US Ambassador rues quality of education in India

NEW DELHI: US Ambassador to India Nancy Powell today said that the quality of education in India remains a "concern and major challenge" while underlining the need to address the gap in reading levels to prepare children for the future in a better way.

Quoting reports that have pointed out that basic reading levels have shown a marked decline, she observed that it was critical to provide children with the right kind of environment to make them learn.

Addressing a gathering after handing over All Children Reading Grand Challenge Awards to five innovators, Powell heaped praises on the Government of India for taking "several positive steps" for providing basic education to every child through the Right to Education Act.

"According to the latest reports, today over 96.6 per cent of children in India ages 6 to 14 years old are enrolled in school. However, quality of education remains a concern and a major challenge across the entire education system," she said.

Citing recent international assessments and national surveys that have concluded that learning levels in India are very low at the primary level, the Ambassador said if the gap in reading ability is not addressed they would continue to lag behind in all subjects as they move through the system.

"The future economic potential of millions of children depends on their ability to learn to read, and read effectively, during their primary school years," she said.

The 2011 Annual Status of Education Report in India revealed that basic reading skills have shown a marked decline in many states across North India.

Powell said USAID fundamentally transformed its approach to education to help address this crisis in quality and that it was not going to measure its success by the number of children in school but by the effectiveness they demonstrate in the classroom as measured by child outcomes.

As part of the new education strategy, she said, USAID has developed early grade reading assessments designed to help teachers understand the specific needs of their students and their classrooms.

These tools are already making a difference on the ground, changing the way entire nations approach education. By focusing on literacy and measuring impact, USAID's new strategy will help improve the reading skills of 100 million children by 2015, she said.

Five of the 32 awardees of this competition are implementing activities in India.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/education/news/US-Ambassador-rues-quality-of-education-in-India/articleshow/17416398.cms

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UK education comes sixth in global league table

The UK education system is ranked sixth best in the developed world, according to a new global league table.

Finland and South Korea top the new league table, followed by Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore.

The global study, carried out by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) for education firm Pearson, used data from international tests, as well as data on school literacy and university graduation rates to draw up the index. UK education has come sixth in the world

The UK was found to have the second best education system in Europe, ahead of countries such as Switzerland, Denmark and Germany which were ranked 9th, 12th and 15th respectively.

The research is designed to help policymakers, school leaders and academics identify the key factors which drive improved educational outcomes.

For educational attainment, based on literacy and graduation rates from schools and colleges, the UK is second only to South Korea, while Finland, Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea and Japan were ranked highly in the cognitive ability category based on international tests in maths, reading and science.

While investing in education "undoubtedly reaps rewards", the report - called the Learning Curve - suggested that a culture of support for education is probably more important. It also added that there was no substitute for high quality teaching. "The best performing countries attract top talent, train teachers throughout their careers and allow them freedom too" the report stated.

Denis McCauley, executive editor, business research at the Economist Intelligence Unit said: "We hope our study serves as a catalyst for further collaborative efforts by academics, practitioners and policymakers to deepen our knowledge about what contributes to better education performance and outcomes."

Christine Blower, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers said: "This is great news for all those working in schools and colleges. The study by Pearson concludes that having a culture that is supportive of learning is vitally important to educational success."

Learning Curve top 20 countries for education

•     Finland
•     South Korea
•     Hong Kong
•     Japan
•     Singapore
•     UK
•     Netherlands
•     New Zealand
•     Switzerland
•     Canada
•     Ireland
•     Denmark
•     Australia
•     Poland
•     Germany
•     Belgium
•     USA
•     Hungary
•     Slovakia
•     Russia

http://uk.lifestyle.yahoo.com/uk-education-comes-sixth-global-league-table-130000692.html?CMP=OUTUK

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Innovations in education help Texas post top high school graduation rates

With witnesses in a school finance trial testifying daily on the challenges facing public education in the state, and with a chorus of state leaders citing the failings of traditional public schools in calling for reform, some might be surprised to hear that by one measure, Texas schools appear to be doing quite well.

Preliminary data released by the U.S. Department of Education this week shows that Texas — along with five other states — ranks fourth in the nation for its four-year high school graduation rates. With an overall rate of 86 percent in the 2010-11 school year, the state follows Iowa, with 88 percent, and Wisconsin and Vermont, both at 87 percent.

Though the statewide average has climbed steadily in the past five years, that has not always been the case. The last time the Texas Supreme Court ruled on the state’s school finance system, in 2005, it warned of a “severe dropout problem,” calling the lagging graduation rates of blacks and Hispanics “especially troublesome.”’

In 2006, research from Harvard University, the University of Texas at Austin and Rice University showed that the state was inflating its graduation numbers by allowing districts to avoid counting students who left school for a variety of reasons, including to take the GED. The state began using the federal definition from the National Center for Education Statistics to measure dropout rates that year, a formula that all states must use now.

Michael Williams, the Texas education commissioner, attributed the achievement to the state’s strong accountability system.

“This state-by-state comparison confirms what Texas educators have been saying for a long time,” Williams said in a statement. “Our public schools are delivering a high quality education and our students are having great success.”

Despite the struggles in its past, the state’s recent success shouldn’t be greeted with disbelief, said Lili Allen, a policy director at Jobs for the Future, a Boston-based nonprofit that funds research on college and career readiness for low-income students.

Allen pointed to a 2012 report released by a coalition of national education research organizations that showed Texas had made a dramatic reduction in the number of “dropout factory” schools —defined as graduating less than 60 percent of their students in four years between 2002 and 2010. The state eliminated the number of those schools by more than half, making a larger decrease than any other state.

“Texas has really invested pretty heavily in really reinventing the high school experience for students,” she said. “It’s been under the radar as an engine of high school reform that has been pretty impressive from our perspective.”

Allen also credited the state’s early college high school initiative, which allows students to take a higher number of dual-credit courses earlier than their peers at traditional high schools, as an example of innovation.

But some critics say the federal definition, while an improvement, still allows states and districts to mask true graduation numbers. School officials report student withdrawals with more than a dozen different “leaver codes,” only some of which count toward graduation rates. If a school codes a student as returning to a home country, or entering home school, for instance, that student does not factor into the school’s four-year graduation rate.

The leaver code system can make gathering accurate numbers for graduation rates a challenge — especially because a low graduation rate holds ramifications for everyone involved in tracking student achievement, from principals and school leaders to state lawmakers. In the past, the TEA has audited districts for misuse of the codes, which have also drawn criticism from advocacy groups in the past.

The codes provide too many opportunities for school districts to artificially boost graduation numbers, said Bill Hammond, the president of the Texas Association of Business, which advocates on education policy in the state.

“The fact that we are trying to say that we are doing really well and everything is hunky-dory in Texas with regard to dropouts is unfair to the future students in our workforce,” he said. “And I think it’s doing a disservice to tout these inflated numbers as if everything is okay.”

The rate reported by the state tends to show better performance than other national formulas used to track graduation. In 2009, the latest year graduation statistics are available in the federal data used by the Cumulative Promotion Index, a different method of calculating graduation rates, put the state at 72 percent, compared with the TEA’s 80 percent that year. But the state’s rate has improved over the years on that index as well —the percentage of students graduating on time has increased more rapidly than average, up by 11 percentage points since 1999 compared with 7 percentage points nationally —though it still lags behind the national average by about 2 percentage points.

Texas’ improving graduation rates reflect a trend across the country, which anecdotal evidence suggests is partly because of efforts to keep students in school on the state and district level. But it is also difficult to measure the effect of external factors like the poor economy — which tends to keep students in school because they feel the pull of the job market less — and shifting state accountability requirements.

The latest report released by the U.S. Department of Education marks the first time all states — except for three, which were granted deadline extensions — used the same definition to report graduation rates. In the next few months, researchers will be conducting analysis to determine what factors led to the success of some states over others, said Colleen Wilber, a spokeswoman for America’s Promise Alliance.

But for now, Wilber said the current data stood as the best yet reflection of how states shake out in terms of their graduation rates.

“It’s as close to apples-to-apples comparison as we’ve had,” she said.

http://lubbockonline.com/filed-online/2012-11-29/innovations-education-help-texas-post-top-high-school-graduation-rates#.ULgZM2dBDKQ

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Private unaided schools apprehensive about Right to Education

BANGALORE: A greater dialogue with private schools will help the government successfully implement Right to Education in Karnataka. The idea evolved at a discussion on financial and governance challenges of RTE organized by the Centre for Budget and Policy Studies (CBPS) on Thursday.

