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April 1, 2011

Going out of tradition is hard-hitting and resistive on Indian mindsets. Developing human capability through education technologies is yet to catch up in India. digitalLearning brings out a comprehensive reportage of IWB market scenario in India. Equipped with perspective of service providers and education stake holders we bring out the emphasising on the status of IWB usage in India and level of acceptance among educators. Read on to get an in depth analysis of overall global trends and how IWBs have impacted the Indian education sector

India's Education sector is likely to step up its IT spending to about USD 704 million in 2012, reflecting in a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 19 percent during 2007-2012 says the Springboard research report. Traditional education system has undergone a vast change moving out of the era of the blackboard, classroom and conventional methods of teaching to a more intelligent, digitised and smarter way of imparting knowledge. One of the major tools emerged in this changed education system is interactive whiteboard. According to Future Source Consulting, an independent global research company that tracks interactive whiteboard sales, about 7,500 (Rs 75 crore in value terms) IWBs were sold in India in 2009. The agency projects this to touch 28,000 units (Rs280 crore) this year and 70,000 (Rs 700 crore) in the next.

The Indian education segment has realised the potential and effectiveness of imparting knowledge through technology, more and more institutes are adopting interactive whiteboards and various audio-visual techniques like projectors and LCDs. Interactive Whiteboards in the Indian education system has started playing instrumental in enhanced teaching experience. However, the market is still in the nascent stage but almost majority of schools and higher education are showing interest in Interactive Whiteboards into their classroom. Metro cities have grasped the IWB technology very well.

Interactive Whiteboards help teachers to record sessions and share them with students. IWB have tools for presentation like spotlight, snapshot, reveal, sharing. Using the software, teacher can write, draw and annotate on its surface and navigates the computer functions from interactive whiteboard with finger or pen. This powerful versatile teaching tool allows electronic files to be used later for repeated sessions or mails to absent student as an attachment. The software has a built in library of images on different subjects which the teachers can use into their lessons.IWB enables the user to draw, write or making notes, drag and mark up onto the surface controlling the PC. Looking at the lurching market third party research has shown that students and teachers around the world are benefiting from the use of interactive whiteboards and are witness to increased student engagement, learner retention and motivation, improved test scores and attendance are among few of the results.

There are various types of interactive whiteboards and devices available in the Indian market. Interactive white boards are boards which are truly interactive by nature and Devices help in converting normal LCD screens to interactive whiteboard. IR (Infra Red) interactive whiteboard uses infra red beam to make the board touch sensitive. A resistive membrane board consists of two resistive sheets separated by air gap. Electromagnetic Board is composed of grid of wires, operated with stylus.

about 7,500 interactive whiteboard were sold in India in 2009. The agency projects this to touch 28,000 units (Rs280 crore) this year and 70,000 (Rs 700 crore) in the next

Transforming Lessons into Experience: The Leading Players'

Whiteboard market in India is divided broadly into four categories: Branded boards, Chinese boards, and Indian boards and Devices players.

eInstruction, Genee, Hitachi, Panasonic, Promethean, Samsung, SMART come under branded segment. In Chinese segment, Zoulong has been doing well in the Indian market. Globus Infocom is the Indian player predominantly catering to the government vertical. Mimio and eBeam offers devices to the market to convert LCDs into interactive boards.

Emerging Technologies for 21st Century Learning

The future of the IWB is vivid. More and more players are coming in with innovative technology and solutions. Here are some latest solutions are about to hit the market.

Cybernetyx: Cybernetyx plans to launch interactive, multi-touch 77 inches video wall for the education and government vertical at affordable prices significantly lower than generic video walls. Cybernetyx is planning to launch its interactive video wall ONFINIA Interactive Video Walls with rear projection and multi touch technology in the fourth week of April in India and Germany. However, the solution is deployed in some premium schools in the country.

Mimio: It converts ordinary whiteboard into an interactive whiteboard – instantly. The MimioTeach interactive system is a device in a compact bar shape which is to be placed on existing whiteboard. It connects computer to a standard projector. It makes everything accessible on a computer from a whiteboard. It also lets the teacher create engaging lessons with MimioStudio software.

