Centre to roll out innovation initiatives

The Government will roll out the ‘Rashtriya Avishkar Abhiyan’ next year with a view to arresting the falling trend of learning outcomes in mathematics and science of students in classes 6-8 and upgrade the skills of teachers in line with the needs of modern-day society.

This was announced here today by Smriti Irani, Union Minister for Human Resource Development while inaugurating the 10th FICCI Higher Education Summit 2014 on the theme ‘Higher Education Vision 2030: Making it Happen’.

“I look upon education as an opportunity to redefine India’s destiny and am happy to note that in the last six months we have undertaken a review of all regulators in the field of education to redefine the way forward and ascertain the needs of the future” the Minister said.

These innovation labs will soon be set up in every district for students to think of new ideas which will be funded by the government under an ambitious scheme to encourage research at both school and university level.

“These labs will also be linked to the proposed council of higher education on industry academia collaboration so that those innovation which have potential to turn into great business do not die. We will start a fund which will support such innovations. It will be launched by the dawn of next year,” Irani said.

-

HRD Minister releases Knowledge Paper at FICCI Higher Education Summit 2014 

Smriti Zubin Irani, Union Minister for Human Resource Development, released FICCI-EY Knowledge Paper on the theme ‘Higher Education in India: Moving towards Global Relevance and Competitiveness’ at the inaugural session of FICCI Higher Education Summit 2014.

The knowledge paper reveals India’s vision to build a 21st century model for higher education that is of high-quality, equitable and affordable, and be a model of a higher education system that is not just the best in the world but the best for the world.

The paper suggests key imperatives to realize this vision such as developing higher education institutes with an international outlook and global impact; providing world-class teaching, research and conducive learning environment; relaxing complex regulatory requirements; incentivising transnational education; developing skilled, job-ready and productive graduates; enabling higher education graduates with global skills, who can be employed by or serve workforce-deficient countries; developing research-focused universities that deliver high-quality research output and research-focused graduates; increasing R&D funding by Government, promoting increased industry participation in research and innovation and creating a conducive educational, financial and regulatory ecosystem to promote entrepreneurship.

It notes that the global economy is undergoing structural transformation. There will be need for a workforce of 3.3 billion by 2020, increasingly in the services and capital intensive-manufacturing sectors. The phenomena is also expected to play out in India – by 2020, 90 per cent of India’s GDP and 75 per cent of employment is expected to be contributed by the services and manufacturing sectors.

Technological advancement will make several jobs redundant while also creating new job roles. This structural shift in employment will increase demand for sophisticated workers, innovators, and thinkers who can thrive in a globally-connected and dynamic economy. India, with its large workforce and increasing pool of higher education graduates, is strategically positioned to reap the benefits of this shift. However, the ‘demographic dividend’ will be squandered unless India is able to create a “globally relevant and competitive” higher education system that serves the requirements of both the domestic as well as global economy.

While the Indian higher education system has made considerable progress in terms of capacity creation and enrolment especially in the last decade, it lags significantly in terms of “global relevance and competitiveness”. The FICCI-EY paper highlights the following gaps in the system:

► Low employability of graduates, driven by several factors including outdated curricula, shortage of quality faculty, high student-teacher ratios, lack of institutional and industry linkages, and lack of autonomy to introduce new and innovative courses.

► Low impact research output and patents filed given relatively low government and corporate spending on research, insufficient doctoral students, missing research focus and culture in most institutions, and lack of international research collaborations

► Limited focus on entrepreneurship on campus as reflected in the fact that there are few institutes that offer programs in entrepreneurship and have active incubation / entrepreneurship cells

► Complex regulatory requirements and hurdles, poor institutional governance standards, and lack of professional management While we acknowledge that the Government has proposed and is also taking several measures to improve the system on the above aspects, there are some steps it could take to make the Indian higher education system a role model for other emerging systems. Institutions, on their part, would need to adopt a transformative and innovative approach across all levers of higher education: from curricula and pedagogy to the use of technology to partnerships, governance and funding, to become globally relevant and competitive. In this report, we have looked at some world-class institutions and country systems that could hold important lessons for government and institutions.

To make India “globally relevant and competitive”, the paper recommends that higher education in the country needs to be promoted as follows:

► India prominently placed on the global higher education map in terms of more globally-reputed Indian institutions, significant student and faculty mobility, presence of / collaborations with quality international institutions

► India as a hub for talent that is able to drive competitiveness of the Indian economy and is fit to work in or serve international markets

► A culture of research, innovation and entrepreneurship that can power high economic growth in the country

UK woos Indian students, promises more cooperation

Hit by a drop in Indian students in its universities due to stricter visa regime, the United Kingdom tried to reverse the unwelcoming image of Britain. Greg Clark, Minister of State for Universities, Science and Cities, The UK, who is leading a delegation to India, announced that the British Government had initiated a programme, under which 25000 young people would be sent to India to study in the next five years. “The first batch of students will reach Indian shores next summer”, he said here at the 10th FICCI Higher Education Summit 2014 on the theme ‘Higher Education Vision 2030: Making it Happen’.

