Indian Education thread [Archive]

kronik

December 9th, 2005, 07:22 AM

Something very very unfortunate is going to take place soon. The Government is going to pass a constitutional amendment seeking quotas in private, and unfunded colleges and universities after the SC deemed it unconstitutional.

While we may praise the Government's IT, telecom and Aviation ministries, the utter backwardness and mindlessness of the home and HRD ministries is going to ensure that we remain in the third world.

Govt pushes education quotas (http://www.business-standard.com/common/storypage.php?hpFlag=Y&chklogin=N&autono=208026&leftnm=lmnu2&leftindx=2&lselect=0)

The Cabinet today approved the introduction of a Constitutional Amendment Bill aimed at reserving seats for socially and economically backward classes, scheduled castes and scheduled tribes in unaided private educational institutions.

The Bill also seeks to regulate the fees of such institutions. The Bill will enable states to enact their own laws to provide for reservation and set fees.

While the impact of the move on business schools is not clear, the proposed constitutional amendments will help the southern Indian states regulate admissions in private engineering and medical colleges.

In states like Tamil Nadu, the move could result in the reservation of nearly 70 per cent of seats in private unaided colleges, officials said.

He said the government was expecting the Bill to be passed during the current session of Parliament as the amendments had been backed by a “majority consensus” among all political parties. The amendments will not provide for reservation in minority institutions.

There you have it folks. You think these politicians are going to turn a new leaf because this country is moving into a new century? They will effectively institutionalize this sad practice which has been reduced to nothing but a weapon of patronage and corruption and more than often shortchanges the bright student who unfortunately does not belong to a community that is politically important for a bloody politician.

I have always supported the reduction of quotas. I feel this is not the right way to go. According to me, the government needs to support economically disadvanted and 'backward' students with grants and cheap loans that enable them to prepare and compete with the best in the admission tests. This will put each youth on a level playing field. Unfortunately it is not to be.

Arjun Singh is an ineffective Yes-man being rewarded for his services to the Gandhi family and it shows in his functioning.
Utterly disappointed and disillusioned, I am. Someone please put forward some positives!

centralized pandemonium

December 9th, 2005, 04:00 PM

^^ Quotas should be for the poor students only. Not all "backward" caste students are poor and not all "forward" caste students are rich. Quotas based on caste should be completely remvoved in atleast in MBBS. I wouldn't feel to comfortable showing myself to a doctor who became one due to his caste, not his merit. These private colleges should do something drastic and threaten the goverment and mobilise the students to carry out massive protests.

WillyWick

December 9th, 2005, 05:22 PM

What next? Quotas in IT Companies? The government seats in these private colleges already have quotas for backward caste. So whats wrong when people with money buy off management seats? If these rich people are r not going to pour money into these colleges, who is going to fund these private institutions ? Crazy Bill by the government.

Quotas should be for the poor students only. Not all "backward" caste students are poor and not all "forward" caste students are rich.

I agree with u on this point that quotas should be for the poor and not for the caste. But unfortunately we do not have a kind of social security system like developed countries to identify a person as poor or rich. Caste has been a crazy rule of aproximation to differentiate the rich and the poor, although it has some truth in it. But in todays India, the quotas, to a vast degree are helping the backward caste of middle income group. It has created an biased playing field in the middle income groups.

The poor people, who are mostly backward castes are sometimes unaware of benefits (rural) or are hit by other social issues and are unable to pass out high school, to use he quotas. Does'nt really reach the people for whom the quotas were intended for.

Mid day meal scheme was one good thing which broght more kids to school and was pretty successful.There has been lot of noise about e-governance. Lets see if something better would come out of it.

centralized pandemonium

December 9th, 2005, 05:27 PM

^^Quota in money and wealth of the MPs :). And in the immigration to US and quotas in cars sold, and every other shit.

Bombay Boy

December 9th, 2005, 05:48 PM

is the congress capable of anything but social lip-service? must say they are extremely good at grand schemes that promise much but end up being retrograde

Suncity

December 9th, 2005, 05:49 PM

I wouldn't feel to comfortable showing myself to a doctor who became one due to his caste, not his merit..

A person (irrespective of caste or quota) cannot become a doctor until he/she successfully completes medical school and gets his/her MBBS degree.

Same with engineering or other degrees.

However I do think that it would be fairer to have quotas based on income levels and other criteria rather than caste alone. That way the opportunities can also be extended to people of other communities and other sections of society.

The biggest problem with affirmative action in India is the lack of schooling facilities for the under priviledged. If children don't get 12 years of proper schooling, how are they supposed to take advantage of the quotas supposedly for them?

With only a small percentage of people passing 12th grade, the Indian schooling system already throws out a majority of underpriviledged students from going into the higher education system.

The stress should be on every child completes High School irrespective of caste, creed, religion, income.

Instead of ensuring the above, our crude politicians have chosen the short cut to announce populist measures which in reality benefit only a tiny percentage of people.

Same with jobs. Instead of striving to provide jobs for everyone, the politicians try to get brownie points by announcing quotas.

Quotas are just a small part of bringing up the underpriviledged into the mainstream and they are in a way justified. But quoatas are not the only way to help the underpriviledged. Our good for nothing politicians however try to use quotas as having done a big favour to people and thus try to get votes.

People should not be fooled by our politicians. They should demand that our politicians and babus take steps to provide at least high school education and jobs for all.

centralized pandemonium

December 10th, 2005, 04:20 AM

Experts divided, new IITs plan put on hold (http://indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=83688)

WillyWick

December 10th, 2005, 04:30 AM

Also posted in Kolkatta updates thread

IIT Kharagpur to set up Rs 200-cr electronics R&D unit in city
http://cities.expressindia.com/full...p?newsid=160452

Kolkata, December 7: The Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur (IIT-KGP) has decided to set up a research & development incubation campus in Kolkata for global technology firms and start-up ventures. The incubation centre would cover various areas of electronics, from the design of DSP or digital signal processors to microprocessor architecture and various software applications.

Partha P Chakrabarti, Dean of IIT-KGP’s sponsored research and industrial consultance, said the Rs 200-crore project will be ready within a year. The IIT-KGP has held talks with the State Government for a 50-acre plot and the required infrastructure. According to the Dean, the ideal location would be New Town Rajarhat, north of the state’s information technology hub in Salt Lake.

Many in the IT industry feel that the centre could become one of its kind in India, comparable with initiatives by China’s ministry of science and technology, which has set up seven such incubation centres.

Pradip K Dutta, President & Managing Director of Synopsys (India) Pvt Ltd, said: ‘‘Such a centre would quickly and efficiently help us outsource part of our technology development jobs. This can be our R&D extension centre.’’

Synopsys India is a unit of Synopsis, Silicon Valley. It develops tools for electronic design automation. The incubation centre would be an opportunity for global firms like Synopsys, that are still not present in Kolkata but want to take advantage of city’s engineering and science talent pool.

‘‘For companies like us it is a two-way opportunity. Start-up companies at the incubation centre will be able to use our design tools to design chips, while we can have a small set-up here with local talent to do our technology development jobs,’’ said Datta. This could be true for other companies like Texas or Intel.

WillyWick

December 10th, 2005, 04:44 PM

Also posted in TN thread

First stem cell transplant centre coming up in city
Asia Cryo-cell Private Limited, pioneers in cord blood stem cell banking in India, and Sri Ramachandra Medical College and Research Institute(SRMC and RI), a deemed university, joined hands in setting up Life Cell, India's first exclusive stem cell transplant centre in Chennai by June 2006. Announcing their joint venture at a press conference here yesterday, S Abhaya Kumar, vice-chairman and CEO of Asia Cryo-cell, expounded on his company's hope to emerge as a key player in promoting technical research and medical care to the people rather than a mere storage company of cells.

http://www.newstodaynet.com/10dec/rf16.htm

kronik

December 10th, 2005, 08:01 PM

With reservations (http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=83647)

It is not only cynical, vote-your-caste politicians who will welcome the extension of positive discrimination into this new domain. Many sensible observers will argue that with the private sector taking on an increasingly important role in education supply, the lack of quotas left no way in for many of the truly disadvantaged.

The truth is that decades of reservations in state and state-aided education have not significantly increased the representation of Dalits and SC/STs. The story here mirrors that in government—jobs quotas are generally filled up in the lowest categories but the higher you go, the fewer are the examples of successful social engineering. There’s little reason to presume education quotas will work in the new area either.

Almost all forms of official social engineering involve interference in private rights. But some interfere more than others, which is the case with quotas in unaided private institutions. The fundamental principle—that an enterprise set up with private resources should be able to conduct its business freely—is at stake here.

That brings up the third and most important clash: between supply and demand of quality education. India has a state education sector that is resource-poor at the primary/secondary stage. At the higher end, there is a surfeit of universities and colleges that excel in providing almost worthless education. The rise of private education institutions, including overly buccaneering ones, is partly a result of this.

If the government spends wisely on education, if it insists on quality and has the ability to deliver it, the disadvantaged can be educated, even without quotas. But, of course, that’s so much tougher than passing laws.

Willywick, to answer your question about quota in IT sector, not that the government isnt trying that already!
13 years of free market reforms are too little a time to erase the 45 years of a socialist mindset in which the politician visions himself as the only provider after God.

WillyWick

December 11th, 2005, 04:16 PM

Bharatiar varsity working towards R&D park

http://www.thehindu.com/2005/10/21/stories/2005102108160400.htm

fred_the_cute_guy

December 11th, 2005, 05:30 PM

Delighted to know this one :) ...

Express News Service

Pune, December 5: SYMBIOSIS Institute of Computer Studies and Research (SICSR) has been selected by the Indian Space Research Organisation for the Indo US Edusat Network. The network is a joint initiative of ISRO, Department of Space, Department of Science and Technology, Amrita Vishwavidyapeetham, Coimbatore, five US universities and three corporates — Microsoft, Qualcomm and Cadence.

A statement issued on Monday stated that the University of California (at Berkeley and San Diego), Carnegie Mellon University, Cornell University, Case Western Reserve University Cleveland, Ohio and State University of New York at Buffalo will depute teachers to teach full fledged engineering or computer subjects to colleges and universities all over India.

Faculty members will deliver live lectures in an interactive manner over a special satellite network that ISRO has set up at a teaching e-learning studio on the Amrita campus in Coimbatore. In the first phase, 50 institutions from all over India are chosen to participate in this programme. Each of these institutions will receive a full V-SAT link, computer and projector equipment to set up an e-learning classroom on campus, free of charge.

The American universities will also allow these professors to use their teaching and research material and related content for inclusion in the digital content library for future use. The various disciplines of collaboration include computer science and engineering, IT, electronics and communication, manufacturing, biotechnology and bio-informatics, nano-technology, health care and others.

Edusat can provide connectivity between far flung rural areas and the urban centres of information and can improve the access and quality of education, says T M Kanvinde, director of the centre. The function will be inaugurated on Thursday at New Delhi by President A P J Abdul Kalam. The entire function will be held via VSAT Network.

centralized pandemonium

December 11th, 2005, 07:16 PM

Representatives of British universities to visit Chennai (http://www.hindu.com/2005/12/11/stories/2005121114500200.htm)

WillyWick

December 12th, 2005, 03:40 AM

ANUSAT & a President with an extrordinary vision.

Education and e-mpowerment

Initiative to provide education resources electronically can transform learning

President Abdul Kalam's strong advocacy for a knowledge grid connecting educational institutions, research facilities and industries is the logical follow-up of a series of measures that have been undertaken by Anna University to ensure that tele-teaching reaches even the remotest corners of the State. In short, satellites would deliver what formal educational institutions could not.

"Bandwidth is the demolisher of imbalances and a great leveller in the knowledge society. Particularly for Anna University with its constituents of about 250 engineering colleges, establishment of [a] knowledge grid is essential. [The grid] consists of connectivity between the constituent colleges of Anna University, knowledge creation, knowledge sharing/dissemination and knowledge reuse. This will involve formulation of innovative methods by which knowledge and information are accessed fast,'' Dr. Kalam said in his special address on `Technical Education and National Development' during his recent visit to Chennai.

The President also had a foolproof recipe for how this could be done to bring education down to its least common denominator. "The connectivity today technologically is possible but would need creation of high-bandwidth reliable network infrastructure to the extent of a minimum 10 gigabits per second all through the country to provide uniform access of knowledge in different regions. Satellite links should be used in difficult regions with Wi-MAX for last mile access. Universities worldwide should be interconnected for collaborative research using under-sea fibre cable of high bandwidth and switch over to Internet 2 access.''

What this would mean for knowledge users is "access to high-performance computing environment, virtual reality, simulation systems, parallel/clustered servers and super computer infrastructure from any end of the grid.'' Simply put, this means the logistical/technical leverages would benefit rural users as much as it does urban ones.

Factoring in of technical aspects would have to work at several levels: while lectures, for example, would require a few hundred kilobytes, accessing digital libraries would involve megabytes to several gigabits to connect to remote laboratories.

This, combined with Anna University's vision statement of interconnecting all affiliated engineering colleges through EDUSAT and to develop ANUSAT, a micro satellite sponsored by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), should well be the way lessons will be taught and learnt in the future.

The technical university has already commissioned an interactive terminal capable of sending and receiving video signals under Ku band of EDUSAT. This would allow 50 engineering colleges to have simultaneous interactive programmes through videoconferencing. "This would aid in taking quality technical education to rural students in remote villages,'' says Vice-Chancellor D. Viswanathan.

The Rs. 5.44 crore-ANUSAT, fully designed and developed by staff and students of Anna University, aims to establish expertise in the development and use of more micro satellites, apart from providing quality and trained manpower for the country's space research.

With the skies finally being opened up to take education to the remote reaches of the country, bandwidth is turning out to be the greatest leveller of all.

http://www.hindu.com/2005/12/12/stories/2005121206110500.htm

WillyWick

December 14th, 2005, 01:52 AM

University ties up for peace studies

To sign MoU with the Royal College of Physicians, U.K. for working in HIV and AIDS
MoU with the University of Michel De Montaigne in France, in the area of archaeology
Syndicate has approved promotion of 34 lectures to the post of lectures (senior scale).

http://www.hindu.com/2005/12/14/stories/2005121416940400.htm

WillyWick

December 14th, 2005, 01:58 AM

TNAU signs pact with American university

The tie-up will help farmers increase production
Will facilitate educational reforms and update curricula
Will promote sandwich graduate programmes, provide state-of-the-art training in frontline technology
There is scope for using biotechnology in agriculture, food and nutrition

http://www.hindu.com/2005/12/14/stories/2005121406800500.htm

WillyWick

December 14th, 2005, 08:37 PM

IIT to start 'IP School'

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/businessline/blnus/14141306.htm

WillyWick

December 16th, 2005, 10:03 PM

EDUSAT project cleared for Madurai Kendriya Vidyalaya

The Kendriya Vidyalaya in Madurai has been identified for installing the EDUSAT (Educational Satellite) facility soon and steps have been initiated to establish the technical infrastructure required for the purpose.

http://www.hindu.com/2005/12/17/stories/2005121701200200.htm

WillyWick

December 16th, 2005, 10:12 PM

Samsung, United Way to set up school

The total project cost is estimated at $4,00,000. Foundation for the `Samsung United Way School' (SUWS), to be set up on a two-acre site, was laid on Friday. It will begin functioning from January 1, 2006 and, in the first year, will benefit 250 children.

http://www.hindu.com/2005/12/17/stories/2005121707730500.htm

WillyWick

December 19th, 2005, 02:33 AM

SRM institute signs agreement with Korean university

CHENNAI: The SRM Institute of Science and Technology (SRMIST), a Deemed University, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Youngsan University of Korea that provides for academic collaboration, including faculty and student exchange, besides joint research programmes.

The SRMIST's Vice-Chancellor, P. Sathyanarayanan, and the Youngsan University's President, Guwuck Bu, signed the MoU on Friday.

The agreement would be in force for five years and extended for another five-year period, Mr. Sathyanarayanan told newspersons later.

Mr. Sathyanarayanan and the university's director (Research and Virtual Education), M. Ponnavaikko, said information technology and hotel management and catering management were two focal areas in which the collaboration would begin.

http://www.hindu.com/2005/12/19/stories/2005121904430200.htm

WillyWick

December 19th, 2005, 02:43 AM

JNTU exams go hi-tech

An examination that gives results immediately and also evaluates the mistakes committed is going to be a reality with the introduction of online examination system by the Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University (JNTU), the first one to do so in the country.

Engineering students of 240-odd colleges affiliated to the JNTU now don't have to go through the age-old tradition of writing the examinations.

They will simply click the mouse and after the scheduled time the result will be flashed on the screen along with the mistakes committed and also solutions for the wrongly answered questions. "Online system is being introduced for internal assessment of marks as of now and its extension to other exams depends on the feedback," says JNTU Vice Chancellor K. Rajagopal.

Question bank

The university has created a question bank for each subject designed by subject experts. The student just needs to get onto the system at the college and key in the hall-ticket number. The computer randomly picks 20 questions with four choices of answers for each question.

After the specified time the question page automatically vanishes and then within minutes the score sheet appears along with the correct answers.

The designed software ensures that no two students get the same question paper. "The score is also recorded immediately at the central server thus negating any chances of mischief," says K. Vijaykumar Reddy, Controller of Examinations.

The system that comes into effect from this year has inherent advantages to plug leakage of question papers, bias and effective monitoring of the conduct of internal examinations by its large pool of affiliated engineering colleges. "Colleges that give marks without conducting the test cannot tamper with the system now," says Dr. Reddy.

It will also be ensured that standard of questions is same for all students. However, to ensure that students are exposed to conventional mode of testing, half the examinations will be conducted in the old manner. The average of best four of six papers would be given to the students.

Double valuation

Yet another change is the double valuation of answer scripts from this year. A new scheme of valuation has been prepared to be followed strictly by the two valuators looking into each script.

The Chief Examiner will award the better of two valuations or he will decide the marks of the difference between the two valuations is more than 12 marks.

The method has been used for the first semester examinations of final year students this year and there is a marked improvement in the marks. "Perhaps, the valuators are more careful as there is a penal action for neglect," points out Dr. Rajgopal.

To reduce burden on the valuators, no examiner will be issued more than 40 answer scripts per day.

"Burdening them with more scripts and expecting proper valuation is not fair," says the Vice-Chancellor.

An official said 13 lakh scripts were valued for the entire series of examinations held in November and December.

But due to double valuation the effective number has risen to 27 lakhs. Nearly 11,250 examiners were roped in for valuation.

Dr. Rajagopal feels the new system will effectively cut down requests for recounting. The university will consider revaluation requests but with a heavy fee, which is yet to be decided.

http://www.hindu.com/2005/12/19/stories/2005121900780500.htm

WillyWick

December 20th, 2005, 10:41 PM

Red Hat, CII arm Shiksha in pact to distribute free content to schools

RED Hat, the provider of open source solutions to enterprises, and the CII's Shiksha India Trust have signed an MoU to work together to modernise the Indian education system.

Under the agreement, Red Hat and Shiksha will make the latest in IT and educational content available to educational institutions across India.

Shiksha India is a not-for-profit initiative by CII aimed at bringing in education equity through technology.

It has developed educational content that it is distributing free of cost to schools across India.

The objective of the agreement is to make software and content more affordable within the Indian education system.

Prof Y.S. Rajan, Principal Adviser, CII, said: "India has the second largest education system in the world and there is an urgent need to modernise it using IT. We have, therefore, developed content that we offer free to educational institutions.

"Even the CII-Shiksha content for teaching in schools is based on the open source concept. We will allow capable and motivated teachers to creatively modify the content and give a distinct flavour to suit the local conditions and use it for teaching in other languages."

Mr Javed Tapia, President (Indian Subcontinent), Red Hat, said: "This agreement signifies the growing acceptance of open source in India. We will work with Shiksha India to create a community of Indian educators to create content and software that can be shared freely among educational institutions."

Shiksha empowers schools with technology tools, totally free of cost, and help integrate technology effectively in the teaching-learning process.

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2005/12/21/stories/2005122102701900.htm

cncity

December 22nd, 2005, 02:17 PM

Pune City’s big pull: Skill set, Oxford of the east.

One of the biggest pull factors for investments in Pune has been the resource pool. ‘‘Three of the six universities have been identified by the Centre to be education exporters. The city has 8,000 foreign students from 62 countries. To add to that, around 5,000 students study foreign languages — Japanese, German, Spanish, French and Russian,’’ the study said. The non-formal education — 5,200 students undergo chartered accountancy classes in Pune, while GRE/ GMAT too bring in students from all over the country — has also been a decisive factor.

To ensure that this talent pool remains of value to the industry, the MCCIA is launching an initiative to train faculty in the city’s colleges. The chamber will bring in experts from outside to train the faculty in Pune’s colleges, MCCIA president Ravi Pandit said. It will also design supplementary courses tailor-made to suit industry needs. ‘‘We have designed around eight to 10 courses that will be announced in the next four months,’’ Pandit said. Besides, the chamber is also working with the University of Pune to revamp its computer education at the undergraduate level.

centralized pandemonium

December 27th, 2005, 07:52 PM

Reservation sought for "forward" communities (http://www.hindu.com/2005/12/27/stories/2005122704400600.htm)

The Thamizhnadu Brahmin Association (THAMBRAAS) has demanded a 15 per cent reservation of seats in educational institutions and jobs for communities categorised as "forward."

I am gonna support this. If 75% of the seats are gone, what will happen to the FCs? They will be left eating dirt. Its a shame that we still have caste system after 60 years of independence, but if the politicians are gonna be stupid, we might as well take advantage of it and demand reservations. I do hope this goes through, but of course there will be massive protest against this, but I will pray to God this goes through. After all the FCs are also a major voting block and constitute around 30% of the population.

WillyWick

December 27th, 2005, 10:01 PM

University of Hyderabad sets up liquid helium plant

SCIENTIFIC research required to be done at very low temperatures is set to get a major boost, especially in universities with a new liquid helium plant set up at the University of Hyderabad here.

The university has joined a select band of Indian institutions to set up a liquid helium plant. Commissioned recently, the plant can produce liquid helium at the rate of 10-40 litres per hour.

The plant at the School of Physics, will be part of the low temperature and high magnetic field facility to be set up at the university under the Department of Science and Technology sponsored project.

The facility will enable researchers to carry out experiments at very low temperatures of the order of 4 degrees Kelvin( -269 degrees Celsius). In addition, it would also facilitate experiments involving magnetic fields as high as 80,000 Oersted in phase one and 140,000 Oersteds in phase two.

The university has emerged as one of the top Indian universities in scientific research and also in attracting research funding. From a level of Rs 24 crore at the beginning of the Tenth Five-year Plan, it has reached Rs 120 crore by the end of 2005.

The Department's of Science and Technology, Biotechnology, the University Grants Commission and the Defence Research and Development Organisation have liberally provided research grants for specific projects.

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2005/12/27/stories/2005122702001900.htm

pding

December 27th, 2005, 10:13 PM

good news. we need more research funding and hopefully UofH can utilize these facilities to attract more money for ethical research.

kvijayasundaram

December 30th, 2005, 09:14 PM

Link to news (http://www.hindu.com/2005/12/31/stories/2005123107070800.htm)

.......HYDERABAD: Three new conventional universities — one each in the three regions of Andhra Pradesh — will be set up at Nizamabad, Kadapa and Rajahmundry to start functioning next academic year.

This decision was taken by the Cabinet at its meeting here on Friday considering the growing number of colleges. The legislation required for establishing these universities will be adopted during the budget session of the Assembly. With this, the total number of conventional universities in the State will go up to 14.

Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy told reporters an experts committee would be constituted immediately to work out details of the universities which would be allotted Rs. 100 crores each for five years. The one contemplated at Kadapa would be named after Yogi Vemana. The names for the other two were yet to be decided.

Explaining the decision, the Chief Minister said that no university had been set up in the State during the past 20 years while the number of colleges had registered a steep rise. "Osmania has 491 colleges, Andhra 382, Venkateswara 195, Kakatiya 237 and Nagarjuna 265," he said, adding that the ideal number of colleges for each university would be 100 to 150. All teaching posts would be filled soon in the existing universities.

The new universities would be self-sustaining by running self-financing courses, instead of solely depending on the Government. He denied the suggestion that he was seeking to privatise higher education and denying access to the poor.

Referring to criticism against the cut in the budget for the weaker sections, he said the Government would step up the welfare budget substantially in the next fiscal while maintaining the tempo in the irrigation sector.

The Cabinet reviewed the security measures to be taken for the upcoming major events in Hyderabad next month when the Prime Minister and other dignitaries would be here. "Security will be beefed up for these events," he said.

The Chief Minister greeted people of the State on the New Year eve. Referring to the policies of his Government, he said people were happy that Janjhavathi project was ready for commissioning while 10 other projects were poised for completion in the coming year.........

pding

December 30th, 2005, 09:22 PM

hmmm, very interesting. 3 more universities......what do y'all think? the advantages and disadvantages?? Has this been done in any other state in the recent past (in the last 2 decades)???

really never thought of such a decision. hope the standards for these new ones still remain pretty good.

also, 100 crores for each for the next 5 years translates into 1,500 crores.
if it's done in the right way, this move will give good results by producing quality students.

also, this might've been decided to some extent keeping the future in view, since there is a chance that OU colleges of engg. and tech. & AU college of engineering are in consideration for IIT status.

kvijayasundaram

January 2nd, 2006, 12:38 AM

Link to news (http://www.hindu.com/2006/01/02/stories/2006010221450400.htm)
.......
HYDERABAD: The Birla Institute of Technological Sciences (BITS) that runs the sought-after technological institutions at Pilani and Goa will have its third campus at Hyderabad.

A team directors related to academics and administration at BITS Pilani is visiting the city on January 4 to discuss with the Government the modalities of establishment of the institute. Allocation of land and other related aspects would come up for discussion at the meeting. "We are committed to establishing the campus at Hyderabad and things are positively moving ahead," said S. Venkateswaran, Vice Chancellor BITS.

Land identified

He told The Hindu that the campus would be a full-fledged one on the lines of the one in Pilani. "It's going to be a large project," he said.

Sources said the Government had identified two chunks of land of which one is near Shamshabad. Each piece is about 200 acres and the visiting team would also be given the choice of searching other locations if the identified pieces of land were not found to their liking. Sources said the Government was keen to offer the land free of cost, given the wide benefits that would accrue from the technological campus, but BITS reportedly declined the offer and said it was ready to pay the cost.

According to Prof. Venkateswaran, the offer came from the Government itself and Chief Minister Y. S. Rajashekhara Reddy was very particular about its establishment. That he is very keen on the projects stems from the reports sent to BITS offering concessions and total support from the State Government.

Craze for BITS

The reason for choosing Hyderabad is not only the total support extended by the Government but also the craze for BITS education among Telugus. Incidentally, till BITS came up with its own entrance examination last year students from the State literally dominated grabbing a major share of seats at the Pilani campus.

Prof. Venkateswaran said the education offered by BITS was very good and unique and their effort was to bring in the maximum number of students under their fold.
.......

cncity

January 2nd, 2006, 01:23 AM

Not just star gazing, future of science is here

At IUCAA, they are mapping the sky; but this year we’ll say hello to the IIT of science

Rituparna Bhuyan

Pune, January 1: A group of Good Samaritans have volunteered to test out what could ultimately lead us to the all-important AIDS vaccine; another group, mostly astronomers, are working on mapping the sky and its stars; while someone else is doing something even bigger with the supercomputer. All this in Pune.

And the new year will see more that will push the frontiers of this already established knowledge city — the city of NCL, IUCAA, NIV if you please — even further.

For now, get ready to say hello to the proposed Indian Institute of Science, Education and Research (IISER). Set to train the future of India from the time they eject out of 12th grade, IISER has been conceptualised keeping our IITs in mind. Only two such institutes are coming up — one in Kolkata and the other in Pune. The National Chemical Laboratory (NCL) has offered 100 acres for the project and the local committee, set up to facilitate the formation of the institute, is already working on the curriculum.

When IISER is ready (by August 2006 if all goes well) the most unique and exciting aspect will be its comprehensive and interdisciplinary approach towards teaching in which pure science and humanities will be combined with super speciality fields. With premiere scientific institutions already present in Pune, there will be no dearth of specialised talent for faculty.

Well, the who’s who of science is here: like National Chemical Laboratory, the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC), professor Jayant Narlikar-founded Inter University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), the National Institute of Virology (NIV) as well as the National Center for Cell Sciences (NCCS). And they are all up to something.

At IUCAA, Dean Ajit Kembhavi is mapping the sky. With more than a little help from local IT frontrunner, Persistent Systems, his team has prepared India’s first Virtual Laboratory, where astronomers can simply log on and scan for celestial objects.

Actually, thousands of gigabytes of data gathered by telescopes from all over the world has been put inside high-end servers of IUCAA, which can be accessed from any part of India. Christened VOI (Virtual Observatory — India) similar projects are going on in the United States, Europe, Australia and Japan.

CDAC, headquartered in Pune, is also hard at work. Its computers are looking at a solution to tackle malaria. CDAC’s biotechnology cell, along with NCCS and NIV, are working on a project to decipher the DNA of the anopheles mosquito which carries the malaria germ. In addition, CDAC is also planning to connect all the country’s supercomputers through a dedicated network, which will bring India in the elite company of those with grid computing capability.

