India can help educate the world, says Indian-American online tutoring pioneer

An Indian-American pioneer in online tutoring believes that with its best talent and technology India can create educational material for the rest of the world, raising standards and creating jobs.

Harry Aurora, CEO of iTutor Inc, will present his ideas on the future of online education at a panel discussion Sunday on 'Developing India's Silicon Valley' at the Harvard India Conference presented by the Harvard Business School and Harvard Kennedy School in Boston.

Professor Sunil Gupta, Professor of Business Administration and Head of the Marketing Department, Harvard Business School will moderate the panel discussion at the March 9-10 conference on the theme of 'India vs India: Local Strength or Global Growth'.

"India can boast the best talent and technology and can create educational material for the rest of the world, raising standards and creating jobs," said New York based Aurora said.

"A prestigious platform like Harvard will spread the news all over and create awareness about the importance of improving academics of every individual," he said.

India-born Aurora last month merged the ETutor Inc that he founded with iTutor Inc, thus combining iTutor's decade of online tutoring experience with the premier online interactive whiteboard technology of TheETutor.com.

"The new iTutor.com will shape history and play a pivotal role in the future framework of distance learning," he said.

"With the right tools and experience iTutor.com will help students from anywhere in the world increase their grades, test scores, and spring them into the next phase of the educational experience, all while preparing them for the job market of the future," Aurora said.

At the new iTutor.com, students can sign-up for free using the 'join now' form on the company's homepage. After which students are immersed in an online resource library that provides complete academic support in all subjects taught in a traditional K-12 classroom.

From the students' user interface they have the ability to schedule live tutoring sessions with certified and highly experienced educators and or playback their pre-recorded tutoring sessions for continued support.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/nri/us-canada-news/India-can-help-educate-the-world-says-Indian-American-online-tutoring-pioneer/articleshow/18884133.cms

Read More

Private school management seek probe on income certificates

The process of admission to schools under Right to Education (RTE) Act will go on as per schedule despite private school management association has petitioned district administration seeking a probe on the veracity of income certificate submitted by the parents.

District authorities said if parents have submitted certificate with false income details we will initiate action against such parents after cross-verification. However all private schools have been directed to adhere to the admission schedule.

CBSE, ICSE and State Private Schools Management Association president R Raghu, on behalf of 150 institutions in Mysore, Mandya, Chamarajanagar and Kodagu districts, has appealed respective deputy commissioners seeking a probe into the genuineness of income certificates. For the sake of getting seats in private schools, a majority of parents have submitted certificate saying their income are only between Rs 8000 and 11,000 annually, which we are doubting.

"We want district administrations to probe thoroughly into it because actual beneficiaries will be deprived of seats," said Raghu.

Association president Raghu stated we have sought deputy commissioners to intervene as the issue is serious. We have submitted copies of income certificates to deputy commissioner in Mysore to get it verified as we are suspecting it because majority of parents who have sought seats under RTE are well-off, he claimed adding we are awaiting direction from administration to proceed further.

Deputy Commissioner Ramegowda told TOI said we are probing into the allegation by the private school management association. I am getting the copies of income certificates submitted by the association verified by respective thasildars. The top bureaucrat however said the process of admission will continue because genuine applicants should not be inconvenienced.

"If any parent/guardian has given false income details they will be prosecuted besides denying the seat to their wards," the DC confirmed.

As per schedule school admission is expected to commence from March 15.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/education/news/Private-school-management-seek-probe-on-income-certificates/articleshow/18881836.cms

Read More

India can help educate rest of the world

 Washington, March 9: 

India can help educate rest of the world as it possesses the best of talent and technological resources, an Indian-American educationist has said.

Harry Aurora, CEO of iTutor, is all set to address the students and faculty at the Harvard India Conference today organised jointly by the Harvard Business School and Harvard Kennedy School in Boston.

He will present his ideas on the future of online education at a panel discussion tomorrow on ‘Developing India’s Silicon Valley’.

“India can boast the best talent and technology and can create educational material for the rest of the world, raising standards and creating jobs,” said the New-York based Aurora.

The theme of the March 9-10 conference is ‘India vs India: Local Strength or Global Growth’.

Ajay Maken, Union Minister for Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, and Sam Pitroda, Advisor to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, are among the invitees who will deliver keynote address at the two-day conference that kicks off in Boston today.

The panel discussion that Aurora will address will be moderated by Professor Sunil Gupta, Professor of Business Administration and Head of the Marketing Department, Harvard Business School.

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/india-can-help-educate-rest-of-the-world/article4491511.ece

Read More

ISB expands global footprint, ties up with Japan B-school

Expanding its global footprint in executive education, Indian School of Business (ISB), one of the country's top business schools, has tied up with a leading institute of Japan to offer courses for Japanese executives.

