Posts filed under ‘Higher Education’
Indian govt okays Foreign Educational Institutions Bill; foreign varsities in India soon
Following is a report from the http://www.hindustantimes.com:
The cabinet on Monday okayed the Foreign Educational Institutions Bill, which once passed by Parliament will allow foreign universities to set up campuses in India.
Like private universities in the country, the foreign ones too — whether private or state-owned — won’t have to implement affirmative action-driven quotas for any category of students. There will also be no state-imposed restriction on the fees they charge.
But, foreign education providers will not be allowed to repatriate any of the profits they earn.
“The bill will create a new category of educational institutions not shackled by Indian education regulators,” said a Human Resource Development Ministry source. “But there will be independent audits to ensure these are not being run merely for profit.”
The bill was held up for more than four years due to opposition from the Left, on whose outside support UPA-I depended.
Institutions such as Duke University, US, and Imperial College, London, have shown interest in opening an India campus, sources said.
But Ivy League colleges in the US were not keen. “We have no specific plans in terms of opening a campus in India in the near future,” said George Joseph, assistant secretary for international affairs at Yale University. “My impression is the Ivy League institutions and others such as MIT and Stanford will not be keen either.” He did not say why.
By allowing foreign universities into India, the government hopes to stem the increasing number of Indian students going abroad for higher education.
According to government figures, $2.247 billion worth of foreign exchange went out of the country as remittance towards tuition fees and other expenses by Indian student in 2008-09.
The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, India doubles number of fellowships for doctoral science students
New Delhi, Jan 21 (PTI) In a good news for students in science stream, Government today decided to double the number of scholarships to 12,000 for doctoral studies in science.
The Union Cabinet, at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, approved a proposal for increase in the number of Junior Research Fellowship (JRF) through CSIR-UGC National Eligibility Test (NET) in the country.
“The main objective of the JRF-NET is to identify talented students who could be enrolled for Ph.D programmes in specific science domains, across the country’s scientific and academic institutions ,” a government spokesman said.
The CSIR had decided to offer 6,000 Junior Research Fellowships during the Tenth Plan period and the same has been increased two-fold for the Eleventh Plan.
The total cost of providing fellowships for about 12,000 students in the Eleventh Plan is estimated at Rs 444.34 crore.
The concept of deemed universities will be abolished in India
Following is a report by IANS published in The Pioneer:
The concept of deemed universities will be abolished in India but none of the students will suffer, Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Kapil Sibal said Tuesday, a day after the government moved an affidavit in the Supreme Court seeking derecognition of 44 such institutions.
“It is a policy decision that all the deemed universities will finally go,” Sibal told reporters at the 10th Editor’s Conference on social sector issues here.
“Let me also assure that no student will suffer. All of them will get university degrees,” the minister assured tens of thousands of students who may suffer if the central government derecognises the 44 universities.
Sibal’s comments come a day after the central government filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court stating that the recognition of 44 deemed universities must be taken away.
“The concept of deemed universities from the country will go in the near future and this is part of the reform process. We are putting in place the required legislations,” Sibal added.
The country has nearly 100 deemed universities that function as stand-alone universities but don’t give affiliation to other institutions.
Talking about the impact on students, Sibal said: “Technically, we haven’t derecognised any deemed university. We have moved the Supreme Court with an affidavit and a report by the expert committee on deemed universities. Let me assure, no student will suffer.
“We are going to take care of all students. And government’s intention is not to put any student in problem. All students will get a university degree,” the minister assured.
Sibal said the government had accepted the findings of the committee on the derecognition of 44 deemed universities.
“The court will tell us what course of action we will take,” the minister added.
Clarifying the stand, higher education secretary Bibha Puri Das said that to retain the deemed university status, an institution needs to maintain certain quality, which was “found wanting” in the 44.
She said as such these institutions will not be locked. They will remain as educational institutions but “need to take affiliations from recognised universities”.
Asked about fixing responsibility over people who have given these institutions the deemed university status, Sibal said: “I am looking forward for bringing education reforms. Don’t want to take any name. It’s not on my agenda.”
Asked if Arjun Singh, during whose tenure a majority of these institutions got the deemed status, was to be blamed, Sibal said: “I don’t want to take any names. I don’t want to look backward. We are on the cusp of an educational reform and I am going to do that. I am looking forward.”
