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Friday 27 September 2013

India framing national mission for ICT in education

The Indian Government is developing a National Mission on ICT aiming to create a national IT platform connecting all schools, providing students and teachers with opportunities to collaborate and share knowledge.

Through this mission, the Government is looking to take on a learner-centric approach in delivering education by facilitating the provision of infrastructure that will connect the schools to internet at minimum 10 mbps.

Radha Chauhan, Joint Secretary of Secondary Education, Government of India, shared, “Latest technological innovations will be used to share multimedia and web content through the platform. Apart from creating a better governance system for the schools, we are aiming to deliver quality education to all students in the country through the National Mission by equipping both students and teachers with technology.”

The government is also weighing the provision of mobile devices such as tablets to all students at the high school level. Other than ICT, the framework is also looking to bring transparency to governance in the schools.

http://www.futuregov.asia/articles/2013/sep/27/india-framing-national-mission-ict-education/

Link education with socio-economic development: Veep

Graduating students of Central University of Bihar (CUB) were advised by the Vice-President of India, Mohammad Hamid Ansari, to become ambassadors of peace, goodwill and harmony between communities and regions.

Addressing the students at the CUB's maiden convocation on Thursday, Ansari quoted Aristotle as saying, "Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all."

Altogether 156 students of various master's programmes of the 2009-11, 2010-12 and 2011-13 batches received their degrees. Altogether 134 were present while the rest received their degrees in absentia. Three students, one from each batch, received the best university graduate award, named 'Chancellor gold medal', for scoring the maximum marks across all streams.

Focusing on scientific and technological development, Ansari said the CUB should evolve new formats to link education with social and economic development. "In the Indian context, quality, affordability and accessibility should be adopted to develop the education system," said Ansari, adding, "I am confident that Bihar would get a boost on its journey of progress from the contributions of CUB and its alumni."

Terming human rights a social duty, Ansari said, "Our point of reference should be the Constitution of India and we are duty bound, legally and morally, to address the lacunae in the policies and institutions pertaining to human rights."

Recalling Emperor Ashoka's edicts on human rights and the views of United Nations' former general secretary Kofi Annan on the issue, Ansari covered several aspects of individual rights. "We will not enjoy security without development. We will not enjoy development without security and, we will not enjoy either without respect for human rights," Ansari quoted Annan. He added, "In recent years, many new agenda have come under the ambit of human rights, such as conflict over natural resources or issues of gender equality."

Speaking on the occasion, Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, who is also the CUB chancellor, appreciated the proposed five-year integrated master's programme in arts and crafts. "In my knowledge, the course is probably a first in the country that would help renew the forgotten crafts of India," she said.

That both the CUBs (at Gaya and Motihari) would be situated at rural location, Kumar hoped that the university would succeed in bridging the urban-rural divide in education. "Only education has the power to bring about a peaceful revolution. It should not be limited to the higher classes if the Indian democracy is to be empowered," said Kumar, an MP from Sasaram.

Also present on the dais were CM Nitish Kumar, education minister P K Shahi, CUB vice-chancellor Janak Pandey and registrar Mohammad Nehal, among others.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/Link-education-with-socio-economic-development-Veep/articleshow/23117853.cms

India lacks quality education: Pranab Mukherjee

President Pranab Muk­herjee on Wednesday expressed concern over lack of quality education in India and said  Indian universities did not figure among the top-ranked universities in the world.

Addressing students on the 23rd convocation of the Pondicherry Cen­tral University, Muk­herjee said the country’s ancient education system had dominated the world for about 1,800 years ago from the 6th century B.C. during which ancient Indian varsities like Taksh­ashila, Nalanda, Vikra­m­ashila, Valabhi, Soma­pura and Odantapuri were the seats of world class education centres.

“There is a dearth of quality academic institutions to prepare our next generation. The central importance of higher education in a country’s development is well recognised. If we are to grow as a nation, the education system has to figure prominently in the template of progress. Right to Education has become a reality. We have to now stress on Right Educ­ation,” he added.

Mukherjee said teaching and research were the two eyes of a university. While high standards in teaching have to be achieved, high quality research that will push knowledge frontiers and evolve technologies for development have to be promoted.

Local technological needs have to be addressed by our universities, he said, by creating research and development centres for such technologies in the campuses. “India is an aspiring nation. We can reach the zenith but it requires everyone’s sacrifices. You are all capable and intelligent minds. It is your duty to take our country forward. Do all that is necessary to realise our country’s goal.”

Lt Governor and varsity’s chief rector  Viren­dra Kataria, chief ninister Rangasamy, Uni­on minister of state in PMO V. Narayansamy and Rajya Sabha MP P. Kan­nan also participated.

Pranab Mukherjee lauds Aurobindo centre

President Pranab Mukherjee stressed the need for a world safe from violence and also a world where one can pursue one’s legitimate dreams. Addressing students of Sri Aurobindo Internat­ional Centre of Education here, he highlighted the importance of Puducherry as a city which hosts an ever-growing number of visitors who come in quest of both peace and knowledge from the spiritual ambience of the place.

Mukherjee said this was the place where Sri Aurobindo had visualised the future of man. He lauded the international character of the centre and the Sri Aurobindo Ashram. This liberality of approach and vision unique to Aurobindo and his ashram stands as a symbol of hope for conflict ridden world and must be protected, he said.

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/130926/news-current-affairs/article/india-lacks-quality-education-pranab-mukherjee

Recession boosts investment in management education

NEW DELHI: At the times of economic gloom, it is boom time for B-schools. And India is the driving force in the increase in number of application in 24% of the 683 management programmes across 42 countries.

In the US 52% of the full-time management programmes have seen increased interest, while in the Asia-Pacific region it is 53%. The biggest draw however is Europe with 73% of the programme receiving more applications than in 2012.

Back home, CAT 2013 has so far received 1,93,596 registrations till Wednesday. Registration ends on Thursday midnight.

As per Graduate Management Admission Council's 2013 Applications Trends Survey more full-time MBA programmes worldwide saw increases in the number of applications this year compared with that of last year. According to GMAC, which administers Graduate Management Admission Test ( GMAT), full-time, two-year MBA programmes in the US show an upswing, as 52% of programmes report application increases over 2012— the first time since 2009.

This year's survey included 683 graduate-level programmes in business and management at 328 B-schools in 42 different countries. In Europe, Master in Management programmes continue to show strength, as 73% of programmes report application increases from 2012. Meanwhile, 38% of Europe's full-time one-year MBA programmes showed application gains this year, comparable to the 37% in last year's survey.

India drove the greatest increase in source of talent 24% of the 683 programmes received higher number of applications from the sub-continent. According to Bibek Banerjee, director, Institute of Management Technology, Ghaziabad, this is a common phenomenon and the reason for increased number of application from India is due to limited number of quality B-schools in the country. "It is basically economics of opportunity. It is a worldwide phenomenon, where demand, especially for management education, goes up during recession. Whenever the market is drying up it is good to invest in education. In the context of India, after 60 years of independence, we still have no good management university with the exception of a few IIMs, ISB and the likes of IMT which can recruit just around 8,000 candidates annually. In India the gap between the top tier and middle rung institutions is enormous. So what is the alternative, but to explore opportunities abroad," said Banerjee.

Recession spells boom for management education said GMAC vice president, research and development, Lawrence Rudner. "In 2008 and 2009, early in the Great Recession, there was impressive growth in the proportion of full-time MBA programmes showing increase in applications. In 2010 and 2011, there was a subsequent decline, but full-time programmes began to rebound in 2012 and look even sturdier today," said Rudner.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/education/news/Recession-boosts-investment-in-management-education/articleshow/23137614.cms

Monday 23 September 2013

Indian students make for second largest chunk in online education

More than a year after Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology launched edX, their massive online education initiative, India has shown the second highest number of enrolments with more than 150,000 students from the country taking various courses on the online platform. Of the 1.2 million students on edX from all countries, 30% are from the US while 13% are from India.

EdX offers MOOCs or massive online open courses and interactive online classes in subjects including law, history, science, engineering, business, social sciences, computer science, public health and artificial intelligence. At present, there are 70 courses on edX.

“Engineering courses were in high demand initially and then subjects in public health became very popular with Indian students,” said Anant Agarwal, president, edX, and added that the courses that can be taken online now were available earlier only in the brick-and-mortar mode.

While close to 30% Indian students opt for courses in circuits and electronics, 21% are going for subjects related to computer graphics and a similar number for courses in artificial intelligence.

EdX is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and is governed by MIT and Harvard. The two institutes had pumped in $60 million into the platform last year. EdX courses are open to everyone and are free of cost.