ScienTech: ScienTech has launched eBeam Engage. Their interactive whiteboard device combines more than ten multimedia and navigation tools in one sleek console to make lesson delivery effective and fun. Wireless keyboard eliminates need to toggle between computer and interactive surface combined with high fidelity JBL speakers.

SMART: SMART plans to launch its latest interactive and intuitive product SB885 ix in July. It enhance the power of collaborative learning by enabling two users to instantly and easily work on its surface at the same time using their fingers or a pen. The integrated system combines an interactive whiteboard with an ultra-short-throw projector that virtually eliminates shadows and glare, a multiuser Pen Tray and a control panel that enables teachers to manage all classroom technology products from the front of the classroom.

Clarity : ONFINITY Portable Interactive Whiteboard System Model CM2 Max helps to convert whiteboard, projection screen, plasma or wall into an interactive whiteboard instantly with help of existing multimedia projector.

Leading Players

(In an alphabetical Order)

Aveco: Aveco offers include the most basic features to the most sophisticated technology which are for the customer's benefit and substantial value

Clarity: Clarity India Learning Solutions is a subsidiary of Young India Films, and focuses on Primary, Montessori and Secondary Education. They offer activity based learning offering high quality teaching learning material.

Cybernetyx: Cybernetyx's approach is to introduce further newer devices, and disruptive technology in the learning space. “The rapid benchmarks established by our EyeRIS interactive systems in such a small time, in terms of the user acceptance, and technological breakthroughs, would be made incrementally progressive in the other parallel devices and technologies from Cybernetyx. One of the major fundamentals of the Natural User Interface paradigm of Cybernetyx's Visual Touch technology is “creation through collaboration” enabling collaborative and distance learning through the cloud,” informed Nishant S. Rajawat, Director-Technology (APAC), Cybernetyx India

Disprovisual: DISPRO interactive boards are made with latest American E-Beam technology, needs multimedia DLP or LCD projector and a USB port to convert in to interactive whiteboard.
eBeam: The ebeam is a dongle that converts any flat surface into IWB. It's at the centre of many IWBs on the market and uses IR signals for input. It accepts input from a battery powered pen. It needs calibration of the board.

Genee: Genee have comparatively low price complete classroom solutions including visualises and slates.

Globus: It is an Indian manufacturer and their IWBs are reasonably priced.

Hitachi: Hitachi Starboard offers good quality in terms of robustness, accuracy and warranty; it allows interaction from finger and pen. It allows two handed interaction allowing up to nine people to use the board simultaneously. It can use dry wipe marker on the board.

Mimio: Mimio offers devices that convert normal LCD into IWB. It accepts input from a battery-powered pen along with handwriting recognition.

Promethean: Promethean ActivBoards offer interactive whiteboard solutions. Interactive whiteboards are a key component to Promethean's all-in-one 21st century classroom solution: The ActivClassroom. Promethean offers a range of interactive whiteboard solutions to meet needs of today's classroom.

Samsung: Samsung India Electronics (P) Ltd recently unveiled its solutions for the education segment with latest display solutions and customised applications on the Galaxy tab making the classroom room experience more interactive.

Samsung aims to tap educational institutes, plans to focus on 9 cities in India which include

Towards Solution Centric Approach : Vinod John, SunGard Higher Education, India

Interviews

digitalLEARNING Network

April 1, 2011

SunGard Higher Education provides software and support, systems implementation and integration, strategic consulting and technology management services to help colleges and universities build, unify and manage their digital campuses. Vinod John, Senior Director (Sales), SunGard Higher Education in conversation with Pragya Gupta shared…

Towards SolutionCentric Approach

Please share with us more about SunGard’s operations in India?SunGard is one of the world’s leading software and technology services ompanies. SunGard provides software and processing solutions for financial ervices, higher education and the public sector. SunGard also provides isaster recovery services, managed IT services, information availability consulting ervices and business continuity management software SunGard Higher education is present in 40 different countries serving 1800 universities and 14 million students worldwide. Today SunGard Higher Education is a leading solutions provider to the higher education community. SunGard Higher Education has recently entered the Indian higher education segment; however india has been a product development and engineering hub for company for many years with around 3000+ employees in India across Bangalore and Pune

