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Elets digitalLEARNING

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Dubai’s education sector to adopt best practices: Kalthoom Al Balooshi

News

Akash

December 21, 2017

“There were different periods of renaissance in Dubai. The first one was in 1985 and the second one in 2006. We have gone through a journey of transformations in different sectors. But let me give you the details about the education sector during the second renaissance,” said Kalthoom AlBalooshi, Executive Director of Education Development, KHDA, Dubai, during the 11^th World Education Summit Dubai.

Kalthoom AlBalooshi, Executive Director of Education Development, KHDA, Dubai

Explaining the purpose behind creation of KHDA, she said, “The Dubai government has created the Knowledge and Human Development Authority in Dubai (KHDA). The purpose of the KHDA was to create an education sector to serve the people of Dubai and to support the economic growth of the city.”

“But in 2006, the picture of education landscape was very different. There were only 136 private schools though different curriculums but very limited options. There was a huge waiting list at that point of time. There was no approach to ensure the quality of the education. There was no transparency in the sector,” she added.

Providing a picture of education landscape of Dubai in 2006 and the achievements in 2017, Balooshi said, “The parents and students have no choice, they used to choose the schools where their friends are studying. KHDA always focuses on the quality of the education. So, incentivising good quality and ensuring transparency are the two key components of KHDA. From 2006 – the second period of renaissance to 2017, we have 194 private schools, 17 different curriculums, 200 different nationalities, around 3,00,000 of students studying in different schools of Dubai.”

She said, “In 2006 we used talk about the fixed fee of schools but now we are talking about discounts, founder fee, packages, so the market has changed a lot. Earlier, the schools were located in specific areas but now the schools are in different parts of Dubai, the New Dubai, the Old Dubai and the areas where people are living.”

She referred 2017 as new period of renaissance and said, “After 2006, 2017 will be the new period of renaissance for education sector in Dubai. The new education landscape will be full of innovative ideas; it will be about following new practices in the market. We will emphasise more on happiness.”

Telling about the new models of schools in Dubai, Balooshi added, “Earlier, students of Dubai used to go to schools in different countries where the best teaching-learning practices and the unique curriculum is followed. But now, such schools are next to your house. This one model of schools followed in Dubai’s education landscape.”

“The next types of schools we are talking about are the ones which will address the future needs of the market. These schools will focus on human side of every student, their happiness and the skills required in different industries,” she added

According to her, World Education Summit is the platform to showcase the transformation of Dubai’s education space and also the huge opportunities available here such as the new areas of learning, new curriculum, happiness in the classrooms, so there lot of options for schools to thrive and grow in this city.

About expansion in future, she said, “Another thing we are focussing on is that to succeed in the future, we need to collaborate, we need to work together. Explaining about the collaboration, she gave the examples of trees having very deep roots and at the same time roots of one tree are connected with their neighbouring trees which help to withstand in any natural disaster.”

She explained about “What Works” adding, “It actually is a platform where leaders from different backgrounds and school curricula discuss and borrow ideas from each other.”

She said, “For us to thrive in the future we have to collaborate, it can’t be done by oneself.”

Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas in Haryana to be upgraded as Higher Secondary Schools

News

Akash

December 21, 2017

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has issued the order to upgrade the Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas (KGBVs) in the state into higher secondary schools.

According to an official release, the chief minister has issued the order while presiding over the seventh meeting of General Council of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) of Haryana School Shiksha Priyojna Parishad.

He directed the officials to provide all the facilities and infrastructure necessary for the upgrade.

“He directed that science stream should also be introduced in KGBVs once they are upgraded upto the 12th standard,” the release said.

Introduced in 2004 under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, KGBVs are upper primary residential schools for the girls belonging to SC, ST, OBC categories besides other minority and disadvantaged sections of society.

The Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) has approved 36 KGBVs for 36 Educational Backward Blocks in Haryana. Out of these, 31 are functional in residential mode of which eight KGBVs had been upgraded to Secondary level under Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA), the release said.

