Rise of ICT in Higher Education

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March 5, 2018

ICT has evolved as a tool to monitor and manage processes in easier way than before. Seeking the scope of ICT, there are several programmes at higher education level to meet industries’ demand. Dr Sean McSweeeney, Lecturer, Department of Computer Science and Tim Horgan, Head of Department of Computer Science from Cork Institute of Technology observe how the two streams are among the most trending ones in higher education sector.

Dr Sean McSweeeney, Lecturer, Department of Computer Science

The potential for technology to transform the way we live over the coming years and decades has been recognised by all sectors of society. Many studies have indicated that this impact will become more visible as the exponential growth in processing capability is leveraged to develop ever more sophisticated systems. This fundamental change in the way future economies will operate, has resulted in targeted technical programmes being established or increased in size by many academic institutions. Two areas within technology that have perhaps the most significant potential impact are Artificial Intelligence and Information Security. The Department of Computer Science in Cork Institute of Technology, Ireland has advanced its suite of programmes to include offerings in Artificial Intelligence and Information Security due to the potential impact these key areas will have.

In the twenty-first century, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has experienced a resurgence following concurrent advances in computer power, large amounts of data, and theoretical understanding. AI techniques have now become an essential part of the technology industry, helping to solve many challenging problems in computer science. The MSc in Artificial Intelligence offered by CIT delivers a comprehensive range of topics integral to the study of AI. These include machine learning, deep learning, natural language processing, optimisation, and big data processing to name but a few. This master’s degree provides a technical deep-dive into the area of AI. The programme aims to produce AI developers with a highly relevant skillset in AI topics. The programme contains challenging and interesting modules delivered by lecturers who are experts in AI. Students will also be presented with opportunities to work on modern research case studies linked to the domain expertise of staff in the department. Entry to the MSc in Artificial Intelligence will require a minimum of a Level 8 Honours Degree in Computer Science, Engineering or an honours degree in a cognate discipline. This 60-credit programme is delivered over two 30 credit semesters. It is expected that students will complete this programme in one academic year on a full-time basis.

Tim Horgan, Cork Institute of Technology — Tim Horgan, Head of Department of Computer Science from Cork Institute of Technology

Information Security continues to be an area of increasing importance in highly advanced economies with the increasing amount of monetizable data available and the interconnected nature of the technology that powers these economies. This continuing trend is predicted to strongly increase the importance of Information Security within most multinational entities. The MSc in Information Security offered by CIT was designed with experts from leading Information Security companies. The topics of study include network security and forensics, penetration testing, digital forensics & incident response, malware analysis and many others. Upon successful completion of the programme, the graduate will both understand and have the capacity to deploy many of the most advanced methods and systems to protect information at rest, in transit, and at work. Entry will require a minimum of a Level 8 Honours Degree in Computer Science, Engineering or an honours degree in a cognate discipline. The MSc in Information Security is a 90-credit programme, consisting of 60 credits of taught modules and a 30-credit project. It is expected that students will complete this programme in 12 months on a full-time basis.

The Department of Computer Science in CIT is one of the largest computer science departments in Ireland. CIT’s industry engaged programmes have an excellent reputation for producing the most employable computer science graduates in Ireland. These highly skilled graduates are in huge demand and have contributed significantly to the rapid advancement of Ireland’s economy. The Department places significant emphasis on student learning by doing. It adopts a practical, hands-on, approach to learning blended with deep theoretical knowledge to produce rounded and highly capable graduates.

TNT, Auditing institutes to make them flourish

Magazine

By

Akash

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March 4, 2018

Tutored and Trained audit schools and colleges across India using help them in Teacher Evaluation, Policy Review, Safety Audits and also in developing new revenue streams, says Joyanto Mukherjee, Founder and CEO, Tutored and Trained (TNT), in conversation with Elets News Network (ENN).

How the practices followed by TNT bring life into old institutions and help newer institutions to flourish?

We evaluate the academic system and the professors on KSA scale which includes three important parameters – Knowledge, Skills and Attitude. Any academic system to work efficiently requires focus on these three parameters. We inspect every minute detail by spending four to five days at an educational institute and audit every aspect of the
system i.e. teaching staff, administration, classroom and the overall management, using a combination of clinical psychology and behavioural science. We observe the time spent by teachers in preparing their lessons and their approach towards delivering a lecture. Based on all these things, we come out with a solution to improve the system.

Teachers play an important role in improving the teaching-learning process, how TNT identifies problems of teachers and executes solutions through them to better the overall functioning of schools?

One of our services, Teacher Behaviour Analysis (TBA) – A comprehensive audit of every teacher in the institute, is used to highlight key challenges that are being faced by them along with psychometric evaluation of their satisfaction levels on different aspects. It enables the institutions to identify and resolve unheard issues of teachers as well as to get a comprehensive feedback on their teacher portfolio with answers to the questions like are they satisfied, are they motivated, etc. Resolving the issues help the institutions to get the best output from teachers. This also helps in
improving the teacher-student relationship.