How do the Indian higher education institutes look at InformationTechnology and what does SunGard Higher Education bring to the table?
Well firstly, the transformation of Indian Universities has only just begun. here will be a huge adoption of modern technologies in the near future. That is not to say there is no technology in use, traditionally Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) look at technology to help manage the more traditional ack office business processes such as financial accounting, payroll, inventory and so on and provide lab facilities to students. While these are important, we believe institutions can and will look at using technology to deliver more learning content and services to students, to help faculty, to enable collaboration with alumni and industry and to provide progress reports to parents. We anticipate another wave of innovation to occur once the Indian Universities are effectively running digital campus environments. At this point we expect the emphasis to shift to far more personalised learning, with the institution able to adapt and respond to an individual learner’s needs. We expect that for teaching and learning technology will help to provide convenient, personalised services for students and improve the overall educational experience provided and also help faculty deliver effectively. Technology will help connect the learning community, help cultivate relationships with stakeholders such as faculty, students, alumni, industry, parents and administrators, and enable wider collaboration between Indian institutions as well international institutions. A number of HEIs in India benchmark themselves against their more established peers in various parts of the world. To help achieve the goal of excellence in delivering world class education, and related services to students, technology alone is not the answer. The key is to encapsulate best practices followed by institutions using technology and making them available to institutions – that is the business value institutions should expect from companies like SunGard. SunGard Higher Education helps institutions to promote individual achievement, enhance institutional performance and foster education communities worldwide. SGHE fulfills this mission through the technologies and services we offer. Success comes when we help our higher education clients excel in the achievement of their institutional missions, which also operate at these different levels. serve learners as they achieve their educational goals, and we help administrators, staff members, and other campus personnel excel at their responsibilities. a wide array of systems and services that help colleges and universities improve their accountability and effectiveness as organizations, employers, and places of learning. standards boards, and other organizations reflects our commitment to help sustain vibrant, education-focused communities throughout the world At the community level, our technologies support communication, collaboration, and other community needs. Our company’s active involvement in higher education professional associations

You have deployed your solution at IIM Bangalore. Please share with our readers the nature of the solution?
IIM Bangalore has implemented Sun- Gard Higher Education’s Banner Digital ampus solution for efficient course administration, better student services and enhanced collaboration with other institutes. Banner Digital Campus is the world’s most widely used collegiate administrative suite of student, financial aid, finance, human resources, and advancement systems. IIMB went live with Banner in April 2010. Since then it has also launched its portal “Sarvam” built on SunGard Higher Education’s Luminis Platform to provide online services to its various stakeholders including students, faculty and administrators. The Luminis Platform provides the solid foundation of portal features, integrated enterprise applications and supporting infrastructure required to support an institution’s digital campus.

In a market dominated by small time ERP players, the solutions you are offering is different. How challenging is it to convince stitutions about the value you bring in?
You have to understand we are not an ERP vendor. We are a higher education company providing software and services to 1800 institutions in over 40 ountries. 85% of our service professionals have a higher education background. We bring this wealth of experience when we engage with a new customer. However during the initial stage of our engagement sometimes it’s a challenge to make customers who are used to people selling them ERP solutions as a commodity understand the value of our consultative approach. We try to understand the objectives of an institution and the challenges they face in achieving them. It’s only after we have done our due-diligence, interacted with various stake holders, understood their specific objectives and issues that we come up with a solution which would help the institution reach its goals

What future do you see for elearning or online education in India? How SunGard can help this vertical with its solutions?
If India has to achieve its goal of achieving a gross enrolment ratio of 20% by 2015, institutes would have to focus on new channels of reaching and engaging students like e-learning or online education. Secondly it is not only the number of students that matter, quality of education is also of prime importance. We cannot open an IIT or an IIM in every nook and corner of the country, the key is to make the same quality and content available to students even in the most remote parts of the country. This is possible now due to the IT and telecom revolution that has occurred in India during the last two decades

