IIM-Calcutta to host global management conference

Kolkata: Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta (IIM-C) said it would organise a global management conference inviting management gurus from all over the world.

"The Ministry of Human Resources has requested IIM, Calcutta, to take the lead in organising a world management conference," the Institutes chairman of Board of Governors, Ajit Balakrishnan, said at the convocation ceremony.

To be held later this year or early next year at the institute's campus, this conference "will do for IIMs and Indian management schools what the Literature Festival at Jaipur has done for Indian writing," Balakrishnan said.

IIM-C Director Prof Shekhar Chaudhuri said they were in the process of collaborating with some top-ranking  institutions such as US-based Fox School of Business of Temple University and Heinz School of Carnegie Mellon University.

"We have also started dialogues with some of our existing partners to explore opportunities for expanding our relationships from student exchange to include faculty exchange, joint research, joint conferences/workshops and other collaborative efforts," Chaudhuri said.

Ranked as one of the top ten B-schools of the country, IIM-C has partnership with 48 leading B-schools of the world with whom they conduct regular student exchange programmes.

Attracting and retaining quality faculty was the biggest challenge IIMs were facing, the Director said adding that to solve the problem IIM-C would launch a one-year advanced teachers programme after creating the infrastructure.

"Strengthening of the fellowship programme is one route to augment future supply of teachers. Another route is to train and refresh existing teachers in non-IIM management institutions or facilitate mid-career executives who may desire to move into academia," Chaudhuri said. 

Sibal regrets lack of movement on education bills

Kolkata: Union HRD Minister Kapil Sibal regretted the delay in giving clearance to some education bills in Parliament including the Educational Malpractices Bill and Foreign Education Providers Bill, which are pending before Parliament.

"We have introduced about 14 legislations in Parliament. They are all pending .... for two years. Nobody wishes to debate them, nobody wishes to put them on the agenda," Sibal said.

"We (UPA) don't have majority in the Rajya Sabha. So if somebody says we will not allow the bills to come on the agenda, what can we do"? he said.

The minister noted that by 2020, 100 million additional heads would be part of the workforce from India only. By 2030, one third of the world's workforce would be provided by India.

Sibal felt there was a need for structural and administrative reforms and a collaborative approach for development of the education sector.

Supporting the opening up of the sector to private and foreign education providers, Sibal said the number of students of higher education could go up to 47 million from 17 million by 2020. 

Oxford University opens gate to CBSE, ISC students

KOLKATA: CBSE and ISC students scoring 90% and above can now seek admission in undergraduate courses at Oxford University. The students will, however, have to appear for admission tests and interviews for securing a seat in this highly prestigious academic institution.

Speaking at Calcutta University on Saturday, Oxford VC Andrew Hamilton detailed out the admission plans of the institution. "We have thrown our gates open to ISC and CBSE students who can seek admission in our undergraduate courses. They will have to score 90%. This is, however, only the application criteria.

The students will have to take tests in particular subjects and appear for an interview. We will test the intellectual capability of students and grant them admissions. However, no quota will exist in undergraduate courses for Indian students. Admissions will open from September 2013. The course fee will be 15,000 pounds a year," said Hamilton.

Addressing brilliant students from financially weak families, he assured, "A few scholarships are available for undergraduate studies. We are holding talks with several individuals and organizations, including Indian industrial houses, to draw more funds to offer scholarships." 

Treat University of Calcutta at par with Presidency: Governor

Kolkata: At a time when the two-year-old Presidency University sought a special status from the state government, West Bengal Governor M K Narayanan advocated a similar status for the 155-year-old University of Calcutta.

“There is no reason whatsoever why University of Calcutta should not be treated on the same footing as Presidency University in all matters,” Narayanan, who is the chancellor of both the state 'varsities, said.

He was delivering the convocation address at the University of Calcutta. Presidencys mentor group has recommended that the institution be regarded in the future as a crown jewel in West Bengal that will be an example for other institutions to emulate.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had earlier said they might consider the demands. Narayanan said that in every respect the University of Calcutta is already the crown jewel among institutions of higher education.

