Indian Education thread

[bhargavsura]

Why?

[karkal]

IIM proposed campus - 3D walk through

[ChennaiIndian]

Cross-posting from TN education thread. Courtesy: venkyinblr

Originally Posted by venkyinblr

IIM-Trichy placements begin

CHENNAI: There is feverish activity at the Indian Institute of Management-Trichy, which started its campus placement season this week. For the institute, one of the six newer IIMs started in 2011, this is the first placement season.

On January 21, Day zero of the placement season, five students already had pre-placement offers in hand after their summer internships. "This is an indication of the quality of our students," said Godwin Tennyson, chairman, placement and external relations, IIM-Trichy.

During the summer internships in 2012, 40 companies had recruited 83 students in various domains, including marketing, finance, operations, HR, consulting and strategy. The average stipend offered for the internship period was around 50,000, while the highest domestic stipend offered was 1.2 lakh.

Remaining tight-lipped about the offers made this week, professor Godwin, however, said, "There is hardly any difference between the offers made to our students and those in older IIMs. Our students are getting offers with quite high pay packages," he said.

Around 80 students are sitting for the placements, expected to last at least around a month. With classes happening simultaneously, the institute has scheduled visits by one or two companies a week. "The season looks good. We would like to facilitate the best possible placements for our students in the area of their choice," said institute director Prafulla Agnihotri.

While around 60% of the students have an IT background, 11% are from the manufacturing sector and there is at least one student from various other streams, including education, power, marketing and medicine. One-fourth of the students have one to two years of work experience, while an equal number are freshers. Around 5% of the students have more than four years of work experience.

The campus placement scene in other B-schools rings a positive note. There are reports of the other IIMs seeing a better-than-expected placement season this year. Even some of the other top-tier B-schools, like the Birla Institute of Management Technology, T A Pai Management Institute, and Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies, have been getting a positive response this year. Higher salaries, more international postings and pre-placement offers are being made, report placement officers of the institutes.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/c.../18231516.cms?

[kg4129]

IIM-Trichy Architecture Design.... -

Rs 300 Crores for First phase of Construction

[wO_Ow]

Documents on Science and Technology and Education signed on the sidelines of State Visit of President of France to India, February 14-15, 2013:

1. Letter of Intent towards a Memorandum of Understanding between Delhi University and Sciences Po, Paris
   The Sciences Po - Delhi University partnership aims at creating a large student (master and PhD) and scientists exchange programme opened to a large number of colleges and departments. The partnership also aims at accompanying the reform movement of Delhi University, through the creation of a credit transfer system, thus supporting Delhi University's internationalisation
   
2. Memorandum of Understanding on a scholarship programme involving Michelin, Ecole Centrale de Nantes and a consortium of Indian Institutions of Higher Education
   The partnership between Michelin, a major investor in India, Ecole Centrale de Nantes and a consortium of Indian Institutions of higher education (IITs, Institutions of National Importance, and Central Universities) aims at funding scholarships and fellowships for students at the master’s and doctorate levels to undertake a course of studies at the Ecole Centrale de Nantes
   
3. Memorandum of Understanding on the ERASMUS MUNDUS Program entitled "Heritage” between 8 European institutions and 7 Indian Institutions, coordinated by Ecole Centrale de Nantes and IIT Madras
   The partnership between 8 European Institutions of higher learning led by Ecole Centrale de Nantes and a consortium of Indian Institutions of higher education led by IIT Madras, will allow the funding of student and scientist mobility for the next three years, through EU funds with an emphasis on engineering and scientific projects.
   
4. Letter of Intent towards a scholarship programme between HEC (Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales) and IIM (Indian Institute of Management) Bangalore, funded by French corporate Altran (innovation and high tech engineering consulting)
   The agreement between long term partners HEC and IIM Bangalore, with the support of French corporate group Altran, aims at strengthening the ties between the two institutions by starting a "Professional Mentoring Scheme” for those students participating in their existing exchange programme.
   