Centre gives nod for India’s first National Rail and Transportation University at Vadodara

News

Akash

December 21, 2017

The Union Cabinet has approved to set up the first ever National Rail and Transport University (NRTU) in Vadodara.

The university, an initiative of Ministry of Railways, will be established as a Deemed to Be University under de novo category as per the UGC [Institutions Deemed to be Universities] Regulations, 2016, a statement by union government said.

The initiative will help the ministry to skill its human resources and build capability. According to the statement from the Central Government, it will be a catalyst for transformation of rail and transport sector towards New India, said the statement.

The university is likely to launch its first programme in July 2018 as the Government is working towards completing all approvals by April 2018.

Under Section 8 of the Companies Act, 2013, the Ministry of Railways will create a not-for-profit company to manage the proposed university. Along with providing financial and infrastructural support to the university, the company will also appoint Chancellor and Pro-Chancellor of the university. Board of Management, comprising professionals and academics, shall be independent of the Managing Company with full autonomy to perform its academic and administrative responsibilities.

The proposed university will function at National Academy of Indian Railways (NAIR) at Vadodara, Gujarat. Academy’s existing infrastructure and land will be utilised, and suitably modified and modernized for the purpose of the university. The university is expected to have 3000 full time students. The funding of the new University/Institute is to entirely come from Ministry of Railways.

“This university will set Indian Railways on the path of modernisation and help India become a global leader in transport sector by enhancing productivity and promoting ‘Make in India’,” the statement said.

“It will support ‘Startup India’ and ‘Skill India’ by channeling technology and delivering knowhow, and foster entrepreneurship, generating large scale employment opportunities. This will lead to transformation of railway and transportation sector and enable faster movement of people and goods. Through global partnerships and accessing cutting edge technologies, India will emerge as a global centre of expertise,” added the statement.

Government of Maharashtra to open 100 international schools

News

Akash

December 21, 2017

The Government of Maharashtra has decided to open 100 international schools to provide quality education to students.

School Education Minister Vinod Tawde has announced it in the State Assembly session in Nagpur. The announcement has been made on the same day; the government adopted the amendment in the Maharashtra Self Financed Schools Act. The amendment will allow private companies and the corporate sector to open schools on no-profit-no-loss basis.

Tawde said, “Even today, private players have made inroads in school education. We have only simplified the process.” He assured that the interest of students, including fee regulation, would be protected, and state language Marathi would be promoted in these schools.

According to the State Government, the decision of opening the 100 international schools by the government will help the children who cannot afford similar education in private schools.

Khan Academy: Personalised Learning Resources for all Ages

Interviews

Akash

December 20, 2017

Khan Academy through its personalised learning solutions empowers learners to study at their own pace in and outside of the classroom, says Sandeep Bapna, Managing Director, Khan Academy India, in an interview with Elets News Network (ENN).

Please give details about Khan Academy.

Sandeep Bapna, Managing Director, Khan Academy India

Khan Academy is a non-profit organisation with a mission to provide free, world-class education to anyone, anywhere. The platform is available online (www.khanacademy.org), as well as on Android and iOS apps. Khan Academy’s iOS and Android apps contain interactive practice exercises and video lessons in subjects such as mathematics, biology, chemistry, physics, history, economics, finance, grammar, preschool learning, among others.

What kind of practices does Khan Academy follow to help learners study at their own pace?

Khan Academy offers practice exercises, instructional videos and a personalised learning dashboard that empower learners to study at their own pace in and outside the classroom. We lay strong emphasis on personalisation of Khan Academy experience to learners. This happens in the following ways:

Our math and physics content is already mapped to Indian curriculum. Since Khan Academy’s content is built with skills as a foundation with well-defined learning goals, it can be used by students of all boards. We already see students from CBSE, ICSE, state and international boards using academy’s content to learn.
At the time of registration on Khan Academy’s online platform, one can choose subjects which create a personalised dashboard for students. You can see your subjects and assigned homework in one place.
A student can now take brief diagnostic quizzes/tests when starting a new topic such as complex numbers in class 11th. These tests identify areas of improvement of a student and recommend lessons for exactly what one needs to learn.