The answer to the long-awaited AIDS vaccine may also emerge from Pune. The National AIDS Research Institute (NARI) is at the centre of it in India with phase I of the clinical trials (also on in Germany and Belgium) of the vaccine (tgAACO9) already on.

Actually, there’s a lot more. On the astronomy front, when scientists from the world debate and deliberate on the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project, a radio telescope with a collective area of 1 million square miles, their colleagues at the National Centre for Radio Astrophysics (NCRA) will be a key mover. Though the telescope cannot be set up in India because of technical reasons, NCRA’s first mover advantage — remember, it runs the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope at Narayangaon — will help the SKA cause immensely.
So, here’s to scientific future ahead of Pune.

merijanpakistan

January 2nd, 2006, 10:04 AM

kronik

January 2nd, 2006, 11:35 AM

^^^

I can only answer one part of your question regarding BHU. Benaras Hindu University is a full fledged university offering most disciplines, and it has one of the best technical schools in the country.
http://www.bhu.ac.in/

Similarly there is the Aligarh Muslim University, also in UP, but then again, it is also a full fledged and accomplished university.
http://www.amu.ac.in/

The India Today magazine conducts yearly rankings of Indian universities, and i think the latest rankings were posted here, so look around and you should come across them.

I simply googled universities in india and came across some sites which have a listing. Now it may not be accurate and complete.

http://www.educationinfoindia.com/

This one seems a good site:
Association of Indian Universities (http://www.aiuweb.org/)
Go to the members section to get a list of its member universities.

http://www.campusmatters.com/

happy browsing!

nik

January 2nd, 2006, 01:19 PM

Hi,
Very interesting developments. I love that. This region of the world must become leaders in all areas of education. Greetings.
I have a question though.
Can any body find or compile the list of ALL the universities in india, ranking based on areas of study?
For example, IIT would be No1 in Engineering, 2? 3? ...
Likewise (and more importantly), i think there is a university for hindu studies at Banaras (BHU??)! Are there some rankings in this area? In religions and humanities or social sciences, etc?
I would love to be guided on this, by you guys here!
Peace.

Er.. BHU is not about Hindu studies nor is Aligarh(AMU) about Muslim studies. They both were set up progressive visionaries. Still hold up the great tradition, albeit being failed by politicians once in a while.
Both have one of the best science programs in country, particularly "hard" sciences, Physics, Mathematics.

Otherwise your comments are quite important and agreed to fully.

I would suggest that SAARC pool their meagre educational resources to synergise the higher education.
India has to invest heavily in higher education too, particularly frontier research oriented. I dont know much about Pak scene.

Even better if India and Pak dumps nuke weapons program and increase education funds to at least 6% of GDP. Remember even sub-saharan countries have better education facilities than both these.

pding

January 2nd, 2006, 09:03 PM

Remember even sub-saharan countries have better education facilities than both these.

hmmm.... i'd have to completely disagree with that. india has a sophisticated education system and like developed countries we have well established funding and grants programs. such infrastructure is not present in any of the african countries to the extent that india does except may be south africa.

Suncity

January 2nd, 2006, 09:54 PM

The Quiet Revolution
How India is achieving universal elementary education

India´s elite educational institutions have been producing the first-rate scientists, engineers, and managers who helped India´s information technology sector take off during the 1990s. Far less visible is the more recent, quiet revolution in India´s elementary education that, if successful, will equip an entire younger generation with skills to improve productivity and reduce the burden of disease, high birth rates, hunger, and poverty, while changing societal attitudes toward gender, caste, tribe, and disability.

What India has accomplished is no small feat—especially given that its population grew from about 840 million to nearly one billion between 1991 and 2001, with the number of children age 6 to 14 rising by 35 million to 205 million. Over roughly the same period, the gross enrollment ratio (GER) in primary education (grades 1) rose from 82 percent to 95 percent, and in upper primary education (grades 6) from 54 percent to 61 percent (see table). Available government data suggest that in that age group, the number of children not in school fell sharply from about 60 million in the early 1990s to 25 million in 2002, and this decline is continuing. While specific numbers in such a large federal system may be viewed with caution, the rough magnitude of the progress appears to be in little doubt.

The expansion of primary education—driven by major policy changes along with higher demand for schooling stemming from economic growth and globalization—took hold all across India. Historically, India´s southern and western states had always been far ahead in education of the large northern states, which accounted for most of the out-of-school children. Over the past decade, however, many poorly performing states began to make real overall advances—the primary GERs in Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh were well over 90 percent, although the ratio remained at 74 percent in Bihar. The southern states, the states on the east and west coasts, the Himalayan states, and the northeastern states—except for Assam and Nagaland—were either approaching universal primary enrollment or had already achieved it. Increased access for girls and children of disadvantaged groups accounted for much of the improvement. The overall GER for girls was 92 percent and over 95 percent for children of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes—the most disadvantaged groups, which make up 18 and 9 percent, respectively, of all primary school-age children.

Given the momentum built up over the years, India will, in all likelihood, meet the education Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of universal primary education—which calls for all children of primary school age to participate in the school system and complete primary school. This article explores India´s quiet revolution.

More of the article

http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2005/06/wu.htm

Suncity

January 2nd, 2006, 10:08 PM

In India, Engineering Success
Monday, January 2, 2006

The classroom of the future will feature electronic white boards. The teachers of the future will write equations on these boards with electronic pens. And the students of the future won't have to choose between concentrating on the teacher and scribbling the equations into notebooks. They will devote all their energy to listening, then download the equations straight into the laptops they've plugged into their desks.

Okay, that isn't quite right. The classroom I'm describing is not some figment of the future. It's the reality I visited a month ago at the Vellore Institute of Technology.

The what? Vellore is a small town in southern India, poor enough for some of its buildings to have thatched roofs rather than the rain-proof metal sort. Until a few years ago Vellore was notable only for its large Christian medical center, erected with the help of foreign money. But now it has sprouted this 9,000-student technical college, complete with a sports stadium, an incubator for start-up high-tech businesses and a bio-separation lab. Everywhere you look, fresh buildings are under construction: over here a new laboratory complex, over there a gleaming student hostel with its own swimming pool.

Read more at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/02/AR2006010200566.html

Suncity

January 2nd, 2006, 10:14 PM

nik

January 2nd, 2006, 10:32 PM

hmmm.... i'd have to completely disagree with that. india has a sophisticated education system and like developed countries we have well established funding and grants programs. such infrastructure is not present in any of the african countries to the extent that india does except may be south africa.

Oops.. I put it down wrong there. What I meant, there are sub-saharan countries which spent more than India in terms of % of GDP and have a better reach of primary education. In higher education certainly India cannot be compared with them.
Thanx for pointing this out, pding.

But the statement about need for more public investments is true for primary and higher education

pding

January 3rd, 2006, 02:33 AM

sorry nik. i got a completely different meaning from that from the way you phrased it.

yes i do agree that more investment into education is a necessity for the country to have good future.

merijanpakistan

January 3rd, 2006, 04:58 AM

hi,

Thanks Kronik, nik, suncity. Your information was actually quite helpful in general.

I didnt know BHU and Aligarh univ are not really dedicated religious universities. But then, i did find some good universities spealizing in humanities. Some of them i would like to get educated from.

Regarding saarc, we must do what it takes. i think both sides have kind'a understood.

Now regarding overall education in india, i dont know about the primary/secondary etc level education.... but i am under an impression that the university education is pretty good and competetive in india.

Would any body come up with top5 or top10 in humanities? (since this is my area of interest)

You guys wanna do that?? How about a top 10 list from some of you guys?? Your choice....! (in humanities :) )... It would be cool to have your top 10 choices... haan?

Guidance would be appreciated, anyway.

Peace.

WillyWick

January 3rd, 2006, 05:17 AM

Amrita - New York universities launch joint programmes

Instituted by the Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham Deemed University, went to scholars intending to do research projects in the following areas:
Biosensors
Peptide synthesis
User interface design
Face recognition
Power systems
Remote load control
Power quality improvement
Wind turbine generator
Antennas for mobile systems
Vermicomposting
Biodiesel processing
Science and spirituality
Composite materials
Polymer composites

Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham Deemed University joined hands with The State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo, the United States, to jointly launch two post-graduate courses here on Monday.

The courses were: `Joint SUNY Buffalo - Amrita MS in IT-enabled services' and `Joint SUNY - Amrita MBA programme.' Both courses come under the `Amrita Indo - U.S. Initiative in Higher Education and Research,' launched by the President, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, in December last year.

http://www.hindu.com/2006/01/03/stories/2006010302200200.htm

WillyWick

January 3rd, 2006, 05:24 AM

Alagappa University enters into MoU with four foreign institutions

Dr. Kanniappan said the MoU would encourage voluntary interaction and co-operation and promote campus internationalisation of the respect universities. The respective faculty and students would be encouraged to pursue collaborative research programmes, besides short-term visits in the areas of common interest with funding sponsorship.

The MoU would also facilitate transfer of academic credit-bearing courses based on mutual transparency of course content and faculty qualification, exchange of graduate and undergraduate students for study and research, exchange of faculty for instruction, research and lectures, exchange of educational materials, research projects, publications and library materials and others, he added.

http://www.hindu.com/2006/01/03/stories/2006010306010300.htm

kvijayasundaram

January 5th, 2006, 05:06 AM

3 New law colleges in TN
Link to news (http://www.hindu.com/2006/01/05/stories/2006010505520500.htm)

CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu Government proposes to open at least three new law colleges in the State, Bar Council of India (BCI) Member R. Dhanapalraj said.

The colleges, expected to start functioning by next academic year, are likely to be located in backward districts, he said.

Mr. Dhanapalraj, along with Bar Council of Tamil Nadu (BCT) chairman K. Chandramohan and Member D. Selvam, was addressing a press conference after meeting Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Wednesday.

Mr. Chandramohan said the BCT planned to set up a law college. It approached the Government for land in Chennai.

Suncity

January 5th, 2006, 05:33 AM

sorry nik. i got a completely different meaning from that from the way you phrased it.

yes i do agree that more investment into education is a necessity for the country to have good future.

I am not falling in the top 10/20 trap. My general experience is that the best colleges and universities from each state are equally good.

WillyWick

January 7th, 2006, 02:32 AM

Commission can decide minority status

Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee said the ordinance would facilitate the implementation of the Constitution (93rd Amendment) Bill, 2005 to reserve seats for socially and educationally backward classes, besides the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes, in private unaided institutions other than those run by minorities.

Though a Bill to give the Commission the power to define a "minority institution" was introduced in the Rajya Sabha in the monsoon session last year, delay in its passage made the Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry consider the ordinance route to identify minority institutions which could be exempted from the purview of the Constitution (93rd Amendment) Bill.

http://www.hindu.com/2006/01/07/stories/2006010714470100.htm

kronik

January 7th, 2006, 11:30 PM

Shillong all set to host the seventh IIM (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1361958.cms)

Congress President and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi would lay the foundation stone for Indian Institute of Management (IIM) at Shillong in Feb, 2006.

Besides, plans are afoot for setting up two central universities in the region, he said.

WillyWick

January 9th, 2006, 12:48 AM

GDA to up headcount, work with local varsities

According to a press release, GDA vice-president Partha Datta Ray said the company was looking to tie up with Indian universities for offering training in chip design activities.

Finalisation of an agreement with IIT Kharagpur is on the anvil. A similar tie up with IIIT Hyderabad is in the offing. More such deals are being mulled with three institutions in Bangalore and Chennai.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1362555.cms

WillyWick

January 9th, 2006, 12:53 AM

UND reaches agreement with second Indian university

GRAND FORKS, N.D. - The University of North Dakota is establishing a partnership with a second school in India.
UND last month joined a research effort that links the school with India's Space Agency and the country's national science organization. The agreement allows UND faculty to teach a semester at India's Amrita University in New Dehli.
UND also is launching a student exchange agreement with Goa University in the city of Panaji.
Santhosh Seelan, a native of India and a UND space studies professor, said the hope is to start a program with Goa that lets UND students go to the Indian university and learn about that country's culture and philosophies.
He said UND business students might benefit greatly, with India evolving into a world economic force.
"They'll get a good background of Indian life, and when they do business in India, it will help them out," Seelan said.
UND provost Greg Weisenstein said UND is eyeing a third Indian university for a potential academic exchange in the future.
"We want our first joint projects to be very successful, and we don't want to take on too much too quickly," he said.

http://www.grandforks.com/mld/grandforks/news/state/13579814.htm

WillyWick

January 10th, 2006, 05:43 AM

Booming semiconductor industry begins talent hunt

“One of the basic reasons for this shortfall is lack of awareness about the career opportunities available in the semiconductor industry today. Students still find software field more glamourous as compared to design engineering in semiconductor companies. This is in spite of very attractive starting salary – about Rs 4.5 lakh in the semiconductor industry as compared to around Rs 2.5 lakh in software services,” Shenoy says.

The ISA is, therefore, working with the engineering colleges in India to sort out this issue. “We have initiated a programme called ‘Si-Quest’ that aims at talent generation from a broadbased pool in India. Not only do we spread awareness about the career opportunities available in the semiconductor industry but also design tests to enable companies to recruit students,” she adds. ‘Si-Quest’ covers the top 40 engineering colleges in the country.

The ISA has also started a special programme with Visvesvaraya Technological University, Karnataka, wherein it is involved in initiatives like faculty development through increased industry interaction and augmenting the curriculum. “The IT department of Andhra Pradesh has enquired whether such a programme can be replicated in Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University,” Shenoy says.

Apart from the association, companies are pitching in on the individual front too. The $12.6-billion, Texas Instruments (TI), for instance, has partnered with 475 universities in the country, wherein it has set up labs for engineering students so that they can hone up technology skills before they join the industry. It also supports campus product incubators that build innovative products on TI platforms.

GDA Technologies, another player in the semiconductor industry, is also starting a similar initiative wherein it plans to work with various universities to train people in chip design activities.

“We are finalising this arrangement with IIT-Kharagpur and are also in talks with IIIT, Hyderabad,” says Partha Datta Ray, vice-president (IC engineering and strategic solutions), GDA Technologies. The company plans to ramp up its headcount in India to 600 in the next three years from 200 at an investment of around $5 million.

STMicroelectronics that has already set up a lab at IISc plans to have similar programmes with five institutes this year. “This helps students to get involved in research work at the very outset of joining the industry,” Aloknath De, head, telecom unit at STMicroelectronics Pvt Ltd, says. The company has filed three patents through its initiative with IISc.

http://www.business-standard.com/common/storypage.php?storyflag=y&leftnm=lmnu1&leftindx=1&lselect=6&chklogin=N&autono=211118

WillyWick

January 10th, 2006, 06:03 AM

Varsity of excellence mooted for each state

NEW DELHI: The government is working on an ambitious plan of having at least one university in every state with a potential for excellence.

It also proposes to increase investment in colleges and universities across the country. To finance its plans, the ministry of human resource development has asked for a budget allocation of Rs 3,400 crore to improve the state of higher education in India.

The Indian university system has been suffering from a serious resource crunch as a result of which over 16,000 teaching posts have been lying vacant in universities across the country.

There are some 349 universities (19 central, 234 state, 96 deemed to be universities) and 16,000 colleges in the country. The government is worried that only three Indian institutes of higher education have made it to the global top 500. This is cold comfort for the university system as two of these are the IITs — Delhi and Kharagpur.

The ministry’s budgetary demand is an ambitious one. A 5% increase over 2005-06 budgetary allocation would make the allocation for higher education Rs 954 crore. The ministry has asked for an additional allocation of Rs 2,379 crore.

It plans to spend this amount on basic science research (Rs 600 crore), increased support to the universities of Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai (Rs 70 crore) and another Rs 145 crore for new central universities — Allahabad University, and the proposed central universities in Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura and Sikkim.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-1362489,curpg-1.cms

WillyWick

January 10th, 2006, 06:12 AM

eh?????? how can Texas Instruments partner with 475 universities when there are about 349 universities in the country????

Maybe 475 colleges would be more precise.

WillyWick

January 10th, 2006, 11:02 PM

Epidemiology school planned in Chennai

CHENNAI: A School of Public Health to provide field epidemiology training will soon be established in Chennai, Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) Director-General N.K. Ganguly said here on Monday.

While the Planning Commission had, in principle, approved the setting up of one centre each in Chennai and Delhi, the modalities were yet to be worked out.

When it comes up, probably in five years' time, the School will boast of state-of-the-art laboratory and communication facilities, and will work in partnership with the International School of Public Health, based in Boston, he said.

Dr. Ganguly said it would serve as a very good resource centre on public health issues, not only for the different States, but also for countries.

Throughout the 1990s there had been incidents that required intervention by public health experts, either at the national or international level. Flu, SARS, plague outbreaks and the public health ramifications of national disasters had proved the need for more field-level functionaries, he said.

http://www.hindu.com/2006/01/10/stories/2006011013360600.htm

WillyWick

January 12th, 2006, 12:06 AM

Ayurveda Medical College and Hospital in Kanyakumari

Chennai, Jan. 12 (UNI): To facilitate students to learn the traditional system of medicine, a Government Ayurveda Medical College and Hospital will be set up at Nagercoil in Kanyakumari district, Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, announced on Wednesday.

In a statement here, she said a sum of Rs 124 crores would be granted for non-recurring expenditure to build basic infrastructure facilities for the Medical College and Hospital. A sum of Rs 1.49 crores would be granted every year for recurring expenditure.

http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/004200601120310.htm

cncity

January 13th, 2006, 03:53 PM

Wi-Fi campuses for students to log in

From notes to e-mailing placement information, it’s a huge help, say users

Pune, January 12: SITTING in the Training and Advanced Studies in Management and Communications (TASMAC) canteen, MBA student Preeti Motwani is busy accessing the on-line marketing notes on her laptop over a cuppa. “We don’t have to bother about a seat in the computer lab. I log in while in campus and approach the teacher immediately with my doubts,” she says.

From tech parks and corporate houses to hotels and even colleges, Wi-Fi (Wireless Fidelity) enabled campuses are growing in the city. Since no wires are needed to get connected, they are a big help for students.

TASMAC recently joined other Wi-Fi-enabled colleges. “The classrooms, library and cafeteria are now Wi-Fi equipped,” informs joint managing director Sameer Dua.

But the first city college to introduce the facility was Symbiosis Institute of Management Studies (SIMS) in November 2004. Within six months, the University of Pune had Wi-Fi. “Wi-Fi is becoming a necessity because everyone accesses the net to gather information and supplement notes,” says department of communication studies lecturer Vishram Dhole. The benefits are being felt by students. “We can log on wherever we want,” says communication studies student Nishikant Pardeshi.

Wi-Fi is also popular because it is convenient in making presentations. TASMAC student Vivek Seelin says, “Wi-Fi gives you an advantage of being mobile and you can make a presentation on your laptop.”

Student bodies of colleges like SIMS have taken it a step further. They have set up an Internet portal to pass information about placements. Abhishek Wadhawan, second year student of Telecom Management and Information Technology says, “Information is e-mailed to students, as more than 90 per cent possess laptops.”

However, the situation is different at the university. Dhole says, “Not even 10 per cent of the student population in the University has a laptop. In this situation we can’t really depend on it to pass on class notes.”

Then there are colleges like Bharati Vidyapeeth College of Engineering that are waiting for connectivity problems to be ironed out. Principal Anand Bhalerao says, ‘‘The technology is still new and we plan to introduce Wi-Fi only after the complaints are effectively addressed.”

Others like Dr S K Khedkar, principal of D Y Patil Institute of Engineering and Technology say, “The computer lab is available for students who want to use the net.’’ The college plans to provide Wi-Fi this year end.

Colleges in Pune with Wi-Fi facility

* University of Pune
* SIMS, Khadki
* SIBM, Senapati Bapat Road
* SICSR, Model Colony
* Indian Institute of Modern Management, Hinjewadi
* MIT, Kothrud
* Indian Institute of Planning and Management, Deccan Gymkhana
* Indira Group of Institutes at Wakad Tathwade
* TASMAC, Viman Nagar

WillyWick

January 17th, 2006, 03:32 AM

US varsity signs MoUs with 6 colleges

Chennai, Jan 16: Saint Joseph University, Philadelphia, USA, today signed MoUs with six Indian colleges for exchange and collaboration of academic programmes.

Under the MoUs, teachers and students of the university and Loyola College, Stella Maris College (both Chennai), Arul Anandar College, Madurai, Xavier Institute of Education and Xavier Institute of Management, (both Mumbai) and Xavier's College, Ahmedabad, will go in for exchange programmes.

These institutions would also run joint degree programmes, joint research initiatives, faculty and student programmes between the university and its Indian partners, university president Dr Lannon told reporters after signing the MoUs with the Indian colleges.

http://www.chennaionline.com/colnews/newsitem.asp?NEWSID=%7B4032667A-215A-4DBE-BD97-89C02193D095%7D&CATEGORYNAME=Chennai

WillyWick

January 17th, 2006, 03:36 AM

Rs. 7.5 crore grant for research in nanoscience

CHENNAI: The Department of Science and Technology has approved a grant of Rs. 7.5 crore to Anna University for research in nanoscience and technology under the Nanoscience and Technology Initiative Programme. This is apart from the seed money already given by the State Government to the university.

A major portion of the grant, Rs. 6.5 crore, has been approved for crystal growth and characterisation of gallium nitride-based semiconductor nanostructures for light emitting diode (LED) applications. Another Rs. 1 crore has been approved for nanobiotechnology to be implemented at the Centre for Biotechnology. A sum of Rs. 35 lakhs will be used for development of carbon nanotubes at the Centre for Nanoscience and Technology.

Announcing the details, Anna University Vice- Chancellor D. Viswanathan said the Crystal Growth Centre had submitted a major proposal to the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology for developing high power and high frequency electron devices and modulators for telecommunications.

http://www.hindu.com/2006/01/16/stories/2006011614280300.htm

sudheeshnairs

January 18th, 2006, 06:42 AM

Wednesday January 18 2006 07:53 IST

NEW DELHI: At a time when top on the HRD Ministry’s agenda is to stop IIM from going to Singapore comes a comprehensive national survey showing that nearly 60 per cent of the country’s school children cannot read a paragraph with long sentences.

The Annual Status of Education Report (ASER), prepared by Pratham, NGO, paints a dismal picture of educational infrastructure nationwide putting a huge question mark on the future of an entire generation.

The only silver lining is that students in Bihar and Chhattisgarh, which have the worst educational facilities, show better learning capabilities in reading and arithmetic compared to Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Gujarat which have better infrastructure. Message: lack of infrastructure is crippling tomorrow’s talent.

Covering 9,252 schools in 28 states and UTs, the survey has found that children of Bihar, more than 59 per cent in primary level, do not even have text books. Bihar is the worst on most parameters—only 51 per cent enrolled children attend schools and 13 per cent not enrolled at all.

And yet West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Uttaranchal and Bihar are among top five in reading and arithmetic categories. Still, it’s one of the five states—with UP, Rajasthan, AP and Orissa—accounting for almost three-quarters of out-of-school children. In Bihar and UP, only 38 and 53 per cent schools are served mid-day meals compared to Chhattisgarh’s 95 per cent and Kerala’s 94 per cent. Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, while releasing the report, said positive aspects must be capitalised on and better monitoring of government schemes was required to ensure betterment. Singh said that the high teacher presence in rural schools was positive. Contrary to popular perception, nearly 75 per cent teachers were present in the schools surveyed.

The most alarming scene was in reading and arithmetic skills of school children. Children were tested in reading paragraphs with short sentences and long sentences, subtraction and division. Of them, 34 per cent could not read even short sentences. Students in private schools were found to be relatively better than government school students. Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, home to IT hubs, were among the bottom five in terms of arithmetic abilities: 76 per cent of Standard V students in Karnataka and 68 per cent in Tamil Nadu were unable to do simple division. “These states must seriously examine the way mathematics is taught in schools,” the report suggested.

These IT hubs are in the company of Orissa (69%), UP (68%) and MP (62%). Kerala tops in terms of reading capability whereas West Bengal tops in arithmetic. Kerala finds place in only reading and Haryana in arithmetic

http://newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IEH20060117213208&Page=H&Title=Top+Stories&Topic=0&

kronik

January 18th, 2006, 05:54 PM

This news item shows why many places lose out on development; because of seedy state level politicians who can't see the big picture.

Quota demands scuttled Mumbai IIM plans (http://www.ndtv.com/template/template.asp?template=Education&slug=Quota+demands+scuttled+Mumbai+IIM+plans&id=18592&callid=0&category=National)

NDTV has found that Mumbai lost out on a chance to become a part of the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) family due to an irrational demand for quotas.

In 2002, IIM Ahmedabad had approached the Maharashtra government to set up a centre (as against a full campus) in the state capital.

The proposed centre would have offered an International Management Development Programme (IMDP) for overseas students and a post-graduate programme for Indian executives.

However, the plan was scuttled after the then government, headed by Sushil Kumar Shinde, demanded a 12 per cent quota for Maharashtrian students. This was declined by the institute, on the grounds that the IMDP was meant only for overseas students.

The demand for a Maharashtra quota is nothing new, and had earlier been raised by the Shiv Sena government when the Kellogg Business School wanted to open a branch in Mumbai.

The Indian School of Business (ISB) is reported to have faced the same demand, which is why it moved to Hyderabad.

kronik

January 19th, 2006, 12:36 AM

a fairly good edit from IE. Unshackling our education system is a must if we have to be a modern, progressive nation.

Northeast to new east (http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=86153)

If a new IIM comes to Shillong, should a less constricted, more ambitious education policy be far behind? At a time the HRD ministry has been making news for the generally controlling and repressive tendencies of its minister, it is hugely tempting to see the decision to add a seventh member to the exclusive club of IIMs, while reaching out to a yet remote part of the country, as a good omen.

It is not incidental that a more forward-looking debate on education has been averted in this country. Here, the discussion on education has been fettered by the ideological biases and license-raj reflexes of the ministers in charge. Both Murli Manohar Joshi and Arjun Singh have concentrated their efforts on rewriting history textbooks and tightening the screws on higher education. They have also left unchallenged the small-minded presumption that investment in higher education is inevitably at cost to the expansion of primary education. They have actively resisted the idea of opening up the higher education sector to the rich potential of private-public partnerships.

In fact, now that the HRD minister appears to be in a more expansive mood, he may consider setting up IITs and IIMs in other places as well. Like Bihar, and Jharkhand, and Chhattisgarh.

WillyWick

January 20th, 2006, 11:15 PM

Anna University signs MoU with Cognizant

Chennai: The Anna University on Friday signed an MoU with Cognizant Technology Solutions to “further the industry-academic linkage for mutual benefit.”
According to the MoU, Cognizant will facilitate bringing industry processes, the rigor of the application of technology and concepts, and corporate training methodologies to the academia.

It will help Cognizant leverage the faculty of Anna University for foundation level conceptual inputs to the engineering students who have been offered jobs by the company.

http://sify.com/news/fullstory.php?id=14124513

WillyWick

January 21st, 2006, 09:56 PM

asha for education

Objectives of the Group

Asha for Education is a secular organization dedicated to change in India by focusing on basic education in the belief that education is a critical requisite for socio-economic change.

In keeping with this focus, our volunteers are involved with and support projects that are secular and have an education-related component to them. The objectives of this group are:

To provide education to underprivileged children in India.
To encourage the formation of various local groups across the world to reach out to larger sections of the population.
To support and cooperate with persons and groups already engaged in similar activities.
To raise the required human and other resources to achieve the group objectives.
To provide opportunities to individuals living outside India who wish to participate in Asha activities in India.
To address, whenever possible, other issues affecting human life such as health care, environment, socio-economic aspects and women's issues.

http://www.ashanet.org/index.php?page=about-asha-mission

WillyWick

January 22nd, 2006, 04:36 AM

Annamalai University gets Edusat facility

CUDDALORE: The Vice-Chancellor of the Annamalai University, L.B. Venkatrangan, inaugurated the Educational Satellite System (Edusat) on the university campus at Chidambaram near here on Friday.

Mr. Venkatrangan said the facility would enable teachers and students to enrich their knowledge through direct telecast of seminars, workshops and other academic programmes. The Edusat would also facilitate interactive learning in which viewers could seek online clarifications. Mr. Venkatrangan said the Edusat was launched by the Indian Space Research Organisation on September 20, 2004.

It was a specially configured audio-visual medium, employing digital interactive classroom and multimedia multi-centric system. The service was started as per the stipulation of the National Assessment and Accreditation Council, and to meet the developmental requirements of the university.

He said the service would be ideal for rural students who were enrolled in distance education courses. It would be available on all working days in two sessions: viz., from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., and from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Mr. Venkatrangan noted that the Rs 2.5-crore project for networking the computers in the university was nearing completion, and once ready, all the departments would be hooked on to the tele-educational programmes.

http://www.hindu.com/2006/01/22/stories/2006012207640300.htm

WillyWick

January 22nd, 2006, 10:02 PM

Bangalore firm to start 3 textile colleges in TN

COIMBATORE: The Bangalore-based ALT Training College Foundation has proposed to start 15 new colleges in the country, of which three in Tamil Nadu during this year for imparting education in various branches of textiles and knitwear industry.

Therefore, the foundation had planned to start the training colleges in Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Punjab, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, he said, adding that the response to the proposal from State Governments was encouraging.

In Tamil Nadu, three colleges would come up in Chennai, Coimbatore and Karaikudi.

