Anti-Ragging helpine launch by Sibal

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July 8, 2009

Union Human Resource Development Minister, Kapil Sibal, launched the toll-free, 24/7, nation-wide anti-ragging helpline. Sibal described that this is a historic moment as a concrete step has been taken against ragging. He stated that ragging is a national menace, demeaning and destructive for students. While thanking the Supreme Court for its May 8 judgment, wherein the University Grants Commission (UGC) had been directed to setup such a helpline with the help of the Ministry of Communications & IT, Sibal pointed out that directions of the Supreme Court were now being implemented.

He also pointed out that students are now being protected by the stake holders in the society. The toll free number of this helpline is 1800-180-5522, and the Email is helpline@antiragging.net. The other toll-free number 155222 is under implementation. When the complaint is registered, immediately it is given a unique number. Thereafter automatically, an acknowledgement receipt with all details is sent to the concerned authorities within 15 minutes of the receipt of the complaint. This number can be used as reference for all future communications and feedback. Once the grievance has been received by the institution, the concerned officer looks into the merit of the complaint and forwards the same for action. Once the matter has been marked to the concerned officer for action, it is tracked till the necessary actions are taken. If the complaint is not acted upon within the specified timeframe, the senior officers get a reminder either by email or by phone calls.

Fee to correspond to the facilities provided

K-12

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July 7, 2009

Minister for School Education Dokka Manikya Varaprasad explained on Wednesday that the government was formulating an action plan where in the fee in private schools would be fixed on the basis of infrastructural facilities.

Varaprasad said the government had taken a serious view of the complaints and decided to crack down on schools charging high fee. He would convene a meeting shortly with the parents, student unions and the managements to discuss the issue. 'We are very particular about imposing a ceiling on the fee,' he said and added that discussions were also on with the officials to evolve a fee structure that was beneficial to the parents. To a query on unqualified teachers, he said the government machinery would also take a look at the teaching faculty.

IGNOU presents six FM radio stations

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July 7, 2009

On 10^th February 2010, the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) announced launch of six new FM radio stations on education. These stations are addition to the already existing 31 radio stations the university owns. Operational in Agra, Chandigarh, Jalandhar, Srinagar, Trichy and Thiruvananathapuram, these new stations were launched by Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Mohan Jatua.

The FM radio station, Gyan Vani, targets to enhance and supplement the teaching-learning process by reaching across to learners through a low-cost, popular mass medium using interactive formats. The first of the Gyan Vani stations was launched in 2001. IGNOU also celebrated a decade of the launch of its educational TV channel Gyan Darshan on Wednesday. A collaborative effort of IGNOU, Prasar Bharati, Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) and Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Gyan Darshan is a bouquet of four channels on vocational and technical education, higher education and sustainable development.

NMIMS and Pearson Vue get it right first time with launch of computer based testing

Corporate Updates

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July 7, 2009

40,000 candidates in 12 countries back new examining system administered with a personal touch India's premier management school, Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS), has crossed a milestone by successfully shifting its prestigious entrance test to a computer-based test format. Pearson VUE, the global leader in administering CBT and the partner selected by NMIMS to take the NMAT on-line, credits the smooth candidate experience to its proven time-tested global processes. Pearson VUE, which conducts more than 7 million tests in 165 countries, said no test batch was cancelled due to technical or infrastructure issues, a notable first in India. As part of its contingency plan, Vue had asked candidates to keep February 9th free in case their test needed to be re-scheduled. But with a smooth roll-out on each of the ten days of testing, the contingency was not invoked. Minor disruptions were managed quickly by the NMAT administrators on-site.

Amid widespread recent public debate, NMIMS's maiden move into on-line testing restores students' and academic confidence in the digital process. By attracting more candidates to sit the exam on-line, coupled with a largely error-free roll-out, NMIMS's expectations were easily surpassed. The CBT adopted by NMIMS enabled Pearson VUE to quickly respond to potential technology glitches, which would not have been possible in a paper and pencil single sitting format. Each test session had a unique question paper to ensure standardization, test security and integrity. For NMIMS, Pearson VUE will follow standard global equating norms and practices to create comparable scores from multiple test forms. The NMAT results will be posted on the college website on March 2, 2010. The test results will be used for admission to NMIMS' management programs. The management programs by NMIMS include MBA Core (300 seats); MBA Actuarial Sciences (30 seats); Capital markets (30 seats); Banking (30 seats); Pharma Management (60 seats); MBA Part Time (240 seats) and Executive Doctoral Program (25 seats).

Varsities seek Cooperative Support Program for Open Source LMS

Higher Education

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July 7, 2009

Four universities have joined Unicon's Cooperative Support Program for the open source Sakai collaboration and course management platform, the uPortal enterprise portal framework, and Centralized Authentication Service (CAS) single-sign-on platform. These include California State University, Sacramento; the University of Rhode Island in Kingston; the University of Wisconsin-Madison; and Virginia Tech in Blacksburg. The Cooperative Support Program provides member institutions with a predictable cost support structure for their open source applications along with a team of development and technical specialists who deliver direct support and assistance. The program includes scalable support options and discounts when multiple platforms are selected. All development work and fixes performed by the team for individual institutions are contributed back and shared with the respective open source communities.

Unicon currently has 30 colleges and universities enrolled in its Cooperative Support Program.