How is the platform empowering parents and teachers to understand the needs of their children and students respectively and help them in boosting their learning?

Khan Academy works for teachers, students and parents. If you are a teacher or a parent, you have access to additional tools and dashboards on our site, which is optimised for mobile usage. The app and website work together seamlessly. For example, a user signed up as a teacher can assign practice exercises on the site and her students can finish them on the app. As students complete assignments, teachers get completion reports. These reports are not only real-time and simple to use, but also are powerful in helping a teacher to assess their students’ performance. The reports make it possible for a teacher to identify the most challenging problems for their class and the learning gaps/needs of individual students.

On what parameters, Khan Academy recruits developers, teachers, designers, strategists, scientists, and content specialists, to ensure world-class content to learners ensures the selection?

Khan Academy started with our founder tutoring his cousins. Several things stood out from those early days that have become core to how we build content on Khan Academy. Typically, Khan Academy content is simple, free of jargon and yet deep. Practice exercises are constructed in several ways such as multiple choice questions, free response questions and interactive graphics to help a student understand a concept deeply.

Please list the government organisations, renowned educational institutions and corporate, Khan Academy has partnered with to expand its global reach.

We are supported by Tata Trusts and Central Square Foundation in India. Khan Academy India has also been working with various state governments.

Khan Academy has partnered with the Government of Karnataka to make available educational content, including videos, exercises, articles and teacher tools, in Kannada (language). Under the partnership, Department of State Education Research & Training (DSERT, Karnataka) will create educational content in Kannada that includes 5,500+ videos and 20,000+ exercises in Math and Science, as well as dashboards, which already help millions of students and teachers around the world. These resources would be mapped to the state curriculum. We have also partnered with the Government of Rajasthan to bring personalised learning to state schools starting from this current academic year. About 2,500 students in 57 classrooms are using Khan Academy resources once a week to practice and strengthen math skills.

Shridhar University Offering Skill Oriented Courses

Article

digitalLEARNING Network

December 20, 2017

Majority of Shridhar University students come from rural area and they look up for employment rather than startup. Since most of our students want job oriented training, we are laying emphasis on that aspect, says Brig Kartar Singh (Retd), Vice Chancellor of Shridhar University, in conversation with Elets News Network (ENN).

What interventions the Shridhar University is taking for ‘skilling’ and enhancing ’employability’ of the students?

It is a well-established fact that employment today is directly proportional to knowledge, skill and attitude popularly known as KSA. While a student is put through the prescribed “knowledge” capsule through the prescribed syllabus, he is not given any particular skills as formal input. We, at Shridhar University, conduct “Skill” capsule to include:

Soft Skill including communication skills.
Social Skills.
General knowledge and environmental skills.

As far as “attitude” is concerned it is developed through actual conduct and formal lectures by senior specialists and psychologists.

What are the initiatives Shridhar University has undertaken in the Student Startup domain?

Majority of our students come from rural area and they look up for employment rather than startup. However, we do realise that as a higher educational Institute we should look into this aspect. As we are finding that most of our students want job-oriented training we are laying emphasis on that aspect presently. In case, the need arises, we will take initiatives towards Startup.

Many countries have started introducing Artificial Intelligence (AI), Coding etc. in the curriculum. What initiatives is the Shridhar University undertaking to make students competent with the emerging technological trend?

Shridhar University is a technology and livelihood-oriented university. As far as technology is concerned we are having collaboration with Computer Aided Designs (CAD) as also we teach cloud computing techniques. However, we have not yet reached the state of AI, and virtual reality level. We do cater for practical, livelihood related and daily useable technology needs as part of our teaching. We teach web designing, CAD and software programmers related to daily and domestic use.

