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Rajiv Gandhi Advocates Training Scheme Inaugurates

Rajiv Gandhi Advocates Training Scheme was inaugurated in the National Law University Delhi. Minister of Law and Justice Dr. M. Veerappa Moily, Chief Minister of Delhi Smt. Sheila Dikshit and the Chief Justice of Delhi High Court and Chancellor of National Law University Delhi Justice Dipak Misra were present on the occasion.

Presiding over the function, the Minister of Law & Justice said “Globalisation of law includes global connections, global interdependence, global information, global finance, global governance and global rights. Legal profession in the 21st Century must focus on the rapid changes in legal education and the legal profession that are taking place throughout the world, the phenomenon that is often referred to as the globalization of legal profession.”
The primary purpose behind the development of the lawyers' training program is to standardize the training of future generations of lawyers in the globalization era. Achieving this goal is critical to ensure that lawyers' attain a minimum level of legal knowledge and advocacy skills before they take on the responsibilities associated with representing clients before the courts. Additionally, the training plan has been designed to increase public confidence in the legal system by setting clear ethical standards for the practice of law and training future lawyers about their ethical obligations to society and the role they play in promoting the integrity of the legal system as a whole. Training programme helps in enhancing following skills of the advocate trainees.

ECI

Courses for international participants started off at the India International Institute of Democracy and Election Management (IIDEM)

McGraw-Hill launched first digital only textbook for K-12

McGraw-Hill launched its first all-digital, cloud-based textbook for the K-12 market at the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) conference. Unlike the company's previous digital efforts for this age group, the books are intended to be used as primary texts (other McGraw-Hill digital texts have been sold as a companion of physical textbooks). This is the first time a major publisher has launched such a platform. Grade schools and high schools have been slower to adopt digital textbooks than universities, at least partly because K-12 textbooks are traditionally provided by schools

IGNOU offers two on-campus PG programmes in Media

School of Journalism and New Media Studies of IGNOU, which has been declared as the 'Nodal Centre' for Journalism Education in S. Asia by UNESCO, Delhi is offering two post graduate programmes in media. MA in Journalism and Mass Communication and MA in Electronic Media Production and Management are being offered as fulltime on-campus programmes from IGNOU's headquarters at Maidan Garhi, New Delhi. MA (JMC) is news-centric in that it emphasises such activities as news gathering, editing etc. and is being targeted mainly at the students of print and new media with adequate theoretical grounding given in the course structure. The course structure of MA (JMC) itself is based on widely acclaimed UNESCO Model Curriculum developed by international experts after extensive consultations and is adapted to suit the cultural and social structures and practices of the Indian subcontinent.
,br> MA in Electronic Media Production and Management MA (EMPM) provides the students with nitty-gritty of the broadcast media. While the curriculum content includes the concepts and practice of journalism, the emphasis is on technical details such as production, editing and general management of the broadcast process. The uniqueness of MA (EMPM) is that the student can experience the process of a live studio and production facility at Electronic Media Production Centre of IGNOU which produces and airs 'Gyan Vani' and Gyan Darshan' and other educational channels and programmes and has most modern studios and production facilities supported by highly experienced professionals.

Both programmes are supported by well experienced in-house faculty supplemented by well known media professionals and its own laboratory equipped with most modern equipments to guide the students to understand and experience the both theory and practice of the media.

BIG AIMS and Annamalai University Announce Strategic Collaboration

BIG AIMS (Animation Infotainment and Media School), an animation and VFX training academy of Reliance Animation entered into a strategic collaboration with Annamalai University (AU) to introduce first of its kind degree program in Animation and Visual Effects Film Making in India. The MoU was signed between Ashish S Kulkarni, Chief Executive Officer, Reliance Animation and Dr. M. Rathnasabhapati, Registrar, Annamalai University in the presence of Dr. M.Ramanathan, Vice Chancellor, Anna Malai Unversity in Annamalai Nagar Chennai last week. Dr. S.B.Nageshwara Rao, Director Distance Education and Tejonidhi Bhandare, Head of Finance, Relinace Animation were also present on the occasion.

Under the MoU, BIG AIMS and AU will offer avant-grade Bachelor of Arts Program in Animation & Visual Effects Film-Making. The program will expose students to the exciting and very creative animation and film making industry with an unmatched degree program. The courses have been designed to harness best creative and technical talents in students. The Bachelor of Arts Program in Animation & Visual Effects Film-Making will be made available to students across India through authorised BIG AIMS learning cetres.

