Ansal University Announces New Specialisation Programme

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August 6, 2013

Ansal University, Gurgaon has announced specialisation programme and six-month industrial training for students pursuing bachelor degree from School of Engineering and Technology (SET). Ansal University is the first university in the country to two specialisations per stream of engineering to their students and six months professional training based on specialisation.

Dr Alok K Kushwaha, Professor & Associate Dean, School of Engineering & Technology, Ansal University said, “Engineering is about designing processes and making products to solve real-world problems. The focus of School of Engineering & Technology is to educate and train the young engineering fledglings and transform them into skilled individuals who are more responsive to the requirements of modern industry. The specialization that we offer shall enable the students to develop their engineering knowledge, skills, imagination and experience to the highest levels in readiness for their future career and the six month training period gives students the opportunity to become technically sound, to clarify all the doubts, grasp technical know-how and gain technical expertise.”

Students can opt for specialisation in the beginning of the third year and students will get six month industrial training as per specialisation in the last semester of engineering programme. The objective of specialisation programme is to clear the fundamental concepts of the general branches of engineering and specialize in a particular area to encounter problems after attaining the degree. The industrial training programme is designed to help students experience the real world problems, hands-on implementation of technical knowledge and capability to undertake deep analysis while approaching a problem which in-turn enables the students to get a good job in the fiercely competitive market.

Prof Mahendra P Lama joins IGNOU as Pro Vice Chancellor

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August 6, 2013

Prof Mahendra P Lama (b 1961) has joined Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) as the Pro Vice Chancellor.

Prof Lama was born in Darjeeling and grew up under the parentage of late Basantlata Lama and late RP Lama a widely known writer, social worker and an administrator. Prof Lama is the Founding Vice Chancellor of the newly established Central University of Sikkim in India created by an act of Parliament in 2007 and became the youngest Vice Chancellor of a National University in India. He has been acclaimed for his vision, innovative management and designing of academic programmes and linking the local youth and human, natural and intellectual resources with national and global world.

Prof Lama was a Member of the prestigious National Security Advisory Board of Government of India, A product of Scots Mission Primary School and Turnbull High School in Darjeeling. He was Professor of South Asian Economies in the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi and also the Chairman of the Centre for South, Central, South East Asian and South West Pacific Studies in JNU. He was given the full Professorship by JNU at a relatively younger age of 39. He is presently nominated by the Government of India as a member of the Steering Committee of the coveted South Asian Forum set up by the Heads of the States and Governments in the 16th SAARC Summit in Thimphu in 2010. He also served as the Chief Economic Adviser in the Government of Sikkim with a Cabinet Minister Rank for seven years (2000-2007). He has been nominated by the President of India in the highest executive boards of various leading institutions of India including IGNOU, North East Hill University, NCERT and Hyderabad University.

Central to his intellectual pursuits is development and cooperation in South and South East Asia. While teaching economic cooperation and integration in South Asia and India’s Foreign Economic Policy, he does extensive research with distinct policy slants. He was nominated by the Government of India in the Independent Expert Group set up by the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) in 1997.

Besides authoring and editing 22 books, he has extensively worked on the issues of human security, migration, refugees, trade, investment and energy cooperation in South Asia and issues of hills and mountains. He has closely worked with the top regional institutions in South Asia. His most recent work is a book entitled “Human Security in India: Discourse, Practices and Policy Implications” ( UPL, Dhaka, 2010). His works have been published in many refereed journals and also translated into a number of foreign languages including Japanese, French and German. He has been in various Indian delegations abroad including headed by the Prime Minister.

He was Nehru-Fulbright Education Administrator’s Fellow in USA in 2011; India-China Fellow at the New School University in USA in 2008-2010; Visitor to the European Union, Brussels in 2002; and Ford Foundation Fellow at Notre Dame University in the USA in 1997. He was India’s representative in the Energy Cooperation Forum held in Indonesia and Thailand. He was also invited by the Malaysian Government in its prestigious Malaysia International Visitor Programme (MIVP) at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 2007. He was also prestigious Asia Leadership Fellow in Japan in 2001; Visiting Professor in Hitotsubashi University, Tokyo 2004-2005 and Visiting Fellow in Calcutta University and headed Indian delegation of the Vice Chancellors to UK and China. He has been in the Editorial Board of a number of national and international journals.

