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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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.

Russian know-how to boost N-education in Indian varsities

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June 18, 2014

As part of the collaboration with India in the field of education, Russia is open to joint degree programmes on nuclear education with some Indian universities.

“This is a priority area for our partnership with India,” Valery Karezin, director, educational projects, human resources department, Russia.

“Nuclear education is very important, not just for nuclear power, but also for related industries like medicine, agriculture, space research, etc,” he said adding: “At present we are training personnel from Kudankulam in India, but this is not full cooperation. There has to be a broader cooperation between Indian and Russian universities on nuclear education.”

This, he said, can develop in two directions. “Indian students can come to Russia for nuclear education or there can be cooperation between the universities of the two countries for a joint degree programme in nuclear education.”

The plan is still in a beginning stage, he said.

“Some Indian universities have shown interest. A start can be made by some of our professors visiting the Indian universities and getting feedback,” he added.

Another area, he said where Russia could collaborate with India was in training programmes for qualified personnel in nuclear industry.

“They already exist, but it is not so complex. There is a need to make it more complex and broad. They can come to Russia or they can have an intensive training in India.”

Industry welcomes govt move on sports education

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June 18, 2014

The education and sports industries have welcomed the plan of the new government at the Centre to promote sports education in schools.Addressing the joint session of parliament, President Pranab Mukherjee had recently said that the government will launch a ‘National Sports Talent Search System’ to keep the children and youth of the country fit.Mukherjee had also mentioned that such a step will facilitate the development and promote Indian sports, particularly rural sports. Sports can be popularised by making it an integral part of the school curriculum and providing educational incentives.

The industry believes that if the government plans are fructified in the future, then sports would not just become a serious activity in school, but sports education companies will also play a bigger role in structuring programmes in sports and see a growth in their business.

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Punjab colleges hope for 180 more MBBS seats

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June 18, 2014

Punjab’s medical education aspirants might have a brighter chance of getting admission as the state may get 180 more MBBS seats from this session. And, if two colleges that were earlier denied permission are now granted nod for admissions, the total MBBS seats in Punjab may well cross 1,250.

According to sources in the state department of medical education and research, the Medical Council of India (MCI) has conducted inspection at three medical colleges already and the reports are awaited.

Last month, the MCI carried out an inspection to increase 50 seats each at Government Medical College, Patiala, and Guru Gobind Singh Medical College, Faridkot. This will take the total number of seats at the two colleges to 300.

An inspection at Dayanand Medical College and Hospital in Ludhiana was also conducted to increase seats from 70 to 100. Similarly, Sri Guru Ram Das Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Amritsar, has applied to add 50 seats to its existing capacity of 100. Inspection has been done here too.

As per the MCI, “The assessment reports will now be placed before the executive committee.” Sources said the state government is expecting increase seats before the conclusion of the admission counselling process.

Even Government Medical College, Amritsar, applied for 50 additional seats, but the council has not conducted any inspection yet. Sources said that with the counselling nearing, not much hope is left for this college this time. Application of Christian Medical College, Ludhiana, has already been disapproved.

A fresh inspection at Chintpurni Medical College, Pathankot, was also conducted last week by the MCI, said sources. In the first inspection last month, the council had denied permission to enroll students for 2014 session. The college has 150 seats.

Similarly, an inspection was conducted at Punjab Institute of Medical Sciences, Jalandhar. A senior official from BFUHS, Faridkot, said that this year the college is likely to be allowed to admit the students.

AICTE receives 63 applications from institutes to shut down

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June 18, 2014

Around 63 applications have been received by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) from the institutes wishing to shut down this year. Among them 36 are tech computer application, 22 management and five engineering institutes.

Dr S S Mantha, Chairman, AICTE stated that many students are opting for the B Tech programmes than Master in Computer Application (MCA) course. This must be because it requires more years of study and moreover, students do not find the MCA programme very relevant.
Recently, the Supreme Court has restored the power of AICTE to regulate engineering and management institutes so, all the applications to open and close colleges for the academic year 2014-15 is received by the AICTE.

According to sources, the institutions which are applying for closure this year are mostly from Andhra Pradesh. As many as 80 colleges have applied for shutdown, which offers courses in engineering, management, computer application, pharmacy and education.

Five IITs among top 20 in BRICS university rankings

Higher Education

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June 18, 2014

Five IITs — Delhi, Bombay, Kharagpur, Kanpur and Madras — are among the top 20 institutions in 2014 QS University Rankings BRICS, which grades higher education institutions of the BRICS countries: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

Of the top 100 institutions, 20 were from India. Besides the IITs, they included University of Mumbai, University of Madras, Banaras Hindu University, Manipal University, Birla Institute of Technology and Science, University of Pune, Indian Institute of Information Technology, Calcutta University, Delhi University, Allahabad University, Amity University, Anna University and Panjab University.

The parameters considered for the ranking included academic reputation, employer reputation, student-faculty ratio, PhD papers per faculty, citations per paper and international faculty.

This year, again Chinese universities dominated the top 100 and the top 10, while Indian institutions were the leaders in recruiting highly qualified academic staff. IIT Kharagpur has a higher proportion of PhDs among its staff than any university in the five countries. In fact, three more Indian institutions feature among the top five on this measure. On overall staffing levels, only Manipal University appears among the top 100.

The five IITs had ranked among the first 20 on last year’s list as well. At No. 13, Delhi topped Indian universities on the list, followed by IIT Bombay, Madras, Kanpur and Kharagpur, ranked in that order from 15 to 18. Earlier in the day, HRD Minister Smriti Irani presented the first copy of the 2014 rankings to Prime Minister.

The dedicated ranking of higher education institutions of the BRICS countries was introduced in 2013. The project, developed by QS World University Rankings in collaboration with Russian news agency Interfax, was an effort to highlight and track progress made by these countries in the field of higher education and facilitate comparison of universities amongst these five countries that share certain socio-economic dynamics.

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