Internship plays a vital role in enhancing the employability of students. Highlight the initiatives Shridhar University has undertaken to facilitate internship for students to provide them hands-on experience within a corporate working environment?

This is our strongest core strength. We conduct internship with industry for a full semester. These internships are conducted with popular names which also help in giving us offer letter during the internship.

Types of Internships Conducted:

Agriculture Students: These students get a RAWE (Rural Agriculture Work Experience) with Krishi Vikas Kendra and rural agriculture based companies in our own States. They see the students working for full semester (nearly six months). Depending upon their performance they give offer letter. Our first B.Sc (Agriculture) has got 100 per cent employment.

Diploma Courses: Our Diploma and post-Diploma courses do a PDPT Training with Government and semi-Government coal fields and during this training they are offered job based on three-month training with the company. Our Diploma – Mining students find nearly 100 percent employment in the coal industry immediately after passing out.

Hotel Management Courses: We do internship, pre-placement training and finally placement training with UEI Global an international brand in hospitality management. Majority of our students find job as per their capability and choice with the help of internship training.

BLURBs

“Shridhar University is a technology and livelihood-oriented university. As far as technology is concerned we are having collaboration with CAD and also teach cloud computing techniques”

Atal Innovation Mission: Envisaging Innovation Among Youth

Article

digitalLEARNING Network

December 20, 2017

The Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) is a flagship initiative of the Prime Minister of India, set up by NITI Aayog to promote innovation and entrepreneurship across the length and breadth of the country, says R Ramanan, Mission Director – ATAL Innovation Mission, NITI Aayog, Government of India, in an interview with Rajbala of Elets News Network (ENN).

Technological innovations play an important role in fostering productivity gains and economic growth. What sort of innovation model do we need to adopt for inclusive growth in the country?

Technology is evolving rapidly in multiple areas including software, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Mobility, Inter of Things, Augmented and Virtual Reality, Cloud services, Bitech etc. More importantly they are fusing together to create new application and also creating new disruptive and innovative emerging business models. This is enabling the leveraging of technology to new services, new entrepreneurial ventures in the rural and deprived sections of society by not only empowering them to pursue new livelihoods, improve productivity, but also to access markets that were conventionally thought beyond their reach. For instance, cloud services can enable people in villages and hilly districts to access the country or even global markets for their farm produce or export of their handicrafts and thus can change their economic status as well as integration into society. There is a huge opportunity therefore in leveraging technology for inclusive growth both from an economic perspective as well as from a social impact perspective.

Atal Innovation Mission has two core functions- Entrepreneurship promotion and Innovation promotion. Please describe in brief

The Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) is a flagship initiative of the PM of India, set up by NITI Aayog to promote innovation and entrepreneurship across the length and breadth of the country.

AIM is also envisaged as an umbrella innovation organisation that would play an instrumental role in alignment of innovation policies between central, state and sectoral innovation schemes, incentivising establishment of an ecosystem of innovation and entrepreneurship at various levels higher secondary schools, science, engineering and higher academic institutions, and SME industry / corporate levels.

To foster curiosity, creativity and imaginations in young minds, Atal Tinkering Laboratories were established by AIM. What are the features of ATL?

At the school level, AIM is setting up Atal Tinkering Labs (ATL) in schools across all 700+ districts across the country. These ATLs are dedicated innovation workspaces of 1,000-1,500 square feet where latest technologies like 3D Printers, Robotics, Internet of Things (IOT), Miniaturised electronics do it yourself kits are installed using a grant of Rs 20 Lakhs from the government so that students from Grade VI to Grade XII can tinker with these technologies and learn to create innovative solutions using these technologies, thereby creating a problem solving, innovative mind set within thousands of students across the country. To date, 941 schools have already been selected for ATL. Additionally it is expected that over 2000 schools would have been selected for ATL Grants before the end of this financial year.

