India: Technical Education in India: Poor shape, Nursing Institutes, Right to Education Bill

The mushrooming technical institutes in India leave a lot to be desired. The regulatory body, AICTE, has been unable to steer technical education in a balanced and effective manner. The Parliamentary Committee has rightly pulled up AICTE, but will it lead to any improvements in ground realities remains to be seen. Even though Asians are said to be better in maths and science, India appears no where in the most recent rankings.

-Chillibreeze Business Research Team

Trends
Parliamentary panel pulls up AICTE
Nursing institutes have a reason to cheer
IIT Bombay approaches start-up cos for placements
IIM-A entry's tougher than Stanford, Harvard

Policy
Centre likely to introduce Right to Education Bill next week
PM launches INSPIRE scholarships to boost R&D
Assistance scheme of hostels for tribal students revised
India gifts $4.5 m to Harvard to set up fund
Decks cleared for setting up 20 new IIITs

Plans-Academic Institutions and Corporates
Oracle launches Learning Institute in India

Surveys and Reports
India Inc concerned about business climate
Asians top achievers in global maths, science study

Technology Assisted Learning
Science City to get virtual classroom
e-learning more user friendly than classroom teaching
Audio textbooks launched to help visually challenged

Trends

Parliamentary panel pulls up AICTE

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Human Resource Development has pulled up the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) for its inability to check commercialisation of education and regulate technical education in the country.

In its report on the functioning of the AICTE the committee faulted the council for trying to expand its mandate when it had been unable to fulfil the task assigned to it in the first place.

As a case in point, the committee cited the lopsided development of technical education in the country with a majority of institutes concentrated in peninsular India. Stating that the coordinated development of technical education in the country at all levels was an important function assigned to the council, the committee noted with concern that the “concentration of institutions in specific regions is the testimony of extent of regional imbalance.”

Further, it added: “The very objective of proper planning and coordinated development of the technical education system throughout the country in the backdrop of evolving AICTE from an advisory body to a statutory body seems to have been defeated.”

On commercialisation of education, the committee found that the fee committees and admission committees — set up by State governments as per the Supreme Court’s directions to prescribe fees to be charged by technical institutions and oversee the admission process — had been unable to address the problem.

Uniform fee structure
Asserting that the education sector should be protected from commercialisation, the committee has called for exploring the possibility of a uniform fee structure commensurate with the infrastructure and other facilities available in the institutions.
As for the AICTE’s contention that emerging technical programmes like fashion technology, hospitality related fields, media technology, nano-technology, nuclear sciences and space technology should be brought under the AICTE Act, the committee has questioned the council’s ability to take on the additional task given that it had not satisfactorily managed the programmes presently under its purview. In turn, the committee said the council should consolidate its core competence, revamp its infrastructure, and restructure the organisation keeping in view the altered realities prior to enlarging its mandate to cover new disciplines.

Likewise, the committee criticised the AICTE for not undertaking a survey of the state of technical education.

December 15, 2008
Source:The Hindu
URL: http://www.hindu.com/2008/12/15/stories/2008121559081400.htm

Nursing institutes have a reason to cheer

The relaxations announced by the Indian Nursing Council (INC), New Delhi, have brought smiles on the faces of people associated with private educational institutions across the state.

Following the footsteps of the All-India Council of Technical Education, the council has decided to increase the number of posts of nurses to cope with their shortage. This will benefit around 60 nursing colleges in Punjab. Also with the demand for such courses having increased manifold, the state is bound to have new colleges and hospitals.

Meanwhile, norms have also been relaxed on the eligibility criterion of candidates. For the ANM course, a candidate should have passed class X, while for GNM and BSc (nursing) courses, one should have 40% and 45% marks, respectively. Married candidates are also eligible for all the programmes.

To provide specialized training to future professionals, a post-basic diploma programme has also been introduced. The institutions are no longer required to obtain an NOC or essentiality certificate from the respective state if it is recognized for GNM and BSc (nursing) programmes by the parent hospital. Also, the age for teaching faculty members has been increased to 70 years.

December 15, 2008
Source:The Hindu
URL:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Chandigarh/Nursing_institutes_have_a_reason_to_cheer/articleshow/3838449.cms

IIT Bombay approaches start-up cos for placements

The impact of global slowdown is all set to hit the campus placement at IITs. From vying for the best in the corporate world, students may have to scale down their ambitions and career plans, at least for now. Alarmed by a significant decline in its campus placement this year, IIT Bombay is approaching start-up companies to beat the recession heat.