This agreement with Tokyo-based GLOBIS will help chief executives and other top level executives of Japanese companies looking to expand their businesses to India and other emerging economies.

"The ISB's research in emerging market solutions will come handy for these executives to learn doing business in countries like India and China," Ramanathan Hariharan, head of ISB's Centre for Executive Education (CEE), said.

The ISB will design and deliver courses including open programmes or short-duration programmes that are driven by research, workshops, seminars and "custom-designed programmes" or specialised courses, devised to cater to specific needs of individuals, employees of various organisations in the public and private sector and government departments in Japan.

The executive education will be a bilateral effort with executives from India also getting to know business practices in Japan. "This will be important in view of the large number of Indian companies partnering or competing with Japanese firms," said Hariharan.

ISB plans to roll out at least five programmes for Japanese executives during the current year.

Japan is the fourth country the ISB has tied up with after similar agreements signed with business schools of Pakistan, Oman, Sri Lanka and Mauritius.

"The expansion of our global footprint vindicates ISB's vision of investing in research in emerging market solutions. We leverage that research through executive education to offer solutions to those wanting to do business in India or Indian companies keen to do business overseas," said Hariharan, who is also a senior director at ISB.

ISB has strategies to reach out to Africa, Middle East and South East Asia. It recently rolled out first programme in Mauritius, considered as the gateway to Africa.

The ISB has already delivered courses for one batch at the Institute of Business Administration (IBA), Karachi.

In May last year, the ISB had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Bahwan CyberTek (BCT) Group of Oman, to provide executive education courses in the Middle East.

"In Pakistan the second batch has been finalised and Mauritius is happening in the coming week. A batch consists of 30 participants on an average drawn from different corporates and includes the government as well," said Hariharan.

ISB sources said the CEE is already holding talks with some countries in the Middle East to offer executive education. Preliminary talks are on with Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Qatar.

The course models developed by ISB include three- to five-day courses on leadership and strategy, delivered to students in their own country.

Under the other model with a multi-phase approach, one phase happens in the home country location where the ISB faculty goes and delivers the programme, the second phase in ISB campus in India and the next phase at ISB's partner school location in the US.

The third model is participants coming over to ISB campus for exposure to India centric themes.

Established here in 2001 by a group of leading industrialists and academicians from India and abroad, the ISB has its campus here on 260-acre land. In 2012, it opened a second campus at Mohali in Punjab.

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_isb-expands-global-footprint-ties-up-with-japan-b-school_1809224

Read More

Cisco Introduces Live Remote Education Platform for Indian Classrooms

Bangalore: Creating a milestone in the Indian education market, Cisco announced the Cisco Education Enabled Development (CEED 2700) solution.

This collaborative, cloud-based video interaction solution will enable efficient delivery of education and skills development courses across the country, facilitating inclusive growth and empowering rural India. Codenamed ‘Dwara’ (after the Sanskrit word for portal to signify a doorway to a new future), the product is the first of Cisco’s ground-breaking ‘Internet of Everything’ solutions from India.

Helping connect the unconnected, this solution will enable vast rural populations to access expert teachers and master trainers. Such training is nearly impossible in many areas outside urban centres.

‘CEED' is the second product to be launched from Cisco's India site with the intent of driving innovation from India to the rest of the world. With successful international compliance certified under FCC, CE and UL Labs, Cisco is fulfilling its vision to help transform education for the unprivileged by bringing down the cost of technology in education to about  $1 per child per month.

‘CEED’ is a comprehensive integrated and open learning platform designed to utilize Cisco Collaboration suite to deliver cloud-driven live and hosted video and other content. With the enablement of remote teaching and learning, every rural school can now offer the same level of expert teaching that is available only to children in cities.




http://www.siliconindia.com/news/enterpriseit/Cisco-Introduces-Live-Remote-Education-Platform-for-Indian-Classrooms-nid-142697-cid-7.html

Read More

Now fundraising app for girls' education

MUMBAI: On International Women's Day, Plan India, an NGO that works towards the upliftment of under-privileged children, will launch a web-based application to raise funds for the education of girls in the country, an official said.

The app based on the micro site www.educateagirl.org is being supported by women achievers like Indra Nooyi, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Anu Aga, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Kirthiga Reddy and Shobhaa De.

To be launched under the aegis of "Because I am a Girl" campaign, the application projects a happy child, in mosaic, made of blocks.

Each block is worth a donation of Rs.500 and when a donor makes a contribution, his or her picture gets embedded in that block, providing the instant satisfaction of 'standing behind the girl child'.

"There is no greater wish a woman can have on Women's Day than to have her own identity, economic self reliance and live a life of dignity. Only education makes that possible," said Bhagyashri Dengle, executive director, Plan India.