Every school would have an ATL In charge appointed by the school as well as mentors associated to mentor the ATL students. Over 600+ ATL in charges have received training through AIM and its partners. AICTE is partnering with AIM to ensure that the closest universities to a school can also mentor ATL students.

Atal Innovation Tinkering challenges are regularly held in the school as well as by AIM every month to ensure students active involvement in creating innovative solutions to solve problems in their community and in the country.

Recently the ATAL Tinkering Marathon was held in which an estimated 30000+ students have participated and 650+ of the best innovation entries have been submitted in which the Top 100 innovation entries are being showcased in the Atal Tinkering Summit to be held in New Delhi in early 2018, and the Top 30 of these innovations will receive special recognition.

What is the vision?

The vision is to have every school have access to at least one or more Atal Tinkering Labs in each district of the country, as well as to scale the same up with the help of state education ministries across the length and breadth of the country. Also Government / Govt Aided schools, and Girls schools, North East and Hilly District schools get a special preference in the consideration of ATL selections.

The Atal Tinkering Labs has created much enthusiasm and energy in the schools and students and a Balanced Score Card based approach has been designed to monitor and measure the outcomes of the same.

What are the plans to scale-up support and re-enable to establish incubation centres under AIM?

At the university, SME and Corporate industry levels, AIM is setting up world-class Atal Incubators (AICs) that would trigger and enable successful growth of sustainable startups in every sector /state of the country, thereby promoting entrepreneurs and job creators in the country addressing both commercial and social entrepreneurship opportunities in India and applicable globally. AIM is also providing scale up support to existing incubators for scaling up their operations.

AIM is providing a grant of up to Rs 10 crores to successful applicants for setting up Greenfield incubators or scaling up existing ones. The idea is that every one of the 110 named smart cities and the top 5-10 educational / industrial institutions of every State should aspire to have a world class incubator that will provide the youth / startup communities in the universities / industries opportunity to create new startups.

Till date 19 Atal Incubators have been selected. Before the end of 2017-2018 we would have 50+ Atal
Incubators selected. Women led incubators and entrepreneurial startups are strongly encouraged by
AIM.

Again here, scale up with the help of other ministries / states / sectors / public sector organizations would be crucial to create thousands of job creators in India.

How can we strengthen entrepreneurship and create more skilling opportunities in the country?

To promote specific product innovations with social / economic impact, AIM will be launching Atal Vikas Challenges / Atal Grand Challenges in specific areas / sectors of national importance such as Affordable Housing, Rural Microfinance Fintech innovations, Universal drinking water, Swaach Bharat / Swaasth Bharat using Robotics / IOT technologies, Renewal and Clean Energy, Universal Drinking water, Augmented and Virtual reality based distance Education, Battery Technologies etc..

The successful applicants will get a grant of up to Rs 1 crore for Atal Vikas Challenges and up to Rs 30 crores for Atal Grand Challenges.

AIM is also partnering with corporates and other institutions to launch such challenges to stimulate new
product / service development in various sectors. For example the recently held AIM-Yes Bank
Transformation series 2017 Smart Agri Nation challenge had 27000 students from B Schools of India
participating in the same with high quality presentations on the same.

Share the initiatives and schemes introduced under Atal Innovation Mission?

In addition to the above mentioned schemes, to enable a supporting ecosystem of innovation, AIM is setting up one of the largest Mentoring networks in India called Mentor India from the professional and industry community who can help mentor students at Atal Tinkering Labs and AIC Incubators / startups.

Over 4,000+ mentors have already registered and they will be allocated to various ATLs / AICs.

Also a number of corporate / MNC organizations have volunteered to adopt ATLs/AICs in their vicinities to ensure close mentoring and success of these initiatives.

We will be launching new initiatives like mobile Atal Tinkering Labs, ATL Community Tinkering Labs to enable access to these labs to greater number of students and schools in rural areas during the coming year.

