Update: Following is the PIB release on it.
Shri Kapil Sibal, Union Minister for Human Resource Development, announced revised norms for the approval process, for 2011-2012, of institutes that are regulated by the All Indian Council for Technical Education (AICTE), here today.
The AICTE has been making an effort to facilitate stake holders in establishing good technical institutions in the Country. In order that a planned and coordinated development is ensured in technical education, AICTE for the coming year 2011 -12 has taken the following facilitative measures for Institutions, Faculty and students and others.
1. Introduction of Section 25 of Company’s Act to allow good corporates to setup Technical Institutions. However no Joint ventures can apply for this.
PPP and BOT model
2. Extended to 241 Districts where currently no AICTE Institution exists. This will facilitate spread of Technical education to all under represented areas.
3. Benefits of MEGA Cities extended to Metros and MRDA regions. Now there shall be two classifications of Rural and Other areas where the land requirement is: Rural area 10 acres, Other areas 2.5 acres.
4. FSI / FAR shall be considered for vertical Expansion where Management Programs will be allowed on FSI / FAR basis
5. Social Responsibility
5pm to 8 pm Courses for skill development that are based on the expertise areas possessed by the respective Institutions in the areas of Engineering / Technology / Architecture / Town Planning / Hospitality / Pharmacy etc are being allowed to be conducted by AICTE approved Institutions. This will facilitate the community around the Institutions to benefit by acquiring the skills provided by these Institutes. These Institutions are expected to form clusters with other institutions in the neighbourhood and collaborate with the Industries in the area in running these skill based programs.
6. Upto year 2010, Architecture had 40 students / division. This has been raised to 60 Seats / division. to provide for larger no. of seats and optimisation of resources without having to set up new institutions in the area.
7. Upto year 2010, different Programs like Engineering / Architecture / Pharmacy / Management / Hotel management and catering Technology, one each were allowed to be integrated into a single campus so that resources can be shared and optimised. Now this facility has been extended to more than one program to be integrated. Ie, 2 or more Engineering colleges, 2 or more management colleges and so on can be integrated as Technical / integrated campus to optimise resources
8. Upto year 2010, Tuition fee waiver scheme operated by AICTE allows for providing 10% supernumerary seats that are given to students of economically backward category. These seats were provided for Instituitions who may apply for such a scheme. Now these seats are made manadatory for every Institute upto 5%.
9. Security Money Deposit that takes care of contingencies in case of Institutions defaulting on their obligations, shall be replaced as money deposit in AICTE account. All existing FDR’s shall be converted to money deposit. This is necessitated because of
• Earlier FDR’s being encashed without AICTE knowledge or permission
• Custody and logistics of maintaining FDR’s being a source of problems.
10. The interest accrued shall be used to facilitate more stake holders like faculty, students, funding Institutions through schemes, and enhanced scholarships. AICTE has recently taken a decision to include all Government and Government aided Institutions as QIP centres in order to promote more research amongst faculty and produce more Ph. D’s. Hence a lot more faculty would be needed to be provided with QIP scholarships. This is also expected to be met from the money so generated.
11. All institutions completing more than one batch shall be eligible to get 2 Courses / program / level / shift on self disclosure if facilities and infrastructure are available. One Course would mean an addition of 60 students or one division. The ceiling which was there earlier like no increase after an intake of 540 students has been removed.
12. Institutions not completing one batch of passed out students shall get 1 Courses / program / level / shift on self disclosure if facilities are available.
13. If institutions have accreditation a further 1 Courses / program / level / shift shall be given additional in the course accredited.
14. 2nd Shift Courses and Women to Co-Ed Institutions shall be processed only after expert visits confirm that the infrastructure required exists with the Institutions.
15. Stand alone PG Institutes can be started which was not the case earlier.
16. Indian Degrees can be given in Campuses of Indian Institutions abroad subject to local laws.
17. Overseas campus can be setup subject to local laws and Indian Government clearance.
18. PGDM courses to be regulated as per several representations made.
• Date of admissions and Model curriculum to be given by AICTE
• Admissions to be effected by States and Fee to be regulated by State fee committee.
19. All approvals for Polytechnics shall be processed by AICTE.
20. Students of XII Vocational / Technical of the State Boards or any other to be admitted to 2nd Year lateral entry of a Diploma Program
21. Students of B. Sc to be admitted to 2nd Year lateral entry onto a Degree Program provided they have passed Mathematics at XII or B Sc level and would be required to pass Engineering Graphics and Engineering Mechanics along with the second year subjects.
22. 10% lateral entry setas increased to 20% in all states except Andaman Nicobar, Lakshadweep and Diu Daman where it is 30%
23. A separate division of 60 students / course can be started from 2nd year onwards in all AICTE approved Institutions subject to availability of infrastructure, exclusively for Polytechnic students for lateral entry.
24. All approval process to be completed by May 31st 2011 to enable coordinated planning.
MV/Hb
Following are excerpts from a report in India Today.
The new norms, allowing for an increase in the number of institutes and seats in various courses, will come into effect immediately.
(1) … all institutions completing more than one batch will be eligible to get two courses and programmes.
One course would mean the addition of 60 students.
(2) The earlier ceiling, which did not permit any increase after an intake of 540 students, has now been removed.
(3) All these steps envisage an increase in the number of total available seats by 50 per cent and a sharp increase in the workload of the faculty members. …
(4) The reforms also include relaxing land requirement for setting up institutions from 3.5 acres to 2.5 acres in urban areas and introducing section 25 of the Companies Act to allow ‘ good corporates’ to set up technical institutions. No joint ventures can apply for this.
(5) Until recently, postgraduate programmes could be started only where an undergraduate programme existed. But now, the AICTE will permit standalone postgraduate institutions to be started.
In regards to point (4) above one may note that one of the controversy regarding Vedanta University is regarding its status as a Section 25 company.
Following are excerpts from a report in expressbuzz.com.
Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal on Thursday announced the revised norms for the approval process for 2011-2012 of institutes that are regulated by All Indian Council for Technical Education (AICTE). …
… From now onwards, technical institutes approved by the AICTE, have to reserve up to 5 percent of their seats for students from economically backward sections of society.