We believe that it is crucial for educational institutes to constantly evolve not just in the way of teaching but also the way they run the institute, via its POLICIES. TNT’s Policy Review Tool enables institutes to shape their future backed by the latest management tools & behaviourial sciences.

Various recent incidents at different schools have raised questions on security promises made by schools, what role does TNT’s Education Institute Safety Audit play to ensue better safety measures?

We believe that every child has his/her way of observing things around them either in school or at home. It may or may not be good for them. Our service, Education Institute Safety Audit (EISA) is a truly – effective safety audit that goes beyond physical safety of a child. Our service focuses on emotional and mental safety of students by creating a safer atmosphere for them to develop in.

It is important for educational institutes to analyse existing policies and frame the new ones for their smooth functioning, how TNT help them in this?

We believe that it is crucial for educational institutes to constantly evolve not just in the way of teaching but also the way they run the institute, via its POLICIES. TNT’s Policy Review Tool enables institutes to shape their future backed by the latest management tools & behaviourial sciences. Thus making it a teacher friendly organisation focused on creating value for all.

What is your mission and vision for upcoming years?

Tutored and Trained is India’s only academic auditing firm. We are a team of young and dynamic people coming from different backgrounds with the motive to bring changes in the Indian Education system. We use Behavioural Economics to influence choice architecture to have more effective HR practices, increase teacher performance and more. We believe that Indian education system can be changed by bringing uniformity in it.

Life Skills Key to Transform Students’ Worldview

Magazine

By

Akash

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March 3, 2018

To prepare individuals for challenging careers ahead, the steadily turning fast -paced life and nuclear family system have necessitated educational institutes to inculcate life skills among students, observes Akash Tomer of Elets News Network (ENN).

The term ‘Life Skills’ is used to describe a set of basic skills like creativity, critical thinking, problem-solving, decision-making, the ability to communicate and collaborate.

These are usually acquired through learning and/or direct life experience. It is important to understand and remember that these skills actually enable individuals and groups to effectively handle issues and problems usually
confronted in day-to-day life.

These skills also include personal and social responsibility that contribute to good citizenship.

All this leads us to ponder how much all these essential skills are needed to achieve success in the 21st century. These are required both for healthy societies and to prepare successful and employable individuals.

Significance in Modern Times

Be it policymakers or educators, they are laying stress upon nurturing life skills for children’s holistic development.
Though the focus is still on languages, sciences and mathematics, the current societal changes in the form of nuclear families and increased individualism have given birth to the need for schools to train students in life skills. It is hoped to enable them to lead a better life.

Reflecting change, while the earlier eras and traditional ecosystem of families supported the imbibing of critical life skills, today, the formal K-12 system needs to address life skills development in an explicit manner.

The critical importance of acquiring 21st Century life skills was highlighted in a recent study. Released by World Economic Forum’s Boston Consulting Group (BCG) Study – 2016, it states that 65% of today’s schoolchildren will
have to take up the kind of jobs that are non-existent today.

The World Health Organisation’s studies highlight the critical role of life skills education in improving health, hygiene and safety. All these studies globally indicate the vital importance of life skills education. There is also a body of knowledge to suggest that life skills learning is most appropriate at a young (school-going age) to tap into the innate curiosity of the child.

Life skills are not only about learning a subject, getting trained in a skill, and doing daily household jobs like laundry and cooking, it is much more than this.

According to World Health Organisation (WHO), life skills are “the abilities for adaptive and positive behaviour that enable individuals to deal effectively with demands and challenges of everyday life” It includes improvement in social, emotional, and thinking skills of a person such as self-awareness, empathy, critical thinking, decision-making, and coping with stress.

Life skills are the abilities for adaptive and positive behavior that enable individuals to deal effectively with demands and challenges of everyday life.

Importance of life skills-based education Life skills help a person to live a healthy and productive life by making informed decisions, communicating effectively with others and developing self-management skills. These skills are often taught to adolescents, as they can help them successfully transition “from childhood to adulthood by healthy development of social and emotional skills”.

Life skills-based education can help in the development of social competence and problem-solving skills, which, in turn, help adolescents to form their own identity. They help in promoting positive social norms that have an impact on the adolescents’ health services, schools, and family. Also, these skills promote development of positive self-esteem and anger control.

Benefits

To cope with the increasing pace and change of modern life, students need new life skills such as the ability to deal with stress and frustration. Today’s students will have many new jobs over the course of their lives, with associated pressures and the need for flexibility.

