Indian Education System

joshvajohn · Post by **joshvajohn** » 19 Jun 2010 02:02

UPA-2's negligence of higher education
http://www.mynews.in/News/UPA-2%27s_neg ... 62136.html

Bade · Post by **Bade** » 19 Jun 2010 20:13

IIT-Kanpur plans presence in Bangalore, US

In Malayasia, the IIT-K plans a research centre in Penang while the facility in the US may come up either in Silicon Valley, Boston or Washington, Dhande said.

Karnataka has been pleading with the central government that an IIT be set up in the state. The central government has promised to do so but no time frame has been indicated.

Googling around B'lr has revealed a perfect site for an IIT for the city, Iblur Army Camp seem to have the right kind of location and space for a modern campus.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 19 Jun 2010 20:16

if the intent is to run continuing edu programs then ORR/Whitefield is perfect. but army will never give up Iblur - its a firing range for them. Sarjapur road has plenty of open land going toward sarjapur from the ORR junction, it can be managed.

if the intent is to run a full flegded v2 of iitk from UG upward, atleast 1500 acre of land is essential and cannot be anywhere near blr
as such a land parcel is impossible to obtain now. for IISC 2nd campus the Ktaka govt has arranged for land in chitradurga somewhere.

if the army gives up land, better it be used for essential 8 lane roads like Kmangala to ORR directly, ejipura junction to Iblur directly and Kmangala to behind HAL airport directly, rest to be made into parkland after the filthy bellandur lake is cleaned, desilted and restored to its pristine glory when it was a seaplane training base in WW2.

Bade · Post by **Bade** » 19 Jun 2010 20:24

But the humble farmers in Sarjapur have tasted blood and IITs are not going to be setup with payment in crores for acquiring land. Even ISRO ran into issues with their IIST site selection in a tea estate. Hope things have settled now for them.

Iblur camp being govt owned property, the transfer can be the least painful. Maybe, the new campus should focus on defense research and not be made into a IIM preparation ground, now that massa MS/PhD is less attractive than IT-Vity manager jobs in desh.

Bade · Post by **Bade** » 19 Jun 2010 20:36

On a related note, I had read sometime back that TIFR has acquired land from the state near Hesaraghatta for an extension campus. Colaba is too crowded and pricey for folks who work there and TIFR housing is not up to the mark for faculty and they have a crunch for space for the students. Hyderabad was also in the cards, but anyone would prefer Blr to Hyd

Proximity to IISc, RRI and a few other institutes in the NW quadrant of the city makes it a possible alternative. Airport being close by helps too. There is plenty of land all around Blr, no need to head to Chitradurga unless it is a politically motivated decision.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 19 Jun 2010 21:13

the metro contruction is on in that stretch , I saw yeshwantpur metro station under construction today right outside the IR station . hopefully it will be extended past the BMIC road junction to right where the NH forks away toward Hassan. its a industrial belt with lots of workers moving around.

joshvajohn · Post by **joshvajohn** » 20 Jun 2010 03:41

What ails higher education in India?
http://news.asiaone.com/News/Education/ ... 22362.html

Corruption at higer levels of granting permission of Medical, Engineering and Private unis. AIMMS, ICETE, UGC and all those directors are now moved from being millionaires to multicrorpathis. our bureaucracy knows how to make money out of the process.

Under The Table And Dreaming
http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?265873

svinayak · Post by **svinayak** » 23 Jun 2010 00:48

Bridging the Talent Gap in India's 'Demographic Dividend'
Published: June 17, 2010 in India Knowledge@Wharton
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/indi ... cleid=4487

India's so-called "demographic dividend" of a younger population compared to developed countries is as much an opportunity as it is a challenge. The task of meeting global talent needs with an educated and trained workforce is too huge for any one nation to take on, according to participants at a conference in June in Washington, D.C., organized by the U.S.-India Business Council (USIBC). Business leaders and government officials from the United States and India at the conference attempted to size up the challenge and find ways to deal with it.

