UK delegation meets Haryana govt for cooperation in education

By

-

June 19, 2014

A United Kingdom delegation met Haryana government on Monday for cooperation in various fields like education, health and waste management.

The delegation led by British Deputy High Commissioner (Northwest India) David Lelliott called on Haryana Chief Secretary S C Chaudhary and held a detailed discussion on diverse issues for mutual cooperation, stated an official release.

Lelliott said they had fruitful discussions on diverse issues related to education and skill development, health, waste management and were keen to take forward these initiatives, it said.

According to the release, Corporate Director of Development (Nottingham City Council) David Bishop said Nottingham has an efficient and widespread transport system and state-of-the-art infrastructure facilities. There was tremendous scope for co-operation and partnership with Haryana, he said.

The delegation extended invitation for a visit by the state delegation to the UK, especially Nottingham region, for a detailed information and insight about various projects and infrastructure facilities there.

Haryana Chief Secretary briefed the delegation about the demographic and geographic features of the region, saying the state has a developed economy with growing services and industrial sectors.

“A lot of emphasis has been laid by the state government on healthcare, education and skill development, affordable low-cost housing, renewable energy, water and waste management and agriculture sector,” he said.

Chaudhary said the state would welcome initiatives from the UK, which would benefit it in these and other sectors.

MD of Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation Tarun Bajaj explained the delegation about the initiatives taken by the state government for industrial and infrastructure development.

Sunstone launches ‘Pay after Placement’ for MBA students

By

digitalLEARNING Network

-

June 19, 2014

Sunstone Eduversity has launched ‘Pay after Placement’ MBA programme, a revolutionary performance-based MBA programme for deserving candidates. The programme demands fee only after student is able to get placement. Hence, college is taking full responsibility of student’s future.

Currently, this programme is available at Sunstone’s four campuses in Greater Noida and Ghaziabad. The programme is already becoming very popular.

“Within few days of its soft launch, Sunstone has received tremendous response with more than 200 candidates applying in a week. More importantly, these are good candidates, who were not able to take MBA education decision due to financial risks and mistrust. It certainly increases our risks, but at least, we are able to provide the right confidence to our students. We are proud to be the pioneer and would expect more institutions to solve this issue from a student’s perspective,” Nituj Gupta, Managing Director , Sunstone told digitalLEARNING.

A lot of concerns have been raised about the Indian MBA education system primarily due to lower employability of MBA graduates. Approximately four lakh students graduate every year from regular MBA programmes of which around three lakh of these students are not employable today because they lack the skills needed by the industry. Poor performance of MBA colleges has increased the mistrust among students.

It’s tricky to sign up for a Rs 5-6 lakh fee when you aren’t even sure about a job after completion. ‘Pay after placement’ MBA programme by Sunstone Eduversity is improving this ecosystem in multiple ways asserted Gupta, the brain behind the
launch.

First, it reduces the financial risks and encourages right candidates to pursue MBA. An investment or a loan is very easily justifiable when a student can be confident of cash flows in future.

Secondly, it rebuilds the lost trust between MBA colleges and MBA students as they work towards the common goal. This model ensures that a college does not make false promises.

Significantly, this model brings paradigm shift in MBA programme to be industry-relevant. “It’s not that our industry doesn’t create jobs for young management graduates. It’s the skill gap that obstructs their career path. This fee arrangement makes ‘career’ as the final outcome, rather than a paper degree,” noted Rajul Garg, Founder and Director, Sunstone Eduversity.

10 Indian universities in Top 100 Asian university rankings

By

digitalLEARNING Network

-

June 19, 2014

Japan and China continue their dominance in Times Higher Education (THE) Asia University Rankings 2014 with Panjab University representing India at 32nd place. Last year, India just had 3 educational institutes in top 100 list, but this time 10 institutions have made it to the list.

After Punjab University, there are six Indian Institutes of Technology, with IIT-Kharagpur placed at 45th. Jadavpur University, new entrant, attained 76th position, while Aligarh Muslim University stood at 80th and Jawaharlal Nehru University at 90th place. Ashok Thakur, India’s secretary for higher education, ministry of human resource development stated that debate on whether or not India should engage with global university rankings has attained positive resolution.

