iDiscoveri raising $10M

Corporate Updates

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August 26, 2010

Supporting schools develop their curriculum, Lighthouse Funds may be leading the race for iDiscoveri. The leading contender for investing into education services firm iDiscoveri Education Pvt Ltd is the private equity firm Lighthouse Funds. iDiscoveri helps schools develop curriculum through its programme called X-SEED and is also involved in corporate training. iDiscoveri also provides outdoor programmes for children through a separate company called Youreka and also runs some pre-schools.

Investment Light house carries in India is channeled through its $125-million India 2020 Fund. Emails sent to Lighthouse Funds and iDiscoveri remained unanswered at the time of posting this article. BMR Advisors is running the fundraising process. iDiscoveri has been founded by former worldwide marketing director of Group Danone Ashish Rajpal. The X-seed initiative has expanded to more than 400 schools. It involves services like student curriculum, assessment, teacher education and instructional leadership.

PE players are looking at the education sector as an attractive area for investment. It has been reported that, this calendar year has already seen 16 deals worth $175 million till date, more than double the total investments of $88 million across five deals witnessed in the whole calendar 2009.

National Instruments and Texas Instruments Deliver Affordable, Portable Educational Device for Engineering Students

Corporate Updates

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digitalLEARNING Network

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August 25, 2010

National Instruments today announced the release of the NI myDAQ NI LabVIEW graphical development software to help reverse the trend of rising educational costs by giving students hands-on interaction with real analog circuits, sensor measurements and signal processing for about the price of an engineering textbook. 'Students need exposure to real circuits and hardware, but the problem for engineering professors is trying to meet the increasing cost of providing real electronics with continually tighter budgets,' said Dr Tony Ambler, chairman of electrical and computer engineering at The University of Texas at Austin. 'NI myDAQ is inexpensive enough for every student to have their own, plug it into their laptop at home, in the dorm or in the park, and experiment with the real electronics all around them, without using lab time or lab equipment.'

Compact enough to fit in a student's pocket and powered by USB connection, NI myDAQ provides a solution for college engineering professors who want their students to experiment during homework and beyond, through a student-owned measurement, signal processing and control device. NI myDAQ bridges the gap between theory and real-world practice by providing students eight LabVIEW software-based instruments including a digital multimeter (DMM), oscilloscope, function generator, Bode analyzer, dynamic signal analyzer, arbitrary waveform generator, digital reader and digital writer. Students can use all these instruments to perform many laboratory-style experiments. When combined with LabVIEW on a PC, NI myDAQ delivers a complete solution for hands-on learning of core concepts in engineering curricula that include analog circuits, sensor measurements and signals and systems courses. Multiple universities throughout the United States already are developing NI myDAQ curricula, and National Instruments is making these and other resources available to educational institutions and students at www.ni.com/mydaq. NI myDAQ also integrates with the NI Multisim LabVIEW Student Edition software and Multisim Student Edition software also are available with the device at a significant discount to students.

HCL Career Development Centre announces

Corporate Updates

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digitalLEARNING Network

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August 20, 2010

HCL Career Development Centre (CDC), the IT traning and skill development arm of HCL Infosystems, India's premier hardware, services and ICT system Integration company today announced the commencement of the nationwide search of youthful minds through the Yuva Pratibha Scholarship Exam (YPSE) 2010 scheduled for August 22, 2010. The All India YPSE 2010 has been designed to get young individuals to sit for this examination where the participants on merit basis are selected to receive 100% scholarships from HCL CDC. The expected participation from across the nation is over 60,000 students. Basis the performance of the students in YPSE and personal counselling session, students will be offered scholarships for the training programs at HCL CDC.

George Paul, Executive Vice President, HCL Infosystems said, 'In the world of high-end cutting-edge technologies that we live in today, the students do not have the exposure and training on leading edge technologies, which is very critical to build the ICT infrastructure in the country. We have initiated YPSE with an objective to provide career enhancement opportunities to deserving individuals and contribute to the nation with skilled ICT professionals and lay the foundation of a sustained economic growth.'