Speaking at the event, Anita Kaul, principal secretary, planning and statistics, said: "Many private unaided schools are afraid that children from weaker sections might not be able to cope with the requirements of such schools. They are also worried about children from two diverse backgrounds not being able to mingle. The extra financial burden put on private unaided schools also bothers them."

"Learning has a lot to do with constitutional values, equality and tolerance. This can be done in a better way with different social segments coming together," said Kaul.

"Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE, one of the features of RTE) does not mean more tests, but it is more of an interactive process. It enables a teacher to understand the capabilities of a child in a better way," she explained.

Kaul also feels a child must be taught in his/her mother tongue in initial stages. "Teaching in mother tongue enables children to achieve conceptual clarity. At the initial stages, the medium of instruction must be the mother tongue with a provision for a child to transit to a language of his/her choice at a slightly later stage, may be at level 3 or 4," she said.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bangalore/Private-unaided-schools-apprehensive-about-Right-to-Education/articleshow/17421474.cms

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NC education programs win $16.8 million from Powerball lottery

Three lucky people in North Carolina are $1 million richer after winning part of the Powerball jackpot Wednesday night.

According to the North Carolina Education Lottery, the three tickets worth $1 million beat odds of 1 in 5.1 million to match all five white balls were from Burlington, Charlotte and Kinston.

Fourteen other tickets sold in the state matched the numbers on four of the five white balls plus the number on the Powerball and are worth $10,000 each.

NC Education Lottery officials said there were 269,916 winning tickets throughout the state, totaling $4.8 million in prizes for that drawing alone.

Sales from the $587.5 million Powerball jackpot tickets will boost education in the state. From those sales, an estimated $16.8 million will go to education programs in North Carolina.

According to the NC Education lottery, by law, lottery funds pay for teachers' salaries in grades K-3, school construction, need-based college scholarships and prekindergarten programs for at-risk four-year-olds.

To date, the NC Education Lottery has raised more than $2.58 billion for these initiatives statewide.

http://www.wect.com/story/20220001/nc-education-programs-win-168-from-powerball-lottery

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5 institutes chosen for national edu scheme

Five technical institutes in the city have been selected for the ambitious National Vocational Education Qualification Framework (NVEQF) of the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE). The scheme aims at integrating vocational education with conventional streams, thus, increasing
employability or enhancing working skills of the learners.

The selected institutes include the IES College of Technology, All Saints College of Technology, Scope College, AISECT College and Sparta College of Technology. The scheme is open to all students, irrespective of age.

Under the scheme, the students will study the conventional stream (of the level they are suited for) at the AICTE recognised institutes and simultaneously acquire selected skills with the registered skill knowledge partners (SKPs). After the students complete the desired level of skills and conventional education, they will be given, certificates, degrees or post-graduate degrees by the Rajiv Gandhi Proudyogiki Vishwavidyalaya (RGPV).

The 10 skill specialisations include automobiles, entertainment, information technology, telecommunications, marketing, agriculture, construction, applied arts, tourism and printing and publishing. Details can be obtained from the website www.aicte-india.org.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/Bhopal/5-institutes-chosen-for-national-edu-scheme/Article1-965391.aspx

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Cargill launches new global scholars program in 5 countries

NEW DELHI: Cargill, working with the Institute of International Education (IIE), has launched a new scholarship program in five countries including India to help build future potential leaders. The Cargill Global Scholars program will provide financial support, leadership development and enrichment opportunities to nearly 200 talented and high-performing undergraduate students in these countries over three years, selecting at least 10 students in each country every year. The selected individuals will be chosen based on their demonstrated high level of academic performance and leadership potential.

"Cargill has long been committed to improving the communities in which we operate, and supporting higher education is part of this commitment," said Pat Bowe, corporate vice president at Cargill in a global announcement.

"The Cargill Global Scholars program will succeed when these students go on to become important leaders in their respective communities and industries and be part of a global network of program alumni." Initially, students from five countries will be selected as Cargill Global Scholars. These countries include Brazil, China, Russia, India and the United States.

IIE will work with specific universities in each of these countries to identify the scholars. Targeted outreach will be conducted to reach under-represented groups in higher education in each country or region. Siraj Chaudhry, chairman, Cargill India, said, "In India, 10 scholarships will be awarded in the 2012-2013 academic year in five leading science and technology institutions. The participating Indian institutions in the program are Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi; Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai; National Institute of Technology, Trichy; Delhi Technological University and BIT Mesra."

"In addition to financial support, students will gain valuable opportunities to observe and learn from business and community leaders in their own countries," said IIE president, Allan E Goodman. According to a press statement, selected students will receive scholarship funds of up to USD 2,500 per year for up to three years and will be invited to take part in a series of leadership and enrichment activities designed to enhance their critical thinking skills and equip them with the tools necessary for becoming leaders and decision makers in their chosen fields. In the first year of the program, each scholar will participate in leadership training modules. They will also be paired with a Cargill employee, including company executives, who will serve as a mentor over the next several years.

These mentors will help students identify and realize short- and long-term academic and professional goals. In addition, five top-performing students from each country who are in the second year of their program will be selected to attend an event at Cargill's global headquarters in Minnesota or a Cargill-related facility to take part in a week-long Global Leadership Program. Approximately 50 to 70 scholars from these five countries will be selected each year. The first group of nearly 60 students will be selected in May and June 2013 and will begin their three-year program of activities in June and July 2013.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/education/news/Cargill-launches-new-global-scholars-program-in-5-countries/articleshow/17398689.cms

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Andhra govt not to allow new engineering colleges

HYDERABAD: Andhra Pradesh government has decided not to permit opening of new engineering colleges or increase in the existing number of seats anymore.

The state cabinet that met here this evening under the chairmanship of chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy accepted the recommendations of a high-powered expert committee appointed in 2010 to suggest modalities and remedial measures for strengthening un-aided (private) professional institutions.

A senior minister said after the meeting that there were 716 engineering colleges in the state with an intake of 3,44,986, up from 238 colleges (82,225 intake) in 2004-05.

"In 2010-11, approximately 30 per cent of the engineering seats remained vacant while in the current academic year nearly 50 per cent seats were not filled. In addition, the increased number of engineering colleges has put enormous strain on the availability of qualified teaching manpower,thus affecting the quality of education and employability," an official note said.

Therefore, the state government requested the All India Council of Technical Education not to sanction second shift of sections in the existing engineering colleges.

Also, the state government decided to recommend to AICTE imposition of ceiling on the number of seats in under-graduate engineering, MBA and MCA courses, as per the recommendations of the expert committee.

Setting up of new colleges will, however, be permitted in districts like Adilabad, Mahbubnagar, Srikakulam and Vizianagaram where "accessibility" is relatively less.

Such colleges have to be set up by industry/ national laboratories, state and Central governments and charitable trusts and societies.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/education/news/Andhra-govt-not-to-allow-new-engineering-colleges/articleshow/17405880.cms

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India 3.0: The way forward is education

CNBC-TV18, in association with Lenovo, explores the far corners of the country to highlight how technology is redefining the roots of social innovation. The previous episode delved into the role of information technology in the healthcare sector. It brought to light some fantastic efforts by private hospital and government bodies alike in ensuring that people from both rural and urban areas get access to top notch healthcare services. (Watch here)


This time around, India 3.0 Powered by Technology looks at the one thing that can propel economic growth, build self confidence and improve the lives of people: Education. Find out how NGOs, companies and governments are promoting and ensuring that people from all sections of society get access to quality education.

http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/special-videos/india-30-the-way-forward-is-education-_787351.html

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Higher education sector to push real estate demand: DTZ report

MUMBAI: The country's higher education sector will create real estate demand of around 900 million sq ft by 2020 to maintain the current gross student enrolment ratio of 12 per cent, according to a report by property consultant DTZ.

Although India is aiming to increase its higher education gross enrolment ratio (GER) to 30 per cent by 2020, it is unlikely to achieve the target before 2036 at the current pace, the report said. GER indicates the percentage of students enrolled for an education grade against the number of students who qualify for the programme.

"To achieve a GER of 30 per cent by 2020, Indian higher education system will need to augment its capacity by additional 37 million seats," DTZ said. It took the higher education sector over 60 years to achieve a GER of 12 per cent.

