Higher Education in India

Centre calls state education ministers to set reform agenda

2012-02-20T20:20:00.004+05:30

The Union government has called a meeting of state education ministers to build consensus around its plans for education reforms before the 12th Five-Year Plan kicks off in a couple of months. On the agenda for discussion is a proposal to introduce a common entrance exam for all science and engineering colleges and another to start community colleges on the lines of those in the US and Canada. The meeting called by human resource development (HRD) minister Kapil Sibal on Wednesday will also debate the need to bring skills education in schools as well as the implementation of the Right to Education (RTE) Act across the country, as per ministry documents. Mint has reviewed a copy of the discussion agenda.

An official of the Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD), who did not want to be named, said that while a number of legislative initiatives on education, including the Foreign University Bill and the Education Malpractice Bill, face opposition in Parliament, some reforms can be rolled out through executive decisions and here “taking states into confidence would be of paramount importance.” The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government “has to take reform measures in the next two years before it starts preparation for the general election due in 2014. With education being a subject that touches mass lives, the ministry would like to put in place some visible reforms,” the official said. An MHRD spokesperson confirmed the meeting of state education ministers, but didn’t divulge details.

The Union government has come under attack from many states for not consulting them while formulating policies and initiatives, resulting in reforms initiatives being held up. In that context, meetings such as the one proposed with the education ministers are critical for building consensus, said Yamini Aiyar, Director, Accountability Initiative, at the Centre for Policy Research. “It’s critical to have dialogue with states. The Centre should facilitate, build consensus and set the standard rather than impose,” Aiyar said, adding if the Union government takes suggestions from the states in the right spirit, “implementation will be much better.”

Several committees set up by the Union government have suggested a common entrance exam for all science and engineering colleges, according to MHRD documents. A plan is being devised to merge the Indian Institute of Technology’s Joint Entrance Examinations (IIT-JEE) and the All India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE) conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education, for admissions into 15 IITs (Indian Institutes of Technology), 30 NITs (National Institutes of Technology) and other central science and engineering colleges. Since at least 95% of engineering and science colleges fall under state jurisdiction, any plan to create a common entrance test for these disciplines needs the support of state governments. India has nearly 8,000 engineering colleges.

“The above methodology does not curtail the autonomy of Universities/Institutions and the States to structure their own admission process but provides for a standardized frame of reference for evaluating inter-se merit amongst applicants,” the ministry says in its note, adding, “The prevalence of categorization (reservation for castes, sports quota, ex-servicemen quota, etc.) in the admission process can also be continued unhindered...”

The MHRD also has plans to introduce some 100 community colleges — industry-oriented institutions with one or more specializations and with a high employment-generating potential. “…it would be better if Community Colleges are started on a pilot basis (about 100 or so) in 2012-13 and then after evaluation scaled up gradually...,” the ministry says in its note. “Accordingly, in 2012-13, 80 colleges from the UGC list …and 20 polytechnics in the government system may be identified by UGC-AICTE (University Grants Commission-All India Council for Technical Education) in consultation with the respective state governments for implementing the Community College Programme.”

With regard to RTE (Right to Education), the ministry believes that since education is primarily a concern of the states, the Act cannot become a success without their support. Only 19 states have so far put in place a monitoring mechanism for RTE. States that are yet to put in place an RTE protection authority or state commission for protection of child rights include Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, Tripura, Meghalaya and Nagaland. “States are requested to initiate steps to set up a grievance redressal mechanism under the RTE Act,” the ministry says in its document.

Source: Mint, February 20, 2012

E-commerce companies recruiting in big numbers at IIMs as recession weighs down traditional recruiters

2012-02-20T11:23:00.006+05:30

In the past, they just ogled as big global banks, consulting firms and consumer goods MNCs strutted around India's top business school campuses. But this placement season, e-commerce companies are recruiting in big numbers at the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), signaling the chutzpah and coming of age of a sector that has cash propelling its ambitions and believers in its potential. Armed with interesting pitches and money raised from venture capital and private equity firms, these e-commerce firms, many of them barely a couple of years old, are taking the top slots at the IIMs, wading into the space vacated by the more traditional recruiters weighed down by a slowing economy and adverse markets.

