Time for fare well in ITM University

Gwalior. ITM University says bye to its final students by organizing a fare well party for them. Party was started on a high note as senior students lighted the lamp and inaugurated the party. The colorful event started with the performance of Jay Prakash who sung song for seniors, it was then third year students who rock the stage with their dance performance.


ITM University organizes a fare party for its final year students as they completed a lo9ng journey of four years in this University and now they are leaving, though it was a sad moment but junior students made it colorful by their various performances. Mr. and Ms. ITM University was the event to talk about as almost all students participated in that but it was Varun Tiwari and Shaleja Diwedi who came out as winner. 

On this occasion ITM University’s chancellor congratulated all the seniors for doing well in their academics and wishes them luck for their future. He also showed his concern city’s critical condition and said that ITM will be organizing a cadet march of peace on 29th April.      

Two days national conference in Shri Ram College

Gwalior.Shri Ram College’s mechanical department is all set to organize two days national conference on the topic ‘Recent Advances and Futuristic trends in Thermal Engineering’. Conference will be inaugurated by Bhopal’s N.A.N.I.T’s director Dr. Appu Kuttan. 

Shri Ram College is all set to give its students knowledge on futuristic trends in thermal engineering by organizing two days conference. Conference will be held from 28th of April till 29th of April, and conference will be joined by expertise from all over the country and they will be sharing a vital piece of knowledge from students. 

First day of the conference will be taken by Bhopal’s N.A.N.I.T’s director Dr. Appu Kuttan, second day Dr. Sanjeev Jain from IIT Delhi and vice president of magnum steel ltd. O.P. Jalan, who will be giving information on the changes which would take place in future in thermal engineering section.      

31,000 students in Indore to appear for All India Engineering Entrance Exam

INDORE: About 31,000 students will appear for the 11th All India Engineering Entrance Exam (AIEEE) 2012 offline test to be held at around 51 different centres in the city on Sunday. Last year, nearly 26,000 students had appeared for the exam at 34 centres.

SK Joshi, city-coordinator of examination and principal of Vidyasagar School told ToI that after IIT-JEE,AIEEE is the most popular exam in the country. "In the past 10 years, the number of students appearing for AIEEE has increased manifold. We had started with five centres in the city. This year, there will be more  than 50 centres in the city," added Joshi.

Country-wide, close to 11 lakh aspirants are expected to appear for the exam that is regarded as the gateway to 30 National Institutes of Technology (NITs) besides five Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IITs), central- and state-funded institutions and self-financed deemed universities and other institutions. Indore is one of the five cities in the state where the offline exam will be conducted by theCentral Board of Secondary Education (CBSE). The exam will be conducted simultaneously in 63 different cities across the country.

However, Indore does not figure among the list of cities where online exam will be conducted. This year 11 lakh students will appear for the AIEEE, which is 50,000 more than last year. More institutions are expected to admit students through AIEEE. A decision in this regard will be taken by the CCB, which will be constituted by HRD ministry, and a list of tentative institutions joining the CCB will be placed on the website: www.ccb.nic.in.

The entrance examination features two papers - Paper-I consisting of three parts of Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics of equal weightage with objective type questions for B.E/B.Tech courses and Paper-II consisting of Mathematics, Aptitude Test and Drawing for B Arch and B Planning. The aptitude test is designed to evaluate candidate's perception, imagination, observation, creativity and architectural awareness.

IGNOU launches new programmes in health care

NAGPUR: The Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), Nagpur centre, has activated new centres and programmes in the health care and foreign languages. This includes - postgraduate diplomas in maternal and child health, and geriatric medicine along with certificate courses in Ayurveda, AYUSH nursing, French language, and home-based care providers. Each of these courses, starting from July, will provide 30-40 seats with different admission criteria.

National level experts have formulated these programmes which have been put in the curriculum of IGNOU to reach every nook and corners of the country for providing opportunities in the field of education.

Dean of AYUSH (Ayurveda) College, Ganesh Mukkawar, says, "Nagpur centre will help to extend professional training in Ayurveda to masses." People come from Pune and Mumbai as well to attend classes in the Nagpur region as it is the educational hub for Central India, he adds. Last year, 7,000 students had taken admission in IGNOU for the various courses and 2,000 had enrolled in the MBA course.

