Neev Finance – Lending Support for Educational Needs

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January 15, 2018

Neev Finance intends to be the most preferred education finance lender in the country having presence in 50+ cities catering to at least 30,000+Intuitions in next five years, says Rishi Kedia Co-founder and CEO, Neev Finance, in an interview with Elets News Network (ENN).

What is the scope for a Non Banking Finance Company (NBFC) like Neev in the education sector of the country?

Rishi Kedia, Co-founder and CEO, Neev Finance

The Indian education market is over $140 billion market. It is extremely untapped as far as financing is concerned. Not even 1% of the market is currently being serviced by banks or NBFCs.

Financing is required for each and every aspect of education right from Preschool courses to Post Graduate programmes. Skill development and vocational training is another area which is again untapped as far as financial assistance is concerned. Once a proper ecosystem is developed around education financing, it can certainly be a multi-billion dollar opportunity.

What mechanism has been devised by Neev to help parents in paying the education fees for pre-schools, schools, colleges, tuition centres and other academic centres?

Neev has collaborated with 300+ educational institutions wherein students studying at these institutes are being financed by Neev. We convert the entire year cost of education into monthly EMIs which creates a convenience and affordability among the parents to ensure that the finance does not become a problem for these parents.

To provide financial assistance to parents has the company tied up with the schools, colleges and other institutions? Please shed some light on your clients.

As on date we are tied up with more than 300 + Educations Institutions. Few of them are Mount Litera Zee School – Chain of Schools, Delhi Public School – Chain of Schools, Orchids The International School – Chain of Schools, Gowtham Model School – Chain of Schools, Edify School – Chain of Schools, ITM University, Raisoni University, Seacom University and many more.

It is a new concept. What challenges are being faced and how are those challenges handled by the organisation?

Yes, it’s being a new concept, the initial days were really challenging. Making School owners convince about the model was really a difficult job. While they were extremely happy with the Model, they were initially skeptical about Neev execution capabilities. However, once we showed our performance in one Academic Year cycle, there has been no looking back since then. Now most of our new tie ups are reference based or Inbound .

As far as convincing parents for availing the loan, the same has not been a difficult task since a big pain point of parents that we are solving.

What is your vision and mission for the future?

We want to be the most preferred Education finance lender in the country with presence in 50+ cities catering to at least 30,000+Intuitions in next five years. We want to touch upon every aspect of education i.e from Pre KG to PG. Academic to Skill development.

Not the Fear to Lose Jobs, But the Desire to Learn New Skills Will Drive Automation

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Akash

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January 15, 2018

Nowadays, there is buzz about jobs crunch due to automation in various industries. Sameer Bora, Executive Vice President, Next Education India Pvt Ltd, observes the scenario and tries to find out the solutions for youth to handle any such situation.

Sameer Bora, Executive Vice President, Next Education India Pvt Ltd

Reports have predicted that 50% of the present jobs will be lost to automation, and to stay relevant at their workplaces, employees will have to upskill themselves. While the bit about upskilling is true, the panic about automation replacing human labour might be misplaced and hyped. First, we need to note that while technology is replacing old jobs, it is also creating new ones. Second, the need for skilling has always existed in all sectors of employment. Previously, the core responsibilities of an employee would change after a 20-year period. This period has now been reduced to 10 years. This length of time will be reduced further to 5-6 years in the near future. Thus, the process of unlearning and relearning needs to happen at a faster pace now.

Automation of jobs – what is it?

The advent of artificial intelligence (AI) has brought forth technological innovation in all aspects of life. Once computers are programmed and large sets of data are fed into them, the machines learn on their own how to perform a designated task. The machines even improve over time as they build upon their own learning to be more intelligent. The need to explicitly program them also disappears, as they learn how to function independently. The automation of jobs involves the use of machines and robots, or technology in short, to monitor and control the production and the delivery of products and services. This definitely helps in completing a task faster, and perhaps more accurately too. Another important aspect of automation that is worth mentioning here is that automation does not really replace jobs. 20-25% of a particular task is automated, but human intervention is still needed to complete the entire process.

Implications of this technological disruption

The report titled “Skilling for Digital Relevance”, published by the National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) last year, informs us that as long as the growth in the output is higher than the “rate of reduction of jobs due to automation, net employment will continue to grow.” Therefore, the panic is uncalled for. However, the importance of workforce reskilling cannot be overstated, as the jobs that are being created and the ones that are being lost to automation are of different kinds. For instance, there would be no need to process orders manually anymore, but what about the insights that I get from the huge chunk of data being generated with automation? This creates a need for an analyst, who would be able to analyse the data, figure out the regions in which the orders are fluctuating, and devise strategies to have better outcomes. This kind of a role is going to be imperative in businesses.

How to tackle the changes

The report correctly points out that “the IT sector is not only driving these changes, but is itself impacted by it.” In fact, this is true for all sectors—health, infrastructure, education, and so on—that will be impacted by the automation of jobs and is not limited to the IT sector. The Human Resource (HR) department might face a couple of challenges, such as the realigning of the workforce. Every workplace needs to have a performance appraisal of employees at regular intervals to keep them updated about their progress and mitigate gaps, if any.

