans to enter Nepal this year to register their overseas presence, he said.

“We are aggressively increasing our presence in India. While 40 of our affiliate firms would be present in the state, in the second half of this year, we plan to enter Nepal”, he said.

The company currently has a presence in about 85 countries. “Nepal will be the 86th,” he said.

Stating that Edexcel was mainly into providing technical collaborations with educational institutions (both public and private) for offering vocational subjects, he said the company would operate in “dual strategies” in India.

“One strategy is to enter into colleges and other is to focus on schools... In Colleges we plan to offer a two year diploma programme on B.Tec (Business Technical Education Council) and in schools through vocational streams’, he said.

“The advantage of our programme is that they can be tailored according to our needs”, he said. Edexcel, headquartered in U.K., has delivered 9.6 million examination transcripts in 2009 over 85 countries.

Source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/blnus/15171610.htm

The Medical Council of India, on its website, has recommended that the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare provide the letter of permission for two State-run and two private medical colleges in Tamil Nadu.

Villupuram Medical College and Thiruvarur Medical College have both been authorised 100 seats each, taking the total number of seats to 1,945 in 17 colleges.

The two private medical colleges that have been recommended for issue of letter of permission are Tagore Medical College, in Vandalur, near Chennai, and Sri Muthukumaran Medical College, Hospital and Research Institute, Chennai, both affiliated to the Tamil Nadu Dr. MGR Medical Varsity and can have 150 seats each.

Meanwhile, the MCI has refused to renew the permission for Karpaga Vinayaga Institute of Medical Sciences & Research Centre, Kancheepuram, and Chennai Medical College Hospital and Research Centre, Trichy, for the year 2010-2011. This brings the total number of MBBS seats in Tamil Nadu to 4,015.

http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/18/stories/2010051859310200.htm

Results of entrance exam for amritha college of engineering is out. Results can be viewed at their website.

140 students are to be admitted in 2010-11

Decks have been cleared for the start of Indian Institute of Management – Tiruchi (IIM-T) from 2010-11.

While the NIT will provide a hostel with a capacity to accommodate over 180 students, the BHEL has offered a two-storey building adjacent to the BIM for the academic complex. The final procedure that remains is the ratification of the choice of the temporary venues by the Ministry of Human Resource Development.

C.V. Indu Shekhar Vasisst, Chief Administrative Officer of Indian Institute of Management – Bangalore that will be providing mentoring support to the new IIM-T visited the National Institute of Technology – Tiruchi and the Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited, Tiruchi, to finalise the temporary venues for hostel and classrooms respectively for the IIM-T for a two-year duration.

Collector T. Soundiah, Executive Director of BHEL, Tiruchi, A.V. Krishnan and Dean – Planning, NIT-T, C. Nataraj; and P. Krishnakumar of Bharathidasan Institute of Management (BIM) accompanied Mr. Vasisst.

For the 2010-11 session, 140 students are to be admitted in IIM-Tiruchi as in the case of the three other new IIMs at Ranchi in Jharkhand, Raipur in Chhattisgarh, and Rohtak in Haryana, in accordance with the MHRD's advice to the CAT (Common Admission Test) Committee to include 560 additional seats. With the addition of these four, there will be 11 IIMs in the country from 2010-11.

During the first visit undertaken in Tiruchi earlier this year by a team comprising the Additional Director in MHRD Ashok Thakur, Director of IIM-B Pankaj Chandra, Additional Director-General of Central Public Works Department N. Ravi, and State Principal Secretary of Higher Education K. Ganesan, the scope for utilising facilities at the Bharathidasan University and Anna University – Tiruchi was explored for the temporary venue of the IIM-T.

The permanent campus for the IIM-T will come up on an expanse of 193 acres sandwiched between the two universities.

Source: http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/19/stories/2010051962190300.htm

Students of Tamil Nadu have sailed through the Class XII Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) examination easily, with the State recording a pass percentage of 97.11 – the highest among the four southern States. In the Chennai region, which comprise Southern and Western States, Goa topped with a pass percentage of 98.23 per cent.

The results of the All India Senior School Certificate Examination of the CBSE held in March 2010 were declared for the Ajmer, Chennai and Panchkula regions on Wednesday. About 6,065 students from 98 schools in Tamil Nadu took the examination. Girls have outperformed boys in the exam.

Source: http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/20/stories/2010052054370700.htm

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/Tamil-Nadu-students-put-state-on-top/articleshow/5951340.cms

CHENNAI: Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) schools in Tamil Nadu have reason to smile over the performance of students in the All India Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (AISSCE).

Students studying in the 98 schools have put Tamil Nadu on top among five larger states by netting a significantly high pass percentage of 97.11 in the Chennai region comprising the four southern states, Maharashtra, Goa and three union territories.

Not only is this pass percentage better than the previous year’s 95.02% but also way above the regional average of 92.17%.

Among the five large states in the region, Tamil Nadu comes first followed by Karnataka where 97.05% of the students had passed the examination. :cheers::cheers:

"In Tamil Nadu, 6,065 students including 2,573 girls had appeared in the examination this year. Of the total candidates, 2,509 girls and 3,381 boys emerged successful. Last year, 5,495 out of 5,783 students from the state had cleared the examination," CBSE Chennai region joint secretary N Nagaraju said.

Asked the reason for the better performance of CBSE students compared to their counterparts in the state board, Nagaraju said it could be because "our schools including the Kendriya Vidyalayas and Navodaya Vidyalayas have better facilities. We also have some elite public schools and parents encourage students to perform better."

...

சத்தமில்லாமல் டெல்லியில் கலக்குகிறார், ஒரு தமிழர். ஐ.ஏ.எஸ். - ஐ.பி.எஸ். தகுதியுடன் இளைஞர்களை ஜம்மென்று தயாரித்து அனுப் பும் அவரது பெயர் ரவீந்திரன். 'Vajiram - Ravi Institute for Civil Services Examination' என்ற பெயரில் டெல்லியில் இயங்கும் அவரின் பயிற்சி மையத்தில் படித்த பலரும் இப்போது சைரன் சத்தத்தோடு சிவப்பு விளக்கு சுழலும் கார்களில் பவனி வருகின்றனர்! சொல்லப்போனால் இவரும் கிங் மேக்கர்தான். ஏ.கே.விஸ்நாதன், எம்.ரவி, சந்தீப்ராய் ரத்தோர், செந்தில்வேலன், அமுதா என்று தமிழகத்தில் பேசப்படும் ஐ.பி.எஸ்., ஐ.ஏ.ஏஸ். அதிகாரிகள் எல்லாம் இவரது பயிற்சி நிறுவனத்தில் பட்டைத் தீட்டப்பட்டவர்கள்தான்!

இந்த ஆண்டு சிவில் சர்வீஸ் தேர்வில் வெற்றி பெற்றவர்கள், 875 பேர். இதில் 335 பேர் ரவீந்திரனின் நிறுவனத்தில் படித்தவர்கள்தான். முதல் 10 இடங்களைப் பிடித்தவர் களில் ஆறு பேர் இவர் டீமின் தயாரிப்புகள். தமிழ்நாட்டைச் சேர்ந்த ரவீந்திரன், கடந்த வாரம் சென்னை வந்தபோது சந்தித்தோம்.

''1978-ம் ஆண்டில் தொடங்கப்பட்டு, 30 ஆண்டுகளாக இயங்கும் எங்கள் நிறுவனத்தில் இதுவரை 1,500 சிவில் சர்வீஸ் அதிகாரிகளை உருவாக்கி இருக்கிறோம். 1999-ல் இருந்து 2008 வரை தொடர்ந்து 10 வருடங்களாக ஐ.ஏ.எஸ். தேர்வில் முதலிடம் பெறுபவர்கள், இங்கு பயின்றவர்கள்தான். வருடந்தோறும் 30 முதல் 40 சதவிகிதம் வரை எங்களிடம் பயின்றவர்கள் வெற்றி பெறுகிறார்கள். இந்த ஆண்டு முதல் 100 இடம் பிடித்தவர்களில் 42 பேர், எங்களி டம் பயிற்சி பெற்றவர்கள்...'' என்று முன்னோட்டம் கொடுத்த வரிடம் சில கேள்விகளை முன் வைத்தோம்.

''ஐ.ஏ.எஸ்., ஐ.பி.எஸ்-களில் ஜெயிக்க உங்களோட டிப்ஸ் என்ன..?''

''அடிப்படை அறிவு மட்டும் இருந்தால் போதும், சிவில் சர்வீஸ் எழுதலாம். இரண்டு வருடம் முன்பே படிக்க ஆரம்பித்துவிட வேண்டும். பயிற்சி மையத்தில் சேர்ந்து படிக்காமலேகூட பலர் வெற்றி பெற்றிருக்கிறார்கள். இந்திய வரலாறு, இந்திய பொருளாதாரம், 10-ம் வகுப்புக்குட்பட்ட பொது அறிவியல், இயர் புக், மத்திய அரசு ஆங்கிலத்தில் வெளியிடும் யோஜனா இதழ், அதே இதழின் தமிழ் பதிப்பான 'திட்டம்' இதழ், ஆகிய வற்றைப் படிக்க வேண்டும். அதோடு, நாளிதழ்களை பத்திரிகையாக நினைக்காமல், பாட மாகவே படிக்கவேண்டும்!''

''மெத்தப் படித்தவர்கள்கூட சிவில் சர்வீஸ் தேர்வுகளில் வெற்றி பெற முடியவில்லையே..?''

''சிவில் சர்வீஸ், பாட சுமை அதிகம் உள்ள தேர்வுதான். விடா முயற்சியை மூச்சுபோல சுவாசிக்க வேண்டும். அப்படி பயிற்சி எடுத்து, சிவில் சர்வீஸ் மெயின் எக்ஸாம் வரை வந்துவிட்டால், அது மூன்று முதுகலை படிப்புக்கு சமம். சிவில் சர்வீஸ் தேர்வுகளில் ஒரே முயற்சியில் எல்லாம் வெற்றிவாகை சூடிவிட முடியாது. இங்கே அறிவை சோதிப்பதைவிட உழைப்பைத்தான் சோதனை செய்கிறார்கள். உழைப்பு இருப்பவன் அதிகாரத்தில் அமரும்போதுதான் மக்களுக்காக கடுமையாகப் பணியாற்றுவான். அதனால்தான், அறிவைவிட கடின உழைப்புக்கு இங்கே மதிப்பு அதிகம்.

ராசிபுரம் பக்கத்தில் குக்கிராமமான பட்டணம் என்கிற ஊரைச் சேர்ந்தவன் நான். 11-ம் வகுப்பு வரையில் தமிழ் மீடியத்தில்தான் படித்தேன். பி.எஸ்சி., மேக்ஸ் படித்துவிட்டு, டெல்லியில் எம்.ஏ. எல்.எல்.பி. படிக்கப் போனேன். இன்று பல ஐ.ஏ.எஸ்., ஐ.பி.எஸ். அதிகாரிகளை அனுப்பும் அளவுக்கு உயர்ந்திருக்கிறேன். விடாமுயற்சிதான் இதற்குக் காரணம். 'நாமும் ஒரு நாள் ஜெயிப்போம்' என்ற விதையை இதயத்தில் போட்டுவிட்டு கடுமையாக உழைத்தால், அந்த உழைப்பு ஒருவேளை சறுக்கலாம்... ஆனால் தோற்காது..!''

Short translation:
Ravindran started Vajiram-Ravi Institute for Civil Services Examination in Delhi in 1978. He was born near Rasipuram at Pattinam and studied in Tamil until 11th Std. This year 335 out of total 875 passed trained from his institute and also 6 out of top 10. Total of 1500 candidates qualified till date from his institute. Rest his tips to succeed in IAS/IPS.

An unassuming former student of the Department of Chemistry, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchi, Raja Angamuthu of Karur in Tamil Nadu has risen to become a researcher of global repute overcoming daunting obstacles, with sheer determination to succeed in life. He was among the group of scientists at the Lieden Institute of Chemistry, the Netherlands, that made a path-breaking discovery earlier this year of a molecule that sucks carbon dioxide from air.

Family support
Dr. Raja made his foster parents proud conquering penury all through his years at the Karur Municipal School and the Government Arts College, Karur.

For more than a decade he worked for the most part of night hours at an export company to fund his education and also support his family, before gaining admission to the Bharathidasan University during 2000.

Motivation at the college from teachers who identified the spark in him, and the moral and financial support from his former employer Vasanth and Company, landed him at the university and made it possible for him to complete postgraduation.

Research
As an M.Sc. Chemistry student at the Bharathidasan University, Dr. Raja had worked on a research project under the supervision of M. Palaniandavar, DST Ramanna Fellow, and continued at the university as his research assistant for three years whereby his research article was published in Journal of Inorganic Biochemistry, a high-impact journal. Owing to the publication of the article, he got an opportunity to do his Ph.D. in the famous research group of Jan Reedijik at Leiden University. Under the supervision of Scientist Elisabeth Bowman in the research group, Dr. Raja and his group discovered the molecule that sucks carbondioxide from the air using simple dinuclear Copper (I) complexes.

The discovery published in the world's topmost journals Science and Nature and many other journals could open up a new line of research — the scientific community sees the technique as an attractive way to capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere — to combat global warming.

Global warming
Presenting their findings in Science, published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Dr. Raja and other scientists in the group Philip Byers, Martin Lutz, Anthony L Spek, and Elisabeth Bowman said: “Global warming concern has dramatically increased interest in using carbon dioxide as a feedstock for preparation of value-added compounds, thereby helping to reduce its atmospheric concentration. Here, we describe a dinuclear copper (I) complex that is oxidised in air by carbon dioxide rather than oxygen; the product is a tetranuclear copper (II) complex containing two bridging carbon dioxide - derived oxalate groups. Treatment of the copper (II) oxalate complex in acetonitrile with a soluble lithium salt results in qualitative precipitation of lithium oxalate. The copper (II) complex can then be nearly quantitatively electrochemically reduced at a relatively accessible potential, regenerating the initial dinuclear copper (I) compound. Preliminary results demonstrate six turnovers (producing 12 equivalents of oxalate) during seven hours of catalysis at an applied potential of -0.03 volts versus the normal hydrogen electrode.”

The innovative chemistry offers a faint hope that a catalyst could one day selectively and efficiently remove the greenhouse gas from the air, turning it into organic chemicals, according to the report in Nature, published during January 2010. It said: “Once stripped off the catalyst, the oxalate salt can also form the basis of several chemicals that have practical applications. These include oxalic acid — commonly used in many laboratories and in household products such as rust-proofing treatments — and, after chemical conversion, ethylene glycol, which is used as an antifreeze in cars and as building block for chemical synthesis.”

Acclaim
Now that the discovery has been made, the procedure is bound to trigger researches worldwide for arriving at practical applications to counter global warming, Dr. Raja told The Hindu Education Plus.

A winner of Chemist of the Year Award in 2009 at the Leiden University, a thankful Dr. Raja owes the global recognition for his path-breaking research to his mentors, Dr. Palaniandavar, Coordinator, Centre for Bioinorganic Chemistry, School of Chemistry, Bharathidasan University, and Dr. Elisabeth Bowmam, a long-time friend of Dr. Palaniandavar. “Dr. Raja is a classic example of the maxim: Hard work pays. He started shouldering large responsibilities right from his school days. There is more to come,” said Sundarrajan, proprietor of Vasanth and Company, Karur.

Dr. Raja Angamuthu is all set to proceed to the University of Illinois for his two-year post-doctoral studies under the Rubicon programme. The programme supported by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research, the country's principal science funding body, by means of a national competition, is directed at promising young postdoctoral researchers who are still at the start of their careers but whose academic strengths give them the potential to become established figures in the Dutch research world.

Source: http://beta.thehindu.com/education/article395131.ece

At least 15 new polytechnics will be opened in the State this year as part of the government's measures to augment supply of skilled manpower. It would also strengthen Chennai's position as a hub for automobile industry, said S. Annadurai, Additional Director (Polytechnic), Directorate of Technical Education.

Speaking on the sidelines of a career guidance programme for outgoing students of Class X organised by Science City here on Tuesday, he said, “A large number of students belonging to the weaker sections will be able to take up diploma programmes as the government is providing fee waiver for them.” Last year 90 new polytechnic colleges were opened in the State, he added.

Many national institutions in the city, including the Central Institute of Plastics Engineering and Technology are offering specialised academic programmes which support the city's position as an automobile hub. “Plastics are an important component of automobiles and the institute has started many diploma courses apart from cutting edge research programmes in plastics technology,” said P.S.G.Krishnan, Chief Manager (Technical) of CIPET.

“We are organising an ‘open house' from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. for students and parents on May 29 on the CIPET premises in Guindy. This will provide details about the Institute, programmes and prospects,” he said.

The industry in southern region is hiring more students and this is being reflected in the large number of students joining apprenticeship training in the region, said G.Sujatha, Deputy Director and Deputy Regional Central Apprenticeship Adviser, Board of Apprenticeship Training (Southern Region).

A total of 29,309 students took part in Apprenticeship Training in companies in 2008-2009 and the number increased in 2009-2010, she added.

“Skilled technicians in the medical field are required in large numbers as the importance of medical tourism is also increasing in Chennai,” said M.Kumaresan, Managing Director of Siva ENT Hospital.

Source: http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/26/stories/2010052661380200.htm

The Anna University that would become a unitary university shortly, will focus on more research activities, said Mannar Jawahar, Vice-Chancellor, Anna University.

Talking to presspersons here on Tuesday, he said the Government would form another Anna University of Technology to do the administrative work, including interacting with affiliated engineering colleges.

Anna University of Technology — Madurai will be established shortly. (Already, the government had passed a bill excluding Madurai, Theni, Dindigul, Ramanathapuram and Sivaganga districts from the jurisdiction of the Anna Universities of Technology, Tiruchi, and Tirunelveli.)

Counselling for admissions to engineering colleges in the State will begin on June 28. The last date for submission of application form is May 31. If any candidate could not get support documents like community certificates, they could be added later.

The deadline for submission of application cannot be extended as it would affect the commencement of counselling, Dr. Jawahar stated.

Of the 1.82 lakh seats in engineering colleges, 1.08 lakh seats will be filled through general counselling and the rest by the management. At present, 454 engineering colleges in the State have been offering 51 courses in various engineering disciplines.

To a question on placement, 93 per cent of students wanted jobs and only six to seven per cent of students desired to go for higher studies. We wanted to bring the best companies, including multinational corporations, to come for the State-wide recruitment to give an equal opportunity to students in urban and rural areas, the Vice-Chancellor pointed out.

Source: http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/26/stories/2010052658640300.htm

The Anna University that would become a unitary university shortly, will focus on more research activities, said Mannar Jawahar, Vice-Chancellor, Anna University.

Talking to presspersons here on Tuesday, he said the Government would form another Anna University of Technology to do the administrative work, including interacting with affiliated engineering colleges.

Anna University of Technology — Madurai will be established shortly. (Already, the government had passed a bill excluding Madurai, Theni, Dindigul, Ramanathapuram and Sivaganga districts from the jurisdiction of the Anna Universities of Technology, Tiruchi, and Tirunelveli.)

Counselling for admissions to engineering colleges in the State will begin on June 28. The last date for submission of application form is May 31. If any candidate could not get support documents like community certificates, they could be added later.

The deadline for submission of application cannot be extended as it would affect the commencement of counselling, Dr. Jawahar stated.

Of the 1.82 lakh seats in engineering colleges, 1.08 lakh seats will be filled through general counselling and the rest by the management. At present, 454 engineering colleges in the State have been offering 51 courses in various engineering disciplines.

To a question on placement, 93 per cent of students wanted jobs and only six to seven per cent of students desired to go for higher studies. We wanted to bring the best companies, including multinational corporations, to come for the State-wide recruitment to give an equal opportunity to students in urban and rural areas, the Vice-Chancellor pointed out.

Source: http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/26/stories/2010052658640300.htm

0% percentage as an entrepreneur? I am not sure how many Eng colleges have incubators. Why everyone(including the VC) thinks only about placement instead they should motivate students to become successful entrepreneur. Even the top notch institutes like IIT, IIM's prefer overseas placement. Once America was considered land of opportunities. Now its time for the BRIC countries.

Dg3a3OFBTq8

http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/31/stories/2010053158361300.htm



“Anybody can adopt a school and provide facilities under the project”

MoU valid for five years; can be renewed after reviewing results

Philadelphia: The government of Tamil Nadu has opened up a new vista for financing much-needed school infrastructure in the State through public-private partnerships with domestic and overseas institutions.

In a significant step that could boost the government resources for upgrading school facilities, M. Kutralingam, Principal Secretary to the School Education Department, Tamil Nadu, on Saturday signed a Memorandum of Understanding between the State government and the Tamil Nadu Foundation, a Tamil association in the United States.

As per the MoU, the Foundation will be regularly investing funds in school infrastructure projects in numerous districts, building on the 35-plus years of experience that it has in this field.

Speaking to The Hindu here, Mr. Kutralingam said, “Government schools still have a lot of requirements in terms of infrastructure — additional classrooms, toilet facilities, water facilities, furniture and compound walls, for example.”

In a statement, Minister for School Education Thangam Thennarasu said, “I am very glad that the TNF has decided to undertake school education in Tamil Nadu as its Focus Project. The government of Tamil Nadu is grateful to the American Tamil community for their support to TNF's Focus Project. We are looking forward to working with the TNF in strengthening the State's school education system.”

In an interview prior to the signing of the MoU, Mr. Kutralingam said the government of Tamil Nadu and the TNF had formulated a public-private partnership framework under which “anybody can adopt a school for these purposes — that is to provide furniture, computers, lab facilities, library facilities, compound wall, and classroom facilities.” As per the MoU the areas to which investments will be channelled include: provision of uniforms, notebooks and stationery; provision of computers and furniture, including the costs of a computer skills teacher; provision of educational aid and play materials; support for English language classes; construction and renovation of school toilets; provision of water supply; and counselling for students to ensure continuation of schooling and bringing back drop-outs.

The MoU would be valid for a period of five years. After reviewing the results of the partnership and mutual consent, the MoU could be renewed for a further period of two years at a time.

...

http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/31/stories/2010053152380500.htm

CHENNAI: Anna University, Chennai, may become the National Hub for Healthcare Instrumentation with Rs.15 crore funding from the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). A formal letter is expected within a couple of weeks, vice-chancellor P. Mannar Jawahar said.

Dr. Jawahar said a team from DRDO had visited the campus last week to assess the facilities and hold talks with university authorities and professors. The team had been positive in its appraisal of the University facilities and formal approval from DRDO was expected soon, he said.

“Our students recently won an award from Texas Instruments Analog Design Contest for developing a low cost video bronchoscope. We have all the facilities required to undertake cutting-edge research,” Dr. Jawahar said.

With a thriving healthcare industry in the State, the hub, when it becomes functional, will also provide a platform for industry-academia collaboration, he said.

The healthcare industry sector can undertake specific research projects using the expertise of the professors and the students. “We can get into tie-ups with healthcare providers and instrumentation developers,” he added.

...

http://www.hindu.com/2010/06/04/stories/2010060451770300.htm

http://www.hindu.com/2010/06/04/images/2010060451770301.jpg

CHENNAI: Science City will open a new mathematics laboratory, including a mobile unit and Ramanujan Gallery by August-end.

“The Rs.70 lakh facility is part of the government's efforts to inspire students without access to such facilities and help them gain understanding of mathematics,” said P. Iyamperumal, vice-chairman of Science City.

This would enable students to learn by exploring mathematical concepts and verify facts and theorems.

“The works of Ramanujan would also be on display at the gallery. Students would be able to understand his contribution to mathematics,” said Mr. Iyamperumal.

The conversion of two-dimensional objects to three dimension, demonstration of Euclidean geometry, model of Pythagoras theorem, pi pavilion, e pavilion and conic section would be some of the attractions. Initially, over 50 tools and pieces of equipment would be part of the laboratory. Later, it would be increased. Other exhibits include the express route, elliptical table, musical tubes, illusions, sympathetic swings, find your age, find your height, transfer of momentum, cone runs uphill, probability curve and a quiz corner. The laboratory would also have provisions for explanation to understand concepts such as magic square.

“Most of the students have a fear of mathematics as they are not able to understand simple concepts. Here, students can play with tools to understand mathematical concepts such as eccentricity of an ellipse,” said R. Srinivasan, the scientific officer in charge of the laboratory.

For example, the child understands the basic concepts of trigonometry using the ‘know your height' exhibit. He or she gains understanding of binary decimals by playing with the exhibit of ‘find your age.'

...

A M H Nazeem, Leader of Opposition in Puducherry Assembly said all formalities to start the proposed National Institute of Technology (NIT) at Karaikal had been completed and classes would commence from this academic year.

Speaking to Express here on Tuesday, Nazeem said the NIT would start functioning from the campus of Aringnar Anna Government Arts College at Nehru Nagar here. “On Monday, the keys of the buildings on the campus earmarked for the NIT, were handed over to M Chidambaram, Director of NIT, Tiruchy, who has been appointed as the mentor for the Karaikal NIT,” Nazeem said.

He added an MoU has been signed in his presence for starting the NIT at the makeshift location. Nazeem said an information centre to offer guidance to the students seeking admission to the NITs had also started functioning here from Monday.

He appealed to students and parents of Karaikal not to believe rumours that NIT might not start this year.

Source: http://expressbuzz.com/states/tamil-nadu/%E2%80%98nit-at-karaikal-set-to-take-off%E2%80%99/180066.html

Quite weird that Leader of opposition providing the information rather than Education minister from Puducherry Govt.

All state-run universities in Tamil Nadu will soon launch community colleges to empower school dropouts and semi-skilled workers by helping them acquire vocational qualification.

A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting of vice chancellors of all universities in the state held at the Tamil Nadu State Council for Higher Education (TANSCHE) on Wednesday, which was chaired by higher education minister and pro-chancellor K Ponmudy.

Interacting with journalists at the end of the meeting, Ponmudy said "we have decided that each university would establish at least 10 community colleges in its jurisdiction. These community colleges would be functional from September 1 onwards. A policy decision on this was already announced by the government in the legislative assembly."

The community colleges would offer six month certificate courses in vocational fields such as air-conditioning mechanic, automobile mechanic and mobile phone repair. School drop outs and semi-skilled workers could enrol for these courses and obtain proper training so that they can become employable.

According to the minister, the respective universities could determine the admission procedure and fee structure of the courses to be offered by the community colleges falling under their jurisdictions. However, the course curriculum will be drafted by the directorate of technical education (DoTE) and the examination too will be conducted by it.

The examination for the first batch of students was likely to be held in March next year.

--------------
--------------

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/City/Chennai/TN-varsities-to-start-community-colleges-to-help-dropouts/articleshow/6029768.cms

Cross posting from Coimbatore thread. Courtesy: CBE-SINGAKUTTY

1 Indian Institute of Technology IIT Kanpur
2 Indian Institute of Technology IIT Kharagpur
3 Indian Institute of Technology IIT Bombay
4 Indian Institute of Technology IIT Madras
5 Indian Institute of Technology IIT Delhi
6 BITS Pilani
7 IIT Roorkee
8 IT-BHU
9 IIT-Guwahati
10 College of Engg , Anna University, Guindy

11 Jadavpur University , Faculty of Engg & Tech., Calcutta
12 Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad
13 NIT- National Institute of Technology Warangal
14 BIT, Mesra
15 NIT- National Institute of Technology Trichy
16 Delhi College of Engineering , Delhi
17 Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh
18 NIT- National Institute of Technology, Suratkal
19 Motilal Nehru National Inst. of Technology, Allahabad
20 Thapar Inst of Engineering & Technology, Patiala

21 Bengal Eng and Science University , Shibpur
22 MANIT Malviya National Institute of Technology Bhopal
23 PSG College of Technology Coimbatore:banana::banana::banana:
24 IIIT - International Institute of Information Technology Hyderabad
25 Harcourt Butler Technological Institute (HBTI), Kanpur
26 Malviya National Institute of Technology, Jaipur
27 VNIT - Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology Nagpur
28 NIT- National Institute of Technology, Calicut
29 Dhirubhai Ambani IICT, Gandhi Nagar
30 Osmania Univ. College of Engineering, Hyderabad

31 College of Engineering , Andhra University, Vishakhapatnam
32 Netaji Subhas Institute of Technology, New Delhi
33 NIT- National Institute of Technology Kurukshetra
34 NIT- National Institute of Technology Rourkela
35 SVNIT Surat
36 Govt. College of Engineering, Pune
37 Manipal Institute of Technology, Manipal
38 JNTU Hyderabad
39 R.V. College of Engineering Bangalore
40 NIT- National Institute of Technology Jamshedpur

41 University Visvesvaraya College of Engg. Bangalore
42 VJTI Mumbai
43 Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore
44 Coimbatore Institute of Technology, Coimbatore:banana::banana::banana:
45 SSN College of Engineering, Chennai
46 IIIT, Allahabad
47 College of Engineering, Trivandrum
48 NIT Durgapur
49 SIT Calcutta
50 Mumbai University Inst of Chemical Tech., Mumbai

51 Sardar Patel College of Engineering, Mumbai
52 P.E.S. Institute of Technology, Bangalore
53 Maharashtra Institute of Technology (MIT), Pune
54 amrita Institute of Technology & Science, Coimbatore:banana::banana:
55 National Institute of Engineering, Mysore
56 B.M.S. College of Engineering, Bangalore
57 Laxminarayan Institute Of Tech., Nagpur
58 Nirma Institute of Technology, Ahmedabad
59 IIIT Pune
60 Amity School of Engineering Noida

61 JNTU Kakinada
62 S.J. College of Engineering, Mysore
63 Chaitanya Bharathi Inst. of Technology, Hyderabad
64 IIIT, Bangalore
65 SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai
66 SASTRA, Thanjavur
67 Bangalore Institute of Technology Bangalore
68 The Technological Inst. of Textile & Sciences, Bhiwani
69 IIIT Gwalior
70 JNTU Anantpur

71 M.S. Ramaiah Institute of Technology Bangalore
72 Gitam Vishakhapatnam
73 NIT- National Institute of Technology Hamirpur
74 NIT- National Institute of Technology Jalandhar
75 SV University Engineering College Tirupati
76 NIT- National Institute of Technology Raipur
77 Vasavi College of Engineering Hyderabad
78 The ICFAI Inst of Science and Technology Hybd.
79 NIT- National Institute of Technology Patna
80 Cummins Colleges of Engg of Women Pune

81 VIT Pune
82 Shri Ramdeo Baba K.N. Engineering College Nagpur
83 Muffakham Jah Engineering College Hybd.
84 Karunya Institute of Technology, Coimbatore
85 D.J. Sanghvi Mumbai
86 Sathyabhama Engineering College Chennai
87 Kongu Engineering College Erode
88 Mepco Schlek Engineering College Sivakasi
89 Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College Ludhiana
90 Hindustan Inst of Engineering Technology Chennai

91 SDM College of Engineering Dharward
92 R.V.R. & J.C. College Of Engg Guntur
93 Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi
94 K.L. College of Engineering Veddeswaram
95 Dharmsinh Desai Institute of Technology Nadiad
96 S.G.S. Institute of Technology & Science Indore
97 Jabalpur Engineering College Jabalpur
98 Sree Chitra Thirunal College of Engineering Trivandrum
99 G.H. Patel College of Engg & Technology Vallabh Vidyanagar
100 Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology Bhubaneshwar


http://aglasem.com/updates/?p=1061

http://tech.mit.edu/V130/N28/suresh.html

http://www.dinamalar.com/News_Detail.asp?Id=17302

CHENNAI: Following the State government's decision to exempt tuition fees for first generation students, more than 78,000 such students have applied this year, Higher Education Minister K. Ponmudy here said on Tuesday.