Blurb: “The vision is to have every school have access to at least one or more Atal Tinkering Labs in each district of the country, as well as to scale the same up with the help of state education ministries across the length and breadth of the country.”

Madhya Pradesh Building Technically Advanced Generation

Article

digitalLEARNING Network

December 19, 2017

Madhya Pradesh’s Directorate of Technical Education is providing quality education with judicious allocation of available resources to the technical institutions to contribute to the economic well-being and quality of life of communities it serves, shares Dr Veerendra Kumar, Director, Directorate of Technical Education (DTE), Madhya Pradesh, in conversation with Divakar Mukherjee of Elets News Network (ENN).

Give us an overview of MP Technical Education Department

The Directorate of Technical Education (DTE), Government of Madhya Pradesh, is a nodal body for implementing technical education policies of State and Central Government, and acts as a coordinating agency between Government, Industry and Institutions to advise and assist the Government in the all-round development of technical education. DTE supports accountability and is responsible in bringing quality technical education in the State of Madhya Pradesh with effective and efficient Management and interacts with external agencies like AICTE, CII, FICCI, R&D organisations and institutes of higher learning for development of educational quality. We are providing quality education with judicious allocation of available resources to the technical institutions so as to contribute to the economic well-being and quality of life of the communities it serves.

How is it being ensured that technical education of Madhya Pradesh matches global standards?

To maintain global standards of quality education, DTE established State Project Facilitation Unit, Madhya Pradesh, a separate unit under Directorate of Technical Education, Madhya Pradesh to run Technical Education Quality Improvement Programme in the State as per the project requirement. The project activities are coordinated through this office by Deputy Director and Head, SPFU, Madhya Pradesh as Project Coordinator, in the guidance of Director Technical Education and State Project Advisor, Madhya Pradesh. The Project Coordinator is supported by following four Cells — Monitoring and Evaluation Cell, Academic Cell, Procurement Cell, and Financial Management Cell.

The SPF Unit started ‘The Technical Education Quality Improvement Programme’ (TEQIP) with World Bank assistance as a long term Programme to be implemented in three phases. TEQIP-III has already been started by National Project Implementation Unit (NPIU), Noida in 2016. An orientation workshop was organised by NPIU on 18th January 2017 at New Delhi. In this workshop, representatives of World Bank, officials of MHRD, Government of India, officials of State Government and representatives of probable Government Funded /Aided engineering institutions have participated and the guidelines were provided to probable institutions of the State to prepare their Institutional Development Plans for the participation the Project TEQIP-III.

What kind of ICT-based initiatives are being taken by the government to boost teaching
learning process in the State?

Pioneering a unique initiative, DTE started ‘eVaani’, a server-based facility which broadcast video-based lectures of experienced faculty members to institutions in rural and far-flung areas to cope-up with staff crunch.

Now DTE is in the process of establishing smart classrooms in all institutions to extend the benefit of eLearning to students of all institutions.

How the State government is promoting entrepreneurship among students? What policies and new initiatives have been undertaken in this regard?

DTE encourages students startups from institutions under its umbrella. The department has invited institutions to apply for establishing new institution based incubation centres to foster startup ecosystem at institutional level.

Digital India and Skill India Missions are two of the most talked about initiatives of the
Government of India. What is the role of department in skilling and providing jobs to
youths under these two initiatives?

In the Skill development domain the department is ensuring implementation of all initiatives under Skill India Mission in Madhya Pradesh. For providing employment, the DTE has signed MoU with CII, West Zone, Mumbai through placement cells they are organising regularly Industry-Academia Meet, Campus Placements Fairs also monitoring the progress of institution based Training & Placement Cells.

What initiatives has the department undertaken to increase environmental awareness in
institutions under its umbrella?