Everonn Initiative in Bettering Education : P Kishore, Everonn

Interviews

digitalLEARNING Network

April 1, 2011

With a 24-year legacy into bettering education, Everonn has come a long way and is now one of the leaders in the market with its hi-tech initiatives. In a t

Distance Education Now a Real-Time Experience : Abhimanyu Gupta, Actis Technologies

Interviews

By
digitalLEARNING Network
-

April 1, 2011

With the learners today having access to new technology tools for communication, many institutes have realised the importance of interactive and engaging modes of education delivery. More so, in the delivery of distance education programs Abhimanyu Gupta, Director, Actis Technologies, in conversation with Rachita Jha, tells us how his passion for innovative audio-visual solutions is the extension of his vision to deliver educational services beyond the physical boundaries

What is the market size of audio-visual solutions in the education sector and expected growth rate in the coming years?
According to a recent research study by Springboard Research, India’s Education sector will step up its spending on technology from an estimated USD 356 million in 2008 to USD 704 million in 2012, reflecting a CAGR of 19 percent during 2007-2012. Out of it, the Audio Visual market in India is expected to grow at a CAGR of 15-20 per cent by 2013. The video applications itself will account for around 86 per cent of the total audio visual market share.

Tell us more on the changing maturity of the education sector towards audio-visual solutions
In today’s competitive environment, increasing adoptability towards IT peripherals has brought about a drastic change in educational sector. Education is now glocal with access to the varied user friendly audio visual solutions. Our innovative solutions enhance real-time communication with qualitative collaboration, making education an easier platform for everyone, saving time, money and resources.
The video conferencing and interactive whiteboard technology has brought about a revolution in the monotonous classroom set up in educational institutions. It provides both students and teachers from diverse communities and backgrounds to explore, communicate, analyse and share information and ideas with one another. The interactive whiteboard solution on the other hand allows capturing the whiteboard contents in the PC for sharing, printing etc. and annotation drawing audience’s attention to content. It makes the interactive live video sessions, interviews of professionals or a well-known face of a particular industry a splendid learning experience.

Could you elaborate on your upcoming projects and products that are in the research and innovation pipeline?

One of the many solutions that we are working is the Rich Media and Streaming solution. While the presenter will be teaching, training or presenting any topic, this solution can record everything simultaneously, including the presenter’s video and any presentation images. It’s highly beneficial for the audiences as they can immediately watch recorded presentations live or on-demand

NEC Projecting Future Trends : Abhilesh Guleria, NEC India, India

Interviews

By
digitalLEARNING Network
-

April 1, 2011

The projector market in India and overseas has seen a sea change with the advent of various companies. In an Interview with Jaydeep Saha, Abhilesh Guleria, Country Head – IT Platform and Display Solutions Business, NEC India speaks about their reign amidst leading competitors in the modern-day market

Please comment on the factors driving the projector market in India in the education sector. What is the scope of growth in the education space?

Education market has already been covered by the projector wave. Almost 40 per cent of the academic market is under the impact of the global leader NEC for the affordable price; the projectors are 3D enabled high contrast with stereo solutions. Besides green IT philosophy, these projectors have an eco and anti-carbon meter which portrays the nature-friendly mode. These intelligent projectors automatically understand and deliver the beam as per the wall colour. These TCO certified products are easy to set up and works at an altitude of even 5000 feet. The built-in LAN is compatible to other machines and helps connect easily.

What are the emerging technologies in this segment for education?

We have Ultra Short Throw projectors, NP600S, which throw a big image from a short distance. It can fill a large screen in a small room. It is set close enough to the screen to avoid shadows from someone walking between the projector and the screen. It can throw its minimum diagonal size image of 60 inches from just under 3 feet, a 100-inch image from five feet, and its maximum 110-inch image from 5.4 feet.

What are the opportunities and challenges in the projector market, with specific reference to the education sector?

NEC is uniquely positioned as a holistic IT solutions provider to the education space and has a wide product and solutions portfolio that helps education institutes increase operational efficiency and lower their total cost of operation. We believe that a focused learning environment for students is the key for excellence. Incorporating technology in the curriculum at any level can greatly increase the effectiveness of teaching. The world is quickly learning the benefits of adding multimedia capabilities to educational environments.

