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ISB partners with Biocon to launch executive programme on Business Analytics

business analyticsMumbai: The Indian School of Business (ISB) is offering its first hybrid model of executive education programme in partnership with leading Biotechnology enterprise, Biocon. The ‘ISB Biocon Certificate Programme in Business Analytics’ aims to create the next generation of data management scientists.

The philanthropic arm of Biocon Foundation will support ISB’s endeavour by addressing the learning needs of professionals already working in the field of analytics and those who plan to start a career in data analytics. “Conceptualised and developed by ISB, CBA has inputs from some of the best minds from global academia , and business leaders,” said the B-school press statement.

Biocon’s CMD Kiran Mazumdar Shaw said, “I believe this course will address some of the growing needs of the industry across sectors.”

“There is an explosion in the data being generated in practically every sphere of business. With greater adoption of digital technologies , this is bound to grow exponentially. However, there is a dearth of available talent to help organisations make sense of this data deluge,” added Deepak Chandra , deputy dean, ISB.

Special training on safety, hygiene for mid-day meal staff, teachers

mealMangalore: The Dakshina Kannada education department will organise special training programmes for teachers and midday meal workers serving in government and aided schools with an aim to ensure safety and hygiene in midday meal kitchens.

The training will commence from October first week during the Dasara holidays break in schools and will be held at hobli and cluster levels for four to five days.

Through this initiative the department will ensure better quality service to schoolchildren and train cooks them on the aspects of handling emergency situations while using LPG cylinders for cooking. The department of health and family welfare will also be a part of the training programmes to create awareness on various health issues and hygienic food.

Mid-day meal scheme is the world’s largest noon meal programme and currently employs 24.58 lakh cook-cum-helpers under it. Nearly 10.52 crore children are being served mid-day meals in 12.18 lakh schools on a daily basis.

 

What steps should government take to ensure the quality of mid-day meals?

New UGC rules for collaboration between Indian, foreign institutes

ugc-logo2New Delhi: The University Grants Commission (UGC) has notified a fresh set of regulations that will allow Indian institutes with grade B accreditation to enter into collaboration with foreign educational institutions. The move comes in the wake of an increasing number of Indian institutes with B grade accreditation collaborating with foreign educational institutions. Through these regulations UGC aims to protect the interest of students and maintain quality standards.

The regulations are called the UGC (Promotion and Maintenance of Standards of Academic Collaborations between Indian and Foreign Educational Institutes) Regulations, 2012 .

Foreign institutions who enter into partnerships should be accredited with the highest grade in their homeland, the UGC notification said. As per the notification, “at the time of agreement for collaboration, Indian educational institution shall have accreditation by National Assessment and Accreditation Council with a grade not less than B or its equivalent grade.”

Indian educational institutions already having a collaborative arrangement shall comply with these regulations within a period of six months. Foreign educational institutions will have to abide by the conditions prescribed by the Indian government from time to time, the notification said.

Besides, the Indian institutes collaborating with foreign institutes shall have experience of at least five years offering educational programmes at the level of degree and post-graduate diplomas. Violation of rules could lead to termination of the MoU entered into for collaboration and even blacklisting, the notification said.

Technical institutes will not come under the purview of the regulations while government institutes shall be exempted from accreditation for the purpose of these regulations. Currently, around 50 foreign institutes are operating in India through twinning arrangement. Twinning programmes not only promise an international degree but also exposure to foreign campuses.

All institutes (Indian and foreign) involved in collaborations shall make public the academic requirements and other details of the programme on websites before commencement of the programme by Indian educational institutes concerned. No programme and research shall be offered which is against national security.

New faces at the helm at Laurus Edutech

ppppChennai: Laurus Edutech, one of the premier skills development companies in India, has appointed Ms Sudha Pillai, former IAS, as Non Executive Vice Chairperson. Sivaram Rajangam has been appointed as the Managing Director with immediate effect.

This was announced by Anurag Jain, Founder and Chairman of Laurus Edutech from Dallas, USA. “I am delighted to announce the appointments of Sudha Pillai and Sivaram as the Vice Chairperson and Managing Director of Laurus Edutech. Sudha and Sivaram are visionaries, successful leaders and intellectuals, who will provide outstanding guidance and support to our Group as we embark on our new expansion plans. Both of them are power-house of experience & talent and I am certain that the company will touch new skies under their tutelage,” said Anurag Jain.

“Sudha Pillai is one of the best known bureaucrats of our country with long standing in the public and private domain. With her vast experience, she will give a new direction to strategic planning and creating the right approach for growing our business further. In a career spanning 38 years, Sudha has held various positions including Member – Planning Commission, and Secretary – Ministry of Labour, besides District Collector (Trivandrum), Principal Secretary, Finance (Kerala), MD of Kerala Ceramics, Joint Secretary in the Dept. of Company Affairs, Joint Secretary and Additional Secretary in the Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Ministry”, Jain added.