In June this year, IIT Bombay became an edX partner and Agarwal added that the platform will now tap into corporates to get more funds.

“EdX recently welcomed IIT Bombay to our X consortium. Joining the X consortium enables IIT Bombay to develop next-generation online and blended learning courses, as well as fill a specific professional development need in India: Training engineering teachers,” said Agarwal.

With approximately 5,000 engineering colleges in the country and student enrolment in these colleges now over 1.25 million, IIT Bombay will use edX’s open source platform to increase the number of qualified and experienced engineering educators in India and beyond.

On completing a course which includes taking online exams, participants receive a certificate of achievement which certifies that one has fully participated in an edX course made available through one of its institutions.

“Today, the certificates of achievement are free. This may change in the future to help cover our costs. Going ahead, the certificate might be charged but the course will continue to be free,” Agarwal said.

http://www.financialexpress.com/news/indian-students-make-for-second-largest-chunk-in-online-education/1172704/0

Why Mahindra's foray into engineering education is unique

A close look at the Mahindra Group's foray into an engineering education in tie-up with one of Europe's oldest and most reputed universities reveals a larger design - an ambition to transform engineering talent into business leadership. This objective, at a time when the right combination of technical acumen and leadership skills is woefully short in the Indian higher education sphere, runs throughout the concept and curriculum of Mahindra Ecole Centrale (MEC), set up in the Tech Mahindra's sprawling campus at Bahadurpalli in Hyderabad.

Consider the facts: Only 25 per cent of technical graduates and 10-15 per cent of other graduates are considered employable in the IT/ITES sector. Experts predict a shortfall of 2.5 million employable engineers in India by 2020. There is a 35 to 40 per cent shortage of faculty in state and central universities. While enrolment in higher education has grown six times, faculty strength has grown just four times. MEC tries to mend this in more ways than one. The courses on offer at the college, which will take its first batch of up to 300 students starting the next academic year for the five year course, provides a blend of technical learning with loads of industry exposure and a critical array of soft skills.

For the first two years, students, who will be chosen through the IIT selection format, will undergo courses in Mathematics, Physics and Humanities (comprising literature and philosophy, among others) and some introduction into engineering, before they move into specialisation. The faculty, at a ratio of one for every 15 students, would be a mix of Indian and French, including a Dean drawn from the Ecole Centrale's faculty in Paris.

India has a peculiar higher education system, where the placements in managerial posts do not exactly correspond to the curriculum. CP Gurnani, MD & CEO of Tech Mahindra, explains this through his own story. "I trained as a chemical engineer, but except for the first year, I have done nothing on chemical engineering.' Most IIT engineers have chosen to become leading managers. What is required therefore, is a journey in which a person is exposed to all disciplines of engineering and related fields, he says. "What we will have at MEC is the global experience of Ecole Centrale, combined with the global ambitions of Mahindra Group."

Ecole Centrale, founded in 1892, has a presence in 36 countries in the world. In China, it has a six year engineering course, with the first year a preparatory one where students are introduced to the French language, and even a few engineering lessons taught in that language. "There is a need for managers with soft, human sciences skills, who can work anywhere in the world, for the global market," says Christopher Cripps, Dean of International Affairs, Ecole Centrale Paris. 'At the Hyderabad campus, we will have a unique, harmonious curriculum that blends scientific education with management."

It seemed natural that Tech Mahindra, the $2.8 billion IT arm of the Mahindra Group should take up this not-for-profit initiative. 'We were anyway into technology in a big way, with around 20 per cent staff working overseas," says Vineet Nayyar, Vice Chairman of Tech Mahindra and Chairman of the MEC. 'This is a first step, and many more will follow." But the students who pass out of the centre will be available to the industry at large, he said. The management did not reveal the fees for the course, although it is believed it would be on the higher side. MEC has roped in Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University (JNTU) too as partner to design the curriculum.


Read more at: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/mahindra-mahindra-engineering-college-mahindra-ecole-centrale-tech-mahindra-tech-mahindra-college-campus-ecole-centrale/1/311223.html

Education essential to make India superpower: Kalam

Former President APJ Abdul Kalam on Sunday emphasised the importance of education in making India a superpower by 2020. Kalam attended the 126th birth anniversary of Dr Karmaveer Bhaurao Patil, the founder of the Rayat Education Society, here on Sunday, along with Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar.

"Students should work to imbibe qualities like moral leadership, temperament and an attitude for research. They should always try to learn modern technology and keep learning so that their knowledge would make India empowered and a superpower," Kalam said in his address at the event.

"Karmaveer Bhaurao Patil's mission was to spread education, so that no village in the state remains without a school, no school in the village without a teacher and no student be deprived of education. His vision resulted in four lakh students learning through 674 schools and colleges from 14 districts in the state," Kalam said.

"There is a need to develop a good education model, so that students can participate in the economic development of India. In today's world, students should be taught to implement and manage the knowledge and the information they get everyday. They should use new technology to learn new things. Along with this, there is need to develop entrepreneurs through the education system. We should succeed in imparting this confidence among students," he said.

Citing the examples of great scientists like Thomas Alva Edison, the Wright Brothers, Graham Bell and S Chandrasekhar, the former President said that the contribution of such stalwarts to the growth of science and technology is great. "We must gain inspiration from them. Students must work hard, be open to acquire knowledge round the clock. No one can stop you from becoming another Graham Bell, if you have all this in you," Kalam urged his audience.

Sharad Pawar spoke of Karmveer Bhaurao Patil's "major role" in empowering Maharashtra. "He was a pioneer in the education sector and worked throughout his life to spread the importance of education," Pawar said.

Kalam inaugurated the core banking process of the Satara District Central Cooperative bank on Sunday.

"With increased use of technology in the banking sector, rural customers are being able to avail good service. The benefits of technology should reach the rural population and should bridge the gap between urban and rural India," he said.

Kalam also reminded the gathering of students of the famous verses of 13th century Persian Sufi poet Jalaluddin Rumi and asked them to recite with him:

I will fly and fly

"I am born with potential.

I am born with goodness and trust.

I am born with ideas and dreams.

I am born with greatness.

I am born with confidence.

I am born with wings.

So, I am not meant for crawling,

I have wings, I will fly

I will fly and fly"

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolhapur/Education-essential-to-make-India-superpower-Kalam/articleshow/22910886.cms

Friday 20 September 2013

IBM Helps Indian Universities Prepare Students For The Future

IBM has announced that leading universities across India are using IBM's technologies to improve the quality of the education process, introduce new curricula and prepare their students for jobs in the future. IBM has played a pivotal role in providing innovative technology solutions to the Indian education sector. Zinnov, a leading advisory firm, recently recognised IBM India as the leader amongst MNC (multinational) Technology Centers that have contributed significantly to the development of the University Ecosystem in India, for the third consecutive year.

The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras, The Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Bhopal, Karunya University – Coimbatore, and the Shiv Nadar University (SNU) have selected IBM High Performance Computing (HPC) solutions, IBM System x iDataPlex servers, IBM PureSystems, IBM Power servers and storage solutions, virtualisation equipment and software to aid high end research, refine processes and elevate the IT infrastructure in the universities.

"With education being high on the public agenda, and with students, professors and the society calling out for new ideas and solutions for better and new skills, the agreement between IBM and these leading universities in India, recognises the increasing relevance of smarter computing as an approach to IT," says Tobby Kakkamthottil, Midmarket and Inside Sales Leader, IBM India/South Asia. "IBM's smarter computing approach helps clients address increasingly more sophisticated workloads and applications, efficiently. It enables organisations of any size – from midmarket clients to large enterprises, leading universities or the state administration - to optimise their business processes and gain competitive advantage, spurring growth."

The education sector in India is at the brink of IT enabled transformation. IBM Research is also working on technologies for intelligent, interactive content, learning content management and delivery, as well as personalised education, which, once mature can plug gaps that result from challenges in reach and scale, engaging content and lack of personalisation.

Supercomputing can be used for everything from weather forecasting to searching for a cancer cure. With data starting to flow, we are quickly approaching the exascale barrier. However, today an exascale computer would require approximately 100 MW power - an equivalent to that used by more than 100 000 homes in India, In order to reap the economic and scientific benefits from the super computing, capabilities that offer highest computing capacity per watt, become instrumental. In that space IBM's Smarter Computing approach to IT becomes increasingly relevant.

Advancing scientific industrial and life sciences research, the Indian Institute of Technology in Madras, the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research in Bhopal (IISER Bhopal)  and Shiv Nadar University all turned to HPC (High Performance Computing), implementing the country's largest supercomputing clusters within the education sector. These three universities are playing an important role in shaping India's national research agenda.

