UIAMS to sign MoUs with leading companies for placements

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January 10, 2011

University Institute of Applied Management Studies (UIAMS) at the Punjab University will be signing memorandums of understanding (MoU) with leading companies to encourage industrial-academic alliance at the institute. The MoUs signed will include points such as the heads of industrial giants contributing to syllabus upgrade and conducting workshops apart from recruiting students from the institute. The institute had struggled last year to provide suitable recruitments to its students and is now willing to experiment with what other departments at the Punjab University are working towards. The placement cell at UIAMS is also inviting professionals to provide training to its students in areas such as entrepreneurship and helping the officials secure loans for projects that they would like to begin and work on.

GNLU students to experience practically in Gujrat courts

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January 10, 2011

Declaring the fifth year students of the Gujrat National Law University to attend the Gujarat High Court to assist the judiciary, Vice Chancellor Bimal Patel said on Sunday that the university will also send its fourth year students to various lower courts in Ahmedabad. The decision was taken after Chief Justice S.J. Mukhopadhaya asked the university to continue rendering assistance to the state judiciary, after a successful experiment related to their training in courts last year. Speaking at the inaugural function of the university's winter semester, Mukhopadhaya on Saturday appreciated the student's assistance in the functioning of the judiciary.

Improving on the Learning Outcomes

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January 1, 2011

Improving on the Learning Outcomes

In conversation with Shameema Parveen, the Co-Founder and CEO of Edutech, Yukti Pahwa, finds out about the learning solutions and services across the learning life-cycle in schools, universities and corporations that is provided by the company.

Please share the initiatives undertaken by Edutech in 2010 and what are your plans for the future?

We undertook many challenging initiatives in 2010. We built an integrated, mobile science laboratory that conforms to the CBSE and IB syllabi. Our product

ICT for Better Learning Outcomes

Interviews

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January 1, 2011

Vivek Govil, President and CEO, Pearson Education talks about teacher being the key person in education delivery system with Dr Ravi Gupta and Yukti Pahwa

What is the main focus of Pearson Education group?

One of our concerns is that a large part of the ICT agenda in education is being driven by the technology companies rather than education companies. Mostly the conversations are about hardware or software without any focus on adequate quality of content or providing support to the teachers. We, on the other hand, believe that it is all about the teachers. Even in a highly technology enabled environment the teacher holds a vital role, though it might get modified according to the former. We work from perspective of enabling the teacher and otherwise.

What were the initiatives taken in 2010?

In higher education, we have been piloting a product called ‘My Labs’. We had the pilot run in 125 colleges across the country, for various subjects, amongst the high end institutions and fairly middle level institutions. We had professors working with ‘My Lab’ and their response to it has been quite remarkable. It is a unique combination of an e-learning tool, a homework management tool and a holistic reservoir of teacher’s resources. It also has an assessment tool, which helps not only to assess but also provide the diagnosis of the given assessment (who all are doing well, what topics are doing better than others), along with shortening the duration of the time spent in administrative aspects of carrying out assessment. In the school education segment we have created an e-book which is the digitised version of the book. This is the first time that someone has tried to integrate the text book and the digital aspect in a meaningful fashion. Although a rudimentary pilot, it did quite well.

What are the unique features of your products?

We focus on teacher’s perspectives. Mostly, the technology story in classrooms is more about marketing . Ou research shows that a lot of teachers and principals mention about their struggle when it comes to the use of technology. In an institution, technology use usually seems to be driven by the quality of the resource person’s training capabilities. But we focus on putting the control back to the teacher. Secondly, we are not trying to invent something from scratch. There are various successful models that exist. The idea is not to have thousands of things on your server but to integrate all of them for the teacher to aid learning.

Is the Pearson’s e-book cost effective?

The e-books we provide are ridiculously cheap and cost effective. They cost about ` 500 per child for a year. Most of the eLearning material is outrageously priced in the market.

