ICAI Set Norms to Follow All Higher Educational Institutes

Higher Education

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May 11, 2012

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) has set up a standard format for higher educational institutes of the country. As per the body, all higher education institutes will have to report their financial information in that standard format set by the ICAI.

As per the format, the institutes will now have to disclose their balance sheet and the income and expenditure account. The new system is a shift from the present cash basis of accounting to accrual-based system.

While the balance sheet will include sources and applications of funds along with liabilities and assets, the income and expenditure statement would reflect the academic receipts, grants and donations. With education being a not for profit activity, the ministry of human resource development (MHRD) wants to enforce these standards in order to check how much profit the educational institutes are making.

Reevaluation of high scoring Plus II answer sheets

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May 10, 2012

Reevaluation of high scoring Plus II answer sheets

The Plus II results are yet to be announced in Bhuneshwar, but according to sources around 2,000 students have secured 90 percent or above marks in the examination.

Council of Higher Secondary Education (CHSE) in Orissa has deputed three subject experts to scrutinise the answer sheets of high scoring students. Only after reevaluation of the high scoring students, the results will be published towards May-end.

According to Council of Higher Secondary Education (CHSE) sources the subject experts concerned will re-confirm that the valuation has been done without any bias towards or against any student. But as such they will not award marks on their own. Majority of the high scorers are from science stream, though there are some from arts and commerce streams as well.

In case the subject experts raise doubts about favours being shown to certain students, their papers will go to a higher level committee for further authentication. The Council of Higher Secondary Education in Orissa has already segregated the answer sheets of those getting 90 percent or above.

Another Hiccup in AIEEE Online Exam

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May 9, 2012

The All India Engineering Entrance Exam (AIEEE) has been doing the rounds of late. After reporting the AIEEE online exam malfunction in Chandigrah, we have come up with another story, this time it has happened in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.

The AIEEE online exam that was held on Monday at the LJ Engineering College in Ahmedabad proved to be a terrifying experience for students. The exam was delayed by at least one-and-a-half hours owing to technical problems.

The exam which was supposed to be conducted from 10 am to 1 pm got over at 2.30 pm owing to technical problems. Sources in the college said the examinees in room numbers 7, 8, 9 and 10 were stuck owing to technical errors. The college official said that the students had to be shifted to a different room. The center coordinator spoke to National Informatics Centre (NIC) officials and sorted out the error.

40 MCA, MBA Colleges Shut Down in AP After AICTE Approval

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May 9, 2012

The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has approved about 40 MCA and MBA colleges in Andhra Pradesh to close down their institutions from coming academic year as their courses have few takers.

AICTE director and regional officer AK Gangal has said that they have received 55 applications for closure of 24 MCA, 14 MBA, 5 engineering, 5 pharmacy and 3 technical campuses which have all kinds of professional courses. The AICTE will send them the letters of approval for closure in about 15 days.

All the colleges, in their applications, cited nil or poor admissions as the sole reason for their decision to close down their institutions.

The state has 940 MBA and 636 MCA colleges. Of the 31,181 convener- quota MCA seats available, only 9,443 were filled in the first phase of admissions last year and 21,738 seats were vacant.

In the case of MBA, 23,141 of 62,860 seats under the convener quota remained vacant after the first phase of counselling. Things did not change much even after the second phase.

N Ramesh of the Consortium of Professional Colleges Management Associations says that the state government’s delay in conducting Eamcet counseling is costing them nearly

Singapore, India to Work Together Further in Education, Science & Technology

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May 9, 2012

From the second joint ministerial committee meeting that was held in New Delhi recently attended by Foreign Minister K Shanmugam and his Indian counterpart S M Krishna, it has come out that two countries will strengthen their ties further to work in the fields of education, science and technology.

Since signing the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA), Singapore has emerged as the second largest foreign investor in India with cumulative FDI of around US$14 billion, while India is the eighth largest foreign investor in Singapore.

And both sides are looking to deepen this cooperation in the areas of education and science and technology.

The two sides also discussed on how to improve people-to-people exchanges, tourism and connectivity.

Murthy Recommends Greater Private Sector Involvement in Higher Education

Higher Education

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digitalLEARNING Network

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May 9, 2012

A committee headed by Infosys founder N R Narayana Murthy has suggested path breaking measures to ensure greater involvement of the private sector in higher education in India.

Some of the measures suggested by the panel are: free land for 999 years, 300 per cent deduction in taxable income to companies for contributions towards boosting higher education and 10-year multiple entry visas for foreign research scholars. The committee said accreditation should be made mandatory for all universities and programs run by such universities. The panel’s report could be considered while framing the final document for the 12th five-year Plan.

For unprivileged students, the panel suggested a proposed scholarship fund with a corpus of Rs 1,000 crore. The panel said, “All contributions made by the corporate sector for this fund should be granted tax exemption of up to 300 per cent of their contribution.” The committee also said a National Educational Loan Fund with a corpus of Rs 100,000 crore should be set up by public sector banks to disburse long-tenure loans.