“In Gujarat, the colleges would be started in Surat and Mundhra of the Kutch region, a traditionally backward area, besides Ahmedabad, as the Gujarat government had promised to provide substantial match in grant,” he claimed. The Gujarat government had promised to allocate lands at a concessional rate for starting the colleges.

Each college would be constructed at an estimated cost ranging from Rs 5 crore to Rs 10 crore, and the total outlay would exceed Rs 100 crore, he said.

Free scholarships would be offered to war widows and soldiers injured in the Kargil war under an arrangement, besides destitutes and physically challenged persons by reserving about 25 per cent of the seats, he added.

http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IET20060122102958&Page=T&Title=Southern+News+-+Tamil+Nadu&Topic=0

Bombay Boy

January 24th, 2006, 10:22 PM

State government chases IIM-Mumbai dream, again

Four years ago, IIM-A pulled out after Maharashtra insisted on quota. Govt then approached Centre, minister to take it up this week

Snehal Rebello & Kamran Sulaimani

Mumbai, January 23: WHEN the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, (IIM-A) approached the state government with its plans of setting up an extension campus on 25 acres of land at Navi Mumbai in 2002, it was rebuffed.

The State insisted on 15-per cent reservations for domicile students and IIM-A refused to toe that line.

After this plan fell through, the state government sent a proposal to the Central Government, asking for permission to start an IIM in Mumbai.

Four years and two reminders later, the State might rekindle its demand for an IIM when Higher and Technical Education Minister Dilip Walse-Patil meets officials from the Human Resources Development (HRD) Ministry in Delhi on January 27.

‘‘While discussing other issues, he might touch upon the IIM issue,’’ said Principal Secretary for Higher and Technical Education Joyce Sankaran.

Walse-Patil could not be contacted.

The 2003 proposal to the HRD Ministry was preliminary, said Sankaran. ‘‘There will definitely be some give-and-take,’’ she said, when asked about the state government’s role.

IIM-A Director Bakul Dholakia said they had ‘‘seriously pursued’’ the proposal to set up a campus in Mumbai.

‘‘Our plan was to start a one-year, post-graduate programme for executives,’’ he said. ‘‘But the condition of reservation for local students was against the very principle of IIM.’’

According to IIM-A sources, the government had agreed to drop its reservation demand to 5 per cent.

But the institute did not change its decision and pointed out that it could have done the same for Gujarati students in Ahmedabad, but had not.

‘‘The talks were on till early 2003. However, after that, there was ‘dead silence’. Absolutely no correspondence took place between the government and IIM-A... it’s a closed chapter,’’ Dholakia added.

Maharashtra’s loss was Gujarat’s gain. With a Rs 75-crore investment, the IIM-A developed a sprawling new campus in Ahmedabad itself.

‘‘The same campus would have been in Mumbai if the government did not stick to its reservation demand,’’ said an IIM-A source.

The institute was also looking at opening a campus in Noida, but the Delhi government had already agreed to let IIM-Lucknow start a campus there.

snehalrebello@expressindia.com

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

stupid GoM. stopped both the ISB and IIM-A from coming to bombay. would have been great for the city

2020vision

February 7th, 2006, 01:04 AM

India must invest heavily in science: Sonia

Bangalore, Feb. 7 (PTI): UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi has said India must invest heavily in science to sustain the knowledge revolution in the country and declared that the National Science Foundation would free scientific research from bureaucratic impediments.

She also said in a message on the eleventh Rajiv Gandhi Science and Techology lecture, which was delivered here on Monday afternoon by Nobel laureate David Gross, that a task force on women was examining how greater numbers of talented women could be attracted to the study of science and to scientific research.

Gandhi said the Knowledge Commission was giving priority to the overhaul of science teaching and research in the university system to help universities play a fuller part in India's scientific effort.

Noting that since Independence, India has given a central role to science and technology as a key instrument for its development and the country has invested heavily in creating an extensive scientific and higher educational infrastructure, she said some of its dividends are now visible, notably in Bangalore, as well as elsewhere.

"But we cannot be complacent. As we move into the age of knowledge economy, India must invest even more heavily in science to sustain the knowledge revolution in the country". She said three new Indian Institutes of Science are in the process of being established, each giving equal attention to undergraduate science teaching and research.

pding

February 7th, 2006, 01:40 AM

quite surprising that now even Sonia has started to comment on the knowledge revolution and science and technology. she's usually talkin' about vote-winning issues especially with the rural people like the new Job Scheme and that kinda stuff.
I guess the realty is fast catchin' up with the politicians and they have realized that Nehruvian socialist ideologies are not going to work anymore and if India has to develop they will have to step into a new path.

2020vision

February 7th, 2006, 10:47 PM

^^ I hope you are right and these politicians are starting to realize India's potential. All that is needed is a major breakthrough to get everyone to realize that education should be a large priority. Let's hope parties try to outdo each other not in dirty politics but in ideas and schemes like those of education and infrastructure.

WillyWick

February 8th, 2006, 12:17 AM

Kerala Varsities demand greater autonomy

Kochi, Feb 7: Universities in Kerala today demanded greater autonomy--academic, administrative and financial, and decided to establish a 'Consortium' of Universities in the state.

"We express the strongest support for enhancing academic, administrative and financial autonomy of Universities, their departments and affiliated colleges, with appropriate accountability," the Vice Chancellors of Kannur, Calicut, Mahatma Gandhi, Kalady Sanskrit University and Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT) told reporters.

The Vice Chancellors had met during the four-day International Education meet (IEM) here and identified and discussed the state's strengths and weakness in the higher education sector and formulated a 'Kochi declaration' with a set of recommendations.

It was also decided to establish a 'Consortium of Universities in Kerala' to enhance mutual coordination and cooperation.

This body would have decision making authority on matters common to all universities in the state such as transferability of course credit, cross enrolment in individual courses across universities, exchange of students and faculty.

The recommendations would be submitted to the government to formulate an action plan, State Education Minister E T Muhammed Basheer told reporters. The Cabinet would discuss the recommendations and design a programme of action which would be implemented, he said

http://www.chennaionline.com/colnews/newsitem.asp?NEWSID=%7BB4965121-4732-4659-A429-19C42C8612EF%7D&CATEGORYNAME=National

WillyWick

February 8th, 2006, 12:38 AM

Different education away from colleges.
The project plans to make villagers computer literate and help them use information.

Information system aims to bridge rural-urban divide

CHENNAI : Villagers of Sadraskuppam, near Kalpakkam, have a target to meet.

By February 2007, they would have to be computer-literate and well connected with the outside world and should be able to access information on just about anything.

To take up the challenging task, they have the support of the Natural Resources Data Management System (NRDMS) of the Centre's Department of Science and Technology and Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai.

The `Village Information System' launched at Sadraskuppam (about 65 km south of Chennai) on Monday, is a joint initiative of the Sathyabama Deemed University and the NRDMS.

"The focus is to bridge the rural-urban divide. All the facilities a city enjoys should be made available to villages," said Jeppiar, University Chancellor, who donated two computers to the village.

Self-help groups could utilise the facilities for their benefit. Scientists from the college's Remote Sensing unit would be visiting the village regularly to monitor the project.

It would also help compile a comprehensive database on family members, educational background and property ownership.

Information on loans and government policies would be made accessible to them.

R. Siva Kumar, Head, NRDMS & NSDI division said, "This is the first village in the country to take up the project. Technology should, besides helping the educated, empower illiterates.

http://www.hindu.com/2006/02/08/stories/2006020808350100.htm

WillyWick

February 12th, 2006, 10:16 PM

Pondicherry medical institute set for revamp

Pondicherry: The Jawaharlal Institute of Post-graduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER) in Pondicherry is all set for an upgrade, with Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss laying foundation stones for four new units Sunday.

The new departments and upgraded care centres at JIPMER will bring it at par with the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi and PGI Chandigarh, the two premier state-owned medical education and research institutions in the country, Ramadoss said.

"The three institutions were started at the same time. While the AIIMS and PGI achieved renown rapidly, JIPMER lagged behind due to lack of attention and adequate funding," he added.

"It has long been my desire to see this institution in the deep south become the centre of excellence it deserves to be," he said while announcing an outlay of Rs.1 billion on the golden jubilee of the institution.

Started as the Ecole de Medicine de Pondichery by the French in 1823, the institution began its Indian innings in 1956 and was even voted the second best medical college in the country in a poll by The Week magazine.

Ever since Ramadoss took charge of the health ministry, he worked towards making JIPMER a world-class facility.

H. Chatterjee, a professor of surgery at JIPMER since 1964, said: "At last the funds have been released for upgrading that was long due."

A 360-bed super speciality block has been sanctioned, which is expected to come up in 22 months. Nearly Rs.900 million will be spent on this facility, which will have 10 operation theatres.

To the existing seven departments of healthcare, eight new ones will be added, including a department of nuclear medicine.

http://www.newkerala.com/news2.php?action=fullnews&id=8573

WillyWick

February 13th, 2006, 03:46 AM

India's lower castes can now go to private schools

NEW DELHI Private education in India has always been the preserve of the country's middle and upper classes, but not for much longer.

Under a new constitutional amendment, private schools, colleges, and professional training institutes that operate without government funding will be obliged to set aside more than one-quarter of their seats for students from India's "untouchable" lower castes or Dalits, as well as other socially and economically disadvantaged groups.

The amendment, which will apply to admissions for the 2006 academic year, could directly affect the lives and futures of at least 70 percent of India's more than 1.2 billion people.

In addition to Dalits, who make up one-quarter of the population, there are millions of Indians from poor tribes and disadvantaged groups collectively known as other backward castes (OBCs). According to one estimate, approximately 113 million children between the ages of 6 and 14 are now eligible for reserved seats in private schools.

For the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), which is led by India's ruling Congress Party and passed this amendment, reserving seats in private schools is only a first step on the way to reservation of jobs in the private sector. Already, the social welfare ministry is pushing for voluntary affirmative action by business leaders.

The new amendment cuts to the heart of a critical debate about how best to bring about social mobility within India's rising economy: should the government legislate in favor of social justice, or should it limit its role to facilitating private enterprise?

Supporters of reservation policies claim such legislation is a necessary precondition for changing social attitudes. Dalits are at the bottom rung of India's hierarchical caste system, prevented from scaling the social ladder by centuries-old discriminatory practices that continue in both explicit and subtle forms.

For supporters, it's a matter of justice

Supporters argue that because the public sector has reserved quotas since independence - which has helped many Dalits and other disadvantaged groups gain upward mobility through education and regular income - the private sector should participate too.

"It is compensation for Dalits, who were historically denied access to education," says Sukhdeo Thorat, a professor of economics at Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University.

He says in addition to the social discrimination that keeps Dalit children out of private schools, the high tuition charged by many of these institutions have made them especially "restrictive." Dalits, he argues, have suffered from the double burden of untouchability and poverty, which acts in a vicious cycle to keep them out of "desirable private institutions."

Calls for private sector quotas, too

Mr. Thorat calls for widespread private sector reservation, including employment, capital markets, agricultural land, education and housing.

These demands are echoed not only by other Dalit intellectuals, who draw support for their cause from the right to equality granted by the Indian Constitution, but also by the UPA government, whose social manifesto states a commitment to creating reservation in the private sector.

Meanwhile, critics, including education and business leaders, decry the move as a political measure that will do little to improve the condition of disadvantaged groups. Many also look at it as a result of the failure of government institutions, which have reserved seats, to provide quality education.

Government schools are in a sorry state, often with woefully inadequate infrastructure, rampant teacher absenteeism, and high dropout rates. Private schools, in both rural and urban areas, are often in much better shape because they have more resources and pay better salaries to teachers.

P. V. Indiresan, a former director of the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology in the southern city of Madras and a member of the Center for Policy Research, a New Delhi-based think tank, says the government wastes the funds budgeted for education. "But they have never used that discretionary resource to help Dalit and tribal children get good education. On the contrary, they have systematically dismantled government schools."

Given the consistently poor quality of government schools, and the swing in India's economic fortunes following widespread economic reforms introduced after the country's financial crisis of 1991, the demand for private sector reservation has become more strident.

"Unable to stop globalization, reforms, privatizations, Dalit intellectuals thought it prudent to demand rights for the community in the private sector, be it in jobs, education, or the economy," says Dalit journalist Chandrabhan Prasad, who writes India's only English-language column on Dalit issues.

Reservation has always been a contentious issue in India. In 1990, a law that widened the ambit of reservation to include OBCs in the public sector triggered strong upper-caste protests, and helped bolster the rise of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Reservations create a 'creamy layer'

Moreover, reservations have created a what critics call a "creamy layer" of Dalits and OBCs, or those whose families initially benefited from reservation, gained upward mobility, and continue to capture these reserved quotas for their kith and kin. "Reservations have created a middle class among backward castes," says Gurcharan Das, a former CEO of Procter & Gamble India, who frequently writes a pro-liberalization column in a leading national newspaper.

"It is also an infringement on liberty," says Mr. Das, arguing that private institutions must be compensated if they are to reserve seats for Dalits.

"We all believe in providing equality of opportunity, but the principle of reservation is wrong, because you don't want to divide people on the basis of anything other than merit."

In recent months, industry stalwarts have written repeatedly to the government, saying they prefer to promote educational opportunities by providing scholarships to deserving candidates rather than through a blanket reservation policy.

As former IIT director Indiresan says, the private sector wants to follow the American system of affirmative action, and not reservation.

"In affirmative action, the deprived are raised to required levels of competence; in the reservation system, the level of competence is reduced to accommodate what the beneficiary is capable of."

http://abcnews.go.com/International/CSM/story?id=1610461

MachuPichu

February 13th, 2006, 04:05 AM

You sure that India's lower castes are not able to go to private schools because they are poor and not because they are socially disadvantaged. Why is it hard for this government to understand that economic poverty and not caste issues is keeping these people from attending private schools. How many of the people in this forum think that the so-called untouchables with money would not be able to attend a private school? Heck - those guys can go to schools in the US, UK if they cant in india. I think this is a populist crap that has no solid foundation of reason. High tutiton restricts people of all castes, I'd tyhink. A better solution would be government needs to institute massive scholarships for economically deprived sections and should make it easier for poorer people to take out bank loans to finance their education...I am apalled at the government's lack of understanding of the issues that India faces. Dont people of higher castes who are economically deprived face the same issue?

The last place anyone should listen to is someone from the JNU...it is dominated by people with a socialist/communist mindset.

MP

India's lower castes can now go to private schools

NEW DELHI Private education in India has always been the preserve of the country's middle and upper classes, but not for much longer.

Under a new constitutional amendment, private schools, colleges, and professional training institutes that operate without government funding will be obliged to set aside more than one-quarter of their seats for students from India's "untouchable" lower castes or Dalits, as well as other socially and economically disadvantaged groups.

The amendment, which will apply to admissions for the 2006 academic year, could directly affect the lives and futures of at least 70 percent of India's more than 1.2 billion people.

In addition to Dalits, who make up one-quarter of the population, there are millions of Indians from poor tribes and disadvantaged groups collectively known as other backward castes (OBCs). According to one estimate, approximately 113 million children between the ages of 6 and 14 are now eligible for reserved seats in private schools.

For the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), which is led by India's ruling Congress Party and passed this amendment, reserving seats in private schools is only a first step on the way to reservation of jobs in the private sector. Already, the social welfare ministry is pushing for voluntary affirmative action by business leaders.

The new amendment cuts to the heart of a critical debate about how best to bring about social mobility within India's rising economy: should the government legislate in favor of social justice, or should it limit its role to facilitating private enterprise?

Supporters of reservation policies claim such legislation is a necessary precondition for changing social attitudes. Dalits are at the bottom rung of India's hierarchical caste system, prevented from scaling the social ladder by centuries-old discriminatory practices that continue in both explicit and subtle forms.

For supporters, it's a matter of justice

Supporters argue that because the public sector has reserved quotas since independence - which has helped many Dalits and other disadvantaged groups gain upward mobility through education and regular income - the private sector should participate too.

"It is compensation for Dalits, who were historically denied access to education," says Sukhdeo Thorat, a professor of economics at Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University.

He says in addition to the social discrimination that keeps Dalit children out of private schools, the high tuition charged by many of these institutions have made them especially "restrictive." Dalits, he argues, have suffered from the double burden of untouchability and poverty, which acts in a vicious cycle to keep them out of "desirable private institutions."

Calls for private sector quotas, too

Mr. Thorat calls for widespread private sector reservation, including employment, capital markets, agricultural land, education and housing.

These demands are echoed not only by other Dalit intellectuals, who draw support for their cause from the right to equality granted by the Indian Constitution, but also by the UPA government, whose social manifesto states a commitment to creating reservation in the private sector.

Meanwhile, critics, including education and business leaders, decry the move as a political measure that will do little to improve the condition of disadvantaged groups. Many also look at it as a result of the failure of government institutions, which have reserved seats, to provide quality education.

Government schools are in a sorry state, often with woefully inadequate infrastructure, rampant teacher absenteeism, and high dropout rates. Private schools, in both rural and urban areas, are often in much better shape because they have more resources and pay better salaries to teachers.

P. V. Indiresan, a former director of the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology in the southern city of Madras and a member of the Center for Policy Research, a New Delhi-based think tank, says the government wastes the funds budgeted for education. "But they have never used that discretionary resource to help Dalit and tribal children get good education. On the contrary, they have systematically dismantled government schools."

Given the consistently poor quality of government schools, and the swing in India's economic fortunes following widespread economic reforms introduced after the country's financial crisis of 1991, the demand for private sector reservation has become more strident.

"Unable to stop globalization, reforms, privatizations, Dalit intellectuals thought it prudent to demand rights for the community in the private sector, be it in jobs, education, or the economy," says Dalit journalist Chandrabhan Prasad, who writes India's only English-language column on Dalit issues.

Reservation has always been a contentious issue in India. In 1990, a law that widened the ambit of reservation to include OBCs in the public sector triggered strong upper-caste protests, and helped bolster the rise of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Reservations create a 'creamy layer'

Moreover, reservations have created a what critics call a "creamy layer" of Dalits and OBCs, or those whose families initially benefited from reservation, gained upward mobility, and continue to capture these reserved quotas for their kith and kin. "Reservations have created a middle class among backward castes," says Gurcharan Das, a former CEO of Procter & Gamble India, who frequently writes a pro-liberalization column in a leading national newspaper.

"It is also an infringement on liberty," says Mr. Das, arguing that private institutions must be compensated if they are to reserve seats for Dalits.

"We all believe in providing equality of opportunity, but the principle of reservation is wrong, because you don't want to divide people on the basis of anything other than merit."

In recent months, industry stalwarts have written repeatedly to the government, saying they prefer to promote educational opportunities by providing scholarships to deserving candidates rather than through a blanket reservation policy.

As former IIT director Indiresan says, the private sector wants to follow the American system of affirmative action, and not reservation.

"In affirmative action, the deprived are raised to required levels of competence; in the reservation system, the level of competence is reduced to accommodate what the beneficiary is capable of."

http://abcnews.go.com/International/CSM/story?id=1610461

WillyWick

February 13th, 2006, 05:03 AM

Foundation stone laid for marine engineering complex

Kochi, Feb 12: Union minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi today laid the foundation stone for the Marine Engineering Complex at the Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT), campus, Thrikkakara, near here.

http://www.newkerala.com/news2.php?action=fullnews&id=8669

CII stresses modernisation of higher education in India
http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=117257

magestom

February 13th, 2006, 05:31 AM

Why are so many benefits given to people of low castes? Why not just of people in poverty?

Bombay Boy

February 13th, 2006, 10:12 AM

pretty easy. castes are permanent, income can be changed. so if you want to nurture a vote-bank you would want some permanency, not one that keeps on changing

pding

February 13th, 2006, 04:09 PM

these are all the "vote-winning" tactics of the Congress Gov't.

whenever the congress is in power, this is all normal. they win by creating divisions.

the british have left india almost 60 years ago, but the divide and rule policies the Sonia led Congress gov't are not yet gone.

they'll never act in favor of a unified india, because they can't get the money and luxuries that they are right now, if india were a peaceful country to live in.

i might as well create a new thread for India Politics instead of talking all this in the education forum.

kronik

February 13th, 2006, 08:08 PM

well, Manmohan Singh is just biding time till Prince Rahul can take over the kingdom. Then its probably full scale reversal to the Congress of yore, short-visioned and ready to compromise national integrity for power.

Congress, despite a few bright spots, is still filled with unstable retards who are there simply because they sucked up to Mrs. Gandhi enough.

A case in point for the Congress's devisive policies is that they recently called fora religion based census in the Indian Army, particularly focused on the Muslims, and while the entire Army is against it, it won't stop these anti-nationals, would it?

Not that it matters though, I am sure half our politicians have already sold national security for personal gain. Good bye North-East, and nice knowing you people of Chattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand and AP, because once the Maoists start a full scale war against the nation, I am sure our esteemed, gutless netas will be scurrying like rats.

pding

February 13th, 2006, 08:46 PM

let's talk all this in the politics thread that i just started.

WillyWick

February 14th, 2006, 05:36 AM

Oxford comes wooing in trendy attire
- Outpaced by American universities, chancellor Patten lines up trip

London, Feb.13: Forget the daunting dons and the ivory tower. When you think Oxford, picture a fun campus with modern, up-to-date courses. Even, if you so wish, think Bertie Wooster and boat race night and pinching of policemen’s helmets.

That could be the message from the Oxford chancellor when he visits India as part of his university’s war plans against the likes of Harvard and Yale.

Victory and defeat in the trans-Atlantic battle hinges on Lord Chris Patten’s success in recruiting enough Indians, but he realises his biggest hurdle is the university’s “conservative, stuffy image” in the country. The visit is meant to correct that perception.

Oxford is in a direct “fight” with its Ivy League rivals in America to lure India’s brightest students to enrol, Lord Patten told a British paper yesterday.

“We have to fight very hard to keep our position in the world league table, to stay up there with Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford and MIT,” he said.

“One of the problems in India is that we have a rather conservative, stuffy image. People don’t realise the flexibility and modernity of our courses. We’re falling further and further behind the United States.”

About 17,000 Indian students arrive in Britain yearly compared with nearly 80,000 in the US, where leading colleges receive twice as much funding as their British equivalents.

But Lord Patten will take heart from figures revealed last week that show a sharp increase in Indian students coming to Britain for higher studies despite crippling fees and visa charges. Altogether 16,727 Indian students arrived in the UK in 2004-05, indicating a 14 per cent rise in inflow for two consecutive years.

Cambridge also said yesterday it was committed to attracting the best international students, though its focus has recently been more on China than India. Oxford, too, has twice as many Chinese as Indian students.

Lord Patten, a former European commissioner and governor of Hong Kong, said serious universities needed a coherent strategy for recruiting students from both India and China.

“I hope it will be the first of several visits to India and China over the next few years,” he told the paper. “I don’t think a serious university can do without a properly thought-through strategy for China and India.”

He might seriously consider the strategy of invoking Bertie Wooster’s capers on boat race night and his rather innocuous adventures with Britain’s law-enforcers, who have long enjoyed a reputation for common sense and gentleness.

The British Council believes this is a good time to promote Britain in India against competition from the US, which has become suspicious of foreign students after 9/11. “The British,” its spokesman Guy Roberts said, “have been much more measured”.

Coincidentally or not, the number of Indian students in the UK began climbing significantly soon after the Twin Tower attacks. Some officials believe that if Britain can take advantage of America’s fear of foreign students, their numbers in the UK could treble in 15 years.

Whatever Lord Patten may say, Oxford has not entirely shed its conservatism, though. Many reforms proposed by vice-chancellor John Hood to meet government demands for better governance – such as performance appraisals of academic staff -- have met with strong resistance.

The proposed reforms also give the chancellor -- currently a figurehead -- greater powers, making him chairman of a new board of trustees.

For now, Lord Patten will visit Bangalore, Mumbai and New Delhi to meet Oxford alumni, speak at a business school seminar and discuss ways of raising more money for bursaries for Indian students. He will also co-chair his first annual meeting of the UK-India Round Table in Goa.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1060214/asp/frontpage/story_5844503.asp

The Indians aren't coming

The late Rajiv Gandhi, the last of the Nehru-Gandhi clan to be prime minister of India, had a quip for why so many of his country's bright, young people were leaving home for the west. His pithy reply to critics was "better brain drain than brain in the drain". It seems today's whiz kids agree.
Forsaking their own often tatty universities for the ivory towers of the richer world, Indian students are now the world's most wanted. Eager and smart and thus quite unlike the surly mobs of the west, Indian students can now be found in the front rows of lecture halls from California to Canberra.

This zeal for education, and the ability to pay for it, have not gone unnoticed. Tony Blair and Condoleezza Rice have been wooing groups of Indian students, patiently answering questions from bespectacled teenagers. China, which has only 800 Indian students, is desperate for more, flashing cash and scholarships for physics lectures in Mandarin.

Wearing the mortar board and gown of Oxford University, Chris Patten has this week joined the queue of suitors, bemoaning the fact that not enough Indian students are coming to study among the dreaming spires. There are only 17,000 Indian students in Britain, compared with 80,000 in the US. "We have to fight hard to keep our position in the world league table," he said. The problem, he insists, is one of image: India views its former colonial master as "a conservative, stuffy" place.

There is some truth in the accusation. News stories in India portray America as a land of unbridled opportunity, where Indian scientists and engineers have made it big (the estimated net worth of emigrants to the US from the Indian Insitute of Technology alone is $30bn). Britain carries with it the baggage of its imperial past: a class-bound society in which where you come from still matters more than where you are going.

Yet Patten the former politician also knows that lurking behind this apparent challenge is an opportunity: America's position in Indian hearts is not unassailable. Last year foreign applications to US graduate schools fell by almost a third, and actual enrolment dropped by 6%.

Britain did leave India an important legacy: the English language. And while Indian students are starting to look beyond the States, they still like to speak the lingua franca. In recent years European universities have seen their recruitment rise as they introduce English-language courses. Australia, too, is fast rising in the estimation of Indian students. Bollywood blockbusters such as Salaam Namaste, which focused on the beach antics of Indian expats down under, have done Australia's image no end of good.

Patten's mission is a timely one, as the issue may be a matter of life and death for western institutions. Many universities in the developed world would go under if foreign students suddenly returned home. India is one of the biggest exporters of students in absolute numbers, its educational export making up 5% of all those studying abroad. Little wonder people are bothered about where its brightest brains are going.

http://education.guardian.co.uk/higher/news/story/0,,1709245,00.html

WillyWick

February 14th, 2006, 06:14 AM

NEW DELHI: Delhi University has turned into a red bastion. And no, it's not the Left, but Cupid who has made inroads here on the eve of Valentine's Day.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1413622.cms

WillyWick

February 16th, 2006, 01:10 AM

SRM, Canada Varsity sign MOU

Chennai, Feb 15: SRM Institute of Science and Technology, a deemed university here, and Queen's University, Canada today agreed to co-operate and conduct research in three key areas, relevant to both the countries.

The areas were population and public health with a focus on infectious diseases, alternative energy with focus on fuel cells, biogas and solar energy and human and natural sciences with a focus on nanotechnology and biotechnology, SRM Institute Director M Poonvaikko and Queen's University Director Dr Lorna Jean Edmonds told reporters.

Both of them today signed a framework of agreement, which would lead to signing of a MOU between both these universities, they said.

The agreement would also enable for exchange of students and teachers between the two educational institutions, they added.

http://www.zeenews.com/znnew/articles.asp?aid=275782&sid=NAT

Anniyan

February 16th, 2006, 11:28 PM

IITs to set up more campuses, increase intake

IIT-Delhi is likely to open a campus in Rajasthan, either in Jaipur or Alwar.

IIT-Chennai will start a research centre in BHEL at Trichy, keeping the option of developing it into a campus later.

IIT-Mumbai, which had signed an MoU with the Goa government four years ago, is pursuing the project to start a campus there. It will also upgrade its present campus in Powai.

IIT-Kanpur too will have a new campus.

http://www.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=62922

WillyWick

February 17th, 2006, 02:50 AM

Maharashtra may get a $1-billion university

New Delhi: In the next three years, India will have a university that will be, hopefully, an equal of such leading academic institutions as Harvard, Stanford or Oxford. All thanks to global metal giant Vedanta’s chief Anil Agarwal who is determined to set up a multi-disciplinary varsity here.

Vedanta Resources Plc Chairman Anil Agarwal has committed an endowment of up to $1 billion to set up the world-class university. “We are in talks with five states and will go with the state government in setting up this university,” Agarwal said without revealing exact location.

However, sources close to Vedanta Resources Plc told Mumbai Mirror that Agarwal has initiated a formal dialogue with Maharashtra and the state is far ahead of others in terms of providing incentives and other facilities to snatch the mega deal.

Even otherwise, according to an Assocham study, Maharashtra tops the chart of states in terms of highest number of educational institutes and their output and this has been a primary criterion for foreign investors in choosing their investment venues. These are just some indications that it will be Maharashtra which will get the $1-billion university.

http://www.mumbaimirror.com/nmirror/mmpaper.asp?sectid=13&articleid=2162006215433984216200621549859

Anniyan

February 21st, 2006, 09:14 PM

IT institute may come up in Chennai

An Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT), originally proposed to come up near Kancheepuram, is likely to be set up on the information technology corridor in Chennai.

