Higher Education and Research Bill- Will it empower or deter?

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August 18, 2012

The Bar Council of India (BCI) has decided to defer its agitation against the controversial Higher Education and Research (HER) Bill after HRD Minister, Kapil Sibal, assured that necessary amendments will be carried out to address the concerns of lawyers.

BCI contends the bill will lead to control of legal education passing out of the hands of BCI. It says the government is trying to undermine the authority of the elected body of advocates.

What is your opinion on Higher Education and Research Bill? Will it undermine the authority of elected body of lawyers?

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OMR Intros Online Marking Tool for Education

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digitalLEARNING Network

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August 18, 2012

OMR India Outsources (OMR – IOS) introduces e-Marker, an online marking tool to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the marking process in Indian education sector.Moving away from traditional paper based marking to electronic marking methods; e-Marker will bring improvements in both marking quality and the ability to monitor the marking progress.

DRS’ e-Marker harnesses the power of the internet, along with dedicated processes, specialist services, sophisticated software functionality and high specification technology to deliver a flexible and powerful marking solution.

e-Marker is designed to meet the diverse needs of all types of assessment and testing bodies from a few thousand to millions of scripts. Candidate scripts are securely scanned and imaged using DRS’ award winning PhotoScribe image scanners, capturing every single answer. The images are then securely managed within e-Marker, the integral electronic marking element in the fully inclusive examination marking system.

Genpact and IIM Udaipur Sign Seven-Year Knowledge Partnership

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August 17, 2012

Genpact Limited has announced the signing of an agreement with the Indian Institute of Management, Udaipur (IIMU). Under this seven-year agreement, IIMU and Genpact will jointly develop a center for asset-based lending and finance and an analytics laboratory which will give students the opportunity to solve real time problems, work on proprietary and industry leading software tools and technology as well as get hands on industry experience.

Under the agreement, Genpact will offer summer internships to full-time students and set up a merit- based scholarship. Students who earn the post graduate diploma in management will be eligible for full-time employment at Genpact in its rapidly-growing banking, analytics and finance businesses.

IIMU and Genpact will also work together to create specializations in asset-based lending using application and practical software simulation to identify trends, assess risks, and predict emerging issues in the constantly evolving financial marketplace. This knowledge partnership will build a strong industry-academia linkage to promote, advance and enhance intellectual and innovative capabilities in asset-based lending, finance and analytics and expose students to global best practices. Genpact has a tradition of developing programs with academic institutions globally, including China, India and the U.S. to develop talent in line with the changing market environment.

“It is paramount for the industry to work closely with educational institutions to integrate market evolution with business curriculum,” said Mohit Thukral, senior vice president and business leader, Banking, Financial Services and Insurance, Genpact. “This unique partnership will expose students to Genpact’s cutting-edge technological expertise and will cultivate knowledge-based DNA in young leaders in fields that are expected to grow exponentially over the next decade.”

“The business landscape in the financial sector is more complex and unpredictable than ever before. To address demands of this dynamic sector we need to create a platform where industry and academia can jointly work on these concerns. The IIMU Genpact Knowledge Partnership is a timely response to these challenges. This unique partnership aims to create leaders for financial sector, advance knowledge in the field and in the process make a difference to the sector,” said Janat Shah, Director, Indian Institute of Management, Udaipur.

Trinity College Dublin Announces Scholarships for Postgraduate Students in India

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digitalLEARNING Network

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August 17, 2012

Trinity College Dublin has announced the launch of postgraduate scholarships for Indian students. Trinity College is ranked 65th in the world by the QS World University Rankings.

The university has a long and proud history as an internationally focused university and the launch of sixteen postgraduate scholarships for Indian students is in keeping with that tradition. The scholarships are being offered in any of the university’s taught masters courses offered in Arts, Humanities, Social Sciences, Science, Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics and Health Sciences. Scholarships are valued at €3,000 each for one year. The university’s Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences is offering five scholarships in its taught postgraduate courses. The Faculty of Health Sciences is also offering five scholarships in its taught postgraduate courses and the Faculty of Engineering, Mathematics and Science is offering four scholarships in its taught postgraduate courses.

Additionally, two postgraduate research scholarships valued at €6,000 per year are being offered for three years for full-time study on a PhD programme. The scholarships can be for postgraduate research in any discipline of the faculty provided the supervision expertise is available.

Professor Jane Ohlmeyer, Vice President for Global Relations, Trinity College Dublin, said: “The university offers students a fantastic range of undergraduate and postgraduate courses where they can benefit from a multicultural student experience. This world class education and vibrant student experience equips students with the skills they need to become the leaders and decision makers of tomorrow, ensuring their success and mobility in an increasingly competitive world. We at Trinity are constantly looking to attract people of excellent academic ability for our courses and Indian students have clearly demonstrated they can offer that. Your high educational standards, coupled with good language skills are a perfect fit.”

CBSE introduces course in GIS

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August 14, 2012

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has now introduced a vocational course on ”Geospatial Technology” for its higher secondary students, scheduled to come into effect from the 2013-2014 session.The course offers an opportunity for the students to understand the basics of the technology dealing with mapping and applications. Students will now get an insight into the diverse geospatial database concepts, creating and implementing the same, GIS theory and spatial analysis, supplemented by extensive practical exercises. The present curriculum on the subject will also help students acquire skills for further studies and to enter into the world as professionals. The new subject will be offered as a single vocational elective in class XI and XII. Students can opt for it as an elective with any other combination of subjects at the senior secondary level or as an additional sixth subject as per the scheme of studies of the Board.