Speaking to reporters after assignment of random numbers to applicants for engineering admissions, Mr. Ponmudy said this represented around 47 per cent of the total applications of 1,67,406 this year.

Higher education officials said the estimated number of first generation engineering applicants last year was around 50,000. K. Ganesan, Principal Secretary for Higher Education, said the government's exemption of tuition fees had encouraged more applicants this year resulting in the increase of over 25,000 this year.

Mr. Ponmudy said that in view of the huge number of applicants this year (nearly double the number of applicants three years ago), counselling dates might be extended to August 5, and colleges would reopen before August 15 instead of on August 1 as announced earlier.

...

http://www.hindu.com/2010/06/16/stories/2010061662960500.htm

Making English language teaching effective..


The current system of state education in Tamil Nadu is vital in helping to provide an answer to this second question. One of the leaders in the “silent revolution” in Indian primary education, since 2007 it has introduced the progressive Activity Based Learning system (ABL) for standards 1-4, and Active Learning Methodology (ALM, a sort of big brother to the ABL system) to standards 6-8. These new teaching methodologies stress greater inclusion and interaction of children in the learning process, aiming to bring variety and enjoyment back into the classroom.

The state government, the SSA (“the government's flagship programme for delivering universalisation of Elementary Education”) and UNICEF have all been delighted with the impact of these reforms in Tamil Nadu. They have seen a marked improvement not only in the academic capabilities of primary school children under the new system, but also in their levels of confidence and their willingness to be involved in the learning process. Following the success of the Tamil Nadu reforms, nearly all other states have followed suit, or are planning to, in implementing similar methodologies.

However, success in the state primary sector also serves to highlight the existing failure at secondary level, where teaching methods remain archaic. The learning experience for these children is passive and uninspiring. Frequently, the onus is placed overwhelmingly on passing exams, for which they need only memorise the contents of their textbooks, rather than actually teaching them the skills they need.

more...
http://www.hindu.com/2010/06/16/stories/2010061651391100.htm

Tamil Nadu Wakf Board is planning to set up a branch of Aligarh Muslim University


http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/703/amuz.jpg

Dinamalar

there was an article on Wakf realestate and how corrupt they are.Wakf board is probably the richest board with assets all over India
I wish they actually use it for good purposes in educating and enhancing and even funding haj pilgrimage for Muslim folks

VIT has been rated as the 8th best engineering college in India by India Tday magazine. Nice to see that VIT is improving its rankings and quality day by day. BTW, I heard even MNCs like Cisco (Networking Giant) goes for campus interview to VIT. Is it true?

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/chennai/electronics-mechanical-engg-still-most-popular-015

June 29: Electronics and communication engineering and mechanical engineering continue to be favourites this year too with more students who attended counselling under the sports quota on Monday opting for electronics and communication engineering, followed by mechanical engineering. On Tuesday, 648 candidates were invited for vocational quota seats, of whom 17 were differently-abled candidates who joined various engineering colleges in the state.

According to Tamil Nadu Engineering Admission secretary V. Rhymend Uthariaraj, of the 99 students who joined various courses through the sports quota on Monday, 40 enrolled in electronics and communication engineering, 22 opted for mechanical engineering, 13 selected computer science and engineering, seven chose civil engineering, three took aeronautical engineering, two each joined biomedical engineering and automobile engineering and one each joined electronics and instrumentation engineering, manufacturing engineering and chemical engineering.

...

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/Engg-course-entry-cleared-for-Lankan-refugees/articleshow/6112257.cms

CHENNAI: In a major relief for children of Sri Lankan Tamil refugees who had completed schooling through regular schools in Tamil Nadu, the state government has decided to permit them to enrol in BE/BTech courses through the single window counselling from this year.

The higher education ministry has issued a government order dated June 29 which says: "Under the prevailing circumstances, children of Sri Lankan Tamil refugees who have studied in schools in Tamil Nadu and have scored very high marks are unable to join in preferred engineering colleges. The government believes that it would be only proper for such candidates to participate in the single window counselling (for Tamil Nadu Engineering Admissions) along with other students according to a merit list prepared on the basis of their (Plus Two) scores under the general category."

Accordingly, such candidates will be allowed to attend the single window counselling and choose a seat in a favoured branch of study in a preferred engineering college for the academic year 2010-11. "The GO issued by higher education principal secretary K Ganesan has been communicated to the authorities of the Tamil Nadu Engineering Admissions (TNEA 2010)," a government official said.

It is learnt that more than a dozen Sri Lankan Tamil refugee students, who had passed Plus Two through regular schools, have applied for the TNEA 2010. These students will be issued call letters and permitted to attend the counselling according to the general merit list.

Refugee students, who had hitherto not applied for the TNEA 2010, could be allowed to participate in the supplementary counselling to be conducted at a later date.

...

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/Varsity-to-launch-course-in-inland-waterway-vessels/articleshow/6103705.cms

CHENNAI: The Indian Maritime University (IMU), a central university at Uthandi, is in the process of firming up academic collaborations with internationally renowned maritime institutions to launch novel courses.

"We will be offering a BSc programme in Inland Waterway Vessels from the coming academic year in collaboration with the National Inland Navigation Institute (NINI) in Patna. Presently, maritime institutions in the country train students in programmes like nautical science and marine engineering. Whereas, this new course will equip the students to handle vessels which can be operated in inland waterways alone," said IMU VC P Vijayan.

According to him, inland waterway vessels are operated in Bihar, West Bengal and Kerala for transporting both human beings and cargo. Students who graduate with a BSc in Inland Waterway Vessels will be eligible to operate such vessels.

...

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/City/Chennai/Gang-rivalry-behind-BTech-Electronics-is-favourite-of-toppers/articleshow/6132940.cms

CHENNAI: With engineering aspirants remaining cool to Information Technology (IT), Electronics and Communication Engineering (ECE) is turning out be the hottest pick of this season as well.

While day one of the single window counselling for the Tamil Nadu Engineering Admissions (TNEA 2010) academic stream, which got underway at the Anna University on Monday, threw up the grim prospect of a large number of IT stream seats staying vacant, ECE remained the "toppers’ choice"with 192 of the 428 candidates with a high cut-off score between 200 and 199, opting for the course.

In the IT branch, not a single candidate picked a seat, a scenario worse than last year when two had opted for the course on the first day of the counselling. If this trend persists, self-financing engineering colleges will be forced to contend with huge vacancies in the IT branch.

Interestingly, three candidates who had qualified for a medical seat as well chose to pursue engineering. They included the state second rank holder P Abinaya of Erode. "I like mathematics, that’s why I chose to give up my medical seat and take up BE in ECE,"she said.

...

http://thehindu.com/news/cities/Chennai/article504751.ece

Ten Chennai Schools, run by the Chennai Corporation, will be upgraded as ‘Schools of Excellence' in the first week of August, Mayor M.Subramanian said here on Wednesday.

Speaking at a function to distribute shoes and school uniform materials to 2,374 kindergarten students, he said the schools would be full-fledged in all respects and have classes from kindergarten sections to class 12. The schools would also have teachers for music and physical training, he said.

He said admissions for the Chennai Schools would be open till August end and the kindergarten classes would take in children even on Vijayadasami day.

Mr. Subramanian said that Rs.2,67,880 had been spent on free uniforms and Rs.1,30,153 on shoes for students of kindergarten classes in 30 schools. School bags would soon be distributed to the children, he added.

To ward 138 councillor Mary Lourdesamy's request that the Chennai Middle School in Kottur be upgraded into a high school as the nearest school is at Nandanam, the Mayor said if the school was able to show a strength of 500 students it would be done.

...

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/City/Chennai/TN-to-get-42-new-engineering-colleges/articleshow/6145258.cms

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu is in for a round of massive expansion in technical education with the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) on Thursday approving 42 new self-financing engineering colleges. Now the state is just two short of 500 engineering colleges; only Andhra Pradesh boasts of a higher number.

With this, the cumulative number of seats in undergraduate courses in engineering colleges in Tamil Nadu will go up to a mind-boggling 1,85,525, an increase of 10,080 from the previous year. In addition to this, 21 deemed universities offer engineering courses with no restriction on the intake of students.

What has surprised observers is that private players are boldly entering the technical education sector notwithstanding the fact that a significantly high 51,883 BE/BTech seats in self-financing engineering colleges had no takers last year.

"The growth is astounding. We have witnessed a 111% increase in the number of self-financing engineering colleges in six years. In 2005, we had just 224 private engineering colleges in Tamil Nadu; now this number has gone up to 473. In addition, we have six government colleges, three government-aided colleges and 16 Anna University constituent colleges," pointed out a higher education ministry official.

"We cleared applications for establishing 42 engineering colleges, 6 management (MBA) institutions and one architecture college today. Our teams will re-inspect six more engineering colleges shortly to decide on their approval," AICTE southern region chairman P Mannar Jawahar said on Thursday.

Tamil Nadu's technical education sector expanded rapidly only in the last three years. In 2004, the state had only 213 private engineering colleges; the number increased to 224, 238 and 263 in the subsequent three years.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lets beat AP in 2 years to be no-1 in volume if not quality:lol:

^^ See the one that I had posted in the India education thread. It is a reply to your sarcasm about quality.

^^ Quality won't come in large numbers. Presently, it is the quantity that matters - the # of engineering graduates passing out every year in India are needed to run the industries and fill-up the jobs space in a booming economy. What these engineers mostly do is routine work and very less of R&D and innovation, be it in IT, automobiles, construction etc. For innovation work, we already have qualitative educational institutions producing graduates. We can increase those also but we shouldn't give up on these quantitative institutions. By the way, people passing out of non-IITs, non-NITs etc. have made it big and have matured in their professions. So, we need cannot disregard them.

Traditionally, TN, MH, KN and AP have the largest # of engineering colleges in the country and will continue to do so in the distant future. Until we hit a saturation in the job market, this trend will continue.

Don't worry all the matriculation schools will become CBSE soon (The private industry knows how to cater audiences)
In the long run its better to have more CBSE schools to compete our kids against other states as well as internationally.

True, but the state govt can sit on the apps. I heard many schools in CBE wanted ICSE board, but the state govt throws bureaucracy at them forcing the schools to opt for state board.

Actually I prefer state boards with tougher standards to CBSE which imposes hindi and north's vision and definition of India.
PS: I am a product of CBSE too and in retrospect hate it.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/City/Chennai/Rise-in-Tamil-medium-BE-aspirants/articleshow/6149056.cms

CHENNAI: There is a big leap in the number of BE/BTech aspirants who had completed schooling with Tamil as the medium of instruction in the state this year. Besides, top-ranking students including those who studied in English medium schools are opting for BE Civil and Mechanical Engineering courses in Tamil medium.

"The number of Tamil medium students who have applied for the Tamil Nadu Engineering Admissions (TNEA 2010) is 67,727," TNEA secretary V Rhymend Uthariaraj disclosed on Friday.

This constitutes 40% of the 1,67,406 applicants and is the highest in the history of technical education in the state.

In contrast last year, only 50,564 Tamil medium students were in the race for BE/BTech admissions. In 2008, the figure was 50,465.

Academics point out that this upward trend of students from Tamil medium schools applying for engineering courses was registered only after the Tamil Nadu Professional Courses Entrance Examination (TNPCEE) was abolished in 2007.

"Since most Tamil medium students hailed from rural areas they were unable to prepare for the TNPCEE. During 2005 and 2006, when an appearance in the TNPCEE was mandatory for BE admission, only 23.81% and 24.80% of the aspirants for government quota seats respectively were from Tamil medium schools," an academic said.

According to Uthariaraj, a significant factor this year is that the 13 top-ranking academic stream students with high cut-off marks of 192-plus have joined the BE courses introduced in Tamil medium at the Anna University's College of Engineering in Guindy (CEG) over the past five days. This excludes nine physically disabled candidates who had joined BE Tamil medium courses in the university's constituent colleges.

Surprisingly, three high rankers had studied in English medium schools. G Gayathri of Salem (194.50) has opted for BE Civil Engineering in Tamil medium at the CEG.

"My daughter had a deep desire to study in the CEG as it is considered the number one technical institution. Besides, recently the chief minister had announced that those graduating in Tamil medium will get preference in government jobs. Hence she opted for the Tamil medium course," said Gayathri's father Ganesan, a headmaster at the Kottai municipal school in Salem.

...

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/City/Chennai/Rise-in-Tamil-medium-BE-aspirants/articleshow/6149056.cms

CHENNAI: There is a big leap in the number of BE/BTech aspirants who had completed schooling with Tamil as the medium of instruction in the state this year. Besides, top-ranking students including those who studied in English medium schools are opting for BE Civil and Mechanical Engineering courses in Tamil medium.

"The number of Tamil medium students who have applied for the Tamil Nadu Engineering Admissions (TNEA 2010) is 67,727," TNEA secretary V Rhymend Uthariaraj disclosed on Friday.

This constitutes 40% of the 1,67,406 applicants and is the highest in the history of technical education in the state.

In contrast last year, only 50,564 Tamil medium students were in the race for BE/BTech admissions. In 2008, the figure was 50,465.

Academics point out that this upward trend of students from Tamil medium schools applying for engineering courses was registered only after the Tamil Nadu Professional Courses Entrance Examination (TNPCEE) was abolished in 2007.

"Since most Tamil medium students hailed from rural areas they were unable to prepare for the TNPCEE. During 2005 and 2006, when an appearance in the TNPCEE was mandatory for BE admission, only 23.81% and 24.80% of the aspirants for government quota seats respectively were from Tamil medium schools," an academic said.

According to Uthariaraj, a significant factor this year is that the 13 top-ranking academic stream students with high cut-off marks of 192-plus have joined the BE courses introduced in Tamil medium at the Anna University's College of Engineering in Guindy (CEG) over the past five days. This excludes nine physically disabled candidates who had joined BE Tamil medium courses in the university's constituent colleges.

Surprisingly, three high rankers had studied in English medium schools. G Gayathri of Salem (194.50) has opted for BE Civil Engineering in Tamil medium at the CEG.

"My daughter had a deep desire to study in the CEG as it is considered the number one technical institution. Besides, recently the chief minister had announced that those graduating in Tamil medium will get preference in government jobs. Hence she opted for the Tamil medium course," said Gayathri's father Ganesan, a headmaster at the Kottai municipal school in Salem.

...


The newly introduced tamil medium has not found favor with students and it can be very clearly seen from the websites of Anna University. Almost all courses have been filled in, and the only remaining courses are in tamil medium.... no wonder if someone wants to study in the AU Main Campus the only choice available is Tamil Medium

Refer below link to get the latest position on the vacancy position of Anna UNiversity Main Campus in Guindy

http://www.annauniv.edu/cgi-bin/tnea2010/vacaca.pl?col=1001&Submit=Send&o=2

I am attaching the snapshot of the vacancy position as of 10th July 2010 7:30 PM.. because the link will be updated after every session..
http://i980.photobucket.com/albums/ae282/BlackPearl_10/SSC/CEGPosition.jpg

The introduction of tamil medium in Engineering is a political gimmick by the TN Govt. Unless one wants a TN govt job this is of no use to the students...
I know a lot of my classmates in Guindy engg college who have studied in Tamil Medium during school and find it a lot difficult to cope with studies... they were simply brillant but it takes nearly 2 years for them to be on par with English Medium students.. This is the case for the best students of the state... so one can imagine the time taken for average and below average students.. it is common sight to see some of them struggle well into the professions..

TN Govt could have made Tamil as a mandatory subject in 1st yr in Engineering to ensure that all in TamilNadu do know to read/write/speak in Tamil.... but making all subjects to be learned in Tamil is not the right approach and spoils the career of a student. No MNC or even private sector is going to recruit them...

Also this being the first year of introduction of Tamil Medium, dont know how many qualified professors will be available for teaching the courses... it will be interesting to hear from students who attend these courses..:cheers:

I am proud to be a Tamilian... but I dont support this move.... it will only spoil the career of a person...

Almost all courses have been filled in, and the only remaining courses are in tamil medium.... no wonder if someone wants to study in the AU Main Campus the only choice available is Tamil Medium

The introduction of tamil medium in Engineering is a political gimmick by the TN Govt.
I am not sure its a political gimmick too, as the train on language war has left the station long time back. Its now a established fact the english is the gateway to the outside world whether tamils,japanese,french,chinese, hindi and other cultural warriors like it or not.
Even if you ask your housemaid and other lower economic people, they would like to send their kids to "english" medium schools if made available and affordable.

This gimmick is only to satisfy the last two cultural warriours in TN: Thatha and ramdoss and hope they meet their creator soon.


TN Govt could have made Tamil as a mandatory subject in 1st yr in Engineering to ensure that all in TamilNadu do know to read/write/speak in Tamil.... but making all subjects to be learned in Tamil is not the right approach and spoils the career of a student.
Students can learn language as an extra credit, but engg and medicine students should not be burdened to learn on top of their curriculum.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/City/Chennai/Gang-rivalry-behind-BTech-Electronics-is-favourite-of-toppers/articleshow/6132940.cms

CHENNAI: With engineering aspirants remaining cool to Information Technology (IT), Electronics and Communication Engineering (ECE) is turning out be the hottest pick of this season as well.

While day one of the single window counselling for the Tamil Nadu Engineering Admissions (TNEA 2010) academic stream, which got underway at the Anna University on Monday, threw up the grim prospect of a large number of IT stream seats staying vacant, ECE remained the "toppers’ choice"with 192 of the 428 candidates with a high cut-off score between 200 and 199, opting for the course.

In the IT branch, not a single candidate picked a seat, a scenario worse than last year when two had opted for the course on the first day of the counselling. If this trend persists, self-financing engineering colleges will be forced to contend with huge vacancies in the IT branch.

Interestingly, three candidates who had qualified for a medical seat as well chose to pursue engineering. They included the state second rank holder P Abinaya of Erode. "I like mathematics, that’s why I chose to give up my medical seat and take up BE in ECE,"she said.

...

Incorrect news. CSE, IT seats are hotter than last year.

http://expressbuzz.com/cities/chennai/tiruvallur-to-have-a-new-private-medical-college/189575.html

CHENNAI: The State will get one more private medical college with the newly constituted Board of Governors of the Medical Council of India granting approval to the DD Medical and Educational Trust to start a medical college in Kunnavalam village in Tiruvallur district on July 12.

There are 16 government medical colleges and 10 private medical colleges in the State.

The eleventh one on the private sector will be the DD Medical College and Hospital.

Permission has been granted for the academic year 2010-11 with an intake of 150 students for the first year MBBS course.

This is the first medical college in the country to be granted permission by the newly constituted Board of Governors of the MCI, after the previous body, headed by Ketan Desai, was disbanded following serious corruption charges.

...

http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/tamil-nadu/article517432.ece

With over 100 students who scored more than 90 per cent in the cut-off marks opting for Tamil medium engineering courses through academic counselling, Higher Education Minister K. Ponmudy said the government would look at extending Tamil medium to other branches “step by step.”

The government had been contacted by many self-financing colleges wanting to start Tamil medium courses but this would have to wait for approval from the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), he said speaking to reporters at Anna University on Wednesday.

All engineering students could choose to write their examinations in Tamil or bilingually (English and Tamil), the Minister said. The government would study the response of Tamil medium students this year before coming out with similar courses in other branches from next year, he added.

As on Thursday, 119 students have taken up Tamil medium courses including nine under the physically handicapped quota. Of them, 27 [nearly 25 per cent] had studied in the English medium in Plus Two, said V. Rhymend Uthariaraj, secretary, Tamil Nadu Engineering Admissions 2010.

Mr. Ponmudy said the demand for the seats indicated that all the 1,380 available seats in the two streams would be filled by those who had scored 75 per cent or more in the cut-off marks.

...

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/chennai/virudhunagar-get-kendriya-vidyalaya-year-268

July 15: Kendriya Vidyalaya will start functioning from this academic year in Virudhunagar, union minister of state for human resource development D.Purandeswari announced. Speaking at a function organised by the Virudhunagar district congress on the occasion of the 108th birth anniversary celebrations of late Congress leader K.Kamaraj in Virudhunagar on Thursday, the minister said that necessary funds would be sanctioned and teachers would be appointed for the school for which admission would begin on July 17. She said the school would function from a marriage hall temporarily.
Responding to the other demand of the local Congress MP, Manicka Tagore, for a government polytechnic college, she said his demand was under serious consideration. Recalling the efforts of Kamaraj in bringing a revolution in education, she said the union government was following in his footsteps by giving utmost priority to education.
She pointed out that there was a shortage of teachers by 25 per cent in the country but added that students were able to face the global challenges as they were imparted education in keeping with the reforms in the sector at the international-level.

...

http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/tamil-nadu/article518764.ece

The working of the five Anna Universities in the State will be co-ordinated with the same examination procedures and a committee comprising the five vice-chancellors will look at creating a curriculum of international standards, Higher Education Minister K. Ponmudy said on Friday.

Speaking to reporters after chairing the first meeting of the recently constituted Tamil Nadu State Council for Technical Education, Mr. Ponmudy said the Council will monitor the creation of the new curriculum which will also have components tailored to the regional needs of each University.

“There are nearly 500 engineering colleges in the State producing 1.5 lakh fresh graduates each year out of the total 7 lakh produced in India. With the numbers increasing dramatically, we also need to improve the quality and the Council will look at these aspects,” the Minister said.

The Council will monitor the setting up of a State Research Board and Research Centre and a Youth Welfare Department to look at aspects relating to research in colleges. Centres of Excellence will also be established with the support of non-resident Indians and an earn while you learn scheme would be implemented in colleges, Mr. Ponmudy said. A committee of three comprising Council vice-chairman M.S.Palanichamy, Anna University, Chennai, vice-chancellor P. Mannar Jawahar and member-secretary A.M.Sameeyullah, will look at complaints relating to the collection of excess fees and capitation fees in colleges.

...

http://www.newsonweb.com/newsimages/July2010/50858386-f7bf-4c9e-ad79-973dfa0f00141.jpg

Autodesk, official sponsor of the inaugural Shell Eco-marathon Asia, has announced the winners of the Autodesk Innovative Car Design Challenge 2010 at the Sepang International Circuit.

Team Ecotitans of the Vellore Institute of Technology finished in the top three while the team from the National University of Singapore (NUS) emerged champions amongst a highly competitive group of student teams from China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Singapore, and Thailand.

The Autodesk Innovative Car Design Challenge recognizes innovative design research in terms of ergonomics, aesthetics, choice of materials and technical feasibility. The originality and overall coherence of the design – including the vehicle structure, driving position, the engine, steering, suspension, and braking systems – were also crucial factors.

Having experienced first-hand advantages of using Autodesk software, K. Aravind, Leader Team Ecotitans of the Vellore Institute of Technology said, “The Autodesk Innovative Car Design Challenge was a great opportunity for me and my team to turn our classroom knowledge into practical experience. We were able to see our design concepts become reality by incorporating Autodesk software – from brainstorm and digital prototyping, to testing and bringing the design to life.”

Source: http://news.chennaionline.com/chennai/VIT-finish-among-the-top-three-teams-at-design-competition/fc7781e0-e6b3-4f2d-acff-f68e13a4e4cc.col

http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/tamil-nadu/article528528.ece

The State government will never hesitate to spend more on education, Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi said on Thursday.

Declaring open a block named after him on the campus of Queen Mary’s College here, the Chief Minister referred to the demand made by speakers including Deputy Chief Minister M.K. Stalin for constructing some more buildings on the premises. If the details regarding the requirements of the College were furnished him, the government would respond favourably.

The present building [constructed at a cost of about Rs.3.2 crore] had been raised with a view to making the environment of the College more conducive to the acquisition of knowledge.

Recalling how, during the previous All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam regime, Mr Stalin, K. Ponmudy [now Higher Education Minister] and others went to the support of agitating teachers and students of the College following the move to demolish the college building for housing the Secretariat complex, the Chief Minister said that on receiving information regarding certain incidents, it was the duty of the government to enquire into it and take action. It would not behove of those in power to unleash repression.

Lauding former Chief Minister K. Kamaraj for his services in the field of education, Mr Karunanidhi said while Kamaraj was instrumental in opening schools in villages, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam government had been establishing colleges.

Presiding over the function, Mr Stalin traced the history of the College and said the institution had produced stalwarts including Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay, Lakshmi Seghal, T.N. Anandanayaki and Maragatham Chandrashekhar. The DMK government had been attaching importance to education and implementing various welfare measures for students.

...

http://www.dailythanthi.com/thanthiepaper/showxml.aspx?id=13241263&code=2444

Face mark sheet producers are getting arrested. They were doing this business for the past 6 years.

Does that mean, there were students who got admissions in colleges using these face certificates, and were never caught?

That is a shame on our education and examination system!! :bash:

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Chennai/article535296.ece

500-bed hospital is also ready, says Health Secretary

When Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi unveils the plaque to formally inaugurate the Tiruvarur Medical College at his birthplace on Tuesday, the State will inch a step closer to its aim of having a medical college in every district. :cheers::cheers:

With this college and the other new medical college at Villupuram, the State now has a total of 17 medical colleges, with 1,653 MBBS seats under the State quota.

In the counselling process, all government college seats were filled, including 85 each at Villupuram and Tiruvarur. The students who have been allotted State quota seats in Tiruvarur are expected to be present at the inaugural function.

The Tiruvarur Medical College was conceived in the State budget in 2008. Efforts were taken from then to set up a medical college in the district, adjoining Thanjavur, Health officials say.

A new 500-bed medical hospital has also been constructed to complement the new college that has been built within the Collectorate complex in Tiruvarur.

“The college and the hospital have come up in record time. All efforts have been made to ensure that all facilities – infrastructure, equipment and staff – are in place right from day one,” says Principal Secretary, Health, V.K. Subburaj. . A total of Rs.110 crore has been spent, including Rs.90 crore on the basic building infrastructure.

...

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/Madras-University-to-get-back-control-of-WUS-centre/articleshow/6216434.cms

CHENNAI: After a gap of over 15 years, the University of Madras is closer to regaining complete control of the World University Service (WUS) Centre, a 10-storied multi-facility centre set up in 1970 at Chetpet with funding from the governments of Denmark and Tamil Nadu and philanthropists.

On a recent direction of the Madras high court, the university's vice-chancellor G Thiruvasagam convened a meeting of the WUS general body on Sunday and took possession of documents and accounts from the WUS working president and Vel's University founder Ishari Ganesh, who controlled its functioning since 1992. Thiruvasagam will submit a report to the court.

Justices Elipe Dharma Rao and K K Sasidharan had directed Ishari Ganesh to attend the meeting and handover the documents while passing interim orders on a petition filed by well known city civil surgeon Dr K Kantharaj, an ex-WUS secretary.

The WUS Centre was established as a wing of the University of Madras, thanks to VN Thiagha Rajan, a former WUS headquarters general secretary in Geneva. It has facilities such as students' hostel, art gallery, conference hall, teachers' residential hostel, library, book bank and medical facilities, including an X-Ray unit.

Ishari Ganesh and professor Jothi Murugan (now vice-chancellor of Thiruvalluvar University and father-in-law of Ganesh) were elected office bearers of WUS Centre in 1992.

"During 1994-95, some of the provisions of the Sub Rules of the WUS were amended in such a way that the permanent vice-chancellor would henceforth be only a formal head of the organisation and thereby the entire control was retained by the said office bearers. These office-bearers appointed students/lecturers selecting (them) from some of the colleges and elected the executive body just for formality," Kantharaj said in his petition.

"The WUS organisation has been made to function like a privately owned organisation. Nothing is happening in the interest of the students' welfare. The buildings have been kept without proper maintenance. Facilities to accommodate educationists and students from out of state and abroad are lacking. They have closed the health unit also. The WUS building appears like a lodge on lease. The total value of the WUS properties would work out to be about Rs 100 crore and the same is under the unlawful clutches of a few individuals," the petitioner said urging the court to appoint an advocate commissioner to examine the charges.

...

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/Government-disbands-Anna-University-syndicate/articleshow/6224878.cms

CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu government has while divesting the prestigious Anna University recently of its affiliating powers deftly disbanded its syndicate, academic council and unwittingly a host of other decision making bodies.

Besides, it had used the opportunity to shrink the size the syndicate, the primary decision making body in the university, in a manner which reduces the role of the governor-chancellor in deciding its composition. Instead, the government will have majority representation in the syndicate now.

