Core Projects acquire Princeton Review K-12 division

CORE Projects, an education management systems company in the US, has acquired the K-12 division of Princeton Review for US$ 20 million. The acquisition is expected to be funded out of debt being raised by CECS and will add approximately US$ 24 million to CORE global revenues. The acquisition will be completed through its wholly owned subsidiary CORE Education & Consulting Solutions Inc, USA (CECS).

The Princeton Review, a leading provider of test preparation and educational support services announced in November that it planned to divest the K-12 services business because it is not directly aligned with its college and graduate school admissions test preparations and supplemental education opportunities. Shares of Core Projects and Technologies were up 5% after it announced the acquisition.

UNESCO-King Hamad ICT Awards ceremony in Paris

Under His Majesty's patronage, the UNESCO-King Hamad Award for the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in education, were presented at a glittering ceremony at the world body's headquarters in Paris on January 14, 2009. Education Minister Dr Majid Al Nuaimi attended the ceremony on behalf of the King. UNESCO Director-General Koichiro Matsuura praised the Royal initiative and hailed Bahrain's efforts to upgrade education in line with the Millennium Development Goals.

The Shanghai TV University won the first place for building a digital lifelong learning system in Shanghai. Dr Hoda Baraka, of the Egyptian Communications and IT Ministry, received the award for her leadership in the implementation of several educational projects. Honourable mentions were given to the Schools Online Curriculum Services of Western Australia's department of education and training and the 'one laptop per child programme' of the Education Ministry of Peru.

Czechs look to private sector to fund education

Current EU presidency holder the Czech Republic wants to establish a 'strategic framework' for European cooperation on education and training issues to help boost the Union's competitiveness, sustainable growth and employment strategies, according to the country's Education minister, Ondrej Liska. Keeping in mind the recession and stretching of 'national resources' by the ongoing hardship, Liska said 'the presidency will need to seek new and diversified funding sources,' particularly by looking to the private sector.

Further cooperation on education will be achieved by promoting partnerships between educational institutions and business, the minister said. He stressed that his government wants to improve both the quality of and access to universities, particularly in the context of the Bologna process to establish a European Area of Higher Education by 2010. Greek Socialist Katerina Batzeli, who chairs the European Parliament's culture committee, said the economic crisis had highlighted the need for 'good education systems'.

New Mexico State University-Carlsbad offers new courses

New Mexico State University-Carlsbad is set to launch three new associate degree programmes in science, technology, engineering and math. The degrees are designed for an easier transition into New Mexico four-year universities and into local employment, said Rhonda Austin, director of the Title V programme at NMSU-C. 'With these degrees, people will be able to seamlessly move to a four year degree school so they can finish their bachelors,' Austin said.

The new degree programmes are made available by a two-year US$1.6 million grant awarded in October 2008 to help develop STEM programmes. The launch ceremony will also include a preview of Project Lead the Way, a programme designed to allow high school students to dual-enroll in college pre-engineering courses.

Rwanda releases draft ICT policy on education

Rawanda's Ministry of Education has released the first draft of the Information and Communication Technology policy that will govern the use of ICT in the country's education sector. The draft was developed with assistance from the Jordanian Education Initiative (JEI) and was funded by the Global Education Alliance (GEA).

'The major aim for this draft is to guide ICT implementation in the education sector which will be promoted in schools from primary level up to institutions of higher learning,' said Claver Yisa, the acting Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education. The draft whose design was launched last November outlines the ministry's ICT strategy from 2008-2020.

HMIE out with report on Scottish education

A major review of education in Scotland has praised the quality of early years provision while highlighting a number of areas for improvement. The report, published by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Education, is an analysis of education in Scotland over the past three years, across all the sectors the HMIE covers. The pre-school sector won praise from the report's authors for delivering a consistently good and enjoyable curriculum and for providing welcoming and inclusive learning environments. They say there is an improved emphasis on the use of ICT to support learning.

However, the report says that the quality of provision in the partnership private and voluntary centres is generally worse than that by the local authority sector. Although leadership in the pre-school sector had improved overall since 2005, it says more needs to be done to ensure that all centres have well qualified leaders who provide high-quality guidance.

Edexcel plans expansion in India

Edexcel is planning an expansion in India after spending 12 years in the education and training sector.  The expansion includes regional presence with new offices in Kolkata, Bangalore, Chennai and Mumbai and diversification into products offering skill based modules.

The estimated cost of the expansion is INR 10 crore. Edexcel has already made in-roads into Indian academic space by representing vocational streams. It has partnered with Aptech and IGNOU for offering diploma programmes and is currently in talks with Educomp Solutions, Everonn Systems and Reliance Retail to bring in curriculum and teacher-student material for quality control.