First-timers at IIM campuses, e-commerce firms such as RedBus, Letsbuy, Via, Valyoo Technologies and Snapdeal have picked up freshers and candidates with experience at salaries ranging between Rs. 800,000 and Rs. 1.6 million. Some others, such as Myntra, which had in the past only visited IIM-Bangalore, have this year cast their net wider to include other IIMs. Bangalore-based online bus ticketing company RedBus, which until now only had summer interns from the IIMs, has this year made two job offers at IIM-Indore and will be heading to Bangalore, Ahmedabad and Kolkata in the coming weeks. "The pre-placement talks have generated interest and we expect slots to be confirmed soon.

The newer IIMs have been after us, but we do not want to go there," said Shankar Prasad, COO of RedBus. The company plans to initially hire the IIM graduates as management trainees and move them into middle-management roles in due course. The opportunism being displayed by e-commerce firms this year is reminiscent of the 2009 placement season, when state-run banks and other PSUs were big hirers on campuses as their private and foreign counterparts stayed away because of the global economic meltdown. While the economic picture this time around is not as bad as in 2008-09, the placement scene is tepid and IIMs have been tempering hopes of students.

E-commerce Industry Alluring
The IIMs have been prodding students to look beyond traditional recruiters offering high salaries. The e-commerce industry is alluring to many, with examples such as Facebook's $100-billion planned IPO and stories of 20-something dollar millionaires at the company dominating the discourse. These companies are finding that their stories and unique business models have takers despite them not being the best paymasters.

The past several months have seen intense news flow in the sector, bringing it high into the public consciousness. A report from Dublin-based research firm Research and Markets earlier this month forecast the Indian e-commerce sector growing at a compounded annual rate of 40% to $34.2 billion in 2015 from around $5.9 billion in 2010. The sector is still in a nascent stage, and set to grow exponentially as Internet penetration increases rapidly.

Gurgaon-based group-buying firm Snapdeal's first tryst with the IIMs has seen it make pre-placement offers. The firm has made offers to three students from IIM-Calcutta, two from IIM-Bangalore and three from IIM-Lucknow. The company, which raised $40 million from Bessemer Venture Partners, Nexus Venture Partners and IndoUS Venture Partners last year, has also picked up an executive MBA from one of the IIMs. "The recruitment has been done to bolster Snapdeal's product, technology and analytics teams. The response was good as the students were aware of e-commerce," said Anupama Beri, Snapdeal's human resources head.

Online consumer electronics retailer Letsbuy, in the news recently for its marriage with Flipkart, plans to hire up to four students from IIM-Lucknow. "This is our first time at IIMs and we prefer to go to the older IIMs," said Hitesh Dhingra, founder & CEO of Letsbuy.com. Delhi-based Valyoo Technologies, which received $4 million in venture funding from IDG Ventures in late 2011, got the first-day slot at IIM-Indore and the second day in Lucknow. It has hired 12 students in all. "We have taken candidates for functions across marketing, operations, logistics and supply chain," said Peyush Bansal, co-founder and CEO of the two-year-old Valyoo, which operates online retail sites Lenskart.com, Bagskart.com, Watchkart.com and Jewelskart.com.

The students, who have been offered annual salaries between Rs. 1.2 and Rs. 1.6 million, will handle separate verticals such as warehousing and product procurement. Valyoo has hired only laterals with experience of 1-4 years. "We have identified critical areas in the business and will hand it over to an IIM graduate," said Bansal, who is himself an IIM-Bangalore graduate. The company, which is a first-timer at the IIMs, is going to one more IIM in the coming weeks as it wants to hire 3-4 more people.

Bangalore-based online ticketing company Via is awaiting its slot confirmation at IIM-Ahmedabad and IIM-Indore, and plans to hire up to six students, preferably with prior work experience. It plans to offer salaries between Rs. 1.2 and Rs. 1.5 million and hire people for its strategy, finance and corporate functions. Myntra, on its second trip to the IIM campuses, has made nine offers this year at IIM-Lucknow and the Indian School of Business. The online fashion retailer, which recently raised $21 million from a slew of venture investors, is offering freshers Rs. 1.3-1.5 million along with stock options and other benefits. The next stop is IIM-Ahmedabad, said Pooja Gupta, VP (HR) of the company.