The Millennium School Concludes Global Tiger Day Celebrations

K-12

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August 5, 2013

The Millennium School, Noida concludes the Global Tiger Day celebrations. To mark the occasion, the school dedicated three days and organised art and craft and various other activities for students aimed at generating awareness about the need to protect tigers.

The Global Tiger Day is celebrated to raise awareness about tiger conservation. The day holds much importance for India as Tiger is our national animal and nearing extinction. The population of tigers has seen an alarming dip from 40,000 tigers in 1947 to just 1706 in 2010. However owing to the increased awareness and efforts of conservationists and government, there has been some improvement from 2006, when the population of tigers stood at just 1411.

In the activities spread over three days, children depicted the magnificence of tigers through art and craft activities including mask making, face painting, t-shirt painting, collage making and many other activities. Posters created by students as a part of poster making activity explored various aspects pertaining to extinction of tigers. Through their powerful visuals, students chose to highlight causes of extinction and measures that can be taken to protect tigers. Activities like creative writing and slogan writing saw students passionately put forward their views concerning the issue.

Speaking on the occasion, Rita Kaul, Principal, The Millennium School, Noida, said, “Tiger is our national animal and is known for its beauty and power. Unfortunately due to our carelessness, tigers are now on the verge of extinction. If we don’t realize the need to protect them right now we might just lose them forever and the future generations will only know about them in books and in pictures. Today’s activity was an attempt to get our children to take charge of the situation and disseminate the message further.”

DLF Foundation Launches 26th Skill centre in Indore

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August 5, 2013

DLF Foundation, the philanthropic arm of DLF Limited, has launched the DLF Labournet Skill Centre in Indore to bridge the skill gap in India by imparting skill based training to the youth in the informal sector and provide them sustainable benefits and generate employment.

The centre was inaugurated by Mahesh Srivastava, Indore Head, DLF Limited in the presence of Anand N, Regional Manager – West, LabourNet and Nitin Seth, DGM – Placements.

Situated at Mangal Nagar, the DLF LabourNet Skill Training Centre offers courses in hair and beauty care, marketing, electrical and computer training. The centre imparts industry relevant vocational skills training through unique training models evenly spread across the curriculum and includes on-site earn and learn platforms. The training modules are simple to understand and are taught to enable students get industry-appropriate jobs.

The rising need of skilled workers has coerced the Indian government to make a provision and allocate budgets to support various institutions including National Skill Development Corporation to impart skill training. In the wake of recent Union Budget 2013-14 and the Economic survey, the Government has allocated INR 1,000 crore for the skill development for the youth. As a part of the agenda, the National Skill Development Corporation has decided to train 5 crore people in the current plan. The government has also set a target to skill approximately 500 million people in the next 10 years and has devised a monetary reward worth INR 10,000 on the successful completion of vocational course in order to encourage more and more individuals to enroll and benefit themselves to earn a livelihood and in turn lessen the skill gap. The Indore centre is an effort by DLF Foundation and LabourNet in the same direction to contribute their bit to bridge the skill gap and in turn helping the economy grow and prosper.
DLF Foundation’s major flagship initiative ‘Skill a million’ programme specifically caters to the bottom end of the pyramid by providing them technical education at a very nominal and affordable cost. It undertakes its philanthropic causes on a serious note by empowering individuals to bridge the socio?economic divide.

While inaugurating the centre, Mahesh Srivastava, Indore Head, DLF Limited said, “I am delighted to inaugurate this centre and be able to reach out to the youth through this program. After analyzing the skill gap in our country, this is an excellent move to train our youth in the much needed industry skills. Ours is a service-oriented economy and we no longer can afford to just rely on our formal system of education. There is a dire need to weave vocational training in the mainstream education but by the time that happens we are training the youth with basic skills for them to make a decent living. Our courses are employment linked and the training and certifications are such that all our students land a job even before the completion of the courses. This is our 26th centre and we plan to set up 250 skill training centres in the next decade to train one million youth under our coveted ‘Skill a million’ programme.”

