AICTE to Hold Management Entrance Test Abroad

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June 21, 2012

For non-resident children Indian the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) plans to hold a common management admission test (CMAT) abroad. AICTE chairman Dr SS Mantha said since the first CMAT in February 2012, many prospective students abroad have been enquiring about it. “We have 3,800 management schools across the country. We will target the Gulf countries which have a good strength of Indians. Eventually, we will focus on US and Europe also,” he said.

At present, Mantha said, AICTE was working on logistics. “Once that is through, we will go ahead with our plan. I’m not sure if we will be able to make this arrangement when we conduct the next CMAT in September. But by next February, we will be able to conduct the exam abroad.”

The CMAT, he said, would become an alternative option to the GMAT for NRI students over the years. “Eventually, every AICTE-affiliated institute will have to switch over to the CMAT.”

As many as 50,000 students appeared for the first CMAT against a projected figure of two lakh.

Mantha said there were plans to increase the number of centres in India and ensure that candidates get centres close to their preferred locations. “ I will also persuade state universities also to consider the CMAT for admission to their institutes. This will further broaden the reach of CMAT,” he added.

Engineering Colleges Struggling For Additional Seats

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June 21, 2012

A delegation of trustees from the Gujrat state government met All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) chairman S S Mantha for clearing the 3,800 engineering seats which were kept on hold last month.

AICTE has held back the increase of 3,800 seats in nearly 27 engineering colleges of the state. The move came following the arrest of western region’s regional officer based in Bhopal by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) last month. The Bhopal office of AICTE which governs Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, was sealed by CBI. The decision of increasing the intake in engineering colleges of all three states has been put on hold.

“We have requested the chairman to get the investigations fast tracked and get the seats cleared before July. The admissions for the technical courses will begin by the first week of July and if the seats are cleared after that then colleges will have to wait for a year to get them filled,” said a college trustee.

The trustee said that the AICTE official has assured them that the around 2,000 seats would be cleared in a week’s time. However, after the arrest of the regional officer there were fears that the procedure of colleges’ inspection will be done all over again and admissions to engineering and pharmacy colleges might get delayed. But sources said that AICTE might also hold back the increase looking at the number of vacant engineering seats in the state.

This year, with an increase of 7,000 seats there are close to 58,000 engineering colleges across the state. The admission committee fears that 11,000 to 12,000 seats may remain vacant in engineering colleges this year too.

Top CBSE Schools Get Lukewarm Response on First Day of RTE Free Admissions

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June 21, 2012

Following the RTE act, surprisingly the top CBSE schools registered a lukewarm response on the first day of Right to Education free admission. The top private CBSE schools received a poor response from applicants, whereas some state schools where education is already free are already oversubscribed.

Applicants who have filled up the form and have the required supporting documents can start the submission process immediately. Forms can be submitted till June 25. Every applicant will be given a RTE registration number which will be later used for the lottery if required.

CBSE Modifies Affiliation Bye-Laws

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June 20, 2012

To ensure safety of school children that use the school transport , the Central board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has modified its affiliation bye-laws to include transport precautions.

Guidelines issued by the board includes the exterior of the bus must be painted with uniform colour with the name of the school written on both sides of the bus.

The word ” School Bus” must be written on the back and front of the bus. If it is hired bus, “On School Duty” should be clearly indicated. Moreover, telephone number of the school and telephone number of any contact person shall also have to be written prominently, so that in case of necessity the public can inform the school authority/police or other authorities.

Specifying the fixture and furniture of the bus, the board has clearly notified that the windows of Bus should be fitted with horizontal grills and with mesh wire. The doors of the Bus should be fitted with reliable locks and all buses must be fitted with speed control devices so that they do not exceed the speed limit of 40 Kmph. All school buses should also have fire extinguisher.

In addition of infrastrucutre there must be a qualified attendant in the bus. School buses should also have first aid boxes and to keep the school bags safely, there should be a space fitted under the seats.