While most e-commerce firms are opting for a mix of freshers and people with prior experience, online travel agency MakeMyTrip, a veteran of many campus placements, is hiring only laterals from IIMs and other top B-schools such as the ISB. "This provides a better return on investment, both from a fit and compensation cost perspective, as well as retention. Experienced candidates have clear career goals, have shorter learning curves, and do not necessarily shop around," said Purva Misra, senior vice-president, HR. The Nasdaq-listed company plans to hire up to 15 students from campuses this year, mostly for product management and online marketing roles.

Source: The Economic Times, February 20, 2012

Business dull, 65 B-schools across India to shut down

2012-02-19T21:15:00.005+05:30

On the academic floor, the MBA programme was once supreme. Arrogantly and unambiguously, it became the final sign-off to schooling, attracting not only those interested in business but also all those who wanted to master the tools of management.

That hubris, thanks to its own profligacy, is now being shaken. The Indian management education sector grew so wildly when demand was rampant (today there are 3,900 management schools with close to 350,000 seats) that supply overshot demand by a long shot. And now comes the fallout.

In a dramatic, though not entirely unexpected, development, as many as 65 business management colleges across India are planning to close down; these institutes no longer see business sense in offering an MBA course, preferring to use the land for more lucrative ventures. Experts predict that many more management colleges will close down in the days to come. As S S Mantha, Chairman of the All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), puts it, "Colleges in remote India and institutes of poor quality are not getting students."

Bust after Boom
There are 3,900 management schools in India with close to 350,000 seats, indicating supply overshot demand Experts question quality of many colleges in remote areas. With no job offers, students shun them, prompting many to contemplate closure. Curriculum is far from reality. For the students who choose not to apply to any of these lesser-known colleges, the decision is a no-brainer: the curriculum is far from business reality, faculty is minimal and, most importantly, very few respectable companies participate in the course-end recruitment drives. At one time, the archetypal Indian MBA did join anonymous business colleges. But now with no job offer at the end, the decision is no longer complicated: a young graduate would rather take up a job or prepare harder for another shot at an entrance exam which is the gate to a better B-school, says Stephen D'silva, Director, Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies.

However, while the lower-rung management schools are being bypassed, there are still tens of thousands who make a beeline to join an IIM (Indian Institute of Management). Pankaj Chandra, Director of IIM-Bangalore, boasts of the hundreds of thousands of students who sign up to take the Common Admission Test (CAT) for close to 3,000 seats that the IIMs have on offer. "It is a great time to do an MBA. The brightest ones still want to do an MBA," he adds.

Having said that, the manner in which India's business education sector has developed poses a vital question: Is the MBA for everyone? Across the country, academics, irrespective of the institute they are affiliated to, are relating to Henry Mintzberg of McGill University, Montreal, who devoted a book to his contention that "conventional MBA programs train the wrong people in the wrong ways with the wrong consequences". Mintzberg's line 'Warning: Not Prepared to Manage' has become a popular catch phrase in internal meetings that B-school boards and faculty members hold.

Source: The Economic Times (Online Edition), February 19, 2012

With education fairs, India woos Sri Lankan students

2012-02-19T20:27:00.005+05:30

India is promoting itself seriously as an education destination in Sri Lanka, with a series of initiatives. Three education fairs were organised this financial year as part of a ‘Study in India' campaign, coordinated by the Indian High Commission here.

“India being Sri Lanka's closest neighbour, the travel expenses involved are much less. The culture is almost identical and India offers high quality education at a fraction of cost compared to many other countries,” said Shaik Suleman, General Manager of EdCIL (Educational Consultants India Limited). It is a Government of India Enterprise mandated to promote and develop education in India and abroad.

Finding a seat in a university in Sri Lanka is a tough task for a student for, there are only few universities. According to Sri Lankan government estimates, about 10,000 students go abroad for studies. But this number could be much higher since there is no streamlined manner of gathering their statistics. India hopes to attract at least half of the 10,000 students given its various advantages.

Right now, Australia is the most preferred destination: last year about 2,000 students headed there. The year before, this number was 3,500. The numbers dropped because of the government crackdown on fly-by-night educational institutions, and the introduction of a tougher visa regime. On an average, about 1,500 students head for India. This estimate is based on the number of student visa applications that the Indian High Commission has given out in the past few years.