Also, the employees need to understand that they have to combine the knowledge pertaining to their domain with technology skills to succeed at a workplace. For this, the employees need to upskill themselves. However, the way skilling is perceived is often erroneous. Skilling does not mean becoming faster at work. Nobody can be as fast as a machine, and the comparison is neither desirable nor relevant. Skilling is not about improving efficiency, but about acquiring a new skill set. As mentioned previously, it is about making a professional journey from one role to another. For instance, a person formerly working as an order processor can work as an analyst by upskilling.

Rethinking workforce upgradation

The hype about automation replacing human labour has led to a lot of misconceptions. First, it is important to clarify that employees themselves can understand the need to upskill themselves, and skilling is not a top-down decision. Recently, an employee approached and asked me to automate a process to reduce the workload and shared his experience in acquiring new skills by taking online tutorial classes. Thus, the desire to learn is stronger and can lead to the automation process. This actually contradicts the popular perception that the fear of losing jobs is forcing people to take up upskilling.

People might be scared of a future where robots handle communications, conduct legal research and manage customers in a pizza place. It is erroneously perceived that robots will take over human labour completely, and only a few humans with extraordinary capabilities will stand a chance to compete with automation. However, an in-depth analysis of history and economy informs us that if growth in the economy is observed, old jobs may be lost, but new jobs will be created to meet the increase in demand. For example, 21 million jobs are lost in the US every year due to tech, and the business changes to create 23 million new jobs. Therefore, the fear in the job market is a little unfounded.

In fact, it might be empowering to imagine a future where a robot carries out the duties of a present manual scavenger. It is important to bring forth automation in jobs, such as mining, where the life of humans is at risk.

Jharkhand: Skilling Youth Enabling Growth

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digitalLEARNING Network

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January 15, 2018

Jharkhand is among the fastest growing economies in India, characterised by a young demography. 57 per cent of the State’s population belongs to age group of 15-59 year. Around 70 per cent of the population is below 35 years. The growing demand of skilled workforce in various industries is compelling the youth to have relevant skill training during their studies. It is necessary to develop skills of Jharkhand’s youth to make them employable. At the same time, it is necessary for the government to have a dynamic approach that evolves according to the students’ age and qualification.

To utilise and engage the existing unemployed population in the workforce through relevant skill training, the Jharkhand Government has launched various initiatives and schemes. The government is focussing on various aspects as the State is blessed with huge natural resources such as minerals, forests, horticulture, water resources etc. Value addition to these resources in the form of skilled workforce is expected to enable the State to develop fast. Jharkhand can be classified into eight major zones based on raw material deposits and industrialisation:

MAJOR INDUSTRIAL REGIONS JHARKHAND

Source: Jharkhand Industrial and Investment Promotion Policy, 2016

1 Palamu-Garhwa	2 lohardaGa industrial area/ latehar	3 ranchi industrial area
Mineral Deposit Deposits of Iron Ore, Dolomite, Coal, Graphite, China Clay & Granite Major Industries Mineral and chemical based industries	Mineral Deposit Bauxite major industries Aluminium Industries, Power Plants	Mineral Deposit major industries Medium and Large Scale Industries, IT-ITES, Food Processing
DHANBAD – BOKARO INDUSTRIAL AREA	GHATSILA INDUSTRIAL AREA	SINGHBHUM INDUSTRIAL AREA
Mineral Deposit Coal, Fire Clay, Silver Major Industries Coal and Steel, Refractories, Coal based Power Plants	Mineral Deposit Copper major industries Copper and Forest based Industries	Mineral Deposit Iron Ore, Dolomite, Kyanite, Lime Stone, Manganese, Uranium, Copper, Quartzite, Kaolin, Fire Clay
DEOGHAR- JASIDIH & SANTHAL PARGANA	KODERMA HAZARIBAGH INDUSTRIAL AREA	MAJOR INDUSTRIES
Mineral Deposit Deoghar – Jasidih & Santhal Pargana Major Industries Glass, Steel, Aromatic- Medicinal Plant, Coal based power plant, Silk textile industries, Food Processing	Mineral Deposit Mica, Stone Chips, Coal, Fire – Clay, Lime Stone major industries Mica Based Industries, Power Plant, Glass, Alloy Steels, Cement, Refractory	Iron & Steel, Auto Components, Cement, IT-ITES, Horticulture, Food Processing, Silk and Textile

Based on the analysis of the employment generation potential of the sectors,

following are the districts and sectors Government is focussing on:

Potential sectors and districts oF jharKhand towards
Employment Generation
Source: Jharkhand Industrial and Investment Promotion Policy, 2016

Current top employment

Future Generation of employment

DISTRICTS

Dhanbad

Ranchi

East Singhbhum

West Singhbhum

Bokaro

SECTORS

Apparels

IT-ITES

Auto

Retail

Tourism & Hospitality

Capital Goods

Focus districts

Dhanbad

Ranchi

East Singhbhum

West Singhbhum

Bokaro

Giridih

Hazaribagh

Palamu

SECTORS

Telecom

Security

BFSI

Beauty & Wellness

Electronics

Management

Making Jharkhand Youth Future Ready

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digitalLEARNING Network

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January 15, 2018

Jharkhand is working towards developing an aspirational skill development ecosystem that generates wage premium for the State’s youth. To realise this goal, the Government is setting up large scale aspirational skill development centres in each district and assembly constituency of the State to provide quality jobs to skilled youths and combat distress migration out of the State, says Raj Bala Verma, Chief Secretary, Government of Jharkhand in an interview with Gopi Krishna Arora of Elets News Network (ENN).