The Union Human Resources Development Ministry is planning to invest close to Rs.100 crore on this new education/training facility for which it is scouting for land.

A proposal to hand over at least 25 acres of government land on Old Mahabalipuram Road for setting up the IIIT may soon be placed before the State Government or the State Cabinet, say official sources.

Unlike the other IIITs, the Chennai-based institute will focus on design and manufacture, an area in which India is lagging behind.

The IIIT-Design and Manufacturing is one of the two such institutions proposed by the MHRD. The other one was started at Jabalpur.

The institute will have an intake of about 600 students at the undergraduate level.

The expertise of the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras will be utilised in developing the curriculum for engineering design at the undergraduate level.

http://www.hindu.com/2006/02/22/stories/2006022210310100.htm

WillyWick

February 24th, 2006, 12:04 AM

UK wings for aviation school

COIMBATORE: Frankfinn Institute of Airhostess Training is expanding its presence in the country and has entered into a tie-up with UK-based Edexcel, an awarding body providing academic and vocational qualifications. Frankfinn will increase its training centres in the country from the present 49 to 60 by March.

“We would be opening centres in Mysore, Mangalore and Visakhapatnam shortly. Once the expansion is completed, the total intake will go up to 12,000 students,” CL Mohan Narayanan, manager, operations, southern region, Frankfinn, said. While the number of air hostesses required in the country is estimated to be 21,000 in ’10, there is a dearth of talent now, he stated.

The institute offers a one-year diploma in aviation, hospitality and travel management and under the arrangement Edexcel will introduce its BTEC higher national certificate in India through Frankfinn.

All students who enrol for the programme from April would get the certificate once they complete the course, Mr Narayanan said. With around 10,000 students in ’06, Frankfinn would become the largest international Edexcel centre in the world, he said adding, “the certificate will enhance the employment opportunities for students as it’s recognised in 112 countries”.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1426519.cms

WillyWick

February 24th, 2006, 02:05 AM

Cisco Networking Academy

Networking major Cisco Systems and Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University (JNTU) on Thursday teamed up to provide the Cisco Networking Academy Programme in about 250 non-profit educational institutions across Andhra Pradesh.

As per agreement, the JNTU Colleges of Engineering in Hyderabad, Anantapur and Kakinada will be accredited as Regional Academies. These academies will identify and accredit 250 non-profit educational institutions as local academies under them within a period of two years. The academies will impart networking education to around 25,000 students every year.

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2006/02/24/stories/2006022401260400.htm

WillyWick

March 1st, 2006, 02:17 AM

SSN institutions to focus on research

Chennai, Feb 28: A major strategic initiative aimed at promoting 'centres of excellence in research based education and collaboration' was announced today with the formation of a high powered Research Advisory Council (RAC) at the SSN Institutions here.

The RAC with Shiv Nadar, Chairman, HCL Technologies and Founder, SSN Institutions, as the chairman will have eminent internal and external researchers of international renown to advise and guide SSN institutions towards achieving its goals, a SSN release said.

SSN Institutions already have a tie-up for collaborative research, faculty and student exchange with National Tsing Hua University (NTHU), Taiwan.

"The RAC has been constituted with the objective of creating world class 'centres of excellence' in education and research at SSN," Nadar said.

http://www.chennaionline.com/colnews/newsitem.asp?NEWSID=%7B4C5D44B9-699D-4678-9E3F-EEAC61F6BBCB%7D&CATEGORYNAME=Chennai

WillyWick

March 1st, 2006, 06:45 PM

Village school children go online

CHENNAI: Arul Mozhi, D. Deepa and K. Maunika are first generation learners from hamlets with about 1,000 families in interior Tamil Nadu but they are among the thousands of primary and elementary school children who use computers as a learning tool.

Under a computer aided learning programme launched in September, 82,400 rural children in 412 centres in 30 districts are using software packages produced jointly by the State and the Bangalore-based Azim Premji Foundation. Children answer questions in subjects such as Tamil, English, Mathematics, Science, and Social Science on computer.

Some 200 children from class I to VII took online tests for proficiency in using computers here on Tuesday at the Anna Institute of Management Studies. The children were winners at the block and district level online tests held earlier in February.

http://www.hindu.com/2006/03/01/stories/2006030114720500.htm

WillyWick

March 1st, 2006, 06:46 PM

Second IISc. centre

Kolkata: A second centre of the Indian Institute of Science will come up near Kolkata, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee said here on Tuesday. He was inaugurating the 13th West Bengal State Science and Technology Congress.

http://www.hindu.com/2006/03/01/stories/2006030106820100.htm

pding

March 1st, 2006, 09:15 PM

Georgia Tech eyes Hyderabad

As news about the university exploring the possibility of expanding its operational base to Hyderabad, spreads; the local Indian community's excitement about such an initiative is commensurate only with our satisfaction at the astounding results achieved by Indian-American students on-site, across America.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/7752_1638985,004100180001.htm

kronik

March 3rd, 2006, 08:07 AM

Centre gives nod to IISER in Chandigarh (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1436282.cms)

The country's third Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) would be set up in the city's periphery. The Union Government is learnt to have given the go-ahead for the prestigious institution, according to sources in the ministry of science and technology.

Two other IISERs are being set up in Pune and Kolkata. Together, they shall come up at an approximate cost of Rs 500-550 crore. The ministry of human resource development would soon constitute an implementation committee for the latest IISER.

IISER, Kolkata, was likely to start functioning this years but is said to have been delayed due to political reasons. This tangle worked in favour of Chandigarh, sources said.

Once set up, the three institutes would establish a network with professional institutes like IITs and NIITs, universities and colleges across the nation. The IISER in the city's periphery would bring together all undergraduate, postgraduate, doctorate and post doctorate scholars under one roof.

The institute could be expected to have about 2,050 students in its masters' programme, doctoral programme and post-doctoral programme at the time of its full-fledged functioning. However, to begin with, the total strength in its integrated MSc programme would be 1,000 and 1,050 in the doctoral and post doctoral programme.

WillyWick

March 12th, 2006, 09:47 PM

44 institutions become members of GARUDA Communication Fabric

VELLORE: Forty-four institutions have become members of GARUDA Communication Fabric, India's first high-speed national grid computing initiative, launched by the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), a scientific society of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, in 2004, according to N. Mohan Ram, Chief Technology Officer and Centre Head, C-DAC Centre, Bangalore.

While seven are C-DAC centres, the remaining are external institutions.

These include the Indian Institutes of Technology; Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore; Raman Research Institute, Bangalore; Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bangalore; Bhaba Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai; Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai; Institute of Plasma Research, Ahmedabad; Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad; Space Applications Centre, Ahmedabad; National Institute of Radio Astrophysics, National Chemical Laboratory, Pune; Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai and the Madras Institute of Technology, Anna University, Chennai.

While the institutions in Bangalore and Pune have already been connected, the remaining institutions will be connected in two months.

The objectives of the communication fabric are to provide a test bed for research and engineering technologies in grid computing, build a user group that can collaborate on research and technologies and deploy applications of national importance, Mr. Mohan Ram said.

"At present, we have targeted bioinformatics and disaster management, wherein we can quicken the initial official reaction to disasters through quicker and better prediction of the damage and help mitigate the effects of the disasters," he said.

http://www.hindu.com/2006/03/12/stories/2006031209610400.htm

kronik

March 13th, 2006, 03:30 PM

From housing to Olympic size pool: IITB gets a facelift at 50, courtesy alumni (http://www.indianexpress.com/story/352.html)

Three million dollars for a new convention centre to be designed by Hafeez Contractor; 1.8 million dollars for a planned computer centre and engineering building; 2.5 million dollars for an upcoming gymkhana with an indoor stadium, squash courts and Olympic-size pool. These million-dollar alumni cheques and pledges to pay, are on the way from US, to finance ambitious rebuilding of the nearly half-century-old campus of the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IITB) with a new look and a new academic, research vision for the next 50 years.

The plan is to give the alma mater a modern makeover—from classrooms, housing, labs and lecture halls to academics, faculty development and governance—for the IITB’s golden jubilee year 2007-2008.

“A lack of funding for maintenance and ordinary renovation has added to the rate of deterioration,” says Misra’s note on the IIT Bombay Heritage Fund website, on the need for a revamp. “Virtually all structures built in the early days of IITB, along with the supporting road and service facilities, are rapidly deteriorating, with many already in a poor state.”

New housing for faculty and students, a new library building, a new nanotechnology centre, new department buildings and an alumni centre are on the wishlist. Budgets are also being considered for new academic programmes, faculty recruitment, travel and research.

The IITB alumni family includes about 30,000 students who graduated since its first batch—about 7,500 alumni are in the US, from where the recent new contributions have come.
The convention centre will be financed with three million dollars pledged by Citigroup’s Victor Menezes. Raj Mashruwala of Tibco Software has pledged 1.8 million dollars for the computer centre and Syntel co-founder Bharat Desai is main sponsor for the gymkhana, along with the IITB batch of 1975. The 1977 batch has partially sponsored new faculty housing being built.

goldies

March 14th, 2006, 11:49 PM

Lason India, a Chennai-based BPO firm, has announced implementation of its new ‘campus model’ in a collge in Tamil Nadu to make the students employable as soon as they complete their degrees.

Source (http://www.business-standard.com/iceworld/storypage_link.php?chklogin=N&autono=218676&lselect=2&leftnm=lmnu9&leftindx=9)

WillyWick

March 19th, 2006, 01:47 AM

Anna University-Microsoft strategic alliance

Chennai, March 18: Anna University (AU) and Microsoft have announced a 'strategic partnership' to empower the faculty and students across 235 colleges of Anna University, which is one of the largest technical Universities in India, on the latest range of Microsoft's development software and tools.

This agreement is a first of its kind, under which students and faculty will have access to all the Microsoft developer tools which can be used by the students both at their institutions as well as hostels and homes on their personal computers for academic and research purposes. So far, Microsoft as part of its mission to enhance the skill development of students and academia has entered into agreements with individual departments of colleges across India.

Additionally, as part of the agreement, Microsoft will assist in setting up Microsoft technologies in labs at select institutions and conduct faculty development programs on its curriculum related technologies. The agreement will have a significant impact on the employability of its students in the corporate world by exposing them to the global cutting edge technologies and empowering them with skill sets that are relevant. This becomes more imperative in light of the recent NASSCOM McKinsey report of 2005 which had cited a shortage of 500,000 adequately skilled professionals in India over the next five years and which will be the determining factor in India's dream run to achieve the targeted software export revenues.

Making the announcement, Dr D Viswanathan, Vice Chancellor, Anna University, who has always been at the forefront in keeping students interest in mind, said, "This is a continuation of our relationship with Microsoft, which has already setup a .NET Center of Excellence, over four years ago within the Guindy Campus. The centre has been quite active and has benefited the student and academic community quite immensely. We believe this is a great move ahead in our efforts to prepare and ignite the interests of our student community."

"This partnership is a path-breaking initiative from Microsoft and a reinforcement of our commitment to realising the potential of the Indian academia and student community as India marches into the global knowledge economy," said S Somasegar, Corporate Vice President, Microsoft Corporation.

Anna University is striving to reach greater realms in the annals of technical education. The university has endeavoured to provide the best of facilities and infrastructure to its student community and teacher fraternity. The University serves as a Centre for Excellence for fostering cooperation and exchange of ideas between the academia and industry. The transformation of classroom technology from hardware and software into tools for teaching and learning depends on knowledgeable and enthusiastic teachers for which they need to acquire core-technology competencies and skills. Anna University is in the process of establishing a Knowledge Data Centre coupled with a Technology Incubator Centre wherein students will be in a position to transform their thinking into innovative products. An information and communication technology park is being planned towards this objective

http://www.chennaionline.com/colnews/newsitem.asp?NEWSID=%7BBF89B59D-1620-4E32-8203-25152036AA48%7D&CATEGORYNAME=Business

WillyWick

March 20th, 2006, 05:20 AM

Illinois Institute of Technology's Masters degree offered in Chennai
http://www.hindu.com/2006/03/20/stories/2006032014820300.htm

Amrita varsity signs pact for global research

Coimbatore: Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham Deemed University has joined hands with premier institutions of science and technology in the country, to sign a five-year agreement with the 10-campus University of California System, to carry out research in globally challenging areas.

A release said that the signatories included the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Department of Biotechnology (DST), Science and Engineering Research Council (SERC), Technology Information, Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC) and Indo-US Science and Technology Forum, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (IIT-K) and Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research.

V. S. Ramamurthy, Secretary, DST and M. K. Bhan, Secretary, DBT, signed a memorandum of understanding with an eight-member delegation from the University of California, in the presence of Kapil Sibal, Minister of Science and Technology and Ocean Development, at New Delhi.

Joint research and educational collaborations would build on the Indo-US agreements in engineering education and extend links to several disciplines. Areas of collaboration include biomedical and digital healthcare technology, drug design and delivery systems, study of emerging infectious diseases, nano biosciences, nano medicine, nanotechnology, solar energy, biofuels, agricultural biotechnology, biodiversity, marine systems, water quality, global warming, wireless and mobile communication, intelligent transportation systems, telematics, information technology, cyber security, and technology for disaster warning, mitigation and management.

A joint steering committee would come into being in order to effectively implement the memorandum of understanding under the directions of the Secretaries of the Departments of Science and Technology and Biotechnology of the Government of India, and the President of the University of California.

http://www.hindu.com/2006/03/20/stories/2006032015460200.htm

pding

March 24th, 2006, 10:53 PM

http://www.hindu.com/2006/03/25/stories/2006032513210200.htm

NIT on the verge of a massive expansion plan

The National Institute of Technology (NIT), Warangal, Andhra Pradesh, has drawn up an ambitious plan to double its intake by 2011. Speaking to The Hindu , NIT Director Y. V. Rao said on Friday till the end of the 11th plan, intake in each course would be enhanced by 20 per cent every year.

With a view to meeting the requirements of students on the campus, the institute was planning to construct a 250 single-bedded hostel for foreign students and another 1,000-bedded hostel with all modern facilities.

Plans were also underway to extend the existing buildings on the campus, he said.

NIT, formerly Regional Engineering College (REC), has been recognised as deemed university in 2003 and since then the authorities have embarked on a massive plan to upgrade it to the level of IITs.

Accordingly, new curriculum was introduced along with credit rating system for academic evaluation.

The institute had decided to introduce biotechnology at B-Tech level; material science & technology; and communication engineering courses at M-Tech level.

It was also decided to offer 30 fellowships for the PhD programme.

The institute had secured Rs. 21-crore World Bank fund under the Technical Education Quality Improvement Programme (TEQIP).

Under the scheme, the institute had been conducting training programmes and workshops for its teaching and non-teaching staff in collaboration with the industry and other prestigious institutions in the country.

The institute has procured prestigious and rare equipments like atomic force microscope and scanning tunnelling microscope, which would help study and develop Nano technology.

A dynamic mechanical analyser and dynamic universal testing machine were also bought by the institute.

Two ultra-modern computer-aided design labs oratories were also coming up on the campus, Prof. Rao said.

Bombay Boy

March 27th, 2006, 05:28 PM

IMD India centre to offer customised solutions

By Neelima Mahajan/TNN

Mumbai: It is becoming a routine affair—international business schools setting up research arms in India. Last week Harvard Business School inaugurated its India Research Centre in Mumbai.
However, as most schools including HBS focus on writing case studies and generating research material for academic use, the Laussane, Switzerland-based International Institute of Management Development (IMD) is adopting a different tack.
Says Hischam El-Agamy, director of corporate development, IMD, who was in India last week, “Purely academic research will also be on the agenda but the core focus of our India research centre will remain on designing and implementing tailor-made solutions for companies.’’
At least three such research projects have already taken off in India. IMD hopes to attract projects from both Indian as well as global companies that operate in India. The institute is already working with Indian corporate houses like the Thapars, Bharti, the Tatas, RPG and now Wadia Group as well.
“Apart from that, we have 140 global companies in our learning network, many of whom have some specific requirements in the Indian market: for instance, a Daimler or a Nokia,’’ says El-Agamy, adding that some of the companies that IMD works with had asked them to do something like this in India.
The implementation bit is important. “We will help the management cascade the strategy within the organisation—in a bottoms-up, rather than a top-down approach. In this way, we will give ownership of the implementation process to everyone in the organisation,’’ says El-Agamy. Apart from that, IMD will also provide small teams to work with CEOs and challenge them on strategy. According to El-Agamy, working closely with companies on such assignments will later result in research projects and case writing as well.
Furthermore, from a purely academic point of view, IMD will focus on young talent and entrepreneurs in India for case studies and such research. The India centre will also organise roundtable discussions and CEO forums.
Like HBS, IMD has also chosen Mumbai to open its India research centre but it will be another year before it is actually set up. El-Agamy refused to divulge the quantum of investment, but it will be fully funded by the institute.
While most of this will be driven by IMD faculty, the institute will hire local research talent as well. There is also the possibility of hiring temporary research teams as and when there is a need.

Bombay Boy

March 28th, 2006, 06:31 PM

Lights, camera and education: Ghai’s gurukul to open in July

By Meena Iyer TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Mumbai: Whistling Woods International, the largest film, TV and media arts institute in Asia will open its door for students from July this year. The brainchild of Bollywood showman Subhash Ghai, the school—spread over 20 acres of beautifully landscaped ground at Mumbai’s 500-acre Film City—will provide world-class training across all technical and creative aspects of film-making, television and animation with regular two years of intensive hands-on training.
According to Ghai, who is also the chairman of WWI, the school will act as a stepping stone for those wishing to make inroads into Bollywood. “The reason why I have floated this school is because I want to return to the industry what it has taught me over the last 27 years,” says Ghai.
Veteran film-maker Shyam Benegal, who is the chairman of the academic council of WWI, says, “It is amazing that India, which has the largest film industry, should have so little to offer by way of film education. The real advantage of Whistling Wood is that it offers the kind of film education you’d probably get in institutes in either the US or Europe.”
Incidentally, some of the brightest Bollywood stars are on the WWI advisory board, including thespian Dilip Kumar and Shah Rukh Khan. Versatile actors like Naseeruddin Shah and Shabana Azmi are also part of the list which includes contemporary filmmakers like Karan Johar, Ashutosh Gowarikar and Nagesh Kukunoor.

kronik

March 29th, 2006, 07:49 PM

More bad news (http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=121920)

The educational institutions in which all of us still take pride because they are autonomously run and based on merit are now on suspended sentence. For, the Centre is reportedly going to more than double reservation for entry into these. If so, the reserved quota will go up from the present 22.5% to 49.5%.

For now, the human resources development ministry has set the ball rolling by telling states to frame laws in the light of the 104th constitutional amendment. This allows the state to impose its caste and other quotas in any educational institution; minority-run ones are exempt.

The amendment, voted through by Parliament in December, was meant to overturn two Supreme Court judgements which said the state could only impose these things on institutions run with or helped by state money. That was considered subversive of the common good and, without dissent from any political party, went through.

So, every government now has the authority to decree up to half the seats in each institution be filled with various caste quotas. The potential damage that this can cause to good institutions is huge.

Let the state, instead, offer scholarships and provide special (and, if required, free) coaching to deserving candidates who are disadvantaged. But, let it not dilute the standards of these institutions by lowering the calibre of those who gain admission.

Raising the bar for the under-privileged is a better way of addressing the problem than lowering it to meet the lowest common denominator.

Thank you IE! I have been saying the exact same thing all along.

WillyWick

March 29th, 2006, 09:38 PM

Raising the bar for the under-privileged is a better way of addressing the problem than lowering it to meet the lowest common denominator

Spot on!!

Anyways is not any private college some kind of "minority institute" other than a few?

pding

March 31st, 2006, 09:22 PM

this is one reason why i fucking hate congress. they divide the country. british are long gone but "divide and rule" is still present.

for now:

Central varsity of Hyderabad to offer 5-year courses for undergraduates

The University of Hyderabad has decided to open up its portals for undergraduate students too with an integrated five-year course in Sciences and Humanities from the ensuing academic year and subsequently in Social Sciences. A formal approval is likely to come by at the Standing Academic Council meeting.

This is the first of its kind course in any conventional university in the country and the Union Ministry of Human Resources Development has assured funds for infrastructure development for the new initiative. Vice Chancellor Seyed E. Hasnain, who was recently in New Delhi to receive the Padma Shri award discussed the developments with the Ministry and got the monetary support.

According to sources, the integrated courses will be offered in Chemical Sciences, Physical Sciences, Mathematical Sciences & Systems Biology while Telugu and Urdu departments too decided to join the initiative.

"Some departments were not very enthusiastic but the Vice Chancellor decided to go ahead with the schools that were keen on taking up the challenge," said a senior professor.

The objective, he said, was to tap the young talent and orient them towards serious research. The idea emerged after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called for attracting students to core sciences rather than just technology-based courses.

Novel feature

A unique feature of the integrated course is that the students would have to study the foundation course for two years that will expose them to all streams of education - from core sciences to social sciences and computers to culture and heritage and languages.

After two years of rigorous training the candidates will be given the choice to select the stream of their interest for the final degree that will be equivalent to a master's degree.

Limited seats would be offered under the programme in each stream to begin with and selected candidates will be paid Rs. 500 stipend per month.

To accommodate these students a new hostel has also been planned and the work is on.

The Vice Chancellor, according to sources, is keen on recruiting good faculty to handle the additional pressure and has also given the nod.

"He has given lots of freedom to the schools regarding recruitment and inviting scholars," said a professor.

To identify and structure the foundation course, a new school under the name - Floating school of Integrated Studies will take shape soon.

I guess they've started to increase the focus on science and research. this will help spur basic sciences research in the country without which we can never achieve the status of a technological superpower.

WillyWick

April 2nd, 2006, 08:04 PM

IIM-A to foray into US, Singapore

The prestigious Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) are going global in a big way.

IIM Ahmedabad (IIM-A) will now be expanding to US next year. It will also launch courses in Singapore, Dubai and Muscat.

The entry into the United States will be a collaboration with Duke University.

The foray into Singapore will be following an agreement with Essec School, France. "In Dubai and Muscat we want to short-run duration programmes. There is a big market for executive programmes there," said Bakul Dholakia, Director, IIM-A.

IIM-A classes in Dubai and Muscat will begin later this year while its entry to Singapore is scheduled for 2007.

Fee hike

The IIM-A on Sunday announced a 12 per cent fee hike for its two-year post-graduate programme (PGP).

The institute's board of directors in a meeting on Sunday decided to increase the fees from Rs 1.58 lakh per annum to Rs 1.77 lakh.

Dholakia said the fee hike would not affect poor students as the scholarships would be increased accordingly.

The board of governors has also decided to discuss various pending issues relating to greater autonomy with the HRD Ministry.

NDTV has learnt that IIM-A has already got a green signal for all its overseas plans from the HRD Ministry even as IIM-Bangalore's plans to start classes in Singapore have not been approved yet.

However, according to sources the ministry is against the decision of any IIMs setting up full-fledged campuses outside India.

Meanwhile, it will be a little more expensive to get an education at the other IIMs also.

IIM-Bangalore and IIM-Calcutta have raised their fees from Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 1.75 lakh every year.

At IIM-Indore, a student will now have to pay Rs 1.5 lakh, up from Rs 1.25 lakh per year.

The post-graduate course at IIM-Kozhikode will cost Rs 1.5 lakh a year

http://www.ndtvprofit.com/homepage/storybusinessnew.asp?id=30566&template=&cache=4/2/2006%209:06:24%20PM

pding

April 3rd, 2006, 02:49 AM

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-1474055,curpg-2.cms

ISB to set up three centres of excellence

The Indian School of Business is planning to set up three new centres of excellence in the next two years in the areas of leadership and change, technology management and marketing. These centres will undertake research, develop industry partnerships and design cutting-edge curriculum. The institute has not finalised any industry partners for its new centres.

more (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-1474055,curpg-1.cms)

pding

April 12th, 2006, 02:48 AM

http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/006200604120311.htm

SSL partners with HBSP and U21 Global

Hyderabad, April 12. (PTI): Satyam School of Leadership (SSL) on Tuesday announced it has partnered with Harvard Business School Publishing and Universitas 21 Global to offer advanced global business leadership learning for senior executives.

The objective of the programme offered by SSL, the corporate leadership university of Satyam Computer Services Limited, is to further boost Satyam's strategic leadership excellence, a release from the company said on Tuesday.

HBSP will provide significant leadership development content, case studies and online leadership modules, while U21Global will deliver suitably integrated additional content, participant management, and assessment processes, it said.
Hyderabad, April 12. (PTI): Satyam School of Leadership (SSL) on Tuesday announced it has partnered with Harvard Business School Publishing and Universitas 21 Global to offer advanced global business leadership learning for senior executives.

The objective of the programme offered by SSL, the corporate leadership university of Satyam Computer Services Limited, is to further boost Satyam's strategic leadership excellence, a release from the company said on Tuesday.

HBSP will provide significant leadership development content, case studies and online leadership modules, while U21Global will deliver suitably integrated additional content, participant management, and assessment processes, it said.

kronik

April 23rd, 2006, 10:07 PM

I wish all our MP's were like Mr. Shourie: Hard working and high on integrity.

Green building to make IIT centre unique (http://www.indianexpress.com/iep/sunday/story/3033.html)

Rajya Sabha MP Arun Shourie will lay the foundation stone of a state-of-the-art Centre for Environmental Sciences building at IIT Kanpur on Sunday. The green design of the building, to be built using Rs 11 crore from Shourie’s MPLAD funds, will ensure it leaves the least impact on energy resources of the area.

During his earlier term as Rajya Sabha MP, Shourie had provided his MPLAD Fund for Biological Sciences and Bio-Engineering centre at IIT. That too was a ‘green building’, but the new project would be rated by TERI from the very beginning, making it more formal.

The focus of this proposed centre will be more on research and development of futuristic technologies rather than teaching. Some of the areas that would be within its immediate range of work would be abatement of pollution from industries and power plants or conservation of groundwater and surface water.

The Centre is expected to be self-sustaining by attracting fund from the industry — leading industrial house of India Thermax has already shown interest in collaborating on water and environment pollution.

A consortium of four US universities is also willing to be associated on the public health angle to environment. It is the intuitive and nature-friendly design of the building which will make it unique. Described as a ‘‘building in the garden’’, its laboratories, seminar and discussion rooms will be housed in 4.5 acre of an already-existing nursery.

It has been decided that the building will only have one floor to it — it will have a series of modules, rather than a single consolidated block. These modules will be in a curvilineal spine, offering an element of visual surprise at every juncture. A water body will be located strategically with the building to control the micro-climate. Links connecting laboratories would be bridges, floating in space with plants and skylights providing shafts of light from above.

The design of the roof is truly innovative providing a lot of energy efficiency — it would be shaded with plant trellis to cut direct heat gain of the building. It will also have integrated water-proofing and insulation. The top surface finish would be China Mosaic to reflect the heat.

The internal courtyard will be covered with photo-voltaic cells which will harness solar energy while shading the courtyard. Deep earth air tunnels would be used to enable reduction in cooling systems. These are measures that would help save a considerable amount of energy and it is calculated that the extra costs of elements like photo-voltaic cells would get neutralised in three years time.

Luckystreak

April 27th, 2006, 07:45 AM

A good video about IIT's on CBS

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1246276279259037197&q=iit&pl=true

One more on an Italian TV

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2324034979738088839&pl=true

kronik

May 16th, 2006, 03:57 AM

School meals get more bite (http://business-standard.com/common/storypage_c.php?leftnm=10&bKeyFlag=BO&autono=91241&chkFlg=)

Spurred by a Supreme Court ruling, hot mid-day meals are being served daily to 12 crore children in 9.5 lakh schools all over the country.

The meals are no longer punishing plates of rice gruel and beans that students in Kerala used to force down or the dreaded Ghughri (a wheat gruel) that children in Gujarat endured daily.

Schools are offering anything from milk and eggs to even fish, to ensure fulfillment of nutritional needs of the child.

The vast spread of the scheme has convinced the HRD ministry to decide on doubling financial assistance to mid-day meals.

The present contribution of the ministry to the students’ food bill is Re 1 per child, besides free grain. The Centre is ready to make this Rs 1.50, provided states contribute another 50 paise per child. The annual central outlay, which was Rs 3,345 crore last year, is Rs 5,348 crore for 2006-2007.

But want of funds has not stopped states from going beyond the central guidelines for a varied and appealing menu. West Bengal, which was the last to offer mid-day meals, is today serving fish and meat once a fortnight.

Its menu? Rice with a choice of dal, vegetable curry, egg curry, potato with soya chunks, and fish and meat curry rotationally through the week.

Eggs are offered with mid-day meals once a week in Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Jammu and Kashmir and Madhya Pradesh.

Karnataka schools serve sweet pongal, chapati and sabji and bisibele on different days of the week.

Rajasthan’s spread includes dal-roti, vegetables-roti, dal-bati, rice-sweet and namkeen and fruits. Kerala, which has been the slowest to change, sticking to rice and payar (beans) for decades, sent its new food chart to the ministry this week promising, a variety of curries with rice.

Children get 300 calories and 8 to 12 grams of protein from mid-day meals. States are under pressure to increase this to 450 calories and 15 grams of protein.

kronik

May 21st, 2006, 05:48 PM

IIM Lucknow opens campus at Noida (http://sify.com/finance/fullstory.php?id=14204703)

Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow, one of the premier management institutes in India on Monday formally commenced work on their Noida campus facility. It is the first IIM to open a second campus.

The Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow inaugurated the first programme, the Working Manager's Program, on their Noida campus in July 2005. This programme is as intense as the PGP course at IIM Lucknow.

The Noida campus of IIM Lucknow is coming up on 20-acres land in Sector 62. The campus will have a well-equipped library, a modern computer centre, an automated programme office, class room block, furnished hostels with single-seated bachelor accommodation, a large students' mess furnished with modern kitchen equipments, a medical centre and a guest house.

The new campus comes equipped with open air courts for outdoor games like tennis, volley ball, basketball, and also a sports complex for indoor games. Residential buildings and community centre for faculty and staff are being developed. The library block, computer centre and all lecture halls will be air-conditioned. The campus will also house banks, ATMs, a post office, telecom centre, a restaurant, and a general merchandise shop.

Bombay Boy

May 23rd, 2006, 06:23 PM

dont know where this should be posted but extremely interesting and something that should be pursued by the GoI

PoK students want seats in IIM/IITs! (http://www.rediff.com/news/2006/may/23sheela.htm)

goldies

May 26th, 2006, 09:00 AM

15 seats per year
applicable for mech , electrical engrs ...
it was one of the dream of abdul kalam.

kronik

May 30th, 2006, 07:10 PM

K'taka may get India's first cyber law institute (http://www.business-standard.com/common/storypage_c.php?leftnm=11&bKeyFlag=IN&autono=1298)

Karnataka is likely to get the country's first exclusive academic institution dedicated to higher studies in cyber law. The International Institute for Information Technology Law (IIIT Law), a trust having 17 legal and IT experts as it members, is making a headway.

Founded by Justice B K Somasekhara, former High Court judge, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, IIIT Law, in the first phase has decided to organise awareness and training programmes across the country on nuances relating to cyber law.

IIIT Law is scheduled to be formally launched on June, 2 by the Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court.

Although, India was the twelfth country in the world to adopt an Information Technology Act, in 2000, experts felt the Act lacked 'teeth 'for punitive measures. "Information asset owners are not making full use of the mechanism and are yet to adopt a requisite legal compliance regime in their business processes. This exposes them to cyber crime risks," Vidyashanker said.

kronik

June 5th, 2006, 09:58 PM

Ludhiana gets new veterinary college (http://www.business-standard.com/economy/storypage.php?tab=r&autono=93819&subLeft=1&leftnm=3)

Named after the Sikh guru, Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (GADVASU), the eighth veterinary university of the country, has come up on Ferozepur Road, Ludhiana.

The university has been set up on 135 acres and is supposed to promote livestock production, health and prevention of diseases through integrated teaching, research and extension programmes.

It was inaugurated by Punjab Chief Minister Amrinder Singh on June 2. The university, an offshoot of Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), Ludhiana, was originally the College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences at PAU.

The Punjab Agricultural University Teachers Association (PAUTA) initially opposed the formation of GADVASU and even moved the court against it, but on April 21, 2006, PAUTA lost that case.

Dr O S Parmar, Director of Extension Education, GADVASU said that Punjab contributes 10 percent to the total milk production of the country.

``Here, more than 70 percent of our cattle population is from cross-bred varieties as compared to the national average of approximately 15 percent. So the university will also develop cross breeding techniques for piggery, cattle, buffaloes, sheep, goat, fisheries and many more to consolidate the livestock base.’’

Dr Parmar further said that GADVASU would soon provide technical support to a Gulf based company called Allansons, who are all set to open up an abattoir near Chandigarh.

On the inaugural function held on Friday, Capt Amrinder Singh has announced a grant of Rs10 crore for the University against the budgetary provision of Rs 4 crore for the infrastructure up-gradation and Rs.20 lakh for the research and reference.

He also announced to set up a Regional Centre of the University at Patti in Tarn Taran district to give a fillip to the production of milk and improve the quality of livestock in the Majha belt.

To reach the masses, GADVASU will also have time slots for various educational programmes on Doordarshan as well as All India Radio.

Whiskers!!

June 10th, 2006, 08:56 PM

Villupuram's efforts to improve school results pay off

VILLUPURAM: Villupuram district's pass percentage in this year's secondary school examinations is 81 per cent — well above the State average of 77.6 per cent.

http://www.hindu.com/2006/06/10/stories/2006061003860300.htm

pding

June 10th, 2006, 09:10 PM

such efforts still remain as pilot projects in our country. on a grander scale, the gov'ts don't seem to be realising what education can do for India. free power, food, rice, grains, and loan write off schemes are patronised as if it is some great achievment, whereas education is still seen as a burden in rural India. just saying we have increased the funding is not enough. just saying we are going to achieve the target of allocating 3% of the GDP for education is not enough. there should be an effort to make ppl realise that Education is something to be proud of and will improve one's circumstances. we have too many politicians who can't reach to ppl's hearts. we have too many politicians with no vision. we need visionary ppl, who can see straight into the eyes of rural and backward India and tell them education is the only thing that will alleviate their situation. education doesn't mean just medicine or engineering. it also includes vocational and discipline-oriented courses.

cbeboy

June 10th, 2006, 10:33 PM

Admissions possible with less marks in TN (http://www.hindu.com/2006/06/11/stories/2006061108740400.htm)

CHENNAI: In the last academic year 2005-06, a student with 296 marks out of 300 could not get into any of the Government medical colleges as the number of outstanding performers was high.

This year, a student with only 292 marks is likely to get the most coveted seat.

The cryptic message is: the dip in performance by students in this year's Standard XII public examination as also in the Tamil Nadu Professional Courses Entrance Examination (TNPCEE) is leading to a dramatic four or five marks reduction in the minimum score (cut-off) for entering MBBS and BDS courses in the State.

Also, the likely increase in the number of seats in Government medical colleges will also bring down the cut-off marks.

This trend will be reflected in all the colleges and in all categories of students, says career consultant Jayaprakash Gandhi, who analysed the Plus Two and TNPCEE results.

To buttress his point, Mr. Gandhi notes that in the prestigious Madras Medical College, the last OC candidate's score last year was 298.83. "But this year this can come down to even 294.50, because the number of high scores in the Biology paper in Plus Two as also the TNPCEE is much lower than last year... "

Similarly, in the Government Stanley Medical College, Chennai, the figures last year were 298 for OC candidates, 297.67 for BC, 296.75 for MBC and 293.66 for SC category students. For each of these categories, the cut-off this year will come down by four to 4.5 marks, including for BDS programme....

pding

June 16th, 2006, 11:02 PM

http://www.hindu.com/2006/06/17/stories/2006061714070100.htm

Centre raises mid-day meal aid

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on Friday enhanced the Central assistance to States and Union Territories for meeting the cooking cost of the Mid-Day Meal Scheme from Rs. one to Rs. 1.50 a child a school day.

The increased assistance is, however, subject to mandatory contribution of a minimum of 50 paise by the States with an overall cost norm of Rs. 2 and provision of improved nutritional norm, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee told reporters after the CCEA meeting.

In the case of the North-Eastern States, the ratio would be 90:10 between the Centre and the State. The existing level of Central assistance towards the cooking cost would be maintained till States contributed their share.

Kitchen-cum-stores

The CCEA also approved assistance to States to construct kitchen-cum-stores in a phased manner under the scheme in about six lakh primary schools at a cost of about Rs. 60,000 a unit where convergence with other programmes was not feasible. But States have been asked to continue the construction through collaborations.

The committee also approved assistance for cooking and kitchen devices at the rate of Rs. 5,000 a school in a phased manner and continuance of the Mid-Day Meal Scheme as a Centrally-sponsored one. The revised scheme will take effect immediately.

Universalising education

The ambitious scheme is part of the strategy to universalise elementary education by boosting enrolment, attendance and retention, besides improving the nutritional status of about 12 crore children at the primary stage. Applicable in nine lakh primary schools, the budgetary outlay for the scheme this financial year is Rs. 4,300 crore, making it the world's largest school feeding programme.

The Supreme Court in November 2004 directed all States and Union Territories to provide mid-day meals to primary school students by January 2005. Since then the Centre has been funding the scheme that has also been instrumental in employment generation, particularly for women belonging to disadvantaged sections.Mr. Mukherjee said the CCEA also approved the opening of 50 new Kendriya Vidyalayas and gave ex-post facto approval for regularisation of 84 more such schools opened in 2003-04 and 2004-05.

i have a question? what does Pranab Mukherjee, a Defence Minister have to do with all this??? it makes for a Home minister to look after these matters. not a defence minister.

coming to the point, this is almost a $1 Billion program. though expensive, it is worth it. education is the only way that India can go forward. they should increase the budgetary allocation for this scheme to at least Rs. 5000 crore next year.

goldies

June 17th, 2006, 08:36 PM

Source - Tamil version (http://thatstamil.oneindia.in/news/2006/06/17/tcs.html)

Translation:
TCS recruited 2034 candidate in last 2 weeks
1546 of them in last 2 days
PSG coimbatore, CIT coimbatore,VIT Vellore, alone account for 1546 of them
VIT - 525

Last year TCS recruited 22000.out of which 15000 is from TN and 7500 is from chennai

For freshers , this time salary is 10% more than last year.

TCS is recruiting foreigners also . Recruited 4500 from outside India and 1000 from US alone.

Infosys currently recruiting in Anna Univ

goldies

June 22nd, 2006, 05:54 PM

Cognizant Technology Solutions made job offers to 572 students from Anna University, Chennai on a single day, a move that reflects the intensifying war for talent in college campuses among IT majors.

R Chandrasekaran, managing director, Cognizant, said, “We share a very close working relationship with Anna University, and have been recruiting students for the last 10-plus years from here.

That apart, the students from this university have contributed significantly to our growth and we are happy that our intake has consistently gone up over the years.” Last year, Cognizant recruited 504 students from Anna University.

It has been a virtually war for talent at some college campuses in Tamil Nadu with IT majors hiring en masse to meet the increasing demand for manpower. Infosys, for example, recruited 596 students from Anna University this season, while TCS hired 525 people from Vellore Institute of Technology.

Cognizant said over 1,668 students had applied from across various streams in Anna University. After a screening process that included an aptitude test and a final interview, 572 students were recruited.

These students will be joining Cognizant next year. Cognizant currently has over 28,000 employees globally and plans to add another 7,000 to take its employee strength to 35,000 by December ’06

Source (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1665181.cms)

cncity

June 24th, 2006, 11:44 PM

It’s Destination Pune for 5,500 students from 90 nations . On average 10,000 foreign students are studying in Pune, the highest in the country.

Good weather, high-quality-low-cost education, safety and friendly citizens are crowd-pullers

Pune, June 24: They come from all corners of the world. Their mission: To get Indian degrees in management, IT, arts and architecture. With each passing year, their numbers are growing and so are the countries they represent. If it was Destination Pune for students from Iran, Palestine, Sudan, Kenya and Ethiopia for over two decades, joining the rush for admission to colleges in Pune are students from Djibouti, Fiji Islands, Vietnam, South Korea and Indonesia.

Numbers tell their own story. Pune University drew 2,455 foreign students from 90 countries in 2005, a two-fold rise from 1,431 in 2003. Symbiosis International Education Centre (SIEC) that had 600 offshore students at the beginning of the decade is set to have 2,000 enroll for the studies this academic year. The story is the same in Bharati Vidyapeeth, another deemed university like Symbiosis, where another 600-odd foreign nationals are chasing degrees.

“It’s not just the number of students which is increasing, there is a changing pattern in the countries represented,” says Vidya Yerawadekar, joint director of SIEC, where there are students from 60 countries.

That’s not all. There is also a shift in the pattern of subject choice. While the bulk of students still stick to undergraduate courses like BCom, BSc and BA, more students are opting for PG and doctoral courses as well. Among the top draws are disciplines like IT, management and law. “In Iran or Oman, a foreigner striking up friendship with a local is not that easy. Not so here,” says Iranian Mohammed Raiza. Oft repeated reasons for choosing Pune over other Indian cities are the weather, a mix of high quality and low-cost education, English as the medium of instruction, safety for girls, and above all the friendly nature of its citizens.

“Other states have become more parochial in recent times, restricting admission to mostly locals and persons of Indian origin,” says Shantishree Pandit, director of the International Students’ Centre, University of Pune

Students-friendly steps like the single window system at the Pune university, wherein foreign admissions for 385 affiliated colleges in Pune, Ahmednagar and Nashik, are coordinated have helped. “This has made Pune a model for other cities,” says Pandit.

It’s advantage Pune University too. Foreign students pay five times the fee that Indians do, making them a significant source of foreign exchange. The result: The Indian Government has begun selling India to the world through education fairs, faculty and student exchange programmes and even offers financial assistance to students from countries poorer than ours.

WillyWick

July 3rd, 2006, 11:43 PM

Motorola, IIT-Bombay Tie Up

Monday, July 03, 2006: Motorola Inc. has signed a comprehensive MoU with the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay, to strengthen its R&D initiatives in India and support its vision for the emerging markets. This MoU will allow Motorola researchers to work with the Institute's faculty to boost R&D initiatives on application of next generation technologies. Motorola has also established a post-doctoral fellowship through the Motorola Foundation, USA. The fellowship will help Motorola attract a cross-section of talent to develop architecture and applications to realise seamless mobility and a converged world.

Firdose Vandrevala, chairman, Motorola India and corporate vice president, Motorola Inc., said, "This partnership with one of India's premier engineering institutions will be mutually fulfilling and will enrich our vision and execution of seamless mobility."

Prof Ashok Misra, director-IIT-Bombay, said, "We believe our association with Motorola will give our students exposure to real life technical projects and provide them with the right platform to harness their knowledge and skills."

Motorola and IIT-Bombay have also set up a council to enhance and align long-range research between the institute and Motorola, besides training students of IIT-Bombay. In the past, Motorola has undertaken joint R&D initiatives with other IITs, like IIT Chennai and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore.

http://www.efytimes.com/fullnews.asp?edid=12750

Ajaypp

July 4th, 2006, 07:14 AM

Another first from the Akshaya programme which has won laurels world-wide :)

Giving students `Net' power

Staff Reporter

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Department of Education has launched a programme aimed at familiarising the Internet among about 15,000 students studying in classes eight to 12 in government schools in Malappuram district.
Each panchayat will identify up to 150 students for this 10-hour programme that will be carried out by the `Akshaya' centres run by the Kerala State IT Mission.

The `Students Net' programme was officially inaugurated by Education Minister M. A. Baby at the Edusat studio at the Gorky Bhavan here on Monday. Monday's inaugural ceremony broadcast through the State's Edusat network was watched live by students of 400 government schools in Malappuram district.

Under this scheme, each student identified for the programme will be given an e-mail ID and will be trained to use the Net effectively for academic purposes such as project work and seminars. The IT Mission has prepared a syllabus for this training programme for which each student will have to pay Rs. 25. The IT Mission will pay the `Akshaya' centres Rs. 100 per student to meet the cost of training. The Students Net project is actually an extension of the `Internet to the People' scheme run by Akshaya centres.

Encouraging factors

The number of schools in the district, the presence of 400-odd Akshaya centres that provide Net connectivity even to interior areas in the district and an equal number of schools with Edusat linkage and the success of the IT@School programme in the district are being seen by the Department of Education as factors that will ensure the success of this programme.

Source: The Hindu

goldies

July 13th, 2006, 02:47 AM

Chennai Business School was formally inaugurated on Saturday in the city.

The aim of the school, on the Velacheri - Taramani road, is to address the lack of an IIM or an ISB in the city, members involved in drawing up the school's curriculum said. The school's advisory board includes heads of various organisations, including information technology and media houses across the country and academics.

R.J. Shahney, Chairman of Ashok Leyland and chairman of the advisory board of the school, handed over an appointment letter from Pantaloon to a student during the inauguration.

Mr. Shahney lauded the efforts of the founder members. He cautioned the first batch of 75 students, 30 of whom already have appointment letters from Pantaloon, that they should not rest on their initial success.

He urged students to shine in whatever work is assigned to them. The faculty should focus on training students to be leaders in their area of expertise.

The institution will initially focus on human resources, marketing, communications, and retail management. The faculty, who have industry experience, have been drawn from various fields. The school will also invite heads of business organisations on the advisory board to address the students from time to time.

P.K. Mohapatra, President, Technology Business Sector, RPG Enterprises, traced the history of management schools, and said CBS would provide 550 class hours. Next year, the school proposes to introduce entertainment management as a course.

The one-year postgraduate programme will begin on Monday. Over 55 per cent of the students have work experience.

Source (http://www.hindu.com/2006/07/09/stories/2006070915780200.htm)

kashyap3

July 17th, 2006, 06:49 PM

the cure to poverty and bad governance
education
lets hope public schools become more prolific in rural areas

kronik

July 18th, 2006, 06:38 AM

10 lakh schools to be linked through Internet (http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/7097_1741076,008700010014.htm)

New Delhim July 11, 2006: The Internet will soon become the medium through which one can enter the classrooms of about 10 lakh schools in India.

Information regarding the state of the classroom, number of teachers and students, playing facilities as well as examination results will also be available online.

Not only government schools but even top private schools will be part of one of the biggest school interlinking exercise the country has ever undertaken.

Just about 50,000 schools are not covered under the programme. The National Institute of Education Planning and Administration (NEIPA) will put report cards of over 10 lakh schools, for which it has collected data, on the Internet.

“There will be a report card on each school available. We will also provide different search options to compare schools on different parameters and facilities.

The data will be available on the Net within two months,” said a senior NEIPA official. The data is from 581 districts and has been compiled in an analytical report, Elementary Education in India, released by HRD minister Arjun Singh on Monday.

“Information from each school has been converted into a school report card for putting it on internet,” the official informed. While the exercise to collect data from schools started in 1994 with 42 districts, it is for the first time the information will be available for the citizens.

“The information available will be of September 2004 but soon we will try to update the information,” the official informed.

pding

July 19th, 2006, 12:33 AM

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1772683.cms

India to fall short of 5 lakh IT pros by â€˜10
_________________________________________________________________

communication skills need to be stressed more. in AP, YSR started Jawahar Knowledge Centers for training youth in mostly rural areas in technical disciplines and making them more "hirable". i wonder if soft skills are part of the curriculum in the JKCs.

WillyWick

July 19th, 2006, 08:14 PM

Nasscom calls for `liberation' of institutions

Nasscom, the IT and ITeS industries' apex body, on Tuesday called for the `liberation' of some educational institutions, granting them freedom to experiment with new courses and to pay as much as they want to faculty.

Mr Kiran Karnik, President, Nasscom, welcoming a gathering at its annual Human Resources Summit in Chennai said, "On an experimental basis, we should allow some institutions to recruit who they want, admit who they want and to pay the faculty market salaries."

Universities, he said, "Are constrained by rules and regulations. They have too many constraints. They must have the freedom to experiment." Tomorrow, the drivers for the industry would be innovation and creativity. "If our universities, which are the hotbed for innovation, are constrained in this manner, I don't understand where we are heading. We need to see how we can liberate the system."

He suggested that on an experimental basis, "We should allow some institutes to recruit whoever they want, admit whoever they want and introduce and experiment with new courses as per market demand."

Currently, he said, "universities cannot introduce a new course without prior permission from the University Grants Commission. Why should a university, if it has the best academic minds, wait for permission from someone in New Delhi to commence a course it deems fit for the students."

He added that without action taken in the near future, the Indian IT industry could face a shortage of 0.5 million professionals by 2010.

Shortage of professionals

"This is not an actual shortage. We would have more engineers than that figure by 2010 but they might no be employable. The industry, academia and government need to work together to prevent this unnatural shortage."

He also urged educationists and policy makers to look up on education as a possible foreign exchange earner.

According to him, "Every year, bright students who don't make it to the best institutes in India, prefer to go abroad for studies. India spends between $2 billion and $3 billion every year on such students. If institutes are able to attract students both Indian and foreign, this could be a big revenue earner." And, he said, since the Indian industry will be the biggest consumers of high quality human resources with the highest qualification, the industry would benefit, as well.

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2006/07/19/stories/2006071902530400.htm

kronik

July 19th, 2006, 09:04 PM

an ad in the newspaper for the Vedanta University. Based in Orissa, this is supposed to be spread over 10,000 acres and have around 100,000 students on its rolls.

http://img114.imageshack.us/img114/9409/vedantalq9.th.png (http://img114.imageshack.us/my.php?image=vedantalq9.png)

WillyWick

July 20th, 2006, 10:14 PM

Wigan & Leigh plans more colleges

Wigan & Leigh College India (WLCI), wholly owned subsidiary of Wigan and Leigh College, UK, has chalked out a massive branch expansion plan over next couple of years.

In a bid to enable the students across the country to access its courses, the college authorities propose to establish 15 new campuses by August, 2007 in prominent cities of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Jharkahnd and Assam.

To start with, the college will start operation of six new campuses in from this academic session. These campuses are located in Bhubaneswar, Jammu, Jaipur, Srinagar, Ranchi and Goa.

At present, WLCI has its campuses in cities including New Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Indore, Lucknow and Chennai.

On Bhubaneswar campus, WLCI chairman Vinay Pasricha said, the city unit will offer both undergraduate and PG courses in business management, fashion technology, advertising and graphic design and media studies.

Like other metro campuses it will support professional learning to include academics, business communication skills and personality development, soft skills and industry lead traineeship programme.

Candidates seeking admission to the college will have to appear for the Wigan aptitude test. While its MBA programme costs Rs 2 lakh and above, other programme cost around Rs 1 lakh, he added.

The courses also offer the students the flexibility of completing semesters in the UK institute along with a work permit to earn while studying.

Till now 10 per cent of its students have availed the facility.

So far, all 8000 students, who have graduated from various branches in the country, have found placements in reputed firms, he claimed.

http://www.business-standard.com/compindustry/storypage.php?leftnm=1&subLeft=1&chklogin=N&autono=98925&tab=r

WillyWick

August 18th, 2006, 08:38 PM

National centre for nanosciences to come up in Chennai

CHENNAI: A national centre for nanosciences and biomedical nanotechnology is to come up in Chennai, under the University of Madras. The university proposes to use Rs. 80 crore from the Rs. 100 crore the Centre has promised for its 150th anniversary. Its proposal for creating the centre was given in principle clearance by the University Grants Commission last month.

The centre will be part of the university's efforts to create technology-based entrepreneurs and incubating university-based start up companies, says Vice-Chancellor S.P. Thyagarajan. The Human Resource Development Ministry will process the proposal for releasing the grant.

"We are already planning a technology business incubator in the university using a Rs. 5-crore grant from the Union Department of Science and Technology. This work will get a fillip with the creation of the national centre," says Prof. Thyagarajan.

The centre will be able to focus on activities of national and international scientists working in areas such as DNA diagnostics, drug delivery systems, biosensor-based evaluation of the disease process, progress and pathophysiology

http://www.hindu.com/2006/08/18/stories/2006081811950100.htm

kashyap3

August 18th, 2006, 08:52 PM

apparantely India is lacking in the pure science department compared to the rest of the world

we are churning out more generic engineering or medicine oriented graduates but very few highly specialiazed graduates

and a letter was shot off to the PM regarding this...

lets see what MMS does

goldies

August 23rd, 2006, 04:49 PM

Dr. Mullainathan is distinguished fellow

# He will develop course structure and contents in subjects of behavioural and development finance
# He will also carry out research programmes with the IFMR faculty and research associates

CHENNAI: The Chennai-based Institute for Financial Management and Research (IFMR) on Friday announced the launch of its "distinguished fellowship" programme and named Harvard University's Professor of Economics Dr. Sendhil Mullainathan its first distinguished fellow.

Dr. Mullainathan will develop course structure and contents in subjects of behavioural and development finance at both master's and doctoral levels for the Institute.

Research programmes

He will also carry out research programmes with the IFMR faculty and research associates, IFMR dean (academic) R. Chandrasekar told a press conference here.

"We are looking at developing subjects such as micro-finance and rural finance as electives for our students in the near future. There have not been any academic programmes in the country offering the subjects in an analytical way," he added.

IFMR director R. Kannan said: "The distinguished fellowship programme is an initiative to foster research and academic collaborations with faculty who have excelled in chosen fields."

Dr. Mullainathan said much of the research would take into account the social impact of financing in rural and developing areas.

He was already involved in some projects relating to rural finance through tie-ups with corporates like EID-Parry and ICICI.

One of the ongoing projects was developing a loan package for sugarcane farmers.

He explained that through research, they identified that the farmers were borrowing through the year at exorbitant interest, as it was a 12-month crop.

The loan package suggested better debt management whereby the farmers were able to pay lower interest.

http://www.hindu.com/2006/08/22/stories/2006082217530200.htm

WillyWick

September 12th, 2006, 07:23 PM

NIIT forays into management education, to invest Rs. 20 cr

New Delhi, Sept. 12 (PTI): Software training and service provider NIIT today forayed into management education with the launch of a new institute -- NIIT Imperia, which will offer programmes to working executives using synchronous learning technology from IIMs Calcutta, Indore and Ahmedabad.

The company has already set up six centres for Imperia in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad and would take this number to 75 in next five years with an investment of over Rs 20 crores, NIIT Chairman Rajendra S Pawar said.

"Our new institute will train about 2,000 executives this year and we are expecting to train about 6,000 by 2009," Pawar said.

It would offer long and short-term programmes in general and functional management to working executives and has been priced in the range of Rs 54,000-Rs 2,00,000.

The content, teaching and certification of the programmes under the Imperia would be from one of the IIMs and the technology, synchronous classrooms across the country and the management of the distributed education system would be provided by NIIT, he added.

Synchronous learning technology enables remote classrooms to be connected live with the faculty teaching at the institutes.

http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/006200609121961.htm

WillyWick

October 17th, 2006, 05:40 PM

India ranked 12th in patent filing

In 2004, the patent office in India received around 20,000 patent filings, which included resident and non-resident patent applications, according to a report released by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO).

Japan and the US saw the highest filing of patent applications, followed by Europe, the Republic of Korea and China. These five offices accounted for 75 per cent of the patents filed in 2004.

In India, there has been a significant increase in the number of patent applications by residents. Such filings increased by 365 per cent between 1995 and 2004, while filings by non-residents increased by 105 per cent.

Interestingly, though Indians filed a large number of patents in India, they filed very few patent applications as non-residents in other countries. India also has a very low rate of resident patent applications vis-a-vis its population, which currently stands at 7 per million inhabitants.

http://www.business-standard.com/common/storypage.php?autono=262015&leftnm=3&subLeft=0&chkFlg=

kronik

October 18th, 2006, 05:34 AM

Hyundai to back Assam engineering schools (http://business-standard.com/compindustry/storypage.php?tab=r&autono=262005&subLeft=1&leftnm=1)

Hyundai Motor India Limited (HMIL) has prepared a plan to support engineering institutes of Assam by supplying training material and providing opportunities for its students.

This was discussed between HS Lheem, managing director of HMIL and Assam chief minister, Tarun Gogoi, during Lheem's recent visit to the state.

Under the plan GMIL will supply training material to these institutes and will also train its instructors about latest automobile technology in the next five years.

The plan will kick off with the identification of an instituted in Guwahati, taking the number of institutes to 18 by 2011.

The estimated investment would be Rs. 7.5 crore over the next five years. Under this scheme, an estimated 200 jobs will be created by 2011.

kvijayasundaram

October 29th, 2006, 10:29 PM

Link to news... (http://www.hindu.com/2006/10/30/stories/2006103010790300.htm)

Anna University has planned to introduce M. Tech in Nano-Technology from the next academic year. Research activities would be intensified in several areas, including nano and bio-information technologies, material and medical electronics, bio-medical, pharmaceutical, food and agriculture engineering, according to the university Vice-Chancellor D. Viswanathan.
Talking to media persons here on Sunday, he said that the university has tie-up with 28 foreign universities for exchange of faculties and students for research activities and sharing their experience.

The VC said that Rs.100 crore would be spent on research and extension activities. The university had already sent proposals for setting up of an Academic College Staff Centre to train faculty members. This centre would be established on the university campus.
Stating that 35 engineering institutions were hooked on with EDUSAT so far, he said that all engineering colleges must be networked with the EDUSAT on or before March next to enable students to update their knowledge. The VC said that several engineering colleges had come forward to adopt three high or higher secondary schools and permit them to use their laboratory facilities. Faculty of engineering colleges would teach maths and science subjects to 10th and higher secondary students during weekend.

Special module

Already, the university with IT industries had developed a special communication module for engineering students to improve communication skills, essential to get through interviews.

A total of 600 CDs had been developed so far, he said.

Forecasting massive opportunities available for other core engineering courses, the VC said that massive infrastructure development and growing demand for electric power would need more civil and electrical engineers.

To give equal opportunities, the Centre for University-Industry Collaboration had conducted Tamil Nadu State-level Placement Programme in five zones to cover more students in rural areas, he said.

Earlier, the VC distributed orders personally to 723 recruits from engineering colleges from south zone at a function organised by the Centre for University-Industry Collaboration in Dindigul.

kronik

November 13th, 2006, 04:41 PM

It's Bharat shining in education (http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/7097_1842590,008700010014.htm)

The number of school dropouts in rural India has started declining. Much to the delight of policy-makers, the stress on education is finally paying dividends with school attendance steadily rising as seen by the significant decline in the number of school dropouts from 1999-2000 to 2004-05.