The 4th edition of YPSE will be conducted using HCL Infosystems' nationwide state-of-the-art IT infrastructure. The powerful online platform will enable the generation of a comprehensive result sheet with information on the marks and grade obtained by the student within 12 hours of the exam. Moreover, the report will also provide a constructive feedback on the student's improvement areas.

NIIT launches GNIIT for engineers in Delhi

Higher Education

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digitalLEARNING Network

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August 20, 2010

NIIT, leading Global Talent Development Corporation and Asia's largest IT trainer, today, launched the 'industry endorsed' multiple track GNIIT for Engineers in Delhi. G. Raghavan, President-Global Individual Learning Solutions, NIIT, announced the launch of the program. GNIIT for Engineers is aimed at enhancing employability of engineering graduates by bridging the skill gap. According to industry reports, only 25% of the engineering graduates applying for positions in the IT & ITeS sectors in India are considered employable by the industry. It has therefore become a necessity to equip the graduating engineers with employable skill sets, for meeting the industry requirements.
With the return of strong hiring outlook, industry would be on the lookout for job-ready talent. As per NASSCOM's latest estimates, the industry headcount addition is expected to double this year to touch 200,000 new employees, leading to 2.5 million direct employments. The IT BPO exports market is expected to grow by 13-15 percent and the domestic market by 15-17%. The curriculum of GNIIT for Engineers has been specially designed and customized with continued inputs from the IT industry, thus imparting GNIIT-Engineers with specialised skills essential to build a successful IT career. Mapped to current industry requirements, the program offers Global Technology Certification curriculum to ensure best career opportunities worldwide for every GNIIT-Engineer, along with firsthand experience of working on the latest technology developments.
The students will also undergo a rigorous & complete Software Development Life cycle project, followed by six-month Industry internship. This will train them according to the IT industry expectations, thus making them day-one job ready. Speaking on the launch of the GNIIT for Engineers G Raghavan, President-Global Individual Learning Solutions, NIIT said 'GNIIT for Engineers is specifically designed keeping the engineering students, their already rigourous curriculum and their career aspirations in mind. Graduates of this program will be first-hour job ready for the global marketplace.' The three-year GNIIT for Engineers program is designed to be pursued along with the engineering program. The methodology has been tuned to the academic cycles of the engineering programs. The requirement for enrolment to this program is successful admission into a B.Tech or a B.E program.

Microsoft, JEI partner to launch First Innovative Education Forum in Jordan

Corporate Updates

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digitalLEARNING Network

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August 19, 2010

Under the aegis of Dr Khaled Al Karaky, the Minister of Education, Microsoft Jordan has launched the 1st annual local Innovative Education Forum (IEF) in partnership with the Ministry of Education and the Jordan Education Initiative (JEI) to celebrate the impressive work of local educators helping students realize their full potential through the Virtual Classroom Tour (VCT). From across the Kingdom, 36 teachers from 25 schools, including Discovery Schools, Madrasati Schools and other public schools, have submitted their own technology-integrated projects through the use of the VCT, in order to compete in the local IEF and go on to participate in IEF Arabia.

The five winners of the 1st Annual Local Innovative Education Forum will participate at the IEF Arabia that will take place in Tunisia in October. They will compete with winners from other Arabic countries and will then have the opportunity to participate in the Worldwide Innovative Education Forum to be held in Cape Town at the end of October. The top three winners will also compete with other Arab nations in an on-line competition to judge the best three individual VCT projects in the Arab World to participate in the world wide IEF event in Cape Town on an individual basis.

8 varsities by ICFAI with INR 400 crore

Higher Education

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digitalLEARNING Network

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August 19, 2010

Known for its chain of B Schools, the ICFAI Group, is planning to set up eight universities in as many states in the next two years with an investment of INR 400 crore. It has received the necessary approvals from the governments of Chattisgarh, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Orissa, Gujarat, Assam, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab, said SK Sharma, director, planning and coordination, ICFAI.

The universities are expected to be operational first in Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Chhattisgarh next year. The universities in Gujarat, Assam, Orissa and Madhya Pradesh will follow suit in 2012. The group has signed an agreement with the state government to set up a university in Punjab. The Hyderabad-based group has presence in eight states

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