For Students:
In everyday life, the development of life skills helps students to:

Find new ways of thinking and problem solving
Recognise the impact of their actions and teaches them to take responsibility for what they do than blaming others
Build confidence both in spoken skills and for group collaboration and cooperation
Analyse options, make decisions and understand why they make certain choices outside classroom
Develop a greater sense of self-awareness and appreciation for others
Employment Benefits:

While students work hard to get good grades, many still struggle to gain employment. According to research by the Confederation of British Industry, employers were looking not just for academic success but key employability skills
including:

The ability to self-manage, solve problems and understand the business environment
Working well as part of a team
Time and people management
Agility and adaptability to different roles and flexible working environments

Social Benefits

The more we develop life skills individually, the more these affect and benefit the world we live in:

Recognising cultural awareness and citizenship makes international cooperation easier
Respecting diversity allows creativity and imagination to flourish developing a more tolerant society
Developing negotiation skills, the ability to network and empathies can help to build resolutions rather than resentments

The demographic dividend of India can only be transformative when the young population of this country develops life skills in addition to vocational skills to manage the challenges in everyday life, whether at school, at work, or
personal lives. Life skills are defined as a group of cognitive, personal and inter-personal skills that enhance abilities to manage challenges and risks, maximize opportunities, and solve problems in cooperative, non-violent ways.

To cope with the increasing pace and change of modern life, students need new life skills such as the ability to deal with stress and frustration. Today’s students will have many new jobs over the course of their lives, with associated pressures and the need for flexibility.

Essential Life Skills

While one cannot give a definitive list of life skills, some skills may still sound relevant to oneself depending on one’s life circumstances, beliefs, age, culture, and geographic location, etc. Depending upon varying stages of life, different life skills may prove more or less important.

Such as:

During school or college education, one requires study skills
If you are purchasing a house, negotiation skills are needed
For employment, you need to work on your employability skills
Leadership and presentation skills could be useful, along with a whole host of other skills, at workplace
As you start a family you will need parenting skills. Also, time management and organising skills would prove important
In life when you’ll need conflict resolution, stress-management and problem solving skills as well

Big Data Analytics and The Future Ahead

Magazine

By

Akash

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March 2, 2018

With the fast changing scenario of businesses and rising challenges to stay ahead of the times, a lot of organisations are trying to develop an approach that helps them to expand their business revenues while cutting the operational costs. Doesn’t it create scope for Big Data Analytics? explores Elets News Network (ENN).

One needs to first understand that the big data analytics is the use of advanced analytic methodologies against very large, diverse data sets that include structured, semi-structured and unstructured data, from different sources, and in different sizes from terabytes to zettabytes.

Where is this Big Data found?

It comes from sensors, devices, video/audio, networks, log files, transactional applications, web, and social media. A lot of is generated in real time and at a very large scale.

The analysis of big data allows analysts, researchers, and business users to make better and faster decisions using data that was previously inaccessible or unusable.

The Big Data Analysis helps organisations in finding scope of innovation and improvement by analysing the available data. It can also help individuals in building a successful career.

Companies seek to expand their operational structure keeping an eye on the future. They have large amount of data in every single area of research, deals creation, customer service, among others.

In recent times, there has been a sudden rise in demand of business analytics. The prime reason behind this surge is the data driven and technology focussed approaches that majority of organisations have willingly embraced.

A proper analysis of the data helps them to identify potential dangers for their company and framing of strategies for the areas that may help to boost revenue generation for the organisation.

In recent times, there has been a sudden rise in demand of business analytics. The prime reason behind it is the data driven and technology focussed approaches that majority of organisations have embraced.

But for how long is this scenario going to stay beneficial? Will it still be advantageous for a student graduating five or 10 years from now? Future of a business or career is solely dependent on market demand as well as its own versatility.

The major reason for growth of business analytics and intelligence is the fact that since the whole concept of analytics revolves around data, it is very challenging to successfully complete the course. Hence, there is a scarcity of
expert analysts.

According to Forbes (2015), there was a 123.60% jump in demand for InformationTechnology Project Managers with big data expertise, and an 89.8% increase for Computer Systems Analysts. It is expected to rise by every single passing day.

The Harvard Business Review quoted something very interesting — job of a data scientist is the sexiest job of 21st century. Now, who wouldn’t want to be one? According to the McKinsey Global Institute report, “By 2018, the United States alone could face a shortage of 1,40,000 to 1,90,000 people with deep analytical skills as well as 1.5 million managers and analysts with the know-how to use the analysis of big data to make effective decisions.”

Analytics is an ever-growing branch of study. Huge database is available in virtual form which has created a need for more effective and accurate data based decision-makers, which surely points a finger towards exponential growth in demand of business analysts.

Business analytics courses in India and who should opt for it?