While ousted syndicate members and academics are crying hoarse, the government has managed to get the governor's assent for the Anna University, Chennai (Amendment) Act 24 of 2010, which gives effect to these changes.

The amended Act says "Members of the authorities of the Anna University, Chennai elected or nominated or otherwise as such members under the 1978 Act and holding office as such members in any of the authorities of the Anna University, Chennai immediately before the commencement of this Act shall cease to be such members."

Clause 16 in Chapter IV of the Anna University Act of 1978, describes the term "authorities" thus: "The authorities of the university shall be the syndicate, academic council, the finance committee, faculties and board of studies of each faculty and such other bodies of the university as may, from time to time, be declared by the statutes to be authorities of the university."

...

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/Over-400-engineering-colleges-seek-more-seats/articleshow/6224879.cms

CHENNAI: More than 400 self-financing engineering colleges in Tamil Nadu have sought an increase in intake of students in select branches of study in BE/BTech or permission to launch new courses and surrendering seats in unpopular branches.

Disclosing this on Tuesday, All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) southern region chairman P Mannar Jawahar said a decision on sanctioning the intake and starting of new courses or otherwise would be communicated to colleges in a couple of days.

"Several colleges have applied for increasing the sanctioned strength of students in popular branches like Electronics and Communication Engineering, Computer Science Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Civil Engineering. Some institutions are seeking to double the intake in the ECE branch from 60 to 120," he said.

In contrast, institutions were either seeking a closure of Information Technology (IT) branch or reducing intake of students as thousands of seats in the branch had gone vacant last year due to the slowdown in the software industry.

...

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Chennai/article537123.ece

'Info U.S.A' Club launched at West CIT Nagar school

‘Experience America' showcases the rich diversity of American culture, society and its people as well as the close friendship between the U.S. and India, said Bryan W. Dalton, acting Consul General, U.S. Consulate in Chennai.

Mr. Dalton was delivering the key-note address of ‘Experience America,' a programme organised by the U.S. Consulate in association with the Alpha Group of Educational Institutions here on Tuesday.

The U.S Consulate's educational resources, including those of American library and the U.S-India Educational Foundation (USIEF), were showcased in ‘Experience America'.

Apart from this, counselling sessions on higher education in the U.S and students visas, screening of American documentaries, and competitions for school and university students were also organised. Students from more than 60 schools and colleges participated in the event.

G. Thiruvasagam, chief guest and Madras University Vice-Chancellor, said proactive measures were being taken to ensure that education is given top priority as an investment for the future. “Education at the State and Central level is undergoing a massive change into a dynamic structure that responds to the demands of the 21st century,” he added.

...

http://www.thehindu.com/multimedia/dynamic/00151/EPTB19ROBOCUP_SAVEE_151243f.jpg

The Robocup 2010, widely known as Olympics in Robotics was held in Singapore.

Students of Saveetha Engineering College represented India in association with ROBOIN, the Robotic training institute, and have won the ‘World Championship' title in the ROBOCUP 2010 competition held from June 19 to 25 at Suntec Singapore International Convention and Exhibition Centre, Singapore.

Bhavana, Priya Kankanala, Hemashree Vijayakumar, Jayapriya Raja and Saranya Prabhakar were selected by ROBOIN through various test levels.

The Robocup 2010, widely known as the Olympics in robotics, was held in Singapore where the team members of Saveetha Engineering College represented India and competed in Rescue B and Dance League with 49 countries. In Rescue B, the team managed to capture the 11th position. In Dance League, the team had three Lego Platforms and one Bioloid Robot.

The Lego are designed to appear like girls dancing with Bioloid, and after many rounds of performances the team was finalised for the Super Team Finals among the other teams. In the finals, the Indian team re-assembled all the robots and changed the appearance of every robot.

Commenting on the achievement, N.M. Veeraiyan, chancellor, Saveetha University, said, “Engineering education can no longer remain theoretical. Students have to be inspired to apply what they learn in the classrooms and blossom into creators of innovative ideas and products. Students of Saveetha Engineering College have achieved exactly the same.”

Jaishankar, proprietor, ROBOIN, said, “We are happy not only because of the Super Team World Championship but also for making other countries to look at India and Indians as pioneers in technology. It gives us immense pleasure winning the title by competing with very strong teams from USA, Germany, Japan, China, and other countries.”

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/education/article534827.ece

புதன்கிழமை நடைபெற்ற மக்களைவையில் மத்திய மனித வள மேம்பாட்டுத் துறை அமைச்சர் புரந்தேஸ்வரி கூறியதாவது: நாடு முழுவதும் தனியாருடன் இணைந்து ஐஐடி.,க்களை அமைக்க முடிவு செய்யப்பட்டுள்ளது. தமிழகத்தில் காஞ்சிபுரத்திலும், உ.பி.,யில் அலகாபாத் , ம.பி.,யில் குவாலியர்ஞூ மற்றும் ஜபல்பூர் ஆகிய நகரங்களில் அமைக்கப்பட உள்ளன. மத்திய அமைச்சரவை ஒப்புதலுக்குப்பின்னர் இவை அமைக்கப்படும். இதற்கான செலவுகளை மத்திய , மாநில அரசுகளும், தனியார் நிறுவனங்களும் பகிர்ந்து கொள்ளும் என அவர் தெரிவித்தார்.

Source: Dinamalar

Translation snippet: IIT to start in Kanchipuram after approval from Central Govt. Cost to be shared by Central, State and Private parties.

புதன்கிழமை நடைபெற்ற மக்களைவையில் மத்திய மனித வள மேம்பாட்டுத் துறை அமைச்சர் புரந்தேஸ்வரி கூறியதாவது: நாடு முழுவதும் தனியாருடன் இணைந்து ஐஐடி.,க்களை அமைக்க முடிவு செய்யப்பட்டுள்ளது. தமிழகத்தில் காஞ்சிபுரத்திலும், உ.பி.,யில் அலகாபாத் , ம.பி.,யில் குவாலியர்ஞூ மற்றும் ஜபல்பூர் ஆகிய நகரங்களில் அமைக்கப்பட உள்ளன. மத்திய அமைச்சரவை ஒப்புதலுக்குப்பின்னர் இவை அமைக்கப்படும். இதற்கான செலவுகளை மத்திய , மாநில அரசுகளும், தனியார் நிறுவனங்களும் பகிர்ந்து கொள்ளும் என அவர் தெரிவித்தார்.

Source: Dinamalar

Translation snippet: IIT to start in Kanchipuram after approval from Central Govt. Cost to be shared by Central, State and Private parties.

IIT or ITI?

why again in north TN(IIT Madras) it would be better if they bring the IIT to western or southern TN. I thought it was ITI?

may be IIIT (information Technology as in Hyderabad)

I think it is about 'Indian Institue of Design and Manufacturing' sanctioned during the previous UPA regime and functioning already at IIT,Madras campus. TN Govt has alloted 500 acres of land in Vandalur-Kelambakkam Road,Kanchipuram Dist. Construction is yet to start as they want Private participation to fund and run the design institute.

Coimbatore's prominence on the education map of India is expected to grow considerably, once the Aegis Global Academy's Institute of Customer Experience Management (ICEM) opens its doors.

The business school from the Essar conglomerate has set up its first campus in the country in the city to cater to the manpower needs of the service sector. “It is the first such institute in the country,” says Subir Ghosh, president, ICEM. The 15-month programme will have 11 months of academics and industry orientation and four months of internship.

The curriculum has been endorsed by Indian Institute of Management – Indore, Service Quality Centre, Singapore, and COPC, U.S.
Classes are scheduled to being in September.

Source: http://www.hindu.com/2010/07/31/stories/2010073156840500.htm

A detailed master plan for Indian Institute of Technology-Madras (IIT-M) campus to create infrastructure sufficient to increase student strength mandated by the Centre will be ready by August, M.S. Ananth, Director, IIT-M, has stated in his annual report.

All structures under the plan will have features of “green buildings,” and the techniques and materials used had been chosen based on requirements of such buildings. Aerocon blocks, fly ash bricks, reflective paint on the roof, glass windows for natural light will be some of the features of the new buildings. The plan, being prepared by a professional architecture consultant, would earmark areas for development in hostel, residential and academic zones and will also include infrastructure necessary such as roads, bicycle tracks, water supply, drainage and sewage yards. Some of the new structures proposed in the plan would be taken up by end of 2010, the report said.

A new auditorium with 1,000 seats and related infrastructure, new hostel buildings for 800 boys and 540 girls and an addition of 1,000 to the existing seating capacity in the mega mess would be taken up soon.

At the same time, the footprint area within the covered enclosures would see “very little increase” to minimise disturbance to wildlife on the campus, the report said, noting that black buck population had increased from 13 to 22 in the last four years.

The report also pointed to a student study of the electrical consumption pattern on the campus, which had shown that hostels and departments accounted for 17 per cent and 40 per cent of the total. Hostels with high consumption levels had been identified and a project team formed to develop technological solutions for sustainable energy consumption.

Source: http://www.hindu.com/2010/07/31/stories/2010073154300400.htm

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/chennai/varsity-faculty-info-net-324

July 30: The Anna University of Technology (AUT), Chennai, has decided to order all the 150 private engineering colleges affiliated to it to upload the bio-data of their faculty with photo on to their college website and submit the list to the university for publishing on its website.
In an interview to Deccan Chronicle Friday, university vice-chancellor, Dr C. Thangaraj, said by uploading the curriculum vitae and photos of the faculty it will give students an opportunity to find out whether their faculty was also on any other college’s payroll and put an end to same faculty working in multiple institutions.
“We will also create a database of faculty available in all engineering colleges affiliated to us so that we will know how many faculty we have and how much is the shortfall,” Dr Thangaraj said. The vice-chancellor urged colleges to be fully transparent in administration, minimising corruption. “Students who pay higher education institutions should demand better education from them but, in India, students are not even bothered about attending classes regularly,” he said.

...

Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 1

Sastra University of Thanjavur has bagged the first prize or the ‘Degree C Award' of Rs 1 lakh at the recently concluded TechTop-2010 competition held at Technopark here.

This was the fifth edition of the annual competition for innovative and path-breaking inventions from engineering students from across the country.

The prototypes were evaluated at the two-day competition in two separate stages before the finalists were chosen. ‘TechTop 2010-The National Innovation Contest' saw 21 colleges showcase their inventions at Technopark. Sastra University won the first prize for the project, ‘Production of nano carbon sheets from exhaust pipes.' The second prize of Rs 50,000, sponsored by the National Research Development Corporation (NRDC) was bagged by Jaipur Engineering College for its ‘Universal mobile automation system.'

Tirunelveli-based Cape Institute of Technology for ‘The Dark Net,' an initiative to wire remote areas with Internet facility, claimed the third prize of Rs 30,000 sponsored by the Kerala State Council of Science, Technology and Environment (KSCSTE).

The Chief Secretary, Kerala, Mr P. Prabhakaran, gave away the awards at the valedictory ceremony held on Saturday.

The projects selected after final screening will be eligible for incubation support from the Technology Business Incubation Center at Technopark (T-TBIC) where innovative ideas get converted into commercial ventures, benefiting society.

Mr Somnath Ghosh, Chairman and Managing Director, NRDC; Dr K. Keshavaswamy, Global Head, Corporate Learning Centre, TCS; Dr C. T. S. Nair, Executive Vice-President (KSCSTE); Mr N. T. Nair, Chief Editor, Executive Knowledge Lines; Mr Moosa C. Kandy, General Manager, Degree C and Coordinator, TechTop; and Mr Rajesh M. Nair, Founder and CTO, Degree C attended the awards ceremony.

Source (http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2010/08/02/stories/2010080251141500.htm)

The projects selected after final screening will be eligible for incubation support from the Technology Business Incubation Center at Technopark (T-TBIC) where innovative ideas get converted into commercial ventures, benefiting society.

Very good initiative.. TN and others also should follow suit.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/New-record-94K-BE-admissions-in-govt/articleshow/6258480.cms

CHENNAI: A new record has been set in the annals of technical education in Tamil Nadu with over 94,000 students being allotted BE/BTech seats under the government quota through the ongoing single window counselling.

In all likelihood, this figure would touch one lakh when counselling ends in a few days. Combined with the admissions made under the management quota in over 400 self-financing engineering colleges, the student enrolment in BE/BTech courses in the state is expected to exceed the 1.5 lakh mark.

Statistics show that although the number of seats available under the government quota this year was almost same as in 2009, the demand has been higher with 1.67 lakh aspirants entering the fray unlike 1.28 lakh in the previous year.

Last year only 83,556 seats were allotted under the government quota and the total enrolment in engineering colleges was only l,20,074, lower than the admission figures of 2008 which stood at 1,22,931. Overall, an alarmingly high 51,000 seats had fallen vacant in 2009.

"A primary reason for the massive increase in enrolment is the tuition fee waiver granted by the state government to first generation professional degree learners. Nearly 78,000 candidates are first generation learners. Last year around 30,000 government quota seats had no takers but this time we expect the vacancy to be far below 10,000," Tamil Nadu Engineering Admissions secretary V Rhymend Uthariaraj said.

Read more: New record: 94K BE admissions in govt - Chennai - City - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/New-record-94K-BE-admissions-in-govt/articleshow/6258480.cms#ixzz0vrDvDMsN

...

Fiasco of govt's free tution fee for first generation graduates.

The TN govt announced that for first generation graduate applicatns of higher education, tution fee will not be collected from them. But in reality the self financing colleges insist payment of tution fee of around Rs. 35000 whereas the govt gives them Rs. 20000 only. The balance has to be borne by the students. Why the govt doesn't ensure no tuition fee be collected from these candidates?. Actually govt and self financing colleges taking the students for a ride. One way the govt says tution fee is free but on the other hand it does allow colleges to collect more fees. Its a double game of the govt. The govt wants popularity in the name of free education at the same time turns a blind eye to the real situation.

Fiasco of govt's free tution fee for first generation graduates.

The TN govt announced that for first generation graduate applicatns of higher education, tution fee will not be collected from them. But in reality the self financing colleges insist payment of tution fee of around Rs. 35000 whereas the govt gives them Rs. 20000 only. The balance has to be borne by the students. Why the govt doesn't ensure no tuition fee should be collected from these candidates. Actually govt and self financing colleges taking the students for a ride. One way govt says tution fee is free but on the other hand it does allow colleges to collect more fees. Its a double game of the govt. The govt wants popularity in the name of free education at the same time turns a blind eye to the real situation.

http://www.annauniv.edu/tnea2010/firstfee.pdf

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/New-record-94K-BE-admissions-in-govt/articleshow/6258480.cms

CHENNAI: A new record has been set in the annals of technical education in Tamil Nadu with over 94,000 students being allotted BE/BTech seats under the government quota through the ongoing single window counselling.

In all likelihood, this figure would touch one lakh when counselling ends in a few days. Combined with the admissions made under the management quota in over 400 self-financing engineering colleges, the student enrolment in BE/BTech courses in the state is expected to exceed the 1.5 lakh mark.

Statistics show that although the number of seats available under the government quota this year was almost same as in 2009, the demand has been higher with 1.67 lakh aspirants entering the fray unlike 1.28 lakh in the previous year.

Last year only 83,556 seats were allotted under the government quota and the total enrolment in engineering colleges was only l,20,074, lower than the admission figures of 2008 which stood at 1,22,931. Overall, an alarmingly high 51,000 seats had fallen vacant in 2009.

"A primary reason for the massive increase in enrolment is the tuition fee waiver granted by the state government to first generation professional degree learners. Nearly 78,000 candidates are first generation learners. Last year around 30,000 government quota seats had no takers but this time we expect the vacancy to be far below 10,000," Tamil Nadu Engineering Admissions secretary V Rhymend Uthariaraj said.

Read more: New record: 94K BE admissions in govt - Chennai - City - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/New-record-94K-BE-admissions-in-govt/articleshow/6258480.cms#ixzz0vrDvDMsN

...


I guess we are producing the engineers by numbers and not actual engineers.
I have been in IT Industry for 10 years, from year 2004 onwards, i have been observing that new recruits are not so concerned about what they can learn in initial years, i would rate only 3/10 only. where as then i saw in joined the IT Industry the rating , i would like to give the rating as 7/10.

Don't start a fight, but ask any people in the industry they would agree the same.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/Decision-on-new-fee-structure-for-schools-put-off-to-next-year/articleshow/6290213.cms

CHENNAI: A decision on unveiling revised fee structure for schools across state has been put off to next year by the Private Schools Fee Regulation Committee.

Justice K Govindarajan, chairperson of the committee, said on Thursday, that it had received representations from 6,400 schools appealing against the revised fee structure. “The committee has decided that the process of inspecting each school in person and taking stock of the facilities will be a long drawn-out exercise. Hence, the committee has decided that the new fee structure will be announced only during the 2011-12 academic year,” he said.

The committee had laid down the annual fee for 10,934 schools across the state as Rs 11,000 for higher secondary, Rs 9,000 for high school, Rs 8,000 for middle and Rs 5,000 for elementary school. The terms of the Tamil Nadu Schools (Regulation of Collection of Fee) Act, 2009, say the committee was to come up with the revised fee structure within 30 days. As the fee structure was first released in May 2010, the revised chart should have been released in June.

...

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/IIT-videos-to-come-to-aid-of-engineering-teachers/articleshow/6295225.cms

CHENNAI: With an estimated 1.70 lakh students expected to join BE/BTech courses this year in Tamil Nadu's self-financing engineering colleges, many of which are acutely short of competent and qualified faculty, efforts are underway to impart quality education using technology.

The directorate of technical education has embarked on an initiative to take videographed classroom lectures delivered by professors of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) to private engineering colleges where there is a dearth of qualified faculty.

Under the National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL), the seven older IITs and the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore have jointly developed 129 video-courses in popular engineering branches such as Civil, Mechanical, Electronics and Communication Engineering, Electrical Engineering, and Computer Science Engineering. Each course contains materials that can be covered in depth in 40 or more lecture hours.

"Through the Anna Universities of Technology, we intend to ask the private colleges to subscribe to these video and web-based courses. These lecturers by IIT professors can either be screened in a classroom using a projector or viewed on computers through LAN in each college," Kumar Jayant, commissioner for technical education said.

...

http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/tamil-nadu/article593903.ece

Tamil Nadu has asked the All India Council for Technical Education not to its permission for starting new engineering colleges in the State for next academic year in order to improve quality of education and infrastructure in the existing institutions.

...

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Chennai/article594364.ece

Apollo Institute of Hospital Management & Allied Sciences (AIHMAS), a unit of Apollo Hospitals, has launched seven new courses in allied medical sciences, in affiliation with Tamil Nadu Dr. M.G.R. Medical University.

These courses include four degree courses in Critical Care, Theatre Technician, Physician Assistant and Emergency and Trauma Care; an M.Sc. course in Health Informatics and Telemedicine; and two diploma courses — Scope Therapy and Dental Assistants.

...

http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/tamil-nadu/article593903.ece

Tamil Nadu has asked the All India Council for Technical Education not to its permission for starting new engineering colleges in the State for next academic year in order to improve quality of education and infrastructure in the existing institutions.

...

Well on the contrary as the number of colleges increases we will have a situation of more seats available than the number of students passed. Hence colleges will compete with each other to build better infrastructure to attract students to fill their seats.

However what is not desirable is the continuous reduction in the qualifying marks which will bring into a situation wherein students will not even make an effort to learn to get into an engg seat

Today with engg colleges spread out across the length and breadth of the state what one can see is that most middle class can avoid the considerable expenditure on hostel fees by making their children study in their hometown

They can put a temporary ban on opening of new colleges in bigger cities and their suburbs.. that might help in opening of colleges in rural areas.

Loyala to start school of commerce and economics

Source (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/Loyala-to-start-school-of-commerce-and-economics/articleshow/6453336.cms)

CHENNAI: Loyola College concretised plans for a separate School of Commerce and Economics with the laying of the foundation for the building on Saturday, on the occasion of the Loyola World Alumni Congress.

The foundation for the largely alumni funded facility, likely to come up within two years, was laid by Madras Cements chairman and managing director P R Ramasubrahmaneya Rajha who graduated in commerce from the college in 1953.

"Commerce is the forte of Loyola's academic programmes and we get the highest number of applications for this course. Realising the demand, the alumni wanted to create a separate entity," said Loyola Alumni Association secretary Bernard D' Sami.

The new facility will house the B Com, M Com, B A and M A Economics classes, now operating in the main building, as well as the two B Com sections in the morning session and the three in the evening session. According to the management, there will be space for new courses after classes for these courses move out of the main building. The new facility will also help increase the number of sections for these courses.

"We will look at starting new allied courses in these streams later. But the current focus is on encouraging research in commerce and economics. This will require a dedicated library, cabins for the staff and research scholars and other allied facilities, said D' Sami, who is also the co-ordinator of the college's Internal Quality Assurance Cell.

Auditoriums, smart classrooms with interactive white boards used in Ivy League colleges like Oxford and Cambridge are also planned. Partnerships with organisations like the Institute of Cost and Work Accountants of India will be strengthened.

The college's strong links with its alumni were on display at the Loyola World Alumni Congress. Inaugurating the event, home minister P Chidambaram, who studied here for nine months, praised the Jesuits' passion to bring modern education to the country and for maintaining their dedication to provide access to education to all sections of society.

He said some regulation was required so educational institutions do not turn into mere money-spinning units, to ensure quality and impart values. "We are a plural society and will continue to remain so for the next millenium... The important value that colleges must inculcate in students is that of secularism and tolerance," he said.

The Loyola Chennai Alumni Foundation, named the Fr Casimir Raj Fund for Poor Students, was also started with a corpus fund of Rs 3.5 lakh.

More than 1,000 former students registered for the get-together.

It's all about quality education which matter most in India. There is very large number of engineering colleges now opened in India. One of the rapidly developing state in branch of engineering college is Punjab. I have recently attended a seminar about human values and ethics organized by Gurukul Vidyapeeth affiliated by PTU. The educational trust just introduced a new course of budget engineering college in India.
I am delighted by the kind and humble nature of vice chancellor of PTU and CEO of Gurukul Mr. Manamohan Garg. The institute is growing very rapidly in it respective branch day by day.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/Courses-in-wind-energy-soon/articleshow/6502659.cms

CHENNAI: The Centre, industry and educational institutions are coming together to enhance the renewable energy sector in Tamil Nadu by starting specialised courses in wind energy in engineering colleges.

With Tamil Nadu topping in wind energy generation in the country and capacity addition expected, the ministry of new and renewable energy (MNRE) and the Indian Wind Turbines Manufacturers Association (IWTMA) has felt the need for expert manpower.

The IWTMA has submitted a draft syllabus to Amrita engineering college and PSG engineering college to start courses in the wind energy sector. It will be a six-month PG diploma course in wind resource analysis, wind projects development and operation and maintenance.

...

http://educationworldonline.net/index.php/page-article-choice-more-id-2286

:applause:

Site of the Velammal Group of Institutions in Karur.

http://img547.imageshack.us/img547/5268/img4792t.jpg

Shot Using Canon PowerShot S5 IS (http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/2572/s5is02.jpg) on 07.09.2010

http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/7954/img4835hr.jpg

Shot Using Canon PowerShot S5 IS (http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/2572/s5is02.jpg) on 07.09.2010

Bernad Adaikalaraj and Manoj G, both 22-year-olds studying in Hindustan College of Engineering, surely dreamt big and have been rewarded for their perseverance. For, the two youngsters with humble origins in village schooling have expanded their horizons such that they have won a NASA design competition.

The NASA competition requ*ired participants to come up with an original design of a tilt rotor meant for rescue operations in emergencies and natural calamities — and the design by Bernard and Manoj was selected from among 100 entries from students outside the US.

The design criterion was that the tilt rotor must have a cruising speed of 300 knots and a des*ign range (the distance the craft can fly on a full tank of fuel) of 800 nautical miles. Plus, it must be capable of taking off from sea or ground and carry up to 50 passengers. Bernad’s and Manoj’s design surpassed these expectations. And NASA acknowledged this on its website, along with the duo’s photos.

Bernad, who is the son of an ex-serviceman, studied in a Tamil-medium school in Naduvalur village in Perambalur till his tenth standard. He then completed secondary schooling in a school in Cuddalore. Meritorious ranking gained him a place in Hindustan College. His friend Manoj is from Marthandam, near downstate Nagercoil.

In faltering English, the duo presented the results of what they achieved. “We have applied for patents on our design and requested DGCA to clear permissions for making a real-time model of what we designed,” Manoj said.

It is but a wonder that both of them came into aeronautics considering job opportunities in the field are hard to come by. Bernad told Express that he had studied a lesson on the late Kalpana Chawla’s profile in his English textbooks in the 11th standard, which had inspired him to go into aeronautics.

Source: http://expressbuzz.com/cities/chennai/village-schooled-kids-win-nasa-competition/207149.html

^^
Very impressed with such goal oriented Guys. Annadurai of ISRO too came thro' a village school. And recently we saw,Mr Kal Raman.

http://www.hindu.com/2010/09/24/stories/2010092451440300.htm

A team led by the Director of Medical Education has recommended that the government construct the proposed Tiruvannamalai Government Medical College at a site near Tiruvannamalai Collectorate complex, Food Minister E.V.Velu said.

Speaking at a meeting of officials convened here at Collectorate on Thursday to discuss the preparatory works for the visit to the district of Deputy Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on October 22, 23 and 24, the minister said that the committee inspected two sites proposed for the construction of Tiruvannamalai Medical College and rejected the one at Kananthampoondi citing the inaccessibility of the place and.

“The file regarding the medical college is now in the Finance Department which awaits some formalities to be completed before Government Order could be issued in this regard. The Chief Minister may visit the town by December or January to lay the foundation stone for the college,” he said.