“Till now, tuition fee waiver scheme, operated by the AICTE, allowed providing up to 10 percent supernumerary seats that are given to students of economically backward category. It was the discretion on the part of the institution to apply for such a scheme. Now, these seats are made mandatory for every institute up to 5 percent,” Sibal said. The minister said, “These measures are aimed at easing pressure on the education sector and providing relief to the students in matters of admission.”
January 1st, 2011
Following is from http://www.niser.ac.in/notices/2010/Advt_FC_Math.pdf.
The National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER) has been setup at Bhubaneswar by the Department of Atomic Energy of the Government of India as a unique institution of its kind pursuing undergraduate and post-graduate education in science combined with frontline research. NISER is being setup in a sprawling 300 acre campus about 3 km from Khurda Road Railway Station on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar overlook- ing Barunei Hills. It will be a fully residential campus with modern living amenities including children’s school and health centre. Presently NISER is functioning from its own Academic Building of about 5000 m2 area within the Institute of Physics campus. It is expected to move to the main campus by the academic session of 2012-13.
NISER invites applications for the following positions in the School of Mathematical Sciences from extremely motivated Indian scientists with a high-profile research agenda and a flair for teaching especially at the under- graduate level.
POSITIONS 1. Assistant Professor
• Pay Band -3: Rs. 15,600 – 39,100 Grade Pay- Rs. 7,600/- Initial Basic Pay: 29,500*/-
• NISER has provision for advance increments maximum up to 5 to the selected candidates depending upon their post doctoral experience and quality of publications. Accordingly, the above initial basic pay may increase.
• Educational Qualification & Experience: A Ph.D. degree in the relevant discipline from a reputed and recognized university or institute. Three years of postdoctoral experience or three years teaching/research experience after Ph.D. preferably abroad with high quality publication in high impact journals.
2. Reader F
• Pay Band 4: Rs. 37,400 – 67,000 Grade Pay: 8,700/-
Initial Basic Pay: 46,100
• Educational Qualification & Experience: A Ph.D. degree in the relevant discipline from a reputed University or Institute. At least 5 years of postdoctoral/teaching experience preferably abroad with high quality publication in high impact journals.
• OTHER BENEFITS:
– In addition to the basic salary, NISER faculty member are entitled to the allowances as admissible to Central Government Employees stationed at Bhubaneswar.
– The Performance Related Incentive Scheme (PRIS) of DAE is likely to be implemented in the NISER, under which, there is provision for monthly incentive of 20% of the basic pay.
– NISER Faculties are also be eligible for DAE’s update allowance, which is currently Rs. 10,000 to Rs.30,000 per year depending on the scale of pay.
– Provision of Relocation Grant:
a. The candidates who are in abroad and joining NISER from there only shall be paid relocation grant maximum up to Rs.90000/- subject to submission/ production of original receipts.
b. Candidates who are in Government service and joining NISER shall be paid Joining T. A. as per Government of India rule.
c. Candidates joining NISER neither from abroad nor from Government service shall also be considered for Relocation Grant on case to case basis subject to approval of Board of Governors, NISER.
– Reimbursement of telephone charges on monthly basis as per Institute rule.
– NISER is also providing financial support to the faculty members for attending National, International Conferences, Seminars, Workshops, etc. which is comparable to the best in the country.
– NISER has sufficient funds to provide seed money to the new faculty members to start their research programme. In addition the Department of Atomic Energy provides generous grants from its Prospective Research Fund to bright young scientists.
– The age of superannuation of faculty members of NISER is 65 years.
– NISER Faculty members are covered under New Pension Scheme as notified by the Government of India, Ministry of Finance.
Interested candidates may apply by enclosing:
• Curriculum Vitae
• List of Publications (with reprints of important papers as pdf files)
• Names and addresses (with e-mail and fax number) of at least three referees
• A statement of purpose and research programme
The qualification and experience prescribed are the minimum and mere possession of the same does not entitle a candidate to be considered for any position. However, the experience criteria may be relaxed for exceptionally meritorious candidates.
Applications should be sent by e-mail to vmuruganandam [at] niser [dot] ac [dot] in marking ”Faculty application ” in the subject field.
This is an open rolling advertisement and the applications shall be accepted throughout the year and will be considered for selection at regular intervals. However, the first panel of candidates will be prepared for selection among the suitable candidates whom applications shall be received by February, 5th, 2011.
Candidates are advised to request the Referees to send their letters of recommendations (preferably signed versions as pdf file) directly to NISER at the above e-mail address. Those having regular job in any organization should also send a scanned copy of ”No Objection Certificate” issued by the current employer.
All correspondence should be addressed to the above e-mail address only. No postal correspondence is required at any stage. Enquiry regarding the outcome of the application is discouraged. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted further.
Those who have already applied need not apply again.
December 23rd, 2010
Following is from http://www.pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=68579.
The Vice President of India Shri M. Hamid Ansari has said that higher education cannot improve in India unless State Universities, which are the backbone and represent the bulk of enrollment, are able to obtain greater funds, create new infrastructure and enrich their existing academic programmes. Delivering foundation day lecture at University of Calcutta today Shri Ansari said, anecdotal evidence suggests that the budget of one Central University is almost the same or more than the budget of all State Universities in some States. Just like the Central Government has assumed the responsibility for elementary education through Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, it should also vastly enhance its support to State Universities as a shared national enterprise, the Vice President observed.
Shri Ansari said, “Our Gross Enrollment Ratio in higher education is half of the world’s average, two-third’s that of developing countries and around a fifth that of developed countries. Even though we have been able to achieve an economic growth rate of 9 per cent of GDP despite low enrollment in higher education, it would not be possible for us to sustain such economic growth, maintain our competitiveness and enhance our productivity without at least doubling our higher education enrollment. Unless we can increase access and educational outcomes at secondary and tertiary levels, our demographic dividend might turn into a demographic liability.”