Kapil Sibal, India's minister for human resource development, reported that by 2050, the percentage of people above the age of 65 will be 39% in the U.S., 53% in Germany and 67% in Japan. India, by contrast will have only 19% above age 60, according to an International Labor Organization paper. "I've had sleepless nights; the task is daunting," Sibal said at the USIBC conference, referring to the infrastructure required to educate and train India's workforce of tomorrow. "It's not just India's problem; it is a global issue."

Sibal's goal is to get at least 30% of India's 240 million schoolchildren into higher education over the next decade, up from the 12.4% currently. "Any nation must ensure that a critical mass of people move into the university system -- not less than 30-40%. [Otherwise], it cannot build wealth," he noted. Making that task more difficult is the fact that 46% of India's schoolchildren drop out before they get to middle school. Sibal's broadest offensive on that front was to convince India's Parliament to enact the Right to Education Act last August, which makes education a fundamental right for children between ages 6 and 14. Children and communities can go to courts of law to enforce that right; the lack of financial resources is an unacceptable excuse, Sibal pointed out.

'No State Can Do It On Its Own'

The task becomes "enormous and gargantuan," as Sibal moves to the next lap of creating an infrastructure for higher education to meet his 30% enrolment target. India currently has 480 universities and 22,000 colleges. In the next 10 years, it will need 700 new universities and 35,000 new colleges, according to Sibal. "I cannot do it on my own. No state can do it on its own."

Arne Duncan, the U.S. secretary of education, said his department is already chipping in, and pointed to two examples. Last fall, the U.S. government made a US$300,000 grant to the Institute of International Education to create a two-year academic partnership program between American universities and their counterparts in India and China. And last October, U.S. officials hosted 50 university leaders from India to discuss collaborations in education. "We rely on the predominance of English as the language of global business and higher education; this reliance can put American companies at a disadvantage," he said. "I worry we may get disconnected in an interconnected world," referring to business opportunities in non-English speaking emerging economies.

With 35% of the world's illiterate people in India, "we have a job to do," said John Wood, founder of Room to Read, a San Francisco-based organization that promotes literacy and reading among children in developing countries. The 10-year-old organization has so far created more than 10,000school libraries in nine developing countries, and continues to build out at the rate of six new libraries each day. "India is the biggest place of operation for us," noted Wood. "No society worked itself out of poverty relying on foreign aid; education is the only proven long-term solution."

Sachin · Post by **Sachin** » 23 Jun 2010 09:28

Singha wrote:rest to be made into parkland after the filthy bellandur lake is cleaned, desilted and restored to its pristine glory when it was a seaplane training base in WW2.

This is the "education" thread

. I have been driving around this lake for nearly 3 years and have always associated it with the filth and the nauseating smell when crossing the area. Never knew it was a Sea-plane training centre. I learnt some thing new today

.

Paul · Post by **Paul** » 23 Jun 2010 11:07

In Hyderabad, the army lost considerable land near Basantar area in the late 80s. Key infantry units from this area were sent to Sri Lanka and some "minority" community civil personnel looking after the lines in their absence occupied at least 3-5 acres of good land.

On top of it, there was some other army land across in Mehdipatnam that was converted into rythu bazaar by the state govt. In 1998, when the local sub area cmdr sent people across LOC (local road - it is PVNR flyover now)to enforce the rules, the UN (CBN I mean) stepped in personally and promised to get the poached land vacated in exchange for letting the rythu bazaar land (both belonged to the army).

12 years later, there is no sign of the squatters vacating the enroached area and ryuthu bazaar land is permanently lost as well. Lessons to be applied in other cantonment towns.

But on the bright side, at least in Hyd the local sub area cmdrs have taken measues like fencing off defence land in Basantar, Arty centre, Mohamadi lines to prevent more enroachment. Parts of Sec'bad like Bolaram seem to have less pressure from enroachment due to more defence establishment concentration there.

Sachin · Post by **Sachin** » 23 Jun 2010 11:38

Paul wrote:12 years later, there is no sign of the squatters vacating the enroached area and ryuthu bazaar land is permanently lost as well. Lessons to be applied in other cantonment towns.

