Education Professionals in India Group News | LinkedIn

Sikkim Manipal University- Directorate of Distance Education (SMU-DDE)has announced the signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Edinburgh Napier University (ENU), a premier state-owned, Government University in Edinburgh and one of UK's largest Universities.

The collaboration between SMU-DDE and ENU aims to foster advancement in teaching, research, academic collaboration, cultural understanding and to create avenues for enhancing student experience.

It will create a strong foundation to encourage exchange and sharing of academic, scientific and cultural experiences. ENU will be an academic partner with SMU-DDE by providing academic training and infrastructure to fulfill the educational needs of the students enrolled.

Under the scope of engagement, ENU and SMU-DDE will collaborate in the management education space. SMU-DE degree holders will be given the option to get an additional MBA degree from ENU by enrolling 60 out of 180 credits of the ENU MBA program.

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Education Professionals in India Group News | LinkedIn

Lovely Professional University has signed two important MOUs with top Institutions of New Zealand, Unitec Institute of Technology (UIT), Auckland & Waikato Institute of Technology (WIT), Hamilton. These MOUs are Inter-Institutional Agreement of Co-operation for Programmes of Staff Student Exchange, Collaborative Research, Conferences and seminars, Co-operative learning, Development and Application of Educational Methods and Technologies, Visiting scholar programmes, Short-term training Programmes and projects etc. In this regard, detailed and separate MOUs have been duly signed by Dr Rick Ede, President and Chief Executive, UIT and Dr Monica Gulati, Registrar, LPU, on one hand and between Stewart Brougham, Director Inter-nationalization, WIT, and Er Aman Mittal, Deputy Director, Division of International Affairs, LPU on the other, on strategic level. Under this, the Institutions will also work towards developing jointly accredited programmes and in establishing academic programmes by means of open and distance education.

These MOUs are in continuation to active delegation participation from eight universities of New Zealand at the University, in the month of April, 2011, which kept streamlining the collaborative purposes, since then. However, the coveted MOUs have only been signed with these two most promising and students favouring Universities.

In this context, the Chancellor, Mittal said: "We always want to accord maximum global exposure to our students as well as the members of staff focusing, mainly and primarily, on real world education. This all is under a strong motive to provide global-oriented work-ready human resource to the Industry world around." He added: "Such MOUs with world-class Institutes are indeed on these lines. Now, the students are expected to utilize this effort of ours fully for the betterment of themselves as well as the society."

On contacting Dr Rick Ede of UIT, he said: "India is a market with huge growth potential, especially, in the education sector. Indian engineering and management institutions have doubled from 2005-06 to 2010-11. This rapid growth represents the demand for professional, job-oriented degrees, as these programmes have a relatively higher employability. Understanding the same, we have come to LPU in India intending to work-around such requirements. Similarly, Stewart Brougham from 'Wintec' said: "We are looking forward to start working in India to bring and build forth a stronger work-force community through education, research and career development."

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JSS college offers course in human rights - The Times of India

DHARWAD: The principle civil judge C Rajshekhar called upon educational institutions to inculcate human values among students during the course of education, so that they will conduct themselves as good citizens in their life.

Inaugurating the UGC-sponsored certificate course in Human Rights at Janata Shikshana Samiti (JSS) College in Dharwad on Tuesday, he said human rights are the soul of democracy and respecting human rights means upholding democracy. He appreciated the initiative taken by the college in introducing the course.

Principal of the college, Ajith Prasad, narrated how human rights had been violated in South Africa, America and India in the past and emphasized the importance of respecting human rights in a civilized society. He also explained the initiative taken by international organizations like UNO in protecting human rights.Professor Chitra Daijode and others also spoke.

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Only 30% pass GU MPhil test - The Times of India

Results of the entrance test for the Master of Philosophy (MPhil) course has failed to improve at Gujarat University. As much as 70 percent of the students who appeared in the test failed this year.

Complying with the norms of University Grants Commission (UGC), Gujarat Universityconducted the admission test for 300 seats of MPhil programme in July. While more than 600 students appeared in the test for various subjects, only 30 percent of examinees cleared the test.

Apart from Gujarati, other subjects like Sanskrit, Hindi and English had very few students clearing the test. While 34 students appeared in Sanskrit, only 2 students passed the test. Similarly out of 44 students who gave the test only 1 student passed the test and in Hindi 10 students out of 15 cleared the test in Hindi. However students fared well in Gujarati. Out of 26 students who gave the test for Gujarati, 24 students cleared the test.

A student who could clear the test said, "The University has not arranged for any mock test and the format of the test was new to us. Moreover we found the questions tough to understand as the logical and reasoning sections were in English."

The test of 120 marks included a section worth 40 marks related to the students' area of specialization. The other sections were on logic and reasoning. Gujarat University faced a similar situation where many students failed in the test last year as well.