What is your opinion about Indian scenario in terms of ICT as compared to the other countries?

We are at much earlier stages of the curve, if we compare ourselves to UK or US. Technology has not yet reached masses. As compared to UK all government schools have interactive whiteboards. The usage is low but the hardware and the software do exist. There are a million players and we have a lot of issues revolving around pricing, and so on but none about learning. Again if we have whiteboards across all classrooms, it will turn into a wasteful expenditure, if it is not being utilised in a useful manner. Mostly, technology usage by schools is used for their branding. If it was being used to provide better quality education then the existing tools would have trebled over years, which is not evident from what exists. All the growth seems to be coming from growing schools and not growth of the existing classrooms in terms of the tools available. And that is a disturbing factor. Owners love it but teachers and principals talk about lack of access to content and its use. We have a large dissatisfied market.

What kind of support do you seek from the government?

The government should have a position and we hope that they pilot, learn and then implement, when it comes to applications of technology. Technology when used in a systematic manner May aid learning but not otherwise.

Anish Srikrishna, Chief Marketing Officer, Pearson Education, in conversation with Dr Ravi Gupta and Yukti Pahwa talks about providing for need based technology solutions for better learning outcomes

Please share with us briefly about the assessment component of the product ‘My Lab’.

‘My Lab’ product includes an assessment tools in addition to other components such as homework management tool and a resource pool for teachers. Through the same, professors can identify the part of the lessons students lag behind. It provides them with a whole lot of analytics explaining the specific gaps in understanding of the students and the lessons imparted. There is a great feedback mechanism along which is furthermore action oriented. It gives an impetus to act on the problem areas.

Our product in school is text book and teacher oriented, where technology helps teachers teach the textbook in a better manner. Furthermore, it is a product that can be used with a simple computer and a projector. So we do not go through the hardcore interactive whiteboard route and yet provide a powerful solution. Annotation is possible on screen, if school has provision of certain screen technologies. The product however, is not dependent on whether the special screen is there or not.

How do schools and higher education institutions respond to ICT?

Technology is being adopted at faster rate in schools than in colleges. But otherwise hardly any difference and similar trends are coming out when we look at learning outcomes. There is a subtle push towards integration of technology.

How is your products unique?

In K12 segment we are the only ones with combination of international resource pool, customised with local talent and technology which is based on the textbook. We provide with unrivaled quality content. In higher education, ‘My Labs’ is a very flexible product, which can help you draw required things from virtually any resource pool and is an incredibly advanced tool.

What do you aim for the future?

We aim for a judicious combination of localisation and technology from across the world. We are the largest company in field of education. We have authors coming from best education institutions across the world. Integrating that with technology for better learning outcomes is the focus point forward.

ICT in Education – Need of the Hour

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January 1, 2011

ICT in Education – Need of the Hour

ICT enabled education is not only an answer to the growing demands for enrolments in education, but is also in tune with the mindset of the present day students and helps meet the challenges in the growth of knowledge

In this information age, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) revolution has fundamentally changed the way we live now. But in India, our education system has not changed significantly in the light of the technological advances around the world. The most fundamental cause seems to have been the deep-seated belief that teaching is an art or at best an imperfect science with no role of technology in the design or delivery of instruction. Realisation seems to have dawned on the teaching community that ICT is primarily to empower them and not to replace them.

Realisation seems to have dawned on the teaching community that ICT is primarily to empower them and not to replace them

The concept of cloud computing is crudely analogous to the centralised supply of electricity. Just as centralized supply of electricity is far more efficient and cheaper rather than everyone having their own generator, similarly if all the PCs of the world were taken and gathered in a single place, they would generate enough computing power for the needs of the entire world. This could obviate the problem of physical access and connectivity. Lastly, the duplication of content should be avoided. Once content has been developed, it should rather
be standardised in the light of suggestions/ feedback from users and experts.\\

The Centrality of ICT in Education

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January 1, 2011

The Centrality of ICT in Education

Education is universally recognised as the single most critical factor that positively impacts sustainable development.