India has a plethora of recognised professional colleges which could accommodate students from abroad. This has been the focus of all the three exhibitions here, including the latest “Indian Education Fair” held in Colombo from February 17 to19. It showcased over 20 of the most reputed Indian institutions representing more than 100 colleges. The participating institutions offer courses in Science, Medicine, Dentistry, Engineering, Architecture, Business, Economics and Humanities, in addition to Films and Acting.

“India has also increased the number of scholarships by nearly three times, to reach 270 scholarships, and also has highly subsidised self-financing slots, which would be available from the current year,” said Indian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Ashok K. Kantha. “These scholarships would be funded by India under a grant assistance amounting to 2.5 billion Sri Lankan Rupees, to be spent over a three-year period,” he added.

Source: The Hindu, February 19, 2012

Study loans becoming cheaper in India

2012-02-19T19:32:00.008+05:30

After rising for two years, interest rates have finally started softening, providing the much-needed relief to retail customers. State Bank of India (SBI) – the country’s largest lender – has reduced interest rates on education loans by 25-100 bps across various maturities. The new rates would be effective from Monday. For a loan of Rs. 400,000, the interest rate has been reduced by 25 bps to 11.75 per cent, while for loans between Rs. 400,000 and 750,000, the rate reduction is 100 bps to 12.50 per cent. And, for the loans of above Rs. 750,000, rates have been cut 25 bps to 12.25 per cent.

SBI also offers a concession of 50 bps on interest rates for loans given to female students. Education loans, which constitute about seven per cent of SBI’s Rs. 1.75-lakh-crore (Rs. 1.75 trillion) retail portfolio, saw a growth of 14.17 per cent as of December-end.

Another state-run lender, Central Bank of India, has announced a reduction of 25-50 bps on home loan rates to boost credit demand, which has seen a slow growth in the current financial year. Prospective customers of Central Bank will now be charged 10.75 per cent for loans of up to Rs. 3 million. For loans between Rs. 3 million and Rs. 7.5 million, rates have been reduced by 50 bps. For those more than Rs. 7.5 million, the new rate is 11.25 per cent, revised from 11.50 per cent. The repayment period for these offers is between 10 and 25 years. The Mumbai-based lender has also waived processing fees on home loans. It on Saturday said the new rates would be offered till March 31.

Banks are now becoming aggressive to push loan growth to meet the target for the current financial year. Banks have to indicate their targets to the finance ministry in the statement of intent at the beginning of every financial year. Central Bank of India has set a target of raising its home loan book by Rs. 500 crore (Rs. 5 billion) this quarter, on the base of a housing loan book of Rs. 6,000 crore (Rs. 60 billion). “At present, private sector banks like ICICI Bank and HDFC offer better rates than us,” a Central Bank of India official said. The bank’s total retail portfolio, including home loans, was Rs. 15,130 crore (Rs. 151.3 billion) at the end of December 31, 2011, up 35.48 per cent from Rs. 11,168 crore (Rs. 111.68 billion) a year ago.

On Friday, Bank of Maharahstra also announced a reduction of 10 bps in its base rate to 10.60 per cent. It offers home loans of up to Rs. 500,000 at the base rate. The Pune-based lender has also waived processing charges for home loans of up to Rs. 2.5 million.

Even as banks are not yet reducing their base rates – the benchmark lending rate to which all rates are linked – those may do so once the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) starts cutting interest rates. After raising the key policy rate 13 times between March 2010 and October 2011, the central bank has now pressed the pause button on its rate increase cycle and it has not raised the policy rates in the last two policy meetings.

Market participants said RBI would cut interest rates from the April policy, if not March, as inflation is now showing signs of easing after staying high for nearly two years. In January, inflation rate fell to 6.55 per cent, which was close to the central bank’s projection of 7 per cent inflation rate at the end of March.

Source: Business Standard, February 19, 2012

MHRD plans to launch 1,000 education channels

2012-02-18T21:10:00.003+05:30

Aiming to give a boost to education, the Union Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD) is turning to television in a big way and intends to launch as many as 1,000 channels. It has already initiated steps to launch the first 50 round-the-clock channels at the earliest and approached the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting for permission, sources told PTI.