Present at the launch, Anand N, Regional Manager–West, LabourNet said, “Our association with DLF Foundation has been fruitful till date and we are positive that we would be able to replicate our past centre success at Indore centre as well. The programmes offered by us analyze new skill requirements in the labour market and contribute to nurturing skills and promoting employment, as well as help to set standards, develop curriculum and certification, improve the social status of workers and promote lifelong learning.”

Tech Mahindra Announces Industry – Academia Program for IT Infrastructure Management Services

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August 5, 2013

Tech Mahindra Ltd, a specialist provider of connected solutions to the connected world and enabling future digital enterprises, has announced that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with select Indian universities to impart industry ready skills in IT Infrastructure Management Services (IMS). The programme aims at creating a pool of resources to meet the demand across various facets of the IMS segment.

“Recognising the need for a veritable talent pool for the infrastructure managed services globally, Tech Mahindra and select Indian universities come together to develop future ready talent for a connected world of great opportunities,” said Vineet Nayyar, Executive Vice Chairman, Tech Mahindra.

The Academy at Chandigarh leverages ‘Megh’ – Tech Mahindra’s Cloud content delivery platform. The courses under this initiative cover the entire spectrum of IT Operations, Network Operations and Cyber security. ‘Megh’ has a designed capacity to train over 5000 associates.

In the first phase of this program, Tech Mahindra has tied-up with select five Indian Universities. This tie-up facilitates students to be fully prepared to meet industry requirements with the right level of skills and aptitude.

“Through this partnership, Tech Mahindra aims to establish a strong academic connect and help create skilled resources to meet the requirements of tomorrow’s Digital Enterprise. The IMS Academy has successfully graduated several students since its inception in 2011 in Hyderabad and with this MOU, we now take a giant leap by collaborating with the Universities through the launch of our second Cloud based Academy,” said Shrikant Vaze, Senior Vice President, Tech Mahindra.

The global infrastructure management services segment is expected to grow exponentially, and in order to ensure India maintains its edge in helping meet this requirement, it is imperative to have a ready pool of skilled resources. As a step in this direction, Tech Mahindra is supporting universities in the country by providing training material, faculty from the industry and simulation lab exercises. The course curriculum is created with a focus on developing expertise in various domains of IT Infrastructure Management Services.

TOEFL Adds New Test Dates for August and September in India

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August 5, 2013

New testing dates for the TOEFL iBTtest are now available for August 10, 16 and 31 and September 7, 13 and 27 in numerous cities in India. Students can view availability and register for the test by visiting the TOEFL registration page on the ETS website.

The August 10 test date is very close to the seven-day deadline that would normally require a late fee. There is waiver on the late fee, for the August 10 test date only, if you register by phone through the India Call Center. The India Call Center is open Monday–Friday from 9 am–5:30 pm. The fee waiver is only available via the call center, not online.

ETS will continue to monitor capacity and will add new testing seats to accommodate the record-breaking numbers of students in India who are interested in taking the TOEFL iBT test.

ICT Initiative in Education

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July 31, 2013

Edmos Edmatix
Organisation: Information Systems Pvt Ltd
Implementing Agency: Sri Prakash Group of Institutions
Website: www.edmatix.com

Objective: Good education makes a better world.
Description: Edmatix is helping education industry achieve their academic goals worldover. We are committed to help education community reinvent the education system. It helps management to easily manage various entities of their institutes in 360 degree view using MIS reports, teacher analysis, student analysis and many canned reports.

Target Group: Educational Institutions.
Achievements
• 65+ satisfied customer groups with a volume of 1,00,000+ Users
• ITIL Process based customer service support
• Supports international and local curricullum pattern (State, CBSE,ICSE,IB, etc)
• User friendly and Microsoft Certified User Interface (UI) design
• Integrated with various Fincancial Accounting ERPs such as Microsoft Dynamics NAV, Tally