Following is the full text of Vice President’s lecture delivered on the occasion:
“ This is a rare privilege. I do feel flattered to be invited to deliver the Foundation Day Lecture of a great and famous seat of learning, India’s oldest modern university, more so because of an ancient association of a few youthful years with this city. I also subscribe fully to what the Urdu poet Ghalib said about Kolkata which he visited around the year1830:
Kalkatte ka jo zikr kiya tu ne hum nasheen
Ek teer mere sine main maara ki hai hai
Ah me, my friend! The mention of Calcutta’s name
Has loosed off a shaft that pierces to my very soul
Voltaire was perhaps unduly cynical when he describes history as “nothing more than a tableau of crimes and misfortunes.” This is certainly not true of the history of this great city which is, in a sense, also the history of modern India.
Most of us associate the year 1857 with the First War of Independence, with the heroic deeds of many, as also with the eventual failure of the effort to overthrow the foreign yoke and seek freedom from bondage. Few today would associate 1857 with another event of seminal significance. It was on January 24, 1857 that the Calcutta University Act was enacted. It was the culmination of a process initiated by Lord William Bentinck and energised by his successor Lord Auckland. The conceptual input and framework had come earlier from Sir Charles Wood. Its purpose, and ambit, was unambiguously linked to a colonial purpose, namely “to confine higher education to persons possessing leisure and natural influence” over the minds of their countrymen and who, by attaining a higher standard of modern education “would eventually produce a much greater and more beneficial change in the ideas and feelings of the community.”
The expectations from this endeavour were anticipated to be modest. The first Vice Chancellor, Sir James William Colvile, was candid about results. “We must recollect,” he said in the first Convocation Address, “that we are not merely planting an exotic (tree), we are planting a tree of slow growth.” His successor went against the tide of opinion in the British Indian establishment in the aftermath of 1857 and said three years later: “Educate your people from Cape Camorin to the Himalayas and a second mutiny of 1857 will be impossible.”
These worthy gentlemen evidently could not discern the thirst for new knowledge among segments of the public, nor could they anticipate the use that would eventually be made of it. The alumnae of this institution played a great role in the freedom struggle as also in the furtherance of knowledge in all fields. The record does speak for itself.
The proclaimed and principal purpose of the university was, and is, ‘Advancement of Learning’. There was an element of idealism about it. In a celebrated work published in November 1858, Cardinal John Henry Newman spelt out the idea of a university in terms worthy of reiteration:
“ A university is a place of concourse, wither students come from every quarter for every kind of knowledge…It is a place where inquiry is pushed forward, and discoveries verified and perfected, and rashness rendered innocuous, and error exposed, by the collusion of mind with mind, and knowledge with knowledge…It is a place which wins the admiration of the young by its celebrity, kindles the affections of the middle-aged by its beauty, and rivets the fidelity of the old by its associations. It is a seat of wisdom, a light of the world, a minister of the faith, an Alma Mater of the rising generation.”
Over the past century and a half, the ideal has retained its relevance. What has changed in response to the evolving external environment is the content, some of the methodology, and some of the end product. These were propelled by the enormity of change – political, economic, technological and cultural. A historian of our times noted at the turn of the century that “we are entering a fearful time, a time that will call on all our resources, moral as well as intellectual and material.” In this endeavour, the intellectual inputs from seats of learning and research would impact decisively on the moral and material resources needed to respond to the emerging challenges.
The need to revisit the framework for higher education in the country has been felt in recent years. This was summed up in the 2008 Report of the National Knowledge Commission:
“The emerging knowledge society and associated opportunities present a set of new imperatives and new challenges for our economy, polity and society. If we fail to capitalize on the opportunities now, our demographic dividend could well become a liability. The widening disparities in our country will translate into social unrest, if urgent steps are not taken to build an inclusive society. And our growth rate, which is faltering now, will stagnate soon, if a sustainable development paradigm is not created. “
A look at the ground reality is relevant to this discourse. Today we have 504 Universities, with varying statutory bases and mandates. Of these, 40 are Central Universities, 243 are State Universities, 130 are Deemed Universities, five institutions established under State legislation, 53 are State private Universities, and 33 are Institutions of National Importance established by Central legislation. We have a total teaching faculty of around 6 lakhs in higher education.
The structure and quality of these institutions, and their output, was the subject of critical scrutiny in the Yashpal Committee Report of 2009, tasked to suggest measures for the renovation and rejuvenation of higher education. One of its observations is telling:
“Over the years we have followed policies of fragmenting our educational enterprises into cubicles. We have overlooked that new knowledge and new insights have often originated at the boundaries of disciplines. We have tended to imprison disciplinary studies in opaque walls. This has restricted flights of imagination and limited our creativity. This character of our education has restrained and restricted our young right from the school age and continues that way into college and university stages. Most instrumentalities of our education harm the potential of human mind for constructing and creating new knowledge. We have emphasized delivery of information and rewarded capability of storing information. This does not help in creating a knowledge society. This is particularly vile at the university level because one of the requirements of a good university should be to engage in knowledge creation – not just for the learner but also for society as a whole.”
The Report goes on to say that our universities remain one of the most under-managed and badly governed organisations in society, with constricted autonomy, internal subversion within academia and multiple and opaque regulatory systems. Furthermore, university education is no longer viewed as a good in itself but as the stepping stone to a higher economic and social orbit.
The Report dwells on the increasing demand for expansion of private college and university level institutions necessitating an understanding of its implications in terms of the system’s enrolment capacity, programme focus, regional balance, ownership pattern, modes of delivery, degree of regulation, quality and credibility as well as social concerns of inclusiveness. It points out that State universities and affiliated colleges represent the bulk of enrolment in higher education and remain the most neglected in terms of resources and governmental attention.
Targeted government interventions to enhance access to elementary education through the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan have been successful in quantitative terms, even though problems remain with regard to content, quality and outcomes. You are also aware that one of the focal themes of the Eleventh Five Year Plan is the expansion and enhancement of access to higher education.
Our Gross Enrolment Ratio in higher education is half of the world’s average, two-third’s that of developing countries and around a fifth that of developed countries. Even though we have been able to achieve an economic growth rate of 9 per cent of GDP despite low enrolment in higher education, it would not be possible for us to sustain such economic growth, maintain our competitiveness and enhance our productivity without at least doubling our higher education enrolment. Unless we can increase access and educational outcomes at secondary and tertiary levels, our demographic dividend might turn into a demographic liability.
