UGC can continuously impose conditions to make Deemed Universities imrove quality - The Times of India

The Madras high court bench has ruled that the University Grants Commission has the right to continuously impose conditions to make Deemed Universities maintain their quality as institutions of higher learning. Justice K Chandru dismissing petitions filed by 14 deemed to be Universities and Tamil Nadu Deemed Universities Association challenging the UGC(institutions to be deemed Universities) Regulations 2010, said institutions had willingly executed a Memorandum of Association agreeing to abide by the UGC guidelines and could not now go back on it. The rules aim at improving quality of education by reducing involvement of family members in managing institutions. The court said the concept of the Trust founder or founder having power to bring his family members does not arise having established...

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President calls on Govt., varsities to work together

The HinduPresident Pratibha Patil laying the foundation stone for IGNOU sothern campus in Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday. Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, Speaker G. Kathikeyan, A.Sampath MP, IGNOU VC V.N. Rajasekharan Pillai are also seen in the picture. Photo: C. Ratheesh KumarPresident Pratibha Devisingh Patil on Wednesday called on the Government and universities to work closely on socially relevant issues and to reach out to a broad segment of society.Laying the foundation stone for the Southern Regional Campus of Indira Gandhi National Open University here, the President said the country should cater to the educational requirements of its predominantly young population. After universalisation of primary education, it was time to work towards...

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Entrance test must for all research aspirants - www.daily.bhaskar.com

Jaipur: Now, students who have cleared NET and SLET will have to appear a test — MPhil PhD Admission Test (MPAT) — in order to study PhD courses.As per the research section of University of Rajasthan, a notification has been issued by University Grants Commission (UGC) informing that students who have cleared national eligibility test (NET) or state level eligibility test (SLET) will also have to appear and clear MPAT to get registered for studying Doctorate of Philosophy (PhD).Research deputy registrar Dr Neelu Mahajan while giving details informed that the university's norm would start from this year.Confirming the decision, UGC official said that "Last year relaxation was given to NET and SLET candidates; however, this year they will have to appear in pre-Phd entrance" Many university professors...

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India's MBA Ranking Shakeup - BusinessWeek

It comes as no surprise that the majority of India’s top management schools are the government-run Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs). But which of the elite IIMs is the best? For most of the last decade, it has been IIM Ahmedabad, one of the oldest and best-known management schools in the country, but this year there has been a shakeup, according to the Business Today-Nielsen ranking of India’s Best B-schoolsIn the latest ranking, IIM Bangalore was named the number one school in the country, making it to the top slot for the first time since 2002. In second place is IIM Calcutta, followed by IIM Ahmedabad. It is the first time in eight years that IIM-Ahmedabad has not held the top slot, the editors said.The IIMs make up seven of the top ten business schools in the rankings, including...

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Distance PhD bar off

The University Grants Commission (UGC) has lifted its two-year-old ban on MPhil and PhD courses through correspondence, the U-turn apparently forced by legal opinion against the move following protests from universities.Open universities like Ignou and several general universities had protested the ban on the ground that their respective laws, passed by Parliament or legislatures, allowed them to offer such courses. Ignou had even continued to offer such programmes.Faced with the resistance, the higher education regulator sought legal opinion on whether it could override such powers conferred by the acts to the universities.Last month, the UGC held a meeting where it was decided to drop the ban. “An open university may be permitted to conduct MPhil/PhD programmes through distant education...

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More Indian students seek admission in US - The Times of India

Reversing recent trends, prospective graduate students from India seekingadmission in US institutions increased eight percent in 2011 after increasing just one percent in 2010, according to a new survey. Ahead of India, however, were China which recorded double-digit increases in applications (21 percent) and the Middle East and Turkey (16 percent), according to the survey by Council of Graduate Schools (CGS). Overall the number of prospective international students increased 11 percent between 2010 and 2011 with the rate of increase for fall 2011 outpacing that of the last four years. Offers of admission to prospective graduate students from India too rose 8 percent in 2011, the first increase to occur since 2007, the survey noted. For prospective graduate students from India, applications...