Organisation: Kushal CREDAI Pune Metro
Website: www.kushal.org
Objective: Through project Kushal, a serious attempt has been made to empower construction workers with skills that will help them move ahead on their career path and earn a better livelihood.
Description: Kushal is a partnership project between CREDAI Pune Metro and NSDC (National Skill Development Corporation), Ministry of Finance, Goverment of India to help upgrade skills of construction workers in six trades – shuttering, bar bending, plumbing, tiling, masonry, and painting. The project target is to train 20, 000 workers in three years. A total of 8155 workers have been trained so far.
Target Group: Construction labourers
Achievements
• Won various awards such as UKISF Award 2011, CIDC Vishwakarma Awards 2012, Construction Week India Awards2012
• Registered Trainees: 13972
• Social Upliftment: the labourer can get the opportunity to earn while they learn
• Productivity at site and reduction of wastage

Partners in Learning – Saksham
Organisation: Microsoft Corporation India Pvt Ltd
Website: www.saksham-ms.in
Objective: To further IT adoption for teaching and learning in the higher education space.
Description: Saksham was started to give impetus to the National Mission on Education from the MHRD as a capacity building exercise through ICT in the higher education space. Since 2011, Project Saksham has aimed to enable university faculty from the non-IT domain in ICT skills to enhance current enrollment rates and to bridge the digital divide.
Target Group: University faculty
Achievements
• There are 28 universities under the programme that have adopted ICT tools for teaching
• Microsoft has made training available to 1522 faculty members since March 2011
• The innovative teacher training programme has been recognised by the MHRD
• Trained teachers have been proactive in galvanising their peers to adopt IT and digital content
• It has helped increase students’ general awareness, and has made classes engaging

STIR Education launches second search for Innovative Teachers

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July 31, 2013

STIR Education (Schools and Teachers Innovating for Results), an NGO who works with teachers and principals in affordable private and government schools to identify innovative educational practice, and then to take them to scale has launched its 2013 campaign in India after a successful pilot programme in 2012. STIR was founded with the sole purpose to improve educational outcomes for the world’s poorest children by seeking out innovative practice and taking them to scale through partner organisations such as National and State Government and NGOs.

Recently STIR Education conducted its first Teacher Innovative Conference for 2013-14 in Yamuna Vihar, East Delhi. The conference was attended by over 170 teachers and principals from over 45 affordable private schools. The teachers were taken through a range of activities and workshops to identify their own creative and innovative ideas that are improving the quality of educational activities in their schools. STIR has planned additional conferences scheduled from August-October ’13 throughout East and South Delhi for the academic year 2013-14.

The campaign along with visits to 1200 schools by the STIR Team will include 8 ‘super conferences’ in Delhi where teachers and principals will have the opportunity to share good practice and apply to be a STIR Innovator. A pilot conference early this year saw 300 teachers attend a conference with inspiring outcomes. The conferences will also result in the formation of STIR Networks where teachers will meet each month to continue to share practice and innovate for the benefit of their students. This years innovations will be selected on 15th October. The search will be pan India as partner organisations will be conducting searches in several other Indian states.

Siddharth Singh, India Programme Director said, “Our pilot programme gave us real confidence in the appetite among teachers to be members of STIRs teacher innovation network. These networks involve regular meetings where teachers can discuss problems which they are facing, adapt and implement these micro-innovations to solve problems, and see tangible results on educational outcomes for their children. By ensuring that the best micro-innovations from within local communities are uncovered, this approach ensures that local problems are met with the best locally relevant, teacher-driven solutions.”

He further said, “Over the next three years in India we aim to impact 12,000 teachers in STIR and partner-supported networks across the country. We also hope to touch a further 28,000 teachers through the scale-up of the micro-innovations identified. Overall, STIR therefore seeks to impact over a million children and create India’s largest network of committed and innovative teachers.”

Linc Academy to Empower Students Through e-Learning

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July 30, 2013

Linc Academy (LA), A LINC initiative, is an effort towards empowering students through e-learning. Education at the Linc Academy will be imparted through a two way virtual live class by renowned professors from IIM and other institutes.

The courses offered are PGPM (Industry Ready Program); UGC/AICTE recognised PGDM, MBA with nine months classes and 15-18 Months of Internship and placement assistance in big corporate houses, along with FAQ sessions with the professors. The Linc academy also offers a programme called ‘Graduate Plus’ where students can get a “Triple A” advantage with a cost recovery option in 24 months. The Qualification for the same is a Graduate or Diploma holder.

