57 new UK-India partnerships worth over 1.6 million pound announced

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April 20, 2017

With an aim to enhance educational links between India and the UK, the two countries have announced 57 education and research partnerships worth over 1.6 million pound.

Greg Clark, Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, UK Government, has announced the new UK-India partnerships at an event hosted by the British Council. The partnerships are announced under UK-India Education and Research Initiative (UKIERI).

Institutions in the UK and India will jointly implement the research and other educational activities in the fields of social sciences, engineering, human health, climate research and data science.

UKIERI is a bilateral education and research programme funded by the UK and Indian governments.

“Over the last ten years, new joint UK-India research and academic exchanges have brought joint investments worth over 200 million pound and UKIERI has been an important part of that success. Over 1,000 UK-India partnerships have been created, leading to 25,000 exchanges of academics and researchers,” Clark said.

CBSE asks schools not to become a commercial establishment

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Akash

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April 20, 2017

Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), by issuing an advisory note, has asked schools not to sell text books and other stationary items within the school premises or through any selected vendors.

The board has issued the advisory in response to various complaints received from parents and stakeholders. CBSE has asked schools to ‘adhere to the provisions of Affiliation Bye-Laws of the Board’.

The Board has listed the sale of books, stationary, uniforms, school bags, etc in the advisory and has directed schools to refrain from the same.

According to the official release’s rule 19.1 (ii) of CBSE Affiliation Bye-Laws – It is mandatory that the society/Trust/Company registered under section 25 of the Companies Act, 1956 shall ensure that the school is run as a community service and not as a business and that commercialisation does not take place in the school in any shape whatsoever.

In addition to this, CBSE has also emphasised on the use of NCERT text books. The board has received the complaints regarding pressure exercised by schools to buy books other than NCERT. Recently, HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar said that NCERT textbooks have been supplied to around 2000 private schools.

JNU, DU and other top central universities likely to get operational autonomy

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Akash

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April 20, 2017

Top ranking universities and colleges such as Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Banaras Hindu University (BHU), Delhi University (DU), Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC) and Lady Shri Ram College (LSR) may soon get full operational autonomy including in financial matters. Presently the aforementioned educational institutes are funded by the Centre.

As part of an educational reform finalised by a committee headed by Arvind Panagariya, Vice-chairman, Niti Aayog, well-performing educational institutions will be granted autonomy.

The performance of centrally funded educational institutes will be based on the category awarded to them by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC). Universities and colleges ranked in ‘A, A+, A++’ category of the council will be in the elite club of institutions to be granted complete autonomy.

The NAAC is an autonomous body established by the University Grants Commission (UGC) to assess and accredit institutions of higher education in the country.

CBSE not to change its language policy for schools

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Akash

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April 20, 2017

Clarifying the board’s stance on making Hindi language compulsory till class X in Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) affiliated schools, the chairperson of CBSE, said there was “no change in its language policy”.

R K Chaturvedi, Chairperson, CBSE, said, “I am not aware of the committee’s report. And so far there is no change in the language policy of the Board. Schools will continue to follow what they have been following so far. The board has asked for the report to study it.”

The statement followed reports of ‘in-principle’ approval to a parliamentary committee’s recommendations, which also include making study of Hindi compulsory till Class X.

Till class VIII, the Board follows the formula of three languages whereas in class IX and X, two-language formula is followed with English as a mandatory language and Hindi, or Sanskrit, or a foreign language as the second choice.

Recently, CBSE proposed the three-language formula till Class X to the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) but there was no recommendation from the ministry in this regard.

In its proposal to the ministry, CBSE recommended to make the study of a foreign language mandatory out of the ambit of three languages.

Punjab Government first to set a cap on fee hike by private schools

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Akash

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April 20, 2017

Punjab government has set a cap of 8% on fee hike by the private schools in the state.

In a recent meeting, the state cabinet gave its nod to Punjab State Regulation of Fee of Unaided Educational Institutions Rules.

Though the new academic session has already begun, the government ordered all private schools to put a ceiling on fee hike. The new rules also enables the parents to file a complaint to the Divisional Commissioners if a school hikes its fees by more than 8 per cent, said a government official.

The rules are in line with the Punjab and Haryana High Court’s direction in April, 2013. The previous government of Punjab had passed the Punjab Regulation of Fee of Unaided Educational Institutions Act, 2016 but it remained unimplemented as it failed to name the enforcement agency.

A new panel to review UGC pay review recommendations: HRD Minister

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Akash

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April 20, 2017

In order to implement the Seventh Pay Commission recommendations, a committee has been formed to look into University Grants Commission’ (UGC) Pay Review Committee report, said Prakash Javadekar, Union Human Resource Development Minister.

“Seventh Pay Review committee for implementing the recommendations (of the 7th pay commission) in educational institutions, universities and colleges has submitted its report to the Ministry. I have constituted a committee headed by Higher education secretary to study them,” Javadekar said.

The apex teachers’ association, All India Federation of University and College Teachers’ Organisations (AIFUCTO) threatened to launch a nationwide strike of university and college teachers, after which Javadekar has passed the remark concerning pay commission’s recommendations.

The teachers’ association has accused the Central Government of maintaining secrecy over the pay review committee’s report. The report was submitted by the UGC to the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) on February 22 this year.