The crucial role of education as an enabler has been accepted by international bodies such as, UNESCO. Recognising this aspect, the Universalisation of Primary Education has been accepted as one of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and The World Education Forum 2000, Dakar adopted the Dakar Framework for Action, Education for All (EFA). Dakar framework views education as a fundamental human right.

The United Nations, through the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the UNESCO Education for All (EFA), World Summit for the Information Society (WSIS) and Literacy Decade initiatives, have set a high priority on the improvement of education world-wide. India has also evolved policies and schemes to ensure fulfilling the MDGs and to ensure equal access to education to all sections of the society as also reduce gender, regional and urban–rural disparities. While, the Xth Plan made a modest attempt to focus on education, the Eleventh Plan has gone much beyond that and made education as one of the major thrust areas. School Education & Literacy has thus been given the highest priority in Plan allocation. Out of the total outlay of `2.70 lakh crore envisaged in the XIth Plan for Education (Central Sector), including Higher & Technical Education, an amount of over `1.85 lakh crore is for School Education & Literacy, including `1.25 lakh crore for elementary education, `6000 crore for literacy/ adult education programmes, and `53,550 crore for secondary education.

Manipal K12@ ICT and Future Perspectives

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January 1, 2011

Manipal K12@ ICT and Future Perspectives

Srikanth B Iyer, Director & COO, Manipal K-12 Education, shares with Yukti Pahwa, his views on futuristic infusion of ICT with education for innovative academic processes and bridging of gaps in providing quality education and access

“I remember a time when students and teachers had to make many trips to the library and find the right books for their homework and lesson plans. Now, with various Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in the classroom and the computer lab, relevant information is just a click away. Technology has radically modified the way teachers teach and students learn. There is excitement among teachers and students alike to learn computer skills and be techno savvy.

ICT, when used effectively, can provide a platform for innovation in the academic process and bridge the gap caused due to various reasons. Often, its scope gets limited to setting up computer labs and providing repositories of information to schools. At Edurite, we understand that a good ICT solution is based on established learning approaches; it incorporates the perspectives of end users and is organically integrated into the school environment. Our DigiClass solution is specifically designed to encourage teachers to be mentors and facilitators and empower them with tools to nurture the spirit of learning in their students.

Implementation of ICT requires significant financial and human resource investments, hence making it difficult to implement at schools in some of the impoverished regions of our country. A positive trend in the last decade is the emergence of many private and public initiatives that have attempted to disperse the benefits of ICT through numerous rural education initiatives. Edurite is also part of symbiotic partnerships with various state governments, multinational corporations and non-profit organisations, where we offer e-content expertise and teacher training programmes. Pan-India initiatives of this kind help build awareness and also enable rural schools to provide quality education.

The future of ICT in education is filled with endless possibilities. Comprehensive education and IT policies like CBSE's recent decision to make digital classrooms compulsory, greater focus on integrating ICT as a field of study into the curriculum, using it as a teaching aid, and entry of many private players in this sector will lead to overall improvement in the quality of education and development of the ICT industry.

Companies will need to focus on customising content, and by that I do not mean only digitising textbooks and adding multimedia objects for various syllabi. We will have to move beyond; professional content development teams with inputs from teachers and faculty will play a significant role in ensuring high quality instructional material that is learner centric, relevant, interactive and synergetic.

In addition to customised content, we need extensive training of personnel for effective usage. Teachers have to be taught how to integrate ICT into their day-to-day teaching approach and enhance classroom sessions.

With the entry of many private players in education, progressive government policies on education, support of the schools supervisors and administrators, and involvement of the final users in the design process, parents can rest easy as their child's education is in good hands.”