On land for educational institutions, the committee said that all norms floor space index should be relaxed to encourage compact city campuses and ensure optimal land utilization in urban areas.

To ensure big companies were invited to participate in the process of developing higher education, personal invitations should be sent by the prime minister to 25 Indian companies and 25 eminent, high net worth individuals to start a university on meeting the set conditions, the panel said.

Meanwhile, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia has pitched for raising fees by universities and providing easy finance for students to complete higher education. “Stop funding the universities and just fund students….Then they would go to universities worth paying for,” he said.

DNA Organized Eduscope to Help Students Take Informed Decision

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May 8, 2012

DNA Eduscope 2012 Education and Career Fair held on May 5-6, 2012 in Mumbai, witnessed a good number of students, parents, and educator participation. The event has discussed subjects to help students take an informed decision and guiding aspirants on how to make the right academic choices keeping career goals in mind. The career fair has provided insightful guidance on opportunities to seize and pitfalls to avoid also ensured that the knowledge gained was practical and hands-on.

Rajeshs Tope, Minister for Higher and Technical Education, Government of Maharashtra, shared, “Maharashtra has a target of training lakhs of students every year. Under the Modular Employable Scheme (MES), a Government of India initiative, even an industry or service sector can become a Vocational Training Provider (VTP). A student with a minimum qualification of fifth pass can get admission in the VTP. According to his aptitude, he can be skilled and trained in a modular way. On completing the course, he will receive a NCVT certificate that is National Council for Vocational Training, which is not only recognized in our country but also acknowledged globally. Our department has, till now, doubled the capacity of all the vocational centers”.

He further elaborated, “My point is that all should not rush to engineering and medical but there are different sectors available in which you can develop your career. For example, 35 lakh employment opportunities will be generated in the retail industry. The vision of our department is that education should be relevant. The curriculum should be student-centric, futuristic and globally competitive. In higher education, there has to be expansion. The gross enrollment ratio in India has to go high.”

Chandigarh Has No AIEEE Online Exam Center; Students Face Difficulties

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May 8, 2012

Today being the first day of AIEEE online exam, students face great difficulties in attending the same. As Chandigarh was selected among the 22 cities across the country to offer online centers for the AIEEE this year, no centre was set up in the city.

As many as 500 students from the region appeared in the online exam today and they needed to travel to the outskirts of the city as the centers were set up in Chandigarh Group of Colleges (CGC) and Sachdeva’s Guru Gobind Singh College at Gharuan in Kharar.

Going by the technical set-up recommended by the CBSE, an average of 450 students were to be accommodated in one centre, requiring the same number of computers. Asked why no centre was set up in the city, CBSE Regional Director RJ Khanderao, said, “Ahead of selecting the centers, we had conducted an audit, looking for the appropriate infrastructure. However, it was found that the institutions in Chandigarh lacked the necessary infrastructure which includes over 500 computers and a power back-up mechanism. Besides, the technical arrangements had been outsourced to a private firm and they have a role in selecting the appropriate centers.”

CGC (Gharuan) Director Karminder Ghuman said, “We were approached by a private company which has designed the software for CBSE to conduct the online (LAN-based) exam. They found out infrastructure suitable and supportive for withstanding the power load. Besides, we have offered seating capacity (with computers) for over 1,000 students.”

The situation remained the same during the offline examination conducted on April 29. In the absence of any centre, city students had to move to centers located in neighboring states. CBSE officials claimed that most students had opted for the online mode and hence Chandigarh had to provide only online centers.

The exam will be conducted online on May 12, 19 and 26 across 22 cities of the country. The online centers for Chandigarh students will remain in the outskirts only, confirmed Khanderao and the results will be declared by June 15.

Microsoft Signs Deal with AICTE

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May 8, 2012

Microsoft Signs Cloud Computing Deal with AICTE

Microsoft has bagged a cloud computing deal with the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE). As per the deal, the US software giant would provide its Live@edu communication and collaboration software to more than 7 million students and half a million teachers in India free.

The service is a part of their education initiative that includes email, Office Web Applications, Instant Messaging and Storage. For users, cloud computing is inexpensive and simple, because it removes the need to spend time and money on installing software and managing servers.

A Piece of Advice for Students Seeking Admission in US Varsities

Higher Education

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digitalLEARNING Network

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May 8, 2012

Senior officials from the US Consulate General office advised students to check credentials of the universities they want to get enrolled in US.

Replying to questions on large contingent of students making a beeline to the US for higher education and the bitter experience they had after getting admitted into a ‘sham’ university – Tri-Valley University, the officials said students aspiring to study in the US have to do their homework properly.

At an interactive meet conducted by CII, US Consul General Katherine Dhanani and Vice-Consul Matthew Stannard from Hyderabad and Principal Commercial Officer from Chennai stated that in the US, the higher education institutes were totally independent. One should verify about the standards and track-record of various institutes through Indian American Education Foundation and other sources, they said.

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