IIT Admission Proposal May Get Modified

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June 20, 2012

With the Prime Minister’s intervention, the HRD Ministry is now conceived to have a modified proposal for IIT admission. The new proposal that has been sent to the IIT Joint Admission Board (JAB) seeks to drastically restrict the number of aspirants appearing for the Joint Entrance Examination (Advanced).

As per the proposal, only 20 per cent of the top scorers in the Plus Two Exam in each Board (CBSE, ICSE and State Boards) would be eligible to appear for the JEE (Advanced) test that would be conducted by the IITs. The proposal has been “verbally communicated” by JAB Chairman and IIT Delhi Director R K Shevgaonkar to office bearers of the All India IIT Faculty Federation. It shall be finalised after wider consultation with faculty across the IITs.

The plan is in complete contrast to the controversial ‘one-nation, one-test’ policy mooted earlier by the Ministry which provided for an ‘unscientific’ percentile normalisation of Plus Two marks.

Informed sources said that students who do not fall within the top 20 per cent performers’ category would be automatically eliminated from the race. There will also be another stage of “gating” or “filtering” based on the performance of candidates in the JEE (Preliminary) pape

AICTE New Regulations for NRI Quota Engineering Seats Plug Loophole

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June 20, 2012

New guidelines set by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has made it hard for students to take admission under the Non-Resident Indians (NRI) quota.

Only seven students have admission in engineering colleges this year against a quota of around 100 seats. Last year, the figure stood at 12. Before 2011, 90 students had taken admission under this quota. The unusually high number of students at that time had made the AICTE to sit up and prompted it to come out with new guidelines.

“The AICTE made several changes in rules for children of NRIs. Unlike earlier years, there is no provision for admission to NRI-sponsored students,” said directorate of technical education deputy director Dr B L Reddy.

Hailing changes made by the AICTE, Reddy said several students had taken admission in NRI quota in the past by showing “anyone as their relative.”It was an injustice to students who were cracking the PET, but still not getting admission. Now, new guidelines clearly mentions that only parents can be treated as your first relative,” Reddy said.

According to AICTE guidelines, technical institutions shall be permitted by competent authority for admission in respective states and union territories to admit the NRI students up to maximum of 5% of the total sanctioned intake. For NRI quota seats, only a person who is NRI himself may seek admission and no other candidate without NRI status will be eligible.

Asked about the vacant seats in NRI quota, Reddy said any such vacant seat would be turned into payment seat and this will have to be filled up with selected candidates, the list of which is prepared in keeping with the procedure laid down for admission to technical institutions. Private institutions never approach the authorities for seeking NRI quota facility in their institutions.

UP Government Passes Rs 1,715 Crore for Higher Education

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June 20, 2012

The Uttar Pradesh state government tabled department budget during the legislative assembly wherein Rs 354.47 crore for department of technical education, Rs 1,715.62 crore for higher education, Rs 242.21 crore for vocational education were passed.

Reacting to suggestions made by BJP’s Radhamohan Das Agarwal, the state government also said it would consider suggestions to start 5-year integrated post graduate courses in the state. In addition, the government also agreed to order an inquiry into the delay in payments to madrassa teachers. Responding to a question raised by Congress’s Rita Bahuguna Joshi about why payments were delayed despite grants being released by the Centre in November, 2011, parliamentary affairs minister Mohammad Azam Khan said strict action would be initiated against those found guilty. In response to another question raised by Joshi, Khan ruled out the possibility of increasing the salaries of madrassa teachers.

India and US Ties Up to Strengthen Indian Educational Structure

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June 20, 2012

Education institutes of India and US joins hands to make a pool of trained mid-career academicians. These trained talent pool can be groomed further into potential leaders and thereby the Indian education structure could be made strong.

Education (CSHE), in association with Rutgers University and Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) in Mumbai, will host an Indian Higher Education Academy at Penn State in 2013 to specifically address the needs of Indian higher education and build academic leaders.

This is part of a proposal, for which the three institutions were awarded the Obama-Singh 21st Century Knowledge Initiative Grant, as announced by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently. Robert M Hendrickson, interim director and senior scientist at the Centre For Study of Higher Education, Penn State University, told that besides onsite sessions from May 19 to May 23, 2013, at Penn State, six virtual sessions would be scheduled during the 2013-2014 on topics selected by participants.