Intel Education Initiative in India

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January 1, 2011

As a global technology leader, Intel is committed to enhancing lives by accelerating access to uncompromised technology for everyone, anywhere in the world. The Intel Education Initiative aims to inspire future innovators to help drive sustainable growth and development of knowledge economies

The Intel Education Initiative aims to inspire future innovators to help drive sustainable growth and development of knowledge economies. Through this initiative, Intel gets directly involved in education programmes, advocacy, and technology access to prepare the next generation with skill requirements of the 21st Century workplace.

“Our experience around the world and in India has shown that there are two key factors for helping support education transformation – a strong systemic approach, and working closely with the ecosystem partners and stakeholders,” says Anjan Ghosh, Regional Director Corporate Affairs- Asia Pacific.

“Encouraged by the long term impact of Intel’s education programmes in India, we will continue to strengthen our collaboration with the government, social organisations and NGOs to help further support systemic improvements in the education system across areas such as education policy, teacher professional development, curriculum reforms, assessment practices as well as research and ICT infrastructure. Recently, Intel partnered with UNESCO to launch an ICT in Education Policy Toolkit at a National Forum in December 2010. The toolkit aims to help state-level policy makers, planners and implementers in designing state specific policies to support education transformation. “

“In 2011 and beyond, catalysing education transformation with our ecosystem partners and our programmes will continue to be a focus area for us,” emphasises Ghosh.

Intel has partnered with governments, local NGOs and academic institutions through a variety of programmes including Intel Teach, Intel Learn, skoool, Intel Higher Education, the Initiative for Research and Innovation in Science (IRIS), Intel Community Outreach, and Voluntary Matching Grant Programmes to make a significant difference not just to the lives of the teachers and children they have touched, but also to the families and the communities they live in.

The Intel Teach Programme is a worldwide initiative which helps teachers to be more effective educators by training them on how to promote problem solving, critical thinking and collaboration skills among their students as well as how to effectively integrate technology into their lessons. Intel Teach has impacted more than 14 lakh teachers, teacher educators and student teachers across all states in India. Intel also expanded to the traditionally underserved North-Eastern states of the country.

The Intel Learn Programme is a community-based programme designed to help learners (8-16 years) develop 21st century skills (technological literacy, critical thinking, problem solving, and collaboration). Launched in 2004 in India , till date, the Programme has impacted 1,40,000 learners.

The Initiative for Research & Innovation in Science (IRIS) promotes and nurtures science and scientific research amongst young Indian innovators. The IRIS programme is executed in partnership with Department of Science and Technology, Government of India and CII. IRIS has impacted lakhs of students through workshops across India.

The Intel Higher Education Programme brings cutting-edge technology expertise to universities, encourages students to pursue technical degrees, and helps move technology out of university labs and into local communities. In India, over 20000 students from over 300 institutes have benefited from courses on Multicore, VLSI design and Mask Design.

The Intel Teach Programme is a worldwide initiative which helps teachers to be more effective educators by training them on how to promote problem solving, critical thinking and collaboration skills among their students as well as how to effectively integrate technology into their lessons

Impact Study

Government Upper Primary School, Meeranagar, Chittorgarh, Rajasthan

At the young age of twelve, Shalini scurries from one house to another to help her mother, who works as domestic help, with mopping and washing utensils. Shalini realised that while she had learned in school that potable water was a valuable resource, many people in her community did not understand its importance. She was determined to talk to her teacher to try to find a way to make people understand its value.

Shalini’s teacher, Mrs Archana Tripathi, as an Intel trained Master Trainer of the Intel Teach Programme, realised the potential of the issue as an opportunity to use project based learning methodology to teach her students and address a very important social concern.
The data compiled by students after the survey gave a very alarming picture on how casually water is wasted by those who can afford it. The students decided to organise rallies to sensitise the community about the importance of conserving water. Mrs Tripathi wanted her students to get hands on experience on the project and to handle it as an important social issue. To understand the significance of wasting potable water, Mrs Tripathi organised a visit to the local water works to allow students to see and understand the purification process. The students had one unanimous response “If it takes so much effort to make water pure, why do people waste it?” Their minds sparked as they decided to share what they had learned about wastage of water with their community.