Number 141
May 01, 2010
Higher Education in India: Sustaining Long-Term Growth?
Uttara Dukkipati
In 2007, the Indian Government announced a ninefold increase in higher education spending over the next five years. While this came as good news to a sector characterized by limited supply and uneven quality, three years later it is apparent that a more concerted effort is required. For India to maintain its economic growth in a global marketplace fueled by the knowledge economy, it needs to nearly double its number of students in higher education by 2012. Fifty-one percent of India’s population is under the age of 25. Without proper access to education the country’s demographic dividend could turn into a demographic disaster. This paper identifies the key challenges that India’s higher education sector is facing and evaluates the proposed solutions.
The Dilemma: On April 1, 2010, “The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act” came into force in India, giving all children between 6 and 14 years of age a legal right to free education. Many praise the law, but are concerned that implementation may be out of India’s reach. Their concerns are not unfounded; the Indian constitution enshrined primary education as a right more than 60 years ago and yet, according to a report published by Venture Intelligence, a supply shortage denies primary and secondary education to approximately 142 million children. Approximately a third of India’s population cannot read, making it the world’s largest adult illiterate population. Unless the country improves its primary and secondary education, large sections of its population will miss the benefits of rapid economic growth.
This stark backdrop contrasts with India’s modern economy—the software industry and world-famous outsourcing operations staffed by young, educated, and dynamic Indians that are so critical to the global services industry and to India’s prospects for growth and modernization. Continuing to field highly skilled labor to this industry depends on expanding higher education. How India allocates its resources will have serious implications for the country’s poor as well as the nation’s growth trajectory.
Public spending on education has not kept pace with the country’s growth. In 1950 higher education spending as a proportion of GNP was 0.19 percent. In 1980 it had risen to 1 percent, but by the mid-1990s it was back down to 0.4 percent. One of the key requirements for meeting India’s needs is an expanded higher education budget. However, the government is unlikely to be able to fund that expansion entirely through national and state government funds—hence the importance of supplementing budgetary support from the government with foreign and private funding.
Importance of the Knowledge Economy: Unlike China or other Asian economic powerhouses, India’s growth has not been led by manufacturing. Instead, the nation’s pool of skilled workers has allowed India to move quickly up the economic value chain in several knowledge-based industries. According to a report by the New Delhi-based think tank ICRIER, India is home to the world’s largest pool of scientific and knowledge workers, and produces 400,000 engineers each year while the United States produces 60,000. According to the same report, in August 2006 India filed 1,312 patent applications, second only to the United States. To sustain these positive trends and an economic growth rate of 7 percent, a report by Venture Intelligence calculates that India’s higher education gross enrollment ratio (GER) would need to increase from 12 to 20 percent by 2014.
Until recently, India was winning the twenty-first century knowledge race among emerging economies. It has a large pool of individuals who speak English as a primary language; it has the world’s third-largest higher education sector, which enjoys academic freedom and boasts world-renowned centers of learning like the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) and Indian Institutes of Management (IIM). Now, countries like China are closing the gap. According to the BBC, India spends 11 percent of its GDP on education, compared with China’s 16 percent. China has already achieved near-universal literacy and is investing heavily in higher learning, hoping to create a select number of world-class research universities. India needs to address issues of both quantity and quality.
The Demand-Supply Gap: According to ICRIER, in 1950 India had 263,000 students enrolled in 750 colleges, which were affiliated with 30 universities. By 2005, the numbers had grown dramatically: 11 million students in 17,000 colleges affiliated with 230 universities. Another 10 million students were enrolled in 6,500 vocational institutions. Despite this phenomenal growth, India would have to nearly quadruple existing college seats and more than quadruple the number of professors to achieve the 20 percent GER by 2014 cited in the Venture Intelligence report.
Another measure of India’s demand for higher learning is the number of Indian students studying abroad. Arvind Panagariya’s book on higher education estimates that, in absolute terms, more Indians study abroad than any other nationality, including the Chinese. The total cost of this endeavor is $3.9 billion. As of November 2009, India had more students studying in the United States—more than 100,000—than did any other foreign country.
Issues of Quality: A recent government report finds two-thirds of India’s colleges and universities below standard. India’s highest-quality institutions have severely limited capacity. India’s Institutes of Technology and Management (IIT and IIM) are world-famous; in 2005, 55 members of the U.S. House of Representatives sponsored a resolution honoring “the economic innovation attributable to graduates of the Indian Institute of Technology.” According to the New York Times, 320,000 students took the IIT entrance exam in 2008 even though only 8,000 slots were available. Employers criticize the curriculum at India’s second-tier institutions—and to some extent even at the top schools—for paying insufficient heed to the skills needed in the workplace and to the kind of pedagogical techniques that reward innovation. Some of India’s major employers have opted to focus their recruitment on schools below the top rung, but to make a significant investment in staff development for new hires.
The Research Environment: Higher education and research are complementary. However, in India only 4 percent of research expenditure is made through universities. In the United States the corresponding figure is 17 percent and in Germany it is 23 percent. Moreover, India’s higher education institutions are poorly connected to research centers. China’s investment in research manpower, estimated at 708 researchers per 1 million people, is six times that of India’s.
The Policy Environment: In 2009, Kapil Sibal took over as Union Minister for the Human Resource Development (HRD), responsible as well for the Department of Higher Education. On the advice of the Yash Pal Committee, a committee established in 2008 by the government to investigate how to “renovate and rejuvenate” the higher education structure, he streamlined the organization responsible for managing India’s public universities. He replaced the University Grants Commission (UGC) and the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) with a combined entity: The National Commission for Higher Education and Research (NCHER). The hope is that the new system will simplify accreditation and improve bureaucratic responsiveness.
Even with these reforms the Indian higher education sector suffers from overregulation. According to Venture Intelligence, the government controls “curriculum content, the intake of students, fee scale, and the terms of employment of the teaching staff.” Decisionmaking within the educational bureaucracy is painfully slow. With this kind and level of intrusive government oversight, India will find it difficult to expand its higher education capacity quickly and efficiently.
A telling example is a comparison of the number of engineering colleges in northern and southern states. According to a Chatham House report, Bihar has one engineering college for every 10 million people. On the other hand, Tamil Nadu has four colleges for every 1 million. This disparity is, at least in part, a function of the lighter regulatory structure present in Tamil Nadu. The difference in regulation may have contributed to Tamil Nadu’s better record in economic growth. Southern India has become a hub for the IT industry largely due to the fact that it has a larger pool of engineering graduates. How well Kapil Sibal can restructure and deregulate India’s education bureaucracy will have a huge impact on whether India will reap the benefits of its demographic dividend.
Foreign Universities Bill: On March 16, 2010, the Union Cabinet cleared the Foreign Universities bill for introduction in parliament. If it passes, the bill will for the first time allow foreign universities to establish themselves in India. The hope is that this will help India expand its capacity more quickly and save the country billions of dollars in foreign exchange outflow.
The bill as proposed would allow 100 percent foreign direct investment (FDI) in higher education. Some of its other features, however, are less attractive to foreign universities. For example, a foreign university will have to invest a minimum of $11 million before starting operations, and it is not supposed to make a profit or cross-subsidize other university operations from its Indian branch. Fee regulations that apply to Indian institutions would also apply to foreign ones. There would be salary caps, affecting the kind of faculty these institutions could attract. The bill includes a requirement to hire most faculty locally. Especially for elite foreign universities, this may make it hard to meet the bill’s requirement that foreign universities provide the same quality of education in India that they provide in their home countries. The universities will also be subject to India’s affirmative action programs. The fact that admission could be determined by factors other than merit often makes prospective universities uncomfortable.
In conjunction with efforts to pass the bill, Kapil Sibal has announced the creation of 14 “innovation universities.” These universities are supposed to attract talent from across the globe. According to an article in the Business Standard, Yale, Harvard, and Princeton have volunteered to collaborate. Actually bringing these institutions into existence would require tackling all the challenges presented by the Foreign Universities Bill.
FDI and the Sector: Beyond the establishment of foreign universities, the bill and the government must address the relationship between foreign direct investment and education. In 1995, the Indian government signed the WTO treaty the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). The agreement aimed to give the international community access to the Indian services sector by deregulating markets. According to GATS, the private education sector qualifies as a tradable service, and therefore the Indian government is required to remove any barriers to the trade of that service. Following these stipulations, in 2002, the Indian government liberalized its policy on FDI in services related to education. However, despite the liberalization and great demand for further educational funding, FDI in education in 2006 accounted for only 0.15 percent of all FDI in India. Furthermore, according to Venture Intelligence, “the FDI received has been principally in companies providing professional training courses and at ancillary opportunities in this area, such as private tutorial courses.” The lack of significant FDI can be attributed to the restrictive regulations imposed by the government. Considering that the higher education sector is in desperate need of additional resource allocation, the government needs to encourage the influx of not only foreign institutions but also foreign investments in this sector.
Private Involvement in Higher Education: Indigenous investment in private universities could provide another source of expanding capacity. The private sector gets little attention in India’s education debate, but it makes a significant contribution. In 2001, 42 percent of institutions of higher learning were privately owned; they served 37 percent of the students enrolled in higher education. Their quality varies greatly. A few are among India’s most-respected institutions, including the Christian Medical College in Vellore and the Indian School of Business in Hyderabad.
So far, the government’s encouragement of private investment in education has been limited. The Indian government is understandably concerned that further deregulation of the sector would allow scams or illegitimate institutions to mushroom. Less justifiably, the government is concerned that for-profit institutions will somehow dilute or pollute the education sphere. Private universities may be able to operate outside some aspects of government regulation, a feature that their founders and students find
valuable but that the education bureaucracy and public sector universities oppose. They may, for example, have more flexibility on curriculum design than their public counterparts do.
The growth of China’s higher education sector provides a good example of how private investment can be used to improve the status quo. According to Venture Intelligence, in 2000, the Chinese tertiary enrollment ratio was 6 percent and the regulation on for-profit participation in higher education was murky. In 2002, the government issued a law permitting for-profit participation in the higher education sector. China’s higher education enrollment increased from 14.7 million students in 2002 to 23 million by 2006.
Brain Drain versus Brain Gain: Of IIT’s 140,000 graduates, nearly one-third, or 40,000, reside in the United States. In a global marketplace, what might have been considered “brain drain” can become instead one part of a larger exchange of brainpower around the globe. A larger, better functioning Indian higher education system would not only allow the country to harness its own talent but also attract foreign talent. Higher education reform should be a national priority, one on which economic growth is predicated. The benefits will extend beyond India to the United States and out into the global marketplace.
Uttara Dukkipati is a research assistant with the South Asia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington DC.
____________________________________________________________________________________
South Asia Monitor is published by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a private, tax-exempt institution focusing on international public policy issues. Its research is nonpartisan and nonproprietary. CSIS does not take specific policy positions; accordingly, all views, positions, and conclusions expressed in this publication should be understood to be solely those of the author(s). © 2008 by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. All rights reserved.

http://csis.org/files/publication/sam_141.pdf

Tamil Nadu: Tamil Nadu has outperformed Assam to take the top slot in terms of enrolled children in primary and upper primary levels of education, across the whole of India. The findings carried out by Industry body Assochaam revealed that the Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) of Tamil Nadu has touched 100%, while Assam, which had the highest GER during the period of 2001-02, now stands far below the southern state.

Himachal Pradesh has secured the second rank, followed by Mizoram, Manipur, Goa, Tripura, Kerala and Gujarat. The findings are based on the data of 2006-07, sourced from the Central Statistical Organization and the Delhi government. Interestingly, Delhi's performance in education continues to be a matter of concern as its GER ranking slipped from 16th place to 17th this year. "Though Delhi's per capita income exceeds Rs 34,000 per annum, its GER is just 71% as against 100% of Tamil Nadu," Assocham president Venugopal Dhoot said. The success of Tamil Nadu lies in the fact that the state not only implemented information and communication technology schemes but also offered lucrative scholarships to students up to primary and upper-primary levels through private sector participation. Besides expanding educational institutes, the state also offered hostel and eating facilities to girls. , Mr. Dhoot pointed out. GER, which analyzes academic enrollment, provides a rough indication of the primary, secondary and tertiary level of education among residents in any region. GER is considered as one of the basic indicators of the Human Development Index (HDI), which measures wide-ranging social indicators for countries worldwide. A higher GER in a particular region implies a better HDI. India ranks 128 out of 177 countries in the HDI ranking done by United Nations.
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Simply put, this means all the children in TN go to school and do not drop out before completing 5th standard! I am sure the literacy rate for TN will be above 80% in the 2011 census. The challenge now is to prevent dropouts in the secondary (6-8) and high school (9,10) levels.
Source: http://www.edumerit.com/read_more.php?id=4

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/chennai/anna-tech-students-can-now-pick-medicine-975

Nov. 2: In a first-of-its-kind initiative, postgraduate students of Anna University of Technology (AUT), Chennai, will soon learn medicine and technology simultaneously. AUT will join hands with Tamil Nadu Dr MGR Medical University to provide a two-year medical engineering course.
Speaking to Deccan Chronicle on Tuesday, C. Thangaraj, vice-chancellor, AUT-Chennai, said the objective of the ME course is to impart technical skills to doctors and medical knowledge to engineers. “Engineering students will learn neurology and medical students will gain knowledge of computers to develop neural networks. Faculty from both the universities will teach and students can transfer their subject credits between the universities,” he said.
Pointing out that students will spend one year each at AUT and Dr MGR University, Prof. Thangaraj said both universities had identified three areas for studies: self-informatics, artificial intelligence and medical electronics.

...

^^

Good initiative by the state government. These type of courses are there only in IITs but the state run institute has started this course now.

Nice collection

http://picasaweb.google.com/vthirumurugan/SRMUNIVERSITYBUILDINGPHOTO#

Students from the State are ill-prepared for the AIEEE — a potential platform for bright engineering opportunities. Experts discuss ways to change this trend.

The addition of 10 new National Institutes of Technology last year by the Ministry of Human Resource Development to the existing 20 has meant a welcome expansion of opportunities for engineering aspirants across the country.

But the corresponding benefit has not trickled down to Tamil Nadu, where the awareness about All India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE) is not yet up to the desired level, school heads acknowledge.

They cite a few pertinent reasons for such a state of affairs. At the outset, the number of Tamil Nadu students appearing for the AIEEE is low, compared to their counterparts in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. Unlike in the neighbouring States where State board schools also accord highest importance to analytical reasoning in the syllabi, in Tamil Nadu, students in the Central Board of Secondary Education schools alone, by virtue of their exposure to problem-solving skills provided by the subject contents, are in an advantageous position to perform well in AIEEE for entry into NITs and other institutions of stature that consider AIEEE score for admissions.

Teachers say that the subject contents in the Tamil Nadu State pattern being descriptive in nature, the question of faring well in AIEEE does not arise at all. Teachers cry hoarse whenever the students' reasoning abilities are tested in public examinations, and insist on making the entire examination process bookish.

Also, the misconception among State-board students in Tamil Nadu is that they could equip themselves for AIEEE by undergoing some crash programmes at the eleventh hour. This explains the dismal all-India ranking of students from Tamil Nadu. A candidate of the State board seeking to achieve well in AIEEE has to necessarily put in extra efforts with dedication, all through their higher secondary studies, according to A. Rajagopal, an experienced trainer for IIT-JEE and AIEEE.

Plus One portions

The added disadvantage for Tamil Nadu students is that a good number of schools do not pay the requisite attention to Plus One portions in their quest for high marks and flattering results. Forty per cent of questions for AIEEE pertain to Plus One portions, Mr. Rajagopal explains. There have also been instances of Tamil Nadu students qualifying themselves for admission to NITs, but settling for a fancied branch in any of the top-ranking self-financing engineering colleges due to parental pressure. Academics say such ill-informed decisions of parents wreak havoc on the future of students. There can be no parallel to the employment opportunities one comes across in NITs. For instance, the placement records of the National Institute of Technology - Tiruchi (NIT-T), show that most of the over 95 per cent of students find lucrative jobs in top-notch companies every year.

Performing well in AIEEE is all about being strong in concepts and fundamentals whereby students would be able to answer questions in a jiffy, points out A.K. Bakthavatsalam, Professor, Training and Placement, NIT-T. Yet another reason for poor performance in AIEEE is the ‘comfort zone' in which the students of Tamil Nadu State board schools find themselves in.

With over 400 self-financing engineering colleges taking part in the process of admission counselling, even an average student is guaranteed a seat. The element of challenge that was there a few years ago when students had to prepare for the Tamil Nadu Professional Courses Entrance Examination has vanished, according to a correspondent of a CBSE school.

The Tamil Nadu Government may have justifiably abolished entrance examinations in the interests of students from rural parts who are unable to afford expensive training in coaching centres. But, the scope to evolve mechanisms for injecting vibrancy into the examination system by way of exposing students to problem-solving skills, and according due importance for Plus One portions must be fully explored, teachers emphasise

New format for Board exams...

High school students preparing for the Board examinations will have to start reading up more than just prepare for questions and exercises at the end of a lesson or what the question bank offers.

In an attempt to assess the subject and application knowledge of students of class X, the Board exams in 2012 will have a mix of open ended, difficult and easy questions. The blueprint brought out by the School Education Department is ready.

The State government introduced the Uniform System of School Education for academic year 2010-11 for classes I and V. It is scaling up across all the remaining classes for the next academic year, which means the classes have a new syllabus and class X students of 2012 batch will be the first to face the new examination format.....

"Most questions asked these days are of the knowledge type and there is very little of the application variety. We have tried to bring a balanced approach in the blueprint, where 50 per cent will constitute understanding-type questions, 40 per cent knowledge-based and 10 per cent difficult,"...

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-tamilnadu/article885291.ece

^^
Very welcome move. Why to restrict upto 10th? With the entrance exam scrapped (Political and vote based decision....., no change in the proportion of village and city students entering the professional courses. On the other hand it has really increased the stress of the kids. If they were really concerned why did not they stop entrance exams for law college and others? Why did they target only medical and engineering?) they should introduce this system in 12th also to allow the real intelligent people to enter medicine, engineering and others and make our students to compete with the students of other state in all India entrance exams. (I am not from a city, I did my schooling in a small town and I strongly recommend to reintroduce the entrance exam)

Students from the State are ill-prepared for the AIEEE — a potential platform for bright engineering opportunities. Experts discuss ways to change this trend.

The addition of 10 new National Institutes of Technology last year by the Ministry of Human Resource Development to the existing 20 has meant a welcome expansion of opportunities for engineering aspirants across the country.

But the corresponding benefit has not trickled down to Tamil Nadu, where the awareness about All India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE) is not yet up to the desired level, school heads acknowledge.

They cite a few pertinent reasons for such a state of affairs. At the outset, the number of Tamil Nadu students appearing for the AIEEE is low, compared to their counterparts in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. Unlike in the neighbouring States where State board schools also accord highest importance to analytical reasoning in the syllabi, in Tamil Nadu, students in the Central Board of Secondary Education schools alone, by virtue of their exposure to problem-solving skills provided by the subject contents, are in an advantageous position to perform well in AIEEE for entry into NITs and other institutions of stature that consider AIEEE score for admissions.

Teachers say that the subject contents in the Tamil Nadu State pattern being descriptive in nature, the question of faring well in AIEEE does not arise at all. Teachers cry hoarse whenever the students' reasoning abilities are tested in public examinations, and insist on making the entire examination process bookish.

Also, the misconception among State-board students in Tamil Nadu is that they could equip themselves for AIEEE by undergoing some crash programmes at the eleventh hour. This explains the dismal all-India ranking of students from Tamil Nadu. A candidate of the State board seeking to achieve well in AIEEE has to necessarily put in extra efforts with dedication, all through their higher secondary studies, according to A. Rajagopal, an experienced trainer for IIT-JEE and AIEEE.

Plus One portions

The added disadvantage for Tamil Nadu students is that a good number of schools do not pay the requisite attention to Plus One portions in their quest for high marks and flattering results. Forty per cent of questions for AIEEE pertain to Plus One portions, Mr. Rajagopal explains. There have also been instances of Tamil Nadu students qualifying themselves for admission to NITs, but settling for a fancied branch in any of the top-ranking self-financing engineering colleges due to parental pressure. Academics say such ill-informed decisions of parents wreak havoc on the future of students. There can be no parallel to the employment opportunities one comes across in NITs. For instance, the placement records of the National Institute of Technology - Tiruchi (NIT-T), show that most of the over 95 per cent of students find lucrative jobs in top-notch companies every year.

Performing well in AIEEE is all about being strong in concepts and fundamentals whereby students would be able to answer questions in a jiffy, points out A.K. Bakthavatsalam, Professor, Training and Placement, NIT-T. Yet another reason for poor performance in AIEEE is the ‘comfort zone' in which the students of Tamil Nadu State board schools find themselves in.

With over 400 self-financing engineering colleges taking part in the process of admission counselling, even an average student is guaranteed a seat. The element of challenge that was there a few years ago when students had to prepare for the Tamil Nadu Professional Courses Entrance Examination has vanished, according to a correspondent of a CBSE school.

The Tamil Nadu Government may have justifiably abolished entrance examinations in the interests of students from rural parts who are unable to afford expensive training in coaching centres. But, the scope to evolve mechanisms for injecting vibrancy into the examination system by way of exposing students to problem-solving skills, and according due importance for Plus One portions must be fully explored, teachers emphasise


They should reform the 12th syllabus, introduce entrance examination for TN engineering colleges and also prepare the students for AIEEE.

Mayor M Subramanian on Saturday announced Chennai Corporation’s 10 Schools of Excellence that were selected from its 10 zones at a function held at Chennai Higher Secondary School in Thiruvanmiyur. Subramanian also handed over guidebooks that provide instructions to the school headmasters on what all things to be done in their institutions.
Besides the Thiruvanmiyur school, Chennai Higher Secondary School at Appasamy Lane in Old Washermenpet, Chennai Girls Higher Secondary School on Madhavaram High Road in Perambur, Chennai Girls Higher Secondary School at Pulla Reddy Avenue in Shenoy Nagar, Chennai High School at V P Koil Street in Mylapore, Chennai Boys Higher Secondary School at Nungambakkam, Chennai Girls Higher Secondary School at Nungambakkam, Chennai Higher Secondary School at Puliyur, Chennai Boys Higher Secondary School at Saidapet and Chennai Girls Higher Secondary School at Saidapet were also upgraded as Schools of Excellence.

Source: http://expressbuzz.com/cities/chennai/mayor-launches-10-schools-of-excellence/224836.html

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/State-emerges-with-highest-number-of-univs-on-H-index-list/articleshow/6972529.cms

Tamil Nadu has emerged as the state with the highest number of universities which have been declared as productive science and technological institutions in the country based on their research impact index.

As many as eight universities from the state figure in the list of Top 50 Universities based on their H-index (provisional) scores prepared by the National Institute of Science, Technology and Development Studies in New Delhi last month. The H-index shows the impact of the collective scientific output of the institution based on the number of times a published research paper of the university's researchers has been cited by peers/fellow researchers.

Topping the list from Tamil Nadu, as reported by The Times of India on Monday, is the University of Madras, followed by the Anna University. The other universities from the state to figure in the list are Annamalai University (the only private university in TN), Bharathidasan University in Tiruchi, Bharathiar University in Coimbatore, Madurai Kamaraj University, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University in Coimbatore, and Alagappa University in Karaikudi, in that order of ranking.

Incidentally barring the TNAU and Alagappa University, the remaining institutions are in the top 25 bracket. Besides, the Pondicherry University too has made it to the elite list with an H-index of 28.

"The research culture has been traditionally good in Tamil Nadu. In the earlier part of the century too, the science belt of Madras has been producing high quality research. A key reason why the impact of the research in institutions here is high is because of the focussed approach to research in specialised fields," explains S P Thyagarajan, honorary chairman, Tamil Nadu State Academic Audit and Accreditation Council.

Scientists and researchers in Tamil Nadu have also collaborated in a big way with their counterparts abroad which has helped improve the impact factor of their research publications. "Irrespective of the criticism which the Superbug' issue attracted, its scientific content has been very appreciable. This was made possible by the collaboration of the young University of Madras researcher with international scientists," pointed out Thyagarajan, who is also an eminent scientist with several feathers on his cap.

According to him, the importance given to research in the last two five-year plan periods has helped attract more funds for research and helped make a big impact on the quality of the output.

University of Madras vice chancellor G Thiruvasagam has decided to give a greater impetus to research. "We will soon bring out a University Research Journal one of social sciences and another for physical sciences in which the research papers will be published," he said.

credit to: bonoslack7,ssc

Already the census are over.Then what is this news saying?
http://epaper.dinakaran.com/pdf/2010/11/23/20101123a_002107007.jpg

Can any one tell me?

Already the census are over.Then what is this news saying?
http://epaper.dinakaran.com/pdf/2010/11/23/20101123a_002107007.jpg

Can any one tell me?

Census is conducted in Feb& Mar months of first year of the corresponding decade. i.e 1971,1981,1991,2001,2011,2021,2031 etc. What has been completed is the preliminary work for the actual census which will be conducted in Feb-11.

Students from the State are ill-prepared for the AIEEE — a potential platform for bright engineering opportunities. Experts discuss ways to change this trend.

The addition of 10 new National Institutes of Technology last year by the Ministry of Human Resource Development to the existing 20 has meant a welcome expansion of opportunities for engineering aspirants across the country.

But the corresponding benefit has not trickled down to Tamil Nadu, where the awareness about All India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE) is not yet up to the desired level, school heads acknowledge.

They cite a few pertinent reasons for such a state of affairs. At the outset, the number of Tamil Nadu students appearing for the AIEEE is low, compared to their counterparts in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. Unlike in the neighbouring States where State board schools also accord highest importance to analytical reasoning in the syllabi, in Tamil Nadu, students in the Central Board of Secondary Education schools alone, by virtue of their exposure to problem-solving skills provided by the subject contents, are in an advantageous position to perform well in AIEEE for entry into NITs and other institutions of stature that consider AIEEE score for admissions.

Teachers say that the subject contents in the Tamil Nadu State pattern being descriptive in nature, the question of faring well in AIEEE does not arise at all. Teachers cry hoarse whenever the students' reasoning abilities are tested in public examinations, and insist on making the entire examination process bookish.

Also, the misconception among State-board students in Tamil Nadu is that they could equip themselves for AIEEE by undergoing some crash programmes at the eleventh hour. This explains the dismal all-India ranking of students from Tamil Nadu. A candidate of the State board seeking to achieve well in AIEEE has to necessarily put in extra efforts with dedication, all through their higher secondary studies, according to A. Rajagopal, an experienced trainer for IIT-JEE and AIEEE.

Plus One portions

The added disadvantage for Tamil Nadu students is that a good number of schools do not pay the requisite attention to Plus One portions in their quest for high marks and flattering results. Forty per cent of questions for AIEEE pertain to Plus One portions, Mr. Rajagopal explains. There have also been instances of Tamil Nadu students qualifying themselves for admission to NITs, but settling for a fancied branch in any of the top-ranking self-financing engineering colleges due to parental pressure. Academics say such ill-informed decisions of parents wreak havoc on the future of students. There can be no parallel to the employment opportunities one comes across in NITs. For instance, the placement records of the National Institute of Technology - Tiruchi (NIT-T), show that most of the over 95 per cent of students find lucrative jobs in top-notch companies every year.

Performing well in AIEEE is all about being strong in concepts and fundamentals whereby students would be able to answer questions in a jiffy, points out A.K. Bakthavatsalam, Professor, Training and Placement, NIT-T. Yet another reason for poor performance in AIEEE is the ‘comfort zone' in which the students of Tamil Nadu State board schools find themselves in.

With over 400 self-financing engineering colleges taking part in the process of admission counselling, even an average student is guaranteed a seat. The element of challenge that was there a few years ago when students had to prepare for the Tamil Nadu Professional Courses Entrance Examination has vanished, according to a correspondent of a CBSE school.

The Tamil Nadu Government may have justifiably abolished entrance examinations in the interests of students from rural parts who are unable to afford expensive training in coaching centres. But, the scope to evolve mechanisms for injecting vibrancy into the examination system by way of exposing students to problem-solving skills, and according due importance for Plus One portions must be fully explored, teachers emphasise
An extremely well thought out post. Just for your information the date for AIEEE 2011 (http://www.wiziq.com/exam/AIEEE)has been announced to be on 24th April 2011. The students have the option of either online of offline exams. For excellent resources our site is unique.

After two silvers, the undergraduate students of IIT Madras have won a gold at the International Genetically-Engineered Machine Competition (iGEM) at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) a fortnight ago. iGem is the premiere undergraduate synthetic biology competition in the world.

“We were keen on working on a project of social relevance. So, we chose the food and energy sector. The idea was to use synthetic biology to give diabetes patients a fighting chance to retain a comfortable life, without compromising on their sweet-tooth,” said A. Srivathsan, a final-year Biotech student.

The idea was discussed and developed over g-chat during internship in the summer among 15 students who began working as two teams, one on DNA and the other on cells for the past six months. This time the team had a chemical and electrical engineer and the rest pursuing biotechnology.

Student teams participating in iGEM are given a kit of biological parts at the beginning of the summer from the Registry of Standard Biological Parts. Working at the bio-tech labs in IIT-M, the students pursued the project ‘Pro-biotic Sweetner, controlled by a pseudo-AND gate'.

“We chose a project that will help people,” said S. Sriram. The idea was to use synthetic biology to engineer pro-biotic lactic acid bacteria used in the production of dairy products like yogurt, buttermilk and curds, to produce Monellin, a heat and pH stable sweetening protein. Successful engineering could radically reduce the calorific content of these products and the plan was to develop regulatory systems that could be tweaked to suit varied purposes, he said.

“We did encounter a lot of difficulties. Parashuram and Shashi, the doctoral students, guided us in troubleshooting and helped us with protocols,” said Nishant.

Apart from funding from IIT-M, Dr. Reddy's Labs sponsored the project of the students. Some of the Indian teams backed out due to lack of funding, says Prof. Guhan Jayaraman, who has guided the team for three years. To ensure the success of the students at iGEM every year, Mr. Guhan roped in second and third year students into the team as they need not start from scratch next year. “We want to make it bigger next year,” says P. Chaitra, a third-year student.

Slovenia bagged the BioBrick trophy this year. “When Slovenia won for the first time, it made national news. We are aiming to be one of the six finalists next year,” says Prof. Guhan. That would require generous funding from the corporates.

SRC:http://www.thehindu.com/education/article907576.ece

http://news.in.msn.com/national/article.aspx?cp-documentid=4635852

The Tamil Nadu Government has drawn up a plan to set up at least one medical college in each district of the state and to establish a State Medical Services Corporation and drug warehouses in all districts that provide quality drugs free of cost, a top official said.
"Tamil Nadu now has the highest number of medical colleges in government sector with 15 medical colleges, contributing to human resource development in medical, nursing and paramedical disciplines," State Health and Family Welfare Principal Secretary V K Subburaj told PTI.
He said the policy of one medical college per district proposed by the State Government is a milestone in the history of medicine in Tamil Nadu.
The State Government would encourage private trusts to start courses such as dental, BSc nursing and diploma in nursing courses in rural areas, he said.
"Government has given permission to start ten nursing schools and ten nursing colleges to conduct BSc nursing courses," he said.
Subburaj said government hospitals with medical colleges would be upgraded on par with international standards.
"Apart from this, all government hospitals will also be accredited by the National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare Providers (NABH), a constituent board of Quality Council of India (QCI), set up to establish and operate accreditation programme for healthcare organisations."
"Currently, two government hospitals in the state have been accredited by NABH," he said.
Stating that all Primary Health Centres in the state would also be accredited by NABH, he said at present 48 PHCs have applied for accreditation.
"NABH standards have more than 500 objective elements and about 70 per cent of these elements concern clinical practices and the rest focus on managerial functions," he said.
"The department is also encouraging public-private partnership to improve services of PHCs and government hospitals," he said.
In the last four years, 6,300 medical officers, 7,242 staff nurses, 1,282 village health nurses and more than 9,000 para medical staff had been appointed in various government hospitals, he said.

http://epaper.dinamalar.com/DM/DINAMALAR/2010/12/02/Article//101/02_12_2010_101_008.jpg

CHENNAI: School education in the state continues to make significant gains, according to statistics from the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), with the dropout rate falling to 1% in primary schools. The latest SSA cohort study, which tracks the performance of children enrolled in class I in 2005-06 over five years, shows that 97.36% of these students complete their schooling. However, the statistics also demonstrate that greater attention needs to be paid to the learning levels of children from the Scheduled Tribe communities.

While the repetition rate (students who are held back in their class at least once) is 6.15% among boys and 7.04 % among girls from the ST group, this dips for SC students from 2.73% for boys and 1.76% for girls. The overall repetition rate for children from all communities in primary school is 1.88% and 1.41% for boys and girls respectively.

The situation is similar in upper primary sections for students who enrolled in class VI in 2007-08 with ST boys displaying a repetition rate of 8.09%, marginally lower than that of girls at 8.46%. The total completion rate for students in the upper primary sections is also lower at 93.35%.

Students from the ST community in Theni district registered the highest repetition rate in primary classes with 18.07% in contrast to their peers from Chennai at 0.32%. In the upper primary sections, however, three districts put up a similar showing with Theni registering a repetition rate of 15.24%, Kanchipuram at 15.38% and Erode at 15.5%. Tiruchi district showed the least repetition among upper primary sections at 0.12%.

Officials attribute this to the "geographical regions" in which students from ST communities live and study. "It is possible that because they stay in remote areas like hilly regions that they are not able to finish their schooling within the allotted time frame of five years and three years for primary and upper primary respectively. This is probably because there are a few issues in the learning process at the schools run by the department of Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare," a senior official from the department said.

Activists working for the development of ST communities affirmed that inadequate infrastructure was a hurdle in the pursuit of education. "Of the 72 villages in Kodaikanal, seven Adivasi villages have elementary schools. Though they are supposed to be residential schools, they do not have buildings. These schools function out of the facilities built for members of self-help groups. Teachers come from as far as 45km away in Dindigul so they reach school only at 11am and leave by 2.30pm. So, the actual amount of time that children spend in schools is very little," said N P Nagapandian and M Leelavathy from the Palani Hills Tribal Welfare Association.