Contrary to conventional wisdom, gross enrolment in higher education is not directly linked to economic growth and prosperity or to elementary school enrolment. Thus, for example, some of the economically and educationally backward states with respect to literacy rate and school enrolment, such as Orissa, Assam, Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh have higher enrolments in higher education as compared to relatively better off states such as Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. It would seem that enrolment is a function of a variety of social, cultural, institutional and economic processes and is significantly affected by the availability of educational infrastructure and facilities.
In addition to expansion, the other two central themes of the Eleventh Plan are inclusion and excellence. This is recognition of the fact that expansion does not necessarily ensure automatic access to the marginalised sections of the society and that quantitative expansion without maintaining quality would defeat the basic objective.
There are five questions pertaining to higher education that need to be addressed urgently:
First, we must ponder whether the existing means of instituting new universities is desirable and sustainable. Currently, Universities can be established only through Central or State legislation or through recognition as Deemed Universities on a selective basis. Legislation has been accorded to many private Universities by some State Governments, and both Central and State governments have accorded statutory status to some institutions.
Second, higher education cannot improve in India unless state universities, which are the backbone and represent the bulk of enrolment, are able to obtain greater funds, create new infrastructure and enrich their existing academic programmes. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the budget of one central university is almost the same or more than the budget of all state universities in some states. Just like the central government has assumed the responsibility for elementary education through Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, it should also vastly enhance its support to state universities as a shared national enterprise. The Midterm Appraisal of the Eleventh Five Year Plan takes note of this option and has observed:
“Many state universities including the old and reputed universities of Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai and Pune are starved of funds and this allocation could be used for improving the conditions of the existing State universities and colleges which faces severe paucity of resources to help them retain their excellence and competitive edge….. The Central funding of State institutions should be linked to the reforms and a MOU signed between MHRD, UGC, States, universities and institutions for implementation of time-bound reforms and outcomes.”
Third, a significant focus of reform should be the college system, numbering around 26000 colleges, where most of the enrolment in higher education occurs. Sadly, under graduate education does not get the attention it deserves in universities amidst paucity of funds for qualitative development and quantitative expansion of colleges. The government is planning to establish colleges in 374 educationally backward districts in the country, representing over 60 per cent of all districts, with shared funding between the state and central governments.
Fourth, we need to liberate education from the strict and fragmented disciplinary confines of our formal higher education structures. This has become a significant impediment in the creation of new knowledge, especially in view of our stated objective of creating a knowledge society. We need to remind ourselves that the Indian Nobel Prize winners in the early part of the last century were a part of our higher education set-up. We had then allowed free interplay between science and engineering, languages and the humanities, performing and fine arts. It was at the fringes of such inter-disciplinary interaction that new knowledge was produced and existing knowledge flourished. I am aware of academic administrators who bemoan that those pursuing Mathematics could not simultaneously study Sanskrit grammar in India despite sound academic and research logic of doing so, due to systemic rigidities of our university system.
Fifth, higher education in our country must be an arena of choice, not of elimination. Increasingly, one notices that entrance and admission criteria and procedures are designed to screen out and eliminate, due to the adverse ratio of demand and availability, especially in disciplines with job potential or where the college or university reputation is likely to be a determining factor in employment. We must create avenues for skills training and vocational education so that entering universities does not become a default choice for the sake of employment, particularly for those who might not have interest in the subject or desire for higher education.
Allow me to conclude, ladies and gentlemen, by pointing out that the entire gamut of issues dealing with the rejuvenation and restructuring of higher education in India is in the public domain for an open policy debate. In the near future, we would witness civil society, policy community, academia, the government and the legislatures debating issues ranging from regulatory and governance structures, academic and administrative reforms, capacity building and teacher training, and entry of individual and institutional foreign education providers. This is a positive development and must be pursued to its logical conclusion.
It is my hope that this distinguished audience, and students, would be part of the ongoing debates on higher education. Each of you is an important stakeholder in the process and must contribute to it, not only as members of the academic community, but more importantly as citizens of this Republic. It is only with active engagement that we can hope to mould higher education as an instrumentality to achieve the Constitutional vision propounded by our founding fathers.”
This is an important speech. It gives some hints regarding what may happen in the 12th plan. It looks like there may be a significant central funding component for state universities.
December 21st, 2010
Following is an excerpt from a report in pagalguy.com.
Great Lakes business School, Chennai is all set to open a university in Orissa, besides another b-school in Delhi. This is after taking Mumbai Business School, Mumbai under its wings a few months ago. Disclosing this, Founder and Dean of Great Lakes, Dr Bala V. Balachandran told Pagalguy that the university in Bhubhaneshwar, Orissa will be modelled differnetly and not like the usual universities.
“This university will cater to different subjects like engineering, law, schools of art, science, economics, math,” said Dr Balachandran. This university may not be called Great Lakes but could be called the University of Corporate Excellence. When asked why, Dr Balachandran replied that Great Lakes already has an identity of a b-school. “Would be confusing to name the university with the same name.”
With regards to the b-school in Delhi, it would be called Great Lakes, like the one in Chennai. While the Great Lakes in Delhi is expected to come up in the next six months, the university is Bhubhaneshwar will come up in a year’s time.
Prof. Balachandran has already created the top notch business school, Great Lakes, in Chennai. Following is an excerpt from the page http://greatlakes.edu.in/Dr–Bala-V-Balachandran.html about his current and past associations.
Founder and Dean, Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai, India J L Kellogg Distinguished Professor of Accounting and Information Management (Emeritus in Service), Northwestern University, Illinois, USA Executive Professor & Strategy Advisor to the Dean, Bauer College, University of Houston, Texas, USA
December 12th, 2010
They have one position in each of those areas. The closing date for receiving applications is January 15 2011. The ad is available at http://niser.ac.in/notices/2010/Advt.FC_HUM_02_2010-withform.pdf. Following is an excerpt of that ad as it appears in student.exattosoft.com.
