Importance of Undergraduate Professional Degrees in Higher Education

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July 12, 2017

The past few years have seen tremendous growth in the Indian job market where employers are increasingly looking for candidates equipped with skills specific to an area. Industries need professionals who can understand the functioning of a specific job role and deliver as per the requirement, writes Damayanti Datta?, associate dean, School of Information Technology, IMS Noida for Elets News Network (ENN).

India is a developing country and education is the backbone of its progress. With rapid advancement in all areas of industry whether information, technology, education, management and others, industries are looking for young people who not only have the have the required skills set in specific areas. In order to meet the demands, role of undergraduate professional degrees become very crucial.

Each year, millions of students after completing their graduation, start competing in the job market. In this situation, it is essential for students to have an edge that will help them out in the crowd. In order to prepare oneself for such a challenge, a student needs to opt for degrees that equip him/her with the knowledge of the industry. Undergraduate professional degrees like BCA, BBA, BJMC, B.Ed etc help students in gaining industry oriented knowledge. These degrees also help them to acquire the desired professional skills and leave the door open for higher studies at their leisure.

Nowadays, the undergraduate professional degrees’ syllabus are designed to develop basic foundation among the students to understand and overcome the challenges of the professional world. Few courses also include personality development as a subject that benefit the student when working in a team in their respective profession.

In order that the students have a better understanding of the industry for which they are being trained, these undergraduate professional degrees include guest lectures, industrial visits and summer internships which greatly benefit the students by giving them practical experience in addition to the classroom training. Guest lectures are generally taken by leaders of the respective industry as they are the best to take advice from. They help students with their valuable tips and experiences from on and off the field.

Students pursuing undergraduate professional degrees visit industries where they came across the ground realities. These visits help them in identifying the required skills, the industry standards and other related aspects of working in that particular industry.

Summer internships are also among the best ways through which students get firsthand experience of the professional world. Through the internships, students get ample opportunities for networking in the appropriate area. Along with classroom training, students have to be in the field to acquire practical experience and to enhance their learning. The internships also help them while applying for jobs as companies count their internships as professional work experience.

The economy is changing drastically and industries are in need of more and more young professionals trained in specific areas with ability to pickup changes in their field quickly in comparison to others. Undergraduate professional degrees cater to this demand by providing students with the necessary foundation and professional training they need to build their careers successfully.

BMC likely to reopen 35 schools as English-medium instead of Marathi

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Akash

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July 11, 2017

Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is likely to reopen around 35 Marathi-medium schools as the English medium schools which were closed earlier due to lack of students.

BMC will take the help of NGOs to reopen the schools and tabled plans for the same during a meeting of different party group leaders recently.

Shiv Sena group leader Yashwant Jadhav said, “Rather than having the place (school premises) lying unused, it is better to hand over the schools to experienced, private organisations for its functioning. This is what the decision was taken in the meeting.” People prefer English medium schools over Marathi medium for their children’s study, he added.

However, other parties’ leaders raised objections on the move. They alleged that that the corporation had failed to run the schools effectively and Marathi should be the medium of instruction at these schools.

According to a survey conducted by NGO Praja on the BMC education system last year, the annual dropout rate at Marathi medium schools stood at 13 per cent. According to the survey, 55 per cent of the parents were dissatisfied with the quality of education at Marathi medium schools, while 45 per cent were not happy with the facilities there.

Imparting education to the underprivileged through digital means

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Akash

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July 11, 2017

Sudipta Mandal, a class V student from Jnyanodamoyee High School shares her experience, “The audio -video presentation has been a first time experience for me. The subject becomes so easy to follow when presented on a large screen. Since the inception of English Lab, I have improved my vocabulary and grammatical sense. It has also helped me a lot in using a computer device”. Sudipta is one of the beneficiaries of mjunction’s flagship School Integration Programme (SIP) and English Lab for the past few months.

Through the activities of mjunction under the Corporate Social Responsibilities (CSR), various district schools have been reaping the benefits for its students.