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University World News - INDIA: Hazare unrest delays higher education bills

Protests led by social activist Anna Hazare, which are likely to escalate in the coming week, has meant that a parliamentary bill to allow international branch campuses to set up in India, and other key higher education reform bills, have a negligible chance of making it through in the ongoing session of the Indian parliament. Hazare, who has united students, academics, farmers and others from all social backgrounds in his populist anti-corruption campaign, has increased pressure on parliament to deal with a bill to set up an anti-corruption watchdog or ombudsman (Lok Pal). The issue has dominated the stormy parliamentary session, which began 1 August. The previous parliamentary session was also disrupted by the uproar over corruption. Meanwhile 15 higher education reform bills are waiting...

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Press Information Bureau English Releases

Government has taken various steps for expansion and improving quality of higher education during the XI Five Year Plan, which include setting up of 15 new Central Universities, including conversion of 3 States Universities into Central Universities, 8 new Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), 7 new Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), 5 new Indian Institutes of Science Education & Research (IISERs), 2 new schools of Planning & Architecture (SPAs), 10 new National Institutes of Technology (NITs), 20 new Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IITs) in Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode and 374 Model Colleges in Educationally Backward Districts. For quality enhancement, several initiatives have been taken viz. National Mission on Education through Information Communication...

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Alone At The Gator Park

Until October 2008, Neeraj Sharma, a 30-year-old sales professional, was in an enviable position, working for a big, successful American company. He loved it. Then the carpet got pulled from under his feet. In the following months, one by one, Sharma and most of his colleagues in Delhi were “downsized” by the multinational, which was keeping time to a tanking US economy. To keep his sacking a secret (“I didn’t want my family to worry”), Neeraj packed his bags and took off.When he returned from travelling across the country, he discovered an entrepreneur budding inside him. “I realised stability and control comes from doing your own thing,” he says. Neeraj is working again, for a large Indian firm this time, but he recently raised enough to...

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Vice Chancellors conference in Mysore begins - southindia - Karnataka - ibnlive

The two-day South Zone Vice-Chancellors’ Conference-2011 of the Association of India Universities (AIU), New Delhi, will be held at Mahatma Gandhi Auditorium, Infosys Leadership Institute (ILI), Infosys campus, Mysore from August 19.Addressing the press here on Thursday, secretary general of Association of Indian Universities Dr A D N Bajpai said that about 50 vice-chancellors from central, state, open, agricultural and deemed universities of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry are participating in the conference.He said that the conference proposes to discuss topics relating to diversity of higher educational institutions and quality concerns; features of National Council for Higher Education and Research Bill 2010; Information Resources and Knowledge Networks, among...

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MHRD’s education schemes for the Muslim Minority | India Education Review

The National Monitoring Committee on Minority Education (NMCME) was constituted in 2004 to look into all aspects of education for the minorities and suggest ways and means to improve the conditions for educational empowerment of minorities. An Expert Committee of the NMCME was constituted to give inputs for revising the programme of modernization of Madrasas. It suggested that Madrasas be provided a linkage with the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) to provide certification of academic levels, linkages with vocational education, improving the quality of education in modern subjects, introduce teacher training, enhancement of teacher salaries, strengthening of State Madrasas Boards and raising awareness about education programmes for the Muslim Community.Ministry of Human Resource...

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India Inc still to suggest ways on dealing with black money -

The government has not received any suggestions from major industry bodies to deal with the menace of black money, even as corporate leaders today said a solution should be found to end corruption. "We wrote to all the industry bodies and associations inviting suggestions from them on tackling the black money menace, but the Board has not yet received any suggestions from the corporate world," a senior official of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT). Industry bodies including Ficci, CII, Assocham, PHD Chamber and Nasscom were asked to suggest administrative and legal steps to check generation of black money by July 15. CBDT will now send a reminder asking them to submit their suggestions by September 15. While the chambers have not responded till date, the CBDT has been flooded with...

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'Religious, political, social and criminal are four major causes of terrorism' - The Times of India

Senior IPS officer Sudhansu Sarangi went to England recently to receive PhD from the University of Liverpool for research on terrorism, a global menace that has not spared India by any long shot. He spoke to Rajaram Satapathy to share his views on terrorism and terrorists.Q- Many must have done research on terrorism. What is special about your study?A-Research on terrorism is an intricate task, given the kind of horrific crimes terrorists perpetrate and the secretive manner in which they live. Since 9/11 there has been a proliferation of research on terrorism. The Israelis and the Americans have some of the most active research programmes trying to understand how people are drawn into terrorism. But most of the works are based on secondary data, media reports and anecdotal accounts. Mine is...