National Institute of Science Education and Research
Institute of Physics Campus, Bhubaneswar
web : http://niser.ac.in
Advt. No. FC/HUM/02/2010
NISER invites applications for the following posts of Assistant Professor:
- Assistant Professor: one post in each of the following disciplines:
- English: Linguistics, English Language Teaching (ELT), Communication Skills, Indian Writings in English, Science journalism, Computational linguistics and syntax.
- Economics: Micro economics, Macro economics, Development economics, Indian economic planning and development, Industrial economics, Labour economics, Environmental economics, International economics (with focus on finance and trade), Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), Institutional Economics.
- Philosophy: Logic and Foundations of Scientific Method, Contemporary western philosophy, Indian philosophy, Ethics, Philosophy and History of science, analytical philosophy.
- Sociology: Indian Social Structure, Development & Voluntary Sector, Social Entrepreneurship, Social change and Science, Technology & Society.
- Pay Band: Rs. 15600-39100 + GP Rs. 7600
- Age: Max 37 years as on 15.01.2011
- Last Date: 15.01.2011
December 10th, 2010
Following is an excerpt from a report in DNA.
… The government also plans to set national vocational education framework by mid-2011, Sibal said, adding "this would help school students who are unable to complete higher education or the students who are not academically bright but have other skill sets."
…"We are planning to create a separate CBSE board for vocational education. The framework in this regard would be set up by mid next year. There will be a different curriculum for vocational education where students can choose the subjects depending on their interest from cooking to automobile engineering," Sibal said at a conference in Mumbai.
The proposed vocational training will begin at the school level and will be of 10 levels. Students from Class Eight onwards will be able to take up various vocational courses, like carpentry and para-medical, along with their regular courses till Class Twelve. This programme would also help mitigate the shortage of skilled personnel in the country, Sibal said.
He said it would help empower children through imparting skills and would thereby lead to an inclusive education, which is currently the "need of the hour."
"We have to strengthen education system in the country. We are all set to achieve the critical mass by 2020. For this we have to promote vocational education," Sibal said, adding that the universities should enable a seamless transition of these students from the senior secondary level to the undergraduate level.
Sibal said that the vocational education would help empower children through imparting skills and would thereby lead to an inclusive education, which is currently the need of the hour.
Citing data that about 220 million children go to school, however only 14 million reach college, Sibal said India was far behind the developed nations, where the percentage is pegged at round 80 as against the global average of 23%.
December 5th, 2010
Following is from http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=68058.
Tribal University Set Up in Amarkantak
The Indira Gandhi National Tribal University (IGNTU), Amarkantak became functional recently. In this regard the State Government of Madhya Pradesh handed over possession of 370 acres of land to the University. The University has since embarked upon construction of prefabricated Portal Frame Structure, with 87,000 square feet plinth area. The University is presently running 22 courses and programmes at undergraduate level. As on date the total number of students studying in the undergraduate courses at Amarkantak is 769, out of which 392 are Scheduled Tribe, 80 Scheduled Caste and 255 girl students.
The University has already established its Regional Campus at Manipur with a couple of programmes and the State Government has recently handed over possession of about 300 acres of land for establishment of a permanent campus. The IGNTU has also been approached by the State Governments of Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Kerala and Gujarat to open its Regional Campuses in their respective States.
This information was given by the Minister of State for Human Resource Development, Smt. D. Purandeswari, in written reply to a question, in the Rajya Sabha today.
MV/SKS/Hb
December 4th, 2010
Following is an excerpt from a NDTV report.
The London School of Economics will collaborate with Reliance Foundation, run by the promoters of India’s largest corporate house, for setting up world-class universities in the South-Asian nation.
Reliance Foundation is the philanthropy arm of Indian billionaire industrialist Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries group, while the LSE is one of the world’s most reputed business schools.
The LSE would collaborate with the Reliance Foundation in setting up world class Universities in India, LSE’s Professor Lord Nicholas Stern said here last night.
December 3rd, 2010
(Thanks to a reader for the pointer.)
The details of the ranking is at http://dqindia.ciol.com/content/top_stories/2010/110112403.asp. The top 15 in that list with their 2009 ranking in parenthesis.
- IIT Bombay (New)
- IIT Delhi (2)
- IIT Kharagpur (1)
- IIT Madras (3)
- IIIT Hyderabad (7)
- IIT Roorkee (5)
- IT BHU (10)
- IIT Guwahati (6)
- BITS Pilani (8)
- NIT Surathkal (9)
- NSIT Delhi (17)
- NIT Rourkela (22)
- IIIT Allahabad (14)
- BIT Mesra (13)
- NIT Hamirpur (26)
This high ranking of NIT Rourkela is a parting gift to NIT Director, Prof. Sunil Sarangi. He did wonders to NIT Rourkela.
November 28th, 2010
Following is from Section 2 of the report by the 2009 committee which reviewed the then deemed universities and divided them to three categories; the second category (which included KIIT University Bhubaneswar) of universities were found somewhat deficient and given time to correct the deficiency and the third category (which included SOA University Bhubaneswar) were found deficient and it was recommended that the deemed tag may be taken away from them.
The committee consisted of Prof. P. N. Tandon, Prof. Goverdhan Mehta, Prof. M. Anandakrishnan, Prof. Mrinal Miri and Shri Sunil Kumar (Convenor).
Universities are institutions that are meant to sustain human practices and activities of a very special kind. They are, of course, concerned centrally with higher education and research, but their concern in these fields is very different from that of other institutions of higher learning and research which are devoted to imparting knowledge and skills that are essential to competent and creative pursuit of what might be called ‘technical professions’. Examples of such professions are: different branches of engineering, various aspects of medicine and surgery, and, in our times – because of the rise of corporations and bureaucratic governance -management and control of humans. It may be suggested, without much fear of contradiction, that the primary value of the kind of knowledge and skills imparted by such institutions resides in their utility – utility in creating an infrastructure for the physical wellbeing of the general public, utility in sustaining good health of individuals and the community, utility in enhancing the profit margins of corporations, and of course utility in terms of their own marketability. However, the very best of such institutions have shown the capacity to transcend utility, and this often has the effect of transforming the very quality of education they impart.