The Directorate of Technical Education has come up with Green campus Initiative under which clear guidelines have been provided to all institutions for redefining its environmental culture and developing new paradigms by creating sustainable solutions to environmental, social and economic needs. Some initiatives under Green Campus programmes are establishment of 10KW Solar Power Station, Wastewater management system, Rainwater Harvesting system, Recycling bin for e-waste, institute, community garden and digital libraries.

Directorate of Technical Education Madhya Pradesh (DTEMP) is setting up Tod-Fod- Jod (TFJ) centres in all its engineering/polytechnic colleges so as to inspire the engineering/diploma students to carry out innovative project work, experiment and participate in hands on activities. The budding technocrats are trained to recycle tools, raw material and also used equipments for development of new prototypes.

BLURB

“Directorate of Technical Education Madhya Pradesh is setting up Tod-Fod- Jod (TFJ) centres in all its engineering/polytechnic colleges so as to inspire the engineering/diploma students to carry out innovative project work, experiment and participate in hands on activities.”

Boosting Student Employability with Internship

Article

digitalLEARNING Network

December 19, 2017

Most graduates are faced with a peculiar situation to be employed in their field of study. In a traditional hiring system, they cannot get a break without experience and this experience cannot be gained until any company hires the candidate. Dipen Pradhan of Elets News Network explores employability opportunity for students through Internship.

The trade and industry sector, for instance, conducts its own test while hiring and is not happy with the result. They argue that most universities in India produce graduates, post- graduates and diploma or certificate holders, who are unemployable.

So worrying is the situation that it has set off alarm bells as the number of graduates in the nation continues to increase with no job, and mostly ending up to opt jobs in other sectors – rather adding to the burgeoning unemployment in the country, which is expected to reach 18 million in 2018.

The University Grants Commission (UGC) report suggests the number of graduate students doubled from 11,908,151 in 2008 to 24,593,321 in 2016. As of February this year, 789 universities, 37,204 colleges and 11,443 stand-alone institutions were functioning across India.

Meanwhile, only 641,000 jobs were created from July 2014 to December 2016 in sectors —manufacturing, trade, construction, education, health, information technology, transport, and accommodation & restaurant, according to Economic Survey report.

Although the Government of India has implemented various new initiatives like Make in India, Digital India, Skill India, Startup India, Smart Cities etc., however, are yet to yield results.

Mandatory Internship by AICTE

To enable Engineering and Management students become employable and to bridge the skill gap between the industry requirement and the academia, All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and Engineering Council of India (ECI) in June this year entered into an MoU for providing “Internship” – commence from Session 2017-18 – across 10,000 approximate AICTE affiliated technical institutions in the country.

Universities like Rajasthan Technical University (RTU), Samrat Ashok Technological Institute (SATI), Rajiv Gandhi Proudyogiki Vishwavidyalaya (RGPV), Sandip University Nashik (SUN), Gujarat Technological University (GTU) have already agreed to carry out this internship programme for the students to provide a hands-on experience within a technical institution and industrial organisation working environment.

The programme has set two summer internships with the industry, for students before obtaining their graduate degrees, of two months duration each. The proviso has mandates to all the AICTE affiliated universities to make internship compulsory and include it in their academic calendar, too.

Under this joint initiative of AICTE-ECI MoU, the web portal (www.eciinternship.com) has also been launched for students to obtain an internship with technical institutions and industrial organisations.

From the official website of Eciinternship, students can avail information about various training programs and internship opportunities in engineering and management programs offered by ECI Member Associations.

Furthermore, ECI is in the process of identifying organisation or institutes, both in India and abroad, and signing MoUs to facilitate the internship programme.

The internship programme for graduating engineering students received a further boost after the current Chief Minister of Gujarat, Vijay Rupani, directed his State’s industries to enrol interns – 10 per cent of its total employee strength.

The Gujarat Biodiversity Board has also signed an agreement with ECI in which the State’s 457 pharmaceutical companies have agreed to take four students each as interns.

With a similar objective, Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje recently directed the State industries to start enrolling students as interns, ECI Member Secretary Dr PR Swarup said in one of the programmes held by AICTE in Jaipur, recently.