What is the vision and mission of Jharkhand’s new Skill Development Policy?

Jharkhand has embarked on an ambitious programme to drive investments in the State through a very successful ‘Momentum Jharkhand’ investment promotion summit followed by three ground breaking ceremonies. The industries setting up manufacturing and services units would require skilled and productive manpower. hence, it is critical that the youth of the State are trained as per the requirements of these industries. We would like to encourage and facilitate enthusiastic participation of industries in the skill development ecosystem of the state. They not only should set up skill development centres but actively collaborate with JSdMS and other skill development agencies of the State Government to improve the quality of skill development programmes.

The essential purpose of skill development programmes is to provide decent jobs. This is only possible through close collaboration and participation of industry in skill development.

Given the enormous task of scaling up the skill development infrastructure and delivery capabilities with speed and certainty in such a short time requires a new impetus through a new Skill development policy for the state

Jharkhand is home to 57 per cent population belonging to working age group, i.e., 15-59 years. How the Government is planning to provide relevant skill training to them for fulfilling the demand of skilled workforce?

We want to ensure aspirational skill development ecosystem that generates wage premium for our youth. We want to set up large scale aspirational skill development centre in each district and assembly constituency of the state. The aspirations of our youth are increasing by the day. We need to match our efforts to provide quality jobs to skilled youths. This will help in combating distress migration out of the state.

We also want our youth to not only seek job but provide jobs through entrepreneurship. We will set up barefoot entrepreneurship incubation programme that will provide avenues for skilled youth to set up nano enterprises.

We want skill to be embedded in the entire education system to improve the employability of our graduates. We need to continuously monitor the changing jobs landscape in the country and state and ensure that our Skill development interventions are future ready to cater to emerging areas like Industry 4.0 technologies.

It is crucial to make skill development aspirational for the youth in the State. What are the plans and framework of the Government to make skill training a matter of choice among youth?

India is perhaps the only country in the world where Skill development is terminal in nature. It is imperative that vertical and horizontal mobility pathways are developed to make Skill development a career choice. Youths getting Skilled through a competency based skill development course should have options for vertical mobility to Skills Universities. Similarly, a credit framework for logical horizontal movement between Skill development and technical/ academic education is the need of the hour.

We also need mass outreach campaign to explain the opportunities related to Skill development to the communities. Role models pertaining to youth within the community who have done well for themselves through skill development program should be advocating the benefits to their friends, families and community at large. Youth winning medals at World Skills makes us all proud and are perfect role models for Skill development ecosystem. Social media outreach seems critical to connect with today’s youth.

“We want skill to be embedded in the entire education system to improve the employability of our graduates. We need to continuously monitor the changing jobs landscape in the country and state and ensure that our Skill Development interventions are future ready to cater to emerging areas like Industry 4.0 technologies.”

What is the skill development plan of Jharkhand Government for women and differently able people of the state?

Women have been traditionally getting skilled in services and light manufacturing like apparel. I think time has come to break all glass ceilings. Why can’t we have women welders, electricians, carpenters, etc? Women are second to none and we will collaborate with relevant industries to substantially increase women participation in all spheres of skill development. Training for persons with disabilities is a highly specialised job given the need for specially equipped trainers, suitably tailored infrastructure, custom designed courses, etc. We have resolved to set up benchmark training centres for differently abled people. They have repeatedly proved themselves equal or better than normally abled people in multiple professions. We want to provide many more such opportunities to differently able people of the state.

The Government of Jharkhand is focusing on creation of quality education ecosystem. How project initiated by the Jharkhand Skill Development Mission Society (JSDMS) will help in achieving the effective outcome?

I think JSdMS is on the right track. They are setting relatively large scale aspirational skill development centres. Focus in on providing relatively longer duration courses with significant on the job training and apprenticeship. The hours for soft skills/ IT/ Life Skills have been significantly enhanced which I think is very important. Their effort to rapidly set up skill development centres in colleges with courses of more than 400 hours Life Skills/ Soft skills training will go a long way making our graduates’ job ready. We want to take our efforts to the next level through collaboration with high capability international partners like ITE, Singapore with whom we propose to set up a brown field project in very near future with Greenfield project to train 12,000 youth coming up in a few years.

How the “Centres of Excellence (COEs) will enable youths of the State to take up industry-relevant skill training and secure a better livelihood?

Centres of Excellence are being set up by global industry leaders using all their expertise and technology to set up very high end Skill development Centres. These will run courses on emerging technologies pertaining to Industry 4.0 and other such jobs of the future. These serve as the perfect finishing schools for our engineering graduates. These high end centres also pass on their expertise further down the chain by operating technical skill development centres in ITIs and similar institutions.

What initiatives are being taken by the Government for skill training of economically weaker section and minority community of the society?

