The recently appointed vice-chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), SK Sopory has expressed reservation on the proposed Foreign Institutions Bill. Sopory pointed out areas of concern in the bill before the parliamentary standing committee on HRD, which met to discuss the Foreign Educational Institutions (Regulation of Entry and Operation) Bill, 2010. The proposed bill allows foreign education institutions to set up their campus in the country. According to sources, Professor Sopory said that there were concerns about the lack of a level playing field for Indian educational institutions. The availability of teachers, the differential salary structure and the impact it would have on existing domestic institutions, curriculum for these institutes and the fees to be charged by the foreign education institutes were among the issues that the JNU VC raised. Political parties like the BJP and the Left have also been opposing the bill stating it will harm the country's education system. They have argued that the government should firstly tackle the issue of faculty crunch and ensure quality among domestic private players before opening the education sector for foreign institutions. It is to be noted that the opposition is not coming just from the rival parties even Congress MP Keshav Rao has also raised concerns on teacher availability. The Congress MP from Rajya Sabha, said that foreign universities will hire the best teaching talent of the country with attractive pay packages and facilities affecting Indian universities adversely. According to sources, Rao has said that bill in its current form had no safeguards for domestic institutions.The panel may take up clause-wise discussion to find ways to address the concerns.
India to become centre of gravity in global Higher education: Kapil Sibal
Union Minister for HRD Kapil Sibal while inaugurating the EDGE (Emerging Directions in Global Education) conference said, “India is to become the centre of gravity in global Higher education. We are at the cusp of next revolution in education in India and more investment in higher education is the only way forward. Financing education is a government commitment and our national duty with no strings attached. What we need is a change of mindset among all stakeholders in the higher education sector.
We must also ensure teaching profession gets highest priority.” The annual EDGE Conference 2011 underway in Delhi, a global platform aiming to shape the future of Indian Higher Education saw participation of 700 delegates which includes Vice-Chancellors, Presidents, Directors, Professors, Education Councils, Entrepreneurs and policy makers to interact, collaborate and understand the prevailing trends in the higher education sector. ‘Shaping the Future of Indian Higher Education’ is the theme for EDGE 2011 Conference. The conference aims to cover various critical topics like International Partnerships, Future of Medical Education, Vocational Education, Education Infrastructure, Funding Education, Frontiers of New Assessments, ICT for Next Generation Learning Environments, Creativity in Higher Education, Medical Education and Education Policy Framework. Vice-Chancellor of IGNOU and Academic Programme Committee Chairman of EDGE 2011, Prof. V. N. Rajasekharan Pillai said, “EDGE is the foremost platform for the stakeholders in Higher Education sector in India and the world to converge.
Interactions at the platform will help us act together towards identified goals with a beneficial intent for the education sector.” Well-known educator, scientist and institution builder, Prof. C.N.R. Rao was honoured with the EDGE Education Personality of the Year Award. The award was conferred in recognition of his extraordinary and exemplary contribution to higher education sector. While receiving the award Prof. Rao commented, “We teachers are to give everything we have and not to expect anything back.” EDGE Forum was conceptualized in the year 2007, by a group of leading educational institutions from public and private sector under the leadership of Dr. K. Kasturirangan, former Chairman, ISRO & Director, NIAS.The forum addresses several dimensions of education like governance, human resource management, cutting-edge technologies, and holistic approach to education infrastructure and above all adoption of global best practices.
It serves as an analytical and authoritative source for policy recommendations on higher education. Dr. S.B. Mujumdar, Chancellor, Symbiosis International University and Patron of EDGE Forum said, “The idea of EDGE conference is to connect good institutions and universities in India to collaborate and co-operate to find solutions for many challenges of our country. We intent to bridge the gap between government, colleges and universities which will speed up the process of expansion and inclusion in the higher education sector in India.” The event also consists of EduExpo for Educational Institutions, Publishing Houses, IT Companies and other service providers.
US, Australian, German universities keen to tie up with Indian Institutes
The representatives from US, Australia and Germany have expressed their keen interest to partner with Indian Higher Education Institutes. These representatives are participating in the ongoing EDGE conference in New Delhi. Bringing the German perspective, Dr. Birgit Barden, Director-International Office, Leibniz Universit
Mangalore University ranked 2nd in chemistry research
Mangalore University has been ranked number two in the Chemical science research by Scopus. Scopus is the largest abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature and quality web sources with smart tools to track analyse and visualise research and Mangalore University research work figures more often in this database. MU is ranked second after the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research ( CSIR). The Scopus list features B Thimme Gowda and B Narayana as top authors of the university, which contributes to six of India's global competencies that include publications of the university. Speaking on the achievement of the university, Vice-chancellor T C Shivashankara Murthy said “It is this very achievement in research that has enabled the university get Rs 16 crore grants from department of science and technology, University Grants Commission and the state government apart from routine block and development grants given to it by the government and UGC. All this funds have been allocated for a specific purpose to further research activities on the university campus.” The Indian Journal of Science and Technology, volume three number seven published in July 2010 lists Mangalore University in the 24th place among top 50 Indian Universities based on publication output, average citation per paper, share of international collaborative papers and H-Index. In the ranking of top 50 Indian universities based on P-Index, Mangalore University is ranked 27th behind University of Mysore which is placed a rank above.
