After a legacy of technological bliss, IBM has bagged a 10-year outsourcing deal from Caparo India for providing enterprise resource planning and data centre infrastructure services. Caparo chose to host the data centre on IBM's Power Systems in a cloud model over competitor HP systems because the IBM solution will lower its upfront investments up to Rs 1 crore, IBM said in a statement.
Enrollment in primary schools plunges 2.6 million in 2 years
Remember the advertisement “school chale hum” and those enthusiastic faces running with books in hands and hopes in hearts? In reality while the Centre has been doing a lot of hullabaloo over sending more children to school, surprisingly, enrolment in primary classes across India has dropped since 2007. Between 2008-09 and 2009-10, enrollment in classes I to IV in Indian schools dropped by over 2.6 million. According to the latest data released by the ministry of human resource development Uttar Pradesh has been the major setback where admissions plummeted by over a million in the last two years. The slide in national figures began between 2007-08 and 2008-09 and became, ironically, steeper between 2008-09 and 2009-10, when the Centre cleared the Right to Education Act making education a fundamental right. After years of ignoring the worrying statistics, the central government has finally decided to wake up and take action. It recently pulled up state governments and demanded reasons for the decline in numbers. Most large Indian states, including Maharashtra, have seen student numbers come down in classes I to V, though Assam has been one of the biggest offenders. “This definitely cannot be just a demographic change. In fact, in Uttar Pradesh, enrolment has come down in just about seven to eight districts. The state government has been alerted and it is investigating what went wrong,” said R Govinda, vice chancellor of the National. University of Education Planning and Administration. Experts are at a loss to accurately explain the drop in enrolment in northern states, where birth rates have essentially remained the same. In some southern states, where population planners had predicted a slowdown in birth rate, primary school enrolments have unsurprisingly declined. In other states like Delhi, Tamil Nadu and in the northeast, the figures have begun to plateau. In Bihar, Rajasthan, Assam, the struggle stems from ground-level problems like data keeping, children moving out, introduction of new schools and rationalization of data, said Madhav Chavan, the founder of educational non-profit group Pratham.
IIM-B to increase fee structure for long-term course
The fee structure of Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore (IIM-B) is about to face a hike in the next year's curriculum for two of its long-term programmes aimed at working professionals. The revised course fee now would for the one-year executive post-graduate programme in management (EPGP) will rise by Rs 1.8 lakh for the 2011 batch. The intensive programme designed for senior managers will come with a price tag of Rs 20.55 lakh this year, and Rs 21.50 lakh with family accommodation. As per sources, last year, the institute charged Rs 18.75 lakh and Rs 19.70 lakh respectively. In addition, it is for the first time that fees are being revised for the EPGP after it was launched in 2009. According to the statement of an IIM-B official in the first two years, they retained the same fee structure. He added that for the 2011 batch, the hike is unavoidable due to rising costs and increase in expenses to offer international immersion component. Sources have informed that up to 75 candidates with 7 to 15 years of full-time work experience will be admitted for the next batch. Furthermore, sources mentioned that the B-school will also revise fee for its over-decade-old post-graduate progamme in software enterprise management, a hit among techies. The flexible course will cost Rs 9.5 lakh from 2011, half-a-lakh more than last year. However, at its board of governors meeting earlier this year, the B-school decided not to increase fee for the two-year post-graduate programme for 2011, but approved hikes for other long-duration courses.
Disability cell soon at IGNOU
The Indira Gandhi National Open University's (IGNOUs) National Centre for Disability Studies (NCDS) is planning to set up a cell at the university campus to train in-service mainstraeam teachers in disability issues. The cell would procide training under a new programme Foundation Course on Education of Children with Disabilities (FCED). The programme has been offered under distance learning mode. The duration of the programme is three months. Furthermore, the programme will provide hands-on practical training and exposure apart from theorectical input. IGNOU's 100 Special Study Centres (SSCs), which are recognised by the Rehabilitation Council of India (RCI) in each state, will be used. Presently, the programme will be conducted in English and Hindi. However, by June 2011, the programme will be offered in nine regional languges. The university is also mulling over to offer the programme in Online and On Demand mode, in order to allow candidates to pursue the programme from anywhere across the country. IGNOU is already running a full-time B.A in Sign Language Programme at the campus. Students from Nepal, Kenya, Uganda and China are enrolled in this one-of-its-kind programme.