Government of Jharkhand is committed to provide free skill development training to the youth in reasonable proximity of their place of residence. Government of Jharkhand is committed to provide opportunities through skill development intervention to all youths including those belonging to the economically weaker section and minority community. We want our youth to leverage this opportunity to secure good quality jobs not just in India but overseas as well.

How can a digital system be leveraged for collaboration amongst multiple stakeholders in the skill ecosystem in Jharkhand?

We need a very strong Labour Market Management System to serve as backbone to manage the complex ecosystem of skill development in the state. Technology should be extensively used to connect, collaborate and monitor various stakeholders. The success of hUNAR app which serves as a market place connecting the services of skilled youth with demand is particularly encouraging. We need to tap into all digital channels like mobile apps, social media, web based platforms to reach out to the youth and connect them with wage employment/ self-employment and entrepreneurial opportunities

What message you would like to give to youths of Jharkhand in terms of skill development initiatives.

Momentum Jharkhand has created an ocean of opportunities for the youth of the state. They should grab it with both hands. Investing in gaining the right attitude, skill and knowledge will pay huge dividends in the future. They should come forward in large numbers and embrace the various skill development opportunities provided by the Government of Jharkhand.

What is your message for Skill Summit 2018?

Skills Summit 2018 is a platform to reaffirm the Skill development commitment of the Government of Jharkhand to its youth and industry. It is a celebration of our achievements so far and a resolve to take the skill ecosystem of Jharkhand to even greater heights in future. It is also the gathering of some of the best minds in the industry to discuss and deliberate on the challenges and innovative solutions around it. I am certain that it will infuse fresh energy and dynamism in the entire skill ecosystem.

Skilling Youth Shaping Roadmap For Jharkhand’s Development

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digitalLEARNING Network

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January 15, 2018

The Government of Jharkhand in its roadmap for development of the State is considering skill training as one of the most important factors along with corruption-free government and a sound industrial policy, says Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das in an exclusive interview with Gopi Krishna Arora of Elets News Network (ENN).

What is your vision for Jharkhand for next five years?

In line with the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, “Sabka Sath Sabka Vikas”, Jharkhand Government has taken forward the growth story of the State. Our objective is to work for public welfare.I am grateful to the people of Jharkhand for their faith and support in our government. Today, Jharkhand Government is committed to uphold these high standards of governance and at the same time committed to serve people better.Since the inception of BJP Government in Jharkhand, the State has witnessed many good things. One of the biggest achievements is to head the first stable government in the state since its creation. Besides, we’ve restored people’s confidence in governance which had eroded over the preceding decade. Apart from emerging as a transparent and corruption-free government, we’ve also won the confidence of investors by developing infrastructure and a sound industrial policy. This, in turn, has created jobs. We’ve laid a network of roads for better connectivity within the State. We also have plans to bring electricity and piped drinking water to every household.

What are your focus areas for Jharkhand?

The State government is on a mission to turn coal rich state into “the power of India”. Jharkhand has been blessed with every natural resource such as coal, bauxite, iron ore, manganese and gold.One of the major focus areas of Jharkhand Government is skilling of Youth. The government has launched various schemes for employment generation by setting up more industries in the State. The other three areas where Jharkhand has great potential are — Agriculture, Industry and IT. To stimulate investment in these sectors and develop infrastructure such as roads and power are also important and we are on right path for the same.

Jharkhand is emerging as the “Skill Destination of India”. “Skilling Youth, Enabling Growth” is the tag line of State’s skill development mission. What is being done and what are the plans to skill more youth of the State?

The Government of Jharkhand has decided to impart skills training to around 20 lakh youths over a period of five years in the sectors like Agriculture and Animal husbandry, Industry and MSME, health, Paramedics, Infrastructure, Road and Transport, Tourism, Power and utilities, Water and Environment and Banking and Financial services. We are in the process of setting up 50 Mega Skill Development Centres in the State. We are also inviting private players for partnership to build Skill Development Centres in existing academic institutions i.e. higher, Technical and ITIs.

How the State government is linking education with skill development programmes at different levels? What are the major policies for promoting Skill Development Mission of Jharkhand?

We are taking every possible measure to make our youth employable. Earlier, our youth were forced to migrate. But now, we are skilling them in different sectors to make them self-dependent. Our government is also supporting private universities to strengthen the education sector. Since education is the backbone of anybody’s personality and we want to ensure that the education makes the children of Jharkhand capable enough to face challenges of global economy.

“Jharkhand’s strong base of entrepreneurial people, excellent infrastructure, stable governance, business friendly policies make it the best destination for doing business. We are always welcoming the newcomers and entrepreneurs to grow with us.”

We are taking every possible measure to make our youth employable. Earlier, our youth were forced to migrate. But now, we are skilling them in different sectors to make them selfdependent.

Quality education defines the future for the students of any country, what are the key components you are focusing to make the education standards at par with global standards?

