Varsity for media studies at Karnataka

Higher Education

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January 25, 2010

A dedicated university for media studies is likely to be setup in Karnataka soon. This was announced by Minister for Information and Publicity of Karnataka Government Katta Subramanya at a function organized to celebrate press day and the platinum jubilee of the Karnataka Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ).

The Government has named the Karnataka Media Academy as the nodal agency to start the process of setting up the university. Chairman of the Legislative Council; Veeranna Mathikatti, Media Adviser to the Chief Minister; R.P. Jagadish, President of KUWJ; H.S. Sudheendra Kumar and General Secretary of KUWJ; Gangadhar Mudaliar were all present on the occasion.

Sibal seeks balance between Central and State education Acts

Policy Matters

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January 22, 2010

In advance to implementation of Right To Education Act (RTE), coming into effect from April 1, the Union Minister for Human Resource Development Kapil Sibal mentioned that he wants to build a consensus with state governments. Sibal stated that soon private schools in India will have the right to decide the fees they want to charge from the students they enroll and also decide the salaries they want to pay to their teachers.

In Delhi, Sibal's proposal contradicts the 1973 Delhi School Education Act, which stipulates that teachers in private schools cannot be paid less than their counterparts in government schools. However, he defended that the contradictions would be invalid once the RTE is implemented. Teachers working at public schools are required to be paid a minimum of INR 22,000 a month, according to the Sixth Pay Commission set up in 2006 by the Cabinet to revise the salaries of government employees.

Special coaching for OBCs at TISS from following year

Higher Education

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January 22, 2010

The Tata Institute of Social Sciences (Tiss) is willing to start orientation/remedial coaching from next year for the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) for admissions to its various masters' programmes. 18pc OBC quota is being implemented by the Tiss from this year. 'But, this year we will not be able to fill up the OBC seats in some courses. Many OBCs aspirants who have taken the written test for admission to Tiss are placed far below in the merit list,' said S Parasuraman, Tiss director. Next year, Tiss will implement 27% OBC reservation. Tiss has been conducting pre-examination orientation for Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) candidates for the last three years. In 2007, 16.5% SC and 8.6% ST candidates took admission at the institute.

'They exceeded their quota share of 13% (SC) and 7% (ST). This is because the pre-examination orientation has greatly increases the chances of the SC/ST candidates to qualify in Tiss entrance and enroll as general category students after their quota gets filled up,' said a Tiss report.

Intel survey says Teachers want more classroom laptops

Corporate Updates

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January 22, 2010

A survey conducted by Intel and presented at the BETT education technology show in London indicated that 76% of teachers surveyed in Europe believe that their governments should be doing more to support computer access for students. In the survey, more than 2 700 teachers in 15 countries worldwide had expressed that while 70% of educators believe their students should have access to a laptop computer in class, only 3% of their students currently have such a computer. Just under a third of those questioned said that a lack of funding was preventing the required investment in computers.

Oracle delivers Integrated Business Planning through the Integration of Enterprise Performance Management

Corporate Updates

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January 21, 2010

To improve operational alignment and financial performance, Oracle announced the integration of Oracle(r) Hyperion Planning and Oracle's Demantra Real-Time Sales and Operations Planning. Linking Hyperion Planning and Oracle's Demantra Sales and Operations Planning gives CFOs and supply chain executives a direct path to evolve from a disconnected enterprise and operational planning environment to integrated business planning. As a result, CFOs get a reliable revenue forecast that has been validated against the current operating plan. On the operations side, supply chain and manufacturing managers can reconcile current operating plans against updated financial targets and budgets. With its top rated Enterprise Performance Management applications now linked to its best-in-class Real-time Sales and Operations Planning application, Oracle is first to provide customers with true integrated business planning capabilities.

Leveraging Oracle Application Integration Architecture (AIA), this integration enables Oracle Hyperion Planning to publish the financial targets for revenue, profits and other metrics to Demantra Real-Time Sales and Operations Planning. This improves decision-making through increased visibility into financial goals and helps improve the quality and profitability of the supply chain operations and demand shaping activities. Demantra Real-Time Sales and Operations Planning provides the current operating forecast and cost of goods sold data to Oracle Hyperion Planning. This operating forecast is delivered in monetary units and enables financial analysts to identify any gaps between the financial plan and current operating plan. Customers will gain additional benefits from adopting Demantra Demand Management, which enables a global demand planning process that senses local demand changes, generates an accurate forecast and supports a cross-functional consensus planning process. With this integration, data can be moved seamlessly, preserving the user interfaces from Hyperion Planning and Demantra so that new training or re-implementation is not required.

UGC reommendation: Mandatory accreditation for deemed universities

Higher Education

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January 21, 2010

To check any 'irregular practices' in deemed universities, the University Grants Commission (UGC) has made significant recommendations, including mandatory accreditation and regular monitoring of their standards. The UGC has submitted these recommendations in the form of a regulation to the Ministry of HRD for consideration. 'The regulation says that an institution must have accreditation by either National Board of Accreditation or National Accreditation and Assessment Council for being given deemed university status. It also sets a number of quality parameters like teacher-student ratio and other facilities,' said a senior HRD Ministry official. At present, the existing criteria for deemed university status does not make accreditation a mandatory requirement.