“This is the first time that a Government school teacher has taken an initiative to make students understand the process of purification of water. It was heartening to see the interest of students,” said the Executive Engineer at Water Works Department, Chittorgarh.

Armed with brochures that they created, the students took out rallies in their neighborhood. They sat with mothers and grandmothers and had tea with the grandfathers on ‘charpoys’ kept outside houses, patiently explaining how water was being wasted and how it could be avoided.

Mrs Archana Tripathi put her training on the Intel Teach Program to further use and decided to use technology to reach out to the masses. Along with her students, she organised a well researched case study using the Internet and approached ‘Akashwani Chiitorgarh’ to share the case study with the community. This was an entirely innovative and new experience for the whole class. Three of the girls from school, including Shalini, shared their views on water conservation and also answered questions from listeners via telephone. They provided a real picture of the wastage and gave suggestions on how it could be avoided. They had a practical experience on how to deal with a problem and had also managed to reach out to large numbers in the community.

The efforts of the students of Government Upper Primary School, Meeranagar and of their teacher, Mrs. Archana Tripathi have drawn adulation from all over the state. Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan officials from Jaipur and Chittorgarh district applauded the efforts of Mrs Archana Tripathi at the successful implementation of an innovative approach to education which has given a new dimension to the learning process. She has helped in the student’s scholastic as well as co-scholastic development and also imbibed in the students’ life skills which are very important for their holistic development.

Skill Development Holds Key to Economic Development

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January 1, 2011

Skill Development Holds Key to Economic Development

How many times have we heard the term ‘demographic dividend’ and marveled at the prospect that this holds for India? And also wondered in the same breath whether the youth of this country would be able to take advantage of this opportunity that comes rarely in the history of a nation?

As we get ready to usher in a new year, we must not lose sight of the fact that skill development and employability still remain key issues that we would need to address over the next decade in order to achieve our objective of becoming a developed country by the year 2022 when India will turn 75.

With a median age of 25 years, India currently has one of the youngest populations in the world. The forecast is that the country will have the world’s largest working population by 2030. With the Indian economy on an overdrive, the demand for a skilled workforce is expected to increase manifold in the days ahead.

The challenge does not just end there. A solution also needs to be found to make our workforce more employable. It has been observed by software industry body NASSCOM, for instance, that of the 4-lakh odd engineering graduates who pass out every year, only about 20% would meet the requirements of India Inc based on their technical and presentation skills, their ability to converse in English, and work as part of a team. Even the latest National Sample Survey data clearly underlines that only one in three among those aged between 15 and 29 is functionally literate.

The NSDC is also involved in constituting Sector Skill Councils (SSCs) that would establish quality standards for the segments they represent. The proposed SSCs would develop skill competency standards and qualifications, as well as standardise the affiliation and accreditation process

As of today, a mere 2% of the Indian workforce is formally skilled. In-service training is received by only 15% of workers in the manufacturing sector for example. According to McKinsey, till 2008-09, that is, before the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) started functioning, the total training capacity in India was 4.3 million persons per year against 12.8 million youth joining the workforce annually. By way of comparison, 96% of the workers in South Korea receive formal skills training. In Japan, it is 80%, and, in Germany, it is 75%. The figure for the UK stands at 68%. As far as enrolment in vocational education and training courses is concerned, India has a net enrolment of 3.5 million per year compared to 90 million in China and 11.3 million in the United States.

The heartening news, however, is that skill development has now become one of the priorities of the Government, with the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh setting the target to skill over 500 million persons by 2022. Seventeen ministries are already engaged in undertaking training initiatives that aim to raise the skill-sets of youth in different trades. The current efforts are directed to enhance coordination, set up new capacity and also improve quality. The Prime Minister himself chairs the National Skill Development Council. The National Skill Development Coordination Board, chaired by the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, promotes coordination among various ministries in the area of skill development.