Even in Bengaluru the army top brass are now more careful. There was an area right next to the Sub-Area H.Q which the Army had allowed to be used as a parking lot (for people going for shopping at commercial street). Finally what happened was that the place became a public toilet, nobody kept track of who parked there (and with what inside the vehicles). The shop keepers at commercial street was also happy, because they had their business and the head-ache was for the army. Finally the sub-area commander said enough is enough and cordoned of the whole area. The area was once again tidied up and painted (all using Army people and funds).

As soon as this happened all was up in arms against the Army. It was as if misusing the area is a god given right for the civilians. And this was when Army had allowed parking as a kind of gift/social courtesy to the people. Luckily the Army people put their foot down and said enough is enough.

To sum it up, Army land taken for any reason more likely than not will be misused by vested interests. And it would be tough to get the land back. Today Bengaluru's green belt (at least in the main city area) remains as is, because it is held by the Army. Or else it would be soon eaten up by Prestige, Raheja, Manthri, Shobha et. al.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 23 Jun 2010 11:58

Sachin in HAL museum is a good collection of photos from every era - one room per decade. in the 40s you will see pix of seaplane training going on there...the lake at that point extended into the area right behind the HAL airport and must have covered 3000-4000 acres compared to days 700 on paper. the water sure looked deep and clean.

the area off ORR which is now a water plant behind the i2 office was part of bellandur lake and flowed a short distance to join with varthur lake near whitefield, finally into varthur river imo.

koramangala and hsr didnt exist then. blr ended at adugodi village and current madivala was the next town on hosur road.
domlur was the outskirt and hal airport was "well outside" the city. whitefield was a rural enclave of angloindians. old madras road settlements prolly ended in ulsoor. indiranagar was probably a forested tract.

suryag · Post by **suryag** » 23 Jun 2010 23:37

Singha wrote:...
if the intent is to run a full flegded v2 of iitk from UG upward, atleast 1500 acre of land is essential and cannot be anywhere near blr
as such a land parcel is impossible to obtain now. for IISC 2nd campus the Ktaka govt has arranged for land in chitradurga somewhere.

Sir jee, why is it that an IIT needs a 1500 acre campus. My school in hyd was on a 40 acre campus and that itself was huge. Also a school like University of Southern California which has a number of faculties apart from engineering is i think housed in less than 300 acres(from wikipedia) cant we not do with less than 1500 acres ?

Stan_Savljevic · Post by **Stan_Savljevic** » 24 Jun 2010 01:13

iitd - 320 acres
iitb - 550 acres
iitm - 620 acres
iitk - 1055 acres
iitg - 2100 acres
iitw - 700 acres

negi · Post by **negi** » 24 Jun 2010 03:13

Ouch bl&&dy ouch , Sibbal trying to make ripple

Panel suggests 70% weight for Class 12 marks in IIT entry

If implemented only Girls will go to IIT.

On a serious note in this day and age of making everyone happy they could have given 20% weight age to 10+2 marks, 5% to sports and rest to the JEE itself. 70% weight age to 10+2 makes little sense unless PCMB papers are gonna be upto JEE mains standards.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 24 Jun 2010 08:46

> If implemented only Girls will go to IIT.

the boys who make it surely wont object! a 1:3 ratio in favour of girls would be like the axe effect, multiple pyts fighting to pounce on the boys.

> why is it that an IIT needs a 1500 acre campus

I agree that even mit which has large engineering depts seems to be a lot smaller. but such univs all go for highrise buildings
and do not have staff quarters - the profs live nearby and even commuting from further is possible. but all such indian colleges need a huge staff township . secondly we seem to go for low rise staff housing, hostels and teaching buildings (1-4 floors) - iit delhi is perhaps only one with taller buildings. if they go for highrise the cost is perhaps more and additional stuff like lifts and fire fighting has to be catered for plus central AC. so maybe thats why.

in this day and age though better to let sobha or prestige build 20 storey hostels and staff housing. will be far better than the CPWD style buildings/

Sachin · Post by **Sachin** » 24 Jun 2010 10:28

Singha wrote:Sachin in HAL museum is a good collection of photos from every era - one room per decade.