Officials from the SSA said efforts were on to rectify this situation with the department planning to conduct community mobilisation awareness' programmes from December to February to sensitise stakeholders like parents, teachers and school heads to the provisions of the Right to Education Act and the need to provide children with an optimal school atmosphere. "We hope that by undertaking a drive at this time of the year, we will be able to increase enrolment and provide better education by June next year," an official added.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/Dropouts-dip-to-1-but-ST-students-lag-behind-SSA-study/articleshow/7032055.cms

http://epaper.dinakaran.com/pdf/2010/12/06/20101206c_013101003.jpg

* Edu dept to train 200 top students from city corporation schools with the help of FIITJEE (Forum For IITJEE)

Excellent initiatives. TN needs more of this to compete with others and stay on top.

I was told that Mr. Anand Kumar, who runs Super 30 at Bihar is planning to do the same in TN also with the help of his IAS friends. Any news?

Great Lakes B-school in talks with Tata and Godrej to sell 51%


Bala V Balachandran, founder & dean of Great Lakes Institute of Management in Chennai, is in talks with Tata Foundation and Pirojsha Godrej Foundation to sell nearly 51 per cent stake in his institute.

“I have 90 per cent stake in my institute. I have decided to give the ownership to somebody who can give me some money to expand. I may offload as much as 51 per cent. The valuation of the institute would be around Rs 220 crore,” Balachandran told Business Standard on the sidelines of an event in Mumbai.





Great Lakes was formed in 2002 as a Section-25 company. Section-25 companies are those formed for the purpose of promoting commerce, art, science, religion, charity or any other deemed “useful object” and whose profits are used solely to further its stated objectives. Great Lakes has, among others, Tata Sons Chairman Ratan Tata and Godrej & Boyce Chairman & Managing Director Jamshyd Godrej on its business advisory council.

Balachandran, who is also professor of accounting and information management at the Kellogg School of Management in the US, said some business houses approached him for the stake, but he was not keen on selling it to them.

“I wish to go pan-India and provide affordable education. I want somebody who shares my vision, which Tata Foundation and Pirojsha Godrej Foundation do. I do not want profit-oriented players to be associated with my ventures,” added Balachandran.

Today, Tata trusts control 65.8 per cent of the shares in Tata Sons, the holding Tata company. Over 75 per cent of the trust's funds come from dividends on the shares it owns in Tata Sons.

Pirojsha Godrej Foundation has taken up rural development and healthcare, promotes Godrej Memorial Hospital and a unique community development programme called Svayam.

Balachandran will also, for the first time in the history of B-schools in India, be taking over the Mumbai Business School (MBS) and converting it into the Great Lakes, Mumbai, campus.

“Mumbai Business School was created as a for-profit organisation, so I was not keenly involved. Now, I have taken it over as a not-for-profit institute. The change of ownership is in approval process. The school could be re-named Great Lakes, Mumbai campus,” he added.

A Mahendran, managing director, Godrej Consumer Products, was actively involved in setting up MBS. Great Lakes also plans to open campuses in Gurgaon and Bhubaneswar. While it has bought some land in Gurgaon, the Orissa government has leased it 100 acres of land for 99 years.

The Gurgaon campus will require around 50 crore to set up and the Orissa campus would be set up at a cost of Rs 100 crore.



http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/great-lakes-b-school-in-talkstatagodrej-to-sell-51/417995/

http://imgur.com/hqRhg.jpg

http://imgur.com/1GPcg.jpg

http://imgur.com/BMsHn.jpg

http://imgur.com/5XWI1.jpg

More: http://respark.iitm.ac.in/facilities/quick_look.php

Despite an unprecedented upswing in the number of students joining engineering colleges in Tamil Nadu this year, nearly 31,000 BE seats have had no takers at the end of the admission season in self-financing institutions. However, this figure is much lower compared to the vacancy position in engineering colleges last year when a record 51,462 BE/BTech seats had found no takers.

The number of engineering colleges in the state had increased from 440 in 2009-10 to 491 during 2010-11.

According to commissioner for technical education Kumar Jayant, preliminary statistics relating to the admissions in engineering colleges, both under the government quota and the management quota, revealed that of the 1,92,000-odd undergraduate seats available cumulatively, around 1,61,000 alone were filled up this year. The colleges failed to attract students for the remaining 31,000 or so BE/BTech seats.

This year, a record 1,10,206 students had joined engineering colleges under the government quota through the single window counselling conducted by the Anna University. An analysis of the admission statistics reveals that only around 9,500 of the vacant seats fall under the government quota, while the rest of the seats for which there were no takers were reserved under the management quota in self-financing institutions.

According to academics, two factors propelled the record turnout at the single window counselling. One, the government had lowered the minimum eligibility marks for aspirants by 5 marks each in the Open Competition, Backward Classes and Most Backward Classes categories. Two, the government had announced a tuition fee waiver for students who belonged to the first generation of professional courses' learners in their families. In fact, as many as 66,671 students, who constituted over 60% of those admitted under the government quota, were first generation learners.

Meanwhile, in polytechnic colleges the vacancy was much higher. "Of the 1,63,087 seats which were available in the 449 polytechnic colleges in the state, only 1,16,993 were filled," Jayant said.


Read more: Nearly 31,000 BE seats vacant in TN engineering colleges - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/Nearly-31000-BE-seats-vacant-in-TN-engineering-colleges/articleshow/7095570.cms#ixzz182TIh3vb

^^ Did IITM res park scrap the earlier design. Last I saw...they were planning for 3 smaller towers...as opposed to the large/wide tower seen in the pic. Are they still building 2 more?

IGNOU offers 50% fee concession for agriculture courses

Source

The Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) has announced 50 per cent fee concession to students joining agriculture diploma and certificate programmes. This fee concession will be given to all candidates from rural areas subject to their producing their domicile certificate. Urban students who are below poverty line will also be eligible for 50 per cent fee concession.
M. Shanmugham, Regional Director, IGNOU-Madurai, said on Monday admission to courses in agriculture for January 2011 session is going on now. The last date for receiving applications is December 20. Further details can be had from the university's Regional Centre here on phone numbers: 0452-2380387 and 2370733.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/Common-school-syllabus-to-have-books-and-exams-in-minority-languages-says-Karunanidhi-/articleshow/7108497.cms

CHENNAI: Representatives of associations working for the welfare of minorities hope the statement by chief minister M Karunanidhi will bring some relief for students with the extension of Samacheer Kalvi' to all classes next year.

At an Indian Union Muslim League conference on Saturday, the chief minister assuaged concerns of the community saying students would be allowed to learn their mother tongue (Urdu, Kannada, Malayalam, Arabic or Telugu) in addition to Tamil with four periods devoted to these languages every week. Textbooks would be printed for these languages, exams held and the marks from these subjects mentioned on the marksheet along with those of other subjects.

Members of minority communities hoped this would help preserve the study of these languages. "We are not at all against learning Tamil. We are only saying that a child should also be allowed to study his/her mother tongue up to class X," said Tamil Nadu Backward Dakkani Muslims' Welfare Association president S M Pasha. Dakkani Muslims refer to the Urdu-speaking population of the community.

...

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/chennai/thavani-may-replace-salwar-schools-817

Chennai, Dec. 24: The Tamil Nadu government is seriously considering replacing the ‘traditional’ pavadai-thavani for girl students in its schools with the north Indian salwar-kameez, conceding the demand from several quarters that the dress from the Hindi land is more ‘protective and convenient.’ There have been persistent demands from several parents of girls in government schools to change to salwar-kameez for uniforms.
S. Ramya (name changed), a class VIII student in a school in T. Nagar, said it was difficult to ride her cycle wearing the traditional costume. “I would be happy if I am given a salwar kameez. Many of us do not play during the games period because the pavadai is uncomfortable and prevent us from running fast,” she said. Like Ramya, several students wish they would be given salwar.
Requesting anonymity, a senior education department official said several students do not wear the free pavadai-thavani given by the government. “I have visited many schools where the girl students find the thavani uncomfortable and wear salwar kameez with special permission from the management. In co-educational schools, many girls are not attentive in class since they concentrate more on checking their thavani,” he said.

...

Software companies are on a hiring spree, as the IT industry, after a few years of sluggishness, is back in robust growth mode.

It is as if the software industry is on a hiring binge. Students from private universities are being recruited in thousands. First, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) recruited 1,091 from SRM University where 2,023 students were placed in software leaders including TCS, Wipro and HCL, in just seven days. Next, Cognizant Technology Solutions (CTS) handed over job offers to 1,643 students of VIT University, Vellore.

At SASTRA University, Thanjavur, as on date, over 1,800 job offers have been made with TCS, creating a new record. TCS recruited 1,359 SASTRA students during its three-day campus recruitment drive early this month, says V. Badrinath, Dean - Training & Placements. Over 30 companies have visited the campus till now.

“The university is also formalising various post-recruitment activities in consultation with the recruiters to utilise the last semester in the most productive form. This will make the graduates readily employable by the industry and also address the growing concern of students' academic interest after securing a job,” says S. Vaidhyasubramaniam, Dean - Planning & Development, SASTRA University.

In Madurai, TCS has selected 618 students from Thiagarajar College of Engineering (TCE). It is not just the ECE, CSC & IT, EEE graduates are getting placed. Students of bio-medical engineering, bio-informatics and other disciplines, with aptitude and communication skills, are being picked up by the IT industry in droves.

After a few years of sluggishness, the IT industry is on a robust growth path. “There is a pent-up demand,” says Lakshmi Narayanan, vice-chairman, Cognizant. “In the last one year (October 2009 to September 2010), we saw a net addition of over 27,500 employees. On December, we crossed the 1 lakh employee mark, says Sriram Rajagopal, vice-president, HR, Cognizant.

Software professionals say that the projects are lined up from January next year and the demand has hit a high again with companies luring programmers with lucrative packages as a result of which the attrition rate has also been quite high everywhere. Employees are asked to refer candidates on a weekly basis.

Significantly, this is the first batch of students, after the State scrapped the entrance test for engineering admissions, being placed now. “Even the students who studied in Tamil medium in Plus Two are placed in good numbers. It is the basic subject knowledge that matters most,” says G.K. Rajesh, placement officer, TCE.

In Tiruchi, Anna University of Technology - Tiruchi (AUT-T) and Bharathidasan University are viewing the job market with cautious optimism. Recruiters enlisted for conducting job interviews at the AUT-T during the course of this year constitute an equal mix of manufacturing and IT/ITES sector.

According to M. Jayakumar, director, Department of Extension and Career Guidance, Bharathiar University, the university was not able to place more than 300 students last year. “This year, as of now there is a 30 per cent improvement. Many more drives are in the pipeline.” Companies showing interest in placements (in arts and science) this year are from banking, insurance, customer support services, infrastructure and financial services. K.P. Dhanabalakrishnan, placement officer, Dr. Mahalingam College of Engineering and Technology, Pollachi, says that at the first placement drive the college conducted, nearly 300 students got placed in four companies.

“In the IT field, Pondicherry University has already achieved 100 per cent placements this year,” says S.K.V. Jayakumar, the head of placements. Mass recruiters such as TCS, Cognizant and Accenture select the candidates first and then include them in projects once they join. Small recruiters on the other hand make project-specific selections.

“This year we have come out of a slowdown. Recruitment is expected to be high, since the growth projection of the industry seems good in the coming year. We plan to recruit from at least 25 engineering colleges in Tamil Nadu in the next month,” says V. Viswanathan, talent acquisition team, WIPRO.

For science graduates, Wipro has a special PG programme called Wipro Academy of Software Excellence in BITS Pilani, after which the students will be employed in the company. “This year we are looking at providing admissions to at least 5,000 students under this programme. The percentage of science graduates recruited every year is around 5 to 8 percentage. In the subsequent two or three years we must try and translate this into 15 to 20 percentage,” says Mr. Viswanthan.

SRC: http://www.thehindu.com/education/article965072.ece

What happened to Govindarajan Committee and its recommendations? Hope at least in this academic year it should be implemented.

^^ We can only hope. Nothing will materialize.

Software companies are on a hiring spree, as the IT industry, after a few years of sluggishness, is back in robust growth mode.

It is as if the software industry is on a hiring binge. Students from private universities are being recruited in thousands. First, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) recruited 1,091 from SRM University where 2,023 students were placed in software leaders including TCS, Wipro and HCL, in just seven days. Next, Cognizant Technology Solutions (CTS) handed over job offers to 1,643 students of VIT University, Vellore.

At SASTRA University, Thanjavur, as on date, over 1,800 job offers have been made with TCS, creating a new record. TCS recruited 1,359 SASTRA students during its three-day campus recruitment drive early this month, says V. Badrinath, Dean - Training & Placements. Over 30 companies have visited the campus till now.

“The university is also formalising various post-recruitment activities in consultation with the recruiters to utilise the last semester in the most productive form. This will make the graduates readily employable by the industry and also address the growing concern of students' academic interest after securing a job,” says S. Vaidhyasubramaniam, Dean - Planning & Development, SASTRA University.

In Madurai, TCS has selected 618 students from Thiagarajar College of Engineering (TCE). It is not just the ECE, CSC & IT, EEE graduates are getting placed. Students of bio-medical engineering, bio-informatics and other disciplines, with aptitude and communication skills, are being picked up by the IT industry in droves.

After a few years of sluggishness, the IT industry is on a robust growth path. “There is a pent-up demand,” says Lakshmi Narayanan, vice-chairman, Cognizant. “In the last one year (October 2009 to September 2010), we saw a net addition of over 27,500 employees. On December, we crossed the 1 lakh employee mark, says Sriram Rajagopal, vice-president, HR, Cognizant.

Software professionals say that the projects are lined up from January next year and the demand has hit a high again with companies luring programmers with lucrative packages as a result of which the attrition rate has also been quite high everywhere. Employees are asked to refer candidates on a weekly basis.

Significantly, this is the first batch of students, after the State scrapped the entrance test for engineering admissions, being placed now. “Even the students who studied in Tamil medium in Plus Two are placed in good numbers. It is the basic subject knowledge that matters most,” says G.K. Rajesh, placement officer, TCE.

In Tiruchi, Anna University of Technology - Tiruchi (AUT-T) and Bharathidasan University are viewing the job market with cautious optimism. Recruiters enlisted for conducting job interviews at the AUT-T during the course of this year constitute an equal mix of manufacturing and IT/ITES sector.

According to M. Jayakumar, director, Department of Extension and Career Guidance, Bharathiar University, the university was not able to place more than 300 students last year. “This year, as of now there is a 30 per cent improvement. Many more drives are in the pipeline.” Companies showing interest in placements (in arts and science) this year are from banking, insurance, customer support services, infrastructure and financial services. K.P. Dhanabalakrishnan, placement officer, Dr. Mahalingam College of Engineering and Technology, Pollachi, says that at the first placement drive the college conducted, nearly 300 students got placed in four companies.

“In the IT field, Pondicherry University has already achieved 100 per cent placements this year,” says S.K.V. Jayakumar, the head of placements. Mass recruiters such as TCS, Cognizant and Accenture select the candidates first and then include them in projects once they join. Small recruiters on the other hand make project-specific selections.

“This year we have come out of a slowdown. Recruitment is expected to be high, since the growth projection of the industry seems good in the coming year. We plan to recruit from at least 25 engineering colleges in Tamil Nadu in the next month,” says V. Viswanathan, talent acquisition team, WIPRO.

For science graduates, Wipro has a special PG programme called Wipro Academy of Software Excellence in BITS Pilani, after which the students will be employed in the company. “This year we are looking at providing admissions to at least 5,000 students under this programme. The percentage of science graduates recruited every year is around 5 to 8 percentage. In the subsequent two or three years we must try and translate this into 15 to 20 percentage,” says Mr. Viswanthan.

SRC: http://www.thehindu.com/education/article965072.ece

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http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Chennai/article1033089.ece

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Manshuja Nair is a worried mother these days. There has been a decline in the academic performance of her 14-year-old daughter over the past year. “Extra hours of study and coaching classes haven't helped and her teachers don't consider the fact that she was doing very well till recently,” she says.

The concerns of Manjusha and others like her are increasingly gaining currency as experts point out that with a variety of factors influencing children's performance, the challenge lies in developing a holistic mode of evaluation and coming up with techniques to process this information.

Many schools in the city plan to equip themselves with scientifically designed software that seeks address this. As part of this process, they have resorted to digitise their report cards that have single sheets, with graphs and figures, to help teachers and parents gain a comprehensive view of the child's performance. Apart from helping teachers identify the high variations in students' performance and understand their needs, such applications take the burden of remembering and storing mathematical data off the teachers' shoulders.

The evaluation by a software application, says Ajeeth Prasath Jain, Senior Principal of Bhavan's Rajaji Vidyashram, helps in doing away with report cards that record a lot of information, but do not necessarily help analyse and process the relevance of such data.

...

http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/tamil-nadu/article1032418.ece

Seeking to allay apprehensions of States opposed to the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) for MBBS, the Union Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal expressed certainty on Tuesday that a final decision on the issue would be taken only after consultation with States.

Notifications issued by the Medical Council of India (MCI) for holding common entrance tests to graduate and post graduate courses have been withdrawn, Mr. Sibal said, quoting ‘The Hindu’. Addressing a press conference, he referred to the directive by the Union Health Ministry to the MCI to withdraw its notifications and said the consultation with States will be held from January 11 to 13. .

Responding to a query, he said that the proposal for establishment of Education Finance Corporation was under consultation by the Planning Commission. The funding agency that would provide educational loan at low interest rates for higher education learners would materialise once it (the proposal) reaches the Finance Ministry.

Mr. Sibal said colleges that fulfil quality parameters alone deserve to be permitted by the Central and State Governments to evolve into universities. Not all colleges can transform into universities, he said, observing that some universities were ineligible to hold on to the status.

To a question on the State Government’s request for compliance with communal reservation policy in admissions and appointments in the Indian Institute of Management – Tiruchi, Mr. Sibal explained that the Institute was bound by the legal framework for central universities and other IIMs.

...

The four new IIMs at Ranchi, Rohtak, Raipur and Trichy have a surprise in store for those who belled the CAT this year. They are working on what could be the next big thing among IIMs. The newly minted institutions are mulling a plan to have their own admission process and even hold joint interviews and group discussions to cherry-pick candidates for this academic year. Currently, all IIMs individually send out call letters for interviews and GDs.

This coming together will greatly ease the stress of having to hop from one interview to another. "We don't want leftover candidates from the older IIMs. IIM-Trichy will have its own identity and admission process. The directors of all new IIMs will meet soon to decide on holding joint interviews and using those scores for admissions," IIM-Trichy director Prafulla Agnihotri told TOI.

"There is great synergy when the IIMs come together. We have been talking about it (holding joint interviews and GD); all we need to do now is to sit down and chalk it out," P Rameshan, director, IIM Rohtak told TOI.

Even though the idea of joint interviews and GDs is not entirely new, the older IIMs, especially at Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Calcutta, have rejected it for the sake of autonomy.

Read more: New IIMs join hands - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/New-IIMs-join-hands/articleshow/7264254.cms#ixzz1Asez4r2w

The 100 percentile scorers in the Common Admission Test (CAT) 2010 will be an eight-engineer all-male club. They've topped the second edition of the online CAT which decides admission to 11 Indian Institutes of Management and over 150 B-schools this year. The test scores will be released on Wednesday.

Maharashtra has three toppers — two from Mumbai and one from Pune — and Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata and Indore have one each. Breaking the myth that women rarely top CAT, two women from Kerala and Andhra Pradesh have scored 99.9 percentile. In all, 19 candidates have scored 99.99 percentile, with three candidates each from Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Gujarat getting the second-best score. There are two candidates from Karnataka with 99.9 percentile. The identity of all toppers has been kept confidential.

IIMs, which jointly conduct the CAT, will announce the results on Wednesday. Candidates can download their score cards from the CAT website, http://www.catiim.in/ Over 1.86 lakh candidates appeared for CAT 2010, held between October 27 and November 24, across 20 test days. The CAT score is one of the inputs used by IIMs in admitting students to its flagship two-year Post-Graduate Programme. Weightage is given to work experience, personal interview and group discussion and academic performance in Class 12 and degree exams. Individual IIMs have uploaded their admission criteria for the 2011-13 batch on their websites

Read more: CAT 2010: 8 engineers score 100 - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bangalore/CAT-2010-8-engineers-score-100/articleshow/7264304.cms#ixzz1AsfryR32

4 out of top 27 (about 15%) were from TN.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/tamil-nadu/article1090351.ece

The State government will make all-out efforts to contain the rise in prices of essential commodities, Deputy Chief Minister M. K. Stalin told the Assembly on Thursday.

Concluding the debate on Governor's address, Mr. Stalin said the problem of price rise was prevalent not just in the State or in the country but also at the international level.

Giving an exhaustive account of the government's measures, he referred to the provision of rice at Re. 1 a kg besides pulses, edible oil and condiments at concessional rates. Stating that the government had been taking steps to enhance the purchasing capacity of people, he said that wages to the tune of Rs. 1,847 crore were, so far, paid in the State during 2010-2011 under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, which was being implemented by Central and State governments.

...

CHENNAI: Cardiologists in Chennai have implanted a drug-coated absorbable stent that would dissolve in the body within two years. The biodegradable stent, which is in the last phase of clinical trials, can make scarred blood vessels appear and function like normal ones. Doctors who did the implant will make a formal announcement in Chennai at 3 pm on Tuesday.

A team headed interventional cardiologist Dr Mathew Samuel Kalarickal and Dr Sai Satish at the Apollo Hospitals, Chennai implanted the stent in two patients a fortnight ago as a part of the last phase of the human trials. The doctors TOI on Tuesday that if the clinical trials show expected results, these stents could soon replace the existing ones which are non-biodegradable.

The drug-coated absorbable stent, manufactured by Abbott Laboratories, is left behind in the arteries after doctors clear the blocks in the blood vessel using balloon angioplasty. Unlike the metal-mesh or drug coated metals, these stents are designed to be absorbed slowly by the coronary arteries. "In two years, these stents will be gone. It seems effective at keeping arteries open and reducing chances of relapse or heart surgeries. Studies so far have also shown that arteries that were once scarred look near normal after two years," said Dr Satish.

The new stent is yet to be available in the commercial market. As a part of the clinical trial, more than 100 institutes all the over the world including five centres in India will implant the stent on patients, free of cost. The Indian hospitals involved in the trial include Apollo Hospitals and Madras Medical Mission in Chennai, Escorts Heart Research Institute in Delhi, Care Hospital in Hyderabad and SAL Hospital in Ahmedabad.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/science/Biodegradable-stents-to-prevent-blocks-in-heart/articleshow/7310863.cms

Social Science Research Network, the US-based online portal for research scholars, on Thursday entered into a partnership with SRM University with an objective of promoting research programmes among students.

This was the first time that the portal which has a subscriber base of over one lakh research scholars worldwide, is partnering with an Indian university, according to SSRN president Gregory J Gordon.

“SRM (University) and Social Sciences Research Network will work on partnership mode to create a network dedicated (for students) exchanging ideas on research,” he said after inaugurating the seminar on “International Conference on Business Research” organised by the School of Management of SRM University at Kattankulathur near here.

Now the portal has research papers on accounting economics, financial economics, health economics and political science belonging to various scholars. Following the association with SRM University, he said it would help the students on knowledge-sharing basis by accessing the portal. “A student may be in the US and another student may be sitting here (Chennai), but the research topic may be the same. They can share their knowledge,” he said.

SRC: http://expressbuzz.com/cities/chennai/srm-ties-up-with-international-research-network/241855.html

The state has seen a proliferation of professional colleges in the last five years -- with engineering colleges alone doubling from 251 in 2006 to 498 in 2010 -- but sustaining this trend would require a much higher capital than before, feel management representatives of private self-financing colleges and deemed universities.

"The financial pressure on the higher education system is going to be high due to increase in finances required for expanding the system from the current level of Rs 60,000 crore to an estimated Rs 1,55,000 crore by 2016. This is going to make access to finance difficult and expensive. This is one of the reasons the cost of higher education is likely to go up in future," said S Vaidhyasubramaniam, dean, planning and development wing of SASTRA University.

Meeting growing infrastructure requirements and rising costs of creating and maintaining infrastructure is also a challenge for college managements. "The cost of medical equipments and setting up an operation theatre is double that of last year. The cost of raw materials and lab equipments for departments such as bio-chemistry has also gone up. There is no guarantee on medical equipment, so we have to keep buying it too. How will we meet these costs otherwise?" asks Dr T D Naidu, head of D D Medical College.

The cost of bodies for anatomy students, lab equipment, lab material, lab experiments and chemicals used alone come to Rs 20 lakh a month. The cost of shaving a dead body is Rs 5,000, he says.

Not least among the worries of college managements is the cost of recruiting and retaining teaching faculty in colleges. The minimum salary for a college lecturer is prescribed by the Sixth Pay Commission prescribed by the government. With the shortage of quality teaching faculty, managements that focus on quality are compelled to pay teachers a salary that well exceeds the Sixth Pay Commission figures.

"In practice we do not need as many faculty as the norms listed by the Medical Council of India prescribes, but we comply with them. Some colleges pay doctors by the hour, but we have a full-time faculty. It costs quite a bit to keep them happy, but we have to do it if we have to maintain the quality of education in the institution," Dr Naidu said.

Student services too are becoming more expensive, with traditional classroom practices and modes of delivery becoming redundant. "With students becoming more technology friendly, colleges too have to opt for Wi-Fi systems, online exams, digital classrooms and the like. This too adds to the cost," said Vaidhyasubramaniam.

College managements feel that the costs this overhead cost leaves hardly anything to start new courses or colleges. "To start a new institution, we have to get 14 no objection certificates from the authorities, from the local panchayat level to the Air Force Authority. The official fees for these approvals is also increasing every year," said Dr G Viswanathan, chancellor, VIT University.

College managements say the bottomline is that to ensure quality in higher education, cost should not be a constraint.

Read more: Up-to-date tech, quality faculty come at a cost - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/Up-to-date-tech-quality-faculty-come-at-a-cost/articleshow/7368418.cms#ixzz1CBbLLqHC

The Association of Indian Management Schools (AIMS) International has awarded Prof. S. Sriram, Executive Director of Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai,
the ‘Outstanding B-school Director for 2010'. The award was presented at the 8th AIMS International Conference on Management held at the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, a press release said.

Prof Sriram is a corporate trainer and has consulted for companies in India and abroad over the past 20 years in the areas of strategy, structure and systems for leading corporates such as Mafatlal, Bajaj Group, IDBI, Marico, Jyoti Structures, Herdillia Chemicals, Bhor Industries and STP, among others.

He has also researched in the area of ‘The international competitiveness of the Indian Industry' sponsored by Assocham and ‘Intellectual Property Rights and its impact on Pharmaceutical Industry, a study commissioned by Organization of Pharmaceutical Producers of India, the press release added.

SRC: http://www.blonnet.com/2011/01/28/stories/2011012851462300.htm

HSC practicals from today

http://epaper.dinamani.com/epaperimages/322011/03022011-cni-mn-03/370750.JPG

Paventhar tamil research library in St.gorge fort

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http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Chennai/article1153959.ece

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"Results are yet to be declared even 8 months after students took the exam''

The two-year Diploma in Teacher Education is seeing a declining pass percentage since the syllabus was revised, according to professors of the District Institutes of Education and Training (DIET).

Delay in announcing the results is also a cause of concern. The current batch of D.T.Ed students say it is nearly eight months since they took the first-year examination, but the results are yet to be declared. What is worrying them is that nearly 70 per cent of the students who appeared for the first-year Diploma in Teacher Education examination in June 2009 failed. Over 80,000 students are enrolled in the D.T.Ed programme offered by over 700 Teacher Training Institutes (TTIs), affiliated to the Directorate of Teacher Education, Research and Training (DTERT).

Students appear for seven papers in the first year, and English is a subject in which a majority of them fail.

...

The government issued an order to establish eight colleges in as many districts in the State, on February 8.

K. Muthuchelian, Vice-Chancellor, Periyar University, told The Hindu that the government had sanctioned Rs. 47.98 crore to set up University Constituent Colleges in Nemmeli, Kanchipuram district (Madras University), Nagalapuram, Tuticorin district (Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, Tirunelveli), Harur, Dharmapuri district (Periyar University, Salem), Kallakkurichi, Villupuram district (Tiruvalluvar University, Vellore), Thiruchuzhi, Virudhunagar district (Madurai Kamarajar University, Madurai), Vedaranyam, Nagapattinam district (Bharatidasan University, Tiruchirappalli), Tirupatthur, Vellore district (Tiruvalluvar University, Vellore), and Thiruthuraipoondi, Thiruvarur district (Bharatidasan University, Tiruchy).

The colleges were given permission to introduce four courses during the first academic year.

Of the Rs. 48 crore sanctioned by the government, one third of the fund, Rs.16.02 crore, would be reimbursed by the Union government through the University Grants Commission. The State government will bear the entire Rs. 8 crore for Villupuram and Dharmapuri districts.

Meeting out expenditure

The government has sanctioned Rs. 1.50 crore to each college to meet recurring and maintenance expenses for the next five academic years. After that, universities concerned should find their own resources to meet their expenses. Registrars concerned have been told to start the colleges this academic year itself in temporary buildings available in the district.

They should coordinate with respective District Collectors to identify land for the colleges. Construction work should begin immediately.

The Director of Collegiate Education has been asked to give Rs. 5.33 crore each to Madras University, Manonmaniam University and Madurai Kamaraj University and Rs. 10.66 to Bharathidasan University (two colleges), Rs. 13.33 crore (Rs. 80-crore for Villupuram college and Rs. 5.33-crore for another college Apart from this already five University Constituent colleges were started functioning from Theni, Villupuram, Tiruvannamalai, Pudukottai and Dharmapuri (Pennagaram) this academic year. The government also gave its nod to get Rs. 1-crore for construction of Students' hostel in all the constituent colleges from the UGC.

The constituent colleges will have 3000 sq. metre constructed building for class rooms and administrative blocks, Staff Quarters (20), Laboratory, Library, Computer Centre, Welfare Centre, Play things etc. Tender floated for Pennagaram College.