While reforms in regulatory policies and usage of new technologies are expected to facilitate growth and dissemination of higher education, it is unlikely to be a substitute to creation of physical infrastructure, the report said.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/real-estate/realty-trends/higher-education-sector-to-push-real-estate-demand-dtz-report/articleshow/17407542.cms

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Google to hold education summit in India

MUMBAI: For the first time in India, Google is conducting workshop for Educators by introducing various education apps in collaboration with InOpen, an IIT Bombay spinoff.

The 'Google Education India Summit' is a high intensity two day events that focuses on deploying, integrating and using Google Apps for Education to promote student learning and achievement in both K-12 and higher education.

 Events feature Google Certified Teachers and representatives from Google's Apps for Education team. The summit will be organized at American School of Bombay, (BKC, Mumbai) on December 1 and 2, 2012

The summit includes two keynote presentations from respected Googlers and other noted Educators.

The summit will be two full days of informative breakouts, cutting-edge demonstrations, and hands-on workshops.

The presenters will be conducting sessions on Deployment & Management of cloud apps for education. Some of the familiar ones are Google Docs.

Commenting on the association, Rupesh Kumar Shah, CEO and Co-Founder, InOpen Technologies said, 'that they had been talking with the Edtech team and Google about the possibility of hosting such a conference in India as they see a lot of potential for the use of Google Apps in school.'

"The conference can be seen as an amazing opportunity to network with renowned educationalist from around the globe. We, as an organization, have been promoting Google Apps through our books, trainings and summer camps," Shah said.

"We have conducted sessions on cloud computing, where we present demos on how we can collaborate in real time from distant locations using Google Docs. We do see a lot of potential in setting up classrooms powered by Google Apps and we see this conference adding as a giant step in that direction," Shah added.

According to the Edtech team at Google, already 1.5 lakh businesses in India are using Google Apps and now the focus is to target schools.

The focus is to deploy, integrate and use Google Apps for Education to promote student learning and achievement in both K-12 and higher education.

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-11-26/internet/35365999_1_google-apps-google-s-apps-education-summit

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HP funds IIM-A to promote education innovation

New Delhi: The Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A) on Tuesday received a grant of Rs1 crore from US technology company Hewlett-Packard Co. for developing an education innovation bank.
Overall, as part of its education innovation fund for India, HP awarded grants of $1 million (about Rs 5.54 crore) to education providers in the country.

“This is the first time we gave direct grants and depending on the success, we will continue to fund more education projects,” said Neelam Dhawan, managing director of HP India Sales Pvt. Ltd.

The education innovation bank to be developed by IIM will aim to improve the quality of education in government schools by building on the innovative works of public school teachers.

It will validate innovations in teaching and spread the ideas through an online platform that will have a searchable electronic database and localized teacher development networks.

Vijaya Sherry Chand, an IIM-A professor in-charge of the project, said his efforts will be to take grassroots innovation to the mainstream and scale up the quality of education in all underdeveloped districts, including militancy affected ones.

http://www.livemint.com/Politics/3SIWr1AuRhCOYS16FsBjmN/HP-funds-IIMA-to-promote-education-innovation.html

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‘Partnerships in tertiary education hold tremendous potential’

In a freewheeling interview, minister for education and skills in the Welsh Government, Leighton Andrews, talks about issues such as the withdrawal of the post-work visa options for students, future plans of Welsh universities and comments on recent media reports that university professors in the UK are often pressurised to accept sub-standard work by overseas students for financial reasons

How have tough visa rules and withdrawal of the post-work visa option impacted the number of Indian students planning to pursue their higher studies in the UK, especially Wales. What corrective measures/alternative options have been worked out to check the likelihood of the numbers going down?
While immigration is not a devolved matter, the Welsh Government is aware of the potential impact of the UK Government's immigration policy on the ability of Welsh higher education institutions to attract international students.

The introduction of tighter controls is aimed at identifying bogus institutions and students and this is welcomed by me and the higher education sector.

I am concerned that the further tightening of the student visa process may decrease the attractiveness of the UK, and hence Wales, as a destination of choice for overseas students.  

Statistical data from the Higher Education Statistical Agency between 2007/08 and 2010/11 shows a year on year increase in students from India (nationality not ethnicity) studying in Welsh higher education institutions. The tightened visa rules have only recently been implemented and it is too soon to estimate their consequences for Wales.
 
In the event of the Foreign Universities Bill being passed by the Indian parliament, will universities in Wales set up campuses in India or focus on strengthening partnerships with Indian institutes?  
Although Welsh higher education institutes (HEI) have little tradition of establishing campuses in other countries, (although Bangor has plans currently in China), the passing of this legislation may open up new opportunities abroad. 

There are many factors that will need to be considered before universities in Wales make such a decision. However, it is much more likely that Welsh HEIs will seek to build new or strengthen existing partnerships with the Indian government or particular Indian universities (more usually referred to as 'institutes' there).

The growing number of students interested in entering tertiary education offers opportunities for UK institutions to engage in long-term partnerships with Indian institutions on many levels: research collaboration, articulation arrangements, and branch campuses exchange programmes to mention a few.

What are universities in Wales doing to attract the best academic talent from India and not just assessing them on the basis of the economic value they bring? What steps are being taken to ensure that quality of education does not suffer? (There have been reports in the media recently that university professors in the UK are often pressurised to accept sub-standard work by overseas students for financial reasons).

An International Action Plan for Wales is being developed by education institutions in Wales. The focus will be on pursuing opportunities with both India and China as part of a range of initiatives aimed at key countries identified by the Welsh Government for strategic engagement.

The plan seeks to set out a context in which student and staff exchanges can take place to the mutual advantage of the countries involved. The research opportunities being pioneered with India, particularly by Swansea and Cardiff universities, will lead to much closer collaboration between academics in both countries, and will lay the groundwork for further staff exchanges and joint working.

With regard to the quality of education experienced by all overseas students, Higher Education Funding for Wales (HEFCW) will shortly write to all HEIs to seek information about the detail of their practice and processes, and the levels of assurance they have in place to ensure educational standards are maintained, particularly at the masters level.

Comment on the London Metropolitan University (LMU) fiasco in which even legitimate students suffered. Have universities in Wales taken any steps to ensure that such episodes to not recur?   
The decision by the UK Border Agency to revoke London Metropolitan University's licence to recruit international students has had significant implications for both the institution and its students.

It is indeed unfortunate that students with a legitimate right to study in the UK were impacted by the situation at London Metropolitan University however, it is right that UK Border agency seeks to ensure that all UK HE institutions have robust procedures in place for checking the immigration status of their students.

A sector wide taskforce was set up to assist any student looking for other suitable courses.  The taskforce also oversaw the establishment of a £2m Student Support Fund to ensure that no international student would suffer financially as a result of the UK Border Agency's actions.
T
his problem arose solely out of perceived failings in LMU's processes and procedures, and there has been no suggestion that any Welsh higher education institutions may have experienced similar difficulties.

Officials understand that the UK Border Agency has had continuing discussions with higher education institutions, including those in Wales, in recent months in the light of LMU developments.

We would expect the Higher Education Wales Board to have considered the need for Welsh higher education institutions individually to ensure appropriate compliance with the Border Agency's expectations, and to have advised vice chancellors accordingly.

With the renewed focus on the role of governors and the governing body in recent times following the McCormick report, we would also expect Welsh higher education institutions processes and procedures with regard to all overseas students, not just those from India, to have been reviewed, tested and, where necessary, strengthened.

Are any special scholarships/part or fully funded being worked out for the Indian market. If yes, what courses will these be for? Is there a budget set aside for the purpose?
Whilst there are no specific incentives for prospective students from India there is a UK-India Education and Research Initiative (UKIERI).
It would be a matter for individual institutions to determine whether they wished to establish specific scholarship schemes for overseas students.

Why should students in India choose universities in Wales over other top-class education institutes in the US or Singapore that is closer home and costs less?

Results from the 2012 National Student Survey show the overall satisfaction for students studying in Wales has remained high, with 84% of respondents satisfied with their course.
Welsh universities offer a huge range of degrees, so for practically whatever prospective students want to study, they will be sure to find something suitable in Wales.

International students won't get a better value British degree anywhere else in the UK. The advantages of studying in Wales are quality, variety and great value for money.

Cardiff Metropolitan University (CMU) has been earmarked for merger with Glamorgan and Newport universities in what is being seen as one of the biggest collaborations ever seen in British higher education. How will these mergers impact Indian students, particularly those who have already enrolled in courses in these universities?

