Delhi University for the first time is all set to introduce a five year integrated MSc Programme in Earth Sciences from the current academic session (2011-12), Joint Dean of Students' Welfare Dr. Suman Verma said on Saturday. The course to be offered in the Hans Raj College will be conducted by the Department of Geology. The college will also conduct classes on the interdisciplinary subjects taught as part of the course such as Physics, Chemistry, Communication Skills and Language, Dr. Verma said. The course offers students the choice of leaving after completing three years of study with a BSc Degree if they wish to change disciplines before completing the five years of MSc in Earth Sciences. The course will involve field work in different parts of the country. Students admitted in this course on its completion will find job opportunities in fast expanding fields like Hydro carbon and mineral exploration, with both private and government owned companies like the ONGC (Oil and Natural Gas Corporation) or GAIL (Gas Authority of India Limited). They can also research in subjects like seismology.
IGNOU educating inmates in correctional homes
Albeit late, the jail inmates in the state are realising the importance of education. After 193 of the jail inmates appeared in intermediate exams of UP Board, there are many more who are utilising their stay behind bars in pursuing higher education. Right from bachelor degrees to diplomas and certificate courses, these inmates are religiously pursuing their education. Around nine inmates from various jails in the state appeared for BA first-year exams held at the Model Jail in Lucknow on Tuesday. The exams passed off peacefully, senior superintendent (Lucknow jail) S H M Rizvi said, adding that Wednesday will see at least 28 prisoners from various jails from UP appearing for diploma in food and nutrition exams at the same jail centre. By any means, the number is encouraging enough for the others to pursue courses from jail. Dreams of these prisoners have been made true by the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU). Elaborating on other courses, Rizvi said that about a dozen inmates would be appearing for BA second-year exams to be held soon. Other than this, an exam for certificate in food and nutrition course would also be held, Rizvi added. Till now, information of only one inmate taking part in this exam has been received, Rizvi further stated. Besides Lucknow, IGNOU centres have also been made at Bareilly and Agra jails in the state. Prisoner sare also allowed to appear in bachelor preparatory programme, DIG (jail) Sharad Kulshrestha said, adding that by taking part in this programme, a prisoner becomes eligible to directly pursue degree courses. The programme is slowly but steadily becoming popular among the jail inmates, authorities said. Once, an American education reformer, Horace Mann, had famously said, “A human being is not attaining his full heights until he is educated.” These noble words seem to be having an impact on prisoners in the state.
It requires more than a degree to stand
A degree helps you in your career only to a limited extent because what matters most are your written and verbal communication skills, analytical ability, team spirit and aptitude, said an expert at a counselling session in Gurgaon last week. “Graduation is just a stepping stone. Beyond that it has no value,” said CS Sharma, associate professor, Shri Ram College of Commerce, who has also been the placement officer there for many years. Sharma was part of a panel of college representatives, including Tanvir Aejaz, head, department of political science, Ramjas College and NK Gupta, associate professor, department of commerce, Ramjas College, which threw light on factors that work (or don't work) in landing a job. “If you want to work in the corporate sector, any course will do,” said Sharma at the event held in Shri Ram School, DLF Phase 3. The companies want to make sure you have those four (aforementioned) traits and they'll train you for the work. “There are companies in Gurgaon which simply don't look at your course. They look at your personality,” said Sharma. If organisations need quantitative skills, they make applicants go through tests. “When it comes to numerical calculations and quick decision-making, they try to judge the candidate's problem-solving skills by giving him situations,” Sharma explained. Interestingly, the bachelor's degree that trains a graduate best for the workplace is not among the much sought-after industry-oriented or professional programmes. The demanding BSc (H) programme in physics can give you a good base for a variety of careers. “BSc physics graduates are preferred in investment banking, and stock markets. They have a large number of openings,” said Sharma. The mind “gets best developed” in a course like this, he said. He also gave participants useful advice on certain combinations of undergraduate and postgraduate degrees. “If you score very well in maths honours, there are companies like Google that straightaway pick you up. Maths honours plus MBA is a fantastic combination, particularly MBA (finance)
Chanakya Academy launches centre in city
In an attempt to help students prepare for the UPSC exams, Chanakya IAS Academy, a well-known Delhi-based training institute, launched its centre in Pune. The academy is set up in collaboration with the city-based Rewachand Bhojwani Foundation's RBA Civil Services Academy. Chairman A K Mishra who was in the city for the launch said, “Pune has always been the educational hub of India. Students from all over the country come here for quality education. So Chanakya Academy is proud to launch a branch in the city of knowledge.”