A study conducted by management consulting firm IMaCS (an ICRA subsidiary) on behalf of the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) has forecast that there could be a likely shortage of 240-250 million people by 2022 in 21 high growth sectors. It is believed that this gap would widen if the economy grows faster in the coming decade. Similar projections have been made by CII in some sectors.

The Government has, moreover, set up the NSDC in collaboration with industry to catalyse the private sector to increase its involvement in the task of skilling the nation. The NSDC’s mandate is to train 150 million of the 500 million target set by the Government. The existing Government schemes are expected to create the balance 350 million employable youth by 2022.
Launched in October 2009, the NSDC is chaired by former Murugappa Group Chairman M V Subbiah and its chief role is to encourage both for-profit and not-for-profit enterprises to undertake training initiatives by providing them with funds for this purpose. Assistance is provided in the form of soft loans, equity and grants, or even a combination of one or more financing options.
Any organisation, including start-up ventures, having a scalable and sustainable business model that ensures the employability of the resources trained is eligible for funding by the NSDC. As the NSDC sees itself as a “viability gap catalyst”, the amount of funding could extend up to 75% of the project cost. The debt is offered at subsidised rates with other features like a moratorium built in depending on the nature of the project. Equity infusion by the NSDC is capped at 27% of the total paid up capital. Grant funding is considered only in select cases.

The NSDC is also involved in constituting Sector Skill Councils (SSCs) that would establish quality standards for the segments they represent.

The proposed SSCs would develop skill competency standards and qualifications, as well as standardise the affiliation and accreditation process. They would set up labor management information systems to assist in the planning and delivery of training, besides identifying skill development needs and preparing a catalogue of skill types.

In 2010, NSDC funded many projects with the target of skilling more than 1.5 million youth in agriculture and allied activities, auto CAD, banking, construction, food processing, hospitality, as well as creating artisans for the gems and jewellery sector, over a 10-year period.

The NSDC Board further approved another 13 proposals where funding is to start soon. Combined, these 18 projects would train over 22 million youth over 10 years.

Some of the noteworthy projects that were approved included the NSDC’s decision to form a joint venture with Centum Learning, an associate company of the Bharti Group, to train 11.57 million youth in different trades. As well as the formation of a Special Purpose Vehicle in partnership with IL&FS Education and Technology Services, the education infrastructure development initiative of Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services, to jointly set up 100 skills schools in industrial clusters and economically backward regions nationwide for training 1.94 million youth for varied vocations over a 10-year period.

In the arena of Sector Skill Councils, the NSDC board approved the release of funds for the Automotive Sector Skill Council that is likely to come up soon. For 2011, our aim is to put in place a sustainable, demand-led, person-centric skill ecosystem in India in order to achieve the NSDC mandate of skilling 150 million by 2022 and also fulfill the Prime Minister’s vision of contributing to the development of a 500 million skilled workforce in the country in the next 12 years.

We also propose to increase our focus on Sector Skills Councils in 2011 so that we can put in place the framework necessary for introducing a labor management information system in almost all the key sectors of the economy
Technology would also play a facilitating role in reaching out to the corners of the country and also as an enabler to the entire skill development process. Digital content and simulators like those for driving, fork lift operators and welding will multiply. Perhaps, going forward, skill development would be the killer application – like gaming in Korea – for 3G / 4G in India. This is an opportunity for those in the digital learning space and also for new entrants. The opportunity is there for you to transform the skills landscape in India.\\

AKASHDEEP – Empowering Air Force Personnel through Knowledge

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January 1, 2011

AKASHDEEP
Empowering Air Force Personnel through Knowledge

IGNOU has entered into a collaboration venture with Indian Air Force and signed MoU to enable airmen to achieve graduate status in service within 8-13 years of their service

IGNOU has entered the defence personnel education sector with the Indian Air Force (IAF) and is entering into collaboration recently for certification of the knowledge, skills and in-service training for Indian Air Force personnel. This scheme named as Akashdeep has the potential to transform post-retirement life of airmen by equipping them with formal civil qualification from a national university and preparing them for competitive job avenues, particularly in the area of vocational education and skill development.