5. MoU General Framework Agreement CNRS - Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore
   Both CNRS and IISc are willing to cooperate in the fields of research, development, education, training, transfer of technology and dissemination of knowledge on long term non-commercial basis. They recognize the importance of establishing a close cooperative relationship with a view to the further development of both institutions. This agreement aims to facilitate exchange of Scientists and faculties, and new research projects.
   
6. MoU AREVA PhD Grant fellowship agreement with IIT Bombay
   AREVA SA and Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IIT B) have agreed to enter into a framework agreement to collaborate for R&D projects in a variety of domains relating to AREVA's Research and Development activities. This collaboration covers mainly development of products and services in the field of nuclear fuel cycle, Nuclear reactor design and construction, Renewable energy and Energy storage for deployment and industrialisation of these technologies. AREVA will finance and support IIT B PhD students who would work on the R&D projects, through this AREVA PhD Grant fellowship agreement.
   
7. MoU between Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and Embassy of France:The MoU aims at collaboration in teaching and training in French Language.
   
8. Agreement of Partnership between Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IITK) And Ecole Centrale de Nantes (ECN), France on Academic and Research Collaboration
   The Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IITK) and the Ecole Centrale de Nantes (ECN) are mutually interested in enlarging and broadening their cooperation and establishing collaboration in academic and research-related activities.
   
9. Letter of Intent on the second phase of a support fund for student and faculty mobility between ParisTech and a consortium of seven IITs
   The LoI aims at exchange programme of Under Graduates and post Graduates and joint research.
10. Letter Of Intent Between St Gobain Research India And Indo-French Centre For The Promotion Of Advanced Research
    • The aim of the LoI is to create a new innovation programme called "sustainable habitat for hot and/or humid climates”. The main topics covered by this program will be:
    • Sensing and monitoring building and analyzing energy consumption of various buildings in various climates and characterize building energy envelop.
    • Develop Sustainable and affordable building materials solutions, including but not limited to cooling methods and lighting, with alternate and regionally available material solutions.
11. Memorandum of Understanding between Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)
    This MOU is aimed at Cooperation between the two institutions which may be established within any field of mutual interest related to science and technology.
    
12. Letter of Intent between INSERM – AVIESAN (Alliance pour les sciences de la VIE et de la Santé) and Institut National du Cancer, French Republic and Max Institute of Health Education and Research, Republic of India
    INCa and Max Institute of Health Education and Research desire to enhance bilateral projects on cancer research (for instance in the areas of epidemiology, biochemistry, proteomics, and genetics of cancer) and public health.
13. Letter of Intent for an Indo French Laboratory on liver diseases-Inserm and Institute for Liver and Biliary Sciences, Delhi
    This Letter of Intent sets the general understanding of the two institutions to set up this Indo-French International Associated Laboratory entitled "Transcriptomics and Metabolomics for the Development of Indo-French Research on Severe Liver Diseases" during the year 2013, after completion and signature of the dedicated agreement establishing the terms and conditions of its implementation.
14. General Framework Agreement Oseo- Technology Development Board (TDB)
    This Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) aims to establish a collaborative framework under which Oséo and TDB may carry out activities related to the exchanging of best practices and the setting up of coordinated measures to foster technological exchanges and innovation collaborations between companies, organizations and institutions of France and India. These activities can include, but are not limited to : Exchanges, Facilitation of relations among companies, organizations and institutions, Funding of collaborative innovation projects, Coordinated financial instruments
    
15. Letter of Intent between Ecole Normale Supérieure (ENS -Paris) and the Chennai Mathematical Institute, towards an exchange programme involving students, academics and researchers
    
16. Letter of Intent between Ecole Normale Supérieure (ENS -Paris) and the Delhi University, towards an exchange programme involving students, academics and researchers
    
17. Double Master's degree between Ecole des Mines de Nantes and University of Petroleum and Energy Studies (UPES)

[karkal]

CII team to visit Australian varsities next week

CHENNAI: In a move to explore opportunities in academic research and vocational education, a delegation from trade body -- Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), would visit Universities in Australia next week.

Led by CII, Education Sub-Committee, chairperson, Nandini R, the delegation would interact with senior officials of respective state governments of Melbourne and Sydney and study the successful industry-institute models practiced in Australia, a press release here said.

The 15-member study mission would visit Institutions of Excellence in Australia between February 18 and 23, it said.