While universities are not entirely free from utility-driven higher education and learning, their core aim – if one may be allowed to say so – is very different. Universities are meant to be places -which facilitate and promote critical intellectual engagement with: (a) different traditions of thought and its great variety of expression, (b) modes of understanding the human condition and predicament, (c) the incredibly diverse inanimate and non-human living world. Such engagement obviously has many utilitarian and extrinsic values; but it is its intrinsic value that marks it off as a very special sort of human practice. It requires the development of a form of attention that focuses -beyond the interests of the self and its preoccupations with itself – on the other whether the other is a tradition of thought, or a particular human collectivity and its specific way of being human, or the physical world and its amazing intricacies, or the magieal variety of non-human life.
Such attention is valuable in itself not only because it entails the exercise of virtues such as honesty, courage and fairness, but, more importantly because these virtues must find a unity within the overarching virtue of care (some might even say, love). Care such as this requires the presence of the person – the whole ‘person – to the other, to the object of care. To be wholly present to the other in this way, is for the person to become more as a person. It enhances the human person as a person. The intrinsic value of university education lies ultimately in its inherent capacity to induce such enhancement of the person in us.
This is the truth of the commonly held belief that a truly educated person is larger as a person than an uneducated person. It is of course also true that a person may have gone through the process of education, including university education, and remained uneducated. Education has failed to make the difference in the latter instance which it is meant to have made. Some of the natural outcomes of such caring and critical attention and engagement are: traditions of thought and research are carried forward, creativity finds a central place, new modes of understanding and explanation emerge, just as new objects of such attention begin to loom on the horizon. These indeed are the intrinsic rewards of the practices sustained by a University. Think of the humanities, (which, as a result of the practicalities of the division of academic labour are split into "disciplines" such as literature, the arts, philosophy, history etc.); the human sciences (economics, psychology, anthropology, sociology and so on); the physical sciences including mathematics, the life sciences and exciting new areas of enquiry in them – think of them and the role of the Universities in taking them forward, in devising new modes of enquiry and uncovering fresh objects of study and thought.
It is important at this point to remind ourselves of what the Radhakrishnan Commission of Education 1948 had to say on the question of setting up of new universities – "….There are certain fundamental characteristics which should be inherent in any institution which is to call itself a university …It should be a place for providing a student with opportunity for all round well proportioned education for effective living and for citizenship, in addition to preparation for a calling. It may occur that a university shall develop special strength in some particular field, as in engineering or industrial development or in teacher-training or inforestry or fisheries. In fact, since no institution can be excellent in everything, it is desirable that areas of special strength be developed at least in all but perhaps the largest of our universities. However, these areas of special strength should be in addition to facilities for all round higher educqtion, and should not be a substitute for such facilities. Unless an institution aims at providing such all round training it should continue as a technical institute and should not aspire to be a university… Institutions doing perfunctory or mediocre work should not be dignified by university status."
Thus, what is crucial is that universities must not, in their various pursuits, lose sight of this essential concept of a university. There is, sadly, much truth in the general belief that many of our universities have willy-nilly lost sight of this idea. This has resulted in a certain debasement of the very concept of a university allowing institutions with little claim to the status of a university to aspire for such status.
November 27th, 2010
Following is from http://iitbbs.gov.in/iit_news_events_details.php?id=15&type=scroll.
IIT Bhubaneswar invites applications from Indian nationals who are exceptionally bright and motivated, with an established record of independent, high quality research and commitment to teaching for position of Professors for its new School of Earth, Ocean and Climate Sciences (SEOCS) on direct recruitment / contract / by transfer on deputation basis with provision for absorption.
The prime responsibility of the Professor so recruited would be to set up the School of Earth, Ocean and Climatic Sciences and the Innovation Centre for climate changes. Besides setting up of the School, his / her other responsibilities would, inter alia, include, the following activities:-
1. To play a leading role in the proposed school of Earth, Ocean and Climate Sciences in IIT Bhubaneswar and steering it towards achieving excellence in research and education.
2. To develop R&D Programme relevant to the needs of the proposed school and other organization in the related areas.
3. To develop and participate in the academic programmes of the Institute and co-ordinate research programmes funded by various agencies in the related areas.
4. To initiate and develop student awareness programmes relevant to the needs of Earth, Ocean, and climatic Sciences (SEOCS) in the country in general and in the state of Odisha in particular.
ESSENTIAL QUALIFICATION & EXPERIENCE: – The candidate must have a Ph.D or equivalent degree in Earth System Sciences (Geology, Geophysics, Atmospheric or Oceanic Sciences) with consistent good academic record. He/She must be holding a regular position of Professor in a national Institute of repute with at least 15 years research experience in any branch of Earth System Sciences.
Desirable: – Proven experience of administrative capabilities as Head of the Department / Centre / Programme for at least a period of 2 years. He/She must have successfully handled sponsored / Consultancy R&D projects and be able to interact nationally and internationally in the inter disciplinary areas of Earth System Sciences.
No. of Post: 1(one) UNRESERVED
Scale of Pay :-
Position
Pay Band
Minimum Pay in the Pay Band
Academic Grade Pay
Professor
PB:4 Rs.37,400-Rs. 67,000/-
Rs. 48,000/-
Rs. 10,500/-
Pay Protection is admissible for Professors drawing salary at a higher stage including HAG Scale. In addition to above pay, allowances and other facilities including medical facilities, LTC etc would be same as approved by the Govt of India for IITs.
1. A cumulative Professional Development Allowance of Rs. 3 Lakhs for every block period of 3 years on reimbursement basis to meet the expenses for attending international/national conferences, paying membership fees of professional bodies, covering book grant, paying telephone charges and meeting contingent expenses etc. as per Institute guidelines.
OTHER INCENTIVES
2. Reimbursement of relocation charges at the time of joining up to a ceiling of Rs. 90,000/- as per Institute norm.
3. Honorarium of Rs. 15, 000/- per month to the faculty members who have obtained Bhatnagar Award OR are Fellows of at least two National Academies. A faculty member is entitled for only one honorarium.