Moreover, IGNOU will start new centres like Sadabai Raisoni Women's College and Kaushlyadevi Maheshwari Mahila Mahavidyalaya in the city and one centre in Gondia from the new academic session. "Every university is trying to achieve a single objective which is to expand the scope of education in the country. We also aim that education should reach the grass root level and every citizen should be well-qualified," says Nagpur regional director P Sivaswaroop.

Universities have lost focus on research activities: AICTE chief

NAGPUR: All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) chairman SS Mantha on Saturday lamented that universities have become exam conducting centres and lost their focus on research activities. "The universities have lost focus and harps successfully conducting examinations involving over five lakh students like an achievement," he said while apologizing to the present and former vice chancellors who were seated on the dais.

His critical remarks came while speaking in an international conference organized by Central India Group of Institutions where a galaxy of dignitaries and educationists were present. They included -Nagpur University vice chancellor Vilas Sapkal, former VC SN Pathan, Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Technical University VC Raju Mankar (Former LIT director), and AICC secretary Anees Ahmed.

The AICTE chief further stated that lot of interdisciplinary research can happen in traditional universities as they have courses like arts, science and commerce under one roof. "In fact these universities are best places to promote research and VCs have big roles to play," he remarked.

A VJTI, Mumbai, graduate, Mantha lamented that students are no longer attracted to basic sciences and as a result seats lie vacant in many leading institutions. "India's education sector is witnessing skewed growth and in future we will not get good researchers in basic or applied sciences. If you don't promote basic sciences, there will be no basic research," he said, adding that thrust must be given on fundamental research and later on inter/multidisciplinary research.

"People talk about creation of smaller universities as officials of big ones like Mumbai and Pune don't see eye-to-eye. But I believe a lot more should happen on the research field within universities," Mantha, added.

The AICTE chief who was credited with bringing radical changes in the engineering education system said research was a philosophy which didn't come automatically. "It's something that needs to be practised over the years. Additionally, it needs lot of funds along with infrastructure and facilities. The renowned research institutions in the US and UK were established about 150 years back and they all started from fundamental research."

Expressing concern over India's Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER), he stated that currently it was negligible as compared to developed countries. "There are calls for not granting new colleges. But if large number of students who take a drop from class X or XII decide to study further, all the existing colleges would fall short for accommodating them. Unfortunately, the financial problem is barring these students from pursuing further education and industry must come forward to help them," Mantha hoped.

Deliberating on all-India common engineering test, he said it was a good move and would save a lot of precious money and time of the students like CMAT which they introduced from this year. "The IITs also  welcomed the move but their only issue was taking board's 40% marks into consideration during admission. But such issues are being sorted out," he informed.

Mantha speak

* In 2008-09, 221 million appeared for Std X exam and 11 million cleared it

* 50% of them dropped as only 16 million appeared for Std XII and 8 million passed

* Of them 4.5 lakh went to basic sciences, 5 lakh in commerce and 10 lakh in arts

* 13 lakh went for distance learning mode while 6 lakh opted for vocational education

* But alarmingly, majority of candidates took a drop after Std X or XII

Nagpur University's examination section works under huge burden

NAGPUR: The Nagpur University's examination section, already facing the heat over a series of paper leaks first exposed by TOI, is showing signs of crumbling under the huge pressure from mushrooming colleges and staff shortage. A couple of years ago, the department was the pride for the university and had got accolades from all quarters for declaring results in quick time.

A glance at the numbers reveals the pressure they are under. Over 800 colleges having over 4 lakh students and ten faculties come under their purview. 32 new colleges would be added from the new academic year starting in July and it will only add their woes.

According to NU sources, it conducts over 1,000 exams and sets up nearly 8,000 question papers and also does their valuation every year. Its officials also look after declaration and distribution of results, issuing photocopies and their revaluation, making seating arrangements for examinations, and sending registered mails to students and colleges among others.

To do all this work, the university has less than 200 employees, of whom 80 are clerks, to run the show. Not a single employee has been recruited in the section since the last five years even though the number of colleges has grown. Till 2002, NU was having only 250 affiliated colleges, in 2007-08 it was 600, in 2009-10 they grew to 775 and in 2011-12 it crossed 800 mark - the highest among all universities.

Sources revealed that it had become even more difficult for them to conduct exams of professional courses like engineering, MBA and law. Due to semester pattern, these are conducted twice a year and so are other formalities like results, evaluation and revaluation. However, exam section officials were never consulted while granting new colleges or starting courses. They don't even have a place on the important bodies like management and academic councils. If they protested, they were accused of being "inefficient".

