VGF and Dubai Cares to train 250,000 teachers worldwide

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March 19, 2014

The Varkey GEMS Foundation (VGF), and the UAE-based philanthropic organisation, Dubai Cares, will be training around 250,000 teachers for the next 10 years. The Varkey GEMS Foundation is the philanthropic arm of an international education company GEMS Education. The two organisations have signed an agreement to launch a teacher-training programme to improve the standard of classroom teaching. The agreement was signed at the Global Education and Skills Forum, held in Dubai from March 15-17. Lack of trained teachers is a barrier to educating students who are not going to school regularly.
Tariq Al Gurg, Chief Executive Officer of Dubai Cares, says strategic partnerships between organisations helps in sustainable primary educational programs. He says the partnership aims to create positive impact for the underprivileged children and their families. Over the next two decades, 7 million new teachers will be required to serve the global population.

One entrance test for MBA and MCA in Karnataka

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digitalLEARNING Network

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March 19, 2014

The Karnataka government and college managements have agreed to conduct only one entrance test for CMAT and KMAT, the two entrance tests for MBA and MCA. In the combined entrance test, Visvesvaraya Technological University will be conducting the centralised counseling for the government seats. The other 50 per cent of the seats will be filled by the management taking the PGCET scores into account. Non-Karnataka students can participate in the exam to be conducted on June 2 or 8.
After August 30, the government seats will be converted into management quota seats which will be filled with the students who clear KMAT. The exam, meant for non-Karnataka students, is scheduled to be held on September 1. The CMAT was made mandatory for the students pursuing their masters degrees last year by the AICTE. The exam last year was marred by poor turnout of students. 22 colleges out of around 200 colleges are being run by the government and there are around 25,000 seats available for the students applying for these courses.

Robotic education in Bangalore government schools

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March 18, 2014

A Japanese company in collaboration with a Bangalore firm is introducing robotic education to government schools in the city. Two government schools at Veerabhadranagar and Hosakerehalli in South Bangalore had an interaction with Japanese citizens on Saturday.
LS Creative Learnings Pvt Ltd has launched STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education in collaboration with Dr Tairo Nomura of Saitama University, Tokyo.
Japan had initiated this pilot project. An MoU was signed between LSC with the Department of State Educational Research and Training (DSERT) for the pilot project. On completion of the project, DSERT will evaluate students’ performance to recommend its introduction to other government schools.
Other schools where the project has been implemented include Bishop Cotton Boys School, St John’s High School, Indus International Schools and Baldwin school.

Enrolment ratio in higher education might see a rise by 2020

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digitalLEARNING Network

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March 18, 2014

The enrolment ratio in higher education is likely to grow to 30 per cent by 2020 because of an increase in the investment in the sector and economic growth, said Higher education secretary Ashok Thakur while speaking at the valedictory session of an international conference on social science research. He further said that the government is encouraging engineering colleges, especially IITs to offer more subjects on humanities.

The event was organised by Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) and International Development Research Center (IDRC). The other participants in the session included academic experts and policy makers from south, south east, and East Asian countries who collectively proposed formation of a social science research network to act as an advocacy platform in the region to strengthen research and its funding.

Eight colleges in Pune secure NAAC grade

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March 18, 2014

In the latest round of assessment and accreditation process conducted by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), 283 colleges in the country including 50 from Maharashtra secured the NAAC grade. Of these, eight colleges are located in the University of Pune.

There are more eligible colleges who have not approached for the assessment and accreditation process by the NAAC. The grades received by the universities and colleges are on the basis of quality parameters such as standardisation and improvement in infrastructure, teaching and learning resources and other key parameters. The UGC has said the NAAC accreditation is necessary for all universities and colleges if they are applying for funds for academic and research programmes. The NAAC grade expires after every three years. The institutes applying for funds have to secure a minimum ‘B’ grade.
V B Gaikwad, director of University of Pune’s board of college and university development (BCUD), says that more than 70 eligible institutions have not applied for NAAC accreditation. In the private colleges, there is reluctance to apply for NAAC rating because of costs related to infrastructure, teaching and learning resources. They might also have to employ full-time qualified teachers. More than half of the private unaided colleges are operating with temporary affiliation. The temporary affiliation has to be renewed every year.