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Fake Institutes

Fake Educational Institutions

The Central Government, through University Grants Commission (UGC) and All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), keeps a watch over the fake universities and the unapproved technical institutions. The UGC has identified 21 universities/institutions as fake running in various parts of the country, in contravention of the UGC Act, 1956, out of which 8 are in Uttar Pradesh, 6 are in Delhi and 1 each in Bihar, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. Similarly, the AICTE had identified 348 institutions running technical and management courses/programmes in violation of the AICTE Regulation dated 6th January, 2005. Out of these total number of unapproved institutions, 75 each are in Delhi and Maharashtra, 52 in Andhra Pradesh, 34 in West Bengal, 30 in Uttar Pradesh, 26 in Karnataka, 17 in Haryana, 14 in Tamil Nadu, 9 in Chandigarh, 4 in Gujarat, 2 each in Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan and Goa and 1 each in Uttrakhand and Kerala. The UGC has taken legal action in various courts against 6 of these fake universities. The State Governments have also initiated action against certain fake universities. Show-cause notices have also been served by the UGC to some of the fake universities/institutions and by the AICTE to the unapproved institutions for closure of their programme. With a view to check the growth of such institutions, wide publicity is given by the UGC and the AICTE every year through print/electronic media as well as on their official websites, cautioning students and parents not to take admission in fake and unapproved institutions. A public ‘Appeal’ was issued by the Ministry sometime back that students must satisfy themselves that courses offered by institutions are recognized under the relevant laws and are of quality and repute and that in case of any doubt, necessary clarification may be obtained from the relevant statutory bodies, such as the UGC, AICTE. The State/UT Governments have also been advised, from time to time, to issue necessary instructions to the Districts/Police Administration to take immediate action against such institutions. The last such communication was issued at the level of Minister of Human Resource Development on 2nd May, 2011. This information was given by the Minister of State for Human Resource Development Smt. D. Purandeswari, in a written reply to a question, in the Lok Sabha today. MV/SKS/ gk (Release ID :75716)

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PM seeks to increase private funding in research to 50%

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has suggested increasing private sector funding in Research and Development to 50% from the current 20%. The suggestion was made during a review meeting of eight ministries related to scientific research. The meeting was attended by representatives from science and technology, space, atomic energy, earth sciences, biotechnology, defence production ministries.

Prime Minister spelt out the need to increase country’s footing as a major player in publication of scientific literature, "Prime Minister said that India's share in scientific literature published in international journals should be increased to 10% in the next plan," said an official.

According to the sources, all participating departments were told to make most of the prevailing interest in India as an investment destination and come up with ways to attract FDI in scientific endeavours. African countries and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) have expressed interest in partnering scientific ventures in India, and also to purchase technology.

Singh also assure that issue of inclusion of more than 1,000 scientists in the new pension scheme that was turned down by the finance ministry recently or norms for the selection of heads of scientific PSUs will be settled.

The PMO directed the department of science and technology to send a "well-reasoned note" on the pension scheme to the finance ministry, and asked the department of scientific and industrial research (DSIR) to evolve a suitable selection process for scientific PSUs so that the recurrent bureaucrat-scientist tussles do not hamper their working.

The PMO also asked for expediting the setting up of the biotechnology industry research assistance council (BIRAC).

The research and development sector is increasingly becoming business-funded in developed countries. For instance, the European Union's R&D programme in 2008 relied 55% on private sector's funds, a third came from the respective governments and around 9% from abroad. In 2007, of the entire amount spent in Japan, 77.7% was bankrolled by the private sector, and in the US, 67.3% was funded by the business houses.

[Source: Times of India]

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Role of teachers crucial for RTE’s success: PM - Indian Express

Using the occasion of Teachers’ Day, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today suggested that the dedication and commitment of teachers would be crucial for achieving the objectives of the Right to Education Act which has the potential to transform schools and lives of children.

Interacting with a group of meritorious teachers here, Singh noted that teachers have a critical role to play in shaping the future of the country and they should inculcate progressive and rational attitudes among children maintaining a balance between tradition and modernity.

He sought to strike a personal chord with the teachers by pointing out that teaching has always been “close to my heart” as he had started his career as a teacher.

“The Right to Education legislation that we have enacted has the potential to transform our schools and the lives of our children.

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NCERT to get ‘university’ status: Kapil Sibal | India Education Review

The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) will now get ‘university’ status announced HRD Minister Kapil Sibal. The status will enable NCERT to address diverse issues and challenges in the education sector and also help its teachers draw professor level salary.

NCERT should be made a ‘Centre of Education’ said the minister.

"I strongly suggest that we should work very hard to ensure that the university status to NCERT is brought about as quickly as possible," he said at a function.

The status will also guide other organisations in this country to take the agenda of NCERT and its regional units forward.

Sibal pointed out that the scholarship amount paid under the prestigious National Talent Search Examination (NTSE) scheme is a "farcical" Rs 500 per month and assured to "raise" the amount. According to officials, the university status will enable NCERT confer BEd, MEd degrees and PhDs through its five regional educational colleges.

Recalling Prime Minister's Independence Day address where he disclosed plans to set up a commission to look at the new vision of education in 21st century, Sibal suggested that NCERT should also be an integral part of such a proposal.

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