The use of latest technology has made education easier. In this tech-savvy era, the role of teachers has metamorphosed from guide to facilitator. Now the time has come to change the scenario and the roots of primary or secondary education should be strengthened. We are doing capacity building of teachers across schools in the State. The literacy rate of Jharkhand is very close to the national average. We are trying to reduce the student-teacher ratio in primary and secondary education. We are also establishing more kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya (kGBV) schools to reduce girl dropout rate. The Government has opened Jharkhand Balika Awasiya Vidyalayas in remote blocks to improve the quality of education in low literacy and tribal dominated blocks of the State The Government is making all out efforts to improve Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) in higher education track. The Government has set the target of 32 to achieve by 2022. Along with this, we are trying to integrate Skill Training Centres in every higher education institute to make students future ready as per the industry requirements.

As a Chief Minister of the most promising State, what are the major decisions being taken up to make Jharkhand Government as transparent, sensitive, decisive and progressive Government?

With the vision of “Greater the use of IT, lesser the corruption”, we have set up a CM Desk and more than 150 grievance lines. At the end of every month, I meet all the departments and we have a video conference with district collectors who have to explain cases that have not been sorted out in 30 days. I believe that every department is working day and night in the direction of bringing transparency and making the processes citizen-friendly.

What are the policies that make the Jharkhand a preferred investment destination? What efforts are being made to bring more industries in the state?

Jharkhand’s strong base of entrepreneurial people, excellent infrastructure, stable governance, business friendly policies make it the best destination for doing business. We are always welcoming the newcomers and entrepreneurs to grow with us. Jharkhand is moving very fast to be the most preferred investment destination. We are bringing reforms in all sectors. We have come out with several new policies to encourage industry, exports, solar energy and medical education. We have Asia’s largest cluster of 400 auto component industries. The State can only progress if we have a longterm strategy. The government is open for suggestions from industries and corporates to draft industry friendly policies. Jharkhand is a well governed State and working with the vision of “Minimum Government and Maximum Governance”. We have a very good law and order situation. Trained manpower is also required for any industry and we have already started working towards making 20 lakh youths skilled by 2022. Altogether, we provide a very good ambience to do business and, as a State, we have always adopted friendly and transparent policies to help industry newcomers and grow organically.

What measures are being taken up by the State government to improve Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) ranking?

In the ease of doing business ranking of States, currently, we are at 7th position, but in labour reforms, we are already ahead of Gujarat and are ranked first in the country. We got a 100 per cent score as we made everything online and removed inspections in many cases. The emphasis is on self-certification.We are working very aggressively to redesign our business policies. Business process reengineering has already been taken place and I am confident that very soon we will improve our ranking in ease of doing business.

Future of Education: Learning Through Innovation :: January 2018

By

digitalLEARNING Network

-

January 15, 2018

Editorial
	Demystifying the Finest Schools of India
Cover Story
	Defining the finest schools of India
	School Education in India
	E-learning
	Augmented Reality
	Government Initiatives in Sports Education
	Teacher Training
	Academic Excellence
	Flipped Classroom
CorporateInterview
	Techior Solutions:Changing eLearning Landscape Through Innovation
	Next Generation Schools – Set to define new age learning
	Making Digital Education a Reality
School Profile
	Bringing Best of Modern, Traditional values together
	MD International School, Bijnor
Special Story
	Demonetisation brings modi-nomics to schools
Interview
	A Blend of Multiple Intelligence
Ranking
	Top Schools of India Ranking 2016
	Result Based Ranking
	Top Schools List

Mody University Raising Student Employability with Internship

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digitalLEARNING Network

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January 13, 2018

Summer Internship and Dissertation Project are two very powerful tools that enhance employability of the university’s participants, says Dr Suresh Advani, President, Mody University in a conversation with Elets News Network (ENN).

What are the interventions Mody University is taking for skilling and enhancing employability of the students?

India, as an emerging and highly dynamic country, has a demographic dividend with around 65% of its population aged 15 to 35. In this scenario of a Young India, imparting professional education is a key factor to meet the aspirations of this young population who has global exposure arising out of the intervention of information and communication technologies.

Mody University is a premier university dedicated to Professional Empowerment of Women through Nurturing Excellence in them. Mody University has taken numerous initiatives for achievement of the above goal. Various programmes, in general, and its Master of Business Administration programme, in particular, have contemporary industry oriented course curriculum skilling its participants. Inspired learning environment and innovation oriented pedagogy embedded with continuous business and industry exposure coupled with Business Simulation Exercises enhances the employability of its participants.

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

Mody University is one of the few universities in India which runs Master of Business Administration Programme in the exclusive domain of Family Business and Entrepreneurship. This programme is designed to meet career requirements of not only the subsequent generations of scions, but also young women who aspire to venture into entrepreneurship. In this programme, Mody University offers several Start-up and Incubation avenues for its participants. To promote entrepreneurship several workshops and seminars in association with successful entrepreneurs are regularly organized for participants.

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

Various universities have started courses on Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning which allow computational models that are composed of multiple processing layers to understand representations of data, thereby dramatically improving Speech Recognition, Visual Object Recognition, Object Detection, Medical Diagnosis, Prediction and many other domains, especially for huge amount of processing requirements which are not possible by traditional computers and human beings. Machine learning is an incredible breakthrough in the field of Artificial Intelligence. For this reason, Mody University, in association with IBM, is successfully running its B.Tech. (Computer Science and Engineering) with specialisation in Big Data, Cloud Computing and Internet of Things, which are basic requirements for handling huge amount of data for Machine Learning. The curriculum lays special emphasis on Advanced Technology (like Machine Learning and Deep Learning) and Applications (in Image Processing and Data Analysis, etc.) of Big Data, Cloud Computing and Internet of Things.