The MHRD has also started the process for appointing a consultant for setting up the infrastructure for the 50 Direct-To-Home (DTH) channels. The country’s premier educational institutions have been asked to prepare lectures and educational material that can be telecast, the sources said. Content for these channels is being prepared by premier educational institutes, they said.

The MHRD initiated steps to launch the 50 channels after clearance of a major technological hurdle with the Department of Space assuring the use of two 36 MHz KU Band transponders in satellite GSAT 8 spacecraft for the channels. The channels are a part of the National Mission of Education through Information and Communication Technology (NME-ICT) initiative.

“While the MHRD wanted to start the 50 channels at the earliest, the permission from the information and broadcasting ministry may take a little time as the latest guidelines specify that formation of a company is one of the requirements to start a channel,” a source said.

Source: The Financial Express, February 18, 2012

Surge of job offers at XLRI Jamshedpur

2012-02-15T22:35:00.004+05:30

Xavier Labour Relations Institute (XLRI), Jamshedpur, has not been impacted by the economic downturn, as reflected in its Final Placement Report for 2012 released on Tuesday. The B-school saw 98 per cent of its students getting placed within the first three days of the placement process.

A total of 284 offers were made to their batch of 235 students. The average domestic salary for the final placement this year was Rs. 16.48 lakh (Rs. 1.648 million). The median domestic salary was Rs. 15.5 lakh (Rs. 1.55 million). The highest domestic salary offered was Rs. 40 lakh (Rs. 4 million) and the highest international offer made stood in excess of $1,25,000.

Among the various disciplines, finance witnessed Goldman Sachs making 12 offers for its asset management and investment research roles. It was the largest recruiter. A leading venture capital firm also participated in the placements, choosing to recruit exclusively at XLRI, according to the report. Other recruiters within the banking and finance sector included Citibank, Edelweiss, ICICI Bank and SBI Capital Markets, among others. Standard Chartered and N M Rothschild’s investment banking division also made offers.

In consulting, multiple offers were made by The Boston Consulting Group and McKinsey and Co. Deloitte Consulting recruited for India as well as US roles for its strategy and operations and human capital divisions. Gallup Consulting was a first-time recruiter at XLRI and offered multiple roles across divisions. KPMG, Ernst and Young, IBM, Hay Group, PwC and PeopleStrong were among the other recruiters.

Airtel was among the largest recruiters, with a total of 12 offers on campus in marketing. Unilever, P&G, Johnson & Johnson, GlaxoSmithKline, Nestle, PepsiCo, Hindustan Coca Cola Beverages, Marico, Britannia, ITC, Kraft Cadbury and Lenovo were among the top names which made their presence felt. In addition, technology companies like Facebook, Amazon, Flipkart and Redbus also recruited from the campus.

Source: Business Standard, February 15, 2012

Varkey Group ups stake in Everonn Education to 38%

2012-02-15T22:15:00.006+05:30

Consolidating its position in Everonn Education, the Dubai-based Varkey Group has increased its stake in the company to 38.12%. The group has also appointed Rakesh Sharma and Dino Varkey as directors on the board. Sharma is chief executive officer of GEMS Education, South Asia, and Varkey is senior director at GEMS.

P Kishore, who hit the headlines last August when the Central Bureau of Investigation arrested him for allegedly bribing income tax officials to the tune of Rs. 50 lakh (Rs. 5 million) for concealing Rs. 60 crore (Rs. 600 million) out of Rs. 116 crore (Rs. 1.16 billion) taxable income, has resigned as managing director.

GEMS Education and Everonn will, over the next few months, hold detailed discussions to build on the strengths of both companies. SKIL Infrastructure with an 18.33% continues as one of the key stakeholders in the company. The Nikhil Gandhi-led SKIL had last year acquired a 20.83% stake in Everonn for Rs. 208.4 crore (Rs. 2.084 billion) to become a co-promoter. Kishore, the founder-managing director, holds a 7.6% share in the company.

Speaking after the Everonn board meeting, Sharma said the GEMS Education investment in Everonn will only have a positive impact on the Indian education sector. "Investing in Everonn will provide us with a critical operating base within India and give added momentum to our strategic expansion plans," he said. “The synergies with Everonn will play a critical role in improving the standards of education provided to the children of India.”