"In high-energy physics and bio-medical research, for example, simulation has become an integral part of science alongside theory and experimentation. Trial run for years, generating enormous volumes of data to process, and complex modelling that integrates mathematics, physics, chemistry and biology with advanced, high performance computing and engineering." says Prof. Sunil Kumar, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. "If universities are to produce highly qualified students in the various branches of science, they need to focus on integrating science education and research with advanced information technologies - i.e. they need to consider adding supercomputing capacity."

As part of today's news, IBM is also announcing that Karunya University, one of India's top engineering universities has selected IBM PureSystems solutions to improve online student services by more effectively processing applications, such as handling online enrolment, exam scheduling, virtual campus management, etc.

http://biztech2.in.com/news/education/ibm-helps-indian-universities-prepare-students-for-the-future/165222/0

Girl education to bring social revolution: Nitish Kumar

After a gap of two years, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar has resumed blog writing. His latest one posted on Thursday is about girls' education which is ushering in a social revolution in Bihar. Referring to his Independence Day speech this year in which he announced scholarship for all girls studying in class I to X in different government schools, he wrote that it was an important decision to further boost the girls' education.

"What is significant about this decision is that schoolgirls from all sections of society, regardless of caste, creed, community and economic background, will benefit from it. The only criterion is that the beneficiary should be a student of a government school. That's all. This, in my opinion, is a revolutionary step which will give a tremendous boost to women's education in the state," Nitish blogged.

The CM hoped that this scheme may turn out to be an equally significant decision not only because it will encourage families to send their daughters to school but also because it will act as a catalyst for social change in the long run. "I have always believed that educating a girl means educating an entire family," he said.

Disclosing his decision to establish a high school in each panchayat, the CM wrote that there was shortage of about 4,500 high schools in the state. The cabinet has already approved setting up of 1,000 high schools in the current financial year. "There are other burning social issues such as child marriage and gender inequality which are reasons behind several social problems. These, too, can be tackled through girls' education," he said.

Expressing concern over the female population going down because of rampant foeticide, he said at present, the male-female ratio is 1,000:916 in Bihar which needs to be improved. "I am of the view that proper and holistic education of girls will definitely help reverse this unhealthy trend as well. In my opinion, an educated girl will never allow female foeticide," he wrote.

Nitish, in his blog, also referred to the success of uniform and bicycle schemes. He said the cycle scheme not only saw a drastic increase in enrolment of girls but brought a newfound confidence in them leading to a social transformation. Prior to the scheme implementation, a large number of girls used to drop out of their schools after Class VIII but these schemes reversed the trend, he added.

"The cycle scheme brought about a social revolution and made the cycle-riding schoolgirls a veritable mascot of Bihar, especially in the rural areas. The success of that scheme could be gauged from the fact that altogether 9,61,109 students, including 4,92,899 girls, availed of the scheme in 2012-13," the CM remarked.

He further wrote that the bicycle project has heralded a silent revolution in the hinterland of Bihar as far as women empowerment is concerned and has instilled a sense of confidence in the girls. "The sight of girls going to their schools from their villages on their bicycles bears ample testimony to that. It is a kind of social revolution which has altered the way girls' education has been looked at in Bihar, historically. I am certain the impact of this revolution will be felt in the long run when women would be truly empowered."

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/Girl-education-to-bring-social-revolution-Nitish-Kumar/articleshow/22776990.cms

Thursday 19 September 2013

Worlddidac India 2013 and Asian summit on education and skills 2013

MUMBAI, INDIA: The fifth edition of Worlddidac India and Asian summit on education and skills, the country's only exhibition and conference on educational material, training and technology based solutions for all levels and sectors, proved to be a grand success and ended as being the most productive three days of the year for the entire education and training fraternity.

The theme of the summit was ‘Confronting Complexities for Effective Policy Implementation'. The summit brought together the policy makers and eminent educationists from all over India and other Asian countries, during which issues such as symmetric regulation among public and private sector, optimal utilization of 21st century technology, and developing sustainability through partnerships and collaborations were addressed to bridge the policy implementation gap.

During the summit, S.S. Mantha, chairman, All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) said: "Several changes have been made in the past and various initiatives have been planned for the future to make a well-defined formal education system and making all courses more employable."

http://www.ciol.com/ciol/news/195948/worlddidac-india-2013-asian-summit-education-skills-2013

Wednesday 18 September 2013

Datawind join hands with TES India to provide free educational resources

The UK-based tablets maker Datawind said that it has signed a strategic partnership with TES India, an online community by the teachers for the teachers.

A media release from the company said: "With this strategic partnership Datawind would be able to offer a huge library of five lakh ready-to-use teaching material to its end users. Datawind is targeting teachers' community via this strategic partnership. Teachers and institutions can choose to teach their students absolutely free of cost by using this library. They can also teach their students an international syllabus, which can help them keep in sync with global standards."

Suneet Singh Tuli, CEO & President, Datawind said: "This partnership will allow Datawind users to access high quality, interactive and engaging educational content for free. Also this partnership will strengthen teacher's community so that they can deliver quality education which is a need of the hour by Young India."

"We are delighted to be working with Datawind. We are committed to driving excellence in the education sector, and this partnership will help teachers to access the very best classroom resources - lesson plans, assessments, worksheets, presentations and more", said Sachin Kapoor, general manager, TES India.

An application created for the purpose will have learning materials available for several courses like Bachelor of Arts, B.Com, B. Ed, general awareness, entire CBSE content, educational presentations, discussion on social topics and many more.

There is content available for special need of special children which will help teachers to understand different cases.

According to press release, the most amazing feature is that teachers can find employment for themselves and on the other hand students will be able to locate a great career guide for themselves too as it has Jobs services on the portal that is not chargeable.

This platform will enable teachers to share teaching & learning material so that they can learn from each other hence contribute to a better learning and creating great recourses for the country.

- See more at: http://www.voicendata.com/voice-data/news/195776/datawind-join-hands-tes-india-provide-free-educational-resources#sthash.8w918m4G.dpuf

Education loans a problem at sub-6% growth

MUMBAI: Pratip Chaudhuri's tenure as SBI chairman has been one of extremes. The bank recorded its highest ever profit of Rs 14,105 crore, but this was marred by a surge in bad loans. The sell-off in bank stocks resulted in SBI losing its position as the most valuable bank but Chaudhuri reaffirmed its fundamentally strong image by bolstering Tier-I capital adequacy to well over 9% and providing for pension liabilities. Excerpts from an interview with TOI:


SBI has tightened income criteria for car loans. Will you do this for all retail loans?

We have done this for auto loans as we feel that those with higher income are less likely to default. Home loans are different because it is against property and it also enhances the borrower's income through rentals or savings in rent. Education loans will become a problem if, going forward, the economy does not grow at 6% as enough jobs won't be created and also employment would come at lower salaries. That is why we have extended the tenure of our education loan from five to twelve years. We hope the government brings in the guarantee scheme for education loans.


What do you expect from RBI's mid-term policy review on Friday?

We have made three recommendations: A 1% reduction in cash reserve ratio (CRR), allow 2% interest on current account deposits and permission to raise three-day bank deposits. Today, there is no difference in return if money is maintained in cash or in current accounts. Given that close to Rs 11 lakh crore is in the form of currency with the public, the endeavour should be to encourage flow of the cash into the banking system.


Why have stocks of SBI and other public sector banks fallen so sharply?

Not just banks, there is a huge element of short-selling that goes on in public sector stocks. If you look at the price of ONGC, Sail, Coal India, NMDC, NTPC — all have taken a beating of 30-40%. Short-sellers get away with impunity as they feel there is not enough interest to defend these stocks. Whereas if someone were to short-sell companies where promoters have sizeable holdings, there is fear that if these people come and start buying then they would be caught on the wrong foot.


RBI has allowed banks to swap NRI deposits for rupee funds at low cost. How much do you plan to raise?

We lend the funds we raise through foreign currency non-resident (FCNR-B) deposits to companies in the form of dollar loans, for which there is very good demand. If we convert FCNR-B into rupees, we will not have resources for dollar loans. Also, the blended cost of rupee funds would come to around 8% which is higher than SBI's indigenously procured funds. For SBI, this does not make much economic sense.


Why is liquidity so tight? Why is bank credit growing despite the slowdown?