The newly formed committee will be headed by the Higher Education Secretary and the committee members will include officials from Finance Ministry and other relevant offices and departments. The committee will submit its recommendations to the cabinet, Javadekar added.

“Those who had some doubt whether government is moving or not in this direction, let me dispel their doubts that we have already started action and soon they will get good news,” Javadekar said.

The minister urged the education fraternity to try more vigorously to improve quality of education at all levels and “concentrate on study, examination and assessment work.”

UGC approves a list of over 35,000 journals

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Akash

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April 18, 2017

To recruit varsity teachers, the University Grants Commission (UGC) has approved over 35,000 journals and research work published in them. The research work will also be considered for the promotion of universities’ faculty members.

Since, last many years, it was the demand among the teaching community to notify a list of journals in the higher education segment to set a benchmark for research and allied activities. The UGC’s latest list of the approved journals and the research work published only in them would be considered for the purpose of Career Advancement Scheme (CAS), reported livemint.

“The list of journals is available as a web-based database with search and browse interface on the UGC website. Universities can recommend inclusion of additional peer-reviewed journals that are not listed in the existing list, through a university-level academic journal expert committee,” UGC Secretary, Jaspal Sandhu, said in a letter addressed to vice-chancellors of all universities.

The Commission has also asked varsities to send their recommendations before May 15 of this year. Listed journals are indexed in Web of Science, Scopus and Indian Citation Index. The list also includes the journals covered in a selected indexing and abstracting services. There are three categories in the approved list — Science, Social Sciences, and Arts and Humanities.

IITs to admit more girl students from 2018

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Akash

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April 18, 2017

Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), premiere engineering colleges of the country, will admit more girl students from 2018. The Joint Admission Board (JAB) has approved a quota of “supernumerary” seats for admission of girl students.

The board has set up a panel last year after fall in admission of number of girl students to IITs in last few years. Under the chairmanship of professor Timothy Gonsalves, the panel’s aim was to find ways to improve the situation in the institutes, an HRD ministry official said.

The panel recommended creating up to 20 per cent supernumerary seats out of the total number of seats in the IITs for girls, earlier this year, reported The Economic Times.

“The percentage of the supernumerary seats will be decided every year. The increase will not affect the existing number of seats for men and the changes would be implemented over a maximum of eight years. Also, the seats vacated by woman students will be filled by a woman candidates only,” a senior HRD Ministry official said.

Javadekar launches 17 projects under RUSA

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Akash

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April 18, 2017

Prakash Javadekar, Union Minister of Human Resource and Development has launched 17 projects under Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) including a cluster university in Jammu and Kashmir and language laboratories in Jharkhand on Monday. The projects will spread across 14 states of the country.

A portal with all details of resources facilitated under the scheme along with a mobile application, “Fund and Reform Tracker” was also launched by the minister, reported The Economic Times.

“In the past three years Rs 2,800 crore has been granted to various colleges and universities for quality enhancement under the scheme and Rs 1,300 crore has beene earmarked in the budget for this year. Our government’s priority is to improve quality of both primary and higher education,” Javadekar said at the launch.

He also launched the solar power facility in Shree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit in Kerala.

HRD Minister also participated in a meeting regarding implementation of the scheme with Education Ministers from 12 states, secretaries and RUSA Nodal officers before the launch.

“Given the commitments made by the states under RUSA on removal of ban on recruitment and filling up of vacant positions, many states have started the process of filling faculty positions,” he added.

RUSA – Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) of HRD Ministry. The scheme’s objective is to provide central funding to state higher education departments and institutions to achieve the broad objectives of access, equity and excellence. According to a senior HRD official, over 2,000 state universities and colleges have been supported under the scheme so far.

Aon Hewitt with IIM-Bangalore launches human resource programme

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Akash

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April 18, 2017

Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore (IIM-Bangalore) and Aon Hewitt have jointly launched a new programme – Next Generation Chief Human Resource Officer (CHROs). The programme aims to build a talent pool of future leaders who will drive business outcomes through human resources.

“Managing change, a survey found, will be the biggest ask of a CEO from a CHRO (chief HR officer). When we asked CHROs on the gaps they felt in their capability when they first took on the position, business knowledge emerged as the top most focus area. The next-generation CHRO programme endeavours to expand the talent pool of CHROs in India by addressing such critical capability gaps,” said, Sandeep Chaudhary, Chief Executive Officer, Aon Hewitt India Consulting.

The programme is expected to be launched in June, 2017. It will focus on various aspects including sharpening the understanding of business value chain to identify linkage to people initiatives, designing and execution of business-aligned human capital strategy, reconfiguring HR operating models in response to dynamic business demands, driving change such as globalisation and acquisitions by leveraging data and technology and steering the transformation journey of an HR organisation, reported The Economic Times.

The course will be broken into three modules, with 10 days training at IIM-Bangalore where the students will work with senior Aon practitioners along with guidance from IIM faculty members. “We have partnered with Aon for the design and development of the curriculum, besides being involved with the delivery and marketing as well,” said Prof Madan Mohan Raj Athimoolam, Chief Programme Officer-Executive Education Programmes, IIM-Bangalore.

Initially, there will be around 30 participants in a batch. “There is a general perception that the CHRO is not finding a voice on the board and not bringing enough business perspective to the table. There is an evolving need to understand the business to make an impact at the senior level,” said Athimoolam.

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