MHRD to roll-out National Entrance Examination for Technical Institutions (NEETI)

Technical education is the key enabler for the development of the country. It is the axis around which the development of industry, infrastructure and economy of the countries revolve. As the number of unemployed engineering graduates continues to increase, the blame-game often points towards ‘curricula’ for creating the skill gap between the industry requirement and the academia.

Time-and-again, a debate is raised to provide industry-focused curricula and projects to enhance the employability of the undergraduates.

The Ministry of Human Resource Development is planning a major reshuffle in India’s technical education through the implementation of single National Entrance Examination for Technical Institutions (NEETI) from January 2018, which includes teacher training and annual revision of curriculum, among others.

Once implemented, the institutions will have to make suitable changes in the curriculum every year to meet the industry requirement.

Rising trend of Internship providers

In recent years, the country has witnessed a rising trend of private companies providing internship and training to the students in verticals such as engineering, applied arts, architecture, law, hotel management, website development, marketing etc.

University of London: Inculcating Skills to Nurture Future Leaders

Interviews

Akash

December 17, 2017

In today’s rapidly evolving job market, it is very important for students and professionals to upgrade and learn new skills, says Chris Cobb, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Operations) and Chief Operating Officer, University of London, in a conversation with Elets News Network (ENN).

Along with Artificial Intelligence (AI), Coding and other industry needed skills, what kind of other skills students should focus on?

Chris Cobb, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Operations) and Chief Operating Officer, University of London

We are in the age of Information Technology which is leading to the automation of services and processes and more use of robotics. As a result, people have to focus more on acquiring the skills needed in future along with the traditional skills to adapt with changing world. Artificial Intelligence will have a significant impact. But it largely relies on predictive actions based on previous experience. AI is less good at adapting to new things that haven’t been encountered before. It’s also less good at the things that humans excel at: the ability to think critically; discern reality from rhetoric; develop an argument; be persuasive; lift morale; motivate; innovate; think creatively and be ingenious, in other words to be human. These are the skills that students of tomorrow will need and that we should focus on developing.

The University of London is a global education hub of knowledge and education. What are the university’s expansion plans in developing and underdeveloped countries to bring students at par with modern education?

The University of London has strength of around 170,000 global students from almost every country of the world. 120,000 of them are on campus in London, while 50,000 are pursuing our degree courses in their own countries. To enhance our engagement globally and to widen the provision further, we are trying to open up study opportunities in better numbers for professionals in key sectors such as business, finance, law, education, health and international development.

Internship plays a vital role in enhancing the employability of students and provides a hands-on experience within a corporate working environment. Please tell us about the initiative started by University of London on similar lines.

Our Business Observation Placements scheme began as a pilot in Singapore and has now been rolled out in India and Pakistan. There are plans to extend this further in South East Asia and other regions where we have significant number of students. The scheme offers our undergraduate students a unique opportunity to take a bespoke short-term placement in the sector relevant to their study, be it business, law or other field. We recognise that academic learning is an important part of a student’s journey of becoming a professional but to develop industry oriented skills along with work related learning is most important. Employers who work with the university recognise and respect the quality of education we provide. Many of the entrepreneurs are graduates of the University of London, and happy to reinvest in future generations of professionals.

Graduates often face difficulties to get employment in their respective field of study. What suggestion would you like to give these students before starting their careers?

Clarity of purpose while choosing a particular occupational path is always important. It will be difficult to succeed in areas which may be attractive for other reasons but ultimately don’t fit with the interests, motivation and skills of the individual. In a crowded market, develop oneself as a “brand” is important. This could be made up of educational branding (so the University of London would be a good example of a well-known global brand) and employer and experience branding. The latter is where internships can be very important. Creating and using networks both personal and virtual (such as Linkedin) are very significant. The creation of a network is only part of this. Networking is a skill which needs to be worked on and developed.

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