Wanted to visit the museum for quite some time. Now with this additional information, would sure do that in next 1-2 months time

. Thanks for the write up on Bengaluru. Guess we need to learn from the Brits the art of making a "museum" for any thing and every thing. Bengaluru (and other cities as well) should have a kind of good museum, which shows the city's history. We need to improve our skills in documenting and preserving stuff. When posted to London, for pretty much every week end I had some museum to visit (Guards Museum, War Rooms, Fire Brigade Museum etc. etc.).

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 24 Jun 2010 12:04

those B&W photos are priceless - shows many eminent people visiting HAL. I only hope they have been properly scanned and preserved - milestones in the birth of our tech industry. you will love the pix of old HAL workshops.
a good place to take gf and explain to her that you are different.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 24 Jun 2010 12:22

IIT Dilli feels totally cramped and hemmed in with slums, illegal construction all around. One of the few tall buildings in there is the main building - rest are all 3-4 story affairs. Dont remember if the IBM RRL building was more than 4 stories.

A_Gupta · Post by **A_Gupta** » 27 Jun 2010 21:55

http://techcrunch.com/2010/06/26/can-me ... an-google/
The work of the Roshni Academy.

Neshant · Post by **Neshant** » 04 Jul 2010 11:16

Child suicide prompts India punishment debate

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/100704/w ... ce_suicide

This practice of caning should be stopped. I do not know of any kid who has improved due to a clobbering. If anything it sets them up to be violent people when they grow older. Nothing good comes of it. Imagine if you were caned at your workplace in front of your peers.

anandsgh · Post by **anandsgh** » 04 Jul 2010 23:25

A nice debate on NDTV Khabar.... lot of things being said...

http://khabar.ndtv.com/morevideos.aspx? ... Log&pgno=1

SwamyG · Post by **SwamyG** » 08 Jul 2010 23:24

Much anxiety for students opting for Ayurveda, Unani

Even those opting for courses in Ayurveda and Unani systems of medicine have been waiting anxiously for the Karnataka Ayurveda, Yoga Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH) department to submit the seat matrix for the current academic year to the Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA).

Officials from the department say they are helpless. They have not yet been intimated of the grant of recognition by the Government of India to the institutions that run these courses.

Last year, all 4,000 seats available in the alternate medicine courses were taken.

There are three Naturopathy colleges, 32 Ayurveda, 11 Homeopathy, and fourUnani colleges in the state.
KEA officials say that even in the last academic year, the AYUSH department had not obtained a clearance from the Centre until the counselling process had concluded.

Vipul · Post by **Vipul** » 19 Jul 2010 21:59

It's a first: IITian, wins gold at Biology Olympiad.

It is rare for a student planning to pursue his studies in the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) to participate, or get selected for the International Biology Olympiad (IBO), let alone win a medal for the country, said the Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education (HBCSE). This year, however, for the first time, a student joining the IIT Kanpur’s physics department, has not just represented India at IBO, but also won gold for the country.

Sahal Kaushik, the youngest student to have cleared the IIT’s Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) with an all-India rank of 33, secured gold at the 21st IBO 2010 held in Changwon, Korea.Kaushik has also represented India at the Asian Physics Olympiad for two consecutive years, winning silver in 2009, and bronze this year.

“Students planning to join the IITs or other engineering institutes don’t participate in biology Olympiads. They are averse to biology since they view it as a subject involving rote learning. Kaushik’s achievement is thus rare and special,” said professor Vijay Singh, national coordinator, science Olympiads. HBSCE is the nodal centre for all science Olympiads.