What are the strategies being adopted by vendors to promote their product?

At NEC, it is our endeavor to provide state-of-the-art display technology and dynamic designs to our customers. We organise direct mailer campaigns, display virtual desktop and communicate as our products are entirely targeted at the K-12 and higher education sectors, besides the business sectors in the country. Our projectors are not just products but entire education solutions.

How it changed the education scenario in India?

The 114-year-old legacy that we have, has helped us get customers in a very helpful way from various pleathoras of aspirants.

The education sector has adopted the e-learning and audio-visual mode of integrated learning and we have delivered products as per the needs of the market. Since the integration of technology into the classrooms is a top priority, educational institutes purchased NEC Multimidia projectors to supplement teaching with visuals to inspire imagination and creativity, as well as enhance the learning experience.

What are the upcoming products or solutions for education segment?

The upcoming NEC products are upgraded and have been designed keeping in mind the latest requirements of the users. These products are not only equipped with bluetooth technology and 3-D ready but are also wireless with 5,000 hour lamp life, 7 watt speaker and variable audio out facility with closed captioning and one year (or 500 hours) warranty on original lamp. These Digital Light Processing (DLP) projectors are enhanced with eXtended Graphics Array (XGA) solutions, besides the compatibility video mode of MPEG and AVI with Volume Control module and VGA functioning, USB and other cables available in a variety of lengths from 3 – 100′.

Tell us something about your tie-up with Cybernetyx

Cybernetyx is a Germany-based advanced Research and Development enterprise focused on creating world’s most technologically advanced and affordable Interactive Whiteboard systems and multi-touch surface computing solutions. The tie-up with this technology giant would help provide interactive technologies provide the most advanced and economical interactive projection solutions for education and corporate sectors. Besides, the art, commerce, trading and game world would also be benifitted with various customized deliverable from us. It would also provide specific solutions to automobile, mapping, molecular and geographical sectors.

3D Projectors in Today’s Market
3D projection is any method of mapping three-dimensional points to a two-dimensional plane. As most current methods for displaying graphical data are based on planar two-dimensional media, the use of this type of projection is widespread, especially in computer graphics, engineering and drafting.

3D Projectors in India
The Third Dimension technology has taken the world by storm and 3D projectors have actually intensified the viewing experience of the viewers. These projectors actually aim at bringing pictures which are life-like and might just be conned into thinking that the images of people that on the screen are actually real. Such is the demand for 3D Projectors that major companies like Sharp, Sony, LG, Panasonic, Optoma, Pico, Hitachi, Infocus, NEC, Benq, Acer, Samsung, Sanyo, Mitsubishi, Viewsonic , Philips have got into the industry with full force and are providing you with the best 3D technology.

The basic qualities of these projectors for which they are in utmost demand are 3D single lens type projector, two HDMI 1.3 sockets and 300 ANSI lumens, full HDTV, 16:10 aspect ratio, 2500

lumens brightness, 10watt speaker, 2.4 cms 3D provider, contrast ratio of 3200:1. The features mentioned are just few of the many that these individual products have.

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Sibal lays NICF, IARSEMS foundation stones