"It is our collective responsibility to ensure that our girls go to school, graduate from college, join the workforce and change the world," said Kiran Mazumdar Shaw.

Plan India's primary objective under this campaign is to enable girls to enrol and complete quality primary and secondary education in a safe and supportive community environment.

Through the fundraiser, Plan India aims to raise at least Rs.12 million to educate 2,000 girls in our country for one year.

Plan India's 'Because I am a Girl' campaign aims to ensure over 3,40,000 girls remain in school and access quality education, 1,00,000 girls complete secondary school through various school improvement programs and 50,000 girls receive vocational training by the year 2015.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/personal-tech/computing/Now-fundraising-app-for-girls-education/articleshow/18850317.cms

Read More

Are India’s Higher Education Standards Lagging Its Asian Peers?

Despite India's status as a rising global economic power and the producer of many of the world’s best scientific minds, its universities apparently leave something to be desired.



According to The (London) Times Higher Education World University Rankings for Asia in 2012-2013, only three Indian institutions appeared on the list of the top 57 Asian universities -- Indian Institute of Technology, in Kharagpur (No. 28); Indian Institute of Technology, in Mumbai (34), and Indian Institute of Technology, in Roorkee (53).

In contrast, Japan scored 13 of the top 57, including the University of Tokyo, which took the top spot in Asia.

Rounding out the other biggest Asian votegetters were China (with nine universities), Taiwan (seven), South Korea and Hong Kong (six each).

Indeed, India finished equal to Israel, which has an infinitesimal percentage of India’s huge population. Moreover, India failed to place even one of its universities in the Times’ overall top 100 global "reputation" rankings.

Unless The Times harbors some kind of bias against the subcontinent, clearly something is wrong with India’s educational system.

Phil Baty, rankings editor for Times Higher Education, said in a statement: "As a country with a rapidly growing economy and a fine tradition of scholarship, it is a cause for concern that India does not have any institutions that are sufficiently highly regarded by international scholars that they feature among the global top 100 of our World Reputation Rankings.

“[It] shows how far its top institutions must travel to join the elite top 100. … India's higher education institutions seem to be a long way off in terms of global prestige."

Within India itself, senior government officials have already expressed concerns about the nation’s higher educational standards and performance.

In February, no less a figure than Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told a conference: "Too many of our higher education institutions are simply not up to the mark. Too many of them have simply not kept abreast with changes that have taken place in the world around us ... [and are] still producing graduates in subjects that the job market no longer requires."

He added: "It is a sobering thought for us that not one Indian university figures in the top 200 universities of the world today."

The Indo-Asian News Service reported last month that India's higher and professional education system is passing through a difficult period.

“It is non-directional because there is no comprehensive policy on governance and role of education in the growth of a nation,” wrote Arun Nigaveka, Raja Ramanna Fellow in Science and Technology Park at the University of Pune and former chairman of the University Grants Commission.

“The system is simply drifting. The states are struggling to find their way to meet challenge of numbers in a revenue-cost squeeze, including rising costs of faculty, technology and administrative burden.”

Some suggest India should look to its giant neighbor (and bitter rival) China to learn how to develop elite world-class universities.

University World News reported that at an education conference held in Delhi last month, Jerry M. Hultin, president of the Polytechnic Institute of New York University, warned, “A global university has to be layered. India does not only need professors and Ph.D. scholars. It needs managers, technicians and entrepreneurs. Other than research degrees, a university can look at creating two-year associate degree programs that equip students with skills to find a job and make a living. The best students or those interested can go on to do a Ph.D.”

Hutlin cited what the Chinese are doing.

“They want a bigger role in the world and they also want more brains. Secondly, they want international players to set standards that will be seen as examples by their own educators,” he said.

Robin Lewis of Beijing Normal University, a conference delegate, suggested India follows China’s example in partnering with foreign schools.

“China is looking seriously into the lack of critical thinking and innovation in its education system and forging international partnerships to overcome this disadvantage. India has to emulate this,” Lewis said.

“The Chinese government has been more effective in supporting higher education. Government subsidies today come with no strings attached. There is a willingness to send people for training and a greater effort to bring them back. But in terms of ecosystems, India has some natural advantages that it should make use of.”

On the bright side, India has delivered an extraordinary improvement in its literacy rate – jumping to 74 percent in 2011 from only 12 percent at the end of British rule in 1947.

http://www.ibtimes.com/are-indias-higher-education-standards-lagging-its-asian-peers-1113526

Read More

India, France sign pacts on space research, education, culture

France President Francois Hollande who is on an official visit to India is heading a high-level delegation, including six ministers and a 50-member trade delegation. For Hollande, who became president last May, this is his first bilateral state visit to Asia, and on a personal level, his first visit to India.