The signs of crumbling were evident from the fact that series of paper leaks were happening and revaluation results were being delayed. Sources said shortage of approved teachers for evaluation was also hampering their work and ongoing strike by the teachers for their sixth pay commission arrears was making matters worse.

Though Controller of Examinations (CoE) Siddharth Kane could not be contacted as he had instructed the media to talk to PRO office, a senior official on the condition of anonymity admitted that their section was indeed heavily burdened. Registrar Mahesh Yenkie had recently informed that NU had sent a proposal to the state government for filling up of 391 posts.

Exam Section without automation

Another disturbing fact that came out to light was that the entire exam section was still working manually. In this year's budget, NU had sanctioned Rs 5.80 crore for modernization/computerization of this section, but no progress has been made.

Mumbai based institution to offer Masters programmes

Mumbai: Mumbai based education institution, B-Fazlani Altius Business School (FABS) announced the launch two unique Masters programme. 

FABS will commence its academic year with two specialized post-graduate programs namely the Masters in Applied Human Resource Management and the Masters in Sales & Marketing Management. The launch, attended by key management personnel from companies such as Accenture, Monsanto, Cox & Kings, Marina Gulf, Financial Technologies, Parle Agro, etc., was also a colloquium to jump-start the program.

FAB's Masters in Applied Human Resource Management program will be offered in collaboration with the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and offers specialization in contemporary electives such as HR Analytics while their Masters in Sales & Marketing Management offers simultaneous selection where students receive a Letter of Intent from leading corporates along with their program admission letter.

Speaking on the launch, Chairman Dr. A.K Fazlani said “It is great to see HR Leaders and CEOs of so many corporates come and support us in this endeavor of creating a truly Industry Academia Partnership. We at Fazlani group have worked with some of the best minds from the corporate and academic worlds and visualized a need for talent in the emerging Indian economy and are very proud that we are able to launch our unique business school today”.

“What makes the programs offered by FABS unique is the holistic way of providing education, to state an example, our philosophy in education is based on the following five perspectives of education namely: Educationists view, Originators view, Practitioners view, Critiques view and Collaborative view” said Ashfaq Ahad, Co-Founder & Member of Board - FABS.

Fazlani Altius Business School will begin its first academic year in July 2012 at three campuses in Mumbai (Powai), Bhubaneshwar and NCR (Gurgaon) with expansion plans slated in 20 other Tier 2 and Tier 3 city locations in 2013.

DU planning flexible four-year course this session

New Delhi: Delhi University has ambitious plans to transform the experience of university learning, starting with a four-year undergraduate course that will break barriers of colleges and physical infrastructure at the campus.

India's premier university is introducing a radical concept of a 'Meta' college, that would follow at the varsity level principles of a Meta University.

This would entail options for students, enrolled in the course, to pick and chose courses and attend classes in different colleges of the University in the four-year span.

If successful, the course that will be up this academic session, will make way for proper four-year undergraduate courses from 2013.

"In the coming session, we are planning an intake of 20 students. There will be no need of any separate infrastructure for the course," said Vice Chancellor Dinesh Singh.  

Combining flexible study options and existing infrastructure, students can opt for a Btech in Humanities that will allow them access to all colleges.

"They will be given strong mentoring and hands on practical exercises. If a student wants to attend a semester at Ramjas, and another at SRCC, it will be possible," he said.

The proposal is yet to be placed at the decision making bodies of the University the Academic Council and Executive Council but the VC said the administration is in talks with the teachers.

Later, when the four-year undergraduate courses come into play, students will have exit options at the end of 2nd, 3rd and 4th year, as also the possibility to return to complete the remaining years within a decade.

Among other interesting proposals being worked out are a Masters in Mathematical Education in a tie up with Jamia Milia Islamia and a 'Gyanoday Express' train in conjugation with the Indian Railways to take students on an India tour and show them hands on the historically, strategically and scientifically significant places. 

Maharaja Sayajirao Varsity hikes fee, introduces slew of short term courses

Vadodara: The Syndicate of the Maharaja Sayajirao University here approved a new additional fee structure.
     
Yogesh Singh, Vice-Chancellor, said the students will have to pay an additional Rs 240 each year in all the courses from the academic year 2012-13.
     
This will affect more than 36,000 students.
     