We have made a commitment to fewer, stronger universities, which are more sustainable and better equipped to meet the needs of the needs of both learners and the Welsh economy.

We welcome the progress that the University of Wales, Newport and the University of Glamorgan have made so far in pre-integration activities, although at this stage I have not made any final decision regarding a dissolution of Newport's HE Corporation.
We will be giving further consideration to the potential cost of effecting any merger proposals.  Any financial support will be subject to the production of a robust business case.

It will be a matter for the institutions themselves to put in place arrangements for the continuity of provision for currently enrolled students as and when any merger progresses.  However, I have already made it clear that I would not wish to see any undue disruption in the quality and delivery of learning.

Are Welsh universities planning to establish any major partnerships with Indian universities/institutes? If yes, will these be primarily in the science and technology sectors or other sectors as well?
There have been some exciting developments in recent years with India led by Swansea and Cardiff Universities in the areas of medical engineering, advanced manufacturing engineering, and energy systems and technologies. In Swansea's case this would have involved building further upon the strong links the university already has with CORUS Tata in Port Talbot (and, potentially, for its forthcoming Science and Innovation Campus). These developments followed a Wales International Consortium (WIC) supported mission to Delhi.

The Delhi visit also resulted in some tangible higher education outcomes in terms of the low carbon and health sectors, with new collaborative projects being progressed with Indian partners (including the ministry of new and renewable energy), and also linking in to some EC-related activity there. I am aware that Bangor University has a wide range of links with Indian Universities (for example, in neuroscience and electronic engineering), and all our HEIs have links of some description with India, some quite extensive.
Welsh universities are continuing to develop links with Indian Universities and these are not necessarily confined to science and technology.

A delegation of further and higher education colleagues and my officials will be visiting Mumbai in early December with a view to developing further partnerships in Maharashtra.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/HTEducation/Chunk-HT-UI-HTEducationSectionPage-OtherStories/Partnerships-in-tertiary-education-hold-tremendous-potential/SP-Article1-964981.aspx

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India poorest in education, literacy & knowledge: President

President Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday lamented that India, once the cradle of civilisation, is now the poorest in terms of education, literacy and knowledge. Describing lack of literacy as the biggest challenge facing the country, Mukherjee said the largest number of illiterates in the world resided in India.

He was speaking after laying the foundation stone of an auditorium at the Sat Paul School Ludhiana. The President, in his interaction with a few students of the school, exhorted them to love the institution and respect the teachers if they wanted to make it big in life.

Listing the hurdles in the way of India's growth, he said the largest numbers of illiterates in the world reside in India. The country, which was once considered the cradle of civilisation, is now the poorest in terms of education, literacy and knowledge, he said.

"We had some of the centres of excellence such as Takshila and Nalanda where people from all over the world came. We have to achieve them again", Mukherjee said.

http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/current-affairs/india-pooresteducation-literacyknowledge-president_787979.html

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More students going to UK to study: British Council

The global economic slowdown is unlikely to deter an Indian student from aspiring to study abroad. According to Sujata Sen, Director, East India, British Council, more Indian students are going to the UK for higher studies.

Close to 30,000 Indian students applied for higher education in the UK in 2011. Though the figures for 2012 have yet to be collated, trends indicate that the numbers would either remain steady or even post a marginal growth this year, she said.

“This is primarily because students are looking for global exposure, good universities and different kind of courses and combinations,” she said at a press meet to talk about the British Council’s Education UK Exhibition here on Monday .
No Slowdown

Recession does not hit the education sector. It, in fact, encourages people to take a break from work and pursue higher education, she said.

“From my interactions with agents and education consultants this year, I have not come across any trend which might indicate a slowdown in so far as students’ interest for overseas education is concerned,” she said.

Nearly 37 UK universities including the University of Birmingham, University of Brighton, Cardiff University, King’s College and University of Leeds among others have participated in the exhibition.

The one-day exhibition will provide information on undergraduate, postgraduate and research degree courses in UK. “There is a rising interest for undergraduate courses in UK among Indian students. The key areas of interest are business and management, engineering, art, design and IT among others,” she said.

The exhibition will be held in five cities — Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Kochi and Coimbatore — and will have more than 120 representatives of over 77 UK institutions participating. More than 6,000 students are expected to visit the exhibitions.

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/education/education-sector-not-hit-by-recession/article4136794.ece

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Workshop to introduce education apps to pupils, teachers

MUMBAI: Use of technology in classrooms has widely been discussed in the state and slowly but steadily, schools have been implementing new forms of teaching in classrooms. To give a boost to this trend, for the first time in India, a workshop for educators and students will be conducted to introduce various education apps.

Events at the two-day Google Education India Summit will focus on deploying, integrating and using apps for education to promote student learning and achievement in higher education. The summit includes two keynote presentations from respected Googlers and other noted educators.

The summit will be full of informative breakouts, cutting-edge demonstrations, and hands-on workshops. The presenters will also be conducting sessions on deployment and management of a full range of apps for education.

Mark Wagner, CEO of Edtech team, has been conducting the Google Apps summit across the globe and describes it as an enriching experience for the participants. "There is plenty of networking time throughout the two days, and it's always nice to walk around and hear conversations about the issues, initiatives, ideas and passions among educators from around the region and beyond. Educators get a chance to work on tablets and apps firsthand and all their queries are solved as they get to interact with professionals," said Wagner.

Being organized in collaboration with InOpen Technologies at the American School of Bombay in Bandra (E), the summit will be held on December 1 and 2. "The conference is open to attendees from around the globe. It offers unique and cost-effective advantages for all participants. They will get an opportunity to network with the most influential and renowned educationalist from around the world," said an official from InOpen.

For more details, log on to http://in.gafesummit.com.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/Workshop-to-introduce-education-apps-to-pupils-teachers/articleshow/17379784.cms

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Education must be secular, says spiritual leader

BANGALORE: The good old Indian education system which was meaningful has paved the way for a materialistic system, said the Dalai Lama on Monday.

He said: "Education must be secular and not religious in nature . We have to do some research work on the present education system in India."

The Dalai Lama urged the old and the younger generation to work together to create a 'happy world and a happy century' .

He was speaking after inaugurating Puneeta Khatri's painting exhibition 'Footage of Buddha' at the Welcomart Gallery, ITC Windsor where he also released a book 'Santa gets Bangalored' written by her. TNN

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bangalore/Education-must-be-secular-says-spiritual-leader/articleshow/17382715.cms

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UP to give youth jobs in police, education departments

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday said his Government would soon start recruiting unemployed youth in education and police departments to provide them jobs.

“Appointments in education and police departments will be started soon and youths will be given jobs”, Yadav said while talking to reporters here.

Yadav said his Government was already giving unemployment allowance to youths and now planned to employ them by filling vacant posts in Government Departments.

Regarding the announcement of cane price, Yadav said it would be more than the present rate keeping in mind the interest of the cane farmers.

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/states/up-to-give-youth-jobs-in-police-education-departments/article4133507.ece

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Two Indian Americans Among Forbes' Top 15 Education Innovators

Sal Khan, the Indian American founder of Khan Academy, the revolutionary online education platform, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology Professor Anant Agarwal have been named by Forbes magazine among the 15 "classroom revolutionaries" who are using innovative technologies to reinvent education for students and teachers globally.

The Forbes list names 15 education innovators who are "harnessing a slew of disruptive technologies to change everything from the way we teach grade school math to how we train the next generation of teachers."

The CEO of Canada-based Datawind, the maker of India's low-cost tablet Aakash, Suneet Singh Tuli, also figures in the list.

The publication said Tuli, 44, is the "mastermind" behind the world's cheapest tablet computer Aakash, "which has the potential to revolutionize educational access in the developing world."

The 36-year-old M.I.T. and Harvard alumnus has so far created 3400 videos, mostly science and math tutorials, that have been watched by more than 200 million people. Khan Academy's YouTube channel has more than 400,000 subscribers.

The 53-year-old Agarwal, a professor of computer science at MIT, is also the president of edX, the new combined online offerings of Harvard, MIT, the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Texas.

Over 400,000 are currently enrolled in the education program. "We've created dramatic access to learning for students worldwide. By reinventing online learning, we can dramatically improve what we do on campus," the Indian American professor who took over as head of edX in May this year, said.

"EdX continues to up the ante by increasing partners, classes (seven to dozens for spring 2013) and innovations, such as virtual laboratories," Forbes added. 