US accreditation to B School in Punjab

Higher Education

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July 7, 2009

Aryans Business School (ABS) located in Nepra village of in Punjab has become the first B-school in the region to get membership of US-based accreditation body 'Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business' (AACSB). It was told by ABS chairman Anshu Kataria, that AACSB Vice President and Chief Officer Asia Eileen Peacock granted the membership certificate to ABS at the Singapore-based Asian headquarters of AACSB.

He added that world famous Harvard, Wharton, Kellogg and London business schools are accredited member of AACSB. In India, around 15 business schools including S.P. Jain, Xavier Labour Relations Institute (XLRI), Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta (IIM-C) and Indian School of Business, Hyderabad (ISB) are part of the AACSB.

Private players to plan for govt model schools

Policy Matters

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July 7, 2009

The Centre plans to hand over the management reins of 2,500 planned public-private partnership 'model' schools to the private parties involved, allowing them to set their fees in a project aimed at aiding India's universalisation of schooling. The government will contribute a one-time amount of INR 50 lakh for each school before withdrawing from all subsequent management under finalised plans for the project, top Planning Commission officials told The Telegraph. The project, part of 6,000 model schools announced by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in 2007, is the largest public-private partnership (PPP) initiative in Indian education. Its framework is likely to form a template that the government may follow in future projects involving the PPP mode of investment and management. The Planning Commission has approved the management model, and the human resource development ministry is currently drafting a note for the cabinet's approval, after which the project can be launched. But concerns over the selected model continue to linger both in industry and in those who are cautious about private participation in public-sponsored education.

The model schools, one for each for around 6,000 blocks in India, are to act as exemplars for other schools in the region. They have been earmarked as pillars crucial for the success of the proposed right to education law that aims to provide quality education to all children between 6 and 14 years. The cabinet has already cleared 2,500 public sector schools of the planned 6,000. The cleared schools are to be set up in the most educationally backward blocks of the country. Another 1,000 public sector schools are in the pipeline. But the 2,500 model schools to be built under the PPP model have till now been mired in debate between different stakeholders, with the government and industry haggling for control over them. A number of project models have been discussed, the debate principally revolving around the extent of public and private investment and whether the government or the private partner gets first control. One model discussed between the government and representatives of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) involved the government managing fees for the first few years after building the school finances with the private party. In this model, the private party would take over the management of the school after the initial few years and then run it themselves. An alternative model, where the private party would initially manage the school and hand it over to the government after a few years, was also discussed. Under the model to be presented to the cabinet, the government will withdraw from the management of the schools after investing the initial INR 50 lakh a school. There will be no recurring budgetary allocation in subsequent years for these schools. The private partner can set the fees according to market rates and will be in charge of managing the affairs of the school.

Becta to work with Birchfield to improve science teaching via ICT research project

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July 7, 2009

Becta has worked with supplier Birchfield Interactive to identify best practice and improve science teaching through an ICT research project.< ?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

Birchfield's interactive science software, The Earth and Beyond, has been used by a selection of GCSE pupils for the Becta science through ICT embedding Project to provide valuable feedback that could help shape a new era for teaching curriculum science. Becta, supporter of all education departments in strategic ICT development, is formulating data in the innovative and effective use of ICT to enable the transformation of learning and teaching. The Science through ICT embedding Project is supported by the DfES and aims to ensure the delivery and development of the Government's e-strategy to gather research on improving science education. After using Birchfield's software, pupils were asked to create a new mind map explaining the relationships they had learnt about whilst using the title. Conclusions from introducing the software showed the majority expressed a definite increase in scientific knowledge, displaying a higher comprehension across the class, providing Becta with valuable data in the move towards ICT's effectiveness in the classroom. Pupils taking part in the project benefited from using software to enhance personalised learning that was undertaken at their own pace, resulting in increased motivation.

Boost to Education by ICT

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July 7, 2009

The ICT Development Programme has announced that it is investing over half a million dollars into Dominica's education sector. Almost 500 computers were formally handed over to all secondary schools, several primary schools and the Dominica State College, at the Dominica Grammar School on Friday. The initiative was funded by the European Union. Director of Telecoms Sylvester Cadette said the donation of computers and other networking equipment is meeting the goals of the ICT Development programme while enhancing the learning environment at school.

Meantime member of the European Union Delegation to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean Yves LeCointe, said the investment should help to improve computer literacy in Dominica. The Massacre Primary, Vielle Case Primary, Convent Prep, Goodwill primary, Soufriere primary and Bagatelle Primary were given computers.

Teachers demand Internet access in classroom in UK

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July 7, 2009

A study by NTL:Telewest Business has found almost half of British teachers would like to use the Internet more than they currently do in lessons.< ?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

The study indicates thirty-seven per cent of teachers feel the Internet has made a dramatic impact on exam results, nearly nine out of ten felt pupils were more interested in lessons and a majority felt it helped both slow learners and brighter pupils. According to the report, the main use of the Internet in the classroom is for access to online learning and research, with just one per cent using the web to collaborate with other schools and businesses. The main barriers to Internet take up were an insufficient number of PCs, a lack of suitable online resources and a lack of time and specialist equipment such as interactive whiteboards. More than a third of teachers surveyed also felt there was a lack of access to the right Information Communication Technology (ICT) skills and training to support e-learning effectively. The report also revealed that 83 per cent of teachers recommended specific web sites to pupils to support studies and 15 per cent of teachers still do not have access to the internet in the classroom. The survey, which questioned over 500 teachers across the UK, was carried out for NTL:Telewest Business by public research group YouGov.

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