The Syndicate also okayed the proposal to start short-term courses by the Centre for Continuing and Adult Education. These courses are: Basic Mathematics (30 days), Understanding and Dealing with Teenagers and Adolescents (30 days), Development of Strategy for Examination Preparation (15 days), Excise Duty and Procedure (90 days), Service Tax and Procedure (90 days), Indirect Taxes and Procedure (90 days) and VAT Accounting and Procedure (90 days). 

Delhi CM asks departments to focus on improving minority education

New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit asked concerned departments and agencies to focus on steps to provide better educational facilities in minority dominated areas in the city, including registration of eligible madrassas to receive financial assistance.
 
In a high-level meeting called to review educational infrastructure in minority-dominated areas, Dikshit also directed officials to involve existing madrassas in addressing the shortcomings.
 
Minister of Labour and Industries Ramakant Goswami, Chairman of Delhi Minorities Commission Safdar H Khan and top officials of Education Department were present in the meeting.
  
"Dikshit directed the concerned departments to work in tandem to ensure quality education to the minorities alongwith their traditional education," said an official who attended the meeting.
    
She also emphasised on need to impart computer education to minority communities.
 
After she was informed that there is no authentic data about number of madrassas operating in the city, the Chief Minister told Delhi Minorities Commission to facilitate registration of eligible madrassas.
 
Madrasas having at least 50 students and registered under the Societies Registration Act, Waqf Board and National Institute of Open Schooling will be considered for grant of financial assistance.
 
Officials said graduate teachers in eligible madrassas will be entitled for monthly salary of Rs 6,000 from the government while post graduate teachers may get a salary of Rs 12,000.
 
Further, it was decided to provide eligible madrassas one time grant of Rs 50,000 for buying books and teaching aids and another Rs one lakh for science and computer laboratories. 

Meghalaya Governor lays foundation of RKM centre

Shillong: Meghalaya Governor Ranjit Shekhar Mooshahary laid the foundation of an Employability and Entrepreneurship Training Centre at the Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda Cultural Centre here.
      
The occasion also marked the beginning of the 150th birth anniversary celebration of Swami Vivekananda combined with the platinum jubilee of Ramakrishna Mission, Shillong and 111th anniversary of Swami Vivekanandas visit to Shillong.
      
In 1993, the heritage site where Swami Vivekananda had delivered his last public lecture of his life was handed over by the Quinton Memorial Trust to Ramakrishna Mission and it was named Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda Cultural Centre.

Agricultural Varsities demand 5-fold hike in central assistance

Srinagar: Vice Chancellors of Agricultural Universities of the country demanded five-fold hike in central assistance to these institutes and setting up of an Agriculture Educational Research Commission (AERC) to address the issues facing the institutes of higher learning.
 
"We demand the setting up of AERC to address the issues facing agricultural universities so that the sustainable second green revolution is achieved," President Indian Agricultural Universities Association (IAUA) C S Chakrabarti told reporters here.
 
He said this was one of the major debating points during the special meeting of IAUA, a body of vice chancellors of Agricultural universities of the country, which met here.
 
Among the other demands, IAUA wants more academic and financial autonomy for the agricultural universities, Chakrabarti said.
 
He said central assistance to these varsities should be enhanced five times so that the basic needs of academics and research in these institutions are met. 
 
Chakrabarti said state governments should directly provide the funds from the finance department to their  respective agricultural universities.
 
"The agricultural universities need to be given importance as it is these institutions which will provide the next generation technology and manpower for making the second green revolution a success," he said.

Examination special train from Assam

Guwahati: The Northeast Frontier Railway will run a special train from Dibrugarh in upper Assam to Yesvantpur for students of the region and north Bengal to write medical and engineering entrance tests in Bengaluru.
 
One examination special train will ply on May 1, N-F Railway chief public relation officer S S Hajong said here.
 
Another will leave on May seven, while the return 02509 special train will leave Yesvantpur on May seven and reach Dibrugarh on May 10, Hajong said.
 
Every year thousands of students from the region aspiring for medical and engineering careers go to Bengaluru to take joint entrance tests there, Hajong said. 

Madurai HC dismisses petition against MKU

Madurai: Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court dismissed a PIL seeking CBI probe into alleged irregularities in the appointment of faculty members in Madurai Kamaraj University from 2008 to 2011.
   
A Division bench of Justice Banumathi and Justice B.Rajendran said the University Senate had passed a resolution for appointing a committee to probe the issue.If the petitioner had any grievance, he could inform the committee first.There was an in-built mechanism to address such issues. 
    