What is more, the increase has been faster in rural areas than in the urban areas. Compared to 885 per 1000 youngsters in the 5 to 14 age group in the urban areas who were regular school-goers in 2004-05, the rural areas reported an attendance of 803 per 1000 youngsters, up from 692 per 1000 youngsters in 1999-2000, according to a recent NSSO survey.

Stagnation in the country's agricultural growth - and subsequently job opportunities in the agrarian sector - is being attributed by experts for the stress being laid on education in towns and villages.
Attendance rate in educational institutions among children and the youth is an important social indicator for assessing the status of progress of any particular group of people.

Current attendance rate in educational institutions for different social and age groups has been defined as the number of persons currently attending educational institutions per 1000 persons of the respective social group and age group.

Compared to households belonging to the scheduled categories, the current rate in educational institutions was much higher among the urban male youth of 20-24 years for which the rate was highest among STs (32 per cent) followed by others (28 per cent).

kronik

November 29th, 2006, 06:51 AM

Govt okays FDI in higher education (http://business-standard.com/economy/storypage.php?tab=r&autono=266338&subLeft=1&leftnm=3)

Days after Congress President Sonia Gandhi said that she personally favoured private sector participation in education, a Group of Ministers (GoM) today cleared a proposed legislation that will allow foreign universities to set up campuses in India.

Once approved by the Cabinet and passed as law, the Foreign Education Providers (Regulation) Bill will grant deemed university status to such institutions.

According to the proposal, the universities will have to set up campuses on their own and will not be allowed to adopt the franchisee route.

Prior approval of the University Grants Commission would be mandatory for such a project and the embassy of the country of its origin would have to certify the antecedents of any institution, sources said.

Making the announcement here today, Commerce Minister Kamal Nath said: “A consensus has been achieved on the ingredients of the Bill. It looks into all aspects of education in India, and the need for quality education. The details, including the foreign direct investment limits, will take a month or so to be finalised. The intent is to create more educational opportunities. A number of safeguards will be incorporated, including government supervision.”

The commerce and the human resource development ministries have been at loggerheads over the role of the private sector in higher education. Gandhi’s remarks were seen as having tilted the scales in favour of reforms in higher education.

Earlier this year, the commerce ministry had come out with a 24-page document — Higher Education in India and GATS — supporting FDI in the sector.

He had pointed out that India incurred an annual outgo of $4 billion on education and this money could be saved by allowing foreign institutions to set up shop in the country.

In contrast, the Arjun Singh-headed Ministry of Human Resource Development has proposed a tougher stance on FDI in higher education. In fact, answering a question in Lok Sabha today, Singh said the GoM had not concluded its study yet.

The private sector, on its part, has been stressing the need for being allowed into the sector for some time now. Bharti Airtel Chairman Sunil Mittal recently said there should be a role for the private sector in the education sector.

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

in a related story....

Waiting in the wings (http://business-standard.com/economy/storypage.php?tab=r&autono=266337&subLeft=1&leftnm=3)

Stanford University, Georgia Tech University, British Columbia University, McGill University, Simon Fraser University, Cubec University, and Montreal University are some of the international universities awaiting the government’s nod to set up campuses in India.

As many as 40 international universities have sought land from the Maharashtra government in the Mumbai-Pune-Nashik belt for the purpose. The investments lined up by these institutions are substantial.

For instance, the UAE-based Higher Colleges of Technology’s Centre of Excellence for Applied Research and Training plans to pump in around $300-350 million to establish a campus in India.

The institution is looking for a huge plot of land in Maharashtra or Karnataka.

Georgia Tech University of the US also wants to set up a global research hub and is keen on land in Maharashtra.

superdesi2100

November 29th, 2006, 02:51 PM

The only roadblock I can see right now in the way of foreign universities coming into India is HRD Ministry's insistence that they be approved as 'deemed universities' under UGC. This means the rule of 50% reservation :bash: will also apply to foreign universities. I don't think likes of Harvard, Stanford and MIT would want to start a campus if the quality of student intake is compromised.

Suncity

November 29th, 2006, 03:20 PM

I am sure that the Left elite will oppose the entry of foreign universities in India.

kronik

December 6th, 2006, 06:39 AM

This article presents some important numbers about our higher education.

India’s groves of academe enriched (http://www.indianexpress.com/story/17951.html)

The Foreign Education Providers (Regulation) Bill will grant deemed university status to foreign higher education institutions. Commerce Minister Kamal Nath has said that a consensus was achieved “on the ingredients” of the bill. Earlier the HRD ministry and commerce ministry could not arrive at a solution regarding the “vexed” question of providing SC/ST and OBC reservations in foreign higher education institutions.

ccording to B.L. Mungekar, member, Planning Commission, the government will take a view that is consistent with national policy and that resources inflow will have a regulatory framework. He reiterated that the HRD ministry was not against FDI per se and had asked for time to make up its mind. Although the HRD ministry may have let the matter drop so as to arrive at a consensus, several foreign education providers already in India through the online and franchisee route have stated that, although foreign higher education providers may not be completely against reservations, they would be guided to some extent by the profit motive and expect a return on investment — the standard fee for a seat in a private varsity would normally be waived for those entitled to the reserved seats, given that students from this section come from economically disadvantaged families as well.

Limited resources have been a problem with India’s higher education system. According to data available with the Planning Commission, in the university system the average per college requirement in terms of funding is about Rs 2 lakh annually and the average per state university funding required is Rs 20 lakh to Rs 30 lakh annually. As against the demand projected by the UGC for the X Plan of Rs 7,735 crore, the amount allocated to the UGC was Rs 3,294 crore (42 per cent). Even though there are seven IITs in the country, setting up a new IIT would cost the government anywhere between Rs 1,000 crore and Rs 1,500 crore, according to Planning Commission estimates. The fact of the matter therefore is that India’s higher education suffers from a serious resource crunch.

Yet India needs more institutions of higher learning. If the government does not have the resources to ensure them, the more viable option is to allow private participation — Indian and foreign — in higher education. P.V. Indiresan, former director, IIT Madras, puts it this way: “Although it may lead to an exodus of top quality professors from institutions such as the IITs and IIMs, having foreign higher education providers here will improve the quality of education. Most colleges in the country provide poor quality education.”

A consultative paper, ‘Higher Education in India and GATS: An Opportunity’, brought out by the commerce ministry earlier this year makes out a case for foreign participation in Indian higher education. The report mentions that the share of higher education in total planned resources increased from 0.71 per cent in the first Five Year Plan to 1.24 per cent in the fourth Five Year Plan. But ever since, it has declined continuously: from 0.53 per cent in the seventh Five Year Plan to 0.35 per cent in the eighth Five Year Plan (1992-97).

At the same time, if you look at actual expenditure, it has increased by over 100 times from Rs 14 crore in the first Five Year Plan to Rs 1,500 crore in the eighth Five Year Plan. According to industry estimates, about 120,000 students leave Indian shores to study abroad every year — a little over 76,000 Indian students are currently enrolled in US campuses alone. This leads to an outflow of $ 4 billion annually. Setting up foreign campuses in the country may prevent this heavy monetary drain.

Foreign investors in higher education may be a trickle right now due to the Indian government’s see-sawing policies. But once the proposed bill becomes law, the trickle may just become a flood. The IITs, IIMs and the Indian School of Business had better watch out.

Why just the foreign universities, I look forward to the captains of our industry establish their own good universities in parts of the nation.

kronik

December 13th, 2006, 03:43 PM

Not far away from LU, a lesson in campus polls (http://www.indianexpress.com/story/18443.html)

When the Samajwadi Party Government, opposition parties, the Director-General of Police and the district administration are baying for Lucknow University Vice-Chancellor Ram Prakash Singh’s blood, a coordinated effort by the duo of two IITians — the Vice-Chancellor and the District Magistrate — has helped Bundelkhand University in Jhansi hold students’ elections while sticking to the Lyngdoh recommendations.

The elections went off peacefully in

the first week of November. It was no mean task considering the fact that there are 52 colleges and one lakh students, 20,000 among them on the varsity campus, affiliated to the university where the elections were held simultaneously.

“Students did protest but we explained to them the Supreme Court guidelines and told them that the matter was not local and that nothing was in our hands, Vice-Chancellor Prof RP Agarwal, a former IIT Roorkee Dean of Electronics, told The Indian Express. But he was quick to add, “The credit goes to the District Magistrate who made this possible.’’

“It was simply a matter of convincing the students that the recommendations were not against them. We also told them that our hands were tied with the court orders and we would not let anyone deviate from it,’’ shrugged Jhansi District Magistrate M Venkateshwar Lu, an MTech from IIT-Delhi.

Lu had to hold three meetings with old union leaders, contestants for the current election and the university authorities. “We tried to convince the students that whatever we are trying to do were based on the guidelines drawn by the Supreme Court,’’ Lu said.

Convincing students wasn’t easy. Lu had an ingenious way to tackle this — he got the Hindi translation done of the Supreme Court judgment and explained to the students what exactly the Lyngdoh committee said. Simultaneously, the V-C, college principals and the DM put their foot down. “Nothing doing, we have to follow the instructions as they are. This made a difference as they did not misinterpret anything,’’ said the DM.

The students were strictly asked not to campaign outside their university campus and deface the town by posters. Although they had already put up posters all over the city, they told the administration to get the posters removed by civilians for they did not have adequate time to campaign. Prof Agarwal said the civilians actually removed the posters.

Lu handled the political pressure with equal elan. “Of course, there was political pressure and we had to hold a few meetings with the local politicians and had to explain the same thing that we did to the students.”

pding

December 13th, 2006, 09:09 PM

I am sure that the Left elite will oppose the entry of foreign universities in India.

sure they will. they will bring the all the "anti people" BS and raise slogans on how entry of these universities will lead to increased inequalities and is a betrayal for lower classes. also, if these universities do get in, IITs will lose their shine; if not immediately, atleast in about 10 years. the top brass will start going to these universities even if they get into the IITs.

kronik

December 23rd, 2006, 11:00 PM

Mukesh Ambani to set up varsity (http://business-standard.com/compindustry/storypage.php?tab=r&autono=268996&subLeft=1&leftnm=1)

Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani plans to set up a private university in Mumbai or Pune, to be named the Dhirubhai Ambani International University.

While investment details of the project are not known, sources close to the development said the subject, faculty and infrastructure aspects are being worked out.

However, when contacted, a Reliance Industries spokesperson declined to comment. The university is expected to come up on a 100-acre plot of land. Courses in science, arts and professional disciplines will be offered.

Education is not a new field for Mukesh Ambani. His wife Nita Ambani is the chairperson of the Dhirubhai Ambani International School, which was set up in 2003.

The school offers a blend of nationally and internationally acclaimed programmes up to middle school, and the Indian Certificate for Secondary Education (ICSE), International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) and International Baccalaureate (IB) diploma programmes at the higher level.

“The blue-print for the university is almost ready, but Mukesh Ambani is waiting for the private university Bill to be passed in Parliament. Once the Bill is passed, it should be up in 12-18 months,” he added.

The private universities (establishment and regulation) Bill was presented in Parliament in August 1995. It was passed by the Lok Sabha but rejected by the Rajya Sabha. The Supreme Court has already given the green signal, and various parties are now waiting for the Bill to be passed.

Earlier this year, Anil Agarwal, chairman, Vedanta Resources, too announced plans to establish a multi-disciplinary university called Vedanta University in Orissa, with an endowment of up to $1billion.

The university is expected to match the standards of institutions like Harvard, Stanford, and Oxford.

kronik

January 4th, 2007, 05:23 PM

Lucknow lessons in university reform (http://www.indianexpress.com/story/20022.html)

The vice-chancellor of Lucknow University, Ram Prakash Singh, has shown rare courage in taking the bull of campus hooliganism by the horns. This university, like most campuses, has been taken over by criminals in the garb of students, patronised by opportunist national political parties.

These so-called student leaders, who are neither students nor leaders, hope to catch the attention of one of the parties, so that they may use campus politics as a stepping stone to state or national-level politics. If a student gets elected to one of the three important posts of any student union of a major university, sooner or later he or she is ensured of a ticket to assembly or parliamentary elections from one of the major political parties.

As a Banaras Hindu University student with a rosy picture of politics as an instrument of social change, I had run for the post of representative of the university’s Institute of Technology in 1985. It was a shocking experience: the candidates for the posts of president, vice-president and general-secretary asked me to align with them on the basis of a common caste, and they offered me access to any movie in town — and also liquor, if needed, for students who could pledge their votes. Having won the election, I attended the first few meetings of the union. They left me disillusioned for life about Indian electoral politics.

For many so-called student leaders, it may be a good thing to remain active in student politics till such time as they win an important student election or become notorious enough not to be ignored by mainstream political parties. But in general, universities suffer because of them.

Frankly, I think Lucknow University needs an overhaul. It must be rid of all its goonda elements. But I never thought this was possible. When R.P. Singh took over as vice-chancellor and spoke of making an IIT out of Lucknow University, we thought he would soon get disillusioned. But he has demonstrated the guts and can take on not only the university lumpens but also state-level politicians. While Mulayam Singh Yadav shamelessly patronises goonda elements on campus and other political parties support him or keep silent on the issue, R.P. Singh has stuck to his guns. He needs all our support to take on Mulayam Singh Yadav and his brand of politicians. He deserves kudos for not having buckled under the political pressure to isolate him.

Without caring about the danger that he has invited to his personal security, he has shown the determination to raise Lucknow University out of the hopeless mess to which it had degenerated. If political parties think they can ride roughshod over the vice-chancellor by supporting the kind of rowdyism that has become the hallmark of Indian politics, they are mistaken.

People are tolerant of such politics because they have no option. As soon as they’ll have a healthier alternative they’ll reject the murkier elements.

pding

January 4th, 2007, 11:19 PM

yeah....it's about time political goondaism leaves the colleges across the country. and almost every major political party is guilty of patronizing such criminal elements.

pding

January 5th, 2007, 09:28 PM

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Cons_Products/Garments__Textiles/Rahejas_await_SEZ_status_for_AP_textile_park/articleshow/1042555.cms

GDP spend on higher education remains at 0.37%

Despite all possible efforts and initiatives by the central government to promote spread of higher education in India, the percentage of its GDP spending on higher education in the last couple of years has remained stagnant at around 0.37% against 1.41%, 1.07% and 0.50% of US, UK and China respectively, according to industry body Assocham.

A paper on `Future of Indian Higher Education’ brought out by Assocham also reveals that economies such as Japan and Korea also spends less than 0.40% of their GDP on higher education but 80% of their students seek their higher education through non-subsidised private educational institutions. In India, the higher education is highly subsidised and this is one of the reason that its quality of higher education is often questioned overseas.

According to the paper, while India attracts only 15,000 to 18,000 students for higher education every year, China in contrast hosts more than 140,000 foreign students. Singapore and Malaysia attract over 70,000 and 30,000 foreign students respectively for their higher education each year.

As a result of their higher GDP spending on higher education, Singapore, Malaysia and China have emerged as global players in the cross-border higher education thereby attracting many reputed universities from the advanced countries and hosting a large pool of globally mobile students.
________________________________________________________________________________________

also, regarding attracting foreign students, the best our politicians can do is suggest a 5 to 10% quota or something like that.....:bash:

apart from IITs and IIMs, gov't needs to make a long term plan to allocate more money for the best 1 or 2 gov't colleges in each state with say Rs. 20 crore every year. apart from that Centre should press states to increase funding for universities. more research infrastructure is a necessity. and better infra for students living and even for capacity addition, to intake more students every year. it will take a coordinated effort on the part of the state and central gov'ts to achieve this. but this has to be done urgently..:ohno:

kronik

January 6th, 2007, 04:17 AM

pding, the politicians don't care about higher education other than trying to put a quota on it.

I think policiticians have two kinds of offsprings - one who are no good and need no good education to be a wily politician like their parent, and the second who migrate to developed countries. And since when did they care about the rest of us?

Anyways, my cynicsm aside, the government must realize that it is incompetent and allow the private sector to come forward, as is happening in some cases, for example the Vedanta University and the proposed Ambani university among many others.

pding

January 7th, 2007, 08:33 PM

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/NEWS/India/IITian_could_not_cope_up_with_studies/articleshow/1002808.cms

IITian could not cope up with studies

--gaming maniac
--computer confiscated but returned after a while
--quota issue could have had considerable stress (since he is a Dalit).

over the years several students have committed suicide at the IITs. any ideas on what the management/govt should do?

kronik

January 8th, 2007, 05:42 AM

O Almightly Tabloid of India, its "cope with", not "cope up with". With the nosedive your journalistic standards are taking, I am not surprised though.

pding, as for student suicides, there is nothing that the management or the government can do other than offer counselling. Most of the children in India are pushed into subjects and careers of the parents whether a child likes it or not. It is stressful, and more often than not, there seems to be no way out for the child.

Parents should realize that there is a lot more out there than being a techie/doctor/engineer.

Playing the Dalit card in this case is an excellent sensationalism card played by the Tabloid. Reading the item, it seems the individual hated the situation he was in, and was coping with losing a father. I think it has nothing to do with being a dalit. I am just theorizing here though.

Suncity

January 8th, 2007, 06:01 AM

Many of India's "intellectuals" are afraid of foreign universities opening shop in India. They say that these institutions have the intention of making money. Okay, that may be true. But is that the only reason why these "intellectuals" are opposing the set up? Or is there something these "intellectuals" are not ready to admit?

VaastuShastra

January 8th, 2007, 09:01 AM

The left wont let it happen, because no labour union member needs a good education in their view :ohno:

Suncity

January 8th, 2007, 04:57 PM

`Foreign varsities making money in India`
http://www.zeenews.com/znnew/articles.asp?aid=346288&sid=NAT

Chidambaram, Jan 06: Expressing concern over foreign universities setting up shop in the country with the "intention of making money", Vice Chairman of National Knowledge Commission P M Bhargava on Saturday said such institutions should be banned by an Act of Parliament.

"Research collaboration between universities should be encouraged. There should be no problem in transferring knowledge. But allowing a foreign university to set up base here with the intention of making money is a disaster and should be banned by an Act of Parliament," he said, while delivering a lecture at the 94th Indian Science Congress here on Saturday.

"None of these universities are coming here with the intention of imparting knowledge. They are coming here merely to exploit our poor student community," he said. Without mincing words, Bhargava said it was a shame that the Ministry of Commerce had no qualms in inviting universities from abroad to exploit us.

"Foreign education providers will either link up with private universities here, which might actually end up functioning as street corner agents, facilitating their money-making spree."

Suggesting that the system of "Affiliated colleges" be done away with, Bhargava said the government should study the standard of each of 17,000 colleges and close down those which were under-equipped. "If found to meet the standards, these affiliated colleges should actually be given University status," he said.

Don't allow foreign univs to set up campuses: CPM
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/NEWS/India/Dont_allow_foreign_univs_to_set_up_campuses_CPM/articleshow/1086170.cms

CPM will oppose the government's move to allow foreign universities to open their campuses in India.

The Bill to this effect, called the Foreign Education Providers Bill, is all set to go to the cabinet for its clearance and the government wants to bring it in the budget session of Parliament.

Explaining CPM's central committee decision taken in Kolkata, a senior leader said, "We do not want foreign university campuses to come here. But we support academic exchanges and collaboration between universities in India and abroad."

CPM's stand is based on the Chinese example where foreign universities are only allowed with local collaboration and with no profit-motive involved.

The HRD ministry, though not opposed to the entry of foreign universities, wants them to be regulated and function within Indian laws.

This had resulted in commerce ministry going public with its view even as the Group of Ministers (GoM) was seized with fine-tuning the Bill.

HRD ministry had also planned to put out its view for public response. In the meantime, the Bill — which takes the middle path between HRD's view of regulation and commerce ministry's regulation-free argument — was finalised.

The Bill seeks to regulate fee and admission policy in foreign universities. They would even have to implement 49.5% reservation in admission.

At the same time, a few foreign universities of excellence would be exempted from regulations provided they fulfill certain conditions.

WillyWick

January 8th, 2007, 05:13 PM

these idiots will never understand free market.

kronik

January 8th, 2007, 08:50 PM

"None of these universities are coming here with the intention of imparting knowledge. They are coming here merely to exploit our poor student community," he said. Without mincing words, Bhargava said it was a shame that the Ministry of Commerce had no qualms in inviting universities from abroad to exploit us.

Extreme paranoia!

Exploit the student community? The bastard babus and netas have been doing it for 50 years now.

India needs engineers - the government will not let others build engineering colleges, and it will not do so itself. When we should have more than 100 engineering schools of the level of IIT, we have less then 10.

India needs business graduates - the government will not let others establish business schools, and it will not do so itself. When we should have more than 100 institutes of the level of IIM, we have less than 10.

India needs pilots/airport staff - The government will take its own sweet time in establishing new training establishments. When the immediate need is for a 1000 ATC controllers (which was predicted more than 2 years ago), we still have one institute. The same with flight schools.

But I can tell you what the government is ever too quick at - Lead criminal student leaders on student campuses and provide them with arms and men to win elections.

They are quick to establish hare-brained policies that promise quick results for particular castes and communities, but are lacking in planning and implementation.

pding

January 8th, 2007, 11:55 PM

http://www.moneycontrol.com/india/newsarticle/stocksnews.php?cid=1&autono=30669&source=ibnlive.com

Visakhapatnam to get an IIM soon

It's not an announcement of more holidays, but despite that thereâ€™s some good news for students of Andhra Pradesh.

The Centre has agreed to a proposal to give Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) status to the Andhra University Engineering College.

There are also plans that are afoot to bring an Indian Institute of Management (IIM) to the state.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy made the announcement in Visakhapatnam.

So with the demand for a separate Telengana state gathering strength, Visakhapatnam is getting greater attention as the city has the potential to rival capital Hyderabad.

Apart from a 200-acre Ceramic City and a Medical Institute that has been planned, there is a 500-acre Educational Village where premier institutes will set up their campuses also in the offing.
_________________________________________________________________________________________

hmmm.....Andhra universtiy CoE getting IIT status????
is that true? haven't seen any other reports on the net on any other major news sites.

pding

January 9th, 2007, 12:07 AM

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Services/Education/ICFAI_plans_self-financed_varsity_in_Hyderabad/articleshow/1100485.cms

ICFAI plans self-financed varsity in Hyderabad

vinayagam

January 9th, 2007, 03:12 AM

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Services/TN_pitches_for_statistics_institute/articleshow/1101993.cms

VaastuShastra

January 13th, 2007, 05:48 PM

India to spend Rs.5 billion to attract youth to science (http://www.rxpgnews.com/india/India-to-spend-Rs.5-billion-to-attract-youth-to-science_11655.shtml)

kronik

January 15th, 2007, 04:56 AM

ICFAI to set up 15 pvt varsities at Rs 1000cr (http://business-standard.com/common/storypage.php?autono=271348&leftnm=6&subLeft=0&chkFlg=)

The Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India (ICFAI) is planning to set up 15 private universities in various states by 2010 at an estimated cost of Rs 1,000 crore.

It had chalked out plans to set up the campuses in the wake of nine states enacting legislations facilitating establishment of private universities. Other states in the country are expected to introduce similar legislations.

"We have so far established seven private universities in the states of Uttaranchal, Tripura, Sikkim, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Jharkhand. In addition, Chhattisgarh, Punjab and Rajasthan have issued letters of intent to set up universities in their respective states," ICFAI University vice-chancellor, V Panduranga Rao, told Business Standard.

Rao said ICFAI has acquired land in Nagpur (54 acres), Kanpur (60 acres) and Chandigarh (50 acres) to establish these university campuses. To set up a university in Jaipur, the Rajasthan government has allotted 40 acres of land.

According to Rao, ICFAI is building a 1.5-million square feet campus spread over an extent of 93 acres in Hyderabad. The first phase of the Rs 175-crore campus has been completed and the second and final phase would be completed by this year.

This will be converted into a university once the Andhra Pradesh government implements its decision of introducing a Bill facilitating the establishment of private universities in the state.

In Dehra Dun, ICFAI has started building a one-million square feet campus at a cost of about Rs 90 crore, the first phase of which would be ready by June this years.

Similarly, the institute is expecting to complete the construction of a 4-lakh square feet campus in Agartala by May. The Agartala campus is being built at a cost of Rs 60 crore.

"By the end of 2007, we will have three full-fledged campuses with residential accommodations for students and faculty and sports facilities," Rao said.

Stating that the new universities would be funded through internal accruals and bank loans, Rao said ICFAI had the required experience, expertise, infrastructure and sound financial background to provide highly professional quality education.

Across the country, ICFAI currently has 4,000 MBA students, 2,000 engineering students, 1,500 rural MBA students and 1.2 lakh students who have been registered under its distance education programme. It charges a fee of Rs 5 lakh for the two-year MBA course and Rs 4 lakh for the four-year engineering course.

"One-fourth of the total fee amount collected goes back to the students in the form of scholarships," Rao said.

kronik

January 15th, 2007, 05:08 AM

Mid-day meal scheme may cover 5.5 cr more children (http://business-standard.com/economy/storypage.php?tab=r&autono=271400&subLeft=1&leftnm=3)

The human resource development ministry plans to extend the mid-day meal scheme to children in the upper primary classes in the next financial year.

This would mean an additional 5.5 crore children under the scheme, for which the ministry has asked the Planning Commission for a budget outlay of Rs 13,000 crore in the next annual Plan period, sources in the ministry said.

At present, the scheme is catering to around 12 crore children studying in classes I to V in all the government, local body and government aided schools, and Education Guarantee Scheme and Alternative and Innovative Education centres across the country.

In the Union Budget of 2006-07, the outlay for the scheme has been increased by 60 per cent, from Rs 3,345 crore for 2006-06 to Rs 5,348 crore for 2006-07.

“We want to provide all the schools under the programme with infrastructure like permanent kitchens, utensils and other requirements in the next Plan period,” sources said. The ministry has asked for an allocation of Rs 60,000 crore for the scheme for the Eleventh Plan.

“Apart from this, we want to extend the programme up to the secondary level of education, as mentioned in the National Common Minimum Programme,” sources added.

Changes have been introduced in the scheme to make it more transparent and responsive to the students’ parents and members of the community. Under the new guidelines, the scheme is to converge with the National Rural Health Mission for necessary interventions such as regular health check-up, supplementation of micronutrients and deworming medicines.

pding

January 15th, 2007, 03:57 PM

kronik

January 15th, 2007, 04:30 PM

though it is a pity that giving free meals to students is a way to attract them to schools, if atleast this way we can increase enrollment and number of students who pass on to college level, i think it is worth it to invest in these meal schemes. and 13000 crore every year seems like a big amount to me.

How is it a pity? Its a great thing that the state's doing this. Mid-day meals are given in a lot of countries.

England has the Free School Meal (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_school_meal). The link says that it is present in Sweden and Finland.

The United States has the National School Lunch Program. (http://www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/)

pding

January 15th, 2007, 04:43 PM

i am not questioning the need/presence of this program. what i'm saying is mid-day meal scheme has become the only way to attract students and keep them in school in the rural areas. there have been several reports saying the meal scheme has been successful in keeping children in schools. so, there are still many students whose priority of going to these schools is food. but anyway, this is a one measure to increase enrollment and i think in the long term will def increase the number of ppl opting for studies beyond high school.

kronik

January 17th, 2007, 06:29 AM

Udaipur sets sail on Mission IIT (http://www.indianexpress.com/story/21079.html)

It has the making of a Beijing’s or a London’s tireless effort to host the Olympic games. It is only that Udaipur is campaigning for a much modest reward for the city — an IIT.

The trouble the City of Lakes is taking is, however, not modest in any way. Almost everybody — from students to businessmen and the politicians, too — has joined hands to bring the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) here. There are rallies and public meetings, and there are representations and letter-writing in Udaipur’s full-fledged Mission IIT.

With the Centre having committed to setting up an IIT in Rajasthan, three cities in the state are vying to host the elite institute. Earlier, the state government had proposed that the Kota Government Engineering College be converted into an IIT, as it has the necessary infrastructure. Kota is still pressing its case.

Ajmer too has demanded that it be selected for the proposed IIT, for which the citizens there organised a rally last week.

Sources in the state education department said the state government is yet to decide on the location, and 500 to 600 acres of land is needed in a well-connected town to set up the institute. The most likely choice as of now is Jaipur, as it meets most of the conditions, they said.

However, Udaipur is not quitting yet. A large number of people there are now part of the IIT Abhiyan Samiti, which has been set up to run a sort of “bring IIT here” campaign.

“Udaipur is the most suited for an IIT. There’s plenty of land available and it is well connected by road, rail and air, which match the conditions laid by the Central Government,” said Arvind Singhal of Volcame India, the convener of the campaign, on the phone from Udaipur.

Among his supporters are Arvind Singh Mewar of the royal family of Mewar, state home minister Gulab Chand Kataria and Girija Vyas, chairperson of Women Commission of India. Both politicians hail from Udaipur.

And there are the local associations and leaders also pitching in. Singhal said a “Run for IIT’ would be held in the city on January 21, in which more than 50,000 residents are expected to participate.

More than 50,000 postcards have already been written and sent to Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and Union HRD Minister Arjun Singh, urging them to select Udaipur. Campaign members have already met Raje and handed over their representation.