Thakur added that it has been made possible by Pranab Mukherjee, President of India, who made it clear that as a matter of policy, all institutions across the country have to participate in the ranking process. The collection and sharing of authenticate global performance data is expected to allow Indian universities to reach the global stage.

Muslim enrolment in schools witnesses marginal increase

By

digitalLEARNING Network

-

June 19, 2014

Muslim enrolment in schools witnessed a marginal increase whereas SC/ST community enrolment has slightly declined. However, kids belonging to Other Backward Classes have shown a perceptible increase in school enrolment.

As per data of 2013-14 released by HRD minister Smriti Irani, Educational Development Index shows Puducherry at number one spot, followed by Lakshadweep, Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh and New Delhi. Surprisingly, more than 60 percent of enrolment has taken place in government schools inspite of increasing privatisation of school education. 35.81 percent enrolment happened in private managements, 27.8 percent in private unaided schools, a little over 8 percent in private aided schools and over 2 percent in unrecognised schools. Government aided schools with private management were popular in states like Goa (63.03 percent), Kerala (42.36 percent) and Maharashtra (37.8 percent). Data revealed that at primary level, Muslim enrolment increased marginally to 14. 35 percent from 14.20 percent in 2012-13.

At the upper primary level, enrolment increased from 12.11 percent last year to 12.52 percent this year. In states like Gujarat, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh, there has been a gradual increase in enrolment. However, in Uttarakhand, there has been a marginal decline in Muslim enrolment. Girl enrolment has remained unchanged at 49 percent at both primary and upper primary level.
OBC enrolment increased to 44.1 percent from 42.9 percent at primary level while enrolment at the upper primary level went up to 44.44 percent from 43.66 percent last year. Significant increase can be witnessed in Kerala, West Bengal and Puducherry. Girls constitute approximately half of enrolment at primary as well as upper primary levels.

Enrolment of SC children declined to 19.72 percent from 20.24 percent at both primary and upper primary levels. Marginal decline in SC enrolment has been registered in states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, excluding Himachal Pradesh and West Bengal. The recent data for 2013-14 also revealed that the percentage of teachers involved in non-teaching assignments to total teachers has declined. 2.48 percent of teachers were not involved in teaching assignment that cost 16 working days. Number of days lost remain unchanged, but percentage of teachers involoved in such work has declined substantially from 5.49 percent from last year.

Helpline, portal to gather feedback for education dept

News

By

digitalLEARNING Network

-

June 19, 2014

Punjab government has decided to launch a 24×7 toll free number and a web portal to get feedback from public regarding the policies and activities of education department.
Education Minister Dr Daljit Singh Cheema said that this toll free number has been conceived in line with the helpline run by the police department. The web portals can also be used by panchayats to post their queries, suggestions and complaints.

The department officials are instructed to have coordination with the welfare department and ensure the reach of scholarship schemes at the grassroot level.
A committee has also been formed to ensure the timely disposal of court cases, which would help people to save their time, money and would ensure the welfare of the employees.

HC asks CBSE to review six questions of AIPMT within a week

By

digitalLEARNING Network

-

June 19, 2014

The High Court of Punjab and Haryana asked the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) on June 18 to review six ambiguous questions in the biology section of the All India Pre-Medical Test (AIPMT) within a week.
A division bench comprising of Justice Rajive Bhalla and Justice Harinder Singh Sidhu after hearing a petition filed by Dr Arvind Goyal of Chandigarh, passed the order and adjourned the case for June 18.
Dr Arvind has sought re-examination of the six erroneous and ambiguous questions of the AIPMT, which was conducted recently.He also sought directives to provide grace marks to candidates for the wrong questions in the AIPMT examination held on May 4. The petitioner also asked for the preparation of a fresh merit list after re-examining the ambiguous questions. On the other hand, the HC asked the petitioner to bring on record material that would help the court understand his grievances.
On June 18 after hearing the petitioner and going through the record material that he produced in the court, the bench observed that without expressing any opinion on the legal rights of the petitioner and the CBSE, they disposed of the petition by directing the CBSE to take a decision on the contentions of the petitioner within a week.

SSC pass percentage reaches 81.8 in Maharashtra

By

digitalLEARNING Network

-

June 18, 2014

The Secondary School Certificate (SSC) results were finally declared after almost 10 days delay, but with good news as Maharashtra’s overall success rate increased from 76.2 percent to 81.8 percent. Mumbai division, including Raigad and Thane, too achieved a success rate of 83 percent, up by 3.9 percent.