The bench declined to direct MKU to register a complaint with CBI on the issue.
     
The Petitioner,I Ismail,a senate member, alleged that "irregularities" committed between 2008-2011 when P Karpaga Kumaravel was the Vice-Chancellor were reported in the audit report submitted for 2010-2011.
    
"Therefore, it is for the Senate and the new Vice Chancellor to take necessary action if the petitioner brings the irregularities and illegalities committed by the second respondent (Kumaravel) to the notice on the basis of the audit report. We do not find any reason to interfere with the matter at this early stage", the judges said.
     
Dismissing the plea, the judges said "It is always open for the petitioner to approach the appropriate authorities and bring to their notice for follow-up action. He being the Senate member, he can definitely do so in the manner known to law instead of rushing to the Court at the earliest stage with Public Interest Litigation." 

ECR to run 2 special trains for entrance tests

Patna: The East Central Railway will run two special trains for South India on May 2 and 3 from Barauni and Patna respectively to cope with the unprecedented rush of candidates for the BE and Medical examination tests organised by COMED-K on May 6, ECR sources said.
       
The sheer number of candidates from Patna itself is estimated to be over 70,000, sources said.
      
The trains will run following the clearance from the ECR General Manager Varun Bharthuar, they said adding the first special south India-bound train would originate from Barauni on May 2 and the second from Patna  the next day. 

India win gold at SAE International AWIM Jet toy Olympics

New Delhi: Students of St. Columba's school created history by winning the gold medal at the SAE International AWIM Jet Toy Olympics in Maximum Time Category, held at Detroit, USA.
     
The Society of Automotive Engineers (SAEINDIA) had kick-started 'Jet Toy Olympics', a programme to introduce school children to the fundamentals of science, mathematics, technology and automotive engineering. The event was held under the banner of AWIM ("A World in Motion").
    
Competing with 125 teams from across the globe at the 6th SAE AWIM International Jet Toy Olympics held on April 25, St. Columba's students also bagged the fourth position overall. 
     
The team had qualified for the International Jet Toy Olympics after emerging victorious among 25 most competent teams from all across India at the SAEINDIA National Olympics that was held here in Nov 2011.
     
"The students from St. Columba's, New Delhi have made India proud by becoming the only Indian team ever in the history of SAE International Jet Toy initiative to win a gold medal," said I V Rao, Managing Executive Officer (Engineering), Maruti Suzuki and Chairman SAE Northern India Section.
     
Maruti Suzuki supports SAE student level initiatives like AWIM, Supra SAEINDIA and Efficycle, which nurture the creativity amongst students. 

Bill to curb private coaching institutes

New Delhi: Equating the practice of capitation fees to a "monster", the government said it would bring a legislation under which action could be taken against the guilty.

Replying to the debate on a private member bill to check menace of coaching centres, Minister of State for HRD D Purendeshwari said the problem would be addressed to a large extent after implementation of the proposed common entrance test for undergraduate programmes in science and engineering.
  
Admitting that capitation fee is a "monster", she said that after enactment of the law, institutes would have to justify the fees being charged by them.
  
After the minister's reply, Mohan Singh (SP) withdrew his Pre-Examination Coaching Centres Regulatory Authority Bill.   

Earlier, while speaking on the bill, Singh expressed concern over mushrooming of coaching centres and stressed the need to establish a strong regulatory body to curb their activities.
  
Avinash Rai Khanna (BJP) supported the bill saying, "It is unfortunate that the whole thing (coaching centres) has become a big business."   

E M Sudarshan Nachiappan (Cong) said the government has obligation to set up separate coaching centres to meet the demand of poor students.
  
Demanding ban on coaching centres, Janardhan Waghware (NCP) said, "The problem is serious. Coaching centres are being run by teachers who have regular job in colleges."
  
Tarun Vijay (BJP) rued the increased inclination among teachers to join classes and run such institutions despite drawing good salaries.
  
V P Singh Badnora (BJP) said the Bill was in the "right spirit", while Narendra Budania (Cong) said there was no control over the kind of coaching the institutes provide.
  
Najma Heptulla (BJP) said budgetary provision for the education sector should be on par with the allocations provided in the defence sector. 

TNPSC to recruit over 10000 employees for Group IV category

Chennai: The Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission (TNPSC) will conduct the largest recruitment drive in 30 years by filling over ten thousand vacancies in Group-IV category.