Datawind had won the tender in 2010 to supply 100,000 Aakash tablets for a price of around $49 per unit. A new version of the tablet PC, featuring one Ghz processor, four-hour battery time, capacitive screen and Android 4.0 operating system, is expected to be launched in India this month.

http://www.indiawest.com/news/7721-two-indian-americans-among-forbes-top-15-education-innovators.html

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TERI offers literary treat for Delhi kids at Bookaroo festival

In a unique initiative, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) organised a series of exciting activities to introduce young kids to the wondrous realm of literature at the fifth annual ‘Bookaroo’ festival held today.

Through the initiative, TERI sought to inculcate among children a spirit of sensitivity towards the environment, while encouraging them to read and explore various literary works. In this context, eminent author, social worker, and educational consultant Ms Vijaylakshmi Nagaraj took young kids on a mystic journey through an enthralling storytelling session, ‘Tales of Wonder,’ held under the shade of a majestic banyan tree.

The session gave a glimpse of the mysterious and creative wonderlands of India, ranging from Magnetic Hill to a park full of dinosaur eggs and beyond. “I am really happy to be launching my book on natural wonders with TERI at the Bookaroo festival. The stories about the natural wonders are sure to delight the young on their voyage of discovery. Weaving the facts and information about the wonders into a story was indeed a challenge. The book is really attractive and appealing. I am sure all children would love to read it,” said Ms Nagaraj, who has penned several books in her illustrious career, the latest being ‘The Natural Wonders of India’ published by TERI Press. She also conducts storytelling in rural areas, hospitals, and for developmentally challenged children, as well as puppet-making workshops using eco-friendly products.

Another interesting session, ‘The Web of Life’ – a dance drama – was led by choreographer Mr. Chittaranjan Nayak, who specialises in several dance forms including Indian classical, modern jazz, contemporary, ballroom, and Latin. Mr Nayak has also choreographed many musical extravaganzas for schools across India.

Using his innate ability to connect with kids, Mr. Nayak helped children explore nature’s various life forms through dance, music, drama, songs, and games. “Young minds are like sponges that absorb everything they encounter. Song, dance and movement engage body, mind and soul to help children develop their full potential and be the best that they can be,” Mr. Nayak opined.

In a bid to spread the cause of environment among the youngsters, teachers from the Dwarka-based St Mary’s School led a special recycling workshop, preparing new and useful things from old, discarded material. The session concluded with the message--One man’s junk is another man’s treasure.

TERI will host another session, “Incredible India,” at the festival on November 25 with Ms Nagaraj, who will again mesmerise kids through stories exploring some of nature's most amazing wonders in the country.

http://www.indiaeducationdiary.in/showEE.asp?newsid=17206

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Building strategic links in education Bric by Bric

Increased student exchange and research collaboration is paving the way for stronger ties with India, Brazil and Russia

Irish educational institutions are signing an increasing number of memorandums of understanding (MOU) with the Bric countries, to allow for increased student exchange, and more importantly, increased international research collaboration.

While growing links between new economic Goliath China and the Irish government, academia and industry have already been well documented, less is known about activity in the high-growth markets of Brazil, Russia and India.

In all three economies, it is educational links which will lay the foundations for future export market success. Numerous Irish institutions already have ties with educational bodies in the Brics which have lead to cross collaboration at all higher education levels. Plus the increasing amount of commercially-driven research means that many educational links will organically become industrial ties.

India

“A lot of Irish universities and institutes of technology are recruiting their students from India to come over here to do their studies, both at third, fourth and research level,” explains Cathy Holohan, Enterprise Ireland export market adviser for India and the Association of South East Asian Nations. Educational links such as these frequently lead to business ties being forged later. This month there is another Government-led education mission to India.

“India is a recognised high growth market – like the other Brics – which are all experiencing high GDP growth so they warrant a lot of extra attention from Irish exporters,” she says.

“Sectors where opportunities for exporters already exist on the ground include the life sciences, telecommunications and renewable energies.” While there are already existing research and trade links between Ireland and India in these sectors, Holohan sees even more opportunity that could yet be tapped into.

“All of the largest pharmaceuticals companies in the world are based in India,” she says. The Network of Excellence for Functional Biomaterials at NUI Galway has just agreed to collaborate with four Indian institutions.

“The number of smartphone users is growing exponentially in Indian cities,” adds Holohan. “Figures are showing that there are hundreds of thousands of new subscribers signing up every month.

“In terms of renewable energies, India is the third largest buyer of clean tech products in the world right now. Because of the huge urbanisation going on, as a matter of policy Indian authorities are prioritising clean air and water initiatives.”

India’s car ownership rates are also increasing and cities have dense traffic levels. “Transport is another growing area of development and Irish companies are involved in providing solutions for fleet management, transport management, parking and tolling.”

Brazil

Brazil has become a busy spot for Irish research. High growth areas where research links continue to grow include financial, travel and security software, energy, life sciences, veterinary chemicals and, of course, education.

“Dublin City University’s international activities include a significant focus on Brazil,” explains Eileen Colgan of DCU. “Activities are supplemented and supported by the Irish Government’s commitment to Brazil as a strategic partner. The Science without Borders programme offers a wide range of opportunities to both countries’ students and researchers. The focus on Brazil is a countrywide initiative with involvement from the Irish Universities Association (IUA), the Department of Education and Skills, Science Foundation Ireland (SFI), the Higher Education Authority, Enterprise Ireland, and so on.

“DCU has closely engaged with the Brazilian authorities and the Science without Borders programme and has led to some important developments. A website has been developed within DCU to support this programme and promotional materials are now available in Portuguese.

“DCU developed a highly innovative model which captures and displays detailed information on research projects in the Science Technology Engineering and Maths (STEM) area for prospective research students. This model was well received when shown to the Brazilian bodies CAPES and CNPq in Brasilia earlier this year, and has since been rolled out to include other institutions via the IUA Euraxess portal.”

In addition to the Dublin institution’s cross collaboration, the University of Limerick has just signed its own MOU to forge closer links with the University of Sao Paulo.

Russia

While linguistic departments will have had presences in a variety of exotic locations for decades, in terms of innovation sectors, Irish research ties with the likes of India and Brazil would be relatively new. However, there have been Irish trade and research missions to Russia since the 1970s.

“Irish businesses are very visible in the engineering sector, well positioned in data centre, pharmaceuticals, and industrial build projects,” explains Gerard McCarthy from the Enterprise Ireland’s Russia and Commonwealth of Independent States Division.

“The Agri-sector is providing strong business for genetics, and dairy equipment suppliers. The aviation sector is supplying good business for software companies.”

Two institutions in particular have maintained strong links in Russia – Dublin Institute of Technology and Trinity.

DIT’s School of Electronic and Communications Engineering and the Photonics Research Centre, have been collaborating with the Moscow Institute for Radiotechnics, Electronics and Automation (MIREA) for seven years. In a recent trade mission, they signed a new agreement with MIREA to increase research links in optical sensing.

Trinity has connections with Russian a variety of areas. “Obviously, we would have a lot of linguistic research links but Trinity would also be involved in cross collaborative research with Russian institutions in areas like nano science, physics, medicine and maths,” explains Dr Sarah Smyth from the Department of Russian and Slavonic Studies in Trinity, the only one of its kind in the country.

Former provost of Trinity John Hegarty has been involved in the development of a Russian “Silicon Valley” in the Moscow suburb of Skolkovo. Within this digital industrial centre, the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology, or SkolTech, will soon open its doors and offers significant opportunities for research collaboration in a variety of innovative areas for Irish institutions. SkolTech has identified a number of of big areas it wants to be in – IT, bio-medical, space exploration and energy,” says Hegarty.

“It offers tremendous opportunity for Ireland because they are very keen to collaborate with international institutions. They brought in Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to assist in the design of the new university. There is a much more open atmosphere in Russia to collaboration than there was in the past and they have such great traditions in the sciences and mathematics.”

Global growth: Where the opportunities lie

Brazil

The country’s third-level scholarship scheme – Science without Borders – aims to send 100,000 Brazilians abroad over a four-year period for primary or master degrees or doctorates.

This year, an agreement was made between the Higher Education Authority in Ireland and the Brazilian Government scholarship body CAPES, Science Foundation Ireland and CNPq. The scheme will focus on science and technology-based education.

There are close to 145 Irish companies actively selling to Brazil.