Software to help monitor children
Are you among one of those parents who are perpetually worried about their wards? With the increasing trend of untoward happenings with kids (both school and college going), it is only natural, as a parent, to be anxious. Also, there are those parents, who want to know the whereabouts of their children. The reason behind this worry is simple; while most of the parents remained concerned about the safety of their children, many a college goers bunk their classes often and go to cinema halls. There is good news for such parents now in the form of new, unique integrated Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software – Campus Mantra. The software is specially designed for academic institutes and parents and it also has benefits for students as well. Launched by Targus Signity Solutions Pvt. Ltd. (the software and value added services/ enterprise services arm of Targus Group), Campus Mantra offers the flexibility of anytime monitoring to parents. The latter can now effectively monitor their wards' whereabouts via reports that can be accessed through one's e-mails and mobile phones (sms alerts). This feature is called the third eye module which helps in constant monitoring of students by parents and it sends out sms alerts from the time the student leaves the home for school/college till he or she comes back. The software also offers a dynamic range of services to the academic institutions (schools/colleges/universities). This includes Student Management (Personnel and Academic), Human Resource Management, Library Management, Hostel Management and Transport Management, Finance, Counseling, Sale & Purchase and Stock Management. According to Mr. Amarjeet Singh Walia, CEO, Targus Signity Solutions Pvt. Ltd., “Campus Mantra is effective software that helps parents in 24*7monitoring of their wards. Similarly, the software can be used by teachers also to monitor their students. It is equally beneficial for academic institutions for a number of things such as hostel management, cafeteria management, transport management etc.” It is a fully secured solution which provides real-time data processing. The several modules of Campus Mantra are integrated and can be customized according to the requirements of the end customer. The reports are generated automatically from the integrated solutions so one doesn't need to reconcile with other records to find out its accuracy and reliability. He further elaborates, “The software comes integrated with Intelligent Interactive Voice Response System that acts as a strong access medium for parents and students as well as interface between parents and school administration.” Based on the concept of 'anywhere, anytime education', Campus Mantra enables the students to do online admission, online payments (smart pay) and smart attendance (via radiofrequency identification or RFID and Biometrics). Students can also obtain their performance results in exams via this software on their cell phones. Also, they can locate any book enlisted in their school/college, via their mobile phones, within a matter of few seconds. They can access a whole lot of other information like time table, course content and fees information. Moreover, this ERP software has such inherent features that help in creating an exclusive brand image for the institute installing it. For the staff of the institution/college Campus Mantra helps in providing real-time information on academics, student management, salary slips, design time table etc.
Sharda University signed an MOU with the German University
Sharda University signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with TU Technische Universit
BenQ launches 6 new projectors with 3D ready features
BenQ, World's Number 1 DLP Projector brand, on Tuesday unveiled 6 new models of projector- MX660, MS614, MS510, MX511, MX613ST & MS612ST suiting all business and education needs. BenQ's wide range of feature rich projectors give options for customers to choose according to their needs, while still focus on delivering robust presentation and enhancing experience in effective communication. Designed to keep audiences engaged during presentations, the newly launched models from BenQ offers value-driven, eco-friendly projectors ideal for education and small-to-medium-sized business environments. These models deliver remarkably bright images and feature wired and wireless (optional) networking, HDMI and USB inputs, high contrast (3000:1 to 5000:1) and up to 6000 hours of lamp life. Light output also range from 2500 to 3200 ANSI lumens ensuring great viewing for small-medium size rooms even in normal lighting conditions.
IGNOU introduces full-time MBA in Corporate Governance
Adding another full-time programme to its exhaustive list, the Indira Gandhi National Open University's (IGNOUs) Centre for Corporate Education, Training and Consultancy (CCETC) announced launching of two-year full time on-campus Masters in Business Administration (MBA) programme in Corporate Governance at its headquarters. The master's degree programme has been designed. It will be taught by eminent management and corporate governance experts. A graduate in any discipline with a minimum of 50% aggregate marks from a recognized university or 45% for reserved category are eligible to apply for the programme. All the eligible applicants will be required to appear for a test, group discussion and a personal interview for final selection. The application forms (hard and soft copy) will be available from 31st March 2011 and the last date for its receipt is 30th April 2011. The test, group discussion as well as the personal interview will start from first week of June and the classes will commence from first week of July 2011. The MBA degree awarded by IGNOU is AICTE recognized and will be taught with the theoretical concepts combined with relevant contemporary corporate exposure at the state-of-art center at Maidan Garhi.