All communication right from application to results will be carried out online.

Exam date fixed for July 7, the online applications will be open from April 27 to May 28 for 10,793 vacancies in over 100 departments in the State government, TNPSC Chairman R. Nataraj said, "This is the largest recruitment drive in 30 years. This much-awaited exercise will be completed by September 2012".  

Mr. Nataraj said Group-IV recruitment would be completely online with no manual communication with the candidate. "Registration, application, acknowledgement, issue of hall ticket, results etc., will be all online. We expect more than 7 lakh applications."

Citing good response from the public for the newly redesigned website of the commission, www.tnpsc.gov.in, Mr. Nataraj said government departments were welcome to popularise their priority schemes by running a scrolling free of cost.

TNPSC, Secretary, Mr. Udhayachandran said 30,000 candidates had registered their profile online (one-time registration) so far and the number was increasing every minute.

Facilitation centres were being established in all taluks, post-offices, selected Indian Bank branches etc., to enable candidates to make one-time registration.

Replying to a question on whether one-time registration was mandatory for Group-IV posts to be notified on Saturday, he said, "Though we would encourage the applicants to register before applying, it is not been made compulsory yet." 

Madras university set to offer online media studies

Chennai: Madras University is all set to take off with a new two-year course on journalism that trains students on effective use of smart phones as a journalism tool.

Speaking at the launch of course and facilities, Gopalan Ravindran, Head of the Journalism Department, said, conventional media has been around for a while, but digital journalism has been making sea of changes in journalism.      

A specialised online media lab has been set up on its premises for students to take up the two-year course in online media.

Apart from handling conventional tools of journalism, the course will also deal with online privacy and defamation issues.

Students completing this new course will be awarded a Master's degree in journalism.

According to sources, Madras University is one of the first in the country to offer journalism courses, as early as 1947. 

Nursing students graduate

The graduation ceremony of the B.Sc. and post basic B.Sc. Nursing students at various nursing colleges under the University College of Medical Education (UCME), Mahatma Gandhi University, was held here on Friday.

P.K. Somasekharan Unni, syndicate member, MG University, inaugurated the function and Mary Lucita, regional director and principal of UCME, presided.

In his address, Prof. Unni called upon the nurses to follow the model of Florence Nightingale in serving to the society. Dedication in patient care is the hallmark of the service that should be maintained as they step out into the world as nurses, he said.

Dr. Sister Lucita and Prof. Unni handed the graduation certificates to the fresh graduates.

Smart phones and journalism: a new course

A new course, launched by University of Madras this year, will train students in using smart phones as effective tools for journalism. An online media lab has been set up on its premises for students to take up the two-year course in online media.

Conventional media has been around for a while now, but digital journalism has been making its presence felt and changing perspectives in journalism, said Gopalan Ravindran, Head of the Journalism Department, launching the course and the facilities.

Students completing this new course will be awarded a Master'ss degree in journalism. Besides dealing with conventional tools of journalism, the course will also look at online privacy and defamation issues. Mr. Ravindran said, “We are looking for trained faculty in these areas. It is quite a challenge.”

The University, according to sources, was one of the first in the country to offer journalism courses, as early as 1947. “While values remain the same, there is a need for a variety of skill sets which we wish to offer our students,” added Mr. Ravindran. 

One multiple choice paper for IITs is enough, suggests Super 30 founder

 “Super 30” founder Anand Kumar, whose initiatives have led to over 300 students from marginalised sections of society gain entry into IITs, met Union Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal here to suggest a change in the examination pattern for the existing IIT-JEE test.

Like AIIMS test

The renowned mathematician suggested one single multiple choice question paper based on Class XII syllabus, stating that if All-India Institute of Medical Sciences could admit students through single test then  IIT-JEE could also do it.

“For adhering to Plus Two syllabus fully, the subject experts from both IIT-JEE and Central Board of Secondary Education can jointly prepare the questions,” he said

He said this will not only minimise dependency on private coaching but also reduce stress on students, ultimately making them more serious right from the school level. 

Coimbatore students top in international assessment

R. Sriram, Standard X student of Vidya Vikasini Matriculation Higher Secondary School, Thudiyalur, who topped in computer skills in the State in the International Assessment for Indian Schools. Photo: Special Arrangement

R. Sriram, a Standard X student of Vidya Vikasini Matriculation Higher Secondary School, Thudiyalur, got the highest score in computer skills in the State in the International Assessment for Indian Schools. R. Kishore Karthe, a Standard XI student of S.B.O.A. Matriculation and Higher Secondary School, emerged the State topper in Mathematics.