Akashdeep collaboration between IAF and IGNOU

Structured around the modular education, skill development and knowledge advancement programmes of IGNOU, the existing Airmen Training Institutes have been registered as Community College Centres of IGNOU which maintains a high degree of flexibility and autonomy. This will enable all serving airmen to obtain a bachelors degree through a stepwise education and examination at certificate, diploma, advance diploma and associate degree levels which will be in the areas like arts, science, commerce, business administration, hotel management, hospitality services, paramedical sciences, office management, automobile trade, and performing arts. The academic expertise of the IGNOU in the 21 schools of studies, and over 60 regional centres across the country along with the vast and the state-of-the-art training infrastructure of the Indian Air Force will provide the necessary logistical support for the education, training and examination of the airmen at various levels.

Constitutional Background

The IGNOU Act and Statutes that are mentioned under the First Schedule (Section-4) states that “the University shall (a) strengthen and diversify the degree, certificate and diploma courses related to the needs of employment and necessary for building the economy of the country on the basis of its natural and human resources; (b) provide education and training in various arts, crafts and skills of the country, raining their quality and improving their availability to the people.”

The certificate, diploma and associate degree programmes that were offered through the Community Colleges were framed by various academic and administrative bodies of the University following the Act and Statutes. While formulating and implementing this scheme, the university has also taken into consideration the recommendations of the National Knowledge Commission, National Skills Mission, the Planning Commission (11th Plan) and the Committees constituted by the University Grants Commission for the 2-year Associate Degree programme and the Community Colleges. IGNOU Act 1985, Section 2(d) provides for establishing colleges, maintaining academic institutions as colleges or admitting colleges to the privileges of the University for realising such objectives. The award of the 2-year Associate Degree is by a credit accumulation process wherein a learner through successful completion of several stand-alone modules, gets a Certificate (12-16 credits), Diploma (24-32 credits) and finally an Associate Degree (64 credits).

IAF-IGNOU Training Institutes

The IAF-IGNOU Community Colleges that are identified and registered under this collaboration are the Air Force Police and Security Training Institute, Bagpat, U.P., Garud Regimental Training Centre, Chandinagar, U.P., Mechanical Transport Training Institute, Avadi, Chennai, Mechanical Training Institute, Tambaram, Chennai, Basic Training Institute, Belgaum, Non-Technical Training Institute, Belgaum, Air Force School of Physical Fitness, Belgaum, Communication Training Institute, Bangalore, Electrical and Instrument Training Institute, Bangalore, Medical Training Centre, Bangalore, Workshop Training Institute, Tambaram, Chennai, and Electronic Training Institute, Jalahhalli, Bangalore, Each of these centres will have a coordinator and a number of trainers and academic counsellors recognised by the Indira Gandhi National Open University.

This will enable all serving airmen to obtain a bachelor degree through a stepwise education and examination at certificate, diploma, advance diploma and associate degree levels which will be in diverse areas

The IAF-IGNOU Community Colleges will identify the academic programmes which are to be offered to the community of airmen and NCs(E) (Non Combatants Enrolled and Civilians). These are the people at personal assistant level to officers equivalent to the order of Indian Army.