Not ready to take a no for an answer, the members said the campaign may go to the next level if some other city is selected. “Udaipur has long been neglected. There is an engineering college in Kota, there are national-level institutes in Jaipur and Jodhpur. It’s time Udaipur got its due,’’ said Singhal.

Ha ha, earlier students from the coaching institutes of Kota would go to IIT's and now an IIT is possibly coming to the coaching institutes of Kota.

kronik

January 19th, 2007, 05:33 AM

`School is where children are` is her motto (http://business-standard.com/economy/storypage.php?tab=r&autono=271892&subLeft=1&leftnm=3)

LESSONS IN EDUCATION: Inderjit Khurana's mission covers 400 children on 12 railway stations.

Inderjit Khurana, who took school to street children with her unique platform schools, has won the World Children’s Prize for the Rights of the Child 2007, instituted by Swedish Organisation Children’s World.

Khurana’s platform school began 15 years ago with two children, when confronted with the ironic query of a street child on who would teach him even if he wanted to learn. The next day, she took a bag of books and charts and started her teaching classes on a railway platform in Bhubaneswar.

Sitting on the Bhubaneswar railway platform, 70-year-old Khurana says: “We teach 400 destitute children in the age group of 16-18, on 12 railway stations in Orissa, including Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Mirgandi, Nirakarpur, Puri, Jajpur, Berhampore, Jagatpur, Kendrapara, Kotia, Khurdah, Bhushandapur and Chandanpur.” She has also set up a pre-school and high school called Ruchika in Bhubaneswar.

Khurana, who chooses to be discreet about the $140,000 award, says she was informed about her nomination on January 15 and will receive the award in April.

Talking of the influences in her life, she says: “I worked with Mother Teresa at Nirmal Hriday in Bhubaneswar in 1980. It left a mark. In 1974, I came across Annu Tai Wag, who had been working with tribals in Maharashtra. I had also taken up training while working for street children in Chandigarh.”

Khurana starts her day at 7 am when chatu, the supplementary meal, draws students to the school, and teaches till 11. Students are taught till Class III, after which they attend government schools.

However, only two students till now have reached high school from her platform school, Khurana says. US-based organisation Global Giving Funds is currently funding her venture. Khurana has also set up Asra, a staying place for destitute boys, and Shraddha Bhavan, a home for destitute girls.

For her other formal schools, the Naveen Patnaik government had given her land at Ganganagar. “I have received help from all quarters. I am happy and God is with me,” she says.

madurai veeran

February 2nd, 2007, 02:40 AM

New Delhi, Feb 2 (IANS) Kerala tops the Education Development Index (EDI) in the field of elementary schooling followed by Delhi, the human resource development ministry said Thursday.

While Tamil Nadu is placed third, Bihar ranks 35th in the composite EDI list.

Delhi, which stands second in the composite list, tops the chart of primary education index. The composite list encompasses performance both in the primary and upper primary level.

The ministry through the National University of Educational Planning and Administration has developed the EDI to track the progress of the states towards universal elementary education.

It is expected that this exercise will help more effective targeting of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) (universal education) to the most needy districts.

The EDI is developed keeping in mind four broad parameters of access, infrastructure, teacher-related indicators and outcomes. The index takes into account 22 variables

http://mangalorean.com/news.php?newstype=local&newsid=38784

kronik

February 3rd, 2007, 10:29 PM

Global education city planned in Belgaum (http://www.business-standard.com/economy/storypage.php?tab=r&autono=273436&subLeft=1&leftnm=3)

Gems Education, a global organisation with a network in seven countries, has come forward to set up an ‘education township’ at a cost of Rs 3,600 crore at Belgaum in Karnataka.

It has submitted a proposal to the state government in this regard. Gems has set up 65 institutions in seven countries and the proposed Global Education City at Belgaum will have 18 institutions imparting education in different disciplines. It has sought the allotment of 5,000 acres land for the purpose.

The global education city will have, besides educational institutions, student village, a well-equipped hospital, library, residential quarters for teaching and non-teaching staff, golf course, shopping centre, sports and recreation complex, a university township among others. The Gems said that the establishment of township would ensure employment to 12,500 persons including 5,000 teachers and will have a turnover of Rs 900 crore per annum.

In its proposal to the state government Gems has asked for allotment of 5,000 acres of land on lease basis. “We have set aside Rs 75 crore for the land,” said a spokesperson of Gems.

He said India could save $300 million of foreign exchange with the establishment of global education city, which would train 25,000 youngsters every year. It could attract more research institutions and ensure a turnover of an additional Rs 3,000 crore per annum.

It had explored the possibility of setting up the global city at Goa but gave up as it was difficult to get 5,000 acres of land at one place. It then approached the Karnataka government and had preliminary discussions with at the secretary level.

It has sought appointment with Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy. The organisation has also tried to tap Maharashtra and Uttaranchal governments and if any of these states respond positively, the project may shift to that state.

The global education city will have telecommunication facility, research and development park, technology incubation park, ICT business park, sports complex, railway station, lake, wide roads, petrol pumps and other amenities.

pding

February 4th, 2007, 06:12 PM

IMO, instead of wasting 3600 crore on this city, they should perhaps invest that in building Kendriya Vidyalaya type institutions in poor rural areas or upgrade the existing ones.

superdesi2100

February 5th, 2007, 01:38 PM

IMO, instead of wasting 3600 crore on this city, they should perhaps invest that in building Kendriya Vidyalaya type institutions in poor rural areas or upgrade the existing ones.

Umm... we need both. With soaring profits of corporates, rise in per capita income, VAT and expansion of service tax net, the government should have enough money to do both.

pding

February 5th, 2007, 09:16 PM

well, this year Federal revenues are going to be around $110 billion. and guess where the added revenue from last year will go: social security for workers in unorganized sectors, Rural Job Employment Scheme, and other populist schemes of UPA. and not for SSA, NHDP, etc...

kronik

February 6th, 2007, 07:27 PM

Govt to allow 100% FDI in higher education (http://www.business-standard.com/common/storypage_c_online.php?leftnm=11&bKeyFlag=IN&autono=20358)

The government today said it will allow 100% foreign direct investment (FDI) in higher education as it had committed at the WTO in 2003.

The union human resources ministry which was in the past seen to be opposed to the FDI spelt out the extent of FDI at a social sector ministries conference here.

The FDI would be allowed under the Foreign Education Providers (Regulation) Bill drafted by the Ministry and which will allow foreign universities to set up campuses in India. The Bill is now under the consideration of a ministerial group.

Secretary Higher Education in the ministry R P Agarwal said today that though there will be 100% FDI in higher education, domestic policies like reservation would apply to all foreign education providers.

Whatever applies to domestic institutions will apply to foreign institutions, Agarwal said. He said that the government had made a commitment in WTO in 2003 and as per that, 100% FDI will be committed.

pding

February 7th, 2007, 02:09 AM

Govt to allow 100% FDI in higher education (http://www.business-standard.com/common/storypage_c_online.php?leftnm=11&bKeyFlag=IN&autono=20358)

what chances of this going through???

also, i think India should go slow and cautious on this. if institutes like, say, Harvard or MIT come up, then the huge talent pool of IITs, NITs, and major State Universities, will go to them. isn't that bad for our educational institutions, especially the elite IITs...

soham

February 8th, 2007, 01:06 AM

I went to Virgina tech in Qatar because i didn't get in to the Main. It is a great thing that it is planned. I want to get in to Brown in india if it is possible.

superdesi2100

February 8th, 2007, 01:20 AM

kronik

February 8th, 2007, 03:17 PM

I got admission in the main Virginia Tech but I went to Georgia Tech in Atlanta because it is a better institute. After studying in both India and US, I can definitely say that FDI in education is a welcome step, provided we get quality institutions and not run of the mill kinds. There must be regulatory framework to establish and review norms in strict manner before allowing a particular institute to setup campus in India.

Well too bad for IIT then!? They better get ready to face the competition. I was thinking exactly opposite. That the main reason we need FDI in education is because it will force our domestic educational institutional to improve the standards. Currently, there is no competition, as there are more students than available seats. But if that scenario changes, it will force the domestic institutions to move on from their archaic habitual ways of doing things.

The thing about the IIT's and IIM's is that despite their name, they do not represent the quality of the majority of our institutions.

The IIT's churn out fewer than 5 thousand graduates a year, which is a small percentage of the entire graduating class every year. I doubt their exclusivity and attraction will lessen, but for the rest of us mortal souls, when we see the quality of a top notch western institution, I am sure we will question the fact that our universities are nowhere close to it.

To be fair to the colleges of this country, they are governed by very retarded policies. They can't charge for their services because the government wants them to be financially accessible to every one. So instead of a quality institution that caters to say 5 thousand students, we get substandard education that caters to 15000.

I think that is the reason why we are not seeing new institutions that offer the modernity and quality of a western institution because they will not be allowed to make up their costs.

pding

February 8th, 2007, 10:56 PM

the only way out: state universities should jack up their funding each year, for their state colleges. IMO, Osmania gets around 30 crore each year from GoAP. and so do AndhraU and SVU (in Tirupati). this is not enough. they should modernize the tech/research/science facilities.....to modernize Osmania, i propose incresing the funding to 50 crore for the next fiscal and from then, increasing it by 15-20% every year.

also, why can't State gov'ts think in a futuristic manner and start supporting their own scholarships and fellowships for Ph.D.s and research scholars. all it takes it about Rs. 3 lakh per every scientist per annum. even if they can create positions for 10 research scientists with State funding exclusively, in every major state university, that can greatly increase the research output of our institutions, which is a major factor for college rankings in every place except our great country.

and if at all our govts come up with such forward looking plans, the usual socialists and leftists will start taking up slogans as to how the govt is pro-rich, anti-poor, and high headed. instead of giving free sops to farmers, they are wasting money on exclusive stuff which only helps the rich. this kind of thinking is what plagues India and we need visionaries to turn the situation around. where are the visionaries.

the IAS officers, by the time they get to a position where they finally have some say in what the govt is doing, are old and ready to retire and do their own things. the go-get type spirit is virtually lacking in our system....in the civil servants.....and the ppl who control the things. IMO, i can't take it when i see several Universities on the top 500 list from China, Singapore, Korea, Taiwan, Japan, etc etc.....hell, if they can do it, we can do it too. we have the talent but not the will from the leaders and politicians....i wonder how their blood doesn't boil, when they see so many talented pros wanting to leave the country......when they see how our educaiton system is still languishing the 20th century while others march ahead.

pding

February 8th, 2007, 11:06 PM

http://www.business-standard.com/economy/storypage.php?leftnm=3&subLeft=1&chklogin=N&autono=273649&tab=r

Higher education spending: India at the bottom of BRIC

Despite an expected 150 per cent increase in central spending on higher education in 2007-08 (at Rs 6,354 crore over Rs 2,550.50 crore this year), the fact remains that India will continue to lag behind, compared to its asian counterparts.

At the moment, public spending on higher education per student in India stands at $400 (Rs 18,000) and this is expected to improve to around $1,000 (Rs 45,000).

Previously released United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco ) data had showed that at $400, India had the lowest public expenditure on higher education per student among developing and developed countries.

In comparison, the United States spends $9,629, the United Kingdom $8502 and Japan $4830, on higher education per student.

Even among the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) countries, India is at the bottom of the pyramid. Sample this: While China, Russia and Brazil spend $2,728, $1,024 and $3,986 respectively on higher education per student, another developing country Malayasia’s expenditure under the same head is quite high at $11,790.

“An increase in allocations will obviously translate into an increase in the public spending per student. But this may not benefit students. An increased spend could mean the government is hiring more teachers and faculty, but if these teachers do not turn up in colleges, then the entire effort goes wasted,” Bibek Debroy, an economist said.

Again, in primary education, India was at the bottom of public spending per student. India is a notch above China at $7.2 per student. Surprisingly, in China, though the public expenditure on higher education is high, the country lags behind India at $6.1 per student in primary education.

Budget 2007-08 is expected to have nothing major for primary education. Instead of an increased government spend, indications are ripe that primary education may see a reduction in central support by around 6 percentage points to Rs 16,026 crore, from Rs 17,128 crore in the current fiscal year.
___________________________________________________________________________________________

on one side, Chidambaram is talking about greater manufacturing and industry growth by giving tax exemptions to employment generating sectors like Leather, textiles, etc. and on the other hand, there are no major initiatives for primary education. populist programs like NREGP and Social security for unorganized workers, etc etc.....the govt is chipping in with tens of thousands of crores for these initiatives, while their benefits are far form certain, while priorities are shown the door.

Bombay Boy

February 9th, 2007, 04:35 AM

the govt is chipping in with tens of thousands of crores for these initiatives, while their benefits are far form certain, while priorities are shown the door.

oh the benefits are well known. populist schemes and poor education will win them more elections than the other way round

drwho

February 11th, 2007, 11:17 PM

what chances of this going through???

also, i think India should go slow and cautious on this. if institutes like, say, Harvard or MIT come up, then the huge talent pool of IITs, NITs, and major State Universities, will go to them. isn't that bad for our educational institutions, especially the elite IITs...

The chances i would say with current gov mixup, small.

FDI in education is a good thing,i cant see nothing bad about brining in competition in education. Those who cant compete will fail and that is the nature of society and man.

Anniyan

February 14th, 2007, 08:08 PM

Anusat, a micro-satellite developed by Anna University in Chennai, will be launched using the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle rocket in September, a top official said on Tuesday.

"We are encouraging such programmes which help institutions make test satellites," Indian Space Research Organisation Chairman G Madhavan Nair told reporters on the sidelines of a book release function. The 50 kg micro-satellite is being designed and fabricated by Anna University's academicians and students as part of a project sponsored by ISRO.http://www.rediff.com/news/2007/feb/13sat.htm

pding

February 14th, 2007, 09:34 PM

i didn't realise Universities in Indian were actually involved in such hi-tech activities. two thumbs up for Anna: this is a good example of grooming research and scientists right from the College level, which is very much lacking in India.

ferrari_fan

February 15th, 2007, 03:39 AM

^^ that's my college!! :banana:

kronik

February 22nd, 2007, 07:15 AM

HRD Ministry continues to go a great job.

IIM Shillong yet to get off the ground (http://business-standard.com/common/storypage.php?autono=275437&leftnm=6&subLeft=0&chkFlg=)

Shillong may not have its Indian Institute of Management (IIM) till end 2008 going by current indications.

It was supposed to get an IIM this July but senior professors, handling the project, say it might take another year before it takes shape since the government is still dragging its feet on the proposal which was mooted almost three years ago.

IIM Shillong will be the seventh IIM in the country with the other six IIMs situated in Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Calcutta, Lucknow, Indore and Kozhikode respectively.

Meghalaya government sources say the state government has already identified about 80 acres for the IIM and is ready to give more land but finance from the Human Resource Development Ministry is yet to be released.

"We are prepared. Initially, a temporary campus will be set up at Mayurbhanj complex for the IIM. A permanent campus will come in the new Shillong township. IIM Shillong is a government of India project and the HRD ministry has to spring in action now," says a senior Meghalaya government official.

A senior HRD official, handling the financial details of the proposed IIM, said the financial go-ahead to execute the project will take some more time as the proposal is still in its preliminary stage. A budget of an estimated Rs 100-150 crore has been sought for the campus. The Union government has not released any funds for the project so far.

To begin with, IIM Shillong will only have a two-year post-graduate programme in business management with about 150-odd students in each batch. Mayurbhanj campus was earlier occupied by the North Eastern Hill University, which is reported to have vacated the premises now.

However, the centre is yet to issue a notification seeking the appointment of a director and registrar for the proposed IIM. The Meghalaya government, meanwhile, has completed the required formalities besides providing 80 acres of land.

"As per the directions issued by the HRD ministry, we have sent the list of members for the governing body," said the Meghalaya state government official.

The HRD ministry also has plans to set up three new IITs and IIMs and over a dozen Indian Institutes of Information Technology.

"But if setting up an IIM would take over three years, it might take even longer for other new institutes to take shape," said the professor.

pding

February 22nd, 2007, 09:59 PM

our Arjun bhai is at his best while talking of reservations and cleaning the history books of any kind of non-secularism. Mid-day meal scheme has been a good success. and if i'm not mistaken, i think they are increasing the funding for it to around 8000 crore from 6000 crores last year....Sarva Siksha Abhiyan: i am not sure how much this program has benefitted or how many objectives of this program have been met or will be met. somebody got any stats????

superdesi2100

February 26th, 2007, 11:56 PM

HT Mumbai. February 27, 2007.

http://img356.imageshack.us/img356/772/htm0226cf9.jpg

cbeboy

February 27th, 2007, 08:57 PM

Turkey keen to set up varsity (http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2007/02/28/stories/2007022800540700.htm)

Turkey is keen to set up an international university in India. It has done exploratory work and is weighing options of establishing a general university in Hyderabad, once the Union Government gives the necessary approval.

A 10-member Turkish delegation led by Prof. Dr Mehmet Saglam, a former Minister in the Government, has met officials of the University of Hyderabad, Osmania University here and held detailed discussions.

"We are waiting for the Union Government to make necessary legislative changes that would allow the setting up of foreign universities. We found big potential as India needs several institutes for its higher studies," he told newspersons here recently.

Prof. Dr Serif Ali Tekalan, member of the Board of Trustees of the Istanbul-based Fatih University, said Turkey has already set up universities in the CIS countries such as Georgia and Turkmenistan , and found great potential in India, because of the impressive economic growth and demands.

The delegation, which include Mr A. Kaplan, Chairman, Bashkent (India) IMPEX, industry representatives from the Indo-Turkish Business Association, is discussing business and traded prospects in Mumbai and New Delhi during its 10-day visit.

Turkey, which is known for its textiles, olive oil and historical places, has set up a speciality hotel in Hyderabad and has one of its media houses operating out of the city to meet news demands back home.

The delegation said there was tremendous scope for growth in bilateral trade.

Tourism is a potential area. During 2005-06, Turkey attracted over 20 million tourists, emerging the 13th best destination, but the earnings were the eighth highest in the world.

pding

February 27th, 2007, 11:08 PM

i want somebody to setup a general overall type university....those universities are really lacking quality in India.

kronik

February 28th, 2007, 03:21 AM

HT Mumbai. February 27, 2007.

http://img356.imageshack.us/img356/772/htm0226cf9.jpg

Aren't the IIT's and IIM's semi-autonomous institutions? I thought they had the power to take such a decision.

Notice, the ministry is afraid it "may" dilute the quality of education.

WillyWick

February 28th, 2007, 03:32 AM

this guy is one totally hopeless mo fo

kronik

February 28th, 2007, 08:00 AM

Nah, he's a Gandhi poodle. He'll do exactly what Her Majesty tells him to.

ferrari_fan

February 28th, 2007, 01:17 PM

Aren't the IIT's and IIM's semi-autonomous institutions? I thought they had the power to take such a decision.

Notice, the ministry is afraid it "may" dilute the quality of education.

yeah, because "diluting the quality of education" is what the ministry strives to avoid isn't it.. :ohno:

kronik

March 1st, 2007, 06:05 PM

BUDGET & GOVERNMENT: Nuts & Bolts (http://business-standard.com/economy/storypage.php?tab=r&autono=276230&subLeft=1&leftnm=3)

Mid-day meals to cover upper primary classes

The Mid-day Meal Scheme will be provided Rs 7,324 crore next year. In addition to covering children in primary classes, beginning 2007-08, the proposal is to cover children in upper primary classes in 3,427 educationally backward blocks.

Merit schemes to reduce school dropouts

While the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan has improved the enrolment ratio in schools to 96 per cent, the dropout ratio continues to be high. The critical year appears to be transition from class VIII to class IX.

In order to arrest the dropout ratio and encourage students to continue their education beyond class VIII, a proposal has been mooted to introduce a National Means-cum-Merit Scholarship Scheme.

Selection for this scheme will be made through a national test from among students who have passed class VIII. Each student will be given Rs.6, 000 per year for study in classes IX, X, XI and XII.

Around 100,000 scholarships may be awarded every year under the scheme. In order to fund this programme, the Budget has proposed creation of a corpus fund of Rs 750 crore this year.

Rs 50 crore for Vocational Education Mission

The Vocational Education Mission promised by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will get an initial provision of Rs 50 crore, to develop the trained manpower necessary to sustain a high level of economic growth.

A task force in the Planning Commission is chalking out strategies for vocational education programmes, and the approach is to be based on public-private partnerships.

superdesi2100

March 2nd, 2007, 05:44 PM

Yale, Stanford give India the miss (http://hindustantimes.com/news/181_1943162,0008.htm)

Even before the Foreign Educational Providers Bill is passed in the Parliament, two prestigious foreign universities — Stanford and Yale — have dropped the idea of setting campus in the country or collaborating with Indian universities.

Reason: the University Grants Commission Act will regulate fee fixation and admission criteria. Fortunately though, now there is a clause in the Bill that will decide which universities can be exempted.

The Bill to regulate entry and functioning of foreign universities was approved by the Cabinet on Thursday. It will be referred to the Parliamentary Standing Committee of the Human Resource Development Ministry and is expected to be introduced in the Budget session.

"No one is dying to invest in India although the country is the biggest market in the world. In fact we will soon be overtaking China in the number of students on foreign campuses. The only way then is to allow private investment and foreign providers,” said BS Baswan, senior consultant (education), Planning Commission, on Friday.

Baswan, who was in University of Mumbai’s Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Contemporary Studies to speak on ‘Higher Education in India: Towards a New Policy Paradigm’, opined that the foreign providers being attracted were not the best.

This is so typical of the current government. They bring in bill to invite foreign universities to set up campuses in India but the bill they craft has exactly the opposite effect. They add some idiotic clauses 'to regulate the entry of foreign universities so that run of the mills kinds don't end up opening shops.'. Those very clauses have exactly the opposite effect. As if Stanford and Yale need government of India's certification for their credibility.

Indias_finest

March 3rd, 2007, 07:26 AM

these controls are a legacy of dirty license raj

Babji

March 4th, 2007, 02:36 AM

Education, violence and abuse...
... Among the four southern states, Kerala emerges as the safest place for married women as only 14.4 percent in urban population and 17.5 percent in rural areas experienced spousal violence. Karnataka follows with 15.0 percent (urban) and 23.0 percent (rural).

The NFHS-III clearly showed that women with less or no education experienced more violence. The better educated they were, the less they were abused by their husbands. This fares well for Kerala, the highest literate population in the country, as only 26.8 percent of uneducated women were ill-treated...

The NFHS-III has been based on a sample of households and is representative of the National and State levels.
http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IE920070303125507&Title=Chennai&Topic=0&

Growing economy and more employment opportunities should help improve the sitiation.

drwho

March 5th, 2007, 08:31 PM

these controls are a legacy of dirty license raj

In other words,slavery

The biggest fear the Gov has is to get competition from private players.Politcans are afraid to loose control over the education sector and they cant admit that they have failed.

The solution is pretty easy:

The Gov has had 50 years on its hands to do something with the education sector.

Results? : total failure.

Solution: Give the sector to the private players instead.

pding

March 5th, 2007, 09:05 PM

In other words,slavery

The biggest fear the Gov has is to get competition from private players.Politcans are afraid to loose control over the education sector and they cant admit that they have failed.

The solution is pretty easy:

The Gov has had 50 years on its hands to do something with the education sector.

Results? : total failure.

Solution: Give the sector to the private players instead.

the sector can't be totally turned over to the private sector. if IITs are privatised, private players, without any controls, will charge a fee of 2 lakh to 4 lakh per annum in UG itself. then, students all over India will go on indefinite huger strikes, burning and destroying public property as if every one of these mofos is gonna get into an IIT and now they have to pay more......

pding

March 5th, 2007, 09:10 PM

http://www.andhracafe.com/index.php?m=show&id=19711

Andhra to get three IITs

The Government of India is planning to set up an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Andhra Pradesh even as it has decided to upgrade two other technical institutes in the state to IIT level.

Human Resources Development Minister Arjun Singh informed the Rajya Sabha that the Andhra Pradesh government had offered 1,000 acres of land free of cost along with civic amenities at Basara in Adilabad district if the centre agreed to its proposal to set up an IIT there.He was answering a question by Adilabad MP Nandi Yelliah.

Arjun Singh had told Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy last year that the Central government was willing to set up an IIT if the state was ready to provide 500-600 acres of land free of cost with necessary social and physical infrastructure, including good road, rail and air connectivity.

The Andhra Pradesh government was responsive to the precondition of the Human Resource Development ministry and immediately wrote back that it is "in the process of finalising a suitable piece of land with good infrastructure facilities, for the setting up of an IIT in Andhra Pradesh".

Arjun Singh also said the Centre on the basis of the recommendations of an experts committee had identified seven institutions in the country for upgrading to IIT level. Two of these are in Andhra Pradesh - the Osmania University College of Engineering and Technology, Hyderabad, and the Andhra Pradesh College of Engineering, Visakhapatnam.

The upgradation process has already begun and the central government has released Rs.70 million for Osmania College and Rs.80 million for the Visakhapatnam College in the last financial year 2006-07, said Singh.

___________________________________________________________________________________

the title is a littel deceiving. new IIT to come up on close to 1000 acres of land. Osmania and Andhra to be converted into IITs. the article says Arjun Singh himself said this in the Rajya Sabha. i thought the plan to upgrade some 10 tech and eng colleges into IITs was put in the freezer a long time ago.

drwho

March 5th, 2007, 09:22 PM

the sector can't be totally turned over to the private sector. if IITs are privatised, private players, without any controls, will charge a fee of 2 lakh to 4 lakh per annum in UG itself. then, students all over India will go on indefinite huger strikes, burning and destroying public property as if every one of these mofos is gonna get into an IIT and now they have to pay more......

People are already paying fees under the table and still those camps are ineffective as educational centers.

IIT can stay with state,however private players should be let in the educational sector.

superdesi2100

March 5th, 2007, 09:56 PM

People are already paying fees under the table and still those camps are ineffective as educational centers.

IIT can stay with state,however private players should be let in the educational sector.

IITs and private institutes can coexist. Only reason why government is bringing in this bill to 'allow' foreign players in education is because it is a requirement per the agreement reached at last round of WTO negotiations. So government has no other choice but to open up the sector.

But in order to keep the control, HRD ministry has come up with such a nonsensical bill. In fact, the issue kept lingering on for more than a year because Kamal Nath was against government controlling private players, especially UGC. He wanted an independent body - something on the line of TRAI - to regulate education sector. But Arjun Singh had his own way... Bad for the country...

pding

March 5th, 2007, 10:27 PM

IITs and private institutes can coexist. Only reason why government is bringing in this bill to 'allow' foreign players in education is because it is a requirement per the agreement reached at last round of WTO negotiations. So government has no other choice but to open up the sector.

But in order to keep the control, HRD ministry has come up with such a nonsensical bill. In fact, the issue kept lingering on for more than a year because Kamal Nath was against government controlling private players, especially UGC. He wanted an independent body - something on the line of TRAI - to regulate education sector. But Arjun Singh had his own way... Bad for the country...

well, if foreign universities respond negatively or if there is no response after this bill, they will have to ammend it. i support a phase wise roll out of state education sector.

also, govt institutions do not accept any bribes or under the table fees. totally based on merit, though merit is limited to competition among the students of their own caste....:bash:

kronik

March 6th, 2007, 08:34 AM

Not many know the Indian past he had discovered! (http://www.newindpress.com/column/News.asp?Topic=-97&Title=S.Gurumurthy&ID=IE620061115230938&nDate=&Sub=&Cat=&)

"What is it that keeps the country down", asked the speaker. A young man in the audience replied unhesitatingly: "Undoubtedly the institution of caste that kept the majority low castes and the society backward" and added "it continues".

The speaker replied, "May be". But, pausing for a moment, he added, "May not be". Shocked, the young man angrily asked him to explain his "may-not-be" theory.

The speaker calmly mentioned just one fact that clinched the debate. He said, "Before the British rule in India, over two-thirds - yes, two-thirds - of the Indian kings belonged to what is today known as the Other Backward Castes (OBCs).

"It is the British," he said, "who robbed the OBCs - the ruling class running all socio-economic institutions - of their power, wealth and status." So it was not the upper caste which usurped the OBCs of their due position in the society?

The speaker’s assertion that it was not so was founded on his study - unbelievably painstaking study for years and decades in the archives in India, England and Germany. He could not be maligned as a ‘saffron’ ideologue and what he said could not be dismissed thus. He was Dharampal, a Gandhian in ceaseless search of truth like his preceptor Gandhi himself was, but a Gandhian with a difference. He ran no ashram on state aid to do ‘Gandhigiri’.

Admitting that "he and those like him do not know much about our own society", the young man who questioned Dharampal - Banwari is his name - became his student. By meticulous research of the British sources over decades, Dharampal demolished the myth that India was backward educationally or economically when the British entered. Citing the Christian missionary William Adam’s report on indigenous education in Bengal and Bihar in 1835 and 1838, Dharampal established that at that time there were 100,000 schools in Bengal, one school for about 500 boys; that the indigenous medical system that included inoculation against small-pox.

He also proved by reference to other materials that Adam’s record was ‘no legend’. He relied on Sir Thomas Munroe’s report to the Governor at about the same time to prove similar statistics about schools in Madras. He also found that the education system in the Punjab during the Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s rule was equally extensive. He estimated that the literary rate in India before the British was higher than that in England.