Some Universities they would visit include Deakin University, Latrobe University and Swinburne University, University of New South Wales, University of Western Sydney, among others.

The delegation would interact with representatives of the Australian Council for Private Education and Training in Melbourne for collaboration in vocational education and training, it said.

[wO_Ow]

London School of Economics announces 50 new scholarships for Indians

The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) has announced 50 new scholarships for post-graduate Indian students as part of Briton’s efforts to enhance bilateral cooperation in education and research.

The LSE India Scholarships and a major collaborative research programme on gender equality in the country were announced during British Prime Minister David Cameron’s ongoing visit to India.

The LSE scholarships will enable more students from India to study for a Master’s degree at the prestigious London-based British university from this year.

The awards will range from £3,000 to £32,000, depending on financial need and are open to all Indian students who hold an offer of a place on an LSE Master’s programme by April 30, 2013.

Thapar University, French institute in tie-up

The Thapar University in Patiala, a technical university, has signed a memorandum of understanding with Groupe ISA, Institute of Life Sciences, France. The deal envisages exchange of academic, research information and joint educational programmes.

The MoU will focus on topics related to food and environmental biotechnology. Groupe ISA cater to agriculture, environment, food technology and management, and has partnerships with more than 200 companies in Europe.

Joint Statement on the India-United Kingdom Summit 2013

The leaders welcomed the British Council’s programme to provide digital English language materials for use by millions of learners in India. They also welcomed the agreement between the British Council, INTEL and the State Government of Uttar Pradesh with the objective of reaching a further 4 million English learners.

[karkal]

Robots wired by young minds


Building confidence: The robotics lab at The Velammal International School, Chennai

Children as young as five stride confidently into the world of robotics, aided by a range of specially designed kits.

Ten-year-old Balagurukugan found out the contact number of a robotics company and called up the founder for details about their kits for children — all by himself. This came as a surprise to his parents, who didn’t even know he was interested in robotics.

“Earlier I used to make robots with paper and cardboard and dismantled my electronic toys to understand them. But after making basic-level robots with motors, I have understood the mechanism of such gadgets,” says the Std V student.

He is among many children who have fallen in love with these machines after watching movies such as Enthiran and Mugamoodi (in Tamil) that feature a humanoid robot.

Balaji Lakshmanan, the brain behind the 6-foot humanoid robot in Mugamoodi, is today inundated with calls from children, and their parents, eager to learn more about robotics.

The 29-year-old CEO of imakerobots.com designs kits for children and has trained nearly 4,000 students at the school and college level. “Robotics can change the way children think, and enables them to be more creative. The right time to start is when they are young,” he says.

Vibhu Ravindran, for example, was just five when his father introduced him to robotics. “Initially, the idea was to have fun with the kit. But in course of time, he understood the basic functioning of gears and locomotion,” says the father, B. Ravindran, who teaches and runs a robotics lab at IIT-Madras. “I explored every part of the robot, and when I got stuck, I asked my father,” says Vibhu, now nine.

Taiwan-based Gestream Technology manufactures the smallest humanoid robot in the world — the BeRobot, which can be assembled by children.

Its founder, Sean Chang says, “Many of the assembling components are small. We suggest that children who are nine years and above use the robot kits, but with the help of trained teachers or parents. Even kindergarten children can be introduced to basic robotics.”

In fact, several Indian schools are now incorporating robotics into the curriculum and training teachers for it. At The Velammal International School in Chennai, 30 children trained under a robotics expert and were soon on their way to making their own models.

“This year, we bought our own kits and set up a robotics lab. As this is a residential school, students can visit the lab at any time,” says Veeravel Murugan, Executive Director of the school. The children are also doing well in competitions. “They won the Indian Robot Olympiad junior high category, and represented India at the World Robot Olympiad 2012 in Malaysia,” he says.

Mumbai-based ThinkLABS has partnered with about 200 schools, both within the country and abroad, through its robotics education platform called RoboLab. CEO and founder Gaggan Goyal says, “By building and programming robots, students explore fundamentals of science, technology, engineering, mathematics and computer programming. This programme comprises hardware, software, curriculum content and, most importantly, a teachers’ training programme.”

