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UGC permits top 100 universities to start online courses

UGC permits

Under the ‘PM e-VIDYA program as part of the self-reliant India campaign University Grants Commission (UGC) Chairman DP Singh has given a nod to Top 100 Universities in NIRF Rankings to start online courses.

UGC Chairman told that Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has announced the e-Vidya program to promote online education. This program will benefit nearly 25 crore school-going children.

“We will soon bring out an integrated version of open and distance learning and online regulation after the approval of the Ministry of Human Resources and Development (MHRD). Under Atmanirbhar Bharat, the top 100 Universities according to the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) ranking, will run online classes without prior approval of UGC for the 2021 session,” he said.

Also read: UGC may consider blended learning option

The NIRF Rankings for the year 2020 were announced and IIT Madras, IISc Bangalore, and IIT Delhi secured the top three positions in the top institutes of India category. The rankings were released for 9 categories by the MHRD.

With the PM e-Vidya initiative, more online universities will strengthen online education in the country. Moreover, the government is also expanding e-learning in higher education through open, distance, and online education regulatory framework.

PM e-Vidya initiative will help students multi-mode access to online education that also includes DIKSHA. According to an official release, under this program, a TV (one class-one channel) where one dedicated channel per grade for each of the classes 1 to 12 will provide access to quality educational material.

Odisha govt cancels UG and PG exams

Odisha govt

In the wake of Coronavirus outbreak, the Odisha Higher Education Department has decided to cancel the theory and practical tests of the end semester examinations for the Undergraduate and Postgraduate courses.

According to reports, meetings were conducted by the Higher Education Minister Arun Kumar Sahoo along with the Vice-Chancellors of the state public universities and principles of autonomous colleges.

The decision not to conduct the end-semester exams will be implemented by all the universities and autonomous colleges under the jurisdiction of the department.

The state government had earlier decided to conduct the sixth-semester examinations for the undergraduate courses to be held between June 20 and July 24, 2020. The results of these examinations will be declared by August 31, 2020. The Final year PG Examinations will be completed by August 20, 2020, and the results will be declared by September 20, 2020.

The state government has taken such a decision with regard to the ongoing COVID-19 lockdown in the country. Students from different universities had earlier on protested against the decision of the state government for conducting the offline examinations of the Undergraduate and postgraduate courses between June and August 2020.

The students will be marked based on the internal marks along with the mars obtained in the previous semester in the subjects.

Prometheus School gets future-ready

Prometheus School

Prometheus School is pleased to share its recognition as an IB MYP candidate school, effective 10th June 2020. This is an important milestone in the school’s journey to become an authorised MYP school, in its ongoing commitment to providing re-imagined learning to its students.

At the end of the first year of the school’s operations, this is an important step forward in further deepening Prometheus’s roots in the IB world of education. Mukesh Sharma, the Founding Chairman and Director of the School stated “The school has had several achievements in its first year of operations, that just concluded. An official recognition from IB on our MYP candidature, puts us on the right gear in our journey ahead, both with access to the required resources and support from the board. This combined with our existing teaching staff that bring in prior MYP experience, gives us the forceful combination in establishing our MYP program with the required comprehensiveness. I thank IB for this recognition and look forward to working with them in further establishing our MYP practice.” I would also like to take this opportunity to congratulate and applaud the efforts of the secondary staff under the leadership of, Rashima Varma, Principal Secondary in reaching this achievement. We are also thankful for the support from our parents.”

Rashima Varma added, “we are pleased to have reached this milestone and look forward to using the MYP framework to create robust learning experiences for our students, that will equip them with the skills to carve their own niche in the world.”

What is IB MYP?

The IB MYP is a five-year program designed for students aged 11 to 16 years. The comprehensive framework is designed to encourage students to connect their academic learning with real-time events.

The MYP program is inclusive by design to cater to students of diverse interests and academic abilities. The curriculum comprises eight subject groups that deliver balanced and broad education for young minds. Each subject group requires a minimum of 50 hours of teaching time every year. The final two years of the program offer “carefully-defined” subject group flexibility to help students meet personal learning goals and local requirements.

IB MYP program’s final year offers optional eAssessment and gives IB-validated grades based on the coursework and examinations. Students who take external assessments become eligible for MYP course results and IB MYP Certificate. On successful MYP completion, the student becomes eligible for Career-related Programme (CP) or IB Diploma Programme (DP).