So if you have been inquisitive about numbers and data, analytics is the career for you. It is a challenging task which requires high degree of conscious effort and smart work to put things in perspective. This data finally aids the process of decision-making that encourages growth of companies and organisations.

An ideal candidate is expected to be a statistics degree holder and/or a mathematics degree holder. Post graduation or a Master’s Degree adds value to it.

What to Expect?

An integrated master’s level programme curriculum, consisting of business data analysis and business intelligence – is quite popular since there are no effective full-time programmes in place for business analytics.

If you’re a person who is passionate about numbers and data, analytics is the career for you. It is a challenging taskwhich requires high degree of conscious efforts and smart work in order to put things in perspective.

Colleges to look up to:
Some of the colleges, which have either integrated business analytics in their regular course or are providing certificate courses, are:

MISB Bocconi, Mumbai
SP Jain School of Global Management, Mumbai
Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur
Narsee Monjee School of Management (NMIMS), Bangalore
Aegis School of Data Science, Mumbai, IIM Ahmedabad
IIM Kozhikode
NIT Trichy
Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai
Narsee Monjee Institute of Management, Mumbai
Shailesh J Mehta School of Management at the Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai

Top 7 Business Analytics Programme:

Certified Program in Business Analytics (CBA) – Indian School of Business
Executive Programme in Advanced Business Analytics from IIM Ahmedabad
PGPBA – Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai and Gurgaon
Certificate program in business analytics for executives (CPBAE)- IIM Lucknow
Executive Programme in Business Analytics – IIM Kolkata
Business analytics and Intelligence – IIM Bangalore
Post Graduate Programme, Praxis Business School, Kolkata
CPEE- Big Data Analytics & Optimization – International School of Engineering (INSOFE)

Digital Literacy Transforming Education System Globally

Article

By

Akash

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March 1, 2018

Digital literacy has transformed the traditional ways of imparting education in India and around the world. In addition to how digital literacy has impacted other areas of education sector observes Gaurav Gupta, Founder and Director, SquareBoat-Solutions Private Limited, for Elets News Network (ENN).

Gaurav Gupta, Founder and Director, SquareBoat-Solutions Private Limited

Be it in India or abroad, the first thing that digital literacy or the internet brings on the table is the ease of gathering information. Students in the western countries have been primarily relying on google searches for their school assignments, in contrast to turning the pages of outdated books that students in India do. Needless to say, gathering more information makes the work in western countries exponentially better than in India. What has lacked in India though, is not the intent to use technology but the capability to use it. Not long before, not much of India had access to high speed internet, which was overly reflected in the education system as well. Forget about learning how to ‘google’, the course books had instructions on how to turn a computer on. But gradually, internet is getting more accessible, not only at schools but also at people’s houses, as it gets cheaper. Combined with government support, cellular companies are also making internet cheaper, resulting in a positive impact in India in terms of digital-literacy. Below are some of the ways in which education in India, and in general, has been impacted the most.

Communication: Students are now capable of communicating with each other and their teachers in real time. Earlier, it was a hassle for students to collaborate on a project. Especially during vacations, it was impossible for them to check what the other guy is doing or to get feedback from teachers. Now students have a number of ways to communicate, like phone calls, internet messengers, skype etc. They can even manage work better as teachers encourage them to use work management software like Trello and Asana.

Information gathering: Not only is the world changing, but it is changing at a faster pace every day. Therefore, it is impossible to print the most updated information in school books every year, and update them frequently. What can be changed frequently though, is a web page. Internet has seen an increasing number of students from India, looking up information related to their school assignments. Just last year, the year-on-year growth of internet users in India was 23%, a huge number, compared to the world average of 10%.

Online learning: With the world moving towards skill based job opportunities, people are realising that having in-demand skills is more important today than having a degree. Therefore, they turn to internet for micro-courses like ‘Digital Marketing’, ‘Web Development’, etc. The number of people paying to learn online, in India, rose from fairly none at the start of this decade to 1.6 million in 2016, resulting from two years of 100% growth, as per a research conducted by KPMG. Additionally, there are plenty of other websites which provide free online courses and tutorials. An example of this can be seen on Hackr.io which hosts links of several hundreds of websites, which offer web development tutorials available on the internet, most of which are free.

Career planning: With technology and automation in picture, a lot of jobs are getting obsolete but many new ones are coming up. The challenge, however, is to make students aware of them. Traditionally, it is parents who decide for their children, but we all know how ineffective that is. These days, internet is enabling students to break through the tradition. Students are now constantly updated about what’s trending in market, through networking sites like Linkedin and Facebook. Moreover, start-ups like iDreamCareer have come up with online tests and counselling services, to further help the students in making their career decisions.