As many as 30 heads from the Indian higher education field are expected to participate in the academy. Elaborating further, Prof Hendrickson said, “The academy has been set up to provide foundational knowledge to help academic administrators of higher education institutions become more effective administrators of academic units. Several higher education leaders and vice-chancellors from India will be present at the Academic Leadership Academy, to be held from June 24 to June 28. They will help put topic areas in an Indian context for the 2013 India Academic Leadership Academy.”

Speaking on the matter, he said, “The Academic Leadership Academy was originally developed to address the problem of developing leadership vacuum created by the retirement of 50 per cent academic leaders in the US. With the development of new post secondary institutions in India, there is a growing need for quality academic leadership.”

Tata Institute of Social Sciences professor B Venkatesh Kumar, who is the project leader from the Indian side said: “We will identify potential candidates from universities and institutes who are mid-career, and then put them through a process of training and mentoring.”

IIT Kharagpur to Set up Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy Institute of Medical Science and Research

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June 19, 2012

Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur takes the first step to have its dream Institute Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy Institute of Medical Science and Research with financial approval of Rs 230 crore for a 400 bed superspeciality hospital. The hospital will be made operational within two years. The hospital in next phase would be upgraded to 750 bed. With an operational hospital, the Institute will start Medical education programme leading to MBBS, MD, MS and DM degrees with approval of MCI.

The hospital will be the catalyst to accelerate biomedical, clinical and translational research. Drug design and delivery will be other key research area to which the hospital will contribute. It will bring the two diverse disciplines of engineering and medicine together in education and research.

In the first phase, the Institute will have a Bioinnovation Centre. The Centre will be devoted to research in biomedical engineering and remote healthcare delivery. There will be a healthcare outreach unit. It will significantly extend heathcare outreach to the remote underserved areas through remote diagnostic, telepathology, teleradiology and other diagnostic tools. Remote diagnostic devices will be cellular network compatible. Medical advices will be provided through telemedicine. A series of small healthcare kiosks will be linked to the outreach units. The kiosks will be manned by trained paramedics. The Institute will have also its own nursing and paramedic training facilities.

The Institute will have its unique teaching college in medicine, the first of its type in the country. Small group teaching with electronic connectivity to patient, surgical table, diagnostic facilities etc. will make teaching learning more meaningful. Artificial reality, models and simulators will be extensively used for teaching. Surgery practice will be done through models, simulators and telesurgery. The products will have much higher skills and competence to provide high tech healthcare services.

The Institute will have few intakes at undergraduate level but more at postgraduate level. Research will be the focuss of the Institute. IIT Kharagpur has collaboration with University of California, San Diego and Johns Hopkins University to have a state of the art Medical Institute, the first of its kind in India in IIT Kharagpur.

Goa Government to Launch Higher Education Plan for Orphans

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June 19, 2012

The Panaji government has thought of coming with a plan to offer higher education to the orphans. The government has formulated a scheme ‘Dayanand Bandodkar scheme for higher education for orphans’ to provide assistance to them to pursue further studies, including technical education, from the academic year 2012-13.

The higher education department will operate the scheme, which has been accorded approval by the state government.

“The basic purpose of formulating the scheme for higher education is to support the educational needs of the children who have lost both parents and are deprived of higher education for want of financial resources,” a source said.

Orphans can avail of the scheme to pursue undergraduate courses up to post graduation in general and also technical education.

The beneficiaries will be exempted from payment of fees in the academic institutions, in which they enroll for higher education, as the government will take care of the waiver of the fees.

As per the terms of eligibility for the waiver of fees, the students should be born in Goa or residents of the state at least for last 15 years.

The students who are enrolled for first year of their degree/post graduate courses are entitled to the benefits under the scheme. The exemption of fees covers tuition fees, library fees, laboratory fees and development fees, and also other charges such as lodging and/ boarding, food (hostel charges) or transport.

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