Madras High court denies to grant stay on digital classes in Tamil Nadu

Madras High court

Providing relief to educational institutions in Tamil Nadu, Madras High Court has refused to grant an interim stay on the online classes being held by schools and various educational institutions.

The schools in the state had begun with the online classes after the schools were shut down due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in the country.

The high court has however sought guidelines for conducting online classes by the central and state government. The High Court stated that continuing with the online classes without proper guidelines is of importance and has thus asked the central and state government to issue guidelines and has posted the issue to June 25, 2020, for filing any counters against the same.

The petition was filed in order to restrain the educational institutions from conducting online classes without following proper guidelines r schemes issued by the schools.

Tamil Nadu State Government Counsellor V Jayaprakash Narayan informed the High Court that the state has not permitted any educational institutions be it schools or colleges to conduct online classes.

He also stated that the educational institutions have also been barred from demanding fees from the students as per a government order issued regarding the same which is submitted in the court.

Senior Counsel S Prabhakaran has requested the court to pass an interim order restraining the educational institutions from conducting online classes for the students.

The Tamil Nadu High court has directed the Central Government and the state government to file a report on the availability of guidelines for conducting the online classes.

Delhi University to begin admission process from June 20

Delhi University

According to media reports, Delhi University would begin the DU Admission 2020 process from June 20, 2020. The admission process has been delayed due to the coronavirus outbreak this year. Students can download the form at www.du.ac.in.

The registration process would open on June 20 and would close on July 4, 2020, for all courses. The second window for registration would be opened by the varsity after the declaration of result by CBSE for the updation of marks.

Delhi University is expected to announce the cut-offs by end of July or early August, as per UGC Exam & Admission Guidelines. This year the varsity would not have trails for sports and Extra-Curricular activities (ECA) due to the pandemic.

There will be no admission in ECA except for NCC and NSS and that too on the basis of the certificates as no trials will be conducted, the member said, adding this was decided keeping in mind the coronavirus situation.

The standing committee on admission where they have decided that the documents which are once submitted online on the basis of which approval is given for the admission by the college, cannot be rejected later on the premise that document is not acceptable, unless it is forged.

The panel has also decided that the caste certificates once made need not to be renewed and only renewal of income certificate will be required. Therefore caste certificates can be old, but the income certificate should be the latest.

Sports to be a part of new education policy: Rijiju

Rijiju

The Centre is mulling to add sports as a part of curriculum in the new education policy. Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju announced the development and said sports won’t be considered an extra-curricular activity in schools.

“The new education policy of India is also going to have sports as a part of education (and) sports not as extra-curricular activities,” Rijiju said during the inaugural session of the ‘International Webinar on Olympism and Olympic Education in the 21st century’.

“Sports is also an education, so sports cannot be extra-curricular activities. Thereby sports cannot be treated as an optional subject … sports as part of education has to be accepted by all,” he said.

“The new education policy of India is not officially declared yet, but it is almost in the final shape. My ministry has already pushed very strongly during our interaction and my participation in the national committee to make sports an integral part of the education system, he added.

Rijiju is also keen to have an “Olympic Museum” for the country and said discussions regarding it would take place once situation normalises post the COVID-19 pandemic.

“About the Olympic Museum, I personally feel that the Olympic Museum is a very important treasure. We need to have in every country and a country like India, we have a good legacy, we must have that,” he said.

NIRF Ranking 2020: IIT Madras top-ranked institution in country

NIRF Ranking 2020

The National Institute Ranking Framework (NIRF) has released its ranking 2020 list. The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bengaluru has been ranked as the top university in the country and for the first time, it has also ranked dental colleges.

Union Human resource development minister, Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ said at the launch that the University Grants Commission should make participation compulsory for all 45,000 colleges and the over 1,000 universities in the country.

Also read: NIRF Rankings 2020: Six Central and seven private universities among top 25

NIRF Ranking 2020: While, in the overall category IIT Madras is the top-ranked institution in the country scoring 85.31, IISc at second (scoring 84.18) and IIT Delhi at third scoring 81.33.

NIRF Ranking 2020 University: In universities category IISc Bengaluru has been ranked best with an overall score of 84.18, followed by JNU scoring 70.16, Delhi and Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi scoring 63.15. Among private universities Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham has taken major jump reaching the fourth position in the University category with an overall score of 62.27, it is also one of the two private universities in the top 10, other being Manipal Academy of Higher Education at eighth.