The USP of the course underlines the core principles of Animation and VFX Film making positioning it primarily as an artistic vocation with technology seamlessly ingetrated. The program will help groom the creative and artistic talents of the students so that they can manuever the latest technology as per the demands of the artistic needs of the meduim, which is the very essence of Animation and VFX Film making as per the global demands.

Speaking on this significant development Ashish SK, Chief Executive Officer, Reliance Animation said, “We are delighted to join hands with Annamalai University to create a talent pool for the fast evolving animation, VFX, gaming and comics (AVGC) industry in India. Considering the present needs and the trends of the industry, this B.A. program is extremely well designed to create the finest talent pool for the emerging era of digital content creation in the field of Animation and VFX Film Making. We strongly feel that the art of storytelling holds the key to success in this industry, therefore our endeavour would be to expose the aspiring youth to the secrets of animation and VFX film making and effective story telling through this degree program so that one day they can turn into accomplished creators of animation and VFX content.”

“For Animation, VFX, Gaming and Comics as an industry, the greatest assets are the people in its various techno creative departments and not the machines and software's. It's the mind of the creative workforce that makes the tools come alive turning celluloid dreams into reality. At BIG AIMS we are dedicated to groom the minds of our young generation as unique creative individuals who aspires to find themselves as leaders in the emerging digital era of creative expressions.” added Ashish.

Dr. M. Ramanathan, Vice-Chancellor, Annamalai University remarked “Over the years AU has made available cutting edge degree programs in various disciplines to students across India and overseas also. Our association with BIG AIMS has given us an opportunity to introduce for the first time a comprehensive degree program for the fast evolving and highly competitive animation and VFX industry. I am extremely impressed with BIG AIMS's faculty training program which I am sure will go a long way to ensure quality deliverables of the curricullum. We do hope that together we will be able create world class animators and visual artists in India.”

Dr.S.B.Nageshwara Rao, Director, Directorate of Distant Education said, “Currently, this is one of the most sought after career options amongst the youth, especially, since India has now become an outsourcing hub for international projects. The requirement for trained manpower has increased manifold. And people today look up to us to get customized education which is internationally recognised and high on the employability scale. We are confident this partnership with BIG AIMS will enable our students to acquire employable skills in the domestic as well as global markets.”

IIHS receives Rs 50 crore from Nandan and Rohini Nilekani

Nandan and Rohini Nilekani have announced Rs. 50 crore ($ 11 million) to the Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS) to fund the establishment of its School of Environment and Sustainability. They issued a joint statement, saying that “IIHS is at the convergence of both our interests in education, urbanisation and sustainability. We are excited about contributing to an institution which will help people engage with new challenges in an innovative and interdisciplinary manner.”

The IIHS Board and its Director, Aromar Revi, expressed their deep appreciation of this gift, given in the spirit of creating an independent globally connected knowledge institution, supported by a range of stakeholders that reflect the richness and diversity of India and the contemporary world. Aromar said, “India is returning to a tradition of philanthropy to build independent national institutions for the common good. Rohini and Nandan Nilekani's support to IIHS's School of Environment and Sustainability is in the spirit that created some of India's greatest Universities almost a century ago. We hope we can match up to this aspiration.”

This is a major step in a Rs. 300 crore ($ 67 million) IIHS resource mobilisation campaign to fund five interdisciplinary Schools, one of South Asia's largest reference and digital libraries and other facilities for its Bangalore campus. An additional Rs. 100 crore ($ 22 million) will be raised for chair professorships.

The IIHS is nurtured and led by a group of eminent Indians who include: Xerxes Desai, Jamshyd Godrej, Cyrus Guzder, Renana Jhabvala, Vijay Kelkar, Keshub Mahindra, Kishore Mariwala, Rahul Mehrotra, Bansi Mehta, Rakesh Mohan, Nandan Nilekani, Nasser Munjee, Deepak Parekh, Shirish Patel and Deepak Satwalekar.

Aromar Revi, an international development consultant, researcher and academic is the first Director of IIHS.

Mangalayatan University join hands with National Institute of Design

Mangalayatan University has joined hands with National Institute of Design (Ahmedabad) to launch a joint program in Design. This new endeavor of Mangalayatan University will enable the University to offer a holistic and comprehensive program in Design to its students with an added advantage of NID's expertise in the Design industry. Further, this partnership will help NID to extend its reach in NCR region and make its exceptional curriculum and faculty available to students in the region.

NID, which is India's premier institutes in design education is well known for its courses in Product Design, Furniture and Interiors designing, Ceramics and Glass designing, Animation, Textile Designing etc. There are immediate plans to introduce courses specific to product design in Mangalayatan University's core engineering syllabus, giving MU students an additional dimension in their skills.