We are also experiencing the tightness. I don't know if it is temporary but it is indicative of the highly inverse yield curve. RBI's cut-off yields on bonds are so high, primary dealers find it attractive to borrow from RBI at 10.25% and buy bonds at 11-11.5%. Bank credit is growing because companies have shifted their borrowing from commercial paper and from short-term external commercial borrowings to rupee loans since other sources are unavailable. Also, deposit growth is quite muted, which is why we are offering 9% on our fixed deposits. We don't see any upward pressure on lending rates as our margins have moved up by two basis points in each of the last two months. But our lending rates are always kept under the scanner.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/Education-loans-a-problem-at-sub-6-growth/articleshow/22677858.cms

Translating Cambridge research into Bangalore business

BANGALORE: He is fresh from a two-hour talk with technologists, innovators, entrepreneurs and scientists in Bangalore. And for Sir Leszek Borysiewicz, 345th vice-chancellor of the 803-year-old Cambridge University, that's enough to capture the mood of IT city.

"This is an amazing city of opportunities. People here are always looking forward. The Bangalore-Cambridge connect is great," the 62-year-old medical researcher told TOI on Wednesday, hours after he opened a centre on the sprawling National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS) campus on Bellary Road. Excerpts:

The Bangalore-Cambridge connect got a little closer today. Why is the city special for one of the world's oldest universities?

A This city has so many innovators and entrepreneurs - and that's the spirit at Cambridge. This is the IT and science hub of the country. Back in Cambridge, we do a lot of research which can be translated into business in Bangalore because there are so many innovators here. The collaboration with NCBS is fostering knowledge-driven therapeutic interventions for human diseases, and the other key stakeholders in the Bangalore-Cambridge innovation network are the Indian Institute of Information Technology and IISc.

The Indian government has expressed its intent to allow foreign universities to set up campuses here. Will we have a Cambridge in India?

We have no plans to open a campus in India. Exporting collegiate education is not possible as it's very expensive. We'll continue to partner with scientific institutions and colleges in India. We're looking at exchange programmes and research for students. We can collaborate with any number of institutions. To me, partnership is the key as learning is two-way.

How has the economic slowdown affected universities?

It would be wrong to say we are immune to the slowdown. World over, universities have been affected. But students who look up to us continue to come. That's heartening. We need to loosen up the immigration policy. I've asked the UK government to allow more international students into our campus.

Innovation is the buzzword for Cambridge. How have you integrated the changes in your courses?

We've made the Arts and Humanities courses more flexible. There are more subjects within each stream now so the student is more rounded. Innovation and research must be the success statement for every university, so that students are not lost when they step into the corporate world.

Forging links

The innovation network will also drive commercial activity between technology companies like Infosys, in Cambridge. My meeting with your chief minister Siddaramaiah was encouraging, where we agreed to leverage this city's strengths in information technology, biotechnology and science. Research must be ploughed back into the economy. The vision is to foster links between academics, businesses, researchers and entrepreneurs from both cities.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bangalore/Translating-Cambridge-research-into-Bangalore-business/articleshow/22676302.cms

Monday 16 September 2013

Weaving education into the social fabric



With an outreach programme, the Aga Khan Academy looks to improve, provide quality education.

Thirty-five-year-old Pushpa Ragam talks about the ways in which her students have not just managed to relate to her but also express themselves better in the English language. A teacher at a government school in Hyderabad, Ragam was talking to the media after an interaction organised by the Aga Khan Academy, Hyderabad which trained them as an outreach programme.

The Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) which opened the Aga Khan Academy, Hyderabad in 2011 will be formally inaugurated on September 20.

With an intention to improve the standard of teaching and provide quality education and develop home-grown leaders, the AKDN has taken two steps.

One is the Academy which is part of the 18 academies planned by His Highness Aga Khan in South and Central Asia, Africa and Middle-East. The other is the outreach programme through which the AKDN looks to improve skills of teachers so that they can better impart English language.

“Through the outreach programme, we try to improve the English language capacity of the teachers. What we did was dealt with the pedagogical strategy of the teaching the English language,” said Dan Arnold, facilitator of the training programme of English language.

Instead of just making students learn, the teachers are trained to  teach students how to acquire the language. “Basically what we do is teach students English at their subconscious level by helping them express in their thoughts,” said Ragam who was part of the five-month training programme  that is held at the sprawling 100 acre campus of the Academy, which boasts of five fields, swimming pool and other facilities.

At present, the Academy has over 50% students studying at the campus that get anywhere between 5-100 percent financial aid in the IB curriculum academy. The financial aid to deserving students too is part of the social uplift initiative of the AKAN.

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/1889433/report-weaving-education-into-the-social-fabric

Technology driving educational revolution in villages

In the beginning of the last decade, a simple webcam and a fledgling, though unsteady internet, provided a lifeline of emotional connect between students abroad and their parents and friends back home. That was a video-conference in a very simple form. Cut to the present: we are witnessing a generational shift in technology; so much so that it is quietly triggering a social revolution in the educational and health care sectors in the remote corners of our country.

Curious and impressionable minds are being led into a new world of enlightenment, hand held by teachers sitting kilometers away, with the help of advanced remote-access technologies. The teacher and students are not in the same classroom, but they virtually are — children can see their teacher, ask doubts and get them answered; as they can not only hear but also see each other.

Some of these lucky students belong to nine schools in the districts of Raichur, Shimoga and Hoskote. And the game changer is the giant technological leap, brought in by Cisco's multi-pronged inclusive growth initiative.

"At 40.2, India has one of the lowest pupil-teacher ratio and 33% of schools have just one teacher," says Aravind Sitaraman, president, inclusive growth, Cisco Systems. "The fact that students have laptops with them doesn't solve the problem, because there are so many infrastructural bottlenecks. The technology that we have put in place is a great enabler bringing in a qualitative change in the education sector."

Power of the cloud
The big challenge facing the educational sector in India is the impossibility of the few teachers to reach the huge number of children scattered over vast areas of our villages. And, Cisco is leveraging technology to address this problem.

At the core of the technology is a box which functions like a router. It has a computer running on Windows, projector, speaker, camera, microphone, power management tools all built into it. Sitaraman said that technology that is being used to bring in the social and educational transformation is WebX, which is also used by many Fortune 100 companies. It allows a high level of scaling, and multiple concurrent sessions can be held.

This box and the WebX bring a virtualized teacher not to one classroom in one locality, but to many classrooms in many localities, thanks to the power of the cloud. The system is administered by the telecom provider. The teacher is able to see these classroom in the form of tiles on a screen. He can enlarge one of the tiles to have a closer look at that classroom. He can even address a particular student in that classroom, explained Sitaraman. The solution ensures that all rural schools can offer all subjects with the same level of expert teaching that a student in a city or a metro gets access to.

The key features of this educational ecosystem are cloud connectivity, integrated network with wi-fi features, high-quality image projection and power management, high-quality audio/video streaming on SaaS based platform, and ruggedized products for temperature, dust and theft intolerance.

Efforts yielding results
"We are looking at the concept of an Enabled Village by focussing on four key areas: education, health care, marketplace and skills, and public services. For this, we make use of affordable models that save time and money for people; and high-end technology that are based in the cloud," said Sitaraman.

Under their 'Remote Education Deployment' programme, nearly 6 lakh student hours were utilized in the last two years to impart knowledge in English, mathematics, science and social studies. The efforts have paid off with tangible improvements — 10 to 12% increase in attendance and 19% increase in pass percentage.

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-09-15/internet/42080420_1_classroom-cisco-systems-technology

Saturday 14 September 2013

PG medical seats auctioned for Rs 4cr

BANGALORE: A group of parents sitting in a city medical college auditorium, facing a management team, appear to be attending an orientation session. A closer look reveals they are bidding for post-graduate medical seats. A parent stands up and announces he is ready to pay Rs 1 crore for an MD (radiology) seat. Another parent ups the bid by Rs 25 lakh. At the end of the two-hour session, the coveted seat goes to the ward of the highest bidder.

So highly contested have been the auctions for PG medical seats this year that the going rate for an MD (radiology) seat touched Rs 4 crore at a prominent Chennai college. It hovered between Rs 3 crore and Rs 3.5 crore for the same course in Bangalore colleges.

Successful bids for orthopaedics and dermatology seats varied between Rs 1 crore and Rs 1.5 crore. A paediatrics seat cost Rs 1.6 crore.

Parents find the auction disturbing. "It's like buying property. The more money you have, the better your house is."

A source says: "It seems only the elite can pursue some courses. What is also shocking is that students are a witness to this trend. So the student whose parent could not pay those extra lakhs is scarred for life."

Reasons for the high demand are not far to seek. For the lakhs of students who aspire to specialize in radiology, there are only 683 seats every year. "The gap between demand and supply is enormous. The shortage is perpetuated so that the cost of seats rises every year'' officials told TOI.