Of the 44 deemed universities, against whom the central government wants action through the apex court, 16 are in Tamil Nadu. Jaypee Institute of Information, Noida, Gurukul Kangri Biswavidyalaya, Haridwar, National Museum Institute of History of Art, New Delhi, Sri Balaji Vidyapeeth in Puducherry, Dr. MGR Educational and Research Institute, Chennai are some of the institutions who are likely to lose their deemed university status.
India meteorological department (IMD) plans scholarships to attract young talent
Following is a report by IANS and taken from http://www.indiaedunews.net:
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) will offer scholarships to hundreds of science postgraduates to attract them towards meteorology and staff a department that is facing nearly 33 percent human resource shortage.
“We are ready to give stipend for the entire last year of the M.Sc students. The aim is to attract them to this branch of science,” Earth Sciences Minister Prithviraj Chavan said at the 135th foundation day of IMD here on Friday.
“We will also send them for a year or two for foreign training and I am not bothered if some one stays back too. What we need is young talents for this branch of knowledge – meteorology, seismology etc,” he added.
Chavan also asked the IMD authorities to develop a model through which they can get bright minds.
“The government is ready to hire and fill up the huge vacancies but the problem is where to get the talent. Bright minds are going to IT, banking and financial services and here we have to develop a model to attract them towards us,” the minister said.
IMD Director General Ajit Tyagi said that his department is facing a huge manpower shortage. “We are working with just two thirds of our required manpower,” he said.
When asked, IMD officials said that they will soon devise the scholarship plan as they need human resources badly.
The day is being celebrated to commemorate H.F. Blanford taking over as Imperial Meteorological Reporter on January 15, 1875, at Kolkata, the headquarters of what was later renamed the India Meteorological Department. It later shifted from Kolkata to Shimla, then to Poona (now Pune) and finally to New Delhi.
The IMD is the principal government agency in all matters relating to meteorology, seismology and allied subjects.
India has some of the oldest meteorological observatories of the world – those at Kolkata date from 1785 and at Chennai from 1796.
From a modest beginning in 1875, IMD has progressively expanded its infrastructure for meteorological observations, communications, forecasting and weather services, and has achieved a parallel scientific growth.
The minister also inaugurated the installation of a super-computing device at the IMD headquarters here, which will improve the accuracy of short and medium term weather forecasting.
Indian educational degree certificates will be available online
Following is a report by IANS and taken from http://in.news.yahoo.com:
New Delhi, Jan 12 (IANS) No need to run around in universities and school boards for getting educational certificates – from 2011, millions of students can get print-outs of their documents at the click of a mouse.
Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Kapil Sibal Tuesday announced that all school boards, technical colleges and universities will deposit their educational degrees in a centralised online ‘depository’.
‘From the depository, students can get their certificates online by paying a nominal fee. They can get a print-out of their degrees from home. This will help students a lot, who otherwise run around for it. It will become user friendly,’ Sibal said.
‘Holding of academic qualification in an electronic depository provides immense benefits to educational institutions, students, alumni and employers by enabling online access of academic qualifications,’ he explained.
The minister said the two depositories – National Security Depository Limited (NSDL) and Central Depository Services (India) Limited (CDSL) – are registered with the Securities and Exchange Board of India.
‘We will finalise the depository (with whom to tie up). It will be deposited like your share certificates. You can access it from home, office and there will be no tension of losing or displacing the certificates,’ the minister added.
Sibal said this will also eliminate the need for people to approach educational institutions for verification of such degrees by employers. It will also reduce the need for institutions to preserve records related to academic performance of students over a long time.
The system will also reduce the scourge of fake certificates. The system would ensure authenticity, fidelity and enabling online verification,’ Sibal added.
The minister said he has already set up a task force comprising IIT-Kanpur director Sanjay Dhande, IIT-Kozhikode director Debashis Chatterjee, All-India Council for Technical Education chairman S.S. Mantha, UGC vice-chairman Ved Prakash, Central Board of Secondary Education chairman Veneet Joshi, a joint secretary of department of financial services, and some senior officials from the HRD ministry.
The task force will submit a road map by March 31 this year. ‘We will bring a legislation to implement it compulsorily,’ Sibal added.
Kosal Discussion and Development Forum 