Requirements

The criteria laid down by IGNOU for Community Colleges for award of associate degree and subsequently a full-fledged bachelor degree would form the broad basis for registration of Airmen Training Institutes of the Indian Air Force as “Air Force-IGNOU Community Colleges.” These IAF-IGNOU Community Colleges shall continue with or have a structured curriculum which would broadly correspond to a two years curriculum (4-semesters) including on the job training (OJT) for award of an associate degree. The length of the semesters will be permitted to be extended over prolonged periods to permit the individuals to continue to function in their respective appointments while also working towards academic qualifications. The maximum duration of associate degree programme shall be decided by the Air Force Headquarters, which in no case can be less than two years and May be extended upto the service tenure of the participant of the programme. The list of compulsory and elective courses for the graduate degrees will be worked out jointly between IGNOU and Indian Air Force through an Academic Committee from the list of courses being conducted by IGNOU/THE IAF.

IGNOU lays down the following parameters for semesters, which will form the broad basis for planning of semesters within the Air Force-IGNOU Community Colleges:

a) 1st Semester: Basic Foundation Course (16 Credits). An individual’s period under Joint Basic Phase Training May be counted against his first semester as compulsory subjects.

b) 2nd Semester: Applied/Professional Course in the chosen programme (16 Credits). An individual’s period under Module-I Training May be counted against his second semester as Compulsory subjects.

c) 3rd Semester: This May include qualifications attained through the knowledge upgradation course Module-II, and would broadly include the following Application oriented courses (8 credits) and Elective Courses (8 credits).
d) 4th Semester: This may include qualifications attained towards knowledge upgradation through compulsory internship, project and project work obtained during ‘On the Job Training’ (OJT), (16 Credits).

Committees to oversee the venture
The following Governance Units/Committees have been constituted to oversee
this collaboration: a) AF Liaison cell in IGNOU premises b) Joint Consultative Committee comprising members of IGNOU and the IAF which would meet quarterly c) A five-member Air Force-IGNOU Academic Committee (AFIAC), under the chair of Air Officer In-charge personnel or his nominee from IAF and a representative from IGNOU shall be constituted to address and resolve functional academic content of courses, number of credits for a subject, examination issues, award of certificates, diplomas, associate degrees or degrees of IGNOU by Air Force-IGNOU Community Colleges and any other issue(s) brought to its notice/attention. The Air Force-IGNOU Academic Committee will facilitate formulation of the detailed Standard Operating Procedures/ Administrative Instructions for the various programmes.

Armed Force Training Institutions across India
The Indian Armed Forces has set up numerous military academies across India for training its personnel like Military Schools, Sainik Schools, and the Rashtriya Indian Military College to broaden the recruitment base of the Defence Forces. The three branches of the Indian Armed Forces jointly operate several institutions such as the National Defence Academy (NDA), Defence Services Staff College (DSSC), National Defence College (NDC) and College of Defence Management (CDM) for training its officers. The Armed Forces Medical College (AFMC) Pune is responsible for providing the entire pool of medical staff to Armed Forces by giving them in service training. Besides these institutions, Indian Air Force has a training command and several training establishments. While technical and other support staffs are trained at various ground training schools, pilots are trained at the Air Force Academy located at Dundigul. The Pilot Training Establishment at Allahabad, Air Force Administrative College at Coimbatore, School of Aviation Medicine at Bangalore, Air Force Technical Training College at Jalahalli and Paratrooper’s Training School at Agra are some of the other training establishments of IAF. The expertise of these internationally renowned training institutions will contribute to the knowledge base of this IGNOU-IAF Collaboration.

Previous Initiative
Previously, IGNOU has also launched Gyandeep initiative last year in collaboration with army wherein a total of 308 Personnel Below Officers’ Rank (PBOR) of the Indian Army were awarded Associate Degrees, Diplomas and Certificates by IGNOU in different courses of telecommunications and computers at Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), New Delhi in April 2010. The PBORs were from Army Corps of Signals in Jabalpur. The aim of the project was to confer educational certification to PBORs by according recognition to in-service training carried out by individuals during the span of their service career and also to empower all PBORs by arming them with a diploma and degree so as to facilitate a second career post retirement and preparing them for competitive job avenues. More recently, IGNOU is also contemplating same kind of collaboration/ venture with INS.

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