India

With a population more then 1.2 billion, it may come as a surprise that there are only 563 universities in India. So education abroad isnt just a luxury, very often its a necessity.

There are approximately 100,000 Indian students travelling abroad each year to study overseas.

About 30 Irish companies in a range of areas including software and IT, construction services and higher education, have set up shop in India. A further 100 Irish companies are in the early stages of entering the market.

Russia

Russia is the 11th largest global market for Irish companies. Annual trade between the two nations is approximately €2 billion, 30 per cent of which took place in 2011.

At present there are 120 Irish companies already doing business there.

High standards of education have led to a technically savvy generation of Russians, and the country has always had a strong reputation for the quality of its software programmers.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/finance/2012/1126/1224327089485.html

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Can MOOCS be a substitute for campus education?

At first glance, a massive open online course ( MOOC ) appears to be a boon to Indian and American students, though for different reasons. In the US, educating oneself has almost become a luxury, where the average cost of a BA is now upwards of $100,000 (Rs 55 lakh) and families often mortgage their houses in order to afford it. Educational debt, at $1 trillion, has now surpassed credit card debt in the country. An Indian, on the other hand, has to score absurdly high marks to even be considered for admission into a college of some repute. He will very rarely end up with his discipline of choice and, more often than not, is destined to receive a sub standard education thanks to poor quality of teaching.

This makes MOOCS irresistible. But learning is a complex social and emotional process that promotes critical thinking, say MOOCS critics. It’s all right to learn technical classes online, but what about ones that traverse the Socratic path of dialogue and debate, which in turn equip us humans to negotiate, analyse and articulate life’s more thorny issues?

“Purely online will never replace the campus experience,” says MIT’s Agarwal, who also is a professor of computer science and a former director of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL). Andrew Ng , co-founder and co-CEO of Coursera, points out that in Princeton, online lectures play an important ancillary role, where the student is required to view them almost like homework, leaving classes for a more deepening engagement with the subject matter.

Moreover, a Coursera class often springs to life offline. The company has 1,669 groups worldwide and 93 in Delhi alone where students schedule meet-ups to benefit from physical interaction. “Still, we need to do a better job of the online social experience,” says Ng, who says that his company is working on pilots that will soon introduce plug-ins, like instant video chats.

Yet, the chief challenge that the MOOCS revolution faces is something more practical: How do you give students what they really crave for almost as much as the education itself, namely proof of accomplishment? In today’s world of name-brand degrees linked to good job prospects, informal letters of accomplishment, whether they are from Harvard or MIT, don’t cut much mustard.

Coursera says it will soon charge a fee for university branded certificates, which means that if you have taken a Stanford online computer science class and have passed, you can brandish this in front of anyone you want to sweet talk into a job or college admission. At the moment, both Edx and Coursera are waiting to be approved so they can give college credit for a fee to their students for certain classes. EdX recently announced that students would get a chance to take their invigilated finals at Pearson VUE’s test centres around the world. Coursera similarly plans to charge for an offline, proctored exam. Its most daring, and untested, endeavor, however, is an online exam process proctored by a video camera.

These are good ideas. Even a nominal fee of $5 per product could generate a revenue of $250,000 for an eight-week course of 100,000 students if you expect at least half the class to pay for their course diploma. The magic in this approach is that the business model, unlike a college campus with the physical limitations of classrooms and students, is almost infinitely scalable. MIT’s Agarwal says that a 400-student analog circuit design class that he used to teach at the university required a professor and two assistants. The same crew apparently now manages 10,000 of them online and can accommodate more than a hundred times that size.

If this is true, then a MOOCS company with a solid brand and popular courses could make mind-boggling profit margins, considering the ease of almost infinite replication of classes, as well as other lucrative avenues for making money. “Many of the companies whose products you’ve probably used in the last 24 hours have approached us to hire our top students, especially in software engineering,” says Coursera’s Ng. “We’re running a pilot program to try and make this happen.” If this works well, Coursera could give Monster a run for its money. Purdue University has further catalysed this possibility by introducing ‘Passport,’ a new classroom app that enables instructors and advisers to hand digital badges out to students to indicate mastery of skills.

This seemingly spells doom for the Indian higher education sector and certainly diploma courses look most vulnerable as do poor quality second- or third-tier institutions. But Indian Institute of Management — Bangalore’s Professor of Quantitative Methods and Information Systems, Shankar Venkatagiri , who has been keeping tabs on this space, doesn’t regard MOOCS as such a huge threat. “We are a generation that has been mollycoddled and spoon-fed every single thing. Let’s not kid ourselves about self motivated learning,” he says. Shankar points out that the average college student in Karnataka is not particularly impressed with a MOOCS course. “He will be much more focused on passing the syllabus. Only the exceptional student will say, wow, this is awesome,” he adds.

Instead, Shankar says that the MOOCS revolution provides a rare opportunity to finally reform the education system. “Universities are rarely sub-standard, teachers are,” he says. Shankar recommends a public-private partnership where companies like Wipro and Infosys collaborate in jump-starting a pan-Indian online education venture, maybe even with certain structural similarities to the UID. “We have designed God alone knows how many information systems for the West. And I know that neither Wipro nor Infosys are short of the Stanford AI types in their labs. It’s time for us to build a kick-ass Coursera over here. It’s a no brainer.” The project will have the added advantage of forcing all the tier 2 colleges to submit to a unified syllabus if they want to take advantage of a massive and influential educational platform.

MOOCS represent a fledgling industry, evolving at a furious pace and still grappling with inherent flaws. How do you prevent plagiarism, or even cheating? Can online classes actually be considered equal to an offline one? How do you ensure that peer-grading remains qualitatively high if just about anyone can sign-up for a course?

However, the fact remains that in the turbulent world of rapidly changing technology, where skilling is not just a buzzword, but a survival strategy, MOOCS become a crucial lifeboat to hang on to. It can also be a lifeline for vast populations of underserved youth. “There are unmined pearls in the vast beaches of tier 3, tier 7 and tier 11 colleges,” says Shankar. “MOOCS gives them a pathway out of hell.”

http://business-standard.com/india/news/can-moocs-besubstitute-for-campus-education/493681/

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Indian education sector – Opportunities for UK providers

This piece explores the changes in the Indian education sector and how UK institutions can take advantage of the opportunities while navigating the complex legal structures.

India is at a critical juncture today. On the one hand it is a fast growing economy, waiting to take its position as a global force. On the other hand, India faces the Government-set challenge of training 550 million people by 2022 with skills relevant to the demands of a modern economy. It is truly a mammoth task, one that the current funding models may not be able to accomplish without participation from private and foreign partners.

Education structure

The education sector in India can be broadly classified into three segments:

·         K-12 (kindergarten plus 12 years of schooling): The average child will enter kindergarten at three years old, complete 2 years and then 12 years of schooling before he/she is ready for higher education.
·         HEIs (Higher Education Institutions): The HEIs provide undergraduate, graduate and vocational level university education.

·         NFIs (Non-Formal Institutions): NFIs include preschools (18 months to three years), multimedia training schools and colleges and vocational training.

The K-12 and HEI segments can further be broadly subdivided into the public and private spheres, with the former receiving Government grants and the latter being funded privately. There is a significant shortfall in the supply of public education which is fast being filled by private education institutions. Although 100 percent foreign direct investment through the automatic route is permitted in the education sector, the present legal structure in India does not allow granting of degrees by foreign educational institutions, thereby restricting independent operations by foreign players.

Changes ahead

There is recognition within the Indian Government that the demand-supply gap in the education sector has to be bridged through opening up participation from international players. The Government has therefore introduced several important bills in the Parliament relating to accreditation, foreign universities, educational tribunals and unfair practices to completely restructure the legal and regulatory environment of higher education. However, political opposition has stalled the legislative progress of some of these measures.

Joint venture potential

That said the current legal and regulatory framework does provide opportunities for joint ventures between foreign educational institutes and Indian institutions in the K-12, HEI and NFI segments. The NFI segment is particularly ripe for foreign investment and strategic alliances, as it operates outside the regulatory constraints on foreign investment.

 Careful planning, research and due diligence exercises are required to establish the basic foundations of the joint venture. The parties' respective contributions and rights, governance protocols, budgets, deadlock and dispute resolution mechanisms, exit routes, termination and other fundamental elements will need to be understood at the outset of the venture. Listed companies are subject to a number of additional requirements which must be considered, such as class tests and other rules which affect options and exit provisions in joint venture agreements.