Modernising schools: The most drastic change that digital brought about in education is the technology we use at school. The most revolutionary one has been digital boards in classrooms. This has led to students associating words with graphics from a very early age, and is thereby improving their learning skills. Students develop a skill of learning through videos lessons, a skill which later manifest into them using YouTube and Khan Academy for educational content.

Gamification of education: Not everyone learns alike, some prefer to learn by reading in black and white, while some like to be taught through games. Digitalisation of education brought a huge array of online games which help let children learn easily. This also lets teachers get a thorough understanding of what a student’s learning behaviour is like.

Showcasing talent: With internet and all the platforms it has to offer, it is easier for students to showcase their talent and work. Students often make use of platform like SlideShare and YouTube to publish their school assignments. A lot of design students post their art on Dribbble and Behance, and go head on against the professionals. This opens them up to feedback from billions of people from the internet community and an equal chance to prove their metal.

SRM University: Promoting Research and Innovative Teaching

Interviews

By

Akash

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March 1, 2018

SRM University is creating and disseminating knowledge and providing students a unique learning experience in Science, Technology, Medicine, Management and other areas, says Pankaj Agarwal, Chancellor, Shri Ramwaroop Memorial University and Executive Director, Shri Ramsawroop Memorial Group of Professional Colleges, in an interview with Elets News Network (ENN).

Better higher education results in improved career opportunities. What factors should students keep in mind while selecting a specialisation for their graduation and further studies?

Pankaj Agarwal, Chancellor, Shri Ramwaroop Memorial University and Executive Director, Shri Ramsawroop Memorial Group of Professional Colleges

Choosing the right course and institute is one of the most significant decisions that will affect a student’s entire life. This is why students need to first self-assess, bearing in mind their goals. While evaluating an institute, they should analyze whether the ways of learning will be only conventional or if the institute offers modern teaching pedagogy. Further, level of industry focus, quality of faculty and international learning opportunities should also be evaluated. It is also important that the chosen institute has accreditations and affiliations required in the desired course. Having said that, the most important factor is that the student should feel that the course and institute will provide the required skill set to achieve the set career objective.

How are Internet of Things and Artificial Intelligence helping higher education system to get more student participation and faculty engagement?

Emerging technologies like IoT and AI are creating a fundamental shift in the way academic operations are run today. In the coming years, they will create new products and services that maximize opportunities and will serve as a face changer for higher education system. They are helping the industry in substantial ways by giving access to unlimited information flow from anywhere and anytime, and by promoting new concepts, designs and ensuring implementation of the same.Further, they are also improving educational outcomes by providing richer learning experiences and by gaining real-time, actionable insights into student performance. With such technology, collecting data on student performance and using it to customize teaching plans has become easy.

How is technology helping the University in nurturing the culture of innovation, a culture that encourages entrepreneurship, discovery, and experimentation amongst its students?

Technology is the biggest tool that drives an environment of innovation, entrepreneurship, and experimentation in the academic blood of an institution. Given this, we decided to move from on-premise ERP implementation to Oracle Cloud ERP, because unlike the on-premise software which requires frequent and continuous time-intensive and costly upgrades, SaaS solutions always stay updated – giving immediate access to new capabilities and features as they become available.

By implementing such new-age technology, we were able to foster an environment of innovation in our university. For instance, now our students can perform complicated experiments using relevant technologies. At a university level, we are now able to provide a common interface to know and understand the industry requirements, give opportunities ofa multi-disciplinary pursuit of knowledge and research to our students, and make research work related to any field from across the globe available.

How best can a university put across a technology vision and an IT roadmap for overall improvement in institutional performance and student success?

To ensure that the transformation process is gradual, consistent and sustaining, a university should firstly, implement a technology platform that unifies academic and related non-academic activities – making monitoring and evaluating possible. Further, technology should be used to provide continuous student evaluation and to make the entire process visible to both faculty and parents, apart from concerned students, to increase chances of improvement. Lastly, all operations should be integrated using a single unified platform,to ensure transparency and high efficiency.

Using technology platforms helps in gathering all activities-related data,of all stakeholders. This big data can be further used for analysis – to draw meaningful and more active decisions related to manpower, finances etc. SRMU uses Oracle Peoplesoft to augment efficiency and effectiveness and for monitoring of classroom activities, evaluation, finance and human resource.

Project-based learning, challenge-based learning and inquiry-based learning are gaining momentum nowadays. Describe the steps taken by the university in this regard.

The above three are the latest and most innovative methods that have made learning more expressive and abiding. At SRMU (Shri Ramswaroop Memorial University) this has been made possible by promoting industry interface to provide hands-on practice of real-life scenarios.By using automated software and running collaborative programs fromOracle and other technology vendors,we have been able to promote shorter learning curves,and by inviting industry experts, who share their experiences and make young minds inquire and learn.