The assessment was conducted by Educational Assessment Australia, University of New South Wales Australia and Macmillan India Limited.

As many as 1,82,248 students in Standards III-XII from 2,044 schools from countries including India, Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Maldives, Mauritius, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka and United Arab Emirates took part in the assessment.

Students from 38 schools in Tamil Nadu were awarded the EAA-Macmillan Medal, a release said. 

NET to be objective type from this year

New Delhi: The National Eligibility Test (NET), conducted by University Grants Commission (UGC), will be completely objective type from this year.

Comprising of the three papers, the first objective type NET exam will be conducted on June 24. 

Apart from the candidates being allowed to carry the carbon printout of the optical mark recognition  (OMR) answer sheet with them after the exams, the new pattern will carry no negative marking.   

The UGC conducts NET to determine eligibility for lectureship and for obtaining Junior Research Fellowship (JRF) in order to ensure basic standards for the entrants in the teaching profession and research.

So far the pattern of the exam had been subjective, where the candidates had to write detailed answers. The UGC decided to change the pattern of examination. Held on the same day in two separate sessions, all the three papers will be objective with same syllabus as that of the previous year.

Meanwhile, the change in pattern seemed to have brought lot of confusion among the aspirants.

Tough time for guardians of AIEEE examinees

Rourkela: Preparations are in full swing for the written examination of All India Engieening Entrance Examinations (AIEEE) scheduled to be held on April 29 in this steel city, the only centre for the test in Odisha.

However, many guardians, who are facing a tough time to get accomodation and travel ticket, criticised the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) for selecting Rourkela as the only centre in Odisha for the purpose.

Principal of local Delhi Public School (DPS) Sidharth Rath, who is also the examination coordinator, said altogether 16,750 aspirants would appear at the AIEEE exmmination being conducted by CBSE in 29 centres here.

As many as 1500 staff would be deployed for smooth conduct of the one-day test in all the examination centres.  

All precautionary measures are being taken to prevent any untoward incident on Saturday and Sunday when students and their parents would stay in the city, official sources said.  

Police personnel would be deployed in all examination centres and temporary police outposts opened in important venues.

Arrangements have been made in all centres for drinking water, medicine and other emergency facilities.

Medical and para-medical staff would be ready with ambulance to meet any emergency as day temperature in the city hovered around 42 degree celsius for the last one week.

About 15 mobile teams would be engaged with police force in and around the city for smooth traffic movement.  

Similarly, bus service has been arranged for the students and their parents from railway station and bus stops for availing transport facility on payment.

As over 40,000 visitors are expected to arrive in the city all hotels and guest houses are overcrowded in the absence of sufficient hotels. Unable to get accommodation, many students and their parents are putting up in their relative or friend's houses for the purpose.

To deal with the rush East Coast Railway would run two pairs of examination special trains to Rourkela from Puri, Bhubaneswar on April 28. They would return from Rourkela on April 29 night, Railway sources said.

The administration has also issued direction for uninterrupted power and water supply in the city and asked auto-rickshaw, taxi drivers and hotel and restaurant owners not to overcharge visitors. 

New attendance rule for students of DU

New Delhi: Delhi University has come up with new attendance rules for students in the second semester.

According to the new rule, students who have not secured 66.7% attendance will now have to drop a year before they can attend second semester classes again in January 2013.

The DU colleges are very much firm on taking stringent action against defaulting students, though they are still in the process of tabulating attendance for the entire semester, they have sounded out a warning for those students who fail to meet the minimum attendance criteria.

IS Bakshi, principal, Dyal Singh College said that if students have below the minimum requirement of 66.7% attendance, they will be detained. As a result, defaulting students will not be promoted to second year (third semester) and will end up repeating one more year, he said.

While 350 students in total had been detained from the University, Dyal Singh College detained nearly 190 students. SK Garg, Chairperson of DU's high powered committee said that the students who had cleared their first semester but are facing detention in the second semester will not lose their admission. On the other hand, students who are yet to clear their first semester and are being detained this semester, will lose their seat in the college.