Maharashtra to adopt CET model from 2013

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digitalLEARNING Network

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August 14, 2012

Maharashtra will adopt the single common entrance test (CET) model for admissions to engineering colleges, including the Indian Institutes of Technologies (IITs) and National Institute of Technologies (NITs), from 2013, state technical education minister Rajesh Tope said on Monday.

“A proposal in this regard has been prepared and will soon be presented to the state Cabinet for its approval,” Tope told a press conference here.

The new format suggested by HRD minister Kapil Sibal for admission to all central government-funded engineering institutions — IITs, NITs, IIITs etc, proposes one common entrance test, the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE), which will replace the old IIT-JEE and AIEEE.

“Maharashtra government will give 50 per cent weightage to marks scored by students of both English and non-English medium schools in their class XII exam”, Tope said.

The minister said that day and night classes have been started in the state polytechnic colleges for the students from minority communities.

Next Education offers ‘LearnNext’ content to 20 State Boards

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August 14, 2012

Next Education India Pvt Ltd has introduced additional offering of content for 20 State Boards for their product ‘LearnNext’.

LearnNext is a self learning educational product offering from Next Education, which helps students to understand complex topics, problems and theorems by creating an “I” learning system that is interactive, intelligent and independent. LearnNext has high quality content with life-like animation to explain complex topics with practice tests for students to help them revise and practice and generates performance reports and comparative analysis reports with other students who also have taken the tests online.

Next Education has introduced the product for 20 state boards across the country for the subjects – Maths, Physics, and Chemistry and Biology from class 6th to 10th. The product is available online and is priced at Rs 1899, which can be renewed every year.

LearnNext content has been extended to the state Boards of Madhya Pradesh,Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Chandigarh, Goa, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Mizoram, Rajasthan, Sikkim and Uttarakhand.

Commenting on the occasion, Beas Dev Ralhan , CEO, Next Education said, “We see value in extending LearnNext content as State Board syllabus prevails in most parts of the Country and it would help us reach wider target audience. The e-learning industry has been rapidly growing in India and we plan to further strengthen our operations and increase our revenues by tapping the market with our new offerings. “

Commenting on the occasion, Ankur Agarwal, the EVP, Operations & Consumer Businesses, Next Education said, “While designing the solutions we go by the psyche of the students and develop the most student friendly tools that create unmatched conceptual clarity and enhances long-term memory of lessons. With interactive formats like games, quizzes, experiments, LearnNext is truly a highly engaging learning experience for students across the CBSE and ICSE Boards and now available for State Boards as well. ”

Next Education has revenues of over Rs 100 Cr and is growing at 100 percent YoY basis. The company caters to three Million+ students and 4000+partner schools across 600 districts in India. Next Education has recently won the Best Multi-Media Content for K-12 Education at the World Education Summit 2012.

Students Union Force Schools, Colleges to Close in Nepal

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August 13, 2012

Thousands of schools and colleges have been forced shut in Nepal by youth political activists in protest against alleged irregularities and ‘foreign’ names of institutions.

Different sister and youth wings affiliated to as many as 17 political parties have joined a massive protest, and forced academic institutions under the Higher Secondary Education Council and Council of Technical Education and Vocational Training (CTEVT) to close.

The latest protests came after allegations of irregularities surfaced in colleges under CTEVT.

Andhra Pradesh Govt Holds Discussion over Fees Reimbursement Issue

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August 13, 2012

The Andhra Pradesh government held discussions with the managements of private professional colleges over the issue of reimbursement of fees.

Social Welfare minister Pitani Satyanarayana, who heads the Cabinet sub-committee on the issue, told reporters after the talks that the views of the managements would be reported to chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy on Monday.

He said the government was in favour of paying Rs 35,000 (per student) as being done till now.

Several professional managements, who opposed the government’s move to put a cap earlier, have reportedly agreed to the proposal now, their representatives have said.

A controversy erupted after the state government mooted the idea of putting a cap on the amount to be reimbursed towards tuition fees of students of engineering and professional courses.

XLRI unveils new brand identity and brand architecture

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August 13, 2012

With a clear intent to modernise and energise its brand touch-points, XLRI, the premier private B School in India, has unveiled its new brand identity. The updated brand identity of the institute is the visual representation of the XLRI brand – (the tangible elements that make XLRI brand recognisable and reinforce its core values and heritage). The new logo that has been developed is a modern and stylised representation of the traditional XLRI logo and it consists of two primary logos (horizontal name logo and shield logo) and a tagline. The original logo of the institute was developed in early 1950s by the founding fathers. In 2004 slight modifications were made on the logo to include the year of founding – 1949 together with the guiding motto – Excellence & Integrity.
Embedded in the new horizontal name logo, the refined category descriptor ‘Xavier School of Management’ seeks to underscore XLRI’s standing as a more inclusive management education institution whilst retaining the name of the patron saint – Saint Xavier. School of Management also goes beyond the confines of being a mere ‘business?centric’ institution whilst embracing management education in its entirety. The tagline ?’For the Greater Good’ is a reminder of why XLRI exists and how it can be a force for greater good in shaping the management education sector and the community at large.
On the occasion of unveiling the new brand identity E Abraham S.J., the Director of XLRI said ‘The updated brand identity of XLRI connotes the institution’s futuristic outlook whilst retaining the old ‘Jesuit Heritage. The new brand identity also represents the institute’s clear focus and direction that allow greater freedom for the brand to grow nationally and globally’.