Commenting about her new assignment, Pillai said, “Laurus Edutech has set up some of the finest facilities in the skilling centers and its scale and size is something any professional will want to associate with. I am delighted to be taking on this position at Laurus Edutech and working with the vibrant team at Laurus to achieve its business goals. I also look forward to working with the distinguished management leaders like Anurag and Vardhaman and be a part of the team.”

Introducing the new MD Sivaram Rajangam, Jain said, “Sivaram brings a wealth of experience and knowledge of more than 20 years in education and other industries. He has been the Senior Vice President at Pearson Education services handling the entire operations. With a deep understanding of the Indian education sector and proven ability to plan and execute business models in this segment, Sivaram’s keen business sense, outstanding management and marketing acumen combined with remarkable leadership skills will surely help the company achieve great heights.”
“This appointment comes at an opportune time for all concerned – most significantly for our partners,” states R. Sivaram. “The skill development sector is currently at an inflection point, and replete with opportunities. Requirement of Skilled labor in Chennai and in other parts of the country is going to rise over the next two years. I am indeed excited to be a part of the upcoming initiatives that the company has on the anvil & many more milestones to come.”

“I am extremely pleased to welcome Sudha and Sivaram to the company to lead our efforts in India. They are a strong addition to our leadership team,” said Vardhaman Jain, Founder Director of Laurus Edutech. “The company is in an exciting phase in its development and its work in Chennai and Delhi NCR plays a key role in positioning the company moving forward. I am confident that their vast experience and unique insights into the sector would be an invaluable asset to Laurus Edutech especially at a juncture when the company is eyeing ambitious growth.”
Laurus Edutech aims to be a pioneer in the area of skill development with a focus on bridging the demand-supply gap in skills and trained manpower and to enhance training options for the unorganized and informal sector

CBSE-run schools to promote career in armed forces

india-military-para_951251cThe Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has asked affiliated schools to suitably modify the curriculum of the general foundation course and to include the information about armed forces in it. With this, the CBSE aims to create awareness among students and parents about defence services. It hopes that it will motivate students to consider armed forces as a career option beyond the commonly pursued fields of engineering and medicine.

“It has been emphasised that in addition to other possible job options, the schools must also expose students to challenging and satisfying career in the armed forces under the ‘general foundation course’. The schools may visit the official websites of the Indian Army, Indian Air Force and Indian Navy for the motivational material,” a CBSE statement said.

The general foundation course is compulsory  for all senior secondary students. It aims to promote general knowledge as well as exploring prospective future career options for students. Two periods per week have been earmarked for this subject.

The Indian Armed Forces consist of the Army, Navy and Air Force supported by other Paramilitary forces. With a combined strength of over 4.7 million personnel, it is the world’s 4th largest military force.

 

Do you think the CBSE initiative will encourage students to take up a career in Indian Armed Forces?

Fusion International School Shifts to new building

Fusion International School, Hyderabad is planning to shift to new building by December 2013. The Management of Fusion International School is constructing new Campus at Survey No. 383, Ameenpur, Chanda Nagar, after Bandam Kommu kaman and Hanuman Temple in Two Acres Land.

The New school building is two Km away from Sri Devi Theatre. The facilities in campus include spacious classrooms, excellent ventilation, beautiful lawns, sandpit, children play area, Badminton Courts, Basket Ball court, Tennis Court, Mini Cricket ground , Computer Labs, Library, Science Lab, Language lab and Geography Room. Completion of G + 1 Floors (18 000 sft) in the first phase is expected by 15th September 2013.

Oxford Educate wins IDA Award 2013

OUP India’s digital aid OXFORD EDUCATE wins IDA AWARDS 2013 for Digital Content and Software in Education

Oxford University Press (OUP) has announced that its new digital aid- Oxford Educate, has won the IDA Award 2013 in the category “Digital Content and Software in Education”.

The winner was announced at the Asian Summit on Education & Skills (ASES) 2013 on September 12, 2013 in Mumbai in the presence of over 500 industry leaders and education innovators.

Ranjan Kaul, Managing Director, OUP India says: “It is overwhelming to learn that Oxford Educate has won the IDA Award 2013 for Digital Content and Software in Education. Providing teachers with a breadth of high quality materials and support is central to our educational work at Oxford University Press. Oxford Educate is an exciting digital teaching aid integrating interactive e-books which include animations, audio and video clips, slideshows and other multimedia content for all keyOxford University Press school courses. As a department of the University of Oxford, we create world-class resources and make them available as widely as possible in pursuit of the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship and education.”