IGNOU allows local talent to global brains, launches interactive portal
From distance learning, we come to distributed learning, said Prof. Srivathsan, Pro VC, Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) while launching the International Division (ID) portal, designed and developed jointly by the Advanced Centre for Informatics & Innovative Learning (ACIIL) and the International Division of the university in the Electronic and Media Production Centre (EMPC) of IGNOU. The division has now launched a state-of-art web portal offering services of various types and at different levels to both students and Partner Institutions (PI). It provides support for better programme coordination as well as guidelines for those interested in working with IGNOU and is complimented by a Wiki area that allows PIs to publish information and interact with their students. For students already enrolled and for prospective learners, the portal has a list of programmes currently on offer with all details; support services for registration and evaluation; a query management system and a space for interaction in the form of community blogs and discussion forums. There is also a list of PIs that students access by clicking on the relevant links. IGNOU has been a little traditional, depending upon printed study materials. Its time it also comes ahead in the technical field. Earlier it was in Open and Distance Learning (ODL) mode but now, it can reach into your pockets through internet. Access to content is now easy even for international students. We ensure that now IGNOU keeps pace with the changing time. Open Programme Guide/ Open Course Guide (OPG/OCG) is a crucial part of Vedyadhara framework, one of the salient feature of the portal. It enables students/ lecturers to go through the online study materials in form of online blocks for each programme and individual course,” he said. The International Division of IGNOU coordinates all the academic programmes that the university offers, brings the support systems under one umbrella and liaises with learners abroad as well as international students doing IGNOU courses in India. Internationally, IGNOU programmes are offered through PIs in various countries. At the moment, there are over 40,000 students studying in 40 countries, supported through 67 PIs. “IGNOU started offering programmes to international students in 1994. The university realizes the need to interact with its students. It feels that accounting for academic activities is necessary now, which is why the need to launch a platform for interaction arised. The ID portal is a tailored product for prospective learners and for those already pursuing it. The first phase of this portal is to make updated information available to the international students. It talks about programmes offered to international students, assists them, solves their queries, manages a date calendar for academic activities, offers a blog with respect to programmes and separate categories of PI,” said Prof. Kusum Sharma, Director, ID, IGNOU. “Contemporary and traditional courses like programme on Gandhian Studies would be much in demand from international students rather than Indian. Our counselors can deliver online lectures, allowing e-learning and social networking for each course,” the Pro VC added.
IGNOU’s SOFL to start Russian programme with RCSC
School of Foreign Languages (SOFL) of Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) shall soon start a Russian Language and Culture programme in collaboration with Russian Centre of Science and Culture (RCSC), New Delhi. This announcement was made in response to the UN declaration of February first week as “Know Your Neighbours”. On this occasion a short term language programme was inaugurated by Prof. VN Rajashekharan Pillai, VC, IGNOU at the university campus. While inaugurating the programme, Prof. Pillai said that the proposal to launch this programme shall be placed at the forthcoming academic council meeting of IGNOU as one of the items. Moreover the Regional Centres of IGNOU may collaborate with the counterparts of Russian Centre. Ms. Yelena Shtapkina, Dy. Director, Culture & Information, RCSC in her address stated that the Russian Language taught in many Universities of the World which are not up to the mark of Russian standard and as a result, the candidate has to pass additional test to qualify for appointment. She said that RCSC is ready to facilitate with appropriate teaching of Russian language to meet the requirements by providing native teachers to IGNOU as per mutually agreed upon terms and conditions. Prof. Manu Mittal, Chairperson, Centre of Russian Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi said that it is essential to have exposure to the languages of neighbouring countries. She also assured of all possible help to be given by CRS, JNU to SOFL, IGNOU. Prof. G. Chaudhuri, Director, School of Foreign Languages, IGNOU announced that this two months Russian Language and Culture programme classes: twice a week: Fridays and Tuesdays will be held in the campus and it has been made compulsory for all faculty members of SOFL to learn the language. At the same time this programme is also offered to all faculty members and officers of IGNOU.