The courses would combine e-books, assignments, videos, multimedia, and personalized tips with lesson plans.All the courses are available online and can be accessed from anywhere.In case a student misses a class, a recorded version of the class will be available to them.Based on the flexible study model, it provides the convenience of flexi time and location convenience. With an affordable fee structure and installment facility, these courses are targeted towards fresh graduates & working executives.

Aimed towards working professionals and students who cannot afford to travel to regular college for their education; this program by LincAcademyis expected to go a long way in assisting students through an easy course structure and engaging program module. Special Soft Skill development classes, Mentoring and career counseling are also a part of this diverse curriculum. Also attached to the portfolio are the customised training programmes for the corporates in their required fields. The employees of LA scrutinize in detail the conditions of the corporate and provide customised training solutions as desired by them.

“ Higher education is becoming a basic requirement for good job opportunities and education in the online mode is the future. We expect Linc Academy to be a beacon of knowledge for people looking for flexible learning environment. Such platform reaches a diverse population and provides open learning environments 24 hours a day 7 days a week,” said Rohit Jalan, Director, Linc Academy.

HCL to offer break-fix support to Educomp

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July 30, 2013

HCL Infosystems Ltd has announced business collaboration partnership with Educomp. As per the agreement, HCL Infosystems will provide life cycle services for existing and new Educomp classrooms across India. This will include providing break-fix support and field repair services along with managing new installations of Educomp Classrooms. The service and support to Educomp classrooms would be provided by HCL Infosystems through a nation-wide network of field engineers, regional repair centres and a centralised repair factory.

Another aspect to the engagement between HCLI and Educomp is HCL Learning, the education and learning division of HCL Infosystems Ltd., sourcing Educomp’s smartclass Digital Teaching Systems (DTS) boards for its own IT Solutions for educational institutions. Educomp Smartclass today reaches close to fifteen thousand schools and seven million students. HCL Infosystems had earlier announced the creation of HCL Learning as a separate subsidiary, which is presently under process of being formed. HCL Learning will continue to focus on growing its business of providing IT solutions and content to the Indian education segment. HCL Learning currently has over 12000 classrooms, over 60 career development centres and offers content as well as innovative products such as DigiSchool and Xcelerate.

Speaking on the occasion Harsh Chitale, CEO and Whole Time Director, HCL Infosystems Ltd said, “We are extremely glad to associate with Educomp on this partnership. With the rapid foray of digital imprints on education across the country, we envisage this association getting off to a very successful start and growing manifold into the future. The partnership will draw on HCL Infosystems’ strength in providing best in class lifecycle services.”

“Providing timely and quality service and support to any IT Infrastructure is a critical component of the success of such implementations. This is true of any sector and the Education segment is no different. And I would say that since it is early days for the usage of IT in education in India on a mass scale, it is important to ensure that such Innovative IT solutions function at their optimum level always. Only then we will see greater adoption and support for such IT solutions amongst all stakeholders like students, teachers and even parents. In this context this association between HCL Infosystems and Educomp is a very important development,” Chitale added.

HCLI’s Lifecycle Services is backed by 720 support touch points, 10,000 service engineers, a reach in more than 5000 towns and Remote Infrastructure Management (RIM) centres across the nation which will strengthen Educomp’s service and support operations and add significant value to Educomp’s business. Commenting on the occasion Shantanu Prakash, CMD, Educomp Solutions Ltd. said, “Our partnership with HCL is a complimentary agreement playing to the strengths of both partners. The field service support from HCL at new and existing deployment levels will free Educomp to focus on its core competence, while ensuring better efficiencies in service areas. The agreement to promote Educomp’s proprietary Smartclass DTS boards through the HCL Learning platform also strengthens the relationship in an integrated arrangement. ”

Explaining the rationale in the context of expected growth in the education sector, Prakash said, “The digital education market is due for exponential growth over the next few years as demand from schools grows. Managing this growth will require substantial investments in product development, innovation, design, delivery and deployment. The market will demand specialisation at every level from here onward. It makes eminent sense for collaborations of the type we are embarking on to ensure that scaling up is handled efficiently, seamlessly and by distribution of competencies”

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