MBA NIRF Ranking 2020: The Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad has secured top position followed by IIM Bangalore and IIM Calcutta at second and third place.

Engineering NIRF Ranking 2020: In the engineering category, Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) have bagged nine out of the top ten ranks. The IIT Madras has bagged the top spot with a score of 89.93 followed by IIT Delhi scoring 88.08 and IIT Bombay at third with a score of 85.8.

Pharma NIRF Ranking 2020: Delhi based Jamia Hamdard has retained its top position with Panjab University and NIPER Mohali at second and third position. The same three institutions were in the same positions last year.

Law NIRF Ranking 2020: NLSIU (National Law School of India University) Bengaluru, NLU (National Law University) Delhi and NALSAR (National Academy of Legal Studies and Research) Hyderabad all three retaining their first second and third rank respectively.

Medicine NIRF Ranking 2020: In medicine, it is again the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Delhi is at the top with Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research is a medical and research institution (PGIMER) Chandigarh and Christian Medical College, Vellore at second and third.

Colleges NIRF Ranking 2020: Among colleges, the three colleges of the Delhi University have bagged top three positions with Miranda house retaining its top rank, and Lady Shri Ram College for Women and Hindu college at second and third.

Architecture NIRF Ranking 2020: IIT Kharagpur has been ranked number one in Architecture, followed by IIT Roorkee and NIT Calicut.

UGC may consider blended learning option

UGC 2020

According to a media report, the University Grants Commission (UGC) may consider blended learning once the colleges and universities reopen, UGC Chairman DP Singh said. This could mean allowing universities to teach up to 40% classes in online mode.

UGC will also amend the current regulation that allows only the universities ranked top 100 in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) and have a 3.26 grade by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council to offer classes and degrees through online mode.

The changes, to be made in view of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, will allow more institutions to offer online programmes.

“Keeping the changing environment in mind we are revising the regulations, we will allow universities having 3.01 grade in NAAC,” he said.

UGC is also working on an online mode for Open and Distance Learning (ODL), Singh added.

Singh also said that UGC is working on fresh guidelines for re-opening colleges. He hinted that the blended learning option will be a part of the new guidelines regarding reopening of colleges.

“We will be coming up with guidelines in this regard keeping wider perspectives in mind,” Singh said.

Singh also talked about the soon-to-be-launched dual degree programme that will allow students to pursue two degree programmes — one online and another in offline.

IIT Roorkee secures 1st position among IITs in QS ranking list

IIT Roorkee

According to the official QS ranking list released, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee secured 1st position among IITs in the Citations per Faculty parameter in the QS World University Rankings 2021.

The Institute secured the first position among IITs in the international students’ parameter also.

The high score (92.7) on citations per faculty put IIT Roorkee in the league of the top 20 universities worldwide and reflected the high impact research carried out by faculty in their respective research areas.

Also read: NIRF Ranking 2020: IIT Madras top-ranked institution in country

QS Rankings classified IIT Roorkee as historic public institution with very high focus in research Intensity as the strongest indicator for the institute.

Overall, IIT Roorkee has retained its national and global rank as in the previous year. It is ranked 6th among IITs and 383 globally.

However, a lot of Indian institutes and universities have achieved a lot in the past year when it comes to research and development.

The QS World University Rankings has been recognized as one of the most influential rankings of the top universities around the world.

Karnataka govt bans online classes from LKG to Class 5 students

Karnataka govt bans online classes

The Karnataka government decided to stop online live classes for students from LKG till class 5. The decision was declared by state Education Minister S Suresh Kumar. The Minister also said that for classes 6 to 10, a committee has been formed to submit recommendations on pros and cons of online education.

The govt has asked the panel to submit a report within 10 days.

He also said that strict action will be taken if schools collect more fees in the name of online education.

He said, several complaints have been received regarding online classes, and he held discussions with experts, a body of private educational institutions and officials in this regard. Everyone was of the opinion online classes cannot be an alternative to physical classes, he added.

There has been pressure on the government to act, as parents have been complaining about online classes conducted by private schools even for kindergarten kids.

Further stating that the government had already issued a circular asking educational institutions not to hike fees on humanitarian grounds considering financial constraints of several people due to the COVID-19 pandemic and induced lockdown, Kumar said, if schools decide to reduce the fees amount, it will be a “very welcome move.”

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