With an aim to impart digital literacy to the underprivileged sections of the society, mjunction launched their flagship School Integration Programme (SIP) back in 2015. The programme has been specifically designed for implementation at the grass-root level, targeting those areas where resource and infrastructure is scarce.

The programme is in line with the Central Government’s mission of skilling 40 crore people by 2022. The employment of skilled labour force will make India a “Human Resource Capital”.

mjunction services limited, a b2b e-Commerce company, has been providing educational opportunities to the underprivileged sections of society. The CSR activities are mainly done via SIP (School Integration Program) and English Lab with the help of ejunction, a trust promoted by mjunction.

mjunction CEO Mr.Vinaya Varma shared, “We have a comprehensive CSR policy which focus on the betterment of the marginalized society. We are providing digital literacy at the grassroot level to achieve outstanding results in the future. Our main goal is to provide quality education through digital means and formulate a process where the child is learning the subject as well as getting exposed to technology.”

Rameshwarpur High School, Jnyanodamoyee High School and JhowkhaliHaat High School in the Kakdwip area had computer facilities that were non-functional. Through, SIP these facilities were renewed and infrastructure support like computer and projection devices were made available. A total number of 5000 students have been trained in computer science since the inception of school integration program (SIP).

Jhowkhali Haat High School Principal Alokesh Chawla said, “SIP introduced the students to computer learning in a structured manner. We have added computer studies in the regular curriculum with both theory and practical classes. The English Lab program has reduced the fear of English among the students. We are witnessing improvement in pronunciation of English words. The audio-video presentation has introduced the concept of joyful learning for the first time in our school”.

J&K universities to cut nursing and architecture course fee by 50%

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Akash

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July 11, 2017

Jammu and Kashmir Education Minister Syed Mohammad Altaf Bukhari has announced to reduce the fee for nursing and architecture courses by 50 per cent.

The minister during a meeting to discuss the development plans for Cluster University Srinagar (CUS) and Cluster University Jammu (CUJ) has ordered the cut down in fee. As per his directions, nursing courses’ fee for general category students will be brought down from Rs 65,000 to Rs 32,000 and Rs 15,000 for students Below the Poverty Line (BPL).

For the architecture courses, the fee for general category students will be brought down from Rs 1,00,000 to Rs 50,000 and Rs 25,000 for BPL students.

During the meeting, the appointment of deans in consultation with Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti for both universities was also discussed. Bukhari asked Vice Chancellors to prepare a list of candidates eligible for the posts.

Logos for both the universities will be developed with the help of The National Institute of Designing by August 15 costing Rs six lakh each.

World Bank approves $250-mn loan to boost skill training in India

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Akash

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July 11, 2017

The World Bank has approved a $250-million loan to train job seekers under Skill India Mission.

The move will aid Skill India Mission and make Indian youth more employable through re-skilling. The multi-lateral lender is keen to support the Indian government in its efforts to better equip the young workforce with employable skills. The bank’s support will help in boosting the youngsters contribution to India’s economic growth.

“The $250-million Skill India Mission Operation (SIMO), approved by the World Bank board of executive directors, will increase the market relevance of short-term skill development programmes (3-12 months or up to 600 hours) at the natiounder SKill nal and state level,” the bank said in a release.

Underemployed or unemployed Indian citizens between 15-59 years of age will get the skill training under the programme. 1.2 crore Youngsters between 15-29 years who are entering the labour market every year will also be included in it.

Under the programme, it is mandatory to increase women’s exposure to skill training along with providing placement and entrepreneurship opportunities to them. SIMO is a six year programme of World Bank’s Washington based headquartered in support of the Indian government’s National Policy for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (2017-23).

It will be implemented through the National Skill Development Mission and will target labour market entrants specifically. According to an official study, by 2022, 109 million skilled workers will be required in 24 key sectors in India.

“This programme will support the government’s vision of investing in the human capital of India’s youth, enable greater off-farm employment and increase women’s participation in the labour market,” World Bank Country Director to India Junaid Ahmad said.

“India continues to be on its path of structural reforms and a higher-skilled labour force can potentially serve as a catalyst in transforming it into a competitive middle income country”, Ahmad added.