Currently, almost 25,000 students have registered themselves for various Edexcel programmes. Future plans includes entering the soft skills space by offering 60 small modules on communication, interviewing skills and behaviour.

PPP model for medical education

To meet the shortage of medical professionals in India, the Government is considering to allow private sector investments under Public Private Partnership model in medical education. A proposal submitted to the Medical Council of India aims to attract private players to invest in medical education under relaxed norm of paying tax to the government on profits made.

Earlier, only governments, universities, trusts or charitable societies could set up medical colleges and private players had only a not-for-profit state. With the changed norms in place, private players are likely to face lesser entry barriers while making big investments in the medical education sector. The new guidelines seek to relax other rigid regulations such as land area restrictions and the teacher-to-student ratio.

Infra firms to set up in-house training institutes

Lack of trained staff is now becoming a major hurdle in roll-out of expansion plans for many infrastructure firms. Infra firms are now investing in setting up of engineering education and training colleges to internalise manpower requirements by providing education and training in the skills set as required by the industry. Such efforts have already taken off in Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) which plans for in-house engineering institutes to cater specifically to the needs of the power sector. Infrastructure player Larsen & Toubro (L&T) also plans to start an institute of project management, with the aim of developing managers with specialised skills spanning the engineering, procurement, construction and manufacturing sectors.

Mahendra ties with HP for digital archiving

In a drive to make Mahendra Engineering College (MEC) accessible to its students anytime anywhere, the company has inked a deal with Hewlett-Packard (HP) for help in implementing its DSpace Solution and ProCurve University initiative. DSpace software platform serves a variety of digital archiving needs for research and educational institutions worldwide including e-thesis, electronic record management, publishing, etc. The college has recently opted for a digital repository solution from HP. The repository could also house digitized course ware (such as NPTEL), project reports, e-books, workshop content, lab manuals, whitepapers and video lectures. All of these elements could potentially be enabled through web access, which basically means that a student can access this content from a remote location through the Internet.

BECTA urges schools to use technology

Schools have been urged to use technology both in their everyday operations and in the education process by the British schools IT agency (BECTA). The agency unveiled its Next Generation Learning Charter, which focuses on 'giving pupils an enriched and enhanced learning experience through the use of technology.' Schools will be encouraged to sign up to the charter to improve their educational processes. By signing the charter, they will have to meet certain expectations over the next three years including developing a shared vision for the use of technology and the greater integration of ICT and technology into the curriculum to enhance learning and support. The charter's mission is that through the use of technology students will improve learning and progress in the education process.

Leading industrialists launch School of Inspired Leadership

Leading industry captains including Max India chairman Analjit Singh, former director Eicher and founder Eicher Consultancy Services Anil Sachdev, former Chairman of Crompton Greaves K K Nohria, have announced the launch of School of Inspired Leadership (SOIL) in Gurgaon. The institute, positioned as a leadership and management school, will focus on building sustainable organisations. Others involved in the project include Nucleus Software founder Yogesh Andlay, former chairman of Eicher Group Vikram Lal, former director IIM Ahmedabad, Pradip Khandwalla, and member GMR Holding Board K Balasubramaniam.

SOIL has two inaugural programmes- HR leadership and business leadership, with enrollment capacity of 60 students in each of the two programmes. Both are one-year programmes and are targeted at graduates and experienced managers respectively. The first batch of students are expected to be enrolled in July '09.

CoCubes.com tie-up with unversities, companies for online placement

Gurgaon-based Via Human Resource Solution has said that its online venture CoCubes.com, which aims to connect companies and colleges for campus recruitments, has so far signed deals with over 50 universities and colleges to connect them with more than 20 corporate bodies for campus recruitments. CoCubes has till now conducted recruitments for large companies in over 100 campuses, thus providing employment to about 250 candidates. CoCubes.com plans to reach around 500 institutions in 2009.

CoCubes.com ties up with colleges and lists profiles of their students including video and text resumes. However, no individual job seeker can search for openings or post the CV. Companies can get in touch with CoCubes and list their openings.

Adobe launches new eLearning Suite

Adobe has launched version 2 of its Technical Communication Suite (TCS), and a new electronic learning system, dubbed Adobe eLearning Suite, which includes the latest version of Adobe Captivate. TCS is Adobe's package for authoring, managing and publishing technical information, and comprises an extended version of Acrobat Pro 9, together with Captivate 4, Framemaker 9, Photoshop CS4 and RoboHelp 8.