Mr. Muthuchelian said that tenders have been floated to construct buildings at a cost of Rs. 2.5 crore for the college at Pennagaram on 17 acres at Thithioppanahalli in Dharmapuri district.

The foundation stone will be laid during the last week of February.

With regard to the identification of land for college at Harur, Dharmapuri District Collector R. Ananthakumar has promised to identify the land within the next four weeks, he added.

src: http://www.hindu.com/2011/02/17/stories/2011021758200500.htm

After decades of neglect, access to higher education is finally being recognised a growth driver
Indicus Analytics / February 17, 2011, 0:50 IST

Despite a demographic advantage, India’s growth has faced considerable constraints from an inadequate supply of qualified manpower. To begin with, despite a rise in the number of general and professional colleges over the last two decades, the enrollment in higher education lags the world average. The 11th five year plan document on education noted a low gross enrollment ratio (GER) of 11 per cent in higher education in 2004-05, much lower than the world average of 23.2 per cent. Further, even as rural GER stood at 6.7 per cent, urban GER was 19.9 per cent. The plan, therefore, set out to increase GER to 21 per cent by the end of the 12th plan with an interim target of 15 per cent by 2011-12.

According to the latest data available from the ministry of human resources development for 2006-07, the largest number of professional colleges are in Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, in large part due to the presence of the private sector. In Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala, the number of professional colleges is higher than that of general colleges — this reflects the emphasis on technical education in these states. Interestingly, when it comes to general colleges, Uttar Pradesh had 1,676 in 2006-07, while Andhra Pradesh had 1,674, the top two in the country. However, the population in the age group 15-24 years in Andhra Pradesh was roughly half that in Uttar Pradesh in 2006. Disparities in access, therefore, abound in the country. Students do have the option to migrate to other states for higher education, but this is available only to those who can afford the higher costs of tuition and living away from home.

In effect, there is a huge problem of access to higher education. The government, however, has made efforts to mitigate this deficit by giving extra support to boost expansion in states with low GERs, setting up new degree colleges in 370 districts that have been identified with very low GER. In addition, expansion is on for setting up new Central Universities, Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), Indian Institutes of Management and so on. Although the private sector now accommodates more than half of total higher education enrollment, there are severe problems with regard to quality, fees and accreditation that need to be resolved through appropriate regulation.

http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/bindicus-analyticsb-learning-to-grow/425389/

Graph available at http://www.business-standard.com/content/general_pdf/021711_01.pdf

in Ramanathapuram, Virudunagar, Pudukkottai and T.Malai Districts....

Source: Dinamalar 2/26/2011

The Rotary Club of Madras District 3230 on Tuesday bestowed its Educator Extraordinaire honour on celebrated Bihar-based IIT coach Anand Kumar, founder of Super 30 coaching centre.

Anand Kumar runs Super 30 — the Ramanujan School of Mathematics, which provides coaching to 30 IIT aspirants from poor social conditions in Patna, annually. The school also provides free accommodation and food to the aspirants.

Since 2002, Anand Kumar has coached 240 students, of whom 212 have made it to the IITs.

Awe-inspiring, yet humble, Anand Kumar, bowled over Rotarians with his presentation on how students from poor families in Bihar made it to India’s premier institution — the IITs.

The citation, presented by Rotarian president S Gunashekar, lauded his work as a significant contribution to the progress of the nation.

In his acceptance speech, Anand Kumar said he turned down sponsorships from different parts of the country as he did not want Bihar to be labelled as a poor and needy state.

He also expressed his wish to set up a school to provide free higher education and to coach students to crack all leading competitive exams. “I want to see my students win a Nobel prize,” he announced.

“From this year, he has agreed to coach two students from Chennai,” said Rotarian Vivek Harinarain, director, vocational service.

src: http://expressbuzz.com/cities/chennai/super-30-to-coach-2-chennai-students/252511.html

http://epaper.dinakaran.com/pdf/2011/03/03/20110303c_016107003.jpg

COIMBATORE: The Tamil Nadu Agricultural University and the Republic of Mali are planning to sign an agreement, which will see the transfer of agricultural technology to the west African country. "Agriculture is the basis of our economy and we want to foster ties with Indian people and businesses," Osmane Tandia, ambassador of Mali in India, said here on Wednesday.

Ever since Mali established its embassy in New Delhi, the African nation has been trying to improve ties with India and collaborate with the country across all sectors, the diplomat told The Times of India in an interview on Wednesday.

Under the MoU to be signed between the TNAU and Mali, the varsity will transfer technological know-how, provide equipment and give crop varieties suitable for growing in the African nation. In return, Mali, which is the highest producer of cotton in Africa, will export its cotton to India, Tandia said.

"Rice, cotton, maize and coconuts are among the crops we grow. European countries now buy raw material from us and sell the processed product back to us at a high price. We are hoping that a tie-up with India will help us out of this situation," Tandia said.

Tandia became the first ambassador to India from Mali when he presented his credentials to President Pratibha Patil on September 29, 2010. "TNAU will send two experts to Mali to study our soil conditions and will advise us on what sort of crops to grow and when," he said.

The second round of talks between the TNAU and the Mali ambassador will be held here on Thursday. "The 15-20 million people in my country will benefit from these talks," Tandia said.

Tandia said he found Coimbatore a friendly city. "I am not based in Delhi, where nine out of 10 people lie to my face. Out here, people are so warm," he said. :cheers: to CBE

src: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/coimbatore/TNAU-to-share-agriculture-technology-with-Mali/articleshow/7668169.cms

Tandia said he found Coimbatore a friendly city. "I am not based in Delhi, where nine out of 10 people lie to my face. Out here, people are so warm," he said. :cheers: to CBE



Haha thats great. Thank god this remark was not made by an ambassador from a high profile country.

:cheers1: to Tandia
:baeh3: to Delhi
:applause: to TNAU

சென்னை: தமிழகம் மற்றும் புதுச்சேரியில், மார்ச் 2ம் தேதி பிளஸ் 2 பொதுத் தேர்வுகள் துவங்குகின்றன. 1,890 மையங்களில், ஏழு லட்சத்து 23 ஆயிரத்து 545 மாணவர்கள் தேர்வை எழுதுகின்றனர்.

முறைகேடுகளை தடுக்க, 4,000 உறுப்பினர்கள் அடங்கிய பறக்கும் படை குழுக்கள் அமைக்கப்பட்டுள்ளன. பிளஸ் 2 மாணவர்களுக்கு, கடந்த 22ம் தேதியுடன் செய்முறைத் தேர்வுகள் முடிந்ததையடுத்து, முக்கியமான எழுத்துத் தேர்வுகள், நாளை 2ம் தேதி துவங்குகின்றன. இதற்காக, தமிழகத்தில் 1,859 மையங்களிலும், புதுச்சேரியில் 31 மையங்களிலும் நடக்கும் தேர்வில், ஏழு லட்சத்து 23 ஆயிரத்து 545 மாணவர்கள் பங்கேற்கின்றனர்.


இதில், மாணவர்கள் மூன்று லட்சத்து 36 ஆயிரத்து 443 பேர். மாணவியர், மூன்று லட்சத்து 87 ஆயிரத்து 102 பேர். தமிழகத்தில் ஏழு லட்சத்து 12 ஆயிரத்து 28 மாணவர்களும், புதுச்சேரியில் 11 ஆயிரத்து 517 மாணவர்களும் எழுதுகின்றனர். கடந்த ஆண்டை விட, இந்த ஆண்டில் 33 ஆயிரத்து 858 மாணவர்கள் கூடுதலாக எழுதுகின்றனர். தேர்வை சுமுகமாக நடத்துவதற்கு தேவையான அனைத்து ஏற்பாடுகளையும், தேர்வுத்துறை செய்துள்ளது. குறிப்பாக, தேர்வில் எந்தவித முறைகேடுகளும் நடக்காதபடி கண்காணிக்கவும், மீறி நடந்தால் உடனுக்குடன் கண்டுபிடித்து நடவடிக்கை எடுக்கவும், 4,000 உறுப்பினர்கள் கொண்ட பல்வேறு பறக்கும் படை குழுக்களை, தேர்வுத் துறை அமைத்துள்ளது.


இது தொடர்பாக, தேர்வுத் துறை இயக்குனர் வசுந்தரா தேவி கூறியிருப்பதாவது: வினாத்தாள் வைக்கப்பட்டுள்ள மையங்களில், 24 மணி நேர போலீஸ் பாதுகாப்பு போடப்பட்டுள்ளது. மாவட்ட கலெக்டர்கள் மற்றும் எஸ்.பி.,க்கள் மேற்பார்வையில், வினாத்தாள் கட்டுக்காப்பு மையங்களை கண்காணிக்க போதிய ஏற்பாடுகள் செய்யப்பட்டுள்ளன. இணை இயக்குனர்கள் தலைமையிலும், தேர்வுப் பணிகளை கண்காணிக்க நடவடிக்கை எடுக்கப்பட்டுள்ளது. அறிவியல் பாட தேர்வுகளின் போது, மாற்று மாவட்டங்களை சேர்ந்த தலைமை ஆசிரியர்கள், தேர்வு மைய முதன்மை கண்காணிப்பாளர்களாக இருந்து தேர்வை நடத்துவர்.


குற்றச்செயல்கள்: துண்டுத் தாள் வைத்திருத்தல், துண்டுத் தாள்களை பார்த்து எழுத முயற்சித்தல், மற்ற மாணவர்களை பார்த்து எழுதுதல், தேர்வு அதிகாரிகளிடம் முறைகேடாக நடந்து கொள்ளுதல், தேர்வுத்தாளை மாற்றம் செய்தல், ஆள் மாறாட்டம் செய்தல் போன்ற செயல்கள், கடும் குற்றங்களாகும். இது போன்ற செயல்களில் மாணவர்கள் ஈடுபட்டால், கடும் நடவடிக்கை எடுக்கப்படும். கடந்த ஆண்டு பல்வேறு விதமான ஒழுங்கீனச் செயல்களில் ஈடுபட்ட 287 மாணவர்கள் மீது நடவடிக்கை எடுக்கப்பட்டு, அவரவர் செய்த குற்றங்களுக்கு தகுந்தபடி தண்டனைகள் வழங்கப்பட்டுள்ளன.


சலுகை: மாணவர்கள் விடைத்தாளில் பதிவெண் உள்ளிட்ட விவரங்கள் எழுத, ஐந்து நிமிடங்களும், வினாத்தாளை நன்றாக படித்து புரிந்து கொள்ள 10 நிமிடங்களும், சலுகைகளாக வழங்கப்பட்டுள்ளன. எனவே, தேர்வுக்கான 3 மணி நேரம், 10.15க்கு துவங்கி, 1.15 மணிக்கு முடிவடையும்.


எஸ்.எஸ்.எல்.சி: மார்ச் 28ம் தேதி துவங்கி, ஏப்ரல் 11ம் தேதி வரை நடக்கும் இத்தேர்வை, எட்டு லட்சத்து 57 ஆயிரத்து 956 மாணவர்கள் எழுதுகின்றனர். புதுச்சேரியில், 15 ஆயிரத்து 529 மாணவர்கள் இத்தேர்வை எழுதுகின்றனர். மார்ச் 22ம் தேதி துவங்கும் மெட்ரிக் தேர்வை, ஒரு லட்சத்து 45 ஆயிரத்து 252 மாணவர்களும், ஆங்கிலோ இந்தியன் தேர்வை 4,873 மாணவர்களும் எழுதுகின்றனர். எஸ்.எஸ்.எல்.சி., தேர்வு துவங்கும் தேதியில் இருந்து, ஓ.எஸ்.எல்.சி., தேர்வும் துவங்குகிறது. இத்தேர்வை, 1,561 மாணவர்கள் எழுதுகின்றனர். இவ்வாறு தேர்வுத்துறை இயக்குனர் கூறியுள்ளார்.

http://kalvimalar.dinamalar.com/tamil/NewsDetails.asp?id=9351

* 7.23 lac students appear for +2 exams in TN and Pondicherry.
* Includes 336443 boys and 387102 girls.
* This is 33858 higher than last year.
* SSLC exams from march 28th.
* 857956 students to appear in state board.
* 145252 students to appear in matric board.
* 4873 students to appear in Anglo Indian board.
* 1561 students to appear in OSLC board.


Good to see the number of students taking +2 going beyond 7 lac for the first time. Around 11 lac take 10th (including approx 1 lac in CBSE) and I know some take up ITI courses after 10th (anyone know how many go for ITI each year?), but still a drop of almost 4 lac is worrying. Hope the government finds the reason and take corrective measures. Atleast 12 years of universal education is important if we want to be a knowledge hub.

COIMBATORE: The Tamil Nadu Agricultural University and the Republic of Mali are planning to sign an agreement, which will see the transfer of agricultural technology to the west African country. "Agriculture is the basis of our economy and we want to foster ties with Indian people and businesses," Osmane Tandia, ambassador of Mali in India, said here on Wednesday.

Ever since Mali established its embassy in New Delhi, the African nation has been trying to improve ties with India and collaborate with the country across all sectors, the diplomat told The Times of India in an interview on Wednesday.

Under the MoU to be signed between the TNAU and Mali, the varsity will transfer technological know-how, provide equipment and give crop varieties suitable for growing in the African nation. In return, Mali, which is the highest producer of cotton in Africa, will export its cotton to India, Tandia said.

"Rice, cotton, maize and coconuts are among the crops we grow. European countries now buy raw material from us and sell the processed product back to us at a high price. We are hoping that a tie-up with India will help us out of this situation," Tandia said.

Tandia became the first ambassador to India from Mali when he presented his credentials to President Pratibha Patil on September 29, 2010. "TNAU will send two experts to Mali to study our soil conditions and will advise us on what sort of crops to grow and when," he said.

The second round of talks between the TNAU and the Mali ambassador will be held here on Thursday. "The 15-20 million people in my country will benefit from these talks," Tandia said.

Tandia said he found Coimbatore a friendly city. "I am not based in Delhi, where nine out of 10 people lie to my face. Out here, people are so warm," he said. :cheers: to CBE

src: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/coimbatore/TNAU-to-share-agriculture-technology-with-Mali/articleshow/7668169.cms

nice give and take policy...hopefully cotton prices would reduce in tn. local infra players like marg, cccl etc. must invest in africa.

COIMBATORE: Vice-chancellor of the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University Murugesa Bhoopathi on Saturday said the varsity has developed an orange-fleshed sweet potato variety, rich in betacarotene, a precursor for vitamin A. As this variety is suitable for children, it should be included in the mid-day meal scheme and the university will recommend such a step to the state government. TNAU has also developed a low-sugar sweet potato, which is suitable for diabetic patients, he said.

Except tapioca all tubers are witnessing a decrease in area under cultivation. Efforts to develop food processing technologies and value chains for tuber crops, to get better returns would help boost tuber crops production.

The vice-chancellor said that the entire sago industry in Tamil Nadu faced threat of closure due to papaya mealy bug attack. However, TNAU acted swiftly and imported two parasitoids from USA which have proved to be very effective in controlling the pest.
Dr H P Singh, deputy director general (horticulture), ICAR, New Delhi, said tuber crops such as tapioca, sweet potato and yams can serve as a good alternative for food security. However, they need to be made more competitive to match the growth of other food crops. For instance, sweet potato one of the important tuber crops, has low glyceimic index, which makes it suitable for diabetic patients. Its quality of starch is also superior to that of rice. These qualities if highlighted among the public would lead to better acceptance.

Tamil Nadu holds second position in the country in cultivated tapioca area with 95,000 ha, next only to Kerala. About 80% of the tapioca produced in Tamil Nadu is utilised by sago and starch industries. Demand for tapioca is increasing continuously and it is expected that by 2015, 6.05 lakh tonnes of tapioca will be needed.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/coimbatore/Expert-calls-for-increased-production-of-tuber-crops/articleshow/7689695.cms

Tamil Nadu Agricultural University's Business Planning and Development (BPD) unit has bagged the Best Agri-Business Incubator award this year. The award, given away by the Network of Indian Agri-Business Incubators (NIABI), was in recognition of the BPD unit's overall contribution in fostering and nurturing agri-business ventures (start-ups).

The TNAU Vice-Chancellor, Dr P Murugesa Boopathi, Dr P Sivasubramanian, Director, Agri-Business Development, and Mr R Bhubesh Kumar, Business Manager, BPD Unit, received the award from Mr N Raghuveera Reddy, AP Minister for Revenue, Relief and Rehabilitation.

After receiving the award, the Vice-Chancellor said the BPD unit at TNAU was currently supporting 22 entrepreneurs, successfully commercialised five technologies such as solar crop drier, banana pseudostem processing technology, herbal insect repellent, etc, and introduced four products. (Ten BPD units have been established in five ICAR research institutes and five State Agricultural Universities across the country to promote entrepreneurship in agriculture, horticulture, animal husbandry, fisheries, agri-biotech, farm machinery, food processing and other allied sectors).

src: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/agri-biz/article1543914.ece

http://i.imgur.com/WvE1n.jpg

சென்னை: தமிழ்நாடு கால்நடை மருத்துவ அறிவியல் பல்கலையின் 14வது பட்டமளிப்பு விழா, சென்னை பல்கலை நூற்றாண்டு கலையரங்கில் நேற்று நடந்தது. தமிழ்நாடு கால்நடை மருத்துவ அறிவியல் பல்கலை வேந்தரும், தமிழக கவர்னருமான சுர்ஜித்சிங் பர்னாலா, விழாவிற்கு தலைமை வகித்தார். விழாவில், பி.வி. எஸ்சி., - பி.டெக்., ( எப்.பி.டி.,) உள்ளிட்ட பல்வேறு பிரிவுகளைச் சேர்ந்த 461 பேருக்கு, கவர்னர் சுர்ஜித்சிங் பர்னாலா பட்டங்களை வழங்கினார். தமிழ்நாடு கால்நடை மருத்துவ அறிவியல் பல்லையில், பி.வி.எஸ்சி., பட்டம்பெற்ற அனுஷா பாலகிருஷ்ணனுக்கு, பாடவாரியாக சிறந்து விளங்கியதற்காக 29 தங்கப் பதக்கங்களையும், நாமக்கல் கால்நடை மருத்துவக் கல்லூரி மற்றும் ஆராய்ச்சி மையத்தில் பி.வி.எஸ்சி., பயின்ற ரேவதிக்கு, 11 தங்கப் பதக்கங்களையும், கவர்னர் சுர்ஜித்சிங் பர்னாலா வழங்கினார்.

src: dinamalar.com

COIMBATORE: After the recession blues, it is a bullish season on the campuses of the city engineering colleges and management institutes. For the first time, IT major Microsoft came to five campuses of the top technology colleges in the city last week and recruited over 50 young talents. Internet major Google is also expected to visit the campuses during the first week of April with a tempting package of `19.36 lakh per annum.

At the Coimbatore Institute of Technology (CIT), 715 engineering students have got offers from both IT and non-IT companies. In Kumaraguru College of Engineering, 812 students have landed jobs through campus recruitments. Of them, 534 were doubly lucky: they got two job offers each. In the PSG Institute of Management, 120 post graduates have got placements this year; a clear 30% spurt in recruitment compared to last academic year.

Infosys surprised the city in the beginning of the recruitment season, by giving offer letters to as many as 1224 students of Amrita University. According to the available data on the common placement programme for colleges affiliated to Anna University, Coimbatore, there is a 20-30% improvement in the campus recruitment sector since last year.

In a clear sign of buoyancy in non-IT industry too, auto majors, multinational banks, international travel operators, leading electronics and consumer durable manufacturers flocked to Coimbatore, scouting for young talents.

"There was a visible demand for various branches of engineering and the focus was more on automobile engineering. This has been the best among the last ten seasons of campus recruitments," says Dr Rajesh Ranganathan of Coimbatore Institute of Technology.

From the job melas on the campuses, most students went back happy, with at least one offer letter. However, the pay package was not as attractive as it was during the IT boom. The salaries on offer were quite modest, ranging between Rs 3.5 lakh to Rs 7 lakh per annum.

The only exception was the `10.50 lakh offered to a few MBA students of Amrita University by the consumer products division of Khimji Ramdas Group of Muscat. Microsoft offered a pay package of Rs 7 lakh to selected students. But most other companies limited their offer to Rs 3.5 lakh and Rs 3.9 lakh.

However, there are hopes of greater pay promises from companies which may descend on Coimbatore during the first week of April.

"The packages may not be very exciting as expected. But we are happy that the days of uncertainty are over and a number of non-IT companies have come out in the open for the first time in their history," says K Senthamarai Kannan, placement officer of Kumaraguru College of Technology.

Almost all the top IT companies including Infosys, TCS, Congizant, Wipro and HCL came looking for recruits. But the list of non-IT companies was longer. Non-IT companies like Ashok Leyland, Cethar Vessels, Dr Reddys, Essar Group, L &T, Shakthi Sugars, Sterlite, Sundaram Fasterners, Ford, Ford Technologies, Volvo, TVS Lucas, Asian Motor Works, Chettinadu Cements, Tata Advanced Materials, Amazon, Dow Chemicals, Toshiba, Irevna, Thomas Cook, Payoda, GMMCO, NOMURA, Asian Paints, Blue Star, Castrol, Coca Cola, Future Group, UAE Exchange, Kotak Bank, ICICI Securities, HDFC Ltd., Heritage, Havells India Ltd. and Tata Motors have conducted campus recruitments.

"Our students were able to get offers even during recession. But this year, almost all of the students got dual offers. A few were able to get three offers at the same time," the CIT placement officer said.

Among the city colleges, Amrita University, Kumaraguru, PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore Institute of Technololgy, Bannari Amman Institute of Technology and Government College of Technology continue to be the favourites of top recruiters.

"Yes, it is the best of times. I got offer letters from IT major Accenture and automobile company Renault Nissan. The packages were almost the same. But I decided to opt for Nissan as it suits me better in my capacity as a mechanical engineer." says Goutham Arun, who completed BE mechanical from Kumaraguru college.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/coimbatore/This-season-jobs-are-a-dime-a-dozen/articleshow/7742280.cms

Recruitment are done in 1000's but why these companies are not moving here?

COIMBATORE: Not just engineering colleges, even the campuses of arts and science colleges are now busy with campus recruitments.

Data gathered from leading arts and science colleges in the cotton city show that leading companies have already issued offer letters to more than 5,000 graduate students. The companies include Ernst and Young, R R Donnelley, Birla Soft, TCS, Eureka Forbes and Taj Hotels.

As many as 216 graduate students of SNMV College were recruited in the last one month while 260 students of Rathinam Arts and Science College got placement offers. In RVS College, 125 students were placed. The promised monthly salary packages range from Rs 8,000 to Rs 30,000.

"Now most graduate students prefer jobs in BPO or IT enabled services and so there is a significant drop in the number of students aspiring for post graduate courses. Most are doing their post graduation through distant learning while working with MNC BPOs," points out P Manju, placement officer of RVS College. Most of the colleges in the city now have expert faculty to develop the 'soft skills' of students.

"We train graduates to improve their communication skills to ensure their selection. The focus is on fluency, writing skills and interpersonal communication," says T R Anand of SNMV college.

"The pay packages may be less in BPOs when compared with IT and other key sectors. But they allow us the opportunity to pursue higher studies through distance education courses. So you earn while you learn," said M Prajanand, who just completed his graduation in visual communication and is joining Ernst and Young.

As medical transcription is fast acquiring its lost sheen, the sector has started winning the attention of graduate students again. Major recruitment for the sector are likely in the coming two weeks.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/coimbatore/Leading-firms-head-to-arts-science-colleges/articleshow/7742268.cms

A final year chemical engineering B.Tech student of VIT University has bagged the Best Paper Award under the young researcher's category at the First Environment Asia International Conference, Bangkok, Thailand.

Jason Ryan Picardo participated in the conference, which was organised by the Department of Environmental Quality Promotion, Government of Thailand, University of Kyoto, Japan and University of Liverpool, the U.K.

The paper, Establishing the efficacy of the cleansing action of tropical evergreens: A modeling analysis of Asia's largest lignite based power plant, was co-authored by Picardo and professor Ghosh of the School of Mechanical and Building Sciences, VIT University.

src: http://www.hindu.com/2011/03/26/stories/2011032652990500.htm

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/SRM-varsity-a-step-closer-to-off-campus-centre-in-Tiruchi/articleshow/7803194.cms

CHENNAI: The Madras high counrt has directed the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) to consider a proposal of SRM University to bring the off-campus centre at Irungalur, Tiruchi, under the ambit of the deemed university. The proposal was made in 2007.

The institution had applied to the MHRD on August 28, 2007 following the UGC Guidelines, 2000, for permission to establish the Chennai Medical College Hospital at Irungalur. It also sent a proposal to the University Grants Commission (UGC) on January 12, 2008 for permission to start medical, dental, engineering, para-medical, hotel management and catering technology, science and humanities courses on the new campus.

After the university obtained the necessary permission, a UGC resolution on September 25, 2009 recommended that the union government bring the off-campus centre (comprising SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Irungalur and Chennai Medical College and Hospital, Irungalur), under the ambit of SRM University. This was communicated to the Centre by the UGC in a letter on September 30, 2009. "Both institutions will be reviewed annually for a period of three years and subsequently, every five years by the UGC," the letter said.

...

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/CBSE-introduces-new-elective-in-mass-media/articleshow/7796260.cms

CHENNAI: The Central Board of Secondary Education has introduced an elective in mass media studies at the senior secondary level. The move is aimed at offering students a wide choice of subjects, especially in unconventional areas, to improve career prospects.

Students of class 11 can choose the subject as one of four electives, while class 12 students can opt for it as an additional elective. "The programme will be offered in collaboration with a reputed media institute. The board will also offer a joint certification from this institute to students pursuing the course," said a circular from CBSE chairman Vineet Joshi.

The elective will brief students on film, television, print, radio and internet media; talk about the evolution of mass media; give an idea of how mass media content shapes our thoughts, vision, ethics and action; and give an analysis of the ways in which content is created in the media. It will help students understand the creative and technical processes involved in filmmaking, television production, newsprint, radio and the Internet, the circular said.

Senior principal of RMK Group of Schools C Satish said, "The board's announcement of this new elective has already generated interest among students who want to pursue humanties as a career. I see a good demand for such a course. We are waiting for the course materials to see what will be include in the syllabus."

...

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/Soon-autopsy-in-private-medical-college-hospitals/articleshow/7783682.cms



CHENNAI: From the next academic year, the state government would consider allowing private medical college hospitals do post-mortem examinations, senior health department officials said.

Presently, post-mortems are done by the government medical college hospitals and district headquarters hospitals across the state. The only private hospitals authorised to do post-mortem examination is Sri Ramachandra University.

However, the announcement is being withheld as the election commission has enforced the model code of conduct. "When private hospitals can treat victims of road accidents, assault or murder, they should be able to handle post-mortems as well. This will also help the students in the medical colleges as forensic science is part of MBBS syllabus in the second and the third year," the official said. The private colleges willing to do post-mortems have to apply and permission will be granted after inspection, the official said.

The department had so far rejected applications from private colleges. But with shortage of forensic experts in the government sector, it has decided to reconsider the decision. The Karnataka government has already permitted private hospitals to conduct post-mortems.

Presently, for the 17 government medical colleges, there are just 20 qualified forensic surgeons. Eight of them are in the city colleges and hospitals. Madras Medical College has five, Stanley Medical College has two and Royapettah Government Hospital has one. There are two forensic surgeons each in Madurai, Thoothukudi and Theni, and one each in Chengalpet, Coimbatore, Kanyakumari and Vellore. In the government medical colleges in Tiruchi, Thanjavur and Dharmapuri, there are no qualified persons.

...

http://www.coolavenues.com/news-wire/b-school-news/great-lakes-institute-management-chennai-joins-gmacs-elite-list-member-b-sch

In a major development the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC), the Apex body that conducts GMAT worldwide, has expanded its membership by including Great Lakes Institute of Management Chennai in its list.

The membership of the body is only by invitation and to select few top management Schools of the world, who have played a leadership role in Management Education. From India the only other Institutions that are the members are ISB, IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore and SPJIMR.

Commenting on this important development Prof. T.N.Swaminathan, Director External Relations , Great Lakes Chennai said, “We are honored that GMAC has invited us for the membership of the GMAC council. This recognition reflects the strides that the Institute has made in a short span of six years in Management Education in India and look forward to continuing to play a leading role in management education in India and the opportunity to move to a global level.”

“The membership will also help us play an active part in the direction of GMAT and help assist in our international accreditation,” added Prof. Swaminathan.

In his communication, GMAC President, Dr. David A. Wilson said “ We hope that you will accept our invitation as all of us at GMAC are looking forward to a long and fruitful relationship with you at these challenging times for management education, and look forward to having the opportunity to exchange ideas and work more closely with you”

GMAC member schools are drawn from graduate business and management schools around the world. Although the number of schools who are members is relatively small, more than 1,800 schools are valued customers because they use the GMAT exam.

Some of the leading B-schools from across the globe which are members of GMAC are: ESADE Business School, IESE Business School, INSEAD, London Business School, Stanford University-Graduate School of Business, Yale University-School of Management and many others.

BANGALORE: After playing out in the courtrooms and boardrooms, some of India Inc's scams have crashed into the classrooms of the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs).

A slew of scams, including Satyam, 2G, Bhopal gas tragedy ( Dow Chemical Company) and their protagonists have become a talking point at the new IIMs. Business ethics and values will now be taught as a part of the flagship postgraduate programme in management.

The newest IIM at Trichy, mentored by IIM-Bangalore, will introduce a full credit mandatory course in ethics, corporate social responsibility and values this summer for its maiden batch. ''India has always been known for its values and ethics. But things have changed in recent times. We believe each student passing out of the institute should act as change agents with socially responsive behaviour. During the interview stage, we are looking for qualities like ethical behaviour, integrity and spirit of inquiry among prospective students,'' said IIM-T director Prafulla Agnihotri.