Robotics may really be the next big thing, just as Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates has predicted: “The emergence of the robotics industry is developing in much the same way that the computer business did 30 years ago”.

So, it may be no exaggeration to say that the children who enter this field today would be the ones leading the country in the future.

Keywords: Taiwan company, Gestream Technology, robot, BeRobot, assembled by children, curiculum on robotics, schools

[karkal]

Online education wins big as TED awards $1 million to pioneer Sugata Mitra

A boon for 'Slumdog Millionaire' inspiration and a statement on the future of learning

http://www.theverge.com/2013/2/27/40...r-sugata-mitra

[Krishnamoorthy K]

Union Budget: Education sector gets 17% jump

PTI

New Delhi, Feb 28:

The education sector today received a 17 per cent jump with an allocation Rs 65,867 crore for 2013-14 fiscal, but HRD Minister M M Pallam Raju termed it as “little” increase and said he would be asking for more to meet the goals.

He said that with the RTE deadline coming to an end on March 31 for fulfilling all provisions, states would be asking for more the central share and the government has to be prepared for that.

“I think there has been little bit of increase. But the important factor is that the deadline for implementing the Right to Education (RTE) Act is coming up and subsequent to that, there will be a lot of demand from the states for central share of money and I think that is what we should be prepared for,” Raju told reporters outside Parliament reacting to the Budget.

Most of the states are reportedly yet to fulfil the RTE provisions. Schools face the prospects of being derecognised in the event of not meeting the norms.

Noting that capacity-building in secondary education and higher secondary education is also imperative, Raju said, “We will definitely be asking for more money” for that.

In his Budget speech, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said as education is the other high priority for the government, “I propose to allocate Rs 65,867 crore to HRD Ministry, which is an increase of 17 per cent over the revised estimate of the previous year.

“The Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA) and the RTE are firmly in place. I propose to provide Rs 27,258 crore for SSA,” he said.

The plan expenditure for Department of School Education has been kept at Rs 49,659 crore while the plan expenditure for Department of Higher Education has been put at Rs 16,198 crore.

In 2012-13, the school education department had got Rs 45,969 crore, which was scaled down to Rs 42,729 crore in the revised estimate. Similarly, the higher education department had got Rs 15,438 crore, but it was also cut down to Rs 13,479 crore in the revised estimate.

The Rashtriya Madhyamik Siksha Abhiyan programme, which aims at universalisation of secondary education, has got Rs 3,983 crore for 2013-14, an increase of 25.6 per cent over the revised estimate.

The mid-day meal programme has been allotted Rs 13,215 crore.

Keywords: education sector, Union Budget 2013-14, P Chidambaram, M M Pallam Raju,

Higher education, faculty shortage out of focus

[karkal]

Open up India’s universities

Indian universities are in a shambles. Why? The modern university system in India goes back 200 years; today it is in a nearly terminal state. The government, finally, is trying to improve university education. It is expanding the system and urging universities to compete with the best in the world. Given the growing number of young people, especially young men, an expansion of the university system is vital if we are to have social peace. The government is right also to insist on competition with the rest of the world.

There are many reasons for the shambolic state of Indian universities, but perhaps the biggest problem is their alienation from the world. Listening to a high-level educator in India recently, i was dismayed to hear him speak about India's poor performance in the annual global rankings. The rankings were problematic, he said, for all kinds of methodological reasons. India would do its own rankings. Anyway, Indian universities should not run after rankings. India would reach out to universities abroad, but India has its own genius (since Nalanda apparently...). And so on and so on.

Of course university rankings have problems. No one suggests that the only way to judge a university is by some aggregate measure or survey result. But those quantitative measures tell you something! Running after rankings at a certain stage in one's development is not a bad thing necessarily. It might at least shake the system and provide a clear goal to shoot for. I often hear Cambridge, Harvard, Oxford and Yale colleagues dismiss the ranking system. That is fine when you sit calmly at the top; you cannot afford to be so Olympian when you squirm away at the bottom!