VCs should declare assets in university website
The Tamil Nadu Federation of University faculty Associations has demanded that all Vice Chancellors should declare their assets on university's website. The federation is demanding full details of VCs during pre and post-tenure periods in order to bring in transparency in the education system. The Association held a state-wide agitation on March 10 to protest against the alleged corruption in appointment process of V-Cs in Tamil Nadu. A press release from S Krishnaswamy, Convenor, TANFUFA, said it had already taken up the issue with the Governor by bringing the issue of corruption to his notice on February 15. 2011. The statement said “the open secret of corruption that prevails with respect to appointments in universities starting from recruiting faculty members to nomination of members to Senate/Syndicate to appointing Vice-Chancellors. The Day of Protest on March 10 is to stop corruption in higher education.” The release also points out that candidates with little experience in research work and administrative skills are being appointed in various state universities. The association is demanding that UGC rules should be followed which asks for the highest level of competence and institutional commitment in candidates to be appointed as Vice-Chancellors. The Vice-Chancellor should be a distinguished academic, with a minimum of 10 years experience as Professor in a university system or 10 years experience in an equivalent position in a reputed research and / or academic administrative organization. “Time and again there are reports in the air that money plays a crucial role in VC appointments. For an eminent academician like Prof. M. Anandakrishnan to call the university system scandalous because of the commercialisation of the appointment of Vice-Chancellors is but a sad reflection of the state of affairs,” Dr. Krishnaswamy said. TANFUFA was concerned that VCs had come under the scanner of Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-corruption police and CBI.
CBSE to conduct teacher eligibility test for recruitment in govt schools
The Central Board of Secondary Education Board will conduct a teacher eligibility test (TET) for candidates applying for teaching posts for classes 1 to 8 in government schools. The decision has been made to ensure high teaching quality among new employees. The government schools need to recruit several teachers under the provisions of the Right to Free and Compulsory Education 2009. During a meeting that Director of Public Instructions had with the Ministry of Human Resource Development on March 4, the UT was issued instructions to follow guidelines issued by the National Council for Teacher Education for this test. ''We will now be holding a TET for the recruitment of teachers to government schools. The test is going to be introduced by us from this academic year.” The teachers also have to be eligible for the test as per a list of qualifications that has been released by the National Council for Teacher Education,'' said Sandeep Hans, director public instructions, education department. The test will consist of two papers covering subjects like Child development and Pedagogy, Language 1, Language 2, Mathematics and Environmental Studies. Each paper will be in objective questions format and will be of 30 marks each. The paper that will have to be given will depend on the class and post that a candidate is applying for. Candidates applying for a post for classes 1 to 5 will have to give Paper 1 while those applying for classes 6 to 8 will have to give Paper 2. If a teacher is applying for both classes both papers will have to be given. The teachers will be required to have a graduation degree and a B.Ed degree to be eligible for the test.
HRD ministry denies more autonomy to IIM-B
Development (HRD) has turned down key amendments to its fundamental statute book that had been proposed by the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) – Bangalore. The amendments had been aimed at loosening the control by the government over the premier management institute. The seven proposed amendments to the memorandum of agreement (MoA) that had been signed between the HRD ministry and IIM-B have been called unacceptable by the ministry as the IIMs are public institutions. The proposed amendments to the MoA had been submitted by the IIM to the HRD ministry in January. The rejection by the ministry to the amendments may come as a let down for other IIMs in the country as they too were seeking amendments to their MoAs with the ministry. HRM Minister Kapil Sibal has encouraged the IIMs to seek greater autonomy, which is unlike his predecessors Arjun Singh and Murli Manohar Joshi. An IIM Director said that they too had similar amendment proposals and hoped that the government would reconsider the matter. The government has expressed its reservations against some of the amendments that have been proposed as they could change the “fundamental character” of the Indian Institutes of Management. The points in IIM-B's proposal that have been struck down by the HRD ministry include ending the government's power to take over the assets and administration of the institute if it is dissatisfied with its functioning and making it mandatory for the government to seek approval from the Board for investigating irregularities. The HRD ministry had also rejected a proposal that had sought to remove a clause from the MoA that allows the government to having a role in deciding the IIM's mandate. The ministry had also pointed out in its response to the IIM that the institute, contrary to it's proposal, cannot award degrees as it is neither a deemed university nor established under a legislation. The ministry has also rejected a proposal that would end the role of the government in deciding the fate of property and assets that have been purchased with government money as well as another that sought to end the responsibility of the IIM in improving the management education in the south. The IIM has been asked by the HRD ministry to put on hold a proposal that would allow the IIM Board to choose a Director for the institute without the government playing any role in the decision.