14 lakh students passed the examination out of 17 lakh students and 40,797 students achieved more than 90 percent score. The performance has been recorded as the best ever for the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (MSBSHSE). Anjana Prakash, principal, Hansraj Morarji Public School, Andheri, stated that better performance in mathematics could be counted as one of the reasons for this year’s success. The state’s pass percentage for mathematics went up by 13 percent as compared to last year.

Despite the good performance, Mumbai’s rank slipped to five from four last year. Among the nine divisions, Konkan topped the state with 93.1 pass percentage, but with only 42,900 students appearing in examination. Although Mumbai slipped down in ranking, but number of students scoring above 90 percent increased to 11,509 from 9,500 last year.

Girls outshone boys again in Maharashtra with the passing percentage rate of 85.8 as compared to boys’ 78.6 pass percentage. In Mumbai too, girls achieved a passing percentage of 86.6 percent as against 80.1 pass percentage achieved by boys.

Amidst SSC results, over 1500 students from Mumbai division could not access their result as the board withheld the results. In response to this problem, the board has assured that the problem will be solved within two days.

UGC asks universities to include mother’s name in certificates, degrees

By

digitalLEARNING Network

-

June 18, 2014

In wake of helping children of unwed, divorced and separated mothers during and after the admission process, the University Grants Commission (UGC) has sought a stricter compliance of its directive regarding inclusion of mother’s name in application forms, certificates and degrees issued by the university and affiliated institutions. This move will help these students to avoid the embarrassment of filling the column – ‘Father’s Name’.

Upamanyu Basu, UGC’s financial advisor, wrote to the vice-chancellors of all the universities explaining them to mention the student’s surname, name, father’s name and mother’s name on every academic testimonials in a prescribed format. This similar directive had earlier been issued by UGC in 1998 that had called for an inclusion of mother’s name in students’ every academic testimonials.

The debate was raised in favour of the mother, who equally participates in her child’s development and thus should not be subjected to such discrimination as it is against the spirit of women’s empowerment.

Central University for Uttarakhand planned

By

digitalLEARNING Network

-

June 18, 2014

A new Central University with international faculty will come up soon in Uttarakhand. HRD minister Smriti Irani made this announcement while emphasising that to make science subjects more interesting for children, there is a need to launch Rashtriya Aavishkar Abhiyan.

Addressing a conference of state secretaries of higher and technical education, she asked the states to monitor the standard facilities in new institutes that are opening at the speed of light across the country. State representatives presented their own ideas that will help improve the quality of higher education.

The minister also supported ‘Know Your College’ drive, where students are able to make right choice by getting access to details of every college on the website. Irani has asked state authorities to ensure an enabling environment for education of children belonging from minorities, tribal zones, weaker sections and backward areas.

She has ensured that collaborative efforts with premier institutes have been taken to meet the higher education needs of students from North-East. In addition, minister has directed states to revisit the Right to Education Act with respect to their experiences. She focused on the implementation of technology that would empower students as well as teachers. Thus, ministry has proposed to introduce a large number of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) along with a national e-library by the end of 2014.

She also wishes to form a National Framework of Ranking of Universities & Colleges that would be in sync with local circumstances and requirements. For this purpose, she advised the replication of Shaala Deep Programme of schools in colleges.

Central aid for Odisha’s higher education sector

By

digitalLEARNING Network

-

June 18, 2014

The Ministry of Human Resource Development has sanctioned Rs 34.13 crore for the implementation of Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) in Odisha.The amount will be divided in three parts, which includes preparatory grants to undertake baseline survey, consultations, workshops and preparation of State Higher Education Plan: setting up model degree colleges and management, monitoring, evaluation and research (MMER). For the establishment of State Council for Higher Education, an amount of Rs 2.6 crore has already been released as first installment.

At a high level meeting chaired by Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani on Tuesday it was decided to sanction Rs 31.2 crore for the setting up of eight model degree colleges in Odisha.

In order to receive funds under RUSA, all the colleges and universities will have to get accreditation and re-accreditation under the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC). Currently, there are only six universities and 210 colleges in Odisha both private and Government, which are accredited by NAAC.

LATEST NEWS

Top Trending News

Top Trending Categories