He will be accompanied by his companion Valerie Trierweiler — a journalist. They are the first unmarried couple to represent France.

While the two big ticket deals with France — the over $10-billion contract for the purchase of 126 Rafale fighter jets and French reactors for the Jaitapur nuclear power plant — are not ready for being inked during the visit, Hollande and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh are to discuss the status of the contracts during their delegation-level talks Thursday.

http://www.firstpost.com/world/live-french-president-hollande-meets-president-pranab-625273.html

Read More

Madrasas to be linked to mainstream education system

The age-old system of madrasa (religious schools) and maktabs (primary schools) teaching is set to undergo an overhaul with the state government planning their modernization and linking them to the mainstream education system.

The scheme will introduce vigorous reforms in the age-old system to enable the madrasas to keep pace with the modern world and bring its graduates closer to job opportunities. Similar schemes have been planned in other states in the backdrop of charges that madrasas have become breeding grounds of 'conservatism'. However, while the allegations brought the spotlight back on the system,
the efforts to link madrasas to modern educational system has, in general, found opposition from community scholars for the fear that such a move will ensure madrasas lose their independence.

A meeting was held on Monday to discuss the modalities of the scheme that will affect more than two lakh students of madrasas across the state. As part of the scheme, the government will ensure systematic improvement in the infrastructure of residential madrasas, living facilities and educational methods being adopted at madrasas in every district. The scheme will be drawn on the lines of similar projects introduced by the Centre. The state will hold a video-conference of various religious heads and scholars before finalizing it.

"Madrasa education is limited to religious scripts and teachings of Islam. However, there are some madrasas (such as Darul-uloom at Deobund) that have been at the forefront in introducing modern curriculum and education. If this could be emulated elsewhere, lakhs of children can be pulled into the mainstream society and system," said chief secretary J K Banthia.

The government will also carry out registration drives for madrasas as several operate without government verification or accreditation. This, officials said, could be out of fear of losing their autonomy to state authorities.

Muslim scholars welcomed the move but said the government must ensure that it did not interfere in the management. "If they want to teach modern languages and computer studies, we have no problem. But they should assure us they will not touch our curriculum. As it is, we are answerable to tax authorities and the charity commissioner," said Maulana Sayed Ather Ali, member of Muslim Personal Law Board.

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-02-12/mumbai/37058191_1_madrasa-education-mainstream-education-system-muslim-personal-law-board

Read More

CA Technologies Announces Centre Of Excellence

CA Technologies has announced the establishment of the Centre of Excellence (COE), to be housed in Chitkara University in Punjab and Himachal Pradesh. As part of this collaboration, CA Technologies will be setting up the centre to help drive the adoption and awareness of CA Technologies solutions from the root level.

Under the agreement, Chitkara University will roll out CA Technologies programs, at the Undergraduate level. The programs would be embedded in various course schemes or as value add-ons to students. The institute will feature courses on CA Spectrum and CA Applogic in Computer Science/ IT/ Computer Application curriculum as either elective or as add-on courses. Experts from CA Technologies will train the faculty of the university on the CA curricula.

“This is a great opportunity for us to influence the growing minds of future IT professionals and future leaders,” said Sunil Manglore, Vice President, CA Technologies, India. “In the present day scenario, where India has a pool of untapped potential, it is exciting for us to partner with an established institute like Chitkara University. This move reinforces our commitment to developing an ecosystem that would ensure students gain proficiency and competitive advantage using leading edge technologies. This is just one step closer towards creating a brighter India.”

Founded in 1998, Chitkara University focuses on the pursuit of excellence in all fields of education and adheres to the highest standards of academic rigor in all its work. Leading in the core areas of Information Technology, such as Computer Science, Electronics and Communications, and their applications in other domains, the university offers a combination of theoretical and applied computer science. This results in the creation of exciting, secure, scalable, highly effective and innovative solutions in an extremely responsive agile manner. Learning institutions such as Chitkara University are building a remarkable pool of talent for the Indian software industry.

“Chitkara University produces self-confident, well-equipped, job-ready graduates. We have established an unassailable reputation for very strong on-campus recruitment on the sheer virtue of our intensive focus on making all our graduates ‘industry-ready’. We aim to provide resources to succeed in tomorrow’s changing global job market and are committed to help our students attain a position best suited to their long term career goals. Our degree programs focus on both academic and professional training. Collaboration with CA Technologies will facilitate our learning-centric teaching approach, which lays emphasis on enhancing knowledge, skills and understanding through practical experience”, said Dr. Madhu Chitkara, Vice Chancellor, Chitkara University.

http://biztech2.in.com/news/education/ca-technologies-announces-centre-of-excellence/153552/0

Read More