The Varkey Group had acquired close to 12% stake for Rs. 138.23 crore (Rs. 1.382 billion) in Everonn in September. This was followed by an open offer to Everonn shareholders, taking its stake to over 20% at a price of Rs. 528 per share. The group had also picked up close to 3% of Everonn shares from the open market.

According to industry experts, GEMS Education's leading position in the school sector coupled with Everonn's expertise in content creation and technology-enabled delivery of content offer considerable scope for synergy in India. Everonn shares closed at Rs. 296.45 each on Tuesday on the Bombay Stock Exchange, up 1.21% from the previous close.

Source: The Financial Express, February 15, 2012

New U.K. restrictions on work after study

2012-02-15T21:23:00.003+05:30

From April, foreign students from non-European Union (EU) countries will be required to have a firm job offer of a minimum £20,000 a year from a government-approved employer if they wish to stay on in Britain after completing their studies, the government announced on Tuesday, piling agony on non-EU students already groaning under a raft of new restrictions which have led to a drop in Indian student numbers.

Under the current rules, students can work in Britain for two years after finishing their course but the government claims that the system is being abused with people using student visas to enter the country and then dropping out of their studies to look for employment. The Conservative Immigration Minister, Damian Green said in the past “too many students have come to the U.K. to work rather than study and this abuse must end”.

“It is vital that we continue to attract the brightest and the best international students but we have to be more selective about who can come here and how long they can stay,” he said. In a statement, the Home Office said that from April 6, “a more selective system” would come into effect so that “only the most talented international graduates can apply to stay in the U.K. for work purposes”.

“That means only those graduating from a university, and having a job offer from a reputable employer accredited by the U.K. Border Agency at a salary of £20,000 or more, will be able to continue living and working in the U.K. in order to benefit the British economy,” it said.

To boost the economy, student entrepreneurs with at least “£50,000 to invest in their business” will also be allowed to stay on and work after their studies. Under a new “Graduate Entrepreneur” scheme, up to 1,000 university places will be available for students “working on world-class innovative ideas who want to stay and develop them but do not meet the requirements of the Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) route”.

The new rules are part of a government crackdown on non-EU immigration to fulfill the Conservative Party's election pledge to drastically cut down immigration-levels. The issue has caused tensions within the ruling coalition with the Liberal Democrats opposed to what they regard as a xenophobic approach to immigration. Businesses and universities have warned that too many restrictions would drive away international talent and ultimately hurt the economy. Non-EU students contribute nearly £8 billion to British economy every year, an estimated £6 billion in fee alone.

“This scheme is more restrictive than the old post-study work route and we are concerned that some Russell Group courses have already seen a drop of 30 per cent from India,” Wendy Piatt, director-general of the Russell Group of 20 top universities that include Oxford and Cambridge, told The Financial Times.

Source: The Hindu, February 15, 2012

Bangalore, Ahmedabad and Kolkata IIMs make it to Asia-Pacific top 10 again

2012-02-15T13:34:00.003+05:30

The Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) - Bangalore, Ahmedabad and Calcutta - continue to be the quality B-schools in the country. The trio has figured in the top 10 in the Asia-Pacific region. The QS Global 200 Business Schools Report 2012 has put these B-schools among other Indian schools in the global rankings.

IIM-Ahmedabad is ranked second, IIM-Bangalore's rank is fifth and IIM-Calcutta is ranked eighth. IIM-A and IIM-C have shown the biggest improvement in employer opinion this year in the region by improving four places. Indian School of Business (ISB) has been ranked seventh, S P Jain Institute of Management and Research is at 16 and Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) at 21.

INSEAD, Singapore is number one in the region for the third consecutive year. Melbourne Business School (University of Melbourne, Australia), NUS Business School, (National University of Singapore) and University of New South Wales were some of the other institutes that featured among the top 10 in the region.

The QS global report, which originated in the early 1990s, provides a detailed overview of the most popular business schools around the world based on information given by global recruiters. It lists out 200 business schools from which employers prefer to recruit MBAs. The ratings are made regionwise (Africa and the Middle East; Asia-Pacific; Europe; Latin America; North America) and MBA specialization ratings.