Out of the 240 students from 60 countries, who participated in the competition, four were from India. However, no one from Mumbai made it to the final team. “Students from Mumbai usually don’t make it to the final team. Among those that get selected, maximum are from Hyderabad, Chandigarh and Rajasthan,” said Singh. Apart from Kaushik, who is from Delhi, Apoorv Singh Yadav from Bhopal, Preet Hathi from Jodhpur and Syed Mustafa Hashmi from Hyderabad won silver medals.

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 23 Jul 2010 06:53

ISB forms 'Ivy League' with three top Asian B-schools

Along with the Hong Kong University of Science & Technology (HKUST), China Europe International Business School (CEIBS), and Nanyang Technological University (NTU), ISB officials will jointly market the potential of studying management in Asia to Western students. All four B-schools, including ISB, feature among the top 30 in the Financial Times (London) rankings of the Top 100 Business Schools in the world.

After five months of meetings and discussions, these four Asian B-schools have now branded themselves as ‘Top 4Asia B-schools’, created a logo which depicts the same, have a common signature, and a website http://www.topasiabschools.com to achieve the creation of an ‘Ivy League’ kind of image for students from developed countries. The ‘Ivy League’ refers to eight north-eastern US colleges — Brown University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Dartmouth University, Harvard University, Princeton University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Yale University.

These ‘Top 4 Asia B-schools’, on their newly-created website, reason that “Asia is the new land of opportunity. This is where you should be...to be present to learn to address the challenges of today's increasingly complex business world. And, it is what makes a vital difference in your CV and to the direction your career is headed.”

“Asian education has now reached a critical mass trajectory. It is in our interest to give students multiple options. Hence, we got together with the other prominent Asian B-schools to jointly market our programmes. This proves more effective than going it alone,” asserts Deepak Chandra, deputy dean of ISB.

Along with their counterparts from the other three Asian B-schools, ISB officials will sometimes travel together to North America and Europe, to promote their cause.

SwamyG · Post by **SwamyG** » 23 Jul 2010 19:26

It is a welcome move: New paralegal course to overcome staff shortage. These paralegals could get jobs in the consulting firms who get jobs from USA too

Sanjay M · Post by **Sanjay M** » 24 Jul 2010 10:43

Here's an article from BBC on education reforms in Britain, just to give an idea where developed countries are moving:

Lord Digby Jones calls for rethink in university focus
Lord Digby Jones Lord Jones suggests universities should focus on more than just degrees

A radical rethink on higher education is needed and many universities should consider awarding more vocational qualifications, former trade minister Lord Digby Jones has said.

Klaus · Post by **Klaus** » 28 Jul 2010 07:13

Apologies if posted earlier on this thread or on earlier threads. Prototype of $48 tablet computer unveiled

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 28 Jul 2010 11:21

Klaus wrote:Apologies if posted earlier on this thread or on earlier threads. Prototype of $48 tablet computer unveiled

hain ji?

I thought we already had an unveiling of a $35 one? Did cost increase by $13.- in one week's worth of inflation

I see

VVVVV

biswas · Post by **biswas** » 28 Jul 2010 12:22

Raja Bose wrote:
Klaus wrote:Apologies if posted earlier on this thread or on earlier threads. Prototype of $48 tablet computer unveiled
hain ji? I thought we already had an unveiling of a $35 one? Did cost increase by $13.- in one week's worth of inflation

35USD = 48NZD

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 28 Jul 2010 13:54

overall , the anglo-west will shift to vocational and useful stuff from expensive liberal arts univ degrees that do not generate job opportunities for those not rich or well connected. this I guess has always happened in manufacturing powerhouses like germany, soviet union and japan and perhaps was the case in US also when it was a manufacturing superpower until few decades ago.

I remember the dialogue between father (aircraft mechanic) and son (charlie sheen) in wall street.

Sachin · Post by **Sachin** » 28 Jul 2010 16:50

I was noticing a series of "Letters to Editor" in The Hindu recently. It was about the the "book worm" kind of study culture which is part of Indian education. Most of the writers had the observations like engineering students who cannot even change a car wiper blade, and to cases where engineering graduates finding it tough to change stuff like fuse wires. Off course comparison was made with the trend prevalent in the west, where most of the folks can do a bit of home electrification, plumbing etc. with ease.