“It therefore should be given the same special status as a centre of excellence something which is proposed to be done for Presidency University,” he said.

The granting of special status, as has been recommended for Presidency University, would mean creating positions of distinguished university professors, recruitment of an outstanding and diverse faculty capable of cutting edge research and high quality teaching accompanied by the need to offer suitable compensation to those so recruited.

“University of Calcutta should be encouraged to provide an intellectually exciting curriculum and make alterations in teaching and research that would be in sync
with its new exalted status as has been proposed for Presidency University,” the Governor said.

Regarded as one of the best colleges in India for liberal arts and science, Presidency was upgraded to university status in 2010.

To make Presidency a world-class university, the mentor group, led by Harvard professor Sugato Bose, has suggested a number of radical changes including a transparent and rigorous process to create an outstanding and diverse faculty.

Merger of JEE and AIEEE will lower IIT standards: FIITJEE

Kolkata: Leading engineering tutorial institute FIITJEE voiced concerns over the proposed move of the government to merge the IITJEE and AIEEE exams and claimed it could lower the quality of prestigious IIT’s.


“This decision will lower the standards of IIT. Already, IIT's have been criticised for lack of quality and this decision may be a big blow as we do not know what change will follow in the opening and closing ranks of IITs,” R L Trikha, Director of FIITJEE Limited, told reporters here.

“JEE was a major factor that gave IIT's the exclusivity that they command today. A student preparing for JEE prepared for the test with the sole purpose of entering IIT and not a regional engineering college,” he said.

The recent decision of the Union Ministry of Human Resource and Development of merging IIT Joint Entrance Exams (JEE) and All India Engineering Entrance Exams (AIEEE) has stirred mixed reaction among students and academicians.

If everything falls in place, by 2013, there will be a common entrance test for all government engineering colleges. Another significant change is that along with the test scores, a student's 12th standard marks will have 40 per cent weightage.

“School boards like CBSE, ICSE are easier to score than compared to state boards. This is unfair to students appearing for state boards compared to CBSE. For states like Bihar, the state board awards lower  marks than the national boards,” Trikha contended.

He suggested a better option would be to have multiple rounds of screening tests, rather than giving 40 per cent weightage to 12th standard results.

“There is also a need for uniform syllabus, since different boards have different marking systems, which needs to be standardised. And lastly, students will face immense pressure as there's a single exam to make it or break it,” the FIITJEE official said.

Australian varsity planning campus in Gujarat

Kolkata: Australia's University of Wollongong (UOW) is planning to establish a 72-acre campus in Ahmedabad, an official of the varsity said on Monday.

"Indian students have a major presence in our country. So we thought why not establish a campus here which will allow them to get the Australian flavour of education without having to leave their shores," Craig Peden, director corporate relations, UOW, said here.

The facility will be the UOW's second international campus alongside Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. Gujarat NRE Coking Coal chairman Arun Jagatramka will assist the university with finance and liaise between it and Indian authorities.

Gujarat NRE Coking Coal Limited (GNCCL) is a subsidiary of Gujarat NRE Coke Limited, the largest independent manufacturer of low ash metallurgical coke (Met Coke) in India.

Peden, however, refused to comment on the amount of investment involved in the project, saying it was only in the planning stage and anything concrete can be said only after the end of 2012.

A memorandum of understanding was earlier signed by UOW Vice-Chancellor Gerard Sutton and Jagatramka in Mumbai.

Peden also said the university was mulling to establish a branch of Innovation Campus (IC), a technology and research precinct developed by it.

"With a view to forge partnership with India in the field of R&D in areas like advance manufacturing, energy storage etc, we are looking for a suitable place here to establish a branch of the IC," said Peden.

IC's brand ambassador and Australian cricketer Adam Gilchrist visited the Indian cities of New Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore last year scouting for suitable place for the Indian branch. IANS