Students are of the view that they did not have an idea of their attendance through the semester which is a factor that it would have been a bench-mark for their overall attendance. They said that the authorities have refused to show them their attendance saying that they would get to know every details by May.

Tiny crystal 'revolutionises computer'

Washington: Scientists have made a tiny crystal which they claim will take quantum computing to the next level, creating one of the world's most powerful computers ever developed.
 
"Computing technology has taken a huge leap forward using a crystal with just 300 atoms suspended in space," said Michael Biercuk at the University of Sydney, who led an international team.
 
He added: "The system we have developed has the potential to perform calculations that would require a supercomputer larger than the size of the known universe and it does it all in a diameter of less than a millimetre.
 
"The projected performance of this new experimental quantum simulator eclipses the current maximum capacity of any known computer by an astonishing 10 to the power of 80. That is one followed by 80 zeros, in other words 80 orders of magnitude, a truly mind-boggling scale."
 
The work smashes previous records in terms of the number of elements working together in a quantum simulator, and therefore the complexity of the problems that can be addressed. 
 
In fact, the team, which also included scientists from the US National Institute of Standards and Technology, Georgetown University in Washington, North Carolina State University and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research in South Africa, has produced a specialised kind of quantum computer known as a "quantum simulator".
 
It's revolutionary crystal exceeds all previous experimental attempts in providing "programmability" and the critical threshold of qubits needed for the simulator to exceed the capability of most supercomputers.
 
"Many properties of natural materials governed by the laws of quantum mechanics are very difficult to model using conventional computers. The key concept in quantum simulation is building a quantum system to provide insights into the behaviour of other naturally occurring physical systems," Biercuk said.
 
The findings have been published in the 'Nature' journal. 

Microsoft voted 'most attractive employer' in India

Mumbai: Microsoft India bagged the Randstad Award 2012 for the 'most attractive employer' in the country for the second consecutive year followed by Oracle India and Tata Consultancy Services.
 
The Randstad Award 2012 was also given to Volkswagen India and Nokia India as special recognition in the auto and consumer durables industry sector, respectively.
 
The award, instituted globally by leading HR services provider Randstad, aims to encourage best practices and to identify the best 'employer brand' in the country.
 
Global research agency ICMA International surveyed 8,500 respondents from over 150 big companies in the country to find the most attractive employer.
 
"With more and more global companies entering India, we see a healthy competition not only in establishing brands but also in attracting the best skills to work for them," Randstad India Managing Director and CEO E Balaji said at the award function here.
 
The findings clearly suggest that the uncertainty in the market still has an impact on the industry, due to which, financially healthy companies, long-term job security and competitive salary seem to be the top priority factors for the Indian workforce while choosing an employer, he added. 

NITTTR workshop on FDP for engg colleges on May 1

Chennai: The National Institute of Technical Teachers Training and Research (NITTTR) here is organising a one-day workshop for indentification of thrust areas for faculty development programmes for engineering colleges on May 1.
   
The workshop was meant for principals/senior faculty members of all engineering colleges in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, an official release said here.
   
Participation would be only by registration which is free, it added. 

Turban controversy in Shimla school

Shimla: A controversy broke out here over alleged ban imposed by a Convent school on wearing of turban by a Sikh student, with local Sikh organisation demanding that the administration take action against the school, which, however, denied the charge.
 
A student of local St Edward School complained to his parents that the Principal had asked him not to wear the turban and wear only a "patka" (small headgear) last month.
 
The local Guru Singh Sabha took up the issue with Deputy Commissioner and urged him to  take action against the school.
 
Deputy Commissioner Onkar Sharma said "the agitated members of the Sikh community have given a representation to me against the decision of the school and it is a serious issue that involves religious sentiments of Sikh community.
 
"We will call the parents, the Sikh bodies and the school management and sort out the matter".
 
However, the Principal of the school John Bosco, when contacted, said that he had never disallowed the boy to wear a turban and only asked him on the first day of this session that why he was not wearing a "patka" like other boys.
 
He told me about some religious binding, so "I asked him to call his parents and the matter ended on March 5 after I met his parents and allowed him to come in whatever way he wanted to come".
 
A "non-isssue was being made an issue now with the boy's parents nowhere in the picture", the Principal said.
 
Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha President Jaswinder Singh said an unhealthy controversy had been raised in the school.
 
"We denounce the school authorities for behaving rudely with the boy for wearing the turban and asking him to come out of the class, go back home and come with 'patka' on his head," he said.