As per the Bank’s estimate, by the end of the programme, at least 8.8 million youth will be trained with relevant skills and improved employment opportunities. The programme will benefit approximately 15,000 trainers and 3,000 assessors, it added.

President launches Swayam Prabha, devoted to high quality 24X7 edu-programmes

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Akash

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July 10, 2017

The President Pranab Mukherjee has launched “Swayam Prabha”, conceived as a group of 32 DTH channels devoted to telecasting high-quality educational programmes 24X7 using GSAT-15 satellite.

The educational courses to be taught on Swayam will feature among others engineering, management, science, humanities, language and mathematics.

Speaking in the national capital on the occasion of “Guru Purnima” during the launch of “Swayam Prabha”, the President said, “We are well positioned to become the powerhouse of global growth. The crucial input in this drive is to get highly qualified and trained youth, to be shaped and delivered by the higher educational institutions in the country.” Swayam Prabha is adigital platform intent on revolutionising education in the country.

Underlining that many initiatives and ideas like the GIAN, IMPRINT and GRIN have taken root, he gave a call “to ensure that these initiatives are taken to their logical conclusion for the benefit of the nation”.

Stating that there has been “a big leap in high quality publications in the country”, the President said, “We have seen initiatives like IMPRINT and Uchhatar Avishkar Yojana which has increased the funding for high quality research.” We must ensure that this trend is continued and further invigorated in the years to come.

“I must emphasise that the fruits of research have to be ploughed back into the teaching process, so that students are benefited by this new knowledge. I urge all of you to work more systematically in this regard,” he added.

Stating that the use of satellite technology to reach the unreached is time-tested, the President said, “The scale and reach of this technology has been raised manifold through the 32 SWAYAM Prabha DTH channels”.

“These channels will help students in the rural areas and in the remote areas where IT infrastructure have not penetrated so well. It is essential that all of you first start using these channels in your own institutions extensively, and later urge others to use it in their own homes,” the President said.

Greeting those who worked for bringing about these digital initiatives, the President called upon all the institutions to work out an action plan for adopting these to benefit every student. “We also need to bring in suitable regulations that would encourage these efforts and would allow greater freedom to the institutions to introduce innovative curriculum and pedagogy in their teaching process,” he further said.

Stating that there is “need to bring participation of the larger teaching community in implementing these initiatives”, the President said, “We need to bring more innovations in pedagogy which can help students understand concepts much better. We need to adapt to the changing requirements of the market.”

JEE Counselling 2017: SC vacates stay, counselling dates soon

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By

Akash

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July 10, 2017

The Supreme Court has vacated its stay on JEE Advanced 2017 counselling. Now, all Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) are allowed to conduct counselling and admissions of students.

The JEE Advanced counselling will be conducted on the basis of JEE Advanced results 2017. Candidates are now allowed to choose the course and IITs based on their JEE Advanced Rank through the counselling process.

Earlier, the court had restrained the IITs from conducting further counselling after reports of some incorrect questions in JEE Advanced paper. The institutes’ governing body’s meeting held twice on the issue and later it decided to award bonus marks to the candidates who had at least attempted the incorrect questions.

The apex court has also asked the institutes to submit an undertaking affirming that such mistakes will not take place in the future. The court has also instructed the high courts not to interfere with the petitions regarding counselling and admissions of JEE Advanced. The Supreme Court went by its 2005 decision to not allow bonus marks to candidates who have not attempted the incorrect questions.

On June 30, after IIT aspirants’ petitions seeking bonus and thereby to rectify the rank list, the court had issued a notice to the human resource department seeking to quash the JEE 2017 rank list.

Now after the apex court’s decision, dates for rest five rounds of seat allotments will be announced soon which was halted after the completion of first two rounds.

Indian professor selected as young scientist to address BRICS meeting

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By

Akash

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July 10, 2017

University of Hyderabad (UoH) assistant professor Murali Banavoth has been selected as a young scientist to participate in the second BRICS meeting.