Reaching out to foreign universities to learn from them is a good idea, but to say in the same breath that India has its own genius and will not mimic others sounds defensive if not mundane. Mimicry is not a bad thing, at a certain point in time and in some degree. All great writers have begun by mimicking those they admired. Japan built an entire technological system that started out by mimicry. Singapore's rise as a knowledge hub has been built on rankings and imitation. We in India have such an inferiority complex that we cannot justify a bit of imitation in our own interest!

Indian universities are still stuck in the import substitution view of life. The Indian economy, for the better part of 50 years, held to import substitution. India would not import; it would make virtually everything itself. We would save money, build industry, grow a technological base, and protect ourselves from malign foreign influences. The result was not growth and development but rather stagnation and inefficiency. We can still hear the same mantra in Indian universities: we will not engage with the rest of the world, we will flourish. Except that we have not done so. Let's remember that all our great universities were built with foreign help - in Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata and Mumbai but also our IITs and IIMs. (By the way, so was Nalanda, which had hundreds of foreigners come to it and enrich it with their genius, giving as much as getting from India.)

Indian universities have to engage with the rest of the world. They have to compare themselves. They have to partner and learn wherever is appropriate. Indian academics have to collaborate. They must go out to international conferences in their disciplines. They should publish in the highest ranked journals. They must invite foreigners to their conferences. Their conferences must be organised to world standards in terms of logistics, accommodation and transport. And finally the faculty and student body must be international. It is depressing to go to an Indian university and see only Indian faces, usually overwhelmingly from the host state. The word university contains within it "universal". Let's strive for more universalism (pardon the oxymoron). This will require us to throw far more money at the universities - perhaps three or even four times our present spending. We will have to cut elsewhere such as in defence and wasteful public sector enterprises. It will be worth it in the long run.

[karkal]

US helping India to set up 100 community colleges

Keelakarai (TN) Apr 3 (PTI) The US is helping India realise one of its goals of establishing 100 community colleges under a new area of collaboration, Consul General of US Consulate, Chennai, Jennifer Mcintyre, said today.

Participating at the Founders' Day celebrations of the Mohamed Sathak College of Engineering here, she said the US also supports India's launch of a high education web portal to disseminate information on education collaboration and exchanges.

[karkal]

Great Lakes signs pact with Bordeaux biz school to offer dual degree

The pact will facilitate students of Great Lakes to spend six weeks in the Bordeaux campus in France to get a Bordeaux degree in addition to that of GLIM.

CHENNAI, APRIL 9:
The Chennai-based Great Lakes Institute of Management (GLIM), one of the leading management institutes, founded by Prof. Bala V. Balachandar, has signed a pact with Bordeaux Business School of France, to offer an option of dual degree for students.

“We are also in the process of signing a similar pact with Rutgers Business School of Newark (US),” said Prof S. Sriram, Executive Director of GLIM.

According to him, the MoU signed with Bordeaux Business School will take effect from the ensuing batch — beginning July this year. The pact will facilitate students of Great Lakes to spend six weeks in the Bordeaux campus in France to get a Bordeaux degree in addition to that of GLIM. For this, the student has to pay Rs 2.5 lakh additionally, which would include their course fee, travel and six-week stay there.

For the Rutgers degree, Great Lakes is yet to finalise details. For those who want to get a Rutgers degree, the student may have to spend the first year of the course at the Great Lakes campus and the second year at Rutgers campus in the US. “But, we are yet to fine tune details and work out the fee structure for this. We are also considering a student exchange programme with Rutgers,” Sriram told Business Line.

[karkal]

IIT-Madras and German University renew collaborative research initiatives on sustainability

IIT-Madras gets German fund to study climate change

CHENNAI: IIT-Madras has received about Rs 20 crore from Germany and Rs 5.33 crore from the Government of India's department of science and technology for Indo-German collaborative research projects on sustainability and climate change.

The project is titled 'Building an International Research Network on Sustainability to Enhance Strategic Knowledge for Climate Change', while support from DAAD of Germany comes under its 'New Passage to India' programme. Director of IIT-Madras Bhaskar Ramamurthi signed a MoU on behalf of the Indo-German Centre for Sustainability, with rector of RWTH Aachen University Ernst Schmachtenberg in the presence of the ministers for human resource development and science, technology and earth sciences, and the German minister for education and research in Berlin on Wednesday.