Moreover, our continuous evaluation system keeps students on track and gives them multiple opportunities to improve.We have an extremely qualified faculty to promote an atmosphere of research and consultancy. Our collaborations with various foreign institutions and professional bodies like CII, AIMA, TiE, IICA, FICCI etc. further provides vast opportunities for both faculty and students to take up research and consultancy projects.

Digital India and Skill India are two most ambitious projects of the Government of India, how is the university training its students to be skillful, employable and tech-savvy?

We have always believed that the most important attributes of higher education are – who is teaching students, the methodology of teaching, and what is being taught. If a high standard of these three is maintained, we will be able to train our students to be more skilled and tech-savvy, resulting in better employability.

At SRMU, we ensure that our faculty is recruited from premier institutes of India, and we conduct continuous industry interactions to keep both our faculty and students updated. We have also set-up best-in-class labs which are equipped with latest machines and technology and organize workshops and field visits to test and implement classroom teaching. We have also tied-up with various industry experts who educate us about current industry requirements.

Despite a phenomenal expansion in the education system in our country, Indian universities don’t stand alongside the universities abroad. How can this scenario be improved?

We have made rapid progress in the field of higher education and the same is evident from the number of colleges and universities operating in the county today. To make improvements and get placed on the global rankings we need to adhere to succeeding facts, like improving the quality of faculty, promoting research environment, investing on equipping labs with latest technology, using technologies like IOT and AI to gain access to all talent hubs across the globe, cultivating entrepreneurs by setting up entrepreneurship incubation cells, creating an industry interface to know the skills in demand and finally by setting up technology platforms to standardize and improve internal operations.

What prompted you to implement Oracle Cloud Services? What were the various challenges being faced earlier?

Our motivation to move from an on-premise ERP implementation to Oracle Cloud ERP was based on a number of factors. Firstly, the on-premise solutions require not only the purchase of the software, but also support-costs for license,additional hardware, personnel for maintenance, network monitoring, management tools and more. In the SaaS model, many of these costs are included in the subscription itself – whichensures a lower total cost of ownership, and reduced complexity/ overhead. Time to value, ease of implementation, the ability to try before you buy, and the ongoing vendor accountability and engagement, were among other factors we considered.

Oracle ERP Cloud not only provides robust support by giving easy access to ERP system but is also cost-effective. We were able to easily understand the interface and have also experienced its ease to maintain and upgrade. Also, the cloud solutions easily integrated between heterogeneous software systems.

Class 10 and 12 students with special needs can use laptops in CBSE exams

News

By

digitalLEARNING Network

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March 1, 2018

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has allowed students with special need appearing for class 10 and 12 exams to use laptops starting this year.

The notification issued by the CBSE Controller KK Choudhury on 27 February 2018 addressed to all principals and heads of institutions, affiliated to the board, reads, “Use of computer shall be limited to only for typing answers, for viewing the questions in the enlarged font size, for listening to the question items.” The internet connection has been barred for security purpose.

The candidates with special needs (CWSN) will have to produce a medical certificate for writing the exams and also obtain necessary permissions. The board has appointed Centre Superintendent (CS) to oversee if the order is rightly implemented, the order reads.

CBSE exams for both class 10 and 12 are starting from 5 March, 2018. While class 10 exam will end on 4 April, 2018, class 12 exam will end on 12 April, 2018.

The notification has further set “provision of a reader in case student with a disability does not want the facility of the scribe and need a person to read the question paper”. It has also given relaxation in attendance to CWSN students up to 50 per cent.

Centum Learning: Fulfilling India’s National Skilling Mandate

Interviews

By

Akash

-

March 1, 2018

CentumLearning is a leading organisation the global skills development and vocational training landscape. The organisation is also a key partner to the National Skills Development Corporation (NSDC) fulfilling India’s national skilling mandate, says Sanjay Bahl, CEO and MD, Centum Learning in conversation with Elets News Network (ENN).

What are the key focus areas of Centum Learning? Please describe in brief.

Sanjay Bahl, CEO and MD, Centum Learning

Centum has been a leader in the Learning and Development space offering business solutions for Livelihood Skills, Corporate Business Solutions and CSR partnerships.

Livelihood Skilling – Centum has partnered with Central and State Ministries, and Public Sector Enterprises to enhance the skills of youth across the country. The partnership will empower youth with skills to boost their employability.

Skills Development in Schools and Colleges – Centum is empaneled as a Skill Knowledge Provider (SKP) for CBSE affiliated schools to impart vocational courses to students in 16 states. In addition to that, CBSE has empanelled Centum to offer Leadership & Strategic Management Training to heads of institutions, academic staff and teachers. Centum has successfully trained over 1,50,000 school students in over 1,200 schools under this initiative through it’s forum of over 1250 specialised trainers.