Budget hike won’t help education sector – Sibal
The 24 percent hike in the outlay for education announced in the union budget will not help the sector because what is needed is a change in mindset, Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal said on Thursday. “A 24 percent budget hike will not help the education sector. It is not just money allocation that we need, the country needs a change in mindsets involved in teaching, the quality of education and the education provider,” Sibal said at the inauguration of the three-day Emerging Directions in Global Education (EDGE) conference in the capital. “To change the dimensions of higher education in the country, we need a whole new crop of teachers who are responsible and willing to teach from their hearts,” the minister added. The annual EDGE conference brings together the heads of higher education institutions from all over the country, including vice chancellors, directors and educationists, to interact on policy making in the higher education sector. “While focusing on higher education, we also need to think of the diluting quality because of mushrooming institutes. The ministry has often done checks in such private institutions where the entire faculty is hired for a very short period to lure students,” Sibal said, referring to the money minting business in the education business. According to statistics by Ernst and Young, nearly 40 million students are expected to opt for higher education by the year 2020, compared to the current 17 million.
Finance dominates IIM-Calcutta placements
The finance sector ruled the final placements process at the Indian Institute of Management-Calcutta (IIM-C) with renowned firms from the field making up 31.3 percent of the offers. “IIM-Calcutta is known as the 'Finance Campus of India', and this year the finance sector contributed the largest number of offers, nearly 31.3 percent. Finance was closely followed by the consulting and marketing sectors,” Pritish Gandhi, recruitment coordinator, IIM-C, told media persons here. “International investment banks like UBS, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank and Bank of America hired students from IIM-C. Students have already received pre-placement offers (PPO) from firms like Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Royal Bank of Scotland,” said Gandhi. “This year Japanese Investment Bank and Daiwa Securities recruited exclusively from IIM-Calcutta and extended offers to six students,” said Gandhi Consulting firms like Mckinsey and Company, Boston Consulting Group (BCG), Bain and Company and AT Kearney and Essex Lake Group also recruited exclusively from IIM-Calcutta during the March 3-7 final placement process. “All 383 students who participated in the placement process had successfully received job offers by the end of the fifth day,” said Gandhi. For students with considerable work-experience, lateral placements in senior positions saw a huge increase of 57.6 percent in the number of offers, up from 92 last year to 145 this year. More than 50 firms participated in the lateral placement process, including recruiters like Barclays Bank, Olam International, Google, Microsoft, Amazon and Shell. They hired in “unprecedented numbers” after modest hiring or completely giving a miss to placements during the recession period, said Gandhi. The highlight of the lateral placement process was the participation of private equity firm Gaja Capital, which recruited exclusively from IIM-Calcutta and selected three students. Additionally, MCap Fund Advisors also visited the campus for lateral recruitments. The IIM-Calcutta this year also introduced “deferred placements” process wherein students who want to pursue entrepreneurship, work in social sector, join a government organization involved in national service or pursue higher education are allowed to sign out of current placement process and join it anytime in the next 3 years.
Semester tussle – DU teachers to hold classes in VC’s lawn
Teachers at the Delhi University have decided to protest aginst the implementation of the semester system in colleges, not by conducting strikes, but by holding classes outside in the lawns. Members of the Joint Action body (JAB) of teachers will on Thursday and Friday, conduct classes in the lawns outside the office of the vice chancellor to draw his attention to the matter of implementing the semesters for undergraduate courses. Karen Gabriel, associate professor at St. Stephen's College and a member of JAB said that JAB currently had around 100 members. Out of these, around 20 are expected to take their classes out in the open. “The classes will be taught on the two days like any normal day and the students have been told about them. The classes would start at around 8:30am and students will only have to come out in the open and then can walk back to the campus for other classes,” she said. She further added that the administration of the university had never consulted the teachers before the decision to implemented the semester system was taken. The university has already implemented the semester system for 13 undergraduate science courses and there are now plans to completely shift all courses to the semester system mode from the upcoming academic session. Teachers from several departments such as economics, English, history and philosophy have already expressed their disapproval during their general body meetings at the switch to the semester system. Teachers have alleged that the content of the courses is being diluted in order to accommodate the new semester system.