Cloud computing in education
The education sector is the second largest sector globally and Indian school system is the world's largest school system with over 1.12 million sc
Judges dismiss petitions against scholarship schemes for minorities
The minority issue has been dismissed by judges and they referred to the Sachar Committee report which gave its findings on November 17, 2006 that Muslim OBCs are not included in state and Central lists of OBCs. The committee also highlighted a number of reasons why Muslims in India were socially and educationally backward. The reasons included ghetto-ism, identity-related concerns, security, poor access to schools, inadequate Urdu schools besides prevailing employment and economic condition of Muslims. The Sachar committee had also pointed out that participation of Muslims was relatively lower in professional, technical, clerical and managerial work. Many of them are engaged in unorganised sector of economy and were worst affected by liberalisation, it said. The Committee had also noted that 38 per cent of Muslim population in urban areas and 27 per cent in rural areas was living below the poverty line. In education, they lag behind other communities at school and graduation levels. The court noted that the Sachar committee had said that literacy rate among Muslims is 59.1 per cent which is below the national average of 65.1 per cent. Besides, 25 per cent of Muslim children between 6 and 14 years have neither attended school or have dropped out. A majority of the community members have either failed in their matriculation examination or dropped out before they could reach that grade. Only one out of every 25 students enrolled in an undergraduate course is a Muslim and the proportion for the post-graduate courses stands at one in fifty, the Sachar committee had concluded. Muslims contribute only 1.3 per cent of students studying in all courses in all the IIMs in India and in absolute numbers they were only 63 out of 4743, it said.
IGNOU, Kanshiram Varsity join hands to promote Urdu
Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) and Kanshiram Urdu Arabic-Persian University will together start study centres in each district of UP to promote teaching of Urdu at certificate, diploma and degree levels. A memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between IGNOU, New Delhi and Urdu-Arabic and Persian University, Lucknow, was inked on April 1 this year for cooperation in achieving the common goals of higher education, said an official release. IGNOU presently has enrolment of around 35 lakh students and is the largest university in the world offering more then 300 courses through open university and distance education mode. Kanshiram Urdu University was set up by the UP government in October 2009 to promote Urdu, Arabic and Persian languages and to enable the linguistic minorities to become employable by acquiring higher and need based education. Both the universities have agreed to offer joint degree, diploma and certificate programmes with particular emphasis on the promotion of Urdu, Arabic and Persian along with vocational and other important subjects. This will also include vocational and other courses run through Urdu medium as also through distance learning and online mode. Both universities will undertake and support staff training in the techniques and management, facilitate inter-institutional communication links, support evaluation and applied research.