Corporate Business Solutions – Centum also provide training solutions for the corporates to help in impacting tangible KPIs for organisations. CentumLearning provides 360-degree solutions that integrate performance with the organization culture through a unique Technology enabled delivery approach.

CSR Partnerships – Centum Learning has a philanthropic division called Centum Foundation. It partners with various corporates to implement vocational skilling, livelihood creation, education and women empowerment programmes. Centum Foundation has also launched a dedicated vertical, called Centum GRO Initiative to empower deaf people in India and assist them in getting respectable jobs in different domains.

What role is CentumLearning playing helping youth get jobs under Government of India’s “Skill India Mission”?

Being one of the partners of NSDC, the approach that Centum has adopted towards skill building consists of five steps: Employment Generation, Mobilisation, Skill Training, Certification and Assessment, and Placement. As of date, we have generated over four lakh letters of intent from various organisations nationwide in various sectors and trades. After selecting a city to skill its youth, we analyse the local market for getting information about the kind of jobs available and basis that, we mobilise the candidates for those jobs. Each state-level centre has a placement head who coordinates with the placement team to organise on-the-job training and placement for trainees. A prospective employer usually visits the centre to conduct interviews and hire trainees. A majority of our trainees are absorbed within the same organisation where they get training.

We work on a backward integration method where we first approach companies and find out their job requirements. Then we start the entire process of mobilising candidates in the neighbouring areas, get them registered, skill them and subsequently get them certified and help to secure a job. We also motivate youth in several cases to set up their ventures.

With which government/publicprivate organisations, has Centum Learning partnered with to provide skill training in different areas of the country?

We have partnered with the Government to fulfill NSDC’s target of skilling 500 million people. Additionally, we partnered with leading organisations like COAI and NSDC to launch massive outreach programmes to mobilise underprivileged youth for skill training under the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojna (PMKVY) and several other outcome based skill development schemes across the country.

Centum Learning has partnered with various state governments to implement Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) around Vocationalisation of Higher Secondary Education (VHSE) in different States of India for one to four year periods.

Centum Learning is also working with Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, Ministry of Rural Development, National Urban Livelihood Mission (NULM), Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority, Manipur Urban Development Agency, Department of Industries, Govt. of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh Skill Development Mission, Meghalaya State Development Society, Odisha Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Development Finance Co-operative Corporation Limited, Madhya Pradesh Council of Employment and Training (MAPCET), Ministry of Women & Child Development, Government of Jharkhand, Skills Training for Employment Promotion amongst Urban Poor (STEP UP) as part of its mission to create a skill ecosystem for the youth in India.

With ISO 9001:2015 Certification, our unique approach to training has made us the trusted ‘Go-To’ partner for corporate looking to deploy skills development and vocational training initiatives. With domain expertise in 21 industry verticals and a huge pool of learning and development specialists, it is not surprising that we have partnered over 350 corporate to address the dreaded ‘skills-demand’ gap. Seven years ago, we forayed into Africa anticipating the similarity in culture, topography and linguistic diversity with India. Currently, we have operations across 14 countries of Africa.We also deal with governments, as well as companies (mostly multinational) and international agencies, which run several training programmes in Africa. Many African countries implement training programmes in partnership with multilateral bodies such as USAID and the World Bank who also fund programmes like Farm Inputs Promotion (FIPS) in the Sub-Saharan region.

Please share details about Centum Foundation.

Centum Foundation is working towards skilling and empowerment of PWDs (Persons with Disabilities) in India. A number of initiatives have been implemented for Deaf, Orthopedically challenged and Blind youth. It has launched a unique initiative, called Centum GRO to empower the Deaf in India and assist them to become employable in different domains.

The training model for PwDs has four components i.e. Educating, Preparing, Training, and Sustaining. The medium of training used is in alignment with the disability, which, helps in enhancing the learning capability of the participants, making them employment ready and offering placement assistance.

What is the vision and mission of the company for upcoming years?

Since inception, our vision has been to be the most admired technology enabled blended learning & skill development partner, enabling sustainable transformation. Excellence in training is not just a onetime activity, rather one of the core values of Centum Learning, which is demonstrated by continuous endorsement by our clients whose patronage and feedback has enabled us to grow by leaps and bounds resulting in our presence in 15+ countries today.

We are on a continuous journey to improvise and evolve in the training space where we are moving beyond the current traditional model of training to providing 360 degree learning solutions through technology enabled blended learning approach. We are aggressively working with both the state & the central ministries, not just by participating in their skilling programs but also collectively working with the complete ecosystem to create policies and opportunities to positively impact the lives of the youth.

Union Government to reduce the syllabus by half: Prakash Javadekar

News

By

Akash

-

February 28, 2018

Central Government is going to reduce the NCERT syllabus by half in next two to three years, Union Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar announced earlier this week.