According to a source close to the development, IIT Bombay’s placement record — which was extremely impressive last year with nearly 100% placements — has posted a 40% dip in the first phase of placements this academic year. Such a poor response has forced the authorities to extend the date of placement for this academic year till April. Earlier, the placements used to close in two to three weeks flat.

According to an analyst from a leading consulting firm, there has been a drastic cut in hiring at the junior level.

Some of the big companies that have been a regular at IIT Bombay placements include the Tata Group, Godrej, e-Clerx, Cadbury, Marico, Citibank, Accenture, Infosys Technologies, Wipro, Bristlecone, Anand Group, Mahindra British Telecom, GECIS, JP Morgan Chase, SBI Caps and SBI. Nearly 80% of them were present this year as well. In 2007, around 200 companies visited the IIT Bombay placement campaign organised by the institute. Over 100 candidates benefited from the campaign. Many students from IIT Bombay also received offers from global companies.

December 12, 2008
Source:Economic Times
URL:http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Services/Education/IIT_Bombay_approaches_start-up_cos_for_placements/articleshow/3825536.cms

IIM-A entry's tougher than Stanford, Harvard

Is the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A), the country’s premier business school, better than the best international management schools like Stanford or Harvard when it comes to the executive management programme? The answer is yes if the comparison is based on the GMAT scores required for admission.

The minimum GMAT, or the Graduate Management Admission Test, score required for admission in IIM-A’s one-year post-graduate executive management programme (PGPX) for the 2009-10 batch was fixed at 722 out of 800. This figure exceeds the score required for admission in prestigious institutes like Harvard or Stanford, where the GMAT cut-off is between 710 and 715.

While the IIMs use CAT (common admission test) scores for admission in their flagship management programme (PGP), they accept GMAT scores for the one-year executive management programme. GMAT scores are accepted by all top universities globally for taking in executives for management training.

Apart from a good GMAT score, IIM-A also looks for a good academic and career record in candidates interested in joining the course. In the current batch, candidates represent sectors like power, FMCG, financial services, government services, IT/ITeS, consultancy, manufacturing, media, shipping, telecom, healthcare and BPO.

The institute had introduced the diversity criteria for selecting candidates that led to the number of candidates having experience in the IT/ITeS sector — who dominated PGPX batches — coming down significantly. While around 50% of the candidates in the current batch have a background in IT/ITeS sector, the new batch comprises just 30% of such candidates.

There has also been an increasing trend of executives settled abroad joining the course as a stepping stone to begin careers afresh in the country. Close to 25 of the 30 students of the 2008-09 batch — who were working abroad and are enrolled for the course — have made up their minds to settle down in India.

December 10, 2008
Source: Economic Times
URL: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Services/Education/IIM-A_entrys_tougher_than_Stanford_Harvard/articleshow/3815210.cms

Policy

Centre likely to introduce Right to Education Bill next week

The Centre is planning to introduce the landmark Right to Education Bill in the Parliament next week. The GoM, entrusted with the task of scrutinising the contentious Bill, had cleared the draft legislation earlier without diluting the content including some of the contentious provisions, like 25 per cent reservation in private schools for disadvantaged children from the neighbourhood at the entry level.

December 15, 2008
Source:The Hindu
URL: http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/002200812111570.htm

PM launches INSPIRE scholarships to boost R&D

Seeking to attract students to science, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh launched special scholarships for the youth aimed at identifying talent at an early stage and mentoring them in pursuit of research careers.

The Innovation of Science Pursuit for Inspired Research (INSPIRE) aims to reach out to 10 lakh students in the next five years in a bid to build human resource pool for strengthening and expanding the science and technology system and, research and development base.

The programme works in three stages -- providing one million young learners an INSPIRE award of Rs 5000 in the age group of 10-15 years and organising a summer camp for about 50,000 youth with global leaders in science; offering 10,000 scholarships every year for pursuing Bachelor and Masters level education in natural sciences; and assured opportunity for research careers.

December 15, 2008
Source:PTI
URL: http://www.ptinews.com/pti%5Cptisite.nsf/0/3046D4B2FF4EC7B06525751E004CD172?OpenDocument

Assistance scheme of hostels for tribal students revised

The Ministry of Tribal Affairs has revised the centrally sponsored schemes of hostels for Scheduled Tribe (ST) girls and boys and establishment of Ashram schools in the Tribal Sub-Plan Area.