In the event of a Professor who is under Pension Scheme in any Central/State Government funded Pensionable establishment, the Institute would pay his leave salary and pension contribution as per rate prescribed by the Govt of India for the period of deputation. The period of deputation would be ordinarily for a period of five years with provision for absorption subject to satisfactory performance.
Terms & Conditions for appointment on transfer on deputation
Candidate possessing the requisite qualification and experience may submit their application in the prescribed proforma either a hard copy or by E-mail to the Registrar, IIT Bhubaneswar, Samanatapuri , Bhubaneswar-751013, India (E-mail: faculty.app @iitbbs.ac.in) latest by 15th December 2010. Those who are under Govt / Govt funded Institute should apply through proper channel. However, if a delay is envisaged he/she can submit an advance copy of his/her application to the Institute.
How to Apply:
Advt. No. R/7/2010 Dated: 15.11.2010
Registrar
November 22nd, 2010
Following is from a PIB release of November 19th 2010.
Nursing Colleges
The following are the steps taken/proposed by the Government: –
i) In order to update knowledge and skills of nursing personnel, assistance is provided for continuing nursing education programme in various specialty areas. This assistance is raised from Rs. 75000/- to Rs. 1.65 lakh per course during XI plan period.
ii) In order to increase the availability of graduate nurses assistance is provided to states for upgradation of schools of nursing into colleges of nursing. This assistance has been increased from Rs. 1.50 crores to Rs. 6.00 crores per institution during XI plan period.
iii) Assistance of Rs. 25.00 lakhs per nursing institution is provided to states for the strengthening of nursing schools/ colleges towards procurement of Audio Visual System, improvement of library, furniture, additions and alterations of hostel building.
iv) Grant of Rs. 1.00 crore has been provided to selected Nursing Council and Cell in states for strengthening and upgradation of nursing services.
v) M.Sc. section has been established for faculty development of Government sponsored candidates from high focused states in 5 Nursing Colleges. Annually 60 candidates per year would get trained to join as faculty in School/Colleges of Nursing in high focus states.
vi) Establishment of 132 Auxiliary Nurse Midwifery (ANM) and 137 General Nursing and Midwifery (GNM) schools in Government Sector in those districts which are not having ANM and GNM training Schools.
vii) Establishment of 6 Colleges of Nursing at the sites of AIIMS like institutions.
viii) Indian Nursing Council has also taken proactive measures to encourage opening of more nursing institutions (Annexure).
Proposals have been received from 6 high focus states namely Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Jammu & Kashmir, Orissa, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand for opening of schools of nursing during the current year. No proposal has been received from the Government of Uttar Pradesh. Grant of Rs. 98.50 crores has been provided to the State Governments for opening of 43 such institutions. The detail is as given below: –
|
S. No.
|
State
|
No. of Institution
|
|
1.
|
J&K
|
11
|
|
2.
|
Arunachal Pradesh
|
4
|
|
3.
|
Bihar
|
14
|
|
4.
|
Orissa
|
3
|
|
5.
|
Rajasthan
|
2
|
|
6.
|
Uttarakhand
|
9
|
|
|
Total
|
43
|
PROACTIVE MEASURES TAKEN BY INDIAN NURSING COUNCIL TO ENCOURAGE OPENING OF MORE NURSING INSTITUTIONS
(i) Student patient ratio has been relaxed from 1:5 to 1:3
(ii) The land from 5 acres has been relaxed to construct building of 54,000 sq. ft. for School/College of Nursing and Hostel.
(iii) Relaxed norms for teaching faculty to start B.Sc. (N) Programme.
· At least 2 M.Sc. (N) faculty to be available
· Qualification and Experience of the Nursing Teachers has been relaxed up to 2012.
· Sharing of teaching faculty for both Diploma and Graduate Programme.
(iv) Relaxation for opening M.Sc. (N) programme. Super specialty Hospital can start M.Sc. (N) without having under graduate programme.
i. Relaxation of student teacher ratio for M.Sc (N) programme has been relaxed from 1:5 to 1:10
ii. Essentiality certificate to open M.Sc. (N) programme from State Government is not required for those institution which are already having Indian Nursing Council recognized programme like Diploma or Degree.
iii. If an institution is having INC recognition for one programme then there is no need to have Essentiality Certificate for starting another nursing programme.
(v) Admission for Nursing allowed for married candidates.
(vi) Age increased for Teaching Faculty up to 70 years
(vii) Maximum of 100 seats will be given to those parent hospitals with 300 beds without insisting Medical College
(viii) Distance from school to hospital has been relaxed from 15 km to 30 km
(ix) Eligibility Criteria to admission i.e. (Marks) for Diploma and Degree has been relaxed 5% (GNM – 40%, B.Sc. – 45%).
This information was given by Minister for Health and Family Welfare Shri Ghulam Nabi Azad in written reply to a question raised in Lok Sabha today.
DS/GK
November 19th, 2010
Following is from http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=67316.
Press Information Bureau
Government of India
Ministry of Human Resource Development
19-November-2010 17:27 IST
Setting up of New IIITs
The Government of India has a proposal to set up 20 new Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IITs) in Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode. The proposal has been approved by the Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC). The locations and other details of new IIITs will depend upon the response of the State Governments & Industry partners.
This information was given by the Minister of State for Human Resource Development, Smt. D. Purandeswari, in written reply to a question, in the Rajya Sabha today.
MV/SKS/Hb
November 19th, 2010
Following are excerpts from the interview at http://www.livemint.com/richardlevin.htm.
Leading Indian institutes are good at teaching but they are not research-oriented. What should be the focus now?
The IITs and IIMs are basically good teaching institutions… The biggest contribution made by research universities is that they have advanced knowledge as well as educate quality students. The requisite for making that happen is, one, opening up the structure of faculty compensation so that you can actually attract world-class individuals.
The strong Indian nationals go to graduate schools in the US and they will not come back if they don’t get compensation close to what they get aboard. And right now, they would not unless there is some change in legislation.