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

The MBA and engineering programmes of the university have been designed in such a way that budding managers gain exposure to contemporary concepts, practical issues and challenges faced in the corporate and business world. To equip participants with contemporary business and industry exposure, a set of pedagogical tools are used which inter alia include role play, in-depth situational analysis, business simulation and analytics, and real life projects in several courses within the domain of various functional areas of management and engineering.

Apart from this, an 8-week Summer Internship in leading corporate houses is an inherent part of the course curriculum. This provides participants ample opportunities to have hands-on experience of corporate working environment along with handling business problems. In the second year of the MBA programme, participants undertake a one-year long Dissertation Project through which they acquire in-depth industry understanding under close supervision of the faculty members of the college. Summer Internship and Dissertation Project are two very powerful tools that enhance employability of the University’s participants.

Vedanta Providing Employability, Entrepreneurship for Students via CSR

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digitalLEARNING Network

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January 13, 2018

Employability, Innovation and Entrepreneurship can be best realised through sustained efforts and investments in education. At Vedanta, we believe in the importance of focusing on entire spectrum in education, says Neelima Khetan, Group CSR Head, Vedanta Resources Plc & Vice President, CSR, Hindustan Zinc Limited, in conversation with Elets News Network (ENN).

Vedanta has initiated a signature CSR project “Nand Ghar”. Tell us how it has been contributing towards nation building?

The Government of India, as part of fulfilling its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has been running Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) with the objective to promote preschool education, eradicate child malnourishment and promote safe birth practices among mothers. The government delivers these services through a network of 13.7 lakh Anganwadis reaching over 8.5 crore infants and nearly 2 crore pregnant and lactating women across India.

As part of our commitment to nation building, Vedanta signed a MoU with the Government of India to modernise this network. The Nandghar Project is committed to the Prime Minister’s national vision of eradicating child malnutrition, providing education, healthcare and empowering women with skill development.

As part of our pilot for Project Nand Ghar, the team has rolled out nearly 100 modern Anganwadis “Nand Ghars” equipped with solar panels, TVs, toilets and a stimulating environment in four States. Special focus has been laid on improving learning outcomes for children and improving capacities of the last mile government workers for ensuring long term sustenance of the results.

In a unique addition to the Anganwadi idea, local women are being provided end-to-end support for promoting entrepreneurship at each Nand Ghar. More than 1,600 women benefited from the training programme in this FY and 158 of them have started their micro enterprises.

Education is one of the CSR activities of Vedanta. Tell us how the organisation’s CSR activities are contributing towards enhancing students’ employability, innovation and entrepreneurship?

Employability, innovation and entrepreneurship can be best realised through sustained efforts and investments in education. Working with the objective to reduce the widespread gap for education and employment in rural and urban areas, Vedanta has rolled out targeted interventions in education and entrepreneurship. At Vedanta, we believe in the importance of focusing on the entire spectrum in education. Accordingly, we are working on preschool, secondary school, college education, and skilling.

Some data reflecting on our reach is –

Impacting lives of almost 2,60,000 children through our school programmes and over 1,00,000 children below 6 years through our preschool initiatives.
In FY 2016-17, Vedanta trained a total of 1,7091 youth under different trades, ranging from electrician, data entry to highly skilled vocations like jumbo drill operators. We are working closely with the National Skills Development Corporation and proud to be contributing to this national priority.
Working with the government and nongovernment partners, our KHUSHI project reaches 3,089 Anganwadis in Rajasthan, with a focus on 0 to 6-year-old children in communities.

Our “Shikhsa Sambal” project works with government senior secondary schools near our operational areas to strengthen teaching of Science, English and Maths (SEM) subjects.

Our “Unchi Udaan” project is built upon the Shiksha Sambal project where we identify promising students from government schools near our operations and provide them with residential schooling and coaching support to qualify for the IITs.

Our Yashad Sumedha Scholarship supports students at government engineering colleges in Rajasthan hailing from families who have an annual earning of less than Rs 1 lakh.

The Vedanta Post Graduate Girls College at Ringus is another institution where girls from communities near HZL locations are fully supported to pursue their education.

Direct Economic Impact through SHGs in FY 2016-17
Total number of SHGs	3,216
Total members in SHGs	38,765
SHGs engaged with livelihood activities	193
SHG members engaged in income generation activities	3,815
No. of women who established micro enterprises	1,464

The Hindustan Zinc Ltd (HZL) Mining Academy takes in about 100 plus ITI pass youth for an intensive 18-month program, after which they get placed in lucrative jobs in the mining sector across the country.

Our Jeevan Tarang initiative focuses on differently abled children, building capacities of institutions that educate them, in ways that help to impart effective education and skilling of their students.

So to answer your question – the key is a focused, comprehensive and long term approach which is sustained and measured.

Vedanta has floated a lot of schemes for women empowerment, especially of the rural location. Tell us how it has helped in their skill development and livelihood?