Higher Education

By
digitalLEARNING Network
-

March 29, 2011

The foundation stone for National Institute of Communication Finance (NICF) and Institute of Advance Radio Spectrum Engineering and Management Studies (IARSEMS) was laid by Human Resource Development (HRD) minister, Kapil Sibal recently. “In modern times, communications and information services have emerged as the effective tool for the empowerment of marginalized sections of the society”, quoted Sibal. He said that trained and capable manpower is required to ensure that technology and technological advancements delivers to the common man. The HRD minister while discussing about the institute has stated that for effective governance, continuous reinventing and re-energizing through training is imperative. He said that to build and mould new age professionals, these institutes should look forward to collaborative research and training with the public and private sectors, and with international and regional organizations. Talking of the Institute of Advance Radio Spectrum Engineering and Management Studies (IARSEMS), he said that an efficient spectrum planning and engineering is essential to achieve optimal spectrum use in present and future. As per sources, the Minister of State for Communication and Information Technology, Sachin Pilot was also there, in the convention as a guest panel. He also supported Sibal's thought while underlining the need for training institutes of repute in the field of Communication Finance and Advanced Radio Spectrum Engineering and Management Studies. NICF (National Institute of Communication Finance) largely serves to the training needs of Indian P&T Accounts and Finance services Officers (IP&TAFS) Group 'A' and Group 'B' as well as the awareness needs of various stakeholders of the USO Fund scheme. NICF also works as a national level training and research centre for Telecom policies, planning & licensing, postal accounts, finance and internal audit and related subjects. The new NICF campus would be located at Ghitorni, Delhi. It will completely be a Green Campus, surrounding supreme concern for energy efficiency, environment, water conservation, use of recycled products and renewable energy, adopting environmental friendly technologies and practices. This new campus will not only address sustainability issues but will also contribute to the conservation of national resources. Furthermore, the earlier secretary of Department of Telecom, R. Chandrashekhara and some senior official of the Department of Technology also graced the occasion. The earlier Secretary also appreciated the joint efforts of NICF and IARSEMS taken for the development of technology.

PremjiInvest sows Rs200 crore in Manipal Education field

Corporate Updates

By
digitalLEARNING Network
-

March 29, 2011

Out of the Rs2,000-crore Manipal Education and Medical Group, which has a range of investments in education and healthcare, Azim H Premji private investment venture has announced a Rs200 crore investment in Manipal Universal Learning. Over the next few years, the money will fund the group's $100 million (Rs460 crore) expansion plans in India and overseas. The Wipro Ltd chairman has a philanthropic interest in school education through an eponymous foundation, but this is his first commercial investment in the education sector. The $1 billion PremjiInvest has investments in 40 companies, including National Stock Exchange of India Ltd and Carnation Auto Services Pvt. Ltd. The proceeds will help Manipal Universal build a 200,000 sq. ft academic block in Dubai, a dental campus in Malaysia, student housing and academic blocks in Antigua, setting up 500 training centres under vocational training arm Manipal City and Skills Training Pvt. Ltd, a technology upgrade across the group and an upcoming campus in Jaipur, said Anand Sudarshan, MD and CEO of Manipal Education. “The remaining capital needs for the expansion will be funded through debt and internal accruals,” he added, while declining to elaborate how the Rs200 crore would be spread across various projects. PremjiInvest is the third private equity (PE) partner in the Rs720 crore Manipal Universal. In 2006, IDFC Private Equity Fund along with US investment firm Capital Group invested Rs300 crore into it. While two non-profit trusts run Manipal University and Sikkim Manipal University, Manipal Universal does distance education and runs the international campuses. Prior to this deal, Manipal Education held over 80% in Manipal Universal. Sudarshan declined to disclose the shareholding of Manipal Education post the latest stake sale. Says PremjiInvest chief investment officer Prakash Parthasarathy, “Education is a vibrant, high-growth sector with a clear need for branded companies like Manipal.” He declined to disclose if the fund would invest in other education ventures. The 68-year-old Manipal Education has grown from a single primary school to a group catering to 175,000 students in 14 professional streams, with campuses in Manipal, Bangalore and Sikkim in India, and Dubai, Nepal, Malaysia and Antigua. PE deals in schools and higher education in India have been few and far between. Says Gopal Jain, partner at Gaja Capital Partners, an India-focused PE fund, “A country like India needs capital very badly, but because of government regulations it will attract very little (in education).” Jain feels that Manipal Universal is a global education player and not merely a domestic one.