Later at the Sixth India-UK Education Forum Smriti Irani, the Union Minister of Human Resource Development, and Clark, co-chaired the meeting. Both the countries discussed the existing bilateral cooperation initiatives in education and also agreed to further strengthen it by taking up several new initiatives. Both sides also acknowledged the cooperation mechanism through joint UK-India Education and Research Initiative (UKIERI).

It was also decided to constitute a Joint Working Group consisting of officers from both sides to deliberate and work on modalities of future collaborations in education. The JWG will meet frequently and the first meeting will be held by December 2014.

Both sides also discussed the Chevening Scholarships for Indian students; two-way student mobility; Generation UK-India programme which will support up to 25,000 young people from the UK to come to India over the next 5 years and initiatives supported by DFID. The UK delegation confirmed that they will put in four times more resources for the Chevening scholarships for Indian students and make it the largest Chevening Programme in the world.

The Indian delegation emphasized that, along with students from UK, they would also like to welcome teachers and faculty members under its new programme, Global Initiative for Academics Network (GIAN), the response to which was extremely positive from the Minister leading the UK delegation.

After taking over of the present Government, the issue of equivalence of India’s 10+2 qualifications with “A” level qualification of UK was taken up at very high levels. UK side has acted promptly on it and it was conveyed today in the Forum meeting that most of the UK institutions recognize the 10+2 qualifications for admission of Indian students into the higher educational institutions in UK. The UK delegation also welcomed more Indian students in the British Universities and also assured of addressing the barriers in student mobility.

A Joint Statement was also signed by both the Ministers highlighting the educational cooperation between India and the United Kingdom and the future areas of collaboration. The areas of leadership development; research, innovation, technology and knowledge transfer; Skill Development and Entrepreneurship; enhancing people to people links and two-way mobility; quality improvement in education; use of ICT in education; development of MOOCs and e-Library and launch of UKIERI-III in 2016 have been highlighted in the Joint Statement.

- See more at: http://digitallearning.eletsonline.com/2014/11/uk-woo-indian-students-promises-more-cooperation/#sthash.VyZPXHay.dpuf

Here's The Best Way To Answer When An Interviewer Says 'Tell Me About Yourself'

"So, tell me about yourself."

It's one of the most ubiquitous interview questions, and often one of the most difficult. With such a wide breadth of possible answers, it can be overwhelming to know where to start.

Hint: If your go-to response includes a run-down of where you grew up or what you studied in college, you've probably already lost your interviewer.

While the hiring manager does want to get to know you, at this point they are only focused on figuring out if you're the right person for the job - and your most critical task is showing them that you are, writes Skip Freeman, the CEO of executive search group Hire to Win, in a recent LinkedIn post.

To prevent hurting your chances before the interview even warms up,Freeman breaks down this question into a simple three-part response that will hook the interviewer without inundating them with unnecessary details. Here's his technique:

·         Part 1: Start with a condensed version of your career history. Try and keep it as concise as possible, Freeman suggests.

·         Part 2: Next, give a brief summary of a specific achievement to capture the interviewer's interest. "It must be an accomplishment that can easily be explained and/or illustrated," Freeman says. "Plus, it must also highlight a 'bottom-line' impact for the potential employer."

·         Part 3: Conclude with a few definitive sentences about what you hope to accomplish next in your career - but make sure it's relevant to the position you're interviewing for, Freeman warns.

Here's an example from Freeman of a good one-minute response:

"I am a five-year veteran of LAN/WAN administration and systems engineering, with substantial experience using a variety of contemporary business software systems.

"Recently, as a long-term contract employee at a local regional bank, I learned that the bank was about to install a particular software system and was planning to use an outside firm for the project. I let them know that I had done a similar installation at my last assignment, outlined how we could get the job done with in-house staff, and successfully completed the installation for $55,000 to $65,000 less than it would have cost with outside consultants.

"For the next step in my career, I would like to move away from contract work and find myself as a direct employee of a large firm where I can join a substantial IT team and be involved with a group that focuses on email and network security applications, while having access to the knowledge base that would come with a large, diverse IT group."

Instead of giving the hiring manager a broad overview of who you are, show why you'd be a great fit for the position. "You will clearly and quickly brand yourself as a true professional, someone who knows the value of what you have to offer a potential employer," Freeman says.

New schemes launched on National Education Day

National Education Day this year marks the 125th birth anniversary of politician, scholar, and Bharat Ratna Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, acknowledging the occasion, the Ministry of Human Resources and Development launched new initiatives for the benefit of the education system in the country.

The new initiatives include Saksham, PRAGATI, SAMAVAY, Know your College and Unnat Bharat Abhiyan. The details of the schemes are given below:

* Saksham is a college level scholarship for the differently abled, needy and meritorious children.