The second is the state support—the need for quality laboratory, infrastructure and competitive research grant to advance their work. While there have been some advances in research grants in India, there is still by and large not the quality of the facility that you can have access to in the US, parts of Europe or indeed recently in China.
…
You had an interaction with Ratan Tata (chairman of Tata group). Is he sponsoring a chair?
There is nothing particular to announce now. We are talking to lots of leading Indian families who are interested in Yale getting more involved in India. I hope there will be some support for our relationship. There is a lot of philanthropic interest in higher education of India. I hope Parliament will open the market up to those philanthropists to build universities. They can give some money to Yale, but that will not have the impact.
India is very brand conscious and it seems it wants foreign universities to set up shop here. That will help, but that is not the answer. The answer is great Indian universities and Indian brands. You have done it with companies—you got Tata, Reliance (Reliance Industries Ltd and Reliance-Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group), Infosys (Technologies Ltd), you got Wipro (Ltd). These are great global brands now. You can do the same with Indian universities rather than co-branding like Yale-India Campus or Harvard-India Campus.
The impression here is Yale is interested in partnering one or more of the proposed innovation universities. Is that true?
We can have partnership in more than one area (but) not as co-brands. There will be some exchanges.
We may have some advisory role, having some of our faculty helping establish these universities. No joint investment. I think the real hope (for innovation university) is private sector support.
How do you see the growth of education in India vis-à-vis China?
… To compete successfully 20 years from now, India and China will need much stronger research universities. China is very aware of this and politically committed to it.
China is making big investments in research laboratories. They are putting lots of money in top universities to make them competitive with Harvard, Yale and Stanford. They are focusing more on a small number of top universities. Politically, that is very hard for India to do because of India’s democracy. It is very hard for America to do so. Solution is to allow the private sector to have a big role in higher education.
I believe you will succeed because India has built great companies in (the) last 20 years. I think a lot of people responsible for that want to give back to the Indian society. They are eager to do what Leland Stanford (founder of Stanford University) and John D. Rockefeller (founder of Chicago University and Rockefeller University) did in America over 100 years ago. If I am not mistaken, all Parliament needs to do is not to give the money away but pass legislation so that will happen.
The term Ivy League seems to have caught on. After China branded some of its university as C-9 or the Chinese Ivy League, India is set to designate at least nine top universities the Indian Ivy League. Does this help?
It reflected something really in China. Those are the universities that China is making disproportionate investment (in). In fact the government made those investments before naming them as Ivy League of China. I don’t know much about the Indian Ivy League. Unless there are much resources, I don’t think it will have that much of impact.
… prashant.n@livemint.com
I have underlined the part that I thought are important. President (of Yale) Levin is right in his answers. Under the current system Indian government can not pay large enough compensations that will attract a large number of top-quality Ph.Ds and faculty from abroad to populate proposed world class research and innovations universities in India. Only private universities backed by Billion dollar level endowment as well as a viable plan to have global level annual funding year after year (note: My university, Arizona State U, has an annual budget of $1.7 Billion plus; Harvard and Stanford annual budgets are about $3 Billion) have a chance to become world class. Fortunately Vedanta University is exactly such a plan. But unfortunately, the Indian government, instead of helping it and showcasing it such that other billionaires from India follow it, is creating hurdles.
November 13th, 2010
Following is from http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=66918.
The civil work for Package I – medical college started at all the sites in last week of May, 2010 and is scheduled to be completed in 15 months except Patna where duration is 18 months. For package II – medical college, work started in the middle of September, 2010 and it is scheduled to be completed in 24 months from commencement of work. The civil work at all the six sites is at various stages.
At Rishikesh, the provision of basement for medical college has been deleted due to high water level during excavation. Consequently, structural analysis has been re-done and designs was got revised by the Design DPR consultant. At Bhubaneswar, there was resistance from local people for mobilization of activities of the contractor. As such, the work at Rishikesh and Bhubaneswar site are slightly behind the schedule.
An amount of Rs.622.37 Crore for construction of medical colleges and an amount of Rs.1330.71 Crore for hospital complex in respect of all the six sites were allocated. Mobilization advance of 5% has so far been released.
Out of 13 institutions, 10 institutions involve both civil work and procurement of medical equipment and the remaining 3 involve mainly procurement of equipment. Civil work at 4 medical colleges, viz. Trivandrum Medical College, Bangalore Medical College, Salem Medical College and Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow has been completed. The work at Nizam Institute of Medical Sciences, Hyderabad; Jammu Medical College and OPD and Academic Block of Kolkata Medical College is likely to be completed by December, 2010 and remaining 3 institutions in 2011.
Procurement of medical equipments for all the 13 medical college is expected to be completed by March, 2011.
This information was given by Minister for Health and Family Welfare Shri Ghulam Nabi Azad in written reply to a question raised in Rajya Sabha today.
November 10th, 2010
Following is from http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=66896.
The National Development Council has approved the setting up of fourteen Universities aiming at world class standards and dedicated to innovation. These universities are proposed to be located at Bhubaneswar in Orissa, Kochi in Kerala, Amritsar in Punjab, Greater Noida in Uttar Prdesh, Patna in Bihar, Guwahati in Assam, Kolkata in West Bengal, Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh, Gandhinagar in Gujarat, Coimbatore in Tamilnadu, Mysore in Karnataka, Pune in Maharashtra, Vishakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh and Jaipur in Rajasthan respectively.
A concept paper finalized by the government is available on website www.education.nic.in and includes the scope for public private partnership.
The proposed universities for innovation are to be established across two plan periods of XIth and XIIth Plan.
This information was given by the Minister of Human Resource Development Shri Kapil Sibal, in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha today.
It was not clear to be what the National Development Council is. Searching in the web I came across the following:
The Planning Commission works under the overall guidance of the National Development Council, India’s prime policy-making body, which guides the nation on the development process.
The planning commission page http://planningcommission.nic.in/plans/planbody.html has the speeches of the PM and CM of various states in various National Development Council meetings. In the most recent meeting the PM addresses his cabinet colleagues, the CM and ministers from various state delegations, and the planning commission members.
November 10th, 2010
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