According to the report, even though business schools in the United States and Europe remain the most popular destinations for MBA, schools in other parts, like in the Asia-Pacific, are gaining popularity. "Business schools in the Asia-Pacific region are looking at the standard of top American and European institutions as indicators of how they compare and where they could improve. Furthermore, the economic growth in some Asian countries, particularly in China and India, has heightened the demand for more accredited business schools in the region in order to train the next generation of successful business leaders," says the report.

"IIM-B has shown gradual improvements in the ratings, climbing from sixth (2009) to fifth (2010) and this year missed the top cluster by just 2.7 points," the report says. However, there is a worry about international student enrolment. "Many of Asia's business schools lack in international student enrolment, causing concern among employers who are looking for graduates to work in a multinational environment," the report says. The percentage of international students in IIM-A, IIM-B, IIM-C and ISB is 1, 10, 3 and 5 respectively.

Source: The Economic Times (Online Edition), February 15, 2012

Researchers at IIT-Kanpur give a new insight into micromechanics

2012-02-14T22:30:00.004+05:30

When you bend a rod, say made of aluminium, and then straighten it back, why doesn’t it get back to its perfect shape, unlike a metal spring that retains its original frame even after being tampered with? Also, why is it easy to bend a thin rod? The answers to these questions have been around since the 1930s, when researchers in the field of micromechanics of materials first suggested the concept of dislocations, which are defects in the crystals or grains within the material. These dislocations not only weaken crystals, but also cause deformation by moving and leaving the crystal, the effect being permanent, in contrast to the spring which is elastic or reversible in nature.

Now, researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, (IIT-K), have come up with a new concept about these subtle goings-on inside the crystals of the materials that challenge some of the ideas that have been around over the past six decades. In this, the researchers also attempt to take forward the work on micromechanics of legends from the 1950s, like John Douglas Eshelby.

A dislocation introduces energy, and this energy is released when it reaches the surface, thus making plastic deformation irreversible. The IIT-K researchers have suggested that the slip of these dislocations might be reversible. “We discovered something which is a double oxymoron — reversible plastic deformation due to elasticity. In the process, we discovered a new class,” says Anandh Subramaniam, assistant professor at the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, IIT-K. Two papers that Anandh co-wrote with fellow researchers Prasenjit Khanikar and Arun Kumar were published last year by The Philosophical Magazine, one of the oldest scientific journals in the world.

Research into the micromechanical behaviour of materials, which includes areas such as dislocation dynamics, is crucial to their usage in industrial applications such as fashioning a car door out of metal. “The motion of dislocations is what allows change of shape, and impeding the motion of dislocations is what gives strength to the material. So, these are two opposite sides of the coin,” explains Dipankar Banerjee, former chief controller, R&D, at the Defence Research and Development Organisation, and currently professor with the Department of Materials Engineering at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc).

While dislocations cause deformation by moving, and finally leave the crystal, it doesn’t always require an external force for them to do that. That’s because they are automatically attracted to free surfaces, a phenomenon explained by a concept known as ‘image force’. It is called so because a hypothetical negative dislocation is assumed to exist on the other side of the free surface, causing an attraction towards it. This ‘image construction’ is usually used for the calculation of the force and ‘image forces’ can lead to crystals becoming spontaneously dislocation-free.

“Over the past 60 years, people have known this concept called image force and have developed theories, etc,” says Anandh. “So, the first of the two things we showed is that the image force construction theory actually breaks down when we actually want it to work.” The reason, he explains, is because when the dislocation is less than about 100 atomic spacings from the surface it causes small deformations to the surface, partly relaxing the energy and hence altering the image force. In a nanocrystal, the entire domain can deform. For example, a thin plate would bend in the presence of a dislocation. In such cases, the standard formula cannot be used, he says.

The more interesting thing their computer simulation models showed was that the image force can also be zero in some cases. This means that a dislocation moving inside a crystal can be in neutral equilibrium just like a ball rolling on a plane or an Anglepoise lamp where mechanism of spring and lever allows it to be moved to various configurations without putting in any effort. “Over a range of positions, irrespective of where the dislocation sits, its energy does not change. So, this is the new concept we have found out,” says Anandh.