College managements, on their part, say their repeated pleas to the Medical Council of India (MCI) to increase the number of seats have been in vain. "If we admit very few students for some courses, the cost of their training goes up. How do we make up for that?" asks the principal of a college where PG-seat rates this year hovered between Rs 1 crore and Rs 3.5 crore. The huge gap in the number of under-graduate and post-graduate medical seats makes medical education costlier every year.

TIMES VIEW: End 'not-for-profit' charade, let market forces decide fees

Apart from law and order, education and health are perhaps the two areas where a government has the greatest responsibility towards its citizens - in socialist as well as capitalist societies. Unfortunately, in India, we have seen the steady retreat of government as a provider of quality education and healthcare. It is clear that there is no option but for the private sector to step in to bridge the yawning gap in the number of schools, colleges and hospitals. The private sector — barring a handful of philanthropically-minded business groups and businessmen — will do so only if there is a return on investment. But the Supreme Court has, in an old judgment, specified that the "object of setting up an educational institution is by definition 'charitable'...and should not be to make a profit."

While the objective of providing a sterling education that is affordable and widely accessible is laudable, the reality on the ground is very different. What has compounded the situation is the farce of trusts and societies setting up "not-for-profit" medical and engineering colleges when everyone knows that they exist only for profit. Huge capitation fees, running into crores, have to be paid unofficially for admission to these colleges. In several states in India, a large number of these colleges — often of dodgy quality — are run by powerful politicians or their pals. Worse still, government policies on education are designed to protect and promote these businesses-masquerading as-charitable institutions. Kapil Sibal's legislative move as HRD minister to allow "foreign education providers" to enter India are said to have been scuttled by these "education barons", many of whom are top ministers in state governments. They feared that reputed institutions from countries such as the US and the UK would undercut their money-making ventures.

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-09-13/news/42040093_1_pg-medical-seats-3-5-crore-private-sector

Networking will help special schools: Expert

Chennai: India is a far more inclusive society than the West, but there remain huge challenges when it comes to special education needs. Centres like Sankalp should network with other institutions, coordinate and disseminate information, said Richard Rose, professor of inclusive education and director of the Centre for Education and Research at the University of Northampton, UK.

He was in the city on Friday to attend the third international seminar on 'inclusion through education and vocation', organised by Sankalp, an institution that is involved in remedial instruction, catering to children with learning disa­bi­lity/dys­lexia and autism spectrum disorder.

Forming a network would be useful, he said. Though India has Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and the Right to Education Act, government agencies and policy-makers have to address and support special education needs.

Mary Doveston, senior lecturer, school of education, Centre for Special Needs Education and Research at the University of Northa­m­pton, said teachers should also be trained for they needed a basic level of understanding about special education.

Started in 1999 with 25 children, Sankalp now has about 240 children. “Apart from our open school and learning centre, six months ago, we started the Sankalp Vocational Sahayika. Those kids, who do not fit into the academic mainstream, take this work skill programme, called 'Sahayika'. We always talk about inclusion, but nothing has been done in India, and we have to really take it forward,” said Sulata Ajit, director (special education), Sankalp.

Speaking about the work skill programme, Prema Gnanaolivu, consultant, Sankalp Vocational Sahayika, said from the following year, apart from Sankalp's kids, other students would also be able to join in this structured course that would be held in a simulated workshop setting.

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/130914/news-current-affairs/article/networking-will-help-special-schools-expert





Sex education crucial to sensitize children

Moments before Saket Court sentenced Nibhaya rape accused to death on Friday, Justice Leila Seth guided city students on how sensitization about crime against women can start from a very early age.

Seth was one of the members of the Justice Verma Committee, which was formed after Nirbhaya's gang-rape, to take a re-look at sexual assault against women. The committee broadened the ambit of the crime and recommended harsher punishment for the rapists.

Seth was invited by La Martiniere School for Boys to address the students on its 178th Founder's Day. Interestingly, before shifting to Delhi, Seth lived in the city. She studied in Darjeeling and Kolkata and then went on to live in Kolkata for quite some time, informed principal Sunirmal Chakravarthi.

"Every school should start sex education from a very young age. Trouble starts when children start getting sexually awakened but are not comfortable enough with parents to ask these questions. Schools should step in as mediators and help young boys and girls tackle sex-related curiosities. This will automatically sensitize children and help tackle criminal offences like rape," Seth said.

The society was going through one of its worst crises of aggression that often manifests itself through sexual assault and crime against women, felt Seth. "Aggression has to be tackled at its root and that will be possible only if you stop the culture of competition in the classroom. A child should not be encouraged to compete with his classmates because that means asking him to become aggressive. Instead, ask them to be creatively different and recognize their talents. You will be surprised at the difference you will notice," she advised.

According to the first woman judge of a high court in India, value education classes in schools should focus on teaching kids to respect the Constitution and its Preamble. If this is routinely done, children would automatically strive to become good citizens. "It is more important to be a good citizen than to be the President of the country," was her message to students who listened to her in rapt attention.

A crusader against environmental pollution, Seth also urged young boys to be conscious about their surroundings. "We should not wait for the last tree to dry up and the last river to be poisoned to realize that we cannot eat money."

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/Sex-education-crucial-to-sensitize-children/articleshow/22564543.cms

BenQ expands offerings for Indian education sector

BANGALORE, INDIA: BenQ, an internationally renowned provider of digital lifestyle innovations and No. 1 player in the Indian projector market with a share of 20 percent (FutureSource Consulting and PMA report for projector business Q2, 2013), showcased new technologies at the WORLD DIDAC INDIA 2013, an international event that brings together the education and training industry at a common platform.

In FY 2012 BenQ installed over 50,000 projectors in the Education sector enabling more than 20 lac students to use the latest technology of delivering education in classrooms. The company has already established its leadership in the Projector business and with the introduction of new technologies over the years; BenQ aims to lead the increasing growth in demand for IT products in the education sector.

Rajeev Singh, country head and GM at BenQ India, said: "The education sector across the globe has transformed itself by adopting new and advanced technology that has re-defined how the information is imparted among students at different level. Being the number 1 player in the Indian education sector it has been our constant endeavor to provide world class solutions for traditional as well as modern digital classrooms that makes content simpler for students to learn new things with high level of retention.

"At present, BenQ has 40 SKUs in the projector segment out of which 10 models are purely for education. Seeing the growth in tier 2 and 3 cities we are working towards increasing the penetration of projectors in these markets by strengthening our partner networks from 150 direct partners to 200, and active resellers from the present 600 to 800 by 2013-end."

http://www.ciol.com/ciol/news/195497/benq-expands-offerings-indian-education-sector

Sibal fiddles, education burns

Last week, Kapil Sibal, did precisely what many feared he would. He announced that he was allowing foreign universities to come to India. Almost magnanimously — at least to the foreign universities — he also decreed that they could set up shop in India without partnering with Indian institutes.

To circumvent the entire debate in Parliament, he has chosen, quite adroitly, to be more of a lawyer for foreign universities than as a representative of India, to rope in the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) and the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) to allow foreign universities come to India as Section 25 companies. This is a section which deals with non-profit companies under the Companies Act (both in its old and new forms). A Section 25 company is an alternative to forming a trust under the Charity Commissioner of the concerned state. Such a company files its income returns with the Income Tax; a trust files its returns with a charity commissioner. The former has an all-India mandate; a trust has a state mandate.

Presumably, Sibal wants to give foreign universities a national mandate, unlike the mandate most Indian universities enjoy. Except for some universities like the SNDT Women’s University that have been formed under a special Act of Parliament, and hence enjoy a national mandate, most Indian universities have regional mandates. Mumbai University has a regional mandate, so do Pune or Delhi universities. In other words, Sibal might want foreign universities to become more equal than most Indian universities!

The Section 25 bit looks okay, but only on paper. Foreign universities will have to deposit a security guarantee of Rs25 crore (lower than Rs50 crore stipulated earlier) with the government. That too sounds acceptable. They should be among the top 400 in the world according to one of the three — (i) the UK-based Times Higher Education Ranking; (ii) Quacquarelli Symonds ranking, and (iii) the China-based Shanghai Jiao Tong University rankings — parameters. Good idea!

But Sibal is a lawyer. He should know that Section 25 companies can get away with just paying royalties and/or consultants who in turn can transfer profits back to the university overseas. Thus, they can circumvent the non-distribution-of-profits clause. The universities will undoubtedly find many more ways to send back the money considering that the market is worth over Rs46,000 crore annually (the ministry’s estimates).

Moreover, since foreign universities can charge their own fees and pay their teachers market-based wages, they will attract the best of teachers from existing Indian universities, thus compelling the latter to make do with second-best staff.
It is a surefire way of destroying whatever is left of the Indian academic structure.