Aditya Somani, a first year student at IIM-Ranchi, recently completed a second term course in business ethics and values. He said, ''The course did not teach him how to be ethical per se but focused on ethical decision making. ''I remember the Bhopal tragedy case where we discussed what ought to be done and what happened in reality. Professors throw up situations and we discuss how to tackle them.''

Heads of some of the biggest corporate houses, who hold honorary positions at IIMs, had pitched for these courses. Tata Motors vice-chairman Ravi Kant, who is chairman, board of governors at IIM-Rohtak, suggested a re-jig of the curriculum to include ethical business practices and CSR. In the first board meeting of the B-school in June 2010, he stressed the need for ''sensitisation of budding managers on sustainable profit making in long-term perspective versus short-term profitability.''

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Scam-effect-Course-in-biz-ethics-must-at-new-IIMs/articleshow/7847306.cms

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Chennai/article1685429.ece

Tamil will be offered as a new language option for students taking the higher secondary level examination through the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) from the coming academic year. Currently, English, Hindi, Sanskrit and Urdu are the language options available for students. Introducing Tamil is an effort to encourage more students from the State to complete schooling through the NIOS.

“Not offering Tamil is a major reason for lack of demand to NIOS in Tamil Nadu. We hope introducing Tamil would be an opening,” said V.S. Raveendran, regional director, NIOS, who is in-charge of centres in Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Kerala. He said that there have also been requests to offer Tamil as a medium of instruction at the secondary level, but it is still under consideration.

Of the 27 subjects offered in the NIOS syllabus, a student can choose a minimum of five subjects. “In NIOS, no language and subject is compulsory. The pass percentage is considered with at least one language and three non-language papers. The choice is up to the student,” he said.

...

Anna centenary Library fully operational

http://img194.imageshack.us/img194/1738/23232390.jpg (http://img194.imageshack.us/i/23232390.jpg/)

Uploaded with ImageShack.us (http://imageshack.us)

The Indian Institute of Technology - Madras has secured the award for the educational institution or university securing the highest number of patents in the last five years. The institute has filed 78 patents during the period.

The award was instituted by the Confederation of Indian Industries in collaboration with the central department of industrial policy and promotion and the Indian Intellectual Property Office.

Among the other awardees was IIT-M alumnus Lalit Mahajan, who got the award for an individual securing the highest number of patents in the last five years. A release from the institute said, "Many industries and external agencies both in public and private sectors work together with the institute faculty towards development of new products, technologies and processes."

The institute has definite policy guidelines with regard to intellectual property and how it is shared with collaborators. There is a hassle-free, transparent and easy procedure internally to facilitate the patenting process. The Centre for Industrial Consultancy and Industrial Research enables these activities in the institute.

Minister for Commerce and Industry Anand Sharma presented the awards at a function in New Delhi to celebrate the World Intellectual Property Day.

src: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/IIT-Madras-gets-award-for-highest-no-of-patents/articleshow/8121844.cms

CHENNAI: It was a moment to cherish as budding scientists from the city left for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on Saturday. Enthusiasm and excitement reverberated at Hotel Accord Metropolitan when school administrators and parents gave a warm sendoff to 125 students on an educational trip to NASA.


Students of classes IX to XII were selected on the basis of their interest in science and through examinations under the WTC Space Kids programme, organised by World Tour Club (WTC). Schools from Salem and Vellore were part of the team. At least 53 students were from Vetri Vikas School in Salem and 25 from Vellore Srishti School. From Chennai, 10 students of Padma Seshadri School and seven of DAV School were part of the trip. Another 25 students would join the team at NASA.

On how his school became part of the programme, chairman of Vetri Vikas and Vidhya Vikas schools Ganesan said, “Students from Vidhya Vikas visited NASA under this programme last year. On their return, most of them were confident of becoming scientists in future.” Chandra, a Class XII student of Vetri Vikas School, said she was excited and eager to visit NASA. Aandal, mother of Class IX student Suryaprakash, was elated to see her son go to NASA. “It is a big thing. I am very happy for my son,” she said.

Srimathi Kesan, managing director of WTC and the brain behind WTC Space Kids, said, “It all happened during one of my visits to the US travel trade show, where I interacted with scientists. They said they had no student visitors to NASA from India. That was when I decided to start a exclusive programme for children from India. Since last year, we have taken four batches of students to NASA.” Kesan has already extended her programme to places like Salem with plans to extend it to all parts of TN.

As per the programme, the students would stay at a fixed camp for six days at NASA, during which they would be tutored on everything - from astronauts’ clothing to food.

http://expressbuzz.com/cities/chennai/125-students-from-chennai-leave-for-nasa/272493.html

the only school in TN with air conditioned classrooms.

Queen mira international school,kochadai,Madurai

http://www.queenmira.com/images/queen%20mira%20view.jpg

the only school in TN with air conditioned classrooms.

Queen mira international school,kochadai,Madurai

http://www.queenmira.com/images/queen%20mira%20view.jpg

There are so many private schools which are air conditioned in TN.

VH7mRiopZzI

Tamil Nadu has burnished its reputation as a training centre for IAS aspirants with this year's results. More than 10 per cent of all candidates selected for the all India services
—- 98 out of 920 —- are from the state. Number of applicants from TN too has been increasing every year since 2000.

"When we started the Manithaneyam Academy in 2004, we received nearly 1,000 applications. But this year, we received around 40,000 applications for free coaching," said Saidai Doraisamy, founder of the Chennai-based institute which offers free coaching to needy students. Doraisamy's academy is especially sought after by mofussil and rural youth keen on high-ranking government jobs. "In many cases, these students clear the exam in their first attempt itself and become role models for others in their region," he said.

Until recently, Delhi was the only gateway for those keen to take a shot at one of India's most competitive exams. Today, statistics reveal that TN has a success rate that is higher than most states. The growth of coaching centres which offer training at reasonable rates is a key reason. Since 2005, the state has produced more than 11% of all successful candidates. :applause:

Representation from TN, where the OBC elites bring up the numbers, now matches that from UP and Bihar. IAS officer Udayachandran told TOI: "When I was selected in 1995, there were only seven others in our batch, but Mandal Commission's proposals for OBC reservations benefitted a lot of aspirants." He pointed out that the success rate in the state had gone up with youth from interior areas as well as girls showing an interest in civil services. "Now that Chennai has reasonably-priced training facilities, many aspirants from the eastern states are also coming here," he said.

With liberalisation throwing open the gates to lucrative opportunities in infotech and services, most urban upper middle class youths have steered clear of government service. But representation by women, OBC elites, and mofussil youth has clearly risen. According to D Shankar, who runs a coaching institute here, a major reason for TN's growing profile is the desire among professionals to seek economic security in government service. V Sundaram, a former principal secretary, said a felt need to serve the people and cleanse public life of corruption was also a motivation.

src: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/TN-a-leading-supplier-of-bureaucrats/articleshow/8258289.cms

The best thing that has happened in Tamil Nadu is the jealous desire of many Television Stations to disseminate vast information on various type of Courses/careers/
opportunities that exist for eager Students who keep their eyes and ears open.

Because of such information explosion and availability of vareity of Institutes, we can find so many trained hands in Para Medical Courses, Teaching , Trade/ Technology, marine fields,agriculture,poultry,animal science apart from many BScs and BAs. If all these young minds pick up some courage and go out to serve in Eastern and Northern States where demand exists without supply, it will be good for them ,their family and for the People of those States.

"When we started the Manithaneyam Academy in 2004, we received nearly 1,000 applications. But this year, we received around 40,000 applications for free coaching," said Saidai Doraisamy,

If i am correct this Saidai Doraisamy is the same ADMK candidate contesting against DCM Stalin?

Nice to see such political backgroud person helping rural youth to make record in IAS exams!

"When we started the Manithaneyam Academy in 2004, we received nearly 1,000 applications. But this year, we received around 40,000 applications for free coaching," said Saidai Doraisamy,

If i am correct this Saidai Doraisamy is the same ADMK candidate contesting against DCM Stalin?

Nice to see such political backgroud person helping rural youth to make record in IAS exams!

He is a Gem of a person. He was earlier politically sidelined and Radha Ravi was promoted by ADMK.

He and his NGO Manitha Netyam are doing wonderful service esp for the rural youth with IAS / IPS dreams. He helps them financially as well as academically.

He has to be given some important posts in the new Govt may be for Education or Velai Vayppu Thillakkuzhu.

True. Saidai Duraiswamy is an amazing personality.
During my school days I was staying in velachery and going to T.nagar daily during early 80's and during that time he became ADMK MLA (Remember Saidapet is a DMK fort) in saidapet. He setup a small size office in front of his house to help poor people. The services it provided was like free xerox, help and advice for people to fill out forms and applications etc and I remember for the whole of 5 years he was MLA every day I used to see his office full of people. It was on C.I.T column just on the road before T.Nagar bus stand and it helped lot of poor people and he made regular street visits to all parts of his constituency.

He was such a bold person imagine during mid 70's he once in a meeting he put a lemon garland for MK and started talking MK needed this because he sacked MGR from party.
He said after that happened he was pulled from dias and he woke up after a week in a hospital.

Unfortunately since he sided Janaki his political career didnt take up and when all the people who contesed for Janaki party lost deposit he got a good amount of votes in the next election(did not lost deposit) in 89 after MGR's death.

Jayalalithaa creates Rs 350 crore opportunity for laptop makers..

Considering that there are about 1.4 million students in the state eligible for this freebie, laptop-makers are looking at an order valued at between Rs 140 crore and Rs 350 crore from the state government.

Experts say an order of the size of 1.4 million units is unheard of in the computer hardware business. To put the figure in perspective, India sold a total of 2.5 million laptops and notebooks in 2009-10.

They point to DMK's handout of free colour TVs to voters in 2006. Although the move cost the state exchequer about Rs 4,000 crore, television ownership in the state shot up from 60% in 2006 to 86% in 2010, according to Chennai-based Hansa Research. Satellite TV penetration rose from 53% to 90% over the period.

"The laptop scheme, if implemented, will surely improve IT penetration and literacy in the state," says Sandeep Nair, president, Manufacturers' Association for Information Technology. "It will also go a long way in creating IT-literate talent."

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/hardware/jayalalithaa-creates-rs-350-crore-opportunity-for-laptop-makers/articleshow/8405784.cms

A Campus called bliss

MADRAS CHRISTIAN COLLEGE IS A LABORATORY OF SORTS FOR STUDENTS TO EXPERIMENT WITH LIFE, NATURE, SCIENCE AND JUST ABOUT ANYTHING

Whenever theroies and equations drive him crazy, Anand Thomas Mathew, a final year commerce student of Madras Christian College steps out of the class room—and into the scrub jungle. He listens to the chirping of the birds, see the dodging deer and bathes in the gentle breeze. And then, he gets back to study.

Mathew considers himself lucky to be studying in MCC, while many of his schoolmates spend their college hours in concrete structures. The green MCC campus also symbolises the free spirit of its students. “The serene campus is rejuvenating and ensures a spiritual and healthy learning,” says MCC principal Dr Alexander Jesudasan.

The scrub jungle, spread over 365 acres with hundreds of species of flora and fauna, was developed on the campus before the college moved to Tambaram in 1937, a century after the Scottish missionaries started it as a college on Armenian Street in 1837. An English botanist couple, Edward Barnes and Alice Barnes, carried out the afforestation that has today turned the campus into a sprawling lab for zoology and botany, the sprawling campus is a big lab. These two courses, along with commerce and English literature, are among the most sought after in MCC. The college also offers courses ranging from economics, media studies and social work to history and philosophy.

Sustainable development and environmental issues are central to the curriculum and education happens beyond the walls of the classrooms. The campus ensures student representation in the senate, and the students union, elected through a democratic process, steers college activities.

Joshua Kalapati, a professor of philosophy and coauthor of ‘The Life and Legacy of Madras Christian College’, recalls the social life of MCC in the pre-Independence era. “The police were hunting for MCC students who took part in the Independence struggle. Alexander Boyd, the then principal, would never allow the police to enter the campus to arrest the students. During the Quit India movement, MCC used to give shelter and admission for students who were expelled from other institutions without asking for a transfer certificate. Several students were jailed for more than six months for taking part in the fight against the British. The management stood by the students,” says Kalapati. This free spirit and energy of the campus moulded the persona of people like S Radhakrishnan, a great teacher and former president of India, who studied at the old MCC campus during 1904-1908.

Professors like Duncan Forrester, who taught political science for a decade in MCC in the 1960s, moulded the intellectual life of many students including CPM general secretary Prakash Karat. When the first government of Independent India formed the cabinet ministry, there were two MCC alumni in it—economist Dr John Mathai and RK Shanmukham Chetty.

Hostels in MCC, known as halls, facilitates a community living rather than a hostel life. The halls maintain an active space for learning and interactions among students and tutors. Forty-six professors and their families living with 900 students on the campus. They meet up for early morning walks and bird watching expeditions and farming. MCC, preparing for its 175th anniversary, organises community service program-mes in the neighbouring villages.

HISTORY
Madras Christian College traces its origins to the General Assembly School founded by Rev John Anderson, a missionary from Scotland. It was founded on April 3, 1837. The school functioned out of a rented building on Armenian street. The college expanded rapidly and soon ran out of space. So it initiated the Tambaram Project in 1919. Prof Edward Barnes and his wife planted rare trees and worked out the landscape. The college shifted to Tambaram in 1937. Women students were admitted on regular basis from 1939.

COOLQUOTIENT
The coolest thing about MCC has to be its greenery. Entering this campus is like taking a nature walk. Trees line the stretch from botany tank to the zoology tank and students can be seen sitting alongside the gutters that run through the campus. For most part of the year, these rainwater drains remain dry and offer a good spot for students to sit and share ideas, chat or strum a guitar. The college boasts of a good cricket ground and many tournaments are held here regularly. Each hall has its own cultural fest apart from the college fest in which students and rock bands from across the country participate.

CAMPUS COMMUNITY
Students: 5,581
Professors and staff: 250
Service staff live in a model village inside the campus
34 families
550 male students and 350 female students live inside the campus, in five halls (hostels) 46 professors living inside the campus with their families

ALUMNUSSPEAK | CK Raveendra Varma Chirakkal royal family, Kerala
MCC has always felt more like a university. The professors I had were learned. My principal Alexander Boyd knew each student by name. We used to say that if education makes a man, then Madras Christian College makes a gentleman. To me, MCC epitomises freedom. I completed my BA Honours in history from MCC in 1954. TN Seshan, former election commissioner, was my classmate.

Alumni
S Radhakrishnan | former president of India T T Krishnamachari | Ex-finance minister K Sunderji | former chief of Army E C G Sudarsan | Scientist Prakash Karat | CPM general secratary Indra Nui | CEO of PepsiCo

http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/getimage.dll?path=TOICH/2011/05/18/4/Img/Pc0041400.jpg
In the lap of nature:
The scrub jungle, spread over 365 acres with hundreds of species of flora and fauna, was developed on the campus before the college moved to Tambaram in 1937

http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/getimage.dll?path=TOICH/2011/05/18/4/Img/Pc0041500.jpg

TOI (http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp?From=Archive&Source=Page&Skin=TOINEW&BaseHref=TOICH/2011/05/18&PageLabel=4&EntityId=Ar00400&ViewMode=HTML)

IIT-JEE results are out as usual TN performed badly as if they dont have any relation to IIT's.

Can TN govt annouce something like 1 crore for every TN guys if they qualify.(Not sure if TN govt is cash rich like Mukesh Ambani who announced hugh price for MI.)

For the first time one TN girl from Chennai come in top 100 rankings.:cheers:

Let us hope if not boys girls from TN bring glory to TN.

True. Saidai Duraiswamy is an amazing personality.
During my school days I was staying in velachery and going to T.nagar daily during early 80's and during that time he became ADMK MLA (Remember Saidapet is a DMK fort) in saidapet. He setup a small size office in front of his house to help poor people. The services it provided was like free xerox, help and advice for people to fill out forms and applications etc and I remember for the whole of 5 years he was MLA every day I used to see his office full of people. It was on C.I.T column just on the road before T.Nagar bus stand and it helped lot of poor people and he made regular street visits to all parts of his constituency.

He was such a bold person imagine during mid 70's he once in a meeting he put a lemon garland for MK and started talking MK needed this because he sacked MGR from party.
He said after that happened he was pulled from dias and he woke up after a week in a hospital.

Unfortunately since he sided Janaki his political career didnt take up and when all the people who contesed for Janaki party lost deposit he got a good amount of votes in the next election(did not lost deposit) in 89 after MGR's death.

Agreed, he was the best MLA, I grew up in Saidapet, if he hadcontested in Saidapet he would have won with high margins.

IIT-JEE results are out as usual TN performed badly as if they dont have any relation to IIT's.

Can TN govt annouce something like 1 crore for every TN guys if they qualify.(Not sure if TN govt is cash rich like Mukesh Ambani who announced hugh price for MI.)

For the first time one TN girl from Chennai come in top 100 rankings.:cheers:

Let us hope if not boys girls from TN bring glory to TN.

our state syllabus is not geared towards IIT and niether any parents care that much about IIT, they think getting any engineering should be good enough

Can a young guy familiar with current scenerio, please ,peruse the 'Samacheer' 10 th Std syllabus in the net,compare with CBSE/Matric/ISE and list major short coming if any and how it will affect in higher education?

Though I ignored Samacheer Kalvi issue earlier, after the recent reversal of policy, I got interested and explored.

They seem to try socialism in education. Though it may appear genuine, the intent seems skewed.

What I understand in Socialism is - Bringing the downtrodden to the level of affluent - by educating them and helping them to excel. (Positive Gesture)

But here, the intent seems - bringing down the affluent to the level of the downtrodden so that all seem equal. (Negative Gesture)

TN Govts Policy has been perfectly wrong in Education.

Reservations are needed but only for the real needy and not for those who are affluent. The wards of IAS officers belonging to BC/MBC/SC/ST also benefit from the system and this denies the opportunity for a genuine, poor & meritorius BC/ MBC /SC?ST candidate.

Why TN people prefer Matric & CBSE over State Board? Because those schools give better education or at least better results & ranks. Obviously, the Fees are higher.

Govt should enact laws for better payment for teachers. Govt should give subsidy for the poor BC/MBC/SC/ST students to study in these schools with the same existing syllabus. By competing with others, their standards will also come up.

There may be practical issues - difficulties with respect to CBSE since it is all India.

Samacheer Syllabus should be brought up to CBSE level and testing pattern should also be CBSE pattern and not vice versa.

We do not want our next generation to be confined within their place of birth / living.

^^

Very well said :)

Though I ignored Samacheer Kalvi issue earlier, after the recent reversal of policy, I got interested and explored.

They seem to try socialism in education. Though it may appear genuine, the intent seems skewed.

What I understand in Socialism is - Bringing the downtrodden to the level of affluent - by educating them and helping them to excel. (Positive Gesture)

But here, the intent seems - bringing down the affluent to the level of the downtrodden so that all seem equal. (Negative Gesture)

TN Govts Policy has been perfectly wrong in Education.

Reservations are needed but only for the real needy and not for those who are affluent. The wards of IAS officers belonging to BC/MBC/SC/ST also benefit from the system and this denies the opportunity for a genuine, poor & meritorius BC/ MBC /SC?ST candidate.

Why TN people prefer Matric & CBSE over State Board? Because those schools give better education or at least better results & ranks. Obviously, the Fees are higher.

Govt should enact laws for better payment for teachers. Govt should give subsidy for the poor BC/MBC/SC/ST students to study in these schools with the same existing syllabus. By competing with others, their standards will also come up.

There may be practical issues - difficulties with respect to CBSE since it is all India.

Samacheer Syllabus should be brought up to CBSE level and testing pattern should also be CBSE pattern and not vice versa.

We do not want our next generation to be confined within their place of birth / living.

Good assessment.
The intent of "samacheer kalvi" can't be for bringing down the levels of high performing students but to lift the level of not so well performing students.

Yesterday, I went on a mission to Rural TN and met quite a few students in Class XI & XII.

I could not resist myself in asking them reg Samacheer System.

Almost all of them have been given to understand that they can pass the exams easily if this Samacheer system is brought in. :nuts:

In one place, one student told me that they can even write english subject in Tamizh :ohno:

I find most of the rural students dread English and majority fear Maths also. Any thing by Rote - they seem to be more comfortable.

Even their teachers are quite confused. I did not see / feel any commitment & responsibility / accountability from them. (They wanted to discuss more on their salary and benefits with me than students' problems)

We have to go to the BASICS and reform.

I am afraid that our Gen Next will suffer more due to faulty policies.

Minister Shanmugam's explanation (http://new.vikatan.com/article.php?mid=2&sid=183&aid=6507) for dropping Samacheer kalvi

செம்மொழிக் கவிதைதான் தடைக்குக் காரணமா?

விளக்கம் கொடுக்கும் சி.வி.சண்முகம்

ஐ.ஏ.எஸ்., ஐ.பி.எஸ். அதிகாரிகள் இடமாற்றம், சட்டசபை இடமாற்றம்... என்று அதிரடி காட்டிய அ.தி.மு.க. அரசு, இப்போது சமச்சீர் கல்விக்கும் சடன் பிரேக் போட்டு இருக்கிறது. சமச்சீர் கல்விக்கான தடையை நீக்கக் கோரி, உயர் நீதிமன்றத்தில் வழக்கு, அரசியல் கட்சிகளின் போராட்டங்கள் என அடுத்தடுத்து விவகாரம் சூடுபிடிக்க... பள்ளிக் கல்வித் துறை அமைச்சர் சி.வி.சண்முகத்தை சந்தித்தோம்!

''தி.மு.க. அரசு கொண்டுவந்த திட்டம் என்பதால்தான் தடை போடு​​கிறீர்களா?''

''முதலில் ஒன்றைப் புரிந்து​கொள்ளுங்கள். சமச்சீர் கல்வித் திட்டத்​துக்கு நாங்கள் எதிரி அல்ல. நாங்களும் அதை ஏற்கிறோம். சமச்சீர் கல்வியின் நோக்கம் என்ன? எல்லோருக்கும் பொதுவான, தரமான கல்வியை மாணவர்களுக்கு கொடுக்க வேண்டும் என்பதுதானே? அதைத்தானே நாங்களும் சொல்கிறோம். கடந்த தி.மு.க. ஆட்சியில் அவசரக் கோலமாக கொண்டுவரப்பட்ட சமச்சீர் கல்வி முறையில் நிறையக் குளறுபடிகள்... அதை அப்போதே நாங்கள் எதிர்த்தோம். மாணவர் - பெற்றோர், ஆசிரியர் மத்தியிலும்கூட எதிர்ப்பு எழுந்தது. நீதிமன்றத்தில் வழக்கும் தொடர்ந்தனர். ஆனாலும், பெயர் வாங்க வேண்டும் என்பதற்காக, அவசரமாக செட் போட்டு தலைமைச் செயலகம் திறந்ததுபோல், சமச்சீர் கல்வியையும் திடுதிப்பென அமல்படுத்திவிட்டனர். இப்படி ஒரு ஓட்டைப் படகை வைத்துக்கொண்டு கல்விக் கடலை நீந்துவது என்பது முடியாத காரியம்!

எனவே, மாணவர்களின் கல்வித் தரத்தை உயர்த்தும் வகையில், தற்போதைய சமச்சீர் கல்விப் பாடத் திட்டத்தை திருத்தி, உயர்த்திக் கூர் தீட்ட இருக்கிறது வல்லுநர் குழு. அதுவரையிலும் மாணவர்களுக்குப் பழைய பாடத் திட்டமே தொடரும்!''

''இந்தத் தற்காலிகத் தள்ளிவைப்பு என்பது, சமச்சீர் கல்வியை ஒட்டுமொத்தமாக தடை செய்வதற்கான முன்னோட்டம்தான் என்ற கருத்து நிலவுகிறதே?''

''உண்மை என்னவென்றால், சமச்சீர் கல்வித் திட்டங்களை வரையறுக்க தி.மு.க. அரசு அமைத்த முத்துக்குமரன் கமிட்டியின் வழிகாட்டுதல்களை தி.மு.க. அரசே பின்பற்றவில்லை. அதனால்தான், 'தற்போதைய சமச்சீர் கல்வியில் தரமே கிடையாது. இது மாணவர்களையே சீரழித்துவிடும்’ என்று முத்துக்குமரனே கடந்த காலத்தில் பேட்டி அளித்தார். மாணவர்களின் கல்வித் தரத்தை உண்மையிலேயே உயர்த்த வேண்டும் என்றால், பள்ளிகளின் கட்டமைப்பு வசதிகள், ஆசிரியர்களின் பயிற்சித் திறன் ஆகியவற்றையும் மேம்படுத்த வேண்டும். எங்களைப் பொறுத்த வரையில், 'செய்வன திருந்தச் செய்’ என்பதையே கடைப்பிடிக்கிறோம். மற்றபடி இதில், அரசியல்ரீதியான காழ்ப்போ, சமச்சீர் கல்வியை ஒழித்துக்கட்டும் எண்ணமோ எங்களுக்குத் துளியும் கிடையாது!''

''தற்போதைய சமச்சீர் கல்வியில் அப்படி என்னதான் குறைபாடு?''

''திட்டத்தை அமல்படுத்திய அடிப்படையே தவறு. சென்ற ஆண்டில், ஒன்றாம் வகுப்புக்கும், ஆறாம் வகுப்புக்கும் சமச்சீர் கல்வியை அறிமுகப்படுத்தினர். இப்போதோ, ஒரே நேரத்தில் ஒன்றாம் வகுப்பில் இருந்து 10-ம் வகுப்பு வரை இந்தத் திட்டத்தை ஒட்டுமொத்தமாக அறிவித்துவிட்டனர். போன வருடம் ஒன்பதாம் வகுப்பு வரை பழைய பாடத் திட்டத்தில் படித்துக்கொண்டு இருந்த மாணவன், திடீரென இப்போது 10-ம் வகுப்பில் சம்பந்தமே இல்லாமல், புதிதாக சமச்சீர் பாடத் திட்டத்தைப் படித்தால், அவனுக்கு என்ன புரியும்? உளுத்தம் பருப்பு இல்லை என்றால், கடலைப் பருப்பு என்று மாற்றி வாங்கிச் செல்வதற்கு, கல்வி ஒன்றும் கடைச்சரக்கு இல்லையே!

எந்த மாற்றத்தைக் கொண்டுவருவதாக இருந்தாலும் முதலாம் வகுப்பு, இரண்டாம் வகுப்பு என்று படிப்படியாகத்தான் கொண்டுவர வேண்டும். தேர்தலில் அறிவித்து​விட்டோம் என்பதற்காக மாணவர்களின் கல்வி விஷயத்தில் இப்படி 'எடுத்தேன்... கவிழ்த்தேன்!’ என்று அவசரம் காட்டுவதையே தவறு என்​கிறோம்!''

''ஏற்கெனவே, 216 கோடி செலவில் தயாரான சமச்சீர் கல்விப் புத்தகங்களை ஒதுக்கி​விட்டு, புதிய புத்தகங்களுக்காக டெண்டர்​விடுவது ஊழலுக்குத்தான் வழிவகுக்கும் என்கிறார்​களே?''

''இப்போது தயார் நிலையில் இருக்கும் சமச்சீர் புத்தகங்களின் மதிப்பு 237 கோடி! ஆனால், இதன் உண்மையான மதிப்பு வெறும் 80 கோடிதான். மூலப்பொருட்களின் விலையேற்றம் என்ற காரணத்தைச் சொல்லி, கடந்த ஆட்சியினர் இவ்வளவு பெரிய விலை ஏற்றத்தை ஏற்படுத்தினர். இதிலும்கூட, 70 சதவிகிதப் புத்தகங்கள்தான் தயார் செய்து இருக்கிறார்கள்.''

''சமச்சீர் பாடத் திட்டத்தில் உள்ள 'கருணாநிதி செம்மொழி கவிதை, கலைஞர் காப்பீட்டுத் திட்டக் கட்டுரை’களும் ஆளும் கட்சியின் கோபத்தைக் கிளறி​விட்டதோ?''

''தற்பெருமைக்காக ஒருவர் தன்னைப்பற்றிய பாடத் திட்டத்தை ஒன்றாம் வகுப்பு பாடத் திட்டத்தில் வைக்கலாம், இரண்டாம் வகுப்பு பாடத் திட்டத்தில் வைக்கலாம்... ஆனால், ஒன்றில் இருந்து 10-ம் வகுப்பு வரையிலும் உள்ள சமச்சீர் பாடத் திட்டத்தில், தொடர்ச்சியாக தற்பெருமைப் பாடங்களைக் கடந்த ஆட்சியாளர்கள் சேர்த்திருப்பது உண்மைதான். ஆனால், குறிப்பிட்ட அந்தப் பாடங்களுக்காகத்தான் நாங்கள் சமச்சீர் கல்வித் திட்டத்தையே நிறுத்திவிட்டோம் என்று சொல்வது முட்டாள்தனம். அவர்கள் சொல்கிறபடியே வைத்துக்கொண்டாலும், அந்தக் குறிப்பிட்ட பாடத்தை மட்டும் நீக்கிவிட்டு நாங்கள் திட்டத்தை அமல்படுத்தி இருக்கலாமே!?''

About Sama cheer kalvi

2t9FcVlsDnY

India's Top 50 Engineering Colleges 2011

Heavily dominated by public institutions, the top-50 listing is a roll call of excellence India’s top 50 engineering institutions 2011



Ranking the top colleges is a very difficult task. While it is relatively easy to create clusters of colleges, it is differentiating within clusters that became the most difficult exercise. So for the first time in the country we have used balanced scorecard methodology to arrive at the ranking of the top 50 colleges. Ranking methodology: We scanned the last five year rankings of about 241 colleges and normalised their ranks, by assigning differential weights to subjective and objective ranking. Such a process is used to develop clusters of institutions. The research standing of individual institutions were further used to refine the clusters and remove the odd men out. Individual clusters were ranked serially. In each of these clusters the differences in cut-off marks, wherever possible (like in case of IITs and AIEEE institutes and some States) were used to arrive at individual ranks. Heavily dominated by public institutions, the top-50 listing is a roll call of excellence India’s top 50 engineering institutions 2011

http://img94.imageshack.us/img94/7360/top50engineeringcollege.gif


source :- http://in.education.yahoo.com/news/yeducareers360/indias-top-50-engineering-colleges-2011-20110607


But its weird to see NIT TRICHY being ranked next to anna university !!!