Development of society is closely linked with development of women. Which is why empowering and encouraging women lies at the core of all our CSR programs. We do it through embedding a gender perspective in most of our programs, but also we do it through direct interventions with women. The world over, women’s Self Help Groups (SHG) have successfully and systematically empowered marginalised women through awareness raising, capacity building, economic empowerment and solidarity. At Vedanta too, we are working with women’s Self Help Groups across several of our locations.

Internship to Enhance Employability of Technical Graduates

By

digitalLEARNING Network

-

January 12, 2018

The technical graduates should take advantage of the various schemes floated under ECI-AICTE joint initiatives to get exposure of the industry, says Dr P R Swarup, Member Secretary, Construction Industry Development Council, Engineering Council of India (ECI), in a conversation with Dipen Pradhan of Elets News Network (ENN).

How the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between Engineering Council of India (ECI) and All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) will help technical graduates?

Engineering Council of India (ECI) has entered into a MoU with All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) for providing “internship” to students in all disciplines of engineering and management. The MoU is supposed to enhance industry exposure of the engineering graduates and make them employable.

This step is taken to bridge the skill gap between industry requirement and academia which is one of the major causes of increasing unemployability among engineering and management students in the nation. ECI shall be facilitating hands on training/internship for these graduates in their respective engineering stream through its member associations. From academic session 2017-18, AICTE made internships mandatory for engineering and management students to obtain their degrees.

How has been the response for National Proficiency Evaluation Test (NPET)?

The fine-tuning on the scheme is underway and will be announced shortly. From initial discussions with various universities the step is being welcomed by academia also.

Under the 7th Pay Commission, it has been made mandatory for engineering teachers to complete an internship or work with the industries. How do you see it contributing to teachinglearning experience?

It is a standard practice in all advanced countries for teachers to take sabbatical for working in the industry. Similarly, officials from different industries are also invited by the universities to share their experiences along with latest industry requirements and practices. Innovations in every field are making it more important to produce graduates who are industry ready and at the same time self employable.

What are the plans of ECI to encourage entrepreneurship among technical graduates?

We in association with our member organisations are trying to develop plans for promoting the entrepreneurship programs. We do realise that small and medium enterprises employ 60–80 per cent of graduates not only in India but also in developed countries. With India’s large young population, regional economic autonomy may also be required which can be achieved only by inculcating entrepreneurial skills among youth.

One of our first initiatives was coorganising the 1st Chhatra Vishwakarma Awards 2017 to felicitate students and institutions for their innovative ideas.

“AICTE has made the internship component mandatory for graduating engineers and management students, keeping in mind the skills gap present between the industry requirement and the academia which is a major cause of increasing unemployability in the nation.”

We in association with our member organisations are trying to develop plans for promoting the?

We are in touch with our member associations in various streams of engineering to evolve plans for development of entrepreneurship specific to those fields.

Mention the development and promotion of hybrid career opportunities in areas like Drone Technology, Aquifer Recharging¸ and Arbitral Assistants?

Drone Technology – To learn the operational systems to use the unmanned flying vehicles, known as Drones and to use these for multiple purposes like hydrography, Natural Disaster Predictions & management, Manage Biodiversity etc.
Aquifer Recharging – To set up water conservation units through charging of Aquifers.
Arbitral Assistants – To facilitate/ assist the Arbitrators in ODR, IT savvy young professionals.

What message do you have for the technical graduates set to take up career soon?

The technical graduates should take advantage of the various schemes floated under ECI-AICTE joint initiatives to get exposure of the industry. They should get themselves mentally prepared for hand-on training which is definitely going to help them in choosing their career path ahead.

Rajasthan Govt All Set to Bridge Students-Industry Gulf

By

digitalLEARNING Network

-

January 12, 2018

The State of Rajasthan is set to bring student fraternity and industry closer, facilitating employment opportunities for government college students, writes Dipen Pradhan of Elets News Network (ENN).

The Rajasthan Higher and Technical Education Department has plans to set up a placement cell in all government colleges to help graduate and post-graduate students in getting employment. In India, few State governments have initiated direct placement for students.

According to the latest statistics of the department, about 180 government colleges have appointed one nodal officer as in-charge of all the activities in the placement cell. Plans are afoot to appoint nodal officers in all the 224 colleges affiliated to 15 government universities spread across 33 districts of the State.

According to Rajasthan Higher and Technical Education Department official, these nodal officers are in liaison with the corporate and industries to find out the portfolios for which the hiring is required and accordingly students may appear for the interview.

Harish Gujarati, placement in-charge (Nodal Officer) of Government College, Beawar in Rajasthan’s Ajmer district said, “Placement cell in our college has been functioning for two years. We have been able to secure placement for at least 12 students per annum mostly in the banking sector.”

For a long time, placements were offered in private institutions only. Later, it started in few major government colleges. Under the direction of Rajasthan Higher and Technical Education Minister Kiran Maheshwari, the initiative is now being implemented in all the government colleges of the State.

Identification of Companies

Currently, the Department is identifying companies and industries for collaboration in this special initiative of the Government of Rajasthan.