The eLearning Suite includes Captivate 4, Flash CS4, Dreamweaver CS4, Adobe Photoshop CS4 Extended, Acrobat Pro, Presenter 7, Soundbooth CS4, Adobe Bridge CS4, and eLearning extensions to Flash and Dreamweaver. A major improvement in both new packages is the workflow between the individual point package upgrades.

New venture, school projects pull NIIT net down 60%

NIIT Ltd has reported a 60 % drop in its net profit for the quarter ended December 2008, to INR 5.5 crore on the back of new business launch, higher depreciation due to new projects and forex losses incurred by an associate firm. For the third quarter (October-December), the profit stood at INR 5.5 crore as compared to INR 13.9 crore in the year-ago period.

'The launch of new venture NIIT Uniqua and increased depreciation due to new school projects impacted the profit for the quarter. NIIT has expanded its presence to over 7,800 schools, an increase of 3,000 schools compared to the same quarter last year. The profit after tax also took a hit as NIIT Technologies, an associate of NIIT Ltd had reported a forex loss.

IIT Study Circle announces partnership with Vidya Mandir Classes and 100 Percentile

New Horizons India Limited (NHIL) has announced a strategic learning partnership between its business division IIT Study Circle (IITSC) and Vidya Mandir Classes, along with a technology partnership with 100 Percentile. The IITs across India offer a total of 6992 seats for which approximately 3.9 lakh students are expected to compete in the year 2010. An additional 4 lakh students are expected to compete for other engineering entrance exams. With this partnership IIT Study Circle will be able to reach out to discerning IIT aspirants across the country with the state of art programmes offered as classroom courses in Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chandigarh. It will also offer correspondence courses to meet the wide demand for quality IIT coaching in the country.

BPO giants tie-up with IGNOU for training

BPO giants Accenture and Genpact have entered into an alliance with IGNOU and NIIT for providing training to those interested in  taking up BPO jobs as a career. The move comes following a change in the mindset of youngsters who have started taking this industry as a first option rather than a stopgap career opportunity.

The tie-up with IGNOU offers students a six-month diploma through a Central university. Either 12th graders or college graduates can avail this option. The programme is expected to be especially popular in Tier 2, 3, and 4 cities. This programme will be available in approximately 44 centres spread over 27 cities with 90 faculty members especially trained to roll out the programme. The first batch is scheduled to start in February 2009. The idea is to make these young people readily employable at BPOs. The course will use classroom learning, self learning and eLearning tools, paying attention to both process and industry specialisation.

CCEA approves National Mission on Education Through ICT scheme

The new centrally sponsored National Mission on Education Through ICT has been approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs. The scheme, submitted by the Ministry of Human Resources Development, is expected to incur INR 4612 crore during the 11th Five Year Plan. There is a budget provision of INR 502 crore during the current financial year for the project.

The National Mission on Education through ICT has been envisaged to leverage the potential of ICT in providing high quality personalised and interactive knowledge modules over the Internet/intranet for students in Higher Education Institutions in 'anytime anywhere' mode. The interventions of the Mission are to be delivered through the one-stop education portal 'SAKSHAT', which was launched in 2006 by the Department of Higher Education.

The scheme is expected to be a major intervention in enhancing the Gross Enrollment Ratio in higher education by 5 % during the 11th Plan period and in ensuring access and equity in higher education, as also recommended by the Oversight Committee and the National Knowledge Commission.

The Mission has two major components viz., (a) content generation and (b) connectivity along with provision for access devices for institutions and learners. It seeks to bridge the digital divide among teachers/learners in higher education domain and empower those who have hitherto remained untouched by the digital revolution and have not been able to joint the mainstream of the knowledge economy. The scheme will focus on appropriate pedagogy for e-Learning, providing facility of performing experiments through virtual labs, on-line testing and certification, on-line availability of teachers to guide learners, utilisation of EduSAT and Direct to Home (DTH) platform, training and empowerment of teachers to effectively use new methods of teaching, etc.

On the one hand, the Mission would create high quality e-Content for the target groups and on the other, it would simultaneously extend computer infrastructure and connectivity to over 18000 colleges in the country including each of the departments of 419 universities/deemed universities and institutions of national importance on a single point rental basis through the Department of Telecommunications, in a manner that would permit their seamless interaction with a integrated National Knowledge Network

The Mission shall work in close cooperation and collaboration with other Missions/Schemes such as the National Translation Mission, Vocational Education Mission, National Knowledge Network, ICT@Schools, etc, to avoid any duplication and attain synergy.

It would also have a three-tier committee system to monitor and guide its functioning. The MHRD and Department of Higher Education would enter into a MoU with State governments for proper monitoring of the scheme in States.