Aerospace MBA launched by IIM Bangalore and Toulouse Business School

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March 18, 2014

The Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIM B) and Toulouse Business School are launching a new executive general management programme in aerospace and aviation management. The two institutes will be working together in teaching and research. The two year part-time degree programme is being sponsored by Airbus. The new MBA programme to be run by Toulouse Business School is the first of its kind in India. The business school is already running a respected Aerospace MBA which will be enrolling 75 students every year in the course.
The CEO of Airbus India, Dwarkanath Srinivasan, said the aviation market in India is expanding and it will also give rise to the next generation of business leaders. The number of passengers in the aviation sector is increasing every year and therefore the need for expertise in aviation business is also increasing. Jacques Igalens, Toulouse Business School Dean says the aviation landscape is ever changing, and more world class leaders are needed in the aviation sector to anticipate emerging market trends and to work out solutions. The Aerospace MBA may provide answer to this requirement.

Reputation of Indian institutes takes a beating

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March 18, 2014

In the latest World Reputation Rankings 2014 by Times Higher Education (THE) magazine for the top 100 prestigious universities, India is the only BRIC nation absent from the list. It needs to be mentioned that unlike global university rankings, THE’s World Reputation Rankings 2014 takes into account an institute’s global repute in the academic arena.
The Times Higher Education’s World Reputation Rankings 2014 saw Harvard University taking the first place, followed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Stanford University, University of Cambridge and University of Oxford being ranked second, third, fourth and fifth, respectively. In the Asia-Pacific region, Australia loses ground with now five top 100 representatives in 2014, down from six in 2013.
The rankings come at a time when a committee set up by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) to look into the international positioning of the IITs is in the process of submitting its report. The IITs had earlier acknowledged it was the lack of visibility at the right global forums that kept them out of international rankings.

Child mapping exercise begins

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digitalLEARNING Network

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March 18, 2014

The UT education department began a child mapping survey to identify children who are yet to be enrolled in schools.
Government-run schools in the union territory have been told to conduct a survey of their respective area for identifying children up to 14 years, who are eligible for admission under the Right to Education Act, 2009.
The exercise is scheduled to conclude on March 20, after which the department will file a report. The exercise, conducted every year to maintain records of children residing within the city, is meant especially to identify children of school going age from economically weaker sections (EWS) of the population and other disadvantaged categories. Last year, more than 1,40,000 students in the union territory were surveyed in the exercise. A department official said the survey was expected to conclude by March 20, following which a report would be filed.
Schools, meanwhile, are reluctant to deploy their staff for the task. Saying teachers are already busy conducting examinations, school officials maintained that deputing teachers would only add to their burden.

Indian degrees to get recognised globally soon

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digitalLEARNING Network

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March 18, 2014

Indian degrees will get recognised globally soon as India is set to get full-fledged membership status of the Washington Accord by June.

Secretary higher education Ashok Thakur also said steps were being taken to set up National Accreditation Regulatory Authority (NARA), supplementing the country’s efforts to improve quality and meet international standards. India is a provisional member of Washington Accord since 2007 and is confident to get the full-fledged status by June when a meeting of the body is due to take place, he said.
The Accord signed in 1989 is an international agreement among bodies responsible for accrediting engineering degree programmes. So far, some 16 countries are signatories to it.
Talking about NARA, he said it will be an autonomous body comprising experts who will identify agencies for accrediting institutes. UGC will initiate steps to set up the body soon, he said. At present, the accreditation is provided by National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) and National Board of Accreditation (NBA).

Education department may pull up schools

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digitalLEARNING Network

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March 18, 2014

Education department officials in Aurangabad have taken serious note of private schools starting admission procedure before the schedule being released by the Zilla Parishad (ZP). Information about some schools starting early admissions for deprived children has been received and the same will be reviewed by deputy director of education.
It would be checked what procedures were followed by these schools and were they in accordance with the norms mentioned under RTE.As per the norms under the Right to Education (RTE) Act, 2009, 25% of the total seats are to be allotted to underprivileged students.
Speaking about the RTE Act being implemented more strictly this year, the official said that the implementation had to be percolated across the state.
Meanwhile, the ZP primary education department has released a timetable for schools to conduct admissions under RTE for the academic year 2014-15 from March 10 onwards. The process has been initiated to guide officials about the process and inform all private schools through meetings convened by principal of thee schools, school management representatives, block education officer, centre chief and concerned officials.

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