Ideally, Sibal should have allowed domestic universities to appoint the teachers they want and pay them market-driven salaries, without government interference in either of the two conditions. Focus on outcomes; create laws permitting the government to take away universities and transfer them to better performing ones (if these private autonomous universities do not perform well academically and in placements). That would allow Indian Universities to learn to become competitive. Then, as the next step, allow foreign universities to join Indian universities. Some three years later, after Indian universities have learnt how to cope with autonomy, allow foreign universities in, on their own. That way, he would have allowed Indian universities to learn to compete, and then actually face competition.

But Sibal appears desperate to get foreign universities into India even before Indian universities have been allowed to become independent. He has opted to use notification as a means to do so slyly, without discussing the implications either with academicians or with Parliamentarians.

But then, look at his track record. Sibal’s willingness to push forth his ideas which do not make academic sense is legendary. Look at what he did to school education with his Right to Education (RTE) Act. The RTE introduced three rules that are corroding school education alarmingly. First, (in Chapter IV, 16) the RTE allows for automatic promotions till Std VIII, which removes the annual filter of 5 per cent which helps weed out students who do not qualify for the next level of learning. So, you now have students who have not learnt the previous year’s lessons, yet move into a higher class.

The second law (Chapter IV, 17) prevents schools from subjecting students to physical punishment or mental harassment. Is scolding a child for not doing his homework, or an admonishment for not paying attention, “mental harassment”?
Sibal’s RTE leaves this vague, allowing administrators tremendous leeway, and leaving schools extremely vulnerable.

Third, the RTE requires (Chapter II, 4) students to be admitted to an appropriate class according to their age, not according to their mental and academic capabilities. Thus, a boy who is 12 years old, must be admitted to Std VII, even if he has not even studied the grammar of Std II. Not surprisingly, school standards have plummeted frighteningly during the past five years.

Sadly, when Indian school students’ PISA scores fell, Sibal banned India’s participation in such tests.  No news is good news, right?

Also, look what he did to the IITs. He increased the number of IITs even when there were no teachers.  He changed the admission criteria as well. Not surprisingly, during his ministership, the IITs have slipped world rankings as well. IIT Delhi slipped from #181 in 2009 to 222 in 2013; IIT Bombay from 163 to 231; IIT Kanpur from 237 to 295, IIT Madras from 284 to 313 and IIT Kharagpur from 335 to 346.

Will there be no end to the damage Sibal can cause? On paper, Sibal will have shown increased enrolments in schools (automatic promotion ensures that), more colleges, more IITs and more foreign Universities. But the numbers will not show the degeneration of standards, and the systematic demolition of educational and academic standards in India. It may be good for the foreign universities, but not for India.

http://www.dnaindia.com/analysis/1888637/column-sibal-fiddles-education-burns

Wednesday 11 September 2013

Sequester Hits Special Education Like 'Ton of Bricks'

This piece comes to us courtesy of Stateline. Stateline is a nonpartisan, nonprofit news service of the Pew Charitable Trusts that provides daily reporting and analysis on trends in state policy.

Since the first day of class for most schools in Michigan last week, Marcie Lipsitt’s phone has been ringing nonstop with parents distraught about cuts to their children’s special education services.

A new round of special education cuts were taking hold, prompted by a 5 percent reduction in federal funding of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), said Lipsitt, a longtime advocate for disabled children and co-chair of the Michigan Alliance for Special Education.

Lipsitt said it means that many schools have eliminated resource rooms where children can go to get help in areas such as math, reading, writing and organizational skills. Many schools will have fewer speech, occupational or physical therapists, along with social workers and school psychologists, which means students who previously received speech therapy twice a week might only receive it once week, for example. And in some general education classrooms that had two teachers – one for the whole class and one specifically to support students with special needs – the special education teacher has been eliminated.

“For Michigan, it hit like a ton of bricks,” Lipsitt said. “Conditions are eroding and children are not being allowed to become taxpayers. They’re not being given access to independence, being productive, being ready for a global workforce.”

Across the country, advocates for children with disabilities are grappling with the impact of sequestration, the automatic budget cuts that kicked in when Congress failed to reach an agreement to reduce the federal budget. Although the cuts took effect March 1, the impact did not reach schools until the start of the current school year because of the way many education programs are funded.

Experts agree there is little hard data on the impact of the budget cuts on special education. The U.S. Department of Education estimates the sequester cut about $579 million in federal funding for IDEA Part B, which supports students age 3-21 with specific learning disabilities, speech or language impairments, intellectual disabilities, autism or emotional disturbances.

The National Education Association estimates that if states and local school systems did not replace any of the funds lost through sequestration, nearly 300,000 students receiving special education services would be affected. The union estimated up to 7,800 jobs could be lost as a result of the federal budget cuts.

All told, 6.5 million disabled children from ages 3-21 received services funded by the IDEA in the fall of 2011, the most recent number available.

Tricky Funding Formulas
It is unknown how many states or schools districts will replace some or all of that money from other sources, such as new tax revenues or cuts to other programs. But they may hesitate to replace federal funding even if they have the resources. That’s because by law, states and school districts that raise their funding for special education and then later reduce it, after adjusting for enrollment and other factors, can see their funding from the federal government cut. That requirement, known as maintenance of effort, means that even if the federal government eventually replaces the money cut through the sequester, school districts will be on the hook to spend more than they did before the automatic federal budget cuts.

Because of the maintenance of effort requirement many school districts have worked hard even through several years of state budget cuts to preserve special education funding to avoid risking their federal special education funding.

Noelle Ellerson, associate executive director of public policy and advocacy for AASA, the School Superintendents Association, said that as a result, “Over the course of the recession, the cuts in a school district’s budget have disproportionately been on general education students,” although disabled students are often affected along with everybody else by reductions in services to general education students, such as larger class size.

But in a survey by AASA earlier this year on the impact of the recession on schools, more superintendents indicated that special education spending would decline for the first time in the nearly five years the survey has been conducted. Ellerson said that in previous years, school systems were able to cover the cuts in federal funding, but superintendents indicated this year they can no longer do so because of continuing recessionary pressures and the depth of the sequestration cuts.

Those cuts further exacerbate the federal government’s chronic underfunding of its contribution toward the education of students with disabilities. Under the IDEA, the federal government committed to giving states funding for up to 40 percent of the difference between the cost of educating a disabled student and a general student. The most the federal government has ever given the states is 18.5 percent in 2005 (aside from a one-time infusion of economic stimulus funding in fiscal year 2009), and the figure has been declining since, according to Joel Packer, executive director of the Committee for Education Funding, a coalition of education organizations. Under the sequester, the federal share fell to 14.9 percent, the lowest federal contribution by percent dating to 2001.

Federal funding aside, local school systems are obligated by law to provide children with disabilities with a free appropriate education.

“It doesn’t matter what the feds send down to the locals and the states in federal support, the law requires that states and local school districts identify and serve every student that they deem to be eligible and in need of special education,” said Candace Cortiella, director of The Advocacy Institute. The institute is a nonprofit that provides training for special education advocates and runs the web site IDEA Money Watch, which tracks federal funding for special education.

“There can be no consideration given to how much money there is to spend. That really puts the states and the local districts in quite a precarious situation,” Cortiella said.

What States Are Doing
The impact of the sequester on special education varies from state to state and even district to district.

In Virginia, most school districts have been able to weather the special education funding cuts so far by not replacing teachers who leave, according to John Eisenberg, assistant superintendent for special education and student services. Many school systems have also reduced or eliminated staff development, which is critical in special education.

“There’s constant change in the field in terms of making sure folks are up to speed and are using research-based practices for students,” Eisenberg said. “As we have learned more and more about things like autism, the field has changed. Getting teachers trained in the most recent research-based practices is critical.”

Virginia schools have also reported big cuts in budgets for materials and technologies to support students with disabilities, which can include electronic devices to help nonverbal students communicate, technology to help students who are hearing-impaired and computers to enlarge text, for example.

In Florida, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties found the money to keep their special education programming intact. But nearby Broward County this year eliminated five of 11 behavior specialists, 10 program specialists and an assistive technology position, according to Mark Halpert, director of the Florida Advocacy Coalition for Learning Disabilities.

Halpert worries about the damage a second year of sequestration could inflict.

“These kids are smart – they learn differently, have challenges and can be enormously successful,” Halpert said. “We owe it as a society to help them succeed.”

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/10/sequester-special-education_n_3903606.html?utm_hp_ref=politics

Indian education provider to invest $500 mn in UAE

(UAE) education sector.

Amity Education Group will build four new schools, one university campus and 12 nurseries in this Gulf nation that is home to around two million expatriate Indians.