* Providing Assistance for Girls Advancement in Technical Education Initiative or PRAGATI is an AICTE, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India scheme that envisions selection of one girl per family whose income is less than 6 lakhs per annum to pursue technical education. The scholarship amount under the scheme is Rs 30,000 for tuition fees and Rs 2,000 per month contingency allowance for 10 months.

* Skill Assessment Matrix for Vocational Advancement of Youth (SAMAVAY), allows multiple pathways between Vocational education – skills, education and job markets. This will facilitate India to harness the potential of young India.

* Know your College Portal is an application developed for helping a prospective student make a valued judgment of the college he / she wishes to join by providing him / her necessary information about the college.

* Unnat Bharat Abhiyan involves higher educational institutions to work with the people of rural India in identifying development challenges and evolving appropriate solutions for accelerating sustainable growth.

- 

IIT Kharagpur plans to become international

IIT Kharagpur will now go global as it plans to bring professors and scholars from foreign universities besides offering joint PhDs with top international institutes.

Ten professors from some of the world’s leading universities would come to the Kharagpur campus each year for few months, under the Shri Gopal Rajgarhia International Programme which was launched recently.

According to Director Partha Pratim Chakrabarti, around 30 talented international scholars would be invited each year to conduct research activities at IIT. He also mentioned that they were already in talks with leading universities from the US, Europe, Australia, and Japan.

Under the joint PhD programme, students would be awarded with the doctorate by IIT-Kharagpur and an international university.

“The students will study at both the places. There will be international workshops and activities with the foreign university,” Chakrabarti said.

The international programmes will start from the January session.

IIT Kharagpur’s distinguished alumni from the 1968 batch, Gopal Rajagarhia donated Rs 10 crore for funding the initiative.

“I was always keen to give it back to IIT. Its international ratings are poor because of low international exposure. With this program, we want the IIT to make its presence felt in the international arena so that its ranking improves as per our Vision 2020,” Rajgarhia said.

At present around 200 PhDs are awarded by the IIT each year which they hope to take it to 400.

“We want around 25 per cent of PhDs to be joint PhDs. We will also be getting foreign students to study here for such joint PhDs,” director Chakrabarti said.

Besides student and faculty exchange, the IIT is also adding an international component to its courses by offering micro specialisations with a foreign collaborator.

They have already started the International Summer Winter Programme wherein students and faculties from India and abroad are participating.

- See more at: http://digitallearning.eletsonline.com/2014/11/iit-kharagpur-plans-to-become-international/#sthash.LGwl1Lr8.dpuf

The virtue of inclusiveness

The new Maharashtra and Haryana Assemblies have only 12 Muslim MLAs between them and no Muslim Minister. The number of Muslim Ministers in nine major BJP-ruled States thus remain just one. The non-BJP-ruled States do better, the share of Muslim legislators and Ministers being much closer to their share in the population, but some Congress-ruled States like Uttarakhand too have no Muslim Minister. On the back of a General Election that swept the BJP to power but produced a Parliament with the lowest proportion of Muslim MPs in over 50 years, this is cause for concern. Undoubtedly, this has to do with the communalisation of political parties, but it is also about the communalisation of voters. Under the first-past-the-post system, Muslims are now likely to win only from constituencies with an unusually large Muslim population. In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the likelihood of a Muslim winning dropped, falling to just 1 per cent in constituencies where Muslims formed less than 20 per cent of the population. Political parties breed and then react to this communalisation, responding by nominating ever fewer Muslims from constituencies where they are not in sufficient numbers for reasons of “winnability”. Following the BJP’s sweep in Uttar Pradesh in May despite nominating no Muslim, the Samajwadi Party, which has nominated more Muslim candidates than any other national party over the last 50 years, reduced the number of tickets given to Muslims in the recent by-elections in Uttar Pradesh.

But Muslims being in positions of power does not necessarily ensure development outcomes for Muslims, the argument goes. However, the dignity of political representation and high office is not only a means to an end; it is an end in itself too. Moreover, while political representation is certainly not the only mode of development, the Rajinder Sachar Committee Report recommended it as one of the solutions to the disproportionate educational and economic backwardness of Muslims. The century-old fight of backward class empowerment movements and political parties to gain political representation in the southern States led to a situation where backward classes in Tamil Nadu and Kerala today have better development indicators than upper castes have in some northern States; political empowerment matters. Some dismiss these findings as a legitimate concern for a democracy, subscribing to what the late Professor Iqbal Ansari called a sort of “political Darwinism”. By this same token, he wrote, concerns about the representation of women in politics would be dismissed as sexism. Expecting the legislatures to represent its diversity more fairly is not tokenism; it’s what inclusive democracy truly looks like, as opposed to majoritarianism.

Keywords: Muslim representation, Muslim representation, LS polls, Assembly polls