Off course one letter did touch my heart. It was from a person who was still wondering what benefit did he have in mugging up trigonometry during his 9th and 10th Std. This was exactly the same question I had in my mind. What was the point in learning this stuff up? In a class of around 25, so far one is in IAF as a pilot, a couple of chaps in the Merchant Navy, another 5-6 completed engineering and joined IT-Vity. The remaining chaps were for MBA, BBAs etc. and landed up in some financial firm or other. Dont know about the IAF chap, but for the rest of us trigonometry was totally useless.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 28 Jul 2010 18:01

at that early stage (upto 12th) nobody is sure what he will do or end up although people do have certain goals and desires. the goal of educashun is to impart some basic toolkits and skillsets to give you the widest possible choice after 10th because after that one already has to make a choice like biology, history or advanced maths.

not everything we learn in school or college will be useful in later life, no education system can provide a 100% useful curricula for everyone unless a 'oracle' can predict at birth the career of each kid.

much of the math stuff is now in easier using SW and calculators but these never impart the underlying concept, for which manual working out is needed.

Bade · Post by **Bade** » 28 Jul 2010 18:49

It is extremely important to get the fundamentals right, I worry for the new IT-Vity generation coming out of the new colleges with just three degree programs offered and associated streamlined faculty. I bet most of the IT faculty in these colleges are not ground even in the advanced math relevant for a true blue computer science type. When the job market vaporizes, what will they do in another 10-20 years when they hit their mid 40s.

SwamyG · Post by **SwamyG** » 01 Aug 2010 01:36

I remain one of the few, @ BRF, who remains skeptical about Foreign University Bill. http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/open-pa ... 544631.ece

joshvajohn · Post by **joshvajohn** » 01 Aug 2010 13:17

20 IIITs to come up on public-private partnership model
http://www.siliconindia.com/shownews/20 ... 70158.html

Why Kancheepuram (is very near to Chennai) in TN and why not in Madurai (a city in the extreme south)? This is where the policy of crowing the Chennai comes.

By having this IIT in Madurai will benefit both city and the IIT joint project itself.

Bade · Post by **Bade** » 01 Aug 2010 17:12

Wonder where the brand mullahs of IITs were, then these new vocational institutes named as IIIT to confuse the public were setup. Why not name them ITI (Information Technology Institutes) instead

or more appropriately NICA ( National Institutes for Computing Applications) or NUIT (National University of Information Technology).

Where are the PAN-IIT mullahs when you really need them to protect a brand.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 01 Aug 2010 17:32

I think they are on hunger strike outside IIT-Ropar punjab se

kubhamanyu · Post by **kubhamanyu** » 01 Aug 2010 17:34

Consider, for e.g., IIIT Delhi (was that two or three I's?), anyway follow this link:

http://www.iiitd.ac.in/people.php

Not bad for faculty preparation, when compared to "rest of world" in CS I'd say. (but there may be huge variance, I don't know yet).

That said, the whole CS field itself, except for theory, has poor grounding in the "math&science" elements that I think are central to CS.

If the planners had a 20 year planning horizon for faculty, that would be great, but most places seem to operate on 10year ones at most. And if these guys are going to be tight with industry, that's not that bad while the industry oscillates around them at a 5 year horizon.

It would be great if the IIIT's gained an "interdisciplinary" character too, in that the industry is not just IT.

Stan_Savljevic · Post by **Stan_Savljevic** » 17 Aug 2010 01:21

An Indian University Finds Success Recruiting in the U.S. ----- Returning expats say they are drawn by research opportunities on the young campus
http://chronicle.com/article/An-Indian- ... _medium=en

N.R. Narayana Murthy, founder of India's Infosys Technologies, in Bangalore, received the IEEE Honorary Membership for performing meritorious service to humanity. He spoke with great humility when he said of the IEEE, "Your kindness, your generosity, and your affection will motivate us to work harder, and definitely smarter."