Pitfalls and structuring

The Indian education sector is closely guarded by the Government and the judiciary has given it a very loosely defined "not for profit" tag. Accordingly, investments need to be carefully structured so that they cannot be construed as profiteering from students. Early stage tax and regulatory advice is a must so that such pitfalls can be worked through in a manner which befits the way investments can be made.

http://www.theinformationdaily.com/2012/11/21/indian-education-sector-opportunities-for-uk-providers

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Indian American Sanjay Sarma appointed first digital director of MIT

WASHINGTON: An Indian American professor of mechanical engineering and IIT alumni has been appointed as the first director of digital learning of the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

In his new capacity, Sanjay Sarma, the Fred Fort Flowers and Daniel Fort Flowers Professor of Mechanical Engineering, will work closely with the Institute's faculty, staff and students to assess how new models of online instruction might become integral parts of MIT students' on-campus education.

A 1989 IIT alumni, he has long worked to develop new instructional techniques for mechanical engineering students.

"As director of digital learning, Professor Sarma will serve as a convener and synthesiser," Reif wrote in his letter to the MIT community.

The announcement of his appointment was made by MIT's President L Rafael Reif.

"He will explore, collect and build on the wisdom and experience of individuals and groups across our community, and lead us in shaping a coherent vision.

"On the subject of blending online learning and residential education, he will also serve as experimenter-in- chief, assessing what is working best in MIT's current educational model, what we could do more effectively and what kind of changes we should pursue, from the way course content is delivered to the way we shape the campus itself," Reif said.

"Throughout, he will work hand in hand with our edX team, led by Professor Anant Agarwal, and our edX partner universities, especially in interpreting the huge flow of edX data about how people learn," he said in a statement.

A member of the Institute's mechanical engineering faculty since 1996, Sarma's work in the classroom has earned him multiple MIT awards for excellence in teaching, including the Den Hertog Teaching Excellence Award, in 2001, and the Joseph H Keenan Award for Innovation in Undergraduate Education, in 2002.

He was named a MacVicar Fellow in 2008, an MIT honour reflecting outstanding undergraduate teaching, mentoring and educational innovation.

"More than a decade ago, those efforts included the use of computer-based teaching tools to promote active learning and hands-on intuition in the classroom -- work that ultimately led to the launch of OpenCourseWare in 2002.

"He has also used laptops to engage students in interactive design exercises, quizzes, numerical analysis and data acquisition," MIT said.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/nri/nris-in-news/indian-american-sanjay-sarma-appointed-first-digital-director-of-mit/articleshow/17307486.cms

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PTC India celebrates double digit growth in their ATC Partner program

Report by India Education bureau, New Delhi: PTC today celebrates the success of their ATC Partner program. PTC initiated the Authorized Training Centre (ATC) Program to help the future engineers to realize their potential and expertise under the guidance of PTC-authorized expert instructors. Being an integral part of global PTC Academic Program, PTC’s Authorized Training Centre (ATC) Program, aims at addressing the growing and diverse need of academia by offering market leading software training to students.

With 94 ATCs across India, the program has been successful in training more than 8500 students on PTC’s award-winning design software – Creo 2.0. There has been a notable surge in the number of ATCs in a short span of five years. Through ATC partners, PTC has been able to spread technological literacy among students and hone their skills through familiarization with cutting edge design processes. ATC program has been instrumental in preparing the students for real-world careers in technology and also to grow beyond the ordinance of regular expectations.

Commenting on this accomplishment Mr. Jeffery W Wilmot, SVP & Country Manager, PTC India said “PTC has always been focused towards helping students develop life skills that will help them to succeed in their future careers and also to become tomorrow's innovators. We are happy that the ATC program is successfully heading towards achieving PTC’s goal.”

Commenting on the success Mr. Sajith Parambil Business Head, PTC Academic Program India & Middle East said “Engineering is an important part of our country's future. And how we groom the engineers of tomorrow is our prerogative. At PTC, we believe that one of the best investments is to help young people realize their dreams of becoming science and technology leaders. PTC's Authorized Training Centre Program is one such initiative in that direction. The idea is to prepare every engineering student for a competitive, global industry."

http://indiaeducationdiary.in/Shownews.asp?newsid=17059

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90% technical schools in India flouting norms: AICTE officials

LUCKNOW: The mushroom growth of technical institutions imparting sub-standard education across the country has led to a situation where supply is outstripping demand. In a startling revelation by officials of the All-India Council for Technical Institution (AICTE), around 90 per cent technical institutes in the country are flouting norms.

AICTE adviser MK Hada said, "In a surprise inspection conducted by AICTE in 400 colleges, as many as 350 were found not fulfilling basic norms stipulated by the council.'' Hada was in the city to attend a one-day workshop on 'Approval process and e-governance' at Lucknow University. The workshop was organised by the department of business administration. Addressing representatives of various technical institutes in Lucknow, Hada spoke at length about the problem of poor admissions plaguing technical institutions as a result of which over hundreds of technical colleges across the country have sent their request to AICTE for closure.

On the occasion, Hada informed 154 technical colleges had failed to fulfill norms laid down by the council. "We will send notice to these colleges asking them to overcome their deficiency. In case they fail to do it, they will not be given extension for the next academic session. Students in these institutes will be shifted to others,'' said Hada.In a bid to disseminate information on AICTE's online approval process, the workshop is being conducted across the country. So far, 25 states have been covered. He also expressed concern over petty things marring technical institutions and keeping students at the receiving end. Earlier, vice-chancellor, Mahayana Technical University (MTU) S K Kak applauded efforts of AICTE in easing out approval process and following the e-governance methodology. He also stressed quality education and best possible ways to management the technical institutions. AICTE's northern region office (Kanpur) director PK Sahoo highlighted the basic objectives of e-governance process. He said e-governance was aimed at ensuring transparency, accessibility and quick disposal through online solution to over 15,000 technical institutions in India.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/education/news/90-technical-schools-in-India-flouting-norms-AICTE-officials/articleshow/17315671.cms

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Bank to start scheme to help girls' education

PUNE: The Mann Deshi Foundation of Satara, working for the empowerment of rural women, has come up with a scheme for girls to pursue education beyond Std VIII. Under the scheme, a girl can open a bank account on which the bank will add 5% interest as well as deposit 5% of the cumulative savings and interest earnings as its contribution.

Each account will have to be opened in the Mann Deshi Mahila Cooperative Bank, part of the foundation. Parents of the beneficiary girl have to decide on a certain amount they will be depositing periodically.

Since the income level of these families is low, amounts as small as Rs 50 will also be accepted by the bank. Any girl studying in std VIII can join the scheme, said founder of the bank, Chetna Gala Sinha.

She added, "Lack of funds for fees and other educational expenses prevents many girls in rural areas from pursuing an education. In many areas, junior and senior colleges are not available, so the students have to stay away from home to continue with their education. The amount collected in two years is expected to provide sufficient monetary support for further education of the girl."

Once the girl clears the Secondary School Certificate (Std X) examination, she can withdraw money from the account for further education or the family can continue depositing the money and use it for her under-graduate studies, Sinha said.

"Some girls have already enrolled for the scheme and opened accounts. The foundation was already offering scholarships to bright girls from the rural areas of Satara, but with this scheme, more girls can get funds for further education," she added.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/pune/Bank-to-start-scheme-to-help-girls-education/articleshow/17303204.cms

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New Market Study Published: ICT Adoption in Education Sector India 2012

Boston, MA -- (SBWIRE) -- 11/20/2012 -- ICT in education sector consists of the implementation of various IT tools / applications which help facilitate imparting of better and efficient educational services. The market size was estimated to be valued a little over INR 40 bn in 2011. Encouraging Government initiatives and need for better and high quality educational services is boosting the ICT usage in education.

The report begins with an overview of the Indian education sector (IES) depicting the hierarchy in terms of 'Formal' and 'Non-formal' education system. A breakup of these individual education systems has also been furnished for a better understanding. The introduction section moves on with the overview of Indian education sector furnishing details such as market size and growth of Indian education sector, growth of formal and non-formal education system & their past and forecasted market breakup. Market size and growth details pertaining to individual segments of the education sector has been provided so as to provide a clear insight about the sector on a whole. Drivers and challenges identified in the section highlight the major factors aiding and hindering the growth in the sector. Drivers identified for the sector include favorable demographics, foreign direct investments and government initiatives. Whereas the prevailing challenges include limited access to educational institutes, lack of human resource and high drop ratio.