Mumbai schools to have Language Labs

Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is to set up language laboratories in 49 schools across Mumbai. The initiative comes after additional importance was stressed on improvement of oral languages in schools specially from the disadvantaged sections of society. BMC has taken State Institute of Educational Technology (SIET), Pune on board to work on improving four languages of English, Hindi, Marathi and Urdu.

The labs proposed at the cost of INR 50 lakh is primarily aimed to cater to the learning needs of secondary schools. The first lab will come up in Gildertank school as a pilot project.

Automated examinations for Anna University

Anna University has streamlined its examination processes with deployment of integrated examination management solutions (IEMS). The new system will automate complete examination cycle and also act as a solution to fight malpractices such as leakage of papers. It will develop a database of questions submitted by the faculty and generate the question paper based on them.

Under a five year agreement, the university will pay Mindlogicx INR 75 per student per examination, to be deducted from the examination fees. Each student will get a unique user ID and password to log on to the system. Mindlogicx has set up a Network Operating Centre (NOC) in the university campus and examination data center for other colleges in various districts under the university. The project is implemented in 110 colleges spread across eight districts of Tamil Nadu wherein the university and the colleges are networked through VPN.

Gujarat to spend INR 500 crore on computers for schools

The state will install ICT peripherals in 500 primary schools under BOT model. Educomp has struck the deal in the state for Computer Aided Education (CAE) programmes under the Gujarat Council of Primary Education (GCPE). The state has allocated INR 500 crore over five years to buy 1,50,000 computers, peripherals and LCDs to equip some 20,000 primary and upper primary schools in the state along with 3D multimedia educational content software, school management system and IT training to teachers across the state. The state will also get funds from the Centre to upgrade IT infrastructure in secondary schools.

IGNOU to set up a Centre on corporate training

Corporate training is now an essential component of most of the companies under the Human Resource Management work domain. The regular problem of attrition and new recruits in companies has created a need for regular training sessions and knowledge of corporate management. Keeping these needs in mind, IGNOU has launched its new initiative under the Centre for Corporate Education, Training and Consultancy' to develop programmes on corporate education consistent with the requirements of the corporate sector and industry.

The Centre will educate human resources, boost their capacity and train them on-the-job in an industry set-up. It will also develop insights into corporate management, governance practices, strategy formulation and related law, besides their delivery mechanism among others.

AMU to set up countrywide campuses

Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) is poised to set up five countrywide campuses, which will take it beyond its birthplace. This, sources said, signalled that AMU was trying to reconcile its overzealous concerns about its minority status to the equally important need for growth. Last year, AMU had opened four admission test centres outside Aligarh, in spite of stiff resistance from a strong internal lobby about its minority character being diluted. All sections of AMU management – the AMU court, executive council and academic council – have for the first time unanimously agreed on the proposal to open new centres.

'It's a historic initiative,' vice-chancellor P K Abdul Azis said. Reader Arshi Khan, an elected member of the Academic Council, said, 'The university feels that it should seize the UPA government's allocations for minority institutions.' However, faculty members like Khan still feel that the expanding university should exercise 'precautions' to protect its character

NET made mandatory for teaching in higher education

The University Grants Commission (UGC) has made National Eligibility Test (NET) mandatory for teaching jobs in higher education, in a reversal of a decision it took three years ago. Those holding a Ph.D degree, however, continue to be exempted. The UGC has told universities that those already registered for M.Phil and completing the same before June 2009, shall be exempted from NET. However, NET will be compulsory for the candidates completing M.Phil degree after this date.

In 2006, the commission had exempted M.Phil degree holders from NET for appointment as faculty for undergraduate teaching. Later the B L Mungerkar Committee, constituted to review the decision, recommended that NET be restored as mandatory as the exemption was leading to deterioration in the quality of teaching.

Delhi plans INR 196 crore for inclusive education

The Education minister has announced the updgradation of 200 selected government schools for infrastructure facilities and 63 government schools to the secondary level. The state with an average per school allocation of INR 60-70 lakh aims to improve drinking water, toilet, electricity and having green boards in all classrooms. The Directorate of Education has engaged the Delhi State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (DSIIDC) and the Public Works Department (PWD) for this upgradation, under which additional rooms will also be constructed.

The effort aims to build schools that are inclusive and bring down the out-of-school ratio of students. The Department of Education informs that 24 government schools in Delhi will be turned into 'model schools' implementing policies regarding the mainstreaming of children with special needs on the Building As a Learning Aid (Bala) model. The schools will be equipped with labs for the hearing-impaired, braille books etc with trained teachers from the Rehabilitation Council of India.