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UGC recommends blacklisting 7 Deemed Universities, 34 get clean chit

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digitalLEARNING Network
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The UGC committee set up to review 41 ‘C’ category deemed universities has recommended the disqualification of seven of them. The committee set up under UGC vice-chairman H Devraj has, however, given a clean chit to the remaining 37 deemed universities that were blacklisted by a government report in 2009.

The report of the committee was accepted by the UGC full commission at a meeting held in New Delhi on Monday. According to the report, only 7 of the entire list of deemed varsities originally blacklisted have been found inadequate on specified standards. Accordingly, the union Human Resource Development (HRD) ministry may serve them a show cause notice before denotification, the report recommended.

The names of the universities placed in the ‘C’ category, however, have not been disclosed and the report has also not been shown to UGC members. Vice-chairperson H Devaraj only read out the operative portion, leading to protest by one member who asked how the commission could claim that the report had been accepted when not all members had even seen it.

The committee was set up under the orders of the Supreme Court which had asked it to examine three earlier reports on deemed universities. The Tandon Committee in 2009 had categorised them into three and 41 were found unfit to continue as deemed universities.

The report will now be sent to the HRD ministry which is expected to submit it to the SC on September 30, 2014 when the issue comes up for hearing.

Easier Eligibility Norms for IIT Admissions

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digitalLEARNING Network
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Starting 2015, students scoring 75 per cent marks in their class XII examinations will also be eligible for admissions to the prestigious Indian Institutes of Technology, provided they clear the JEE (Advanced). In a move that is set to have a positive impact on several aspirants to the much sought after IITs, the IIT Council has decided to relax the eligibility criteria for admissions to its institutes.

Under the rules set in the last two years, eligibility for admissions was limited to students falling in the top 20 percentile of their higher secondary boards. The decision was arrived at unanimously in a meeting of the council at IIT Madras on Tuesday.

According to council member Devang Khakhar, Director, IIT Bombay, “Students can either score above 75 per cent or be in the top 20 percentile of their boards to be eligible. We wanted to give all students a definite target of 75 per cent.”

The proposal to the IIT council to relax the norms had been mooted by the Joint Implementation Committee (JIC), the Joint Admission Board (JAB) of the IITs. The move will benefit students from boards that follow a liberal marking system as well as students from the CBSE and ISC board, which had higher cut-offs for the top 20 percentile.

Guidelines for Guest Speak

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  • Guest Speak is a column focussed on bringing out the voices of persons involved in the field of education. It is not a page to promote a product or an institution.
  • Articles published in Guest Speak are voluntary contributions from the writers. digitalLearning does not pay renumeration of any kind for them.
  • Articles submitted for consideration should be related to education, technology in education, policy in education. They should provide a perspective about the education sector in India.
  • Articles should be appropriate for publication regarding grammar, tone, and writing style
  • The maximum word limit of an article submitted for consideration should not exceed more than 1000 words.
  • All submissions must be accompanied with a photo of the author. No other images shall be entertained.
  • Editorial decision regarding publication shall lie with digitalLearning magazine and will be final.

NPTEL, Autodesk sign MoU to bring engineering software to students

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digitalLEARNING Network
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MoU signingNational Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL) has signed a MoU with design software maker Autodesk for developing a course thorough which they will provide access to high-end design software free of cost for students.

According to the MoU, the companies will jointly structure a course for civil and mechanical engineering students, which will give technical support and industry-relevant educational programmes and certification.

Speaking on the collaboration, Professor Mangala Sunder Krishnan, NPTEL Coordinator, IIT Chennai, said; “Partnership with Autodesk enables NPTEL to offer access to professional 3D design tools, industry-relevant curricula, multimedia and Web technology to create more skilled graduates in all areas of science, engineering, humanities, arts, social sciences, law, agriculture and management via ICT tools”

This collaboration builds on the free access that all secondary and post-secondary academic institutions in India have to professional 3D design software from Autodesk via the Autodesk Academic Resource Center including Autodesk Inventor, Autodesk Revit, AutodeskAutoCAD, Autodesk 3ds Max, and Autodesk Maya.

National Institute of Technology Karnataka in Surathkal, SASTRA University in Thanjavur and PSG College of Technology in Coimbatore will also be working closely with this initiative.

Autodesk and NPTEL have a shared commitment to train and equip an industry-ready workforce, and our Computer Aided Design tools and expertise combined with NPTEL’s Computer Aided Instruction platform will see us delivering the highest quality of engineering education to all schools and institutions nationwide,” said Tom Joseph, Senior Director of Education, Autodesk.

Modi stresses on girl child education to foster women empowerment

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digitalLEARNING Network
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PM ModiStressing on girl child education, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said it was the key to women empowerment.

In a television interview, Modi condemned the anti-rape statements given by several political leaders and said,”More damage is done by statements made by the politicians. The dignity of a woman is our collective responsibility. The main issue is the education of the girl child. By doing so, the possibility of empowerment of women will increase.”

In a speech on Independence Day Modi had said,”Parents ask their daughters hundreds of questions, but have any parents ever dared to ask their son as to where he is going, why he is going out, who his friends are. After all, a rapist is also somebody`s son. He also has parents. As parents, have we ever asked our son as to what he is doing and where he is going. If every parent decides to impose as many restrictions on the sons as have been imposed on our daughters, try to do this with your sons, try to ask such questions of them”.

HRD Minister stresses on education that promotes culture

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digitalLEARNING Network
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smritiHRD Minister Smriti Irani, while participating in a joint meeting of Sadharan Sabha and working committee of Akhil Bharatiya Shiksha Sansthan of Vidya Bharti, said efforts were being made to impart education that promotes Indian culture.