The regulation also says that the deemed universities will have to maintain a teacher-student ratio of one to 20 for general courses. The UGC has framed these guidelines after it received a number of allegations about these institutions resorting to corrupt practices. 'There are allegations that some of these institutions are running distance courses without permission of the Distance Education Council. There are also allegations that certain deemed universities do not have regular teachers,' said an UGC official. A case has also been filed in the Supreme Court about the 'irregularities' in deemed universities. If the regulation is accepted, the quality aspects in deemed universities will be regularly monitored by the UGC. The government can withdraw the deemed university status from institutes if they violate the guidelines.

SaaS Begins to Cannibalize On-Premise Software in India, Says Springboard Research

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January 21, 2010

Traditional software applications are slowly beginning to yield ground to SaaS applications, with 32% of SaaS adopters replacing an on-premise application, says the latest bulletin. 'Software-as-a-Service in India 2009/2010' from Springboard Research, a leading innovator in the IT Market Research industry. The bulletin also revealed that 22% of those already using an on-premise application have later chosen to adopt the SaaS version of the same application in another geography or department within the organization.

The Springboard bulletin disclosed that India is the fastest growing SaaS market in Asia Pacific, and is estimated to register a growth of 60% CAGR from 2008 to 2012. The India SaaS market, which was US$105 million in 2009, is estimated to be worth US$352 million by 2012. The growing appeal of SaaS in India is also evident from the fact that SaaS familiarity levels in India are much higher than in the Asia Pacific region as a whole, where only 60% of respondents reported being 'very familiar with SaaS', as compared to 74% in India.

'The SaaS market in India is poised for continued strong growth, with the availability of a plethora of SaaS applications and related services,' said Balaka Baruah Aggarwal, Senior Research Manager for Emerging Software at Springboard Research. 'Given the pent-up demand for SaaS applications among enterprises, the momentum generated by vendor activity, participation by telecom companies as partners, and the hype around Cloud Computing, SaaS will proliferate rapidly in the next 18-24 months, not only in top-tier towns and cities but even to secondary places,' added Aggarwal. According to Springboard Research, 'zero or low maintenance' is the leading reason for SaaS adoption in India, followed by 'ease of use'. Among SaaS vendors, Salesforce.com, Citrix Online and CiscoWebEx have a strong hold over the market, as they have been in the market relatively longer than most other players.

Maritime Varsity in 100 days agenda in Shipping Ministry

Higher Education

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January 21, 2010

A lion's share went to the Indian Maritime University (IMU) in the 100 days agenda released by the Union Ministry of Shipping on Monday. The Union Minister of Shipping, G.K. Vasan officially released the 100 days agenda for the Ministry of Shipping here today at a meeting. There is a proposal for strengthening of Indian Maritime University, established by the Central Government in Chennai on November 14, 2008 with campuses at Kolkata, Mumbai and Visakhapatnam.

The proposal to set up Indian Maritime Causality Investigation Cell in the Directorate General of Shipping, Mumbai, to ensure systematic improvement in accidents prevention, is under active consideration in the Ministry.

ICT training to five teachers in Israel by KMA

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January 19, 2010

It was announced by Samuel Sarpong, Kumasi Metropolitan Chief Executive, that the Assembly has decided to sponsor the training of five teachers in Information Communication Technology (ICT) in Israel. This followed the selection of 18 Junior and Senior High Schools in Nhyiaeso, Oforikrom and Bantama sub-Metropolitan areas to benefit form Internet facilities under the Millennium Cities Initiative (MCI). Computers, fixed wireless terminals and free network connectivity were some facilities that schools are to be supplied with.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the schools to get a access to Internet was already signed between Zain Communications Limited, Ericsson, a cell phone manufacturing company, the KMA and the MCI. The MCI is the urban counterpart of the UN Millennium Villages Project, targeting selected middle-sized cities across sub-Saharan Africa for support to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Present at the launch were Professor Jeffery Sachs, Co-founder of the Millennium Promise Alliance and Director of the Earth Institute, Columbia University, and Nani Annan, wife of UN Chief, Kofi Annan.

Microsoft Kuwait partners with Kuwait Ministry of Education

Corporate Updates

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January 19, 2010

Recently, partnership took place between Kuwait Ministry of Education and Microsoft as part of the Partners in Learning Initiative under which, the Ministry of Education will receive technology training, tailored curriculum development, access to the latest technologies and the ability to empower schools to raise the levels of ICT literacy. The memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed by the Undersecretary of the Kuwait Ministry of Education, Tamather Al Sidirawi, and Country Manager, Microsoft Kuwait Ehab Mostafa. Also the initiative is to enable innovative teaching with the aim of bridging the digital divide.

Commenting on the agreement, Tamather Al Sidirawi, Undersecretary of the Kuwait Ministry of Education for resources and services, mentioned that the objective for establishing a school society is to equip the same with the latest educational technologies that comply with the visions and ambitions of Kuwait. Charbel Fakhoury, General Manager, Microsoft Gulf, mentioned that with the Ministry of Education Microsoft aimed and hoped to bring a positive impact on the education sector in the country through use of ICT as a tool to empower students and teachers. Partners in Learning is designed to actively increase access to technology and improve its use in learning. The goal of the program is to help schools gain better access to technology, foster innovative approaches to pedagogy and teacher professional development and provide education leaders with the tools to envision, implement and manage change.

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