Explaining about the Government’s initiatives for quality education in the country, Javadekar said that the idea to provide quality education across the country emerged from the six workshops held by the Ministry along with the high level meetings with state education officials.

“A large number of NGOs, education experts, state government officers, and many teachers took part in these meeting,” he added.

Stressing on that plenty of information is not education, Javadekar said, “Students are not data banks. The main aim of education is to bring out a good human being. It is the need of the hour to inculcate value education, life skills, experiential learning and physical fitness in our daily life.”

According to him, reducing the syllabus will help the students to learn the basic principles of different subjects.

“We have asked the NCERT (National Council of Educational Research and Training) to evaluate the present curriculum and decide what can be done away with and what should be retained,” he further added.

The minister also said that the ministry will invite suggestions from teachers, parents, educational experts, students and stakeholders on reducing the syllabus by putting a request for the same on its website.

India-Israel bilateral agreements to boost Indian higher education sector

Article

By

Akash

-

February 26, 2018

India and Israel’s bilateral cooperation is likely to boost collaboration between in the field of higher education and research observes Hriday Ch Sarma for Elets News Network (ENN).

At present, India and Israel are enhancing their political and economic allies. The cooperation between them is steadfastly increasing not only in the area of defence cooperation, but in anarray of sectors, such as agriculture, water, cyber security, oil & gas and so on. This is really commendable considering the fact that the friendship between the two historic nations is just two and half decades old.

For this new found friendship to unceasingly continue in the future, a solid foundation needs to be created that intricately binds people from both sides. There is, of course, no magic band for this to happen; however, dedicated collaboration in the field of higher education can act as a tool for the pursuit of common goals among the younger generations from both countries. This in turn will shape a common destiny for the two countries in the emerging world order.

Israel presents ample scope for learning of new and advanced subjects, including but not limited to microbiology, nanotechnology, business management and information security, to Indian students. The country has state-of-art education institutes and research centres that are ranked among the best in the world. The most famous among them are: Weizmann Institute of Science, established in 1934, a multidisciplinary public research university offering high academic degrees in the fields of natural and exact sciences; Hebrew University of Jerusalem (also known as HUJI) that serves around 23,000 students from around the world in its 7 faculties and 14 schools; and Tel Aviv University, the largest public university in the country, offers 125 schools and departments across the spectrum of sciences, humanities and arts- qualifying as the most comprehensive institution of higher learning and research in Israel.

In addition to the aforesaid ones, the country has also numerous education and research institutes that are excelling in their respective areas of studies, some even at the international level. Sheba Medical Centre (Tel Ha’shomer), the biggest medical centre in the country, has three hospitals that offer more than 60 programs for medical professionals: doctors, nurses and administrators. The students pursing courses here gain practical experience and “on the job training”. Aharon Ofri Centre (Kibbutz Ramat Rachel), a collaboration of Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Israeli Ministry of Education, offers diverse educational courses for teachers from all around the world. Here course participants can get trained in: curriculum development, establishing educational systems in rural areas, technology embedding in schools and classes, social rehabilitation of neighbourhoods and drug abuse prevention. The list of such institutes is a long one, which also includes Israeli College for Security and Investigations (Jerusalem), Centre of International Agriculture Development Cooperation (Rehovot), Arava International Trainee Centre (Sapir) and Golda Meir Training Centre (Haifa) as ranked among the Avant grade.

Israel offers range of scholarships exclusively for Indian students to not just come and study there; but also enable them to gain understanding of the local culture as it really is.The Government of Israel offers 7 scholarships (2 scholarship for study of Hebrew language and 5 for academic research) annually as a part of the Cultural Agreements between Israel and India. This scholarship is categorized under two categories: 1/ For Masters and PhD Programmes, 2/ For Post Doctorate and Research Programmes. Moreover, the Israeli Council of Higher Education has been offering annual post-doctoral fellowships to about 100 students from India and China since 2012.

Israel is keen to develop joint research projects and academic studies with India for it sees the immense manpower potential in the latter. India, on its part, is trying to equally gesticulate by encouraging Israeli academics as well as businessmen to set up lasting ventures that could be mutually benefiting. Already the Indian government has set up a $40 million joint fund with Israel for research and development in innovation. Moreover, private education institutes in India, such as O.P. Jindal University and Indian Institute of Management Bangalore, have joined the bandwagonof strategic bilateral partnership by initiating their own Israel studies centres.

So, it is now up to the young minds in India to grab a pie for themselves from among the endless possibilities of excellence that Israel is offering at the moment! (views above are author’s personal)

Author’s Bio: Hriday Ch Sarma is pursuing PhD under Energy Studies Programme at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Hriday is also a fellow with the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA), an international research and membership organisation conducting Israel media-monitoring.

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