“Efforts are on to impart education that promotes Indian culture and paves the way for development,” Irani said.

Smriti Irani said, “For centuries Indian education system has been instrumental in guiding the world. We lagged behind due to the changes forced into our education system when India was not free.

“Now, this would not be allowed to continue as country is committed to develop under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” she added.

SBI to offer credit cards with education loans

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digitalLEARNING Network
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SBIIndia’s largest bank, State Bank of India (SBI), is offering credit cards to students who avail of education loans with them. The move is to gauge the students’ cradit history and keep bad loans down.

SBI hopes that the credit card useage will give it a glimpse into the user’s spending habits, thus giving it a clue about the borrower’s spending habits. This, in turn, will help it identify potential bad loans.

SBI Chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya said, “We were having a lot of non-performing assets (NPAs) in education loans. So, now we have created a credit card along with the education loans.”

The credit card has a credit limit of Rs 5,000, guaranteed by the parent.

“Now what happens is the child starts using the credit card. He learns to use the credit card and repay the loan. And also, through the credit card we remain connected with him,” said Bhattacharya.

She pointed out that earlier once the bank gave the education loan it was no longer in the scene and the student forgot all about the bank. “But if there is a credit card, there is a monthly bill, so we remain connected with that person,” said the SBI chief.

And even when the student-borrower completes his education and takes up a job, the bank hopes that he/she will continue to use the card. “So, we can continue to track him. And in the meanwhile, he is building up a credit history which will enable use to give credit once he goes into a job,” said Bhattacharya.

As at June-end 2014, SBI had an education loan portfolio of Rs 14,945 crore, up 7.21 per cent year-on-year.

RBI Governor against subsidising education loans under priority lending

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digitalLEARNING Network
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Raghuram RajanRBI Governor Raghuram Rajan asked for a re-thinking on easy credit for education loans, saying banks were subsidising them under the priority sector lending (PSL) segment.

Addressing bankers at an industry summit, he said, “We actually subsidise, in the priority sector, student loans to study abroad. Are students studying abroad the most needy in the country or is it the most important?”

“This is something people have got used to. I am not saying it is bad, but it is something you should ask questions about. We have to keep asking ourselves, why should some sectors get more easy credit than others,” he said.

Under priority sector lending norms, banks are mandated to lend up to 40 per cent of their overall credit to marginalised sectors like agriculture, housing, small businesses and education.

Banks lend to such identified sectors as per their base rates and the shortfalls of the targets have to go to the low-yielding Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF).

Most banks, especially in the private sector and overseas banks generally fail to meet these targets. Even some state-run banks fail to meet this target due to lower number of branches.

Under the present norm, a loan of under Rs 20 lakh taken by an individual for studying abroad qualifies as priority sector lending.

Nagaland celebrates Hindi Diwas

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digitalLEARNING Network
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HindiThe Nagaland Rashtrabhasha Prachar Samiti (NRPS), Kohima organised the annual Hindi Diwas celebrations. The event was organized at Don Bosco Higher Secondary School, with Parliamentary Secretary for School Education Yitachu as the Chief Guest.

At the event, the Parliamentary Secretary noted that Hindi education had seen a significant growth in recent years, and expressed expressed his happiness at the progress. “We cannot avoid the Official Language in the state along with the Nation”, he added. He also stated that, the state government is putting all efforts for employing Hindi Teachers both in public and private Schools in the state by providing one Hindi teacher each in Government schools and one each in middle level and secondary level private schools in the state for which more than 3200 Hindi Teachers are required.

Speaking on the occasion as the Guest of Honor, Zaveyi Nyekha, Director, School Education, also stressed on the need for the local populace in learning to speak “Basic Hindi” as the medium of communication in most trade centres in the country and even abroad is Hindi. The Director also cited the significance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech in Hindi at the UNO while encouraging the need to support and uphold Hindi as an important language that should be taught in public as well as private institutions.

Meanwhile, a half yearly journal “Purvottar Bharati Darpan”, a book on Naga Folktales in Hindi and a Hindi Song book published by the Nagaland Rashtrabhasha Prachar Samiti, Kohima were also released on the occasion by the Chief Guest.

HRD Ministry wants common norms for central universities

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digitalLEARNING Network
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Restructuring UGC among top 100 priorities of Smriti IraniThe Human Resource Development Ministry has circulated the draft bill to create common norms for central universities to all the central universities asking them for suggestions within three weeks.

According to minutes of the retreat of vice-chancellors chaired by HRD Minister Smriti Irani in Chandigarh, the “Single Act for Central Universities has been circulated to all central universities for inviting their suggestions.”

The draft bill is based on recommendations of the AM Pathan committee and has been criticised for compromising the autonomy of these universities.

There are currently 40 central universities under the Ministry, of which 16 were created in 2009 under one Act, while the rest are governed by separate Acts of Parliament. In spite of such huge number, there was no concensus on a central norms for the universities. The Ministry, however is keen to evolve a concensus, but the questions of autonomy need to be addressed too.

Officials said the idea behind a single legislation is to bring in “greater uniformity” in terms of structure and governance, even while retaining the universities’ academic autonomy.   To “expedite the process” of appointments and ensure that the selection process is not upheld due to the unavailability of one nominee, the Ministry has decided to propose five names as Visitor’s nominees for selection committees, as against the one it proposes now.

The Ministry has also directed the V-Cs to form a committee to prepare a proposal to convert posts of professor and associate professor to assistant professor. The committee will have to prepare a report and submit it to UGC in a month’s time.

Universities have also been asked to send all MoUs signed by them in the last 20-25 years to the Ministry within one month.

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