Corporate leaders summon unis, industry to address skills imbalance

Corporate Updates

By
digitalLEARNING Network
-

March 29, 2011

Focusing on the need of engineers, scientists and mathematicians, Australia's business leaders pointed out that universities are pushing out too many lawyers and commerce graduates. Business Council of Australia has recommended a path of increased co-operation between universities and business to try and address severe imbalances developing in Australia's skills pool. The chair of BCA's Education, Skills and Innovation Task Force, KPMG chairman Michael Andrew, launching a landmark higher education report said that Australia had to put “greater emphasis on teaching outcomes to make sure that they are teaching is relevant to the future workplace”. “You only have to look at what is happening with our shortage of engineers or metallurgists to see that something went wrong within the system in terms of rewards and encouragement that is in place, not being able to predict that trend that is becoming so evident in the skill shortages across those segments.” Despite pricing signal for undergraduates — namely rising salaries for engineers thanks to the mining boom — there was still a shortage of students studying in the field, according to Paul Dougas, chief executive of civil engineering consultancy Sinclair Knight Merz. “Salaries are going up but the entry level for engineering is actually dropping, so the standard is dropping, so that is a concern for the future,” Mr Dougas told the forum. “It is more in terms of the lack of prestige, the lack of it being seen as a very honourable profession and one that is very satisfying.” Gavin Bell, the CEO and managing partner of law firm Freehills, said the legal profession was seeing a reverse of what was happening in the engineering field. He said it was cheaper to teach a law degree than engineering or science. “In the last decade, maybe 15 years, we have seen an increase in the number of law faculties, the number of graduates coming out of law faculties, and also an increase in the tertiary entrance marks,” Mr Bell said. He said a law degree was often seen as a business qualification, noting about 50 per cent graduating lawyers don't go on to practice law. “It is becoming a general business degree, which is beneficial, but it is at the expense of engineering, science, maths, so we do need to be careful we are not sending messages to universities . . . favouring those courses which are cheaper to teach.” And he added that since it was cheaper to teach a law degree than an engineering or science degree, “the situation could get worse”. The BCA members are keen to develop stronger ties with universities and develop more scholarship programs that better aligns the skills shortage with the graduate courses on offered. Mr Dougas said part of the problem stems from a shift in Australia's workplace from one where government's traditional involvement in the development of technical skills in the infrastructure and extractive industries was now falling on the private sector. “The way infrastructure is put together now, governments have, of necessity, downsized,” he told the forum. “You have seen a shift from the public to the private sector in terms of numbers employed . . . the profession has to replace what . . . the government did in terms of scholarships and career development.”

IGNOU gears up to promote vocational education in Madhya Pradesh

Higher Education

By
digitalLEARNING Network
-

March 29, 2011

An agreement to work together in offering certificate, diploma and associate degree programmes in Vocational and Skill Education through its community college has brought together Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) and Madhya Pradesh Government. Prof. V.N. Rajasekharan Pillai, VC, IGNOU after signing the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Commissioner of Higher Education, Government of Madhya Pradesh (MP) said, “Our government has declared 2010-2020 as the 'Decade of Innovation'. We need to achieve inclusive and sustainable growth in education and skill development. New solutions in many areas are necessary to reach such targets in expedient ways. We have the largest youth population in the world. We need to explore all the possible ways and means to provide them education and employable skills”. “The community college (in MP) will identify academic programmes to be offered in the community on the basis of a need analysis of the local job requirements and opportunities and incorporate these findings into the curriculum, and if so required, shall take assistance from IGNOU in identifying the programmes. Programme delivery is the responsibility of the Community College,” said the MoU signed by the Registrar of IGNOU, Mr. U.S.Tolia. The MoU highlighted the roles and responsibilities of both the institutions and said, “All the programmes offered by the community college shall have enrolments twice a year i.e. July and January for which term end examination will be conducted twice a year i.e. in December and June. Programme wise list of registered students shall be submitted to IGNOU within 15 days of completion of admissions.”

Self-learning, counselling workshop by Jamia

Higher Education

By
digitalLEARNING Network
-

March 29, 2011

A two-day workshop on “Development of Self-Learning Material & Counselling Process” will be organized by the The Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) University, Arjun Singh Centre for Distance & Open Learning on March 30, 2011. According to a press release by the University, Mr. Najeeb Jung, Vice-Chancellor The university will inaugurate the function on March 30, 2011 at 10.00 am in the Committee Room of Nehru Guest House, Jamia Millia Islamia, said University Vice-Chancellor Mr Najeeb Jung. Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) University has grown from a small institution in the pre-independence India to a central university located in New Delhi offering quality education in wide array of disciplines. It is not an affiliating university and no college anywhere is affiliated to it. It offers courses in a wide range of disciplines via its various affiliated colleges / institutes.

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