“The State government will decide on the type of industries and companies to collaborate with,” said Ashutosh Pednekar, Commissioner of College Education and Special Secretary of Higher Education.

The Department is also in regular correspondence with university vice-chancellors and college principals, inviting inputs to make the initiative successful in providing placement to the students of all the streams like Arts, Commerce, Science and Technology.

The Youth Development Centres, established in the government colleges, are providing soft skills and communication skills to students to help them enhance their employability quotient.

These centres also train students on CV writing, competitive exams, along with conducting mock interviews to provide them hands-on experience of the interviews conducted by the companies and industries before recruitment.

“Technical training facilities will also be improved and it will be imparted in emerging areas to cater to the changing needs and pattern of industrialisation and advancement of technology,” said Pednekar.

Presently, the recruitments in these placement cells are being operated as per industry or company’s requirement. Corporates and industries along with HRs from ICICI bank, HDFC Bank, LIC, LMG, Infosys, Videocon, CAIRN India, Teleperformance, Policy Bazaar, Nav Bharat fertilizers, Rajasthan spinning and weaving mills, Prisma health, Golcha minerals, JK cement, Saraf Infocom, Career Point etc, have conducted interviews of graduate and postgraduate students recently.

Although the initiative is in the implementation phase, it has provided jobs to about 50-100 students, revealed an official.

Furthermore, the department plans to hold mass hiring for students by organising “Job Fair” bringing top companies, industries and human resource organisations across the country. One such job fair is set to be organised in January 2018, said official.

The Higher Secondary and Human Resource Conclave organised by the Department along with Elets Technomedia Pvt Ltd on 21 and 22 December in Jaipur has been held on the similar lines.

key parameter	2013-2014	2017-2018
Government Colleges	179	224
No of Universities	Govt 15 Pvt 40	Govt 15 Pvt. 46
Government Girls College	41	37
Private College	1331	1626
No of Institutions	Govt Law Colleges – 15 Pvt Colleges – 1,331 BEd Colleges – 774 SFS Colleges – 2 PPP Colleges – 4	Govt Law Colleges – 15 Pvt Colleges – 1,62qwaa6 BEd Colleges – 897 SFS Colleges – 7 PPP Colleges – 6
Enrollment	Govt College – 329,130	Govt College – 380,397 (2016-17)
Enrollment of Girl Students	Govt College – 136,465	Govt College – 175,221 (2016-17)
Unserved SDO HQ	46	22
GER	19.7	2-.23
Financial outlay on HE	1,038.53 Crore	1380.14 Crore

Development Indicators for Higher & Technical Education

In the academic year 2016-2017, the government colleges of Rajasthan witnessed an enrollment of 3,80,397 students, of which 1,75,221 were girls. In total, 9.32 lakh students were enrolled in both government and private colleges. There are 46 private universities with 1,626 colleges in the State.

In Rajasthan, Agriculture and allied activities still provide over 60 per cent of all jobs, with industry (mainly construction and manufacturing) and services (mainly trade, hospitality, Government and Community Services) accounting for the rest of employment.

A report published by the World Bank says that the employment rate of Rajasthan is reasonably high for both men and women than most of the States in India.

Out of 29 States, Rajasthan is at 11th position in terms of unemployment, according to Fifth Annual Employment- Unemployment Survey (2015-16).

“The State Government has been creating a number of job opportunities under various sectors, but the increase in the job has been more than offset by the rapid growth of population,” said Pednekar.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje is focusing on every opportunity to bring education sector of the State at par with global standards. Her government has allocated Rs 1,380.14 crore for Higher Education.

“Expansion in education, medical and health, and housing facilities are envisaged creating new opportunities for self-employment,” Pednekar added.

Literacy rate in Rajasthan, as per 2011 census, was 66.11 per cent. Of this, male literacy stood at 79.19 per cent while female literacy is 52.12 per cent.

Latest Initiatives for the Higher and Technical Education, Rajasthan

– Implementation of e-Governance in Higher Education through Higher Education Portal

– Availability of Smart Classroom in colleges

– Provide Wi-Fi facilities to students and faculty

– To encourage Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs)

– Library computerisation in higher education institutes (HEIs)

– Spoken tutorials for FOSS courses

– Digital classrooms in girls colleges under CSR

– Establishment of smart science labs

– Establishment of Crowdsourced Social Platform for education

– Linking colleges with INFLIBNET facility of UGC

– Promotion of industry-academia linkages.

– Bhamashah Sahyog link at HE Portal

– App-based Dishari initiative for guiding students for competitive exams

– Learning English through UPER app

– To conduct skill-oriented courses in Government colleges with IGNOU.

Placement Initiative in Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh Government has set up Jawahar Knowledge Centres (JKCs) in reputed engineering colleges in collaboration with the IT industry providing technical skills, soft skills, project management skills and communication skills to students.

JKC conducts Campus Placement Mission, in which students are made aware of the recruitment process of different companies. Mock group discussions and interviews are conducted for the students.

Currently, there are 43 JKCs in 23 districts with 164 participating colleges and 40 IT companies. According to its official website, JKC has provided job placement to 1,862 students for the year 2014-2015.

Based on the analysis of the employment generation potential of the sectors,

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