Under both the revised schemes, State Governments are eligible for a 100 percent central share for construction of all girls' hostels and ashram schools and also for the construction of boys' hostels and ashram schools in the Naxal-affected areas as identified by Ministry of Home Affairs. The funding pattern for the other boys' hostels and ashram schools to State Governments is on 50:50 basis. In case of UTs, the Central Government bears the entire cost of construction.

December 13, 2008
Source:Indiaedunews
URL: http://indiaedunews.net/Delhi/Assistance_scheme_of_hostels_for_tribal_students_revised_6801/

India gifts $4.5 m to Harvard to set up fund

India has gifted $4.5 mn to Harvard University to establish a fund in the honour of nobel laureate Amartya Sen, which would provide fellowships to deserving Indian students for pursuing studies at the premier American institution.

Consistent with the university’s policy, the fellowships will at a later date be formally designated as the Amartya Sen fellowship fund and the recipients of the fellowship as Amartya Sen fellows.

In 2007-2008, there were 288 South Asian students at Harvard university, of which 216 were from India.

December 12, 2008
Source:Economic Times
URL: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Services/Education/India_gifts_45_m_to_Harvard_to_set_up_fund/articleshow/msid-3825360,curpg-1.cms

Decks cleared for setting up 20 new IIITs

Decks have been cleared for setting up of 20 new IIITs in the country after differences between industry bodies and the government over the issue of autonomy were sorted out.

Now the new Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs) will enjoy autonomy but the government can question their functioning if "need be”.

The government has prepared a blueprint for the IIITs to be set up under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode which will come before the Cabinet for approval soon.
The National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM) had prepared a Detailed Project Report on how these institutes would come up and function.
The government then discussed the DPR with representatives from various stakeholders, including industry bodies like FICCI, who were in favour of granting complete autonomy to these institutes.

Representatives from private sector had expressed concern over audit to be conducted by Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG).
The representatives from private sector had also said that they will not support those IIITs which will be set up in Northeastern states and Jammu and Kashmir as there are not enough industries in the two regions.

December 10, 2008
Source: Economic Times
URL: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Services/Education/Decks_cleared_for_setting_up_20_new_IIITs/articleshow/3818836.cms

Plans- Academic Institutions and Corporates

Oracle launches Learning Institute in India

The Project Learning Institute is a professional development program that trains teachers how to integrate technology, project learning and 21st century skills development into their classroom curricula.

The course is delivered through a blended approach of online training alongwith contact classes. The online learning platform is provided by ThinkQuest with an indept online course module consisting of project-learning examples to help teachers produce projects as a part of their training experience. ThinkQuest currently supports over 113,000 students and teachers in India.

The first batch is of 100 teachers from Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS) is currently underway at the Zonal Institute of Education and Training in Mysore. The project aims to train these educators to incorporate project learning and 21st century skills development into their curriculum. The foundation has had over 330 teachers from 23 countries under Project Learning Institutes in Brazil, Singapore, South Africa, and the United States.

December 11, 2008
Source: IT news
URL: http://www.digitallearning.in/news/news-details.asp?Title=Oracle-launches-Learning-Institute-in-India&catid=&newsid=15866

Surveys and Reports

India Inc concerned about business climate

Brand-comm, announced the results of its all-India ‘India Business Climate Perception Study’ which unearthed sentiments about expectations for 2009 amongst Corporate India.

The state of the world economy is top of mind across management levels with a staggering 90% indicating that they are indeed concerned about the current global financial and economic crisis. 70% of the respondents indicated that the happenings across the world have already impacted India to some extent. Another 28% indicated that it already has impacted the Indian economy to a great extent.

There was great optimism shown by respondents as more than 60% felt that there were indeed opportunities for India Inc to capitalize on but management should be more prudent, innovative and fast to take advantage.

India Inc felt that the Industries which will be well off in 2009 include: Education (95% of respondents), News & Media (89%), Healthcare (88%), FMCG (85%), Biotechnology (76%), Advertising and PR (70%) and Organised Retail (64%).

The companies that India Inc feel will have a difficult time include: Airline/Aviation (75%), Real Estate (72%), Travel / Holiday (65%), Automobiles (58%) and IT Enabled Services (56%)

“The coming year will see the “back to school” trend in the working professionals. We already saw 3 lakhs applicants sit for the Common Admissions Test (CAT). We expect more people to go ‘back to school’ to increase their employability factor. The education sector will do extremely well, especially graduate programmes and distance education,” remarked Ms. Vidhya Srinivasan, COO, brand-comm

December 11, 2008
Source: IndiaInfoline
URL :http://www.indiainfoline.com/news/innernews.asp?storyId=87156&lmn=1

Asians top achievers in global maths, science study

Asian students were top achievers in maths and science in both the fourth and eighth grade levels, according to the latest reports.