Banavoth, an assistant professor at School of Chemistry in UoH, will address the BRICS meeting on Solar Energy. The meeting is scheduled from July 11-15, at Hangzhou in China, said a release from the University.

Banavoth has obtained his Ph D from the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru. He later worked as a post-doctoral associate in King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) where he carried out work in the field of hybrid functional materials for solar harvesting.

Banavoth’s contributed in the field of photovoltaic (solar cells) research through his 45 publications. His research interests are broadly classified as organic, inorganic, and hybrid solar cells and photovoltaics.

Presently, he is also the editor of few prestigious journals like Frontiers in Optics and Photonics, Frontiers in Physics.

Banavoth has selected as young scientist to address and participate in BRICS meeting, the release added.

British Council and Mumbai First ink MoU on education and culture

By

Akash

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July 10, 2017

British Council India in collaboration with Mumbai First is going to work in the areas of education, tourism, art and culture for the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR).

The two have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to initiate projects and conduct various activities that will positively impact the citizens of MMR region in the areas of education and culture.

Under the MoU, educational initiatives will enrich teaching skills and improve the quality of low-cost private English medium schools in MMR. To improve teaching skills and learning outcomes, training programmes on professional development and language proficiency will also be introduced.

Various primary and secondary teachers of government schools across MMR may attend these programmes face to face or digitally. The new schools will focus on developing the school leadership, 21st century core skills of learners and quality in the classrooms. The schools that meet the quality standards will be awarded jointly by both the organisations.

To promote the MMR as a preferred tourism destination, the two organisations will support the creative and cultural economy of the region under the MoU. Mix the City Mumbai is an initiative under the collaboration to spread the diverse range of music of Mumbai to a global audience. The project will feature the recordings of performances by Mumbai musicians curated online. To make the city’s people a part of the city’s rich musical heritage, installations will be placed in multiple public spaces across the city through the collaboration.

“We’re delighted that in Prime Minister Modi’s UK-India Year or Culture, we can deepen our connections with the city through a new partnership with Mumbai First. For almost 70 years we have helped put education and culture at the heart of the UK’s relationship with Mumbai. Through our collaboration with Mumbai First we will build on recent successes like Mix the City Mumbai – a digital cultural initiative showcasing the sights and sounds of the city with people all over the world – and our support to almost 10,000 teachers in municipal schools,” said British Council OBE Director India Alan Gemmell in a release.

Mumbai First Chief Executive Officer Shishir Joshi said, “This collaboration is in line with our vision to transform Mumbai / Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) into a worldclass safe city, one of the best places in which to live and do business in. It will be a critical milestone in impacting the lives of people through initiatives around education, creativity and culture empowering them and making MMR a better place to live, work and play for the citizens.”

IIT Kharagpur acquires four major projects from MHRD

By

Akash

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July 10, 2017

IIT Kharagpur (IIT-KGP) has acquired four mega research projects from Ministry of Human Resource Development. The ministry has a special focus on these projects as they are critical for the country’s development.

“We have undertaken four mega projects in sustainable food security, future of cities, signals and systems for life sciences and science and heritage interface along with six integrated projects. These are very important for the future of the country,” said IT-KGP deputy director Sriman Kumar.

Out of four, the project – Sustainable Food Security seeks to leverage technology for food production, processing and distribution logistics. The project is in line with the requirements of technological interventions under the National Food Security Act.

Another mega project – Signals and Systems for Life Sciences with its focus on technology and through biometric signal processing will provide analysis, prognostics, and diagnostics of health along with affordable health care.

The under construction super-speciality hospital at IIT Kharagpur will act as a platform to harness all its energy to bring greater focus to its effort in healthcare domain, the institute officials added.

The project named as Future of Cities intends to identify and address the concerns related to the development of urban India.

The fourth project – Science and Heritage Interface, a science-culture initiative will use technology for preservation, archival, development and scientific exploration of the country’s heritage, including a holistic project on Varanasi.

The institute conducts about 300 plus sponsored research and consultancy projects worth Rs 150 crore. The four mega projects along with another six integrated projects will get special focus.

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