View Full Report Details and Table of Contents

ICT in education section of the report contains an in depth information about the use of ICT in education sector highlighting the key application areas of ICT. IT components used such as hardware, software and connectivity tools adopted by the education sector have been compiled in a tabular manner for a better understanding. Moving along the report illustrates the market share of ICT in education sector followed by the present and forecasted year on year share of ICT in education. It further talks about the major educational startups which incorporates ICT tools and solutions in their product portfolio for the education sector. A section on the major ICT solutions used in the education sector i.e. Storage Area Network, Enterprise Resource Planning and Wireless LAN is provided followed by a brief section stating some major educational institutes and specification of their ICT implementations. It is immediately followed by a section discussing the role of ICT in the enhancement of overall quality of education.

About Fast Market Research

Fast Market Research is an online aggregator and distributor of market research and business information. Representing the world's top research publishers and analysts, we provide quick and easy access to the best competitive intelligence available. Our unbiased, expert staff will help you find the right research to fit your requirements and your budget. For more information about these or related research reports, please visit our website at http://www.fastmr.com or call us at 1.800.844.8156.

http://www.sbwire.com/press-releases/new-market-study-published-ict-adoption-in-education-sector-india-2012-180421.htm

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India-China Education Series: Contract? What contract? - The biggest mistake made by Indian companies in China

Bar & Bench brings to you the third column of the India-China Education Series written by DH Law Associates Partner and Head of China Practice, Santosh Pai on the biggest mistake (of not executing formal contracts or execution of improper contracts) made by Indian Companies in China.

In 2011, Indian companies imported goods worth US$ 50.49 billion from China and exported goods worth US$ 23.41 billion to China. China is India’s largest trading partner and India is China’s seventh largest trading partner. Considering these statistics one would expect several hundreds of contracts being executed between Indian and Chinese parties every day. Wrong. It is astonishing to note the number of Indian companies, listed, unlisted, big, medium and small, that operate like cowboys in the Wild West while doing business in China.

The logic goes something like this - China is a communist authoritarian country where the legal system or courts cannot be trusted. Plus the Chinese always try to cheat foreigners in every possible way. Therefore, contracts in China will be of little use. Hence, why waste time and effort in negotiating, drafting and executing contracts. Even in instances where Indian companies do insist on executing formal contracts, a great deal of effort is directed at turning such exercises into grandiose acts of futility by dressing up purchase orders to look like contracts, grabbing the nearest template that was used for a contract with a supplier in some other country, etc. As a result, failure to execute formal contracts or execution of improper contracts ranks as the biggest unpardonable mistake that Indian companies commit while doing business in China.

This has dire consequences. To start with, very often there is a vast difference between what the Indian company believes to have been agreed and what the Chinese company believes. In the absence of a contract there is nothing preventing either party from modifying its expectations as the business relationship runs its course. Very soon a deep chasm develops between mismatched expectations that either results in high maintenance costs for the relationship or pre-mature termination causing losses to the Indian companies. Yes, unfortunately it is almost always the Indian party which suffers since the Chinese are far more diligent in insisting upon formal contracts when their interests are at risk.

When things go wrong as they invariably do in China or for that matter in any unfamiliar business setting, Indian companies are faced with the prospect of either arriving at a settlement to recover a sum of money owed by the Chinese party or suing to recover damages. This is when things go horribly wrong for the bolder cowboys among Indian companies which have not bothered to execute a contract at all. They simply have no legal recourse.

Under Chinese law, oral agreements are enforceable only for matters that are to be performed ‘immediately’. In all other circumstances, a contract must be reduced to some tangible written form such as a written contract, letter, e-mail, facsimile, etc.

In the absence of a formal contract, if there is a commercial dispute between an Indian company and a Chinese company, the Indian company involved starts knocking on the doors of the Indian Embassy or consulates in China for redress. Such companies also pour out their ‘grievances’ to Indian journalists looking for juicy China stories. They hope for some sort of divine intervention motivated by sympathy, pity or mercy which will rescue them from their predicament. Nothing of that sort happens. Instead such incidents often surface as instances of Chinese companies ‘cheating’ Indian companies so the myth that all Chinese companies are not trustworthy business partners is given a fresh lease of life.

 Even when Indian companies execute contracts with Chinese companies there are several common mistakes that are committed -

 a)  Not comprehensive - Most Chinese parties tend to ignore pre-contract discussions and agreements when signing a formal contract. Unlike other jurisdictions, Chinese courts and parties tend to focus exclusively on the formal contract. Hence, an Indian company must ensure that the contract is comprehensive in its scope regarding all aspects of the transaction it seeks to document. For example, a contract which merely specifies the price of products, a delivery date and payment terms will be entirely useless when it comes to other aspects such as dispute resolution, quality norms, protection of IP, etc.

 b) Liquidated damages - There are a number of problems that can be reasonably foreseen in a particular contract. For example, in a contract for supply of goods one can foresee quality problems and late delivery. Chinese courts tend to uphold most reasonably worded clauses for liquidated damages so it is essential that Indian companies take sufficient care to include reasonable estimates of liquidated damages in their contracts.

 c) Obligations of the Chinese party - Breaches of contract often have underlying reasons that can be foreseen. Indian companies will do well to identify such reasons and include them in their contracts to ensure that the Chinese party has no excuse for non-performance. For example, a supply contract that specifies the exact type of raw materials to be used in the manufacture of the final product will be far superior to one that merely provides specifications of the finished product since quality problems often materialize due to bad quality inputs. In general, the chances of obtaining compliance from a Chinese party is directly proportional to the number of specific obligations imposed in a written contract.

 d) Applicable law and forum for dispute resolution - A number of considerations are involved in making the most appropriate choices of law and forum. A detailed discussion on these considerations will need to be covered in a separate article. Unfortunately  most legal practitioners with no exposure to China tend to believe that there is a single rule that dictates the most appropriate choice of law and forum for all contracts relating to China. For example, many Indian lawyers will argue application of English law or Hong Kong law with Singapore or Hong Kong as the seat of arbitration is the best compromise. Such a broad brush rule might severely curtail an Indian client’s legal recourse in certain circumstances.

e) Formality - Every Chinese company has a company seal which needs to be applied to every contract that the company executes. In addition to this, the legal representative of the company must sign the contract. The identity of the legal representative of a Chinese company can be ascertained from its business license so there is no scope for misrepresentation on this front.  

 If every Indian company insists on documenting its transactions with Chinese parties properly the so-called ‘trust’ deficit between the two countries will be reduced drastically. It is high time that Indian companies started treating China as just another ‘normal’ business jurisdiction where it pays to be diligent rather than paying heed to the numerous China-baiters and adopting ‘unconventional’ and risky business practices. 

http://barandbench.com/brief/3/2964/india-china-education-series-contract-what-contract-the-biggest-mistake-made-by-indian-companies-in-china

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Australia-India Fellowship Fund to support more than 80 scientists

Hyderabad, Nov 20:

A new Australia-India Fellowship Fund will support more than eighty scientists from Australia and India to spend time at a research institution in the other country.

The program, supported by the Australia-India Strategic Research Fund, a joint government initiative, will build stronger ties between the two research communities. Around 11 crore rupees has been committed to the fellowship program in its first year.

The program offers opportunities for promising researchers at the beginning of their careers. Sixteen young scientists from Australia and 21 from India have received early career Fellowships, which support stays in the other country for between 3 and 12 months.

11 senior Indian researchers and 33 Australians will receive Senior Visiting Fellowships, which support shorter visits of up to two weeks to strengthen existing collaboration and develop new links.

The projects areas include climate change impacts on dengue fever transmission, treatment and prevention of obesity and diabetes, drought tolerance in chickpeas and preventing degradation in solar cells.

“There is great potential for Australia and India to strengthen ties in science and research and address these common challenges together. The fellowship program is an important component of the knowledge partnership our two countries are building”, said Peter Varghese, Australian High Commissioner to India in a press release.

Indian researchers travelling to Australia will be hosted by some of Australia’s top universities and research institutes, including the Australian National University, CSIRO, Deakin University, Monash University, the University of Queensland, the University of Sydney and the University of Western Australia. Australians visiting India will be based at leading institutions including Jawaharlal Nehru University, the Indian Institute of Science, IIT Delhi and the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research.

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/education/australiaindia-fellowship-fund-to-support-more-than-80-scientists/article4115304.ece

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