"The MoU will help us work on new projects in addition to the project funded by the department of science and technology," said Sudhir Chella Rajan, coordinator of the Indo-German Centre for Sustainability at IIT-Madras.

Over the next three years, IGCS will do five research projects in energy, land use, waste and water around sustainability challenges that will be increased by climate change. The projects will focus on sustaining urban water bodies, improving public sanitation and improving access

[azzi282]

Indian universities really need to up their game... Only 3 in Asia's top 100? A bit of a shame if you ask me Admittedly rankings aren't everything, but still important

3 IITs among top 100 universities in Asia

CHENNAI: Only three institutes in the country, all of them Indian Institutes of Technology, feature among the top 100 universities in Asia, according to the first Asia University Rankings released by "Times Higher Education" magazine.

While IIT-Kharagpur is ranked 30th, IIT-Bombay is 33rd and IIT-Roorkee 56th, the University of Tokyo secured the pole position with an overall score of 78.3, followed by the National University of Singapore with 77.5, University of Hong Kong (75.6) and Peking University (70.7).

FULL ARTICLE

[karkal]

National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning aims to reach more students

CHENNAI: With its new certification initiative, the National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL) has come a long way from its humble beginnings as a repository of video lectures. On the cards are translations, sub-titling and original content in different languages so that the courses reach more people.

NPTEL is also moving to a massive open online course ( MOOC) platform to host the content. While Google's Coursebuilder, an open source software platform, is the frontrunner, MIT's edX is also in the race. NPTEL's content may appear on both platforms.

Google has put together a team in Bangalore and at its Mountain View office in US to work on Coursebuilder and to coordinate with NPTEL, said a senior Google official. NTPEL course videos are currently on YouTube and the channel has 1.5 lakh subscribers and 8.7 crore views. Moving to a platform like Coursebuilder will allow NPTEL to provide more students with a full course experience with personalised pages to track their progress.

While most international sites like Coursera and edX provide honour certificates with online-only exams, NPTEL will offer a proctored certificate with supervised exams at the end of the course which will be conducted across the country on weekends.

"The certification exam can be taken any time like the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) and Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT)," said IIT-Madras professor K Mangala Sunder, who is the national coordinator of NPTEL.

NPTEL's industry partners, which include IT majors TCS and Cognizant, are not only providing inputs for content but also mentoring groups of students. "The mentors will be company employees who are senior programmers," he said. Companies are providing their facilities for final certificate examinations for a fee to be paid by NPTEL.

The inputs from IT companies and the certification are expected to improve the quality of graduates. "Although there is no written commitment, the understanding is that the companies will consider people who fare well in these courses for recruitment," said Andrew Thangaraj, IIT-M professor and head of the certification process.

NPTEL officials are debating whether to include the progress of a student during the course in the final certification or just the marks. "The course will be free but we will charge a token fee for certification to meet some of the expenses," said Thangaraj.

Separate from certification initiative, NPTEL is planning 'Special Lectures'. Eminent academicians and industrialists will prepare a series of video lectures on topics ranging from mathematics to Ayurveda. "It will be like a TED talk given by a learned and experienced personality, not one but a series of lectures on various topics," said Sunder.

NPTEL is transcribing all its video lectures and offering them as text and audio files. This will be launched on textofvideo@nptel.iitm.ac.in. Of the 20,000 courses on offer, 2,500 have been transcribed. Videos will also be sub-titled so that students from all language backgrounds can use the material. NPTEL is looking to develop speech-to-text for various Indian languages so that complete course material is available to all students.

[wO_Ow]

List of documents signed on the sidelines of 2nd round of India-Germany Intergovernmental Consultations

Vocational Education & Training

• MOU between Hof University of Applied Sciences & Integrated Association of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises of India (SPV formed by Faridabad Small Industries Association) to develop specialized vocational training course.
  
• MOU between Manipal University, Manipal, India & Bavarian Universities Consortium represented by Hof University of Applied Sciences of Germany to establish the Indo-Bavarian Integrated Bachelors and Masters Programme in August 2013.
  
