IIM A’s Agri-Business programme ranked best in the world

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December 28, 2013

The Post Graduate Programme in Agri-Business Management (PGP-ABM) of Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIMA) has been ranked at the top position for the third consecutive year in the Best Master’s Ranking in Agribusiness/ Food Industry Management. IIMA’s PGP-ABM finds a prominent place among other globally renowned programmes.

Since 1974, IIMA has been offering a special programme focused on Agriculture. The programme was re-engineered as two-year Post-Graduate Programme in Agri-Business Management from 2003. The objective of the programem is to develop aspiring mangers into competent professional managers for the agriculture, food, agri-business, rural and allied sectors. The programme caters to the needs of enterprises serving these sectors. It attempts to build sensitivity to domestic and international market needs and span the entire agricultural value chain.

Post Graduate diploma in Rural Management by Xavier Institute of Management, ranked 27 and Post Graduate diploma in Agribusiness Management of Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow, ranked 31, are the only other two programmes from India to find a place in top 50 programmes in the Best Master’s Ranking in Agribusiness/ Food Industry Management.

47% of graduates of 2013 unemployable for any job: Study by Aspiring Minds

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digitalLEARNING Network

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December 27, 2013

Putting the education in India under scanner, a study concluded that nearly half of the graduates of this year are not employable for any job.
Identifying the key employability trends of 2013, the study by Aspiring Minds, a leading employability solutions company, discovered that a significant 47 percent of graduates of 2013 are unemployable in any sector given their English language and cognitive skills.
Of all the respondents in the survey, only 2.59 per cent of them were found employable in functional roles such as accounting, while 15.88 per cent were suitable for employment in sales related roles and 21.37 per cent for roles in the business process outsourcing sector. The study also revealed that there are 100 females to every 109 males pursuing three year degree programmes and are at par with male counterparts when it comes to employability.
Major deterrents to employability found in the study are lack of knowledge of English language, poor computer skills and concepts learning.

UGC to set up interim regulator for distance education

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December 27, 2013

University Grants Commission (UGC) has been instructed by a committee formed by Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) to set up an interim regulator and monitor the country’s distance education sector. As the Parliament is not likely to pass a Bill on putting in a regulatory authority anytime soon, the committee has also proposed the establishment of a Distance Education Council of India (DECI) which will monitor and regulate the content, examination and the institutes offering distance education. But the bill is not expected to be cleared anytime soon as there are already a number key MHRD bills awaiting clearance. DECI is to be set up on the lines of AICTE, UGC and NCTE.
The government is looking to pass the National Council for Higher Education and Research bill, which will merge the existing UGC, AICTE, and other regulatory bodies into a single regulator. But there are many bills including an amendment to the existing AICTE Bill which are waiting to be cleared by Parliament.
The MHRD is also planning to set up 200 community colleges and rolling out a programme to extend technical education in the secondary and higher secondary education segment to curb dropout rates at school levels.

Job offers pour in at IIT B in the first phase of placements

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December 26, 2013

The economic slowdown seems to be having the least effect on the placements at IITs this year. Over 100 students at IIT Bombay (IIT B) have already been placed by multinational companies in the first phase of the placement season at the campus. Last year, the corresponding number was around 80. The first phase of placements saw 55 percent of the students i.e. 889 students on the campus bagging the job offers.
Companies from Europe, Japan, Korea, Middle East, Singapore, Taiwan and USA have offered jobs to students at IIT B. Although due to visa issues, a few US companies did not turn up for placements this year but companies from other countries made up for their absence. Firms from technical and software sectors made the maximum offers on an average. A couple of NGOs have also picked up students from the campus. Only one public sector company that came in the first phase hired two students, more are expected to visit the campus in the second phase, which begins from January first week. Companies like Google, Microsoft, Goldman Sachs, IBM, Sony (Japan), Samsumg (Korea), LinkedIn, Oracle among others offered the jobs in the first phase of the placement at IIT B.

President asks private sector to contribute to higher education

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December 24, 2013

Even as India had grown in leaps and bounds in terms of infrastructure in the higher education sector, there was a still a gap that needed to be bridged, both in material and non-material terms, said the President Pranab Mukherjee as part of his inaugural address at the School of Commerce and Economics at the Loyola College in Nungambakkam.
The president made a fervent appeal to the academic community to strive towards creating a culture of excellence and promote innovation in the universities. He also called on the private sector and individuals to come forward and help in building institutions of excellence and innovation in all fields. Encouraging the academicians the president said, “We have the best of students and teachers. All that is needed is coordination and focused efforts. We must develop our colleges and universities into world class academic institutions. A culture of excellence should be promoted with determination and consistency”.
Underlining that the true development entails composite development of the nation with progress touching all sectors and regions, he further added that greater emphasis should be given to developing suitable grassroots technologies for empowering rural population.