Mahindra Group Enters into Engineering Education

The Mahindra Group has marked its entry into the Higher Education sector with the inauguration of an Engineering institution – ‘Mahindra École Centrale’ (MEC). This is in collaboration with École Centrale Paris, one of the oldest engineering institutions in France, and Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University (JNTU) Hyderabad.Mahindra École Centrale is the maiden venture of Tech Mahindra’s 100% subsidiary Mahindra Educational Institutions.

The Honorable Governor Andhra Pradesh, ESL Narasimhan unveiled the ceremonial plaque along with Vineet Nayyar, Chairman – Board, Mahindra École Centrale, C P Gurnani, Board Member, Mahindra École Centrale at the newly built campus at Hyderabad, in presence of École Centrale’s representatives and the Consul General of France in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh and Dr Rameshwar Rao, Vice Chancellor, JNTU(H).

Vineet Nayyar, Executive Vice Chairman, Tech Mahindra said, “It is a proud moment for us to have launched Mahindra École Centrale today. Tech Mahindra enjoys a leadership position and operates in various industry segments. We recognize the critical need to transform engineering talent into business leadership, in a globalized world. Mahindra École Centrale will provide apprenticeship with collaboration from the Industry, focus on humanities, international exposure and allied education to develop a ‘whole-brain-approach’ to business.”

Speaking on this occasion Dr Rameshwar Rao, Vice Chancellor, JNT University Hyderabad said, “The emphasis on modern education and strong support by Andhra Pradesh government will help develop a large and talent-rich pool of technology professionals. This initiative by the Mahindra Group will not only help us impart quality education of global standards but also help Andhra Pradesh to become India’s advanced technology corridor.”

The institution is aiming to provide world-class infrastructure to support a strong research vision in the thrust areas such as Energy, Environment, Communications, Infrastructure, Transportation, Materials, and Defense.

Dr Sanjay Dhande, Founder Director, Mahindra École Centrale said: “The industry experts predict a shortfall of approximately 2.5 million employable engineers in India by 2020. That’s a mammoth task for both public and private institutions. Mahindra École Centrale will strive to bridge this gap and be a worldwide leader in engineering education and research. It intends to have top-class practitioners from India and overseas and offer students cutting-edge facilities in emerging technologies such as Manufacturing, knowledge based services.”

The Institution has multidisciplinary approach and helps students develop ability to adapt to change, to master the complexity of organizations, and to understand and adapt new technologies that are still in their infancy or as yet unknown.

Hervé Biausser, President, École Centrale Paris said, “École Centrale Paris strongly believes that Higher Education and Research is the key for ensuring a future that is sustainable. École’s pedagogy, knowledge & experience earned over 200 years will enable us to shape the innovation ecosystem of the next century — École Centrale Paris is very proud to be associated with Mahindra for this impactful initiative.”

Mahindra École Centrale shall employ national and international faculty who work at the frontiers of academic enquiry and follow the developments of the real world in order to educate students to become experts in their disciplines. More information on this important academic project will be announced in due course of time.

Khan Academy Extends beyond English

Khan Academy has launched Spanish Website to provide access to the half billion Spanish speakers worldwide. The new website offers the complete Khan Academy website in Spanish. This is the first language other than English, Khan Academy has done this for.

Spanish-speaking learners can now grow with their personalised math experience by using the new learning dashboard (launched in August), learners receive personalised recommendations on what to work on next, have access to over 100,000 math practice problems, and can track their progress. They can explore tutorials in other topics. Spanish tutorials cover a range of subject areas, including physics, chemistry, biology, art history and more. Also, they can learn with a mentor by signing up a parent, mentor, or teacher to help guide their path. These coaches can access real-time dashboards to identify where learners are and where they need help.

 

What do you think about Khan Academy’s initiative for Education sector?

eBay to Recruit 700 Engineers by 2016

eBay is looking to recruit around 700 engineers in India by 2016. Recently, eBay has established a new global development centre (GDC) in Bangalore, which contains  centre of excellence for both eBay and PayPal – the secure online payment company owned by the same firm.

This 1.5 lakh square feet centre is the second development centre by eBay in India after the company had set-up a even bigger centre in Chennai back in 2007. The Chennai centre currently has a team of 2000 people working there and the company plans to raise the number of people working in the Bangalore centre to a total of 1000 from the current number of 300. The company is looking to hire technologists with product development experience across functions like platform and application development, architecture, quality engineering, product management, marketing and product analytics, user experience and design and information security over the next few years.

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