"We are planning to build schools across the UAE. Our commitment to the UAE comes as part of our resolve to build a global network of institutions," Atul Chauhan, president of Amity Education, told the Khaleej Times.

"We are planning to build schools across the UAE. Our commitment to the UAE comes as part of our resolve to build a global network of institutions," he said.

While two of the proposed schools will follow the Indian Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) curriculum, the rest will follow recommendations by the Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC) and Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) of Dubai.

There will be sports facilities in all the campuses.

Work is already under way for a British curriculum and International Baccalaureate school on a plot provided to the group in Abu Dhabi by the Abu Dhabi Education Council.

The new school will cater to students living in Raha beach, Mohammed bin Zayed City and Khalifa City.

"It is the largest school plot given in Abu Dhabi and Abu Dhabi Education Council (Adec) has been very supportive," Chauhan was quoted as saying.

"There has been immense growth at our institutions in India and we have a presence in 20 cities. Our students can shift from one campus to another, which is a big advantage," he said.

http://www.newstrackindia.com/newsdetails/2013/09/11/296--Indian-education-provider-to-invest-500-mn-in-UAE-.html

No Indian university figures in top 200 global list

LONDON: Not a single Indian university is among the world's top 200, according to a new global ranking.


The QS World University Rankings published on Tuesday has miserable news for India's education system. Around 11 Indian institutes feature in the top 800 of the global list with the highest ranking going to IIT Delhi which is placed 222 in the list.

Two other made it to the top 300—IIT Bombay (233) and IIT Kanpur (295). IIT Madras is ranked 313 while IIT Kharagpur stands at 346.

A close scrutiny on the ranking has more bad news for India. Even though the IITs figure in the list of the world's top 800 institutes, majority of them have actually fallen in ranking in 2013 as compared to their standing in 2012.

IIT Delhi for example was 212th best in 2012 but fell to 222 in 2013. Similar is the story with IIT Bombay which fell from 227 to 233, IIT Kanpur falls from 278 to 295, IIT Madras from 312 to 313. IIT Kharagpur is the only Indian institute that has gained ranking from in 349 in 2012 to 346 in 2013.

The other Indian institutes to make it to the top 800 list includes IIT Rourkee (401), Delhi University (441), IIT Guwahati and Mumbai University both at (601) with University of Pune and Kolkata at 701.

Globally, MIT tops the table for the second year in a row, followed by Harvard and Cambridge.

The best-performing countries in terms of number of universities ranked were the US (144), UK (69), Germany (42), France (40) and Japan (38).

The rankings say: "In India, five Indian Institutes of Technology are the country's only representatives in the top 400".

The QS World University Rankings are based on four key pillars—research, teaching, employability and internationalization. The methodology consists of six indicators: academic reputation (40%), employer reputation (10%), and faculty student ratio (20%), citations per faculty (20%), international students (5%) and international faculty (5%).

This year sees the most comprehensive QS World University Rankings ever as over 100 universities are added, making it an 800-strong list with 76 countries represented. The rankings took into account 62,094 academic and 27,957 employer responses, making both surveys the largest of their kind in the world.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/education/news/No-Indian-university-figures-in-top-200-global-list/articleshow/22470696.cms

200 academics to attend meet on higher education

PATNA: Preparations are afoot to hold a two-day conference on higher education at Raj Bhavan on September 21 and 22. Over 200 academics, including vice-chancellors, pro-VCs, registrars, deans, financial advisers and examination controllers of all the universities of the state will attend the conference.

According to a notification issued from the governor's secretariat, eminent academics from different parts of the country would discuss topics like the role of institutional leadership in quality assurance, academic leadership and governance, vocational education, examination reforms, distance education and Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA). It is expected that the conference would provide an opportunity for capacity building and for gaining experience by the faculty and students of the state universities.

Governor-cum-chancellor D Y Patil will inaugurate the conference on September 21. Chief minister Nitish Kumar, education minister P K Shahi and senior officials of the state education department would address the conference.

The conference gains considerable importance in view of the recent steps initiated both by the chancellor as well as the state government for bringing in qualitative improvement in the field of higher education. The constitution of search committee for appointment of new vice-chancellors and pro-VCs in different universities of the state is already in progress.

The state government has recently constituted a four-member committee headed by eminent educationist and founder VC of National Law School of India, Bangalore, N R Madhava Menon to draft a model Act for the universities of the state. Other members of the committee are Chanakya National Law University VC A Lakhminath, higher education special secretary Sanjiwan Sinha and Maulana Mazharul Haq Arabic and Persian University registrar.

The model Act would incorporate several measures for improving the working of the universities and raising the standard of higher education in the state. The first meeting of the committee is likely to be held on September 17, said Sinha, a member of the committee.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/education/news/200-academics-to-attend-meet-on-higher-education/articleshow/22474939.cms

No IDEA Protections for Students Misplaced in Special Education, Court Rules

Children mistakenly identified by their schools as having disabilities may not bring claims under the main federal special education law, despite a recognition by Congress of the problem of overrepresentation of minorities in special education, a federal appeals court has ruled.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit, in Philadelphia, said that a Pennsylvania family made "emotionally compelling" arguments about the problem of misidentification of minority children for special education.

But there is no indication that the definition of "child with a disability" in the Individuals with Disabilities Eduction Act "includes children who are mistakenly identified as disabled, but who are, in fact, not disabled," the court panel said in a unanimous opinion.

"Therefore, under the act's plain language, it is clear that the IDEA creates a cause of action only for individuals with disabilities," the court added.

The ruling came in a case brought by an African-American student and her mother in the Lower Merion, Pa., school district. The student, identified as S.H., and her mother had numerous interactions with school officials over the child's school progress. By 5th grade, S.H. was placed in special education for a perceived learning disability. Her mother went along with an Individualized Education Plan despite her daughter's objections to receiving services.

By the time S.H. reached high school, her mother began to question whether she still belonged in special education, court papers say. The student tested at grade level and had even made the Honor Roll in middle schools. The family's suit alleged that a school district psychologist evaded the mother's request to see a copy of an evaluation document by claiming that it had been destroyed.

An independent evaluation administered when S.H. was in 10th grade concluded that the student's designation as learning disabled was, and always had been, erroneous. S.H. was not in special education for her last two years of high school.

The family sued the school district seeking compensation under the IDEA, as well as claims of intentional discrimination under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

The suit alleged that S.H.'s mistaken placement in special education had kept her from taking certain electives in middle school and high school and had damaged her self-confidence and academic progress. The suit sought $127,000 in damages, which would go for tutoring, psychotherapy, and two years of college tuition.

A federal district court dismissed the family's IDEA claim and granted summary judgment to the school district on the other claims.

In its Sept. 5 decision in S.H. v. Lower Merion School District, the 3rd Circuit court panel affirmed, holding that the IDEA allowed claims to be brought only on behalf of students with disabilities.

The family pointed to the IDEA's legislative history, including congressional findings in more recent reauthorizations of the statute that expressed concerns about misidentification of minority students for special education.

For example, the federal law's "findings" section says: "More minority children continue to be served in special education than would be expected from the percentage of minority students in the general school population. African-American children are identified as having intellectual disabilities and emotional disturbance at rates greater than their white counterparts."

The family argued that such language suggests that after a child has been misidentified for special education, that child should enjoy the same protections of the IDEA hearing process and other remedies.

But the 3rd Circuit court said the IDEA's plain statutory language answered the question of whether the law applied to students without disabilities, so there was no need to consult legislative history. In any event, the legislative history sought only to draw attention to the problem of overidentification of minority students for special education, but did not support the notion that Congress wanted to create a legal cause of action for such students, the court said.

The court also held that the family did not face intentional discrimination under the Rehabilitation Act or the ADA. The court rejected the family's arguments that S.H.'s good grades and pattern of improved test scores should have put the district on notice earlier that she did not belong in special education. First, much of the testing data was inconclusive, the court said.

"Additionally, [the family] offered no evidence that high test scores are an indication that a student likely does not have a learning disability, nor [has it] offered evidence that children in special education usually do not receive good grades."

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/school_law/2013/09/no_idea_protections_for_studen.html

Tuesday 10 September 2013

Indian Students Worry about Currency Decline

For thousands of Indian students aspiring to earn a world-class higher education, the rupee’s continuing depreciation against American and British currencies has been a major setback. Some may have to postpone their studies for a year, while others are desperately seeking additional loans to cover the shortfall.

The rupee has depreciated by around 20 percent against the U.S. dollar this year alone.

Mallika Ghosh, who secured admission to a leading British university, has requested a deferment. “With the rupee’s depreciation my costs have gone up 20 percent,” she said. “I hope that by the next term the rupee will have stabilised and regained.”