In maths at the fourth grade level, Hong Kong SAR and Singapore were the top performing countries, followed by Chinese Taipei and Japan. Kazakhstan, the Russian Federation, England, Latvia and the Netherlands also performed very well.

In maths achievement at the eighth grade, Chinese Taipei, Korea, and Singapore were followed by Hong Kong SAR and Japan. There was a substantial gap in average mathematics achievement between the five Asian countries and the next group of four similarly performing countries, including Hungary, England, the Russian Federation, and the US.

In science, students from Singapore and Chinese Taipei were top performers at both grade levels. In science achievement at the fourth grade, Singapore was the top performing country, followed by Chinese Taipei and Hong Kong SAR.

Japan, the Russian Federation, Latvia, England, the US, Hungary, Italy, and Kazakhstan also performed very well. At the eighth grade in science, Singapore and Chinese Taipei again had the highest average achievement, followed by Japan and Korea. England, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Hong Kong SAR, and the Russian Federation also performed well.

The report by Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) is one of the world's most influential global assessments of student achievement in maths and science.

With more than 60 participant countries and 425,000 students assessed, TIMSS 2007 also is the largest study of student maths and science achievement in the world. Each country sampled approximately 4,000 students in 150 schools.

December 11, 2008
Source: Indiaedunews
URL : http://indiaedunews.net/Today/Asians_top_achievers_in_global_maths,_science_study_6773/

Technology Assisted Learning

Science City to get virtual classroom

Gujarat Science City (GSC) is to get a virtual classroom soon. A Satellite Interactive Terminal (SIT) will be installed at the GSC, bringing the lectures delivered at any remote learning centre or Indian Institutes of Technology or Sciences to young students in Ahmedabad.

SIT is a part of EDUSAT, a satellite dedicated to serving the educational sector in the country, focusing on an interactive distance education system through audio-visual medium. It was developed by ISRO Satellite Centre, Bangalore and Ahmedabad-based Space Applications Centre had developed payloads for the satellite.

Advisor to Union ministry of science & technology Vinay Kamble says, "Virtual classrooms have become a reality in the country after the launch of EDUSAT. Through these SIT, students can interact with scientists teaching from Delhi and also ask them questions. We are planing to expand the SIT to 100 more locations in the country in a year's time.

After the setting up of SIT, students sitting at one place can participate in question and answer sessions with scientists and experts sitting in Delhi in real time.

December 15, 2008
Source:The Times of India
URL: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Ahmedabad/Science_City_to_get_virtual_classroom/articleshow/3837971.cms

e-learning more user friendly than classroom teaching

e-learning is more user-friendly than classroom teaching and is equally a shared endeavour. The value of e-learning has been underrated at the college level.
E-learning is defined as technology-based learning. Lectures, homework, quizzes and exams are delivered almost entirely or completely online. In some instances, no in-person interaction takes place over the length of the course.

A global economy hungry for customised, portable and on-demand educational platforms coupled with the Internet's rise means that e-learning is increasingly gaining respect as an innovative and viable pedagogical tool.

Especially for subjects that require multimedia, collaboration tools (wikis, blogs and course-management systems, for example), and other bandwidth-hungry applications prevalent today.

December 10, 2008
Source: Indiaedunews
URL: http://indiaedunews.net/Today/e-learning_more_user_friendly_than_classroom_teaching_6762/

Audio textbooks launched to help visually challenged

'Nethrodaya'- a Non-Government Organization (NGO) in Chennai has taken an innovative step in helping the visually challenged, by providing audio versions of the textbooks to them.

Holding an audio version of the Standard XII textbooks, 18-year-old visually challenged, P. Balaji, of St. Joseph's School, Cuddalore, said, "The audio version will help me study without the help of others."

There are around 2.5 lakh visually challenged people in the state.

"The three percent reservation for the persons with disabilities is still a challenge and its implementation has been poor in the recruitment for higher service", said Mr. Chidambaram, Vocation Guidance Officer, District Rehabilitation Centre, Tirunelveli.

Addressing the people, C. Govindakrishnan, founder of Nethrodaya said, "The visually challenged require the right opportunity to serve the society. Their potential can be tapped to create a better society."

December 10, 2008
Source: Indiaedunews
URL: http://indiaedunews.net/Tamil_Nadu/Audio_textbooks_launched_to_help_visually_challenged_6766/