Citing British public records he established, on the contrary, that ‘British had no tradition of education or scholarship or philosophy from 16th to early 18th century, despite Shakespeare, Bacon, Milton, Newton, etc’. Till then education and scholarship in the UK was limited to select elite. He cited Alexander Walker’s Note on Indian education to assert that it was the monitorial system of education borrowed from India that helped Britain to improve, in later years, school attendance which was just 40, 000, yes just that, in 1792. He then compared the educated people’s levels in India and England around 1800. The population of Madras Presidency then was 125 lakhs and that of England in 1811 was 95 lakhs. Dharampal found that during 1822-25 the number of those in ordinary schools in Madras Presidency was around 1.5 lakhs and this was after great decay under a century of British intervention.

As against this, the number attending schools in England was half - yes just half - of Madras Presidency’s, namely a mere 75,000. And here to with more than half of it attending only Sunday schools for 2-3 hours!

During 1822-25 the share of the Brahmin students in the indigenous schools in Tamil-speaking areas accounted for 13 per cent in South Arcot to some 23 per cent in Madras while the backward castes accounted for 70 per cent in Salem and Tirunelveli and 84 per cent in South Arcot.

The situation was almost similar in Malayalam, Oriya and Kannada-speaking areas, with the backward castes dominating the schools in absolute numbers. Only in the Telugu-speaking areas the share of the Brahmins was higher and varied from 24 to 46 per cent. Dharampal’s work proved Mahatma Gandhi’s statement at Chatham House in London on October 20, 1931 that "India today is more illiterate than it was fifty or hundred years ago" completely right.

Not many know of Dharampal or of his work because they have still not heard of the Indian past he had discovered. After, long after, Dharampal had established that pre-British India was not backward a Harvard University Research in the year 2005 (India’s Deindustrialisation in the 18th and 19th Centuries by David Clingingsmith and Jeffrey G Williamson) among others affirmed that "while India produced about 25 percent of world industrial output in 1750, this figure had fallen to only 2 percent by 1900." The Harvard University Economic Research also established that the Industrial employment in India also declined from about 30 to 8.5 per cent between 1809-13 and 1900, thus turning the Indian society backward.

PS: This great warrior who established the truth - the truth that was least known - that India was not backward when the British came, but became backward only after they came, is no more. He passed away two weeks ago on October 26, 2006, at Sevagram at Warda.

pding

March 7th, 2007, 09:04 PM

During 1822-25 the share of the Brahmin students in the indigenous schools in Tamil-speaking areas accounted for 13 per cent in South Arcot to some 23 per cent in Madras while the backward castes accounted for 70 per cent in Salem and Tirunelveli and 84 per cent in South Arcot.

imo, the tamil nationalists would def wanna screw this guy over if they heard this from him...

there are many more such truths hidden in Indian history. our historians writing history textbooks are controlled by politicians and Nehru mama is directly responsible for distorting our history by portraying Indian history as he viewed it and not according to qualified historical research...we owe a lot to him and the cangressi legacy for what it did to the country, as i would say.

pding

March 7th, 2007, 11:13 PM

http://dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1083628

SC questions basis for OBC quota in education

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Note: sorry if i have offended anybody with the lol faces. but seriously, anybody with common sense would understand the SC's stand on this issue. the obc quota is an absolutely ridiculous move. on what basis or for what is this quota??????? anybody out there know.....

Indias_finest

March 7th, 2007, 11:25 PM

Ashok Thakur, a lawyer who has filed the petition against the government’s move, said the Mandal Commission’s assertion that OBCs constitute 52 per cent of the country’s population was based on fictitious data.

Thakur said that if SCs and STs constitute 24.4 per cent of the population, Muslims 13 per cent, Christians and Sikhs 2.4 per cent each, and OBCs 52 per cent, the upper caste population works out to only about 6 per cent. “It is quite ridiculous,” he said.

LOL

kronik

March 9th, 2007, 06:22 AM

IISc campus in Bhopal finalised (http://business-standard.com/economy/storypage.php?tab=r&autono=277055&subLeft=1&leftnm=3)

The decks have been cleared for setting up the Indian Institute Sciences campus in Bhopal.

The MP government has agreed to allot 200 acres(one acre is 4,840 sq yards) "free of cost" for the purpose.

The principal secretary, MP’s department of revenue, Pukharaj Maru, and District Collector SK Mishra confirmed the report.

"We have sent the proposal to the department of higher education after taking a decision to earmark 200 acres for the Indian Institute of Science Campus in Bhopal. A proposal to set up an IISC campus came to our department and after discussion with the district collector we have decided to offer required land area for the institute gratis," Maru told Business Standard, adding "the approval is with the department of higher education."

Higher education top officials refused to give details but a well-placed source in the department said, "The Union Human Resource Development Ministry had sent a proposal few months ago for setting up the Indian Institute of Science in Bhopal. They (Union government) will set up a Central School, a research centre, a post-graduate college, hostel facility etc. We have promised to allocating to the HRD ministry last week."

Reportedly land has been allocated in Peepulner village near the airport. "We may change the location on demand, we have enough land," district collector SK Mishra said.

However, it has yet to be clarified by the union government if it will set up an IISC campus or build scientific research institutions of the highest standards in which teaching and research at the under-graduate and post-graduate levels will be undertaken in an integrated manner.

A Press Information Bureau release yesterday said: "The Union government has planned to open Indian Institutes of Scientific Education and Research (IISERs) at Kolkata and Pune. A third IISER is being set up at Mohali and two more have been proposed at Bhopal and Thiruvanathapuram. It is hoped that... IISERs will attain the eminence of IISC, Bangalore."

pding

March 9th, 2007, 07:54 AM

is 200 acres enough???? shouldn't it be atleast 400 to 500 acres to look atleast somewhat world class?

kronik

March 19th, 2007, 06:08 AM

National Knowledge Network gets nod (http://business-standard.com/economy/storypage.php?tab=r&autono=278106&subLeft=1&leftnm=3)

The Central government has accorded in-principle approval to the establishment of a National Knowledge Network to connect libraries, hospitals, scientific and research institutions, universities and agricultural institutions across the country.

“The government has approved the National Knowledge Commission’s recommendations in this regard,” Sam Pitroda, chairman of the commission, told reporters here today.

The network, comprising 5,000 nodes with one gigabyte facility to interconnect the institutions, is expected to cost around one billion dollars, he said. The idea behind this network, expected to fructify within the next year, is to create “an infrastructure of tomorrow” to ensure maximum use of convergence of technology, Pitroda said.

According to him, ownership of this network should not rest with the government. “The government must fund but not necessarily own the network. We want to create a SPV for this network.”

Pitroda also pointed to the emerging shortage of skills in the economy. “We are not graduating enough students, both technical and non-technical. We have to focus on this aspect as well as on primary education, otherwise we can’t deliver the kind of growth we want,” he warned.

Knowledge initiatives, he said, should begin immediately. “They will give results after 20-25 years”, he said, comparing it to the telecom revolution “which took 20 years to be visible.”

Calling for participation of local communities in the development of libraries, of which there are around 50,000 in the country, Pitroda said public-private-partnerships (PPPs) could also go a long way in developing them.

“They (libraries) need help, more funding, modernisation, restructuring and local participation. The government does not have the money or vision to build libraries. This has to be achieved through local participation and PPPs are needed for this,” he said.

Pitroda said massive reforms were needed in the education system.

“Education needs multi-disciplinary approaches and course content needs to be flexible,” he said. Pitroda said fibre networks already in existence could be used for connectivity across the country.

“We only need some equipment to upgrade them,” he said. Pointing out that there are about 10 separate networks being planned, he said their consolidation was necessary. “We don’t want multiple networks,” he said.

kronik

March 21st, 2007, 05:44 AM

ICFAI signs MoU for university in Orissa (http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=158476)

The Hyderabad-based Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India (ICFAI) signed an MoU on Tuesday with the Orissa government for setting up a university in the state.

The proposed university, which will come up over an area of 75 acres on the outskirt of Bhubaneswar city, will start taking students from 2008-09 academic year.

Rajshekar said that ICFAI will invest Rs 150 crore over a period of three to five years for putting in place the infrastructure for the university. Unlike other university, ICFAI has taken steps for acquiring the required land through direct negotiation with the private land holders. He said that the institute had already taken possession of 30 of the 75 acres of land near Jatni.

Negotiation with the private land owners is going on for acquiring the remaining 40 acres, he added.

kronik

March 26th, 2007, 06:08 PM

Manipal bids for NRI university (http://business-standard.com/common/storypage.php?autono=278809&leftnm=6&subLeft=0&chkFlg=)

The Union Cabinet has approved the policy framework for establishing a Non-resident Indian/Person of Indian Origin (NRI/PIO) university in India.

To be located in a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) as a deemed university under the UGC Act, it will be set up by overseas Indian trusts or societies with credibility and experience in the field of education under the overall supervision of the government.

Business Standard, last October, had reported on a proposal being considered by the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs to establish a PIO university. The PIO university will help the Indian diaspora to meet the aspiration of overseas Indians for availing higher education opportunities in India besides aiding in developing bilateral links with India.

There are around 25 million people of Indian origin living abroad in nearly 130 countries. Students from these countries, particularly in the developing world, where educational facilities are either not available or are limited, look up to India for their higher educational needs. In developed countries like the US and UK, where higher education is expensive, students explore opportunities to come to India and pursue a degree.

The university will be a state-of-the-art university offering courses on a wide range of subjects – medical, engineering and humanities and management at the undergraduate and post-graduate level – and will have a hostel facility too. The fee in this designated university will be foreign currency, according to sources. Even the Indian students will have to pay in foreign currency. The concept is said to be on par with the scheme of special economic zones (SEZs) for education wherein the participants may get tax benefits in terms of payment of fee.

It had also offered 100 acres of land available with it in Manipal and Bangalore. The initial idea was to set up a medical university along with a hospital. Courses on engineering, management and humanities were also to be taken up. Though costing for the university has not been worked out as yet, it is estimated it would run in to few hundred crores. The corporate entity of Manipal education and medical group had decided to invest Rs 400 crore to set up the university.

kronik

April 1st, 2007, 12:36 AM

Meal scheme for upper-primary classes soon (http://business-standard.com/common/storypage.php?autono=279542&leftnm=3&subLeft=0&chkFlg=)

When the next academic year begins in June, around 23 million children in upper-primary classes in the 3,427 educationally backward blocks will have one more incentive to go to school.

The government is working out a plan to implement the mid-day meal scheme (MDMS) in upper-primary schools in these blocks from the next academic session.

The scheme covers 120 million crore children in primary sections of government, aided and local body schools, besides the schools under the education guarantee and alternative and innovative education schemes.

According to a panel that steers and monitors the scheme, each student in upper-primary classes in these schools will be provided 150 grams of grain per school day which will be served as a meal.

While the Centre will provide Rs 2 per child, states will contribute 50 paise, the panel has proposed. In the north-eastern states, the Centre would bear 90 per cent of the cost.

The grain allocation for primary classes is 100 grams per child. The Centre spends Rs 1.50 per child while states contribute 50 paise.

A Ministry of Human Resource Development official working out statewise plans said, �The project approval board is reviewing the statewise extension of the project. All MDMS upgrade proposals would be sent to the inter-ministerial group and the Planning Commission for discussions.�

pding

April 1st, 2007, 12:52 AM

Meal scheme for upper-primary classes soon (http://business-standard.com/common/storypage.php?autono=279542&leftnm=3&subLeft=0&chkFlg=)

if i have to point at any development of national priority under UPA it will be the education sector, for SSA and the Mid Day Meal Scheme. i think MDMS is really doing something to bring more students into schools.....good progress.

kronik

April 3rd, 2007, 07:44 AM

A most inspiring slide show in Rediff. God bless the children of our country - they're never short on enthusiasm. And I am so happy to see Bihar finally rise again.

A day in the life of a school in Bihar (http://specials.rediff.com/news/2007/mar/29sld1.htm)

On a bright Saturday morning, we are hurtling down the Patna-Hajipur road to make it in time for the morning assembly at a government school in rural Bihar.

Once we leave Hajipur -- the constituency that had set a record for electing Ram Vilas Paswan to Parliament with the highest-ever margin in the 1989 election -- the road becomes narrower with traffic on both sides. Save some bumpy patches, it is turning out to be a fairly smooth ride, till the car stalls by a cluster of small stalls at the roadside.

We are already running late, the Saturday school timing we are told is 8 am to 11 am, and there is no chance of finding a mechanic in a village where the few shops haveno boards to indicate the name of the place we are stranded in.

The driver tries his driver routine, the car is pushed but after a few tantalising gasps, the vehicle stops breathing. That is it.

http://specials.rediff.com/news/2007/mar/29sld9.jpg
Image: Morning assembly at the Islampur Middle School, Bihar.

This is Bihar!

We start thinking of a backup plan when two young men appear, exchange a few words with the driver. One of them very casually sits in the driver's seat while his companion helps push the car.

A few minutes later, the car roars back into action and the two men walk away just as casually as they had appeared -- as if it was just a usual occurrence -- without even giving us a chance to say 'thank you.'

"He was a driver too," says Abbasbhai, our driver, and I think of visuals of stalled cars with harried drivers caught in the middle of whizzing traffic in Mumbai, where no one, barring perhaps the traffic police, stops to lend a hand.

This is Bihar, known as India's lawless state, where my editors had sent us with many warnings of 'Be careful, stay safe.' But that morning on that road at a place we didn't know, we couldn't have had a better way.

http://specials.rediff.com/news/2007/mar/29sld8.jpg
Image: The road leading to the Shanti stupa in Rajgir, Bihar. Close by are the remains of the prison where King Bimbisara, the ruler of Magadh, was imprisoned by his son Ajatshatru reportedly around 491 BC.

The Islampur Middle School

The assembly is delayed. Some students are still walking in, touching the feet of their teachers as they pass them by. A few bend down and touch ours too. While the students gather for assembly, some sweep the classrooms before classes begin.

We are told it is the students who clean the classrooms and premises, including the toilets. The school has no peons, and barring the cook -- who prepares khichdi for lunch every week day which is given free to all school children from Class I to V in the state government schools -- the school has no additional support staff.

The children do not wear uniforms because they have none. The government hopes to provide uniforms to all children and cycles for girls but that is yet to arrive.

The children walk to school from neighbouring villages, most of whose parents are uneducated, poor farmers. They carry books in a cloth bag. Some bring with them a gunny sack, over which they sit for classes under a cluster of mango and litchi trees.

There are classrooms for every class but because the number of students -- 1,023 -- cannot be accommodated in the classes, the students from class I to IV sit in the ground outside.

http://specials.rediff.com/news/2007/mar/29sld3.jpg
Image: Two girls from Meena Manch, a UNICEF-aided programme for the empowerment of the girl child, with a boy who was withdrawn from school to work as a hired help. The Meena Manch girls from this school persuaded his parents to stop making the boy work as a child labourer and succeeded. Chotu, the boy, is now back in school.

Songs, stories, PT and the news bulletin

The assembly is conducted by students, while the teachers stand in attendance. Two barefooted little girls in frocks lead in the singing of Vande Mataram, Sare Jahan se Accha and the National Anthem. A little off tune, the singing is followed by stories about hygiene and a round up of the news and sports news by two boys.

'Namaskar, yeh hai aaj ki khabrein' (this is today's news) says one boy and goes on to read the news of the day to the rest of the school. 'Aur ab khel samachar inse suniye (and now the sports news from him), and the sports news of the day is provided by his partner.

A PT routine is included and the assembly lasts 50 minutes. The Islampur Middle School is the only middle school in the Goraul block in Vaishali district in central Bihar.

Like all government middle schools, the children here do not pay any fee. All girls and boys from the so-called scheduled castes are entitled to free books, says Assistant Teacher Shyam Nandan Thakur.

Many children pass on their books to those who cannot afford books once they move to a higher class, says the teacher.

http://specials.rediff.com/news/2007/mar/29sld10.jpg
Image: The school walls have paintings and school notices. The class rooms are named after important people from India's history.

The lesson that is Meena

Far from private English medium schools in India's cities where parents queue up overnight for forms and try everything in their power to get their children admitted to the best schools, in government-run schools like this one, girls are given lessons on topics that are taken for granted by privileged kids.

Lessons that are given through Meena -- a nine-year-old cartoon character, who propagates education, gender equality, denounces child marriage and child labour.

Developed by UNICEF to change perceptions and behaviour that hamper the survival, protection and development of girls, the programme was initiated in this school in 2005.

'Meena Manch' -- a group of girls from the school -- assembles twice a month to listen to Meena's story and discuss a topic that is relevant to girls in their community.

I am struck at the confidence of the little girls. One of them gets up and asks me to introduce myself, looking straight into my eyes.

Once the story with a moral is told for the day, the girls sing an educative song in Bhojpuri and display some karate kicks, their anklets ringing in unison with every kick.

The girls tell us that their sisters also go to school. They zealously tell us the story of how they were able to prevent the marriage of their 14-year-old school-mate by going and speaking to her parents and telling them about the demerits of child marriage.

How many of us would go and speak up for friends if injustice was being done to them, I wonder?

http://specials.rediff.com/news/2007/mar/29sld11.jpg
Image: Through stories of Meena, a cartoon character, the village girls learn about education, gender equality, demerits of child marriage and child labour. Inset: A glimpse of the school

This is the state with the country's lowest literacy rate

Bihar has the lowest literacy rate in India. Only 47 per cent of its population is literate, girls are worse off at 33.1 per cent.

The Islampur school could be a far cry from other schools in many villages and towns in Bihar where schools exist in deplorable conditions, where there are not enough teachers, where students don't have toilets, where children are taken away to help their parents in the fields, where girls in the minority community are sometimes withdrawn from school after they reach puberty.

One of the reasons why villagers withdraw their children from school is a commonly held view that once children start attending school regularly, the first thing they do is stop helping out in the chores at home as they did before. They don't want to go to the fields, will not plough, will not milk the cows or rear milch cattle.

"They feel a child who has studied will not do this, but who hasn't will do all this. So parents think education is not proving beneficial for them. Unless the child acquires some skill, for a guardian his education is of no use," says Anjani Kumar Singh, the IAS officer, who is director of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan scheme in Bihar.

"We are making every effort to build the school infrastructure, separate toilets are being made for boys and girls that will be managed by students and teachers," continues Singh, who has a long experience with education in Bihar.

"There have been instances in schools where teachers have kept a toilet locked for their own use or where toilets have gone into disuse. In schools we also have a child cabinet (which consists of student office-bearers), which sees if nails are trimmed and hygiene is being maintained, that toilets are being cleaned. Effective child cabinets do exist in some form or the other in most schools."

http://specials.rediff.com/news/2007/mar/29sld12.jpg
Image: The front of the school building. New class rooms are being built adjacent to this building. The Bihar government is scheduled to add 100,000 classrooms in the state this year.

'There are children who have not seen a police station, a railway station'

I want to be a teacher or singer," said a girl, who was quickly joined by a bunch of girls rattling out their dreams and ambitions as children the world over are want to do. "We are going to participate in a competition in Hajipur, so wish us luck," said another.

For the children in government schools, the Nitish Kumar government in Bihar has done something that was never done before in the state's school system.

It has provided Rs 5,000 to every school for an excursion. So among the ruins of the famed Nalanda University, in between the busloads of Japanese, Korean and Sri Lankan tourists, run school children, on a trip many of them take for the first time.

"There are children who have not seen a police station, a railway station, so the Rs 5,000 is being used so that children can see places of interest in their area," says Anjani Kumar.

At the Islampur Middle School, only one girl from the Meena Manch has traveled as far as Kolkata. Another bunch traveled to the state capital Patna to participate in a competition. No one else has ever traveled beyond Hajipur, an hour's distance away.

http://specials.rediff.com/news/2007/mar/29sld7.jpg
Image: Government school children on a day's trip to the famous ruins of the Nalanda University. Since last year, the Bihar government has provided Rs 5,000 to government schools for excursions.

The difference is here

At the Islampur Middle School, the children are towards the end of their school day. The teachers under the tree outside sing rhymes alongside the children. Mr Thakur, the assistant teacher, shows us the computer room which has three computers -- introduced six months ago -- which he says is used by the children to paint and learn the use of wordpad.

He also shows us the ongoing construction of classrooms so that the children sitting outside finally have a classroom. The state government is recruiting 200,000 primary and elementary teachers and constructing 100,000 classrooms this year. Last year, 70,000 teachers were appointed.

I am not sure how much three computers help in a school with over 1,000 students. Neither can one vouch for the quality of education. But the classrooms are full at this school, the teachers are teaching, the students are neatly dressed even if they don't have uniforms and bear the familiarity of their curriculum at the end of their school year.

Also, the children we meet all sound confident.

"Yes, education has deteriorated in Bihar over the years. There was a time when the syllabus of Patna University was almost like Oxford. But you may be surprised, two-three recent surveys done at the all India level have shown that the quality of primary education is good in Bihar. We are not saying it, they are," says Anjani Kumar Singh.

In the heartland of India's most illiterate state, a difference is being made. Better still, it can be felt.

http://specials.rediff.com/news/2007/mar/29sld4.jpg

pding

April 3rd, 2007, 09:16 PM

Kronik: very inspring article there.

finally Bihar is seeing some light. and Nitish Kumar govt has started repairing the mess of Lalu...hopefully, ppl around the country too wake up and start looking beyond the closed walls of caste based voting...

pding

April 7th, 2007, 12:39 AM

this comes from congress haven AP:

http://www.hindu.com/2007/04/07/stories/2007040710200100.htm

Breakthrough in SSA scam probe

alleged misuse of Rs. 7.4-crore SSA funds

_______________________________________________________________________________

i only hope this is not a wide-spread phenomenon....and these bastards should be pulicly hanged. seriously, money that's supposed to go for providing quality education to some student in some school is going into these F*&$%^#' pockets...

kronik

April 11th, 2007, 08:48 PM

Industry to adopt 42 ITIs across 13 states (http://www.indianexpress.com/story/28027.html)

A novel method has been suggested to turn the Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) into employment generators. The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) has submitted a proposal for the use of the public private partnership (PPP) model to transform 42 ITIs across 13 states in the country. According to sources, FICCI has already sent a list of these 42 ITIs, which would be developed as Centres for Excellence (CFEs), to the Union labour ministry.

To convince the state governments of the potential of the scheme, the labour and employment secretary held a video-conference with state government principal secretaries today to discuss various issues related to this plan for conversion of ITIs into industry-driven training centres.

If the model works, the government would upgrade 1,396 more ITIs (out of a total of 1,896 government ITIs) over the next five years. Apollo Tyres, Wockhardt, JK Papers, Godfrey Philips and Fortis are some of the FICCI member companies that have agreed to manage these CFEs. Under the PPP model, there will be a triangular relationship between FICCI members, the Central government and the state government labour departments (under which the ITIs now function).

The union government would give financial aid of Rs 2.5 crore for each CFE. The private player would run and take decisions on modification of curriculum, in accordance with the current industry requirements, with 40 per cent shop floor training. State government labour departments would act as facilitators.

GJ10

April 13th, 2007, 03:19 PM

World-Class Reliance University near Vadodara

VADODARA: In a move that will give a major boost to education in the city, Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) will set up a world-class university near the city.

The corporate giant is in the process of acquiring 900 acres of land for setting up the university at Jaspur in Padra taluka near here.

The move comes at a time when it seemed that higher education had seemingly stagnated in the very city that was once believed to be the seat of education.

The RIL institution will be a private university named after late Dhirubhai Ambani and, to begin with, will offer courses in life sciences.

The university will subsequently offer courses in technology and other disciplines. An expert group has been formed to set up the university.

RIL group president (corporate affairs) Parimal Nathwani said that the university was the brain child of chairman Mukesh Ambani, whose office will directly monitor the progress. Nathwani added that the group would spend around Rs 200 crore in the first phase.

"This will be scaled up to around Rs 500 crore," Nathwani said. RIL has zeroed in on a suitable plot of land and sources said that a meeting to discuss land and other issues regarding the university was held at the office of state education minister Anandiben Patel on Wednesday.

Officials said that the entire 900 acres of land to be acquired for the purpose was government land.

The land is valued at around Rs 40 crore, but may be given at a discounted price to RIL as it will be used for education. :cheers:

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Reliance_to_set_up_varsity/articleshow/1830286.cms

Kingmaker

April 20th, 2007, 12:22 PM

CHENNAI: The Government will relax rules on establishment of private industrial training institutes in the State, Labour Minister T.M. Anbarasan told the Assembly on Thursday.

Private institutes could now be established anywhere in the State, and offer courses in any approved trade. They would also be allowed to open additional units of approved trades.

This had been done in view of increasing demand for skilled young workers, the Minister said, concluding the debate on the demands for his Ministry.

As several multinational automobile companies were functioning in and around Chengalpattu, three new trades would be taught in the Chengalpattu Government Industrial Training Institute.

Under the Centre's scheme to upgrade 500 ITIs all over the country, approval for upgrading five ITIs was granted.

Four Government ITIs, one each in Chennai (Ambattur), Coimbatore, Hosur and Tiruchi, had been upgraded, he said.

This year, 200 workers in Chennai covered under the Construction Workers' Welfare Board would be imparted training through ITIs.

The State Government would allow the Employees State Insurance Corporation to set up hospitals at Tirunelveli and Tirupur.

A new dispensary with two doctors would be set up at Gobichettipalayam in Erode district.

http://www.hindu.com/2007/04/20/stories/2007042010930100.htm

pding

April 23rd, 2007, 11:14 PM

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Creamy_layer_is_not_backward_SC/articleshow/1947070.cms

Creamy layer is not backward: SC

Reservation should be for those backwards deprived for centuries of access to fruits of advancement in all fields, but not for the economically forward, the Supreme Court said while dismissing the Centre's plea for vacation of stay on 27% OBC quota in Central educational institutions.

"Why should financially sound among the socially and educationally backward class benefit from reservations, which is meant for their weaker brethren? A backward is deprived of access to the infrastructure provided by the Centre due to a variety of reasons. Giving him benefit of reservation is perfectly understood. Creamy layer is not deprived of access to the infrastructure,"a Bench comprising Justices Arijit Pasayat and L S Panta told the Centre.

Trying for a vacation of the stay and justifying the law not excluding the creamy layer, solicitor general G E Vahanvati said the creamy layer applied to jobs, because the availability was limited.

Aware of this principle, Parliament made sure that the 27% OBC quota in educational institutions did not curtail the number of seats available for general category students, he said. "If the seats are not going to be curtailed, how does the law infringe the fundamental rights of any student?"Vahanvati argued.

In an unrelenting mood, the Bench said, "It is a question of entitlement. If the economically forward are not at all entitled to the reservation benefits, can Parliament still give them the benefit? Would it not violate the right to equality guaranteed under the Constitution? Would it not amount to treating unequals as equals?"

Adding to the Centre's discomfort, former solicitor general Harish Salve argued against the application saying the increase in the number of seats in Central educational institutions was through taxpayers' money and the moment such Central assistance went to any institution, the right to equality played an important role.

He said the entire reservation policy needed to be looked afresh. "If for 50 years it has not worked, we do not need it. And if it has worked for 50 years, it's a long time and must have achieved the goal and we do not need to perpetuate it any further,"Salve argued.
___________________________________________________________________________________

the only place left for common sense is the Judicial System...SC is making the point very simple: one gets quota if one needs it...and excluding the rich ones who are abusing the quotas is the first way to give more access to the poor ones...and this system of constant renewal of who gets the benefits of quotas and who doesn't should be applied to every thing where there is a quota right now.

superdesi2100

April 24th, 2007, 02:18 AM

:bash:

IIMs likely to lose autonomy

Indian Institutes of Management may no longer function as autonomous societies for the government is seriously considering Institutes of Management Bill so that the six premier B-schools are made answerable to Parliament.

Coming within days of IIMs first refusing to toe the government advice of keeping admission list on hold till the OBC reservation issue was settled in the Supreme Court, the move will definitely ruffle IIMs and India Inc. Institutes of Management Bill would be modelled on the lines of the Institutes of Technology Act, 1961, under which the IITs function.

A top government source said consultation on the proposed bill was on with the law ministry. He also sought to allay the apprehension that the proposed law could result in the erosion of the autonomy of IIMs.

‘‘IITs have made a mark for themselves without undermining their autonomy. Government feels functioning of IIMs and IITs need to be brought on par,’’ the source said. HRD ministry officials, however, refused to comment on the development.

If the proposed bill is modelled on the Institutes of Technology Act, there would be definite changes in the administrative and financial powers of IIMs. The B-schools would have a board of governors and a senate as administrative units.

But it is the financial autonomy of IIMs, which gives it the current teeth, which would undergo major change. IIMs, especially Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Kolkata, are not dependent on government funds but once they are brought under an act of Parliament, every IIM would have to maintain a fund in which money provided by the Central government, all fees and other charges received by the institute, money received by way of grants, gifts, donations, benefactions, bequests or transfers and money received by the institute in any other manner or from any other source would be kept.

Even investments would have to be made with the approval of the Central government. Accounts of IIMs would be audited by the Comptroller and Auditor General.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/IIMs_likely_to_lose_autonomy/articleshow/1946866.cms

I am inclined to say that this is one of the worst governments we have seen. It came with a promise of doing more on education, health and social sector. Well it sure is doing more but only more in taking us backwards. Totally outrageous. I am surprised how this government gets by with such retrogressive steps.