She added that it was already a struggle to scrape together £12,000 (US$18,700) for tuition fees and another £8,000 (US$12,500) for living expenses.

As Ghosh has already secured admission, looking at other countries for cheaper courses is not an option. Raising an extra 20 percent was a huge challenge, she said. “If I had applied to other countries such as Germany or France or Singapore earlier, the increase in costs would not have hit me so hard.”

Loan Restrictions

Some students are seeking extra bank loans. However, a Rs2 million (US$36,500) ceiling on loans for overseas education is making this difficult.

“I have already secured a Rs2 million loan from a national bank and I was denied any additional amount,” said Ankur Sarthi, a final-year undergraduate student at Delhi University.

It is common for students to apply for a student loan several months in advance of taking up a place overseas. Sarthi secured a loan two months ago. “I had applied to universities across multiple countries. Now I have to pick the cheapest country and also one that gives me opportunities to earn while I study,” Sarthi said.

The loan limit has not changed since 2001 when the exchange rate was Rs25 to Rs30 to the U.S. dollar compared to around Rs50 now. In 2001, a maximum loan could cover an Indian student’s full education costs in most countries. Now, it is barely enough for one year.

The Indian government has urged banks not to turn down education-loan applications from deserving candidates. But banks remain cautious. According to records, education loans are prone to higher defaults.

“You have to look at the return on an expensive higher education abroad. If a student spends Rs2 million to Rs3 million on education in a world-class institution but struggles to get a well paying job, is the education worth it?” asked a senior official at a public sector bank who did not want to be named.

The government’s much-delayed credit guarantee fund for education, to support higher education and skills training by providing surety to banks against student loans, has yet to be implemented.

The fund was mooted in 2012 by then finance minister Pranab Mukherjee to ease the risks for banks of lending to students. Bankers regard education loans as high-risk, non-performing assets.

India’s slowing economic growth and a gloomy jobs outlook in the past four years have fuelled fears of risky loans, while the number of students seeking loans has gone up significantly.

As of March 2013, there were 2,509,465 education loan accounts with a total amount outstanding of Rs5.352 billion. Over 5 percent of outstanding student loans had turned bad, up from 2 percent in 2008.

However, according to some reports, banks are contemplating extending the repayment period of loans taken to pursue higher studies abroad, to spread interest payments over a longer period and reduce the cost.

But many students say they may have to borrow from relatives.

Support for Students

Students already enrolled in institutions abroad will have little relief. However, universities should do their bit to help prospective students, experts believe.

Ravi Lochan Singh, managing director of the Kolkata-based consultancy Global Reach, feels it has been “a very difficult last few months” for Indian students – just when American, British, and Canadian universities have been gearing up for admission.

“It is time these institutions stepped in and helped out the [Indian] students who are about to reach their campuses,” Singh said. Scholarships or India-specific grants of up to 10 percent of the tuition fee should be offered to bridge the widening gap between planned and real costs.

“Universities should freeze their tuition fees for a few years. Universities do teach economics, and the first lesson relates to demand and supply and how the price is fixed. We should let that be applied here too,” Singh said.

Last year Australia eased restrictions on working hours for Indian students, particularly postgraduates, to help them cope with the impact of the depreciating rupee.

http://chronicle.com/article/Indian-Students-Worry-About/141525/

Foreign universities in India: Dollar education in rupees

Rahul, a Delhiite, has performed exceedingly well in his senior secondary examination and is excited to join a prestigious undergraduate programme at an Ivy league university. He and his parents are least bothered about the weakening of the rupee against the dollar and its negative impact on the cost of overseas education. This is not due to his affluent background but because he will be pursuing the programme at the Gurgaon campus of the foreign university. This dream of thousands, may be millions, of Indian students aspiring for world-class foreign education at rupee cost may soon become reality if the government has its way.

It is common knowledge that the MHRD had formulated the Foreign Education Providers Bill in 2010 to permit foreign universities to set up campuses in India. The Bill, however, has been awaiting Parliamentary nod for a long time. Given the existing situation, we now understand that the government is in the process of finalising regulations that seek to achieve the objectives defined under the aforesaid Bill. This development has been confirmed by the education minister while replying to a question in Parliament. The Bill, in its current form, had placed certain conditions, such as a minimum corpus of R500 million and restriction on ploughing back of profits on foreign universities desirous of setting up a campus in India.

In the past few years, some of these onerous conditions have been a subject of intense debate in the industry. As per some industry experts, such conditions will put off some of the most prestigious global universities to invest in the Indian market. We will have to wait and watch as to how many of these conditions are prescribed under the proposed regulations.

These regulations have become all the more important for an Indian student eyeing overseas degrees given the recent fall in the value of the rupee. To quote statistics, the rupee has depreciated by about 9% in the last month itself with analysts predicting new lows in the near future.

Further, the monthly average value of rupee versus dollar in the last one year indicates a fall of nearly 13% in value.

The accompanying table clearly indicates that the cost of pursuing an MBA from Stanford University has gone up by around 17% due to the weakening rupee. Please note that the additional burden on the student is even more significant as social costs of living have not been included in this calculation.

In today's tough economic situation, this is bound to impact the plans of the aspiring middle class seeking overseas education for their wards. The proposed regulations can thus provide a breather by providing access to quality higher education at an affordable cost and transform the entire landscape of higher education system in the country. The foreign universities are expected to introduce global best practices in pedagogy, curricula, research and training. In order to meet the new benchmark, the domestic education players would be forced to improve the quality of their service offerings also. In addition, the domestic campuses of foreign universities would also help the government in keeping a check on brain-drain as most of the academically brilliant students, who currently pursue education overseas, generally tend to accept foreign job offers.

In the past, institutions such as Duke University,Virginia Tech, University of Southern California and many more have openly expressed their interest in setting up a campus in India. Such institutions are expected to revive their India plans on notification of the proposed regulations. With over 50% of the populations below 25 years, annual enrolment of over 21 million students in higher education and GER of around 18% the country offers an attractive proposition for such institutions. We believe this is certainly a step in the right direction and is expected to reap rich benefits in the long run. We would ideally like a law to be passed and enacted that will supersede the proposed regulations in order to lend more comfort to the foreign institutions planning to invest in the Indian market.

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/foreign-universities-in-india-dollar-education-in-rupees/1166346/0

Sunday 8 September 2013

EAMCET 2013 Engineering Web Options from Sept 3: Seat Allotment on September 17

EAMCET 2013 Engineering Web Options from Sept 3: Seat Allotment on September 17

Government of Andhra Pradesh revealed that EAMCET engineering web options will begin from September 3.  Seat allotment will be done on September 17.  The information will be sent to the candidates on their mobile phones.

Government of Andhra Pradesh announced the dates for EAMCET engineering counselling web options.  Specified rankers have to give their web options from September 3rd to 12th. 2013.  This was announced by technical education commissioner Ajay Jain, higher education council head Jaya Prakash Rao.  They informed that as certification verification procedure that began on 19th August is completed.  There are 2.17 lakh rankers and among them nearly 1.22 lakh candidates got their certificated verified.

Due to unrest in Seemandhra, last date for certification verification is extended to September 3.  It is also informed that candidates can register from any 37 help line centres that are working in Seemandhra region.

From September 13, one to one lakh rankers can give their web options.  Web options can be given not only from homes, net centres but also from help line centres.  Those who did not get their certificates verified can get them verified by the authorities in the helpline centres during web options.

NCC, sports and other category candidates who qualified in EAMCET can get their certificates verified till September 3. Engineering seat allotment will be done till 06.00 pm on 17th September, 2013.  Engineering classes in Andhra Pradesh begins from September 23.

Dates in September                                  Details of Rankers
3,4                                                                 1 – 40,000
5,6                                                                 40,001-80,000
7,8                                                                 80,001-1,20,000
9,10                                                            1,20,001-1,60,000
11, 12                                                         1,60,001  – till last rank

 Number of candidates who got their certificates verified in Seemandhra is less than the number of candidates who attended the certificate verification in Telangana.  Counselling date was scheduled on August 22 but has to be postponed due to agitations and boycott of duties by polytechnic lecturers.

Candidates can change the web options they locked from September 13.  On eve of Ganesh Chaturthi, Engineering counselling helpline centres will not function on September 9.  After allotting the seats on September 17, the information will be sent to the mobiles of the candidates.  They will also be placed on    web counselling  at the official website of EAMCET.

http://www.aegindia.org/2013/08/eamcet-2013-engineering-web-options-from-sept-3-seat-allotment-on-september-17/2131513.html