India's Top 50 Engineering Colleges 2011

Heavily dominated by public institutions, the top-50 listing is a roll call of excellence India’s top 50 engineering institutions 2011



Ranking the top colleges is a very difficult task. While it is relatively easy to create clusters of colleges, it is differentiating within clusters that became the most difficult exercise. So for the first time in the country we have used balanced scorecard methodology to arrive at the ranking of the top 50 colleges. Ranking methodology: We scanned the last five year rankings of about 241 colleges and normalised their ranks, by assigning differential weights to subjective and objective ranking. Such a process is used to develop clusters of institutions. The research standing of individual institutions were further used to refine the clusters and remove the odd men out. Individual clusters were ranked serially. In each of these clusters the differences in cut-off marks, wherever possible (like in case of IITs and AIEEE institutes and some States) were used to arrive at individual ranks. Heavily dominated by public institutions, the top-50 listing is a roll call of excellence India’s top 50 engineering institutions 2011

http://img94.imageshack.us/img94/7360/top50engineeringcollege.gif


source :- http://in.education.yahoo.com/news/yeducareers360/indias-top-50-engineering-colleges-2011-20110607


But its weird to see NIT TRICHY being ranked next to anna university !!!

Anna university is always ahead of NIT.

http://l.yimg.com/t/images/top-50-engineering-colleges.gif

"When we started the Manithaneyam Academy in 2004, we received nearly 1,000 applications. But this year, we received around 40,000 applications for free coaching," said Saidai Doraisamy,

If i am correct this Saidai Doraisamy is the same ADMK candidate contesting against DCM Stalin?

Nice to see such political backgroud person helping rural youth to make record in IAS exams!

Your are right, he is the same Saidai Doraisamy. If he had won, he would have got the Education Minister post.

Anna university is always ahead of NIT.

http://l.yimg.com/t/images/top-50-engineering-colleges.gif


ANNA university is ahead of many other NIT'S but it is behind NITW and NITT in terms of placement , faculty and facilities .

I feel it is high time all private engineering colleges offer specialised courses apart from the regular EEE, ECE, ME, AE, Civil. There is going to huge demand for specialised engineers

Chennai : SRM University, recently adjudged the number one varsity in India, would soon set up a Space and Satellite Research Centre at its campus in suburban Kattankulathur.

The Space and Satellite Centre would be established in association with the Indian Space Research Organisation by the end of this year. ''Talks are only in the initial stages.

The Centre is aimed at enhancing the research level in space and satellite technology involving students and scientists of ISRO'', SRM University Vice-Chancellor P Sathyanarayanan said today.

Talking to UNI on the sidelines after inaugurating the counselling process for engineering admissions, he said the ongoing talks would be carried forward after the launch of SRMSAT, a nano satellite built by students of SRM University, through a PSLV mission in August.

''We are planning to have the Centre by the end of this year'', he said. About the SRMSAT, Prof Sathyanarayanan said it would be a Nano satellite developed to the effects of green houses in the atmosphere. It would monitor green house gases in near infra-red region.

It has a grating spectrometer for monitoring earth-based sources and sinks of anthropogenic and natural sources of green houses gases. The satellite had already been sent to ISRO for necessary tests and it would launched in August using a PSLV rocket.

Prof Sathyanarayanan also announced setting up of SRM Research Institute with an investment of Rs 50 crore to concentrate in four key fields -- nano technology, energy, bio-tech and wireless technology.

The Institute would have one Principal Investigator, two post doctors and a couple of PhD scholars, who would be given a seed amount of 100,000 US dollars to take up research and to come out with publications and patents.

On the yearly scholarship provided by the university, he said this eyar the Scholarhsip has been increased from Rs 12 crore to Rs 15 crore. All the top ten rankers in SRM Entrance Exams would be given Founder's Scholarship, which contains full waiver of tution and hostel fees, besides a monthly stipend of Rs 1,000.

''Those who had got about 95 per cent of marks, will be given 50 per cent waiver in tution fees. This will also be applicable to sportspersons, ecnonomically backward, minorities and physically challenged'', he added.

He said apart from this, plus Two toppers from each district of the state would be given Founder's scholarships.

India's 11 {+t} {+h} IIM in Tiruchi started off on a firm footing on Wednesday with 88 students in the first batch of the flagship post graduate Programme (PGP) 2011-13. Their median score of 98.62 percentile was impressive for a start-up.

The website of IIM, Tiruchi (IIMT), was launched by the Chairman, Board of Governors, M. Damodaran, and the logo was unveiled by the chief guest Gopal Vittal, Executive Director, Hindustan Unilever Limited, Mumbai.

Though IIMT was to be started in 2010 along with three other new IIMs in Rohtak, Ranchi and Raipur, it is the first among the four to get started with a full-time Director and 12 highly qualified and experienced full-time faculties chosen out of over 400 applicants from the country and abroad, Mr. Damodaran said, encouraging the first batch of students to co-author the success story and leave behind a legacy, drawing on the richness of faculty.

Mr. Damodaran sounded confident that under the leadership of Director Prafulla Agnihotri and with the collective wisdom of the members in the Board of Governors constituting experts in Marketing, Finance and Corporate Law, and self-made industrialists, the IIMT will break into the comity of leading management institutions worldwide in a matter of years.

“Get started from day one. There is not too much room to take things easy,” Mr. Damodaran advised the students.

He added: “Don't take your foot off the accelerator… Drive by observing the rules. Enjoy the ride and forget the destination for success. Compete against yourself to decide benchmarks. A collaborative competition can be on cooperative base.”

Mr. Gopal Vittal advocated six attributes for the new batch of students to make the best use of the two years of precious time in the journey of life: A yearning to bring out their best by building confidence from academic and non-academic experiences; cherishing every relationship that enhance quality of life; an innate zeal to chase excellence by moving targets constantly; working as TEAM (Together Everyone Achieve Magic); connecting to society with a sense of gratefulness for being among the fortunate microcosmic section to undergo top-quality education; and finding out what infuses a meaning into life.

Dr. Agnihotri introduced the 12 faculty members drawn from leading institutions in USA and France, IIMs, and IITs. Though the plan was to restrict the number of admissions to 60 for the first batch, the response was overwhelming, he said, promising for the new students an environment wherein they could bring out their best to create the brand equity.

Faculties and students will be sent on exchange programmes to quality institutions abroad, Dr. Agnihotri said.

src: http://www.hindu.com/2011/06/16/stories/2011061653990200.htm

Source (http://dinamani.com/edition/story.aspx?&SectionName=Editorial&artid=432798&SectionID=132&MainSectionID=132&SEO=&Title=)

நீதிபதி ரவிராஜபாண்டியன் தலைமையிலான "தனியார் பள்ளிகள் கல்விக் கட்டண நிர்ணயக் குழு' அறிவித்துள்ள புதிய கட்டணங்கள் பெரும்பாலான பெற்றோருக்கு ஏற்புடையதாக அமைந்திருக்கவில்லை என்பது கடந்த இரு நாள்களாக அனைத்துத் தரப்பிலும் எழுப்பப்படும் கண்டனங்களிலிருந்தும் குமுறலில் இருந்தும் தெரியவருகிறது.

சென்னையில் உள்ள சில குறிப்பிட்ட பெரிய பள்ளிகளில் இப்போது அறிவிக்கப்பட்டுள்ள கட்டணம், ஏற்கெனவே நீதிபதி கோவிந்தராஜன் தலைமையிலான குழு அறிவித்த கட்டணத்தைக் காட்டிலும் ரூ.7,000 அதிகமாக இருப்பதாகச் செய்திகள் வெளியாகின்றன. எஸ்பிஒஏ மெட்ரிக் பள்ளியில் பிளஸ் 1 வகுப்புக்கு கோவிந்தராஜன் கமிட்டியால் பரிந்துரைக்கப்பட்ட ரூ.11,000, இப்போது ரூ.25,000-மாக அறிவிக்கப்பட்டிருப்பதாகத் தெரிகிறது.

பொதுவாகப் பார்க்கும்போது இந்தக் கட்டணங்கள், தனியார் பள்ளிகளைத் திருப்தி செய்யும் விதத்தில் சராசரியாக 40 விழுக்காடு வரை உயர்த்தப்பட்டிருக்கிறது என்பது மிகவும் வெளிப்படையாகத் தெரிகிறது. அதிலும் குறிப்பாக, நகர்ப்புறத்தில் உள்ள பெரிய பள்ளிகள், சிறுபான்மையினர் பள்ளிகளின் நலனைக் காக்க வேண்டும் என்ற முடிவோடு கட்டணங்கள் தீர்மானிக்கப்பட்டிருப்பது போலவும் தோற்றம் அளிக்கிறது.

சில பள்ளிகள் மிகக் கூடுதலாகவே கட்டணம் பெற்றுள்ளன என்பதோடு, மிகச் சில பள்ளிகளுக்கு மட்டுமே கோவிந்தராஜன் கமிட்டி நிர்ணயித்த கட்டணத்தைக் காட்டிலும் மிகக் குறைவான தொகை அதிகரிக்கப்பட்டுள்ளது. மிகச் சில பள்ளிகளுக்கு முன்பைக் காட்டிலும் சில நூறு ரூபாய் மட்டுமே குறைக்கப்பட்டிருப்பதும்கூட நடைபெற்றுள்ளது. மொத்தத்தில் பார்த்தால் கோவிந்தராஜன் கமிட்டி நிர்ணயித்த கட்டணங்களை உயர்த்துவதற்காகவே இந்தக் கமிட்டி நியமிக்கப்பட்டதோ என்றுகூடப் பெற்றோர்கள் அங்கலாய்க்கும் விதத்தில்தான் ரவிராஜபாண்டியன் கமிட்டியின் பள்ளிக் கட்டண நிர்ணயம் இருப்பதாகத் தெரிகிறது.

டிசம்பர் 2009-ல் நீதிபதி கோவிந்தராஜன் தலைமையில் நியமிக்கப்பட்ட கமிட்டி, மிகக் குறுகிய காலத்தில் 10,500 பள்ளிகளையும் ஆய்வு செய்து, கட்டணத்தைத் தீர்மானித்திருப்பது இயலாத காரியம் என்று தனியார் பள்ளிகள் சார்பில் நீதிமன்றத்தில் மனு தாக்கல் செய்யப்பட்டது. நீதிபதி ரவிராஜபாண்டியன் இக்குழுவின் தலைவராக நவம்பர் 2010-ல் நியமிக்கப்பட்டார். இவர் பொறுப்பேற்ற பின்னர் நவம்பர் 15-ம் தேதி முதல் மே 4-ம் தேதி வரை 6 மாதங்களில் இந்த 6,400 பள்ளிகளில் எப்படி ஆய்வு நடத்தியிருக்க முடியும்? ஒவ்வொரு பள்ளியாகத் தரத்தையும், கட்டமைப்பு வசதிகளையும் ஆராய்ந்து இந்தக் கமிட்டி கட்டணம் நிர்ணயித்தது என்பது மட்டும் நம்பக்கூடியதாகவா இருக்கிறது?

கட்டணங்கள் தங்களுக்குச் சாதகமாக இல்லாமல் இருந்திருந்தால், இத்தகைய கேள்வியைத் தனியார் பள்ளிகள் கிளப்பியிருக்கும். ஆனால், தாங்கள் எதிர்பார்த்தபடியே இக்கட்டணங்கள் அறிவிக்கப்பட்டதால், இதை எதிர்த்து நீதிமன்றம் செல்ல அவர்கள் என்ன அத்தனை அப்பாவிகளா?

மாவட்டங்களில் முதன்மைக் கல்வி அலுவலரால் இந்தக் கட்டண விவரக் கடிதம் அளிக்கப்பட்டபோது அதைப் பார்த்த ஒரு தனியார் பள்ளித் தாளாளர், ""அட ஐநூறு ரூபாய் குறைஞ்சா என்னப்பா, புத்தகம் சீருடைக் கட்டணங்களை விருப்பம்போல வசூலிக்கலாம் என்று சொல்லிவிட்டார்களே, இதுபோதும்'' என்று மகிழ்ச்சிப் பெருக்குடன் சத்தமாகவே சொல்ல, அனைவரும் புன்முறுவல் செய்தனர் என்று கேள்விப்படும்போது, நீதிபதி ரவிராஜபாண்டியன் குழுவின் முடிவில் குறை இருப்பதைக் காணமுடிகிறது.



எதற்காகப் புத்தகம், நோட்டுப் புத்தகம், சீருடை ஆகியவற்றைப் பள்ளிகளிலேயே வாங்க வேண்டும்? ஷு, கேன்வாஸ் ஷு ஆகியவற்றுக்கும்கூட இவர்கள் கடைவிரித்து கமிஷன் பார்க்கிறார்கள் என்று பெற்றோர் புலம்பியழும் நிலையில், இதனை அவர்கள் விருப்பம்போல வசூலித்துக் கொள்ளலாம் என்று தீர்மானிப்பது எந்த வகையில் நியாயமாகும்?

தமிழ்நாட்டில் உள்ள தனியார் பள்ளிகள் அனைத்தும் அதன் வசதிகள், தேர்ச்சி விகிதம், ஆசிரியர் எண்ணிக்கை, இடவசதி, கல்வித் தளவாடங்கள் அனைத்தின் அடிப்படையிலும் ஏ, பி, சி, டி என தரம் பிரிக்கப்பட வேண்டும். அந்தத் தரத்துக்குள் வரும் பள்ளிகள் வசூலிக்க வேண்டிய கட்டணத்தையும் இதேபோன்று நான்கு விதமாகப் பட்டியலிட்டாலே போதுமானது. நகரங்களில், பெருநகரங்களில் அமையும் பள்ளிகள் தங்கள் கட்டணத்தில் எத்தனை விழுக்காடு அதிகரித்துக்கொள்ளலாம் என்று அனுமதி தந்தாலும் போதும்.

ஓர் அரசு ஊழியரின் அடிப்படைச் சம்பளம், வாடகைப் படி ஆகியன அவரது பதவி, அவர் பணியாற்றும் இடத்தைப் பொறுத்து ஒரே சீராக நிர்ணயிக்கப்படும்போது, பள்ளிகளையும் ஏ, பி, சி, டி என தரம் பிரிக்கவும், நகர்ப்புறத்துக்கு ஏற்பக் கட்டணத்தை உயர்த்தும் அளவையும் அரசு தீர்மானிப்பதில் என்ன சிக்கல்?

தனியார் பள்ளி ஆசிரியர்களின் தரம், சம்பளம் என்றெல்லாம் பேசுகிறார்களே, அப்படியானால் எல்லா தனியார் பள்ளிகளும் அரசுப் பள்ளிகளின் ஆசிரியர்கள் பெறும் ஊதியத்தைத் தங்களது பள்ளி ஆசிரியர்களுக்கும் வழங்க முன்வருவார்களா?

கல்வியறிவிலும் தொழில்வளர்ச்சியிலும் தமிழகத்திலேயே கடைநிலையில் உள்ள தருமபுரி மாவட்டத்தைச் சேர்ந்த ஒரு சாதாரணப் பள்ளிக்கூடத்தில் எல்கேஜி படிப்புக்கு நீதிபதி கோவிந்தராஜன் கமிட்டி நிர்ணயித்த ரூ.4,000-த்தையே அதிகம் என்று கூறிய நிலையில், அந்தப் பள்ளிக்கு ரூ.6,400 (அவர்கள் ஏற்கெனவே வசூலித்ததைக் காட்டிலும் ரூ.300 குறைவு) வசூலிக்க நீதிபதி ரவிராஜபாண்டியன் குழு அனுமதித்துள்ளது என்றால், மாவட்டத்தில் சாதாரண நடுத்தரவர்க்கப் பெற்றோர் தங்கள் குழந்தைகளை எப்படித் தனியார் பள்ளிகளில் கல்வி பயில அனுப்ப முடியும்?

பள்ளிகளை நான்குவிதமாகத் தரம் பிரித்து, தமிழ்நாடு முழுவதும் நான்குவிதமான கட்டணங்கள் மட்டுமே இருக்க வகைசெய்தால் அனைத்துப் பெற்றோருக்கும் நன்மை தரும். மேலும், இப்போதைய கட்டணத்தைப் பள்ளியில் ஓட்ட வேண்டும் என்ற விதிமுறையைக்கூட அலட்சியப்படுத்தும் இந்தப் பள்ளிகளைத் தரவரிசைப்படுத்தினாலாவது, இதன் கட்டணம் இதுதான் என்பதை அரசு அறிவிப்பதிலும் சிக்கல் இருக்காது.

அரசு நிர்ணயிக்கும் கட்டணத்துக்கும் மேலாக வசூலிக்கும் பள்ளிகளின் உரிமத்தை ரத்து செய்வது அல்லது அரசுடைமையாக்குவது என்பதை ஓரிரு பள்ளிகளில் செய்தாலும்கூட போதும், தமிழ்நாட்டின் தனியார் பள்ளிகள் அனைத்தும் சட்டத்தின் ஆட்சிக்குள் வந்துவிடுவார்கள்.

இதற்கு அதிகாரிகளுக்கும் மனதில்லை. அரசியல்வாதிகளும் தயாரில்லை. ஆட்சியாளர்களுக்கும் துணிவில்லை. முந்தைய அரசின் நிலை இதுவாகத்தான் இருந்தது. இன்றைய ஜெயலலிதா அரசு பள்ளிக் கட்டணத்தை முறைப்படுத்துவதன் மூலம், தன்னை ஒரு மக்களின் அரசாக நிலைநிறுத்த முடியும். இந்த வாய்ப்பை முதல்வர் நழுவவிடலாகாது!

Chennai sangamam and Solar eclipse chapters removed from samacheer kalvi

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^^^^ Samacheer kalvi Ok but why solar eclipse?:lol: It transliterated version has the word "suriya"?

The book writers seem to have included Kalaignar's name and deeds where ever possible to show their loyalties and win brownies.

Why his efforts for making Tamizh as Chemmozhi has to be mentioned in a lesson explaining Solar Eclipse?

Thappattam is a traditional folk art of TN and it has been portrayed as if this has been due the effort of Kanimozhi through Sagamam.

There was no need to include his / Sangamam namex in text books in this way.

They over did every thing and the students suffer now.

I enjoyed a few folk arts of TN during Sangamam and I enjoy some of the speeches Kalaignar gave esp the one after Anna's death.

But they are not history and need not be mentioned in Text books.

The book writers seem to have included Kalaignar's name and deeds where ever possible to show their loyalties and win brownies.

Why his efforts for making Tamizh as Chemmozhi has to be mentioned in a lesson explaining Solar Eclipse?

Thappattam is a traditional folk art of TN and it has been portrayed as if this has been due the effort of Kanimozhi through Sagamam.

There was no need to include his / Sangamam namex in text books in this way.

They over did every thing and the students suffer now.

I enjoyed a few folk arts of TN during Sangamam and I enjoy some of the speeches Kalaignar gave esp the one after Anna's death.

But they are not history and need not be mentioned in Text books.

I am not aware of those facts .Ridiculous ! But 10 th standard students are suffering a lot because of this. whether in 10 th standard books kalaingar ponamozhi's are included?

சந்தேகம் கேட்டதால் ஆசிரியர்கள் மிரட்டல்: 7 பக்கத்தில் கடிதம் எழுதிவிட்டு மாணவர் தற்கொலை

பனமரத்துப்பட்டி: கணக்கு பாடத்தில் சந்தேகம் கேட்ட மாணவரை ஆசிரியர்கள் திட்டி, மிரட்டியதால், மனமுடைந்த மாணவர், வீட்டில் தூக்கு போட்டு தற்கொலை செய்து கொண்டார். போலீஸாருக்கு தெரியாமல் மாணவன் பிணம் எரிக்கப்பட்ட நிலையில், பள்ளி ஆசிரியர்கள் மிரட்டியது குறித்து, இறந்த மாணவர் எழுதிய ஏழு பக்க கடிதம் சிக்கியுள்ளது. சம்பவம் குறித்து, போலீஸார் தீவிர விசாரணை நடத்தி வருகின்றனர். சேலம், நிலவாரப்பட்டி இருசாயி அம்மன் கோவில் தெருவைச் சேர்ந்த சேகர் - விமலா தம்பதியின் இரண்டாவது மகன் சீனிவாசன் (18). இவர், பனமரத்துப்பட்டி அரசு மேல்நிலைப்பள்ளியில், ப்ளஸ் 2 கணக்கு பிரிவில் படித்து வந்தார். நேற்று முன்தினம் சனிக்கிழமை சீனிவாசன் பெற்றோர், அண்ணன் சத்தியமூர்த்தி ஆகியோர் வெளியில் சென்றனர். வீட்டில் சீனிவாசன் மட்டும் தனியாக இருந்துள்ளார். மதியம் 2.30 மணிக்கு வீடு திரும்பிய தாய் விமலா, வீடு திறந்து கிடப்பதை கண்டு, உள்ளே சென்று பார்த்துள்ளார். வீட்டு உத்தரத்தில் சேலையில் தூக்கு போட்டு சீனிவாசன் தற்கொலை செய்திருந்தது தெரியவந்தது. அதிர்ச்சியடைந்த பெற்றோர், போலீஸாருக்கு தகவல் தெரிவிக்காமல், மாலை 5 மணிக்கு நிலவாரப்பட்டி மயானத்தில் மாணவன் சீனிவாசன் உடலை எரித்து விட்டனர். நேற்று, சக மாணவ, மாணவியர் மற்றும் உறவினர்கள், சீனிவாசனின் ஸ்கூல் பேக், பெட்டி ஆகியவற்றை திறந்து பார்த்தபோது, இறக்கும் முன் சீனிவாசன் எழுதிய ஏழு பக்க கடிதம் கிடைத்தது. அக்கடிதத்தில், "என் சாவுக்கு, என் பெற்றோரோ, என் குடும்ப உறவினர்களோ காரணம் இல்லை. என் முடிவை எழுதியவர்கள், நான் பயிலும் பனமரத்துப்பட்டி அரசு மேல்நிலைப்பள்ளி ஆசிரியர்கள். கணித ஆசிரியர் செந்தில், இயற்பியல் ஆசிரியர், வேதியியல் ஆசிரியர், தமிழ் ஐயா ராமலிங்கம் என, எழுதப்பட்டுள்ளது. கடிதத்தில் மாணவர் எழுதியிருப்பதாவது: நான் 10ம் வகுப்பு வரை, தாசநாயகன்பட்டி அரசு பள்ளியில் படித்து வந்தேன். மேல்நிலைக் கல்வியை பனமரத்துப்பட்டி அரசு மேல்நிலைப்பள்ளியில் படித்து வந்தேன். அரசு பள்ளி என்றால், அனைவருக்கும் அலட்சியம் தான். நான், 12ம் வகுப்புக்கு சென்று மூன்று நாட்கள் தான் ஆகிறது. எங்கள் கணக்கு ஆசிரியர் நடத்தும் பாடம் எங்களுக்கு புரியாது. இவர் தான் எங்களுக்கு, 11ம் வகுப்புக்கும் கணக்கு பாடம் நடத்தினார். அப்போது இருந்தே எங்களுக்கு புரியும்படி மெதுவாக நடத்தவும் என, பல முறை கேட்டு வந்தோம். பல முறை கேட்டும், அவர் சரியாகவே நடத்தவில்லை. கடந்த 16ம் தேதி நடத்திய கணக்கு பாடம் எங்களுக்கு புரியவே இல்லை. கணக்கை புரியும்படி நடத்தும்படி கேட்டதால், என்னை முறைத்துவிட்டு போர்டில் இருப்பதை எழுது என, சொல்லி விட்டு சென்றார். கணக்கு பாடத்தை புரியும்படி, மெதுவாக நடத்த வேண்டும் என, தலைமை ஆசிரியரிடம் புகார் கொடுக்க, வகுப்பு மாணவர்களிடம் கையெழுத்து வாங்கினேன். மாலை பள்ளி முடிந்து நண்பன் ஜீவாவும், நானும் வந்து கொண்டிருந்தோம். அப்போது, வேதியியல் ஆசிரியர் என்னை அழைத்து, "படிக்க வந்தா, படிக்கிற வேலையை மட்டும் பார். தேவையில்லாத வேலையை பார்க்காதே' என, கோபமாக திட்டினார். "நீ உன் வகுப்பில் எல்லோர் முன்னாடியும், கணக்கு புரியவில்லை என, சொன்னியாமே; என் வகுப்பில் அப்படி செல்லிப் பார்; என்ன நடக்கும் பார்' என, மிரட்டினார். "கணக்கு நடத்தும் போது சந்தேகம் கேட்க கூடாதா? எங்கள் வகுப்பில் உள்ள அனைவருக்கும் கணக்கு புரியவில்லை' என, கூறினேன். அடுத்த நாள், 17ம் தேதி மதியம் கம்ப்யூட்டர் ஆசிரியர் என்னை அழைத்து, "கையெழுத்து ரிப்போர்ட் வாங்கி இருக்கியாமே; வகுப்பு ஆசிரியரான என்னிடம் ஏன் சொல்லவில்லை' என, கேட்டார். அப்போது, இயற்பியல் ஆசிரியர், "நீ என்ன பெரிய இவனா? மூடிக்கிட்டு உக்காந்து டெஸ்ட் எழுது' என, திட்டினார். பின்னால் வந்த தமிழ் அய்யா ராமலிங்கம், "நீ என்ன பெரிய ரவுடியா? இது என்ன காலேஜா? இது அரசு பள்ளி. உன்னை பள்ளியில் சேர்த்து கொண்டதே பெரிசு. இந்த லட்சணத்தில் நீ இப்படி ரவுடித்தனம் பண்ற. உனக்கு புரியவில்லை என்றால், "டிசி' வாங்கிக் கொண்டு உனக்கு பிடித்த வாத்தியார் இருக்கிற பள்ளிக்கு சென்று படி' என்றார். "நான் கையெழுத்து வாங்கியதை, ஹெச்.எம்.,மிடம் கொடுக்கலாமா?' என, கெமிஸ்ட்ரி ஆசிரியரிடம் கேட்டேன். ஆனால், அவரோ எல்லா ஆசிரியரிடமும் சொல்லி, திட்டு வாங்கி வைத்து விட்டார். மாலை 3.30 மணிக்கு தலைமை ஆசிரியரிடம் அனுமதி கேட்டு, வீட்டுக்கு வந்து கடிதத்தை எழுதுகிறேன். என் ஆத்மா சாந்தி அடைய வேண்டும் என்றால், என்னை நினைத்து அப்பா, அம்மா அழக்கூடாது. இனி, மனித பிறவி எனக்கு வேண்டாம் என, வேண்டுகிறேன். அரசுப் பள்ளிகளையும், அதன் ஆசிரியர்களையும் மேம்படுத்தவும், சிறப்பான கல்வி அளிக்க வேண்டும் என, கல்வி அதிகாரிகளை கேட்டுக் கொள்கிறேன். என் மரணம் மூலம் அரசு பள்ளியில் சிறு மாற்றம் ஏற்படாதா?, இனி என் மாதிரி எத்தனை உயிர்களை ஆசிரியர்கள் எடுக்க போகிறார்களோ தெரியவில்லை. திறமையான ஆசிரியர்கள் நிறைய பேர், அரசு வேலையை எதிர்பார்த்து காத்திருக்கின்றனர். அவர்களுக்கு வாய்ப்பு அளிக்க வேண்டும். மேல்நிலை வகுப்புக்கு தகுதியான ஆசிரியர்களை போட வேண்டும். இதற்கு முதலமைச்சர் நிரந்தர தீர்வு காண வேண்டும். இக்கடிதத்தை, சி.இ.ஓ.,விடம் ஒப்படைக்கவும். என மரணத்துக்கு பிறகு சட்டம், தன் கடமையை செய்ய வேண்டும். இவ்வாறு, கடிதத்தில் எழுதப்பட்டுள்ளது. இந்த கடித விவகாரம், பெரும் பரபரப்பை ஏற்படுத்தி உள்ளது. இது தொடர்பாக, எஸ்.பி., அலுவலகத்தில் புகார் செய்யப்பட்டது. இன்ஸ்பெக்டர் ரவிச்சந்திரன் மற்றும் போலீஸார், தற்கொலை செய்து கொண்ட மாணவன் சீனிவாசன் வீட்டுக்கு நேரில் சென்று விசாரணை நடத்தினர். விசாரணைக்கு பின், மல்லூர் போலீஸில் புகார் செய்ய மாணவனின் பெற்றோருக்கு அறிவுறுத்தப்பட்டது. நேற்று, இரவு 8 மணிக்கு, மகன் மரணத்திற்கு காரணமான, பள்ளி ஆசிரியர்கள் மீது நடவடிக்கை எடுக்க வேண்டும் என, சீனிவாசனின் தந்தை சேகர், மல்லூர் போலீஸ் இன்ஸ்பெக்டர் ரவிசந்திரனிடம், சீனிவாசன் எழுதி வைத்திருந்த, 7பக்க கடிதத்தையும், இணைத்து புகார் செய்தார். இது குறித்து போலீஸார் கூறியதாவது: போலீஸாருக்கு தகவல் தெரிவிக்காமல் மாணவன் சீனிவாசன் உடலை எரித்தவர்கள் மீது வழக்கு பதிவு செய்யப்படும். இறப்பதற்கு முன் சீனிவாசன் எழுதி வைத்த கடித்தை, அரசு தரப்பு வக்கீல்களிடம் காட்டி, அவர்கள் தரும் ஆலேசானைபடி ஆசிரியர்களிடம் விசாரணை செய்து, நடவடிக்கை எடுக்கப்படும், என்றனர். இச்சம்பவம் குறித்து கல்வித்துறை அதிகாரிகளும் விசாரணையை துவக்கியுள்ளனர்.


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