A mobile app to detect skin cancer and ailment

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December 24, 2013

IIT Kahargpur students have developed a mobile phone application which can help in accurate diagnosis of skin cancers and ailments.
The application ‘ClipOCam-Derma’ is developed in the School of Medical Science and Technology at IIT Kharagpur and can be used on any smartphone. It is a portable and affordable solution that has won the ‘GE Edison Challenge 2013’ and has been awarded an incubation prize of Rs. 10 lakhs. The app can be used by semi-skilled paramedics working in rural and primary healthcare centres. It will assist in fast and high-precision screening of skin lesions and abnormalities like cancers, psoriasis, scaling, keratinisation, melanoma, inflammation, ulcers, lipoma, healing and non-healing wounds, and heavy-metal induced dysplasia, all of which may or may not be evidently visible on the surface. The app will help in reaching out to the people in remote areas lacking even minimal access to expert physicians. The app will not only help in diagnosis but also monitoring the control of the skin disease. The tests have found the app to be 99 percent accurate.

The mobile app which will be launched in the market after regulatory approvals can help physicians speed up diagnosis and handle more patients within a shorter time.

Tougher norms lead private schools to shut down

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digitalLEARNING Network

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December 23, 2013

Hundreds of parents protested against the closing down of a private school at Ganapathy, Coimbatore as it claim of not being able to meet the new norms of the government due financial inability of the school.
Excessive regulation of private schools is pushing many towards a close down, the ultimate sufferers being students. The management of the private school at Ganapathy has decided to shut the school down soon at the end of the current academic year, which has petrified the parents whose wards are studying in the school.
Around 150 parents were seen protesting against the management’s decision of closing down citing that strength of nearly 800 students would be affected by the decision. The protest was ceased only after the intervention by the Chief Education Officer.
The management says the decision is the result of the strict governmental norms. The Central governments’ Right to Education Act mandates a certain number of classrooms and teachers and the Fee Determination Committee which prohibits schools from collecting money from the students to meet the additional infrastructure required, imposes significant financial burden on private schools further pushing them towards a close down. Also, the schools were not given enough time to comply with the new norms.
However the talks are on with the school management asking them to close down their higher secondary sections. Conversion of the school to high school status would bring about some relaxation in the norms.

A plea for the common admission forms for Nursery

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December 23, 2013

The All-India Parents’ Association wrote to the Delhi Education Department to issue a common nursery admission form for the general category.
The criterion for seeking nursery admissions according to the latest guidelines issued by Lieutenant-Governor Najeeb Jung will depend on five things- neighbourhood up to six kilometers from the school, sibling studying in the institution, parent alumni in the school, inter-transfer case and female gender.
The new guidelines clearly state that there shall be no management quota for nursery admissions in any private unaided recognized schools of Delhi. Moreover, the Right to Education Act has also been made applicable to these admissions. As per the guidelines admission to a class will now be divided into four parts, 25 per cent of the seats are reserved for the economically weaker sections and disadvantaged groups, 5 per cent for wards of the staff/employees of the school and 5 per cent for girls.
Common admission form could be huge step towards checking commercialisation of education and saving the parents from exploitation at the hands of the management. With progressive steps being taken, all eyes will be set on nursery admissions in the capital this year which will begin from next month.

Education needs to be re-invented: Rahul Gandhi

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digitalLEARNING Network

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December 23, 2013

The Indian education system needs to be ‘re-invented’ and a network needs to be build between higher education and industry, said Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi speaking at the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).
Gandhi also said in India education and industry are thought of in two separate ways. But modern universities and education are the link that connects industry, government, NGOs and students. Currently, there is a disconnect between the industry and higher education.
He further added that apart from a few institutions and universities, India lacks the level of networking and modern knowledge systems required. He also stressed up on the need for an increase in the access to education system which can be done through use of modern technology. Also a lots needs to be done in terms of improving the quality of the teacher and building connectivity in primary education. Broadly he focused on the need for re-inventing the education system in the country.

No PPP mode for IIITs: Parliamentary Panel

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December 23, 2013

Setting up of new Indian Institute of Information and Technology (IIITs) under Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode has been strongly disapproved by a Parliamentary panel. It fears that PPP mode might create conflict between the welfare objective of government and profit motive of the industry.
The government proposes to set up 20 new IIITs under the PPP mode in the country but the department related to the Standing Committee on HRD apprehended that given the provisions in the legislation, these institutions would ultimately function as a purely private entity. The committee was of the view that an individual body having a stake on the ownership might give rise to conflict between the government and the industry.
The cost of each IIIT would be Rs 128 crore which would be contributed by the Centre, the state government and the industry in ratio of 50:35:15 percent. The committee further cited the example of state-funded institutes like IITs and NITs which excel despite no industry having a stake in their ownership.
The committee made its observation after examining the Indian Institute of Information Technology Bill, 2013 introduced in the Lok Sabha during the last Budget Session. The Bill seeks to establish 20 new IIITs and declare the existing four into institutes of national importance.

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