• MoU between Infosys Ltd and Bertelsmann Stiftung to support Vocational Education and Training in India.
  
• MoU between PSG Institute of Advanced Studies & Professional Training Centres of the Bavarian Employers Association (BFZ)
  
• Contract agreement between Cairn India and TUV Rheinland to set up a state-of-the-art vocational education training facility in Rajasthan.

Science & Technology

• Programme of Cooperation between Dept. of Biotechnology of India and Helmholtz Association in the area of development of future natural drugs.
  
• Supplementary MoU on Research Framework of the Indo-German Centre for Sustainability at IIT, Madras under the National Climate Action Plan.

[wO_Ow]

Punjab govt to hand out tablets to 1.5 lakh students

Almost 1.5 lakh students in 12th standard from government schools in Punjab have been promised free tablets. Education Minister Sikandar Singh Maluka recently announced that the Punjab government will provide free tablets to these students in the current financial year at a total cost of Rs 110 crore. Maluka went on to add that EDUSAT, which was launched across 1,600 schools, is now being introduced to all high and senior secondary schools in the state this year.

He went on to assure that all government schools in the state would be fully equipped with the required staff and infrastructure in science, information technology and commerce streams during the current financial year.

Last month, Uttar Pradesh CM Akhilesh Yadav handed out HP laptops to about 10,000 students as part of the UP government's laptop distribution scheme. The laptops were given out during an event at Colvin Taluqdar's College in Lucknow to intermediate students in a bid to encourage them to pursue higher studies.

Each laptop sports a 14-inch display and is equipped with a 500GB hard disk and 2GB of RAM. It has Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, 3 USB ports, an HDMI port, media card reader and a microphone port. The laptops come with a DVD writer and support typing in Hindi, English and Urdu. It bundles MS Office Pro Academic 2010 and has a battery life of 3 hours.

In February this year, the Goa Education Department also started providing laptops to students for as little as Rs 25. Reports quoted Additional Director - Education, Anil Powar, as saying, "General category students will have to pay only Rs 25 while SC and ST students will have to pay Rs 10 to register for the scheme."

The Goa government plans to buy almost 50,000 notebooks and tablets for distribution. Powar added that the computers will come with special e-learning packages. He went on to state that Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parikkar had even set aside Rs 95 crore towards this purchase in the budget last year.

Reportedly, the systems will have an in-built security system to make sure that the computers are not used to watch pornography or use any controversial web apps. In addition, the department will take an undertaking from the students' parents before handing out the computers. Powar added, "It is a No Objection Certificate saying they are OK with us giving them the computers. The parents should also be in a position to both goad the students to logging on to the right websites."

News Sources

[skysun]

Source: TOI mumbai Edition http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Defau...0200&AppName=1

[karkal]

Research powers IIT-M to world's top 150 institutes

CHENNAI: Indian Institute of Technology-Madras has made strident steps towards improving its academic reputation. It has been ranked among the world's top 150 institutes in seven subjects in the recently released QS World University Rankings by Subject.

Bettering its performance from last year when it featured between 60th and 70th ranks, IIT-M's civil and structural engineering course ranked 46th this year. Chemical engineering, electrical engineering and mechanical engineering courses are between the 51st and 100th places, while the computer science and information systems department, materials science and mathematics departments feature between the 101st and 150th ranks.

The by-subject rankings are based on academic reputation, employer reputation, citations per faculty, faculty-student ratio, proportion of international students and proportion of international faculty.

"It is a result of intensifying research, increasing faculty recruitment, increasing output and funding for research. We are moving in the right direction," said director Bhaskar Ramamurthi.

Academics are proud IITs achieved these rankings despite having negligible international faculty and students, which has substantial weightage in determining the ranking. The funding levels of several universities ranked below the IITs are many times higher. Besides, the contributions of IITs to Indian industry, space and defence sectors are not accounted for in these rankings, they said.

For these rankings, QS Intelligence Unit (QSIU) — a division of QS Quacquarelli Symonds, an international higher education data-research firm — evaluated 2,858 universities and ranked 678 institutions.