Speaking on the association, Dr. S. C. Jain, Vice-Chancellor, Mangalayatan University, said, “We are glad that NID has chosen us as partners for this project. With our background of academics, our students will have an edge over the others with the added knowledge in the field of design. I am sure that this initiative will help our students to become more knowledgeable to excel in future, so that they can become even more innovative in their careers. We look forward to a long association with NID.”

Added, Mr. Shashank Mehta from NID, “We are excited to work with Mangalayatan University. Coming from an academic background, Mangalayatan University recognizes the importance of product designing and we are confident that they will be able to use this association to make the learning more advanced and cultivate quality skills in their students.”

The two institutions have agreed to communicate on a regular basis to exchange views and reports on accomplishments and developments and will also conduct regular seminars to enable idea exchanges, faculty trainings and student exchanges, enabling members of both organizations to benefit from each other's strengths.

Using the FEBP Comparison Function to Mine Higher Education Data

US Federal Education Budget Project, Ed Money Watch's parent initiative has announced the launch of a new version of its website. The new site includes four years of higher education data on federal financing, demographics, outcomes, and financial aid use for every state and institution in the country. These data expand upon FEBP's already rich array of K-12 data. In addition to providing the data in an easy-to-read format, the FEBP site also provides a comparison function that allows users to compare data for states, school districts, and institutions of higher education. The comparison function also automatically displays each school's average Pell Grant and the percentage of students receiving Pell Grants at the institution. Interestingly, we learn that though these schools all have similar graduation rates, the make-up of their students varies widely. Only 8 percent of students at James Madison University received Pell Grants in 2009, while 69 percent received them at the Institute of American Indian & Alaska Native Culture & Arts in New Mexico. At UC Berkeley, by comparison, 24 percent of students receive Pell Grants. This suggests that some of these schools are better at attracting and serving low-income students than others. The Institute of American Indian & Alaska Native Culture & Arts is by far the least expensive school with a net price of $6,170, and the smallest school with a 2009 enrollment of 350 students. This may explain in part the high percentage of low income students at the school. The Pennsylvania State University, on the other hand, is more than twice as expensive at $16,080; and the University of Texas at Austin is several magnitudes larger with an enrollment of 50,995.

Brazil welcomes for-profit schools as aspiring professionals seek skills

A growing number of Brazilians are willing to pay to get an education, and for-profit schools, both local and international, are rushing to oblige them. Education in Latin America's largest economy has long been a problem. According to a 2009 United Nations study, the country produced only 428 college graduates per 100,000 inhabitants. Most of the best universities in Brazil are state-owned and charge no tuition. Other nonprofits charge steep fees but offer high quality. But in both cases, the best colleges are usually out of reach for lower-income students, who get their earlier education in public schools and are ill prepared for tough college -admission tests. The gaps in public education, combined with growing demand for skilled labor, have created an opportunity for nonpublic institutions to recruit aspiring young professionals who can't get into top colleges but can pay to improve their career prospects. Critics warn that quality may be at risk, and the Education Ministry has shut down some private, for-profit schools following low results in standardized tests. But advocates say the private schools can help to generate skilled labor and increase jobs for low-income Brazilians. Similar dynamics are at play elsewhere in Latin America. Such countries as Colombia, Mexico and Argentina are also seeing growing demand for highly educated workers. But nowhere is the market as bullish as in Brazil. Brazil has an “overflow of demand” for higher education, said Bob Wettenhall, an analyst of for-profit U.S. education providers for RBC Capital Markets. He sees a growing interest among the sector's players in expanding into Brazil's fast-growing market.

Fidelity Growth Partners invests in Mind Shaper

Private equity firm Fidelity Growth Partners India has invested about $15 million (Rs 67 crore) to acquire an undisclosed minority stake in Delhi-based Mind Shaper Technologies.

“Fidelity Growth Partners India invests up to $15 million to acquire a significant minority stake in Mind Shaper Technologies,” the Delhi-based firm said in a statement. The investment would be used to expand the company’s product portfolio. Mind Shaper, which operates under the Classteacher Learning Systems brand, is into K-12 educational content in the country. Mind Shaper has been working with over 500 schools and about half a million students providing consulting and innovative technology solutions in the area of school education.

Fidelity Growth Partners India is India-focused private equity arm of Fidelity International. It focuses on cross-sector growth capital investing and seeks to invest in firms with an investment sizes ranging from $10 million to $50 million. “This investment will help us enhance our product offering as well as expand into new segments of education. We see this as a key milestone in our evolution and are glad to partner with FGPI to achieve our goal to support learning and teaching in classrooms across India,” Classteacher Learning Systems CEO Rohit Pande said.

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