Projecting the future image
Since its establishment in 1991, BenQ has grown from a small manufacturing plant in Taiwan to a worldwide leader in digital projectors. At the company's Annual Projector Regional Distributors' Meet in Bangkok, Thailand, Business Line met the company's senior management to find out the new technologies it is incorporating into its projector line. During the meet, three main categories of projectors were displayed to the media
Tough plan for Bhutan
Not only is it overwhelming but audacious to hear that the Dzongkha Development Commission (DDC) is going all the way in changing the system of education in Bhutan to promote the national language of the country (DDC's proposals seek to bring parity between English and Dzongkha in schools, Kuensel issue 28 May, 2011). The initiative taken by the DDC means well for anyone in Bhutan would definitely like to be competent in both Dzongkha (the national language) and English (an international language). However, we have some reservations in the way DDC is approaching it. While Bhutan needs to give more importance to our national language we should not be changing everything in the system in haste. We need to take time to plan and put enough resources in place before we jump to the conclusion of changing things. I believe the decision should not only remain to a few stake holders like the DDC, the education ministry and the curriculum department alone. I believe it is the responsibility of everyone involved in the government, the trainers, the researchers, the educators and the parents alike to work it out in the right direction. This is about a big fundamental change in the lives of our children, our future nation builders? Can we risk the changes in their lives without paying more close attention and participating more meticulously? This is a wakeup call for all of us in the society to discuss which way we want our children to be educated. First of all, what's wrong in having English as the medium of English in Bhutan? I believe education has contributed significantly to Bhutan's rapid development, in line with its philosophy of GNH. Being educated in English has enabled Bhutanese students to study in all parts of the world, earning degrees in many areas from accounting to medicine to engineering, and to return to Bhutan to apply their knowledge and skills. Secondly, the change in medium of instruction from PP-III has prompted me with more questions than ever. Why Maths and Environmental studies should be taught in Dzongkha from PP-III? I mean why only these two subjects and not the others? What are the children expected to do once they are in class four? Will they continue studying the subjects in Dzongkha or they will have to change it to English? Have you thought of the repercussions it might have on the children for having to switch back and forth between two different languages? Don't you think it will create a gap in literacy provision for the learners, particularly those defined as 'educationally disadvantage' or at 'risk'? Conceivably the theory of learning to read and reading to learn belongs here most perfectly than anywhere else. The initial years of schooling (i.e. PP-III) are the very crucial years in a child's education life. This is when the 'learning to read stage' begins, and eventually when they get to fourth grade it is prescribed as the 'reading to learn stage' that's when they are expected to start applying the reading skills that they have learnt so far expecting them to do most of the reading on their own. It's about that time that schooling gets more complex and demands higher-order- thinking skills. It is very evident from the fact that in Bhutan, the repetition rate between 1998 and 2008 from pre primary to Year 10 indicates that grade four had the highest annual average repetitions were highest in grade four in the past six years ranging from 14% in 2003 to 10.5% in 2008 (General Statistics, 2008). When grade four is already going through a considerable transition why exacerbate the situation with more discrepancy? This in every respect is supported by research that if, efficient reading skills are not established by the time they reach fourth grade the path is blocked to almost every subject they encounter in their school life since schooling gets more complex and demanding as you go higher up the schooling ladder.
Egypt EDF, Edexcel in strategic tie-up
The Egyptian Education Development Fund (EDF) has unveiled the first British-accredited Integrated Technical Education Cluster (ITEC) in Egypt, one of the ten envisaged by the Egyptian government plans by 2015 to meet the needs of key economic sectors, at an event hosted by EDF and Edexcel. Addressing the audience which comprised educators and industry professional, Prof. Essam Elkordi, EDF Secretary General, said that the underlying driving force behind the creation of these clusters is to support Egyptian society as a whole. Ultimately, the clusters will meet the needs of employers and job seekers across Egypt's main industries of engineering technology, food technology, packaging, petrochemicals and wood and textiles. Jailan Gamal El Din, Edexcel Regional Manager added, “The key to the success of these clusters is for all training to be flexible, allowing for the delivery of school-based, college and on-demand courses at different ability levels. Additionally, all training and qualifications will be Edexcel-accredited and globally recognised.” During the event, guests were able to meet with graduates of Edexcel's BTEC Higher National Diploma and view the impressive array of final projects they created from Computer Numerical Control Drilling Machines for Printed Circuit Boards to Electrical Proximity Faucets and Mobile Robots controlled by Programmable Logic Control mechanisms. Jailan Gamal El Din added, “The event helped demonstrate that graduates of the technical education and training system in Egypt are capable of leading the new era of change.” Edexcel and its sister organisation, Pearson Custom Publications, are providing training, qualifications, teaching materials and assessment for the Integrated Technical Education Cluster Project in El Ameeria, Cairo.