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IIT Bombay plans to offer MD-PhD programme - Express India

Now, a premier engineering institute like Indian Institute of Technology(IIT), Bombay, is considering the feasibility of offering a MD-PhD programme jointly with an organisation which will be part of the healthcare consortium being initiated by the institute. The primary objective of the consortium is to have joint educational and training programmes and research projects which are mutually beneficial.Letters of intent to be part of the consortium have been recently sent to organisations including Tata Memorial Hospital, KEM Hospital, National Institute for Research in Reproductive Health (NIRRH), Advanced Centre for Treatment, Research and Education in Cancer and Strand Life Sciences and Span Diagnostics. Not just this, students of IIT Bombay, who are keen on doing bio-medical research, will...

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Business Line : Industry & Economy News : Corruption can impact investor confidence, fears chamber

Although bullish about India's growth, the corporate sector is concerned that corruption will affect the confidence of international investors, a survey conducted by the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI) has revealed.The survey covered 70 CEOs across sectors and focussed on the business expectations of the industry.A majority of the respondents expected the real GDP growth rate to remain above 8 per cent during financial year 2012 and within the range of 8 to 10 per cent during 2013-15. Inflation is expected to remain above 8 per cent during financial year 2012, and between 5 and 8 per cent during financial year 2013-15. The respondents feel that a possible softening in global commodity prices will help in moderating inflation in India. According to the survey, interest rates (repo...

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Press Information Bureau English Releases

The United Nations Academic Impact is an initiative open to universities and other institutions of higher education and research worldwide which undertake activities in support of the mission and mandates of the United Nations. The new initiative aims to promote a culture of intellectual cooperation, serving as a point of contact for ideas and proposals relevant to the United Nations mandate, and foster direct engagement by institutions in programmes, projects and initiatives for the realization of the Millennium Goals and other United Nations objective. About 50 Indian institutions have joined UNAI so far. UNAI gives active support to 10 universally accepted principles in the areas of human rights, literacy, sustainability and conflict resolution, which are based on the United Nations Charter,...

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Actress gets letter for security guard interview -

Goa's state employment agency 'wants' a film actress doing her PhD and computer science graduates to appear for job interviews for security guards.Priyanka Bidaye, who has acted in two regional films and is studying for her PhD in Physical Chemistry, is one of the several dozen people who were sent call letters earlier this month for interview and physical test for the post of a security guard at the state industries department.'I got a call letter for the post of Industrial Security guard Aug 8. I have done my MSc in Physical Chemistry and currently doing PhD. Are the people eligible for the post getting call letters at all? This needs to be investigated,' Bidaye told IANS.She has acted in two films, 'Saanwariya.com' and 'Alisha', which were screened at the International Film Festival of...

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Official's callousness leaves Indian players red-faced at WUG - Hindustan Times

There seems to be no respite for the Indian contingent at the World University Games (WUG) in Shenzhen, China. After chef-de-mission, Gurdeep Singh, became a source of embarrassment when he insisted on becoming the flag-bearer at the opening ceremony, the players are again in the midst of anunwanted controversy.The kit provided by the Association of India Universities (AIU) has been rendered useless as the T-shirts don't have 'India' embossed on them. As per the rules, participants are not allowed to compete without the country's name on their shirts.Appalling attitude "It was a shock when the organisers told us that we could not compete with these T-shirts, as they did not have 'India' on the back. Eventually, we were allowed to participate...

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Mobile school helps India towards its educational goals — SOS Children

According to Government of India data, net enrolment for primary schools is already at 98.6 per cent. And targets for equity in the enrolment of girls are reported as being achieved. However, there are still some poor families who fail to sign up their children for primary education or keep them in school till the age of 14.IRIN reports on a bus scheme being run in Delhi to improve school attendance among children of low-income families. A converted bus acts as a mobile school. Equipped with educational materials such as books, DVDS, computers and toys, the vehicle travels round poor districts of Dehli and picks up around 300 children. The bus then stops and teachers provide the children with two hours of lessons from Monday to Friday.A short film made by IRIN as part of its ‘Kids in the City’...

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