“We can describe things between a material and a structure, which we call a structure ecause it has some geometry and a material because the defect has a crystallographic origin. So, we found out that actually we have to define a new term called material-structure, and that there can be neutral equilibrium or zero-stiffness material-structures,” says Anandh. He says further research also indicated that an edge dislocation is stable in a finite crystal, a question that’s some 60 years old. However, the research is at a very fundamental level and potential applications are still to be thought on, says Anandh.

Computer simulation and modelling has been a key development over the past decade from the industrial standpoint of metallurgy, which earlier used an entirely experimental approach, says Dipankar Banerjee. “So, you substantially reduce your experimental costs and time in introducing new shapes and materials into service,” he says. While the materials used for structural applications are fairly mature, the key focus is to reduce the costs of applying such materials and also the timescale of engineering them, he says.

Source: The Financial Express, February 14, 2012

Public sector banks may not flock to IIMs

2012-02-14T21:45:00.003+05:30

The slowdown in 2009 saw many public sector organisations coming to the rescue of the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs). This placement season may not paint a similar picture. For instance, State Bank of India (SBI) and IDBI Bank have decided not to go to the IIMs this year. Union Bank of India and Bank of India are not sure about the number of students they will get to recruit.

“We will visit all other management institutes except the IIMs, as we have had a bad experience with them,” says T R Bajalia, Executive Director (HR). “They tend to leave us in one to two years time.” In fact, the public sector lender has already begun visits to management and engineering institute campuses to recruit 400 graduates, including MBAs. SBI reveals it has no plans to visit management institutes this year. It will decide its 2012-13 course of action this April. Reason: the bank is planning to recruit people entirely through their national-level entrance examination, according to Arundhati Bhattacharya, deputy managing director and CDO of SBI.

PSUs told Business Standard that last year, with the economy back on track, IIM students preferred private sector companies due to fatter pay packets. Government undertakings such as BPCL, HPCL, GAIL, IOCL, NTPC, SBI Cap, Sidbi, Sebi, United Bank of India and Union Bank of India, with their conservative salary structures, recruited from other B-schools in good numbers. While PSU banks offer students a package of Rs. 500,000-600,000 per annum, private banks pay over Rs. 1 million per annum.

Union Bank of India is optimistic. M V Nair, chairman and managing director of the bank that was the largest recruiter from IIM-Ahmedabad in 2009, with 40 students joining the bank, said availability would decide the number of people to be recruited. “Some management graduates from IIMs did join the bank after 2008 global financial crisis,” he recalls. The institute has a vacancy of 2,500 people in the officers cadre for the year 2012. This includes persons joining through the common recruitment process managed by the Institute of Banking Personnel and Selection. Some banks — Bank of India, for instance — have had a pleasant experience with the IIMs. R K Goyal, general manager (HR), says, “Of around 130 students recruited from the management institutes, only three have left. So, we will continue to visit them.”

IIMs are quick to offer a defense. Bhavya Kapoor, officer at the IIM Indore placement office, says it is difficult to judge them considering the difference in batches every year. “A few banks always participate in the placements every year,” she notes. Students have expressed interest in joining PSUs in general, including the Navratna companies. But, we do not have specific data related to interest in PSU banks.” Sapna Agarwal, who is career development services head of IIM-Bangalore, says very few banks visited their campus 2011. That was perhaps the reason why most of their students did not join PSU banks, she adds.

At IIM Bangalore, seven PSUs made 24 offers in 2008-09. In 2011, two PSUs made two offers. Five PSUs offered 16 jobs last year. “Not only are PSUs and nationalised banks reducing recruitment, the students’ preferences are also shifting towards the private sector,” said Agrawal had told Business Standard earlier. The IIM-Ahmedabad placement chairperson refused to comment.

Source: Business Standard, February 14, 2012

Bulk recruitments go thin at B-schools

2012-02-14T21:09:00.004+05:30

While recruiters from financial services have retained their top position during placements at top B-schools in the country this year, the numbers they are hiring have gone down. As against taking 25-30 students in one go, companies, especially in finance and IT sectors, are said to be taking only 8-12 students each, on average.

For instance, ICICI Bank, HDFC and TCS have picked up only a handful at the ICFAI Business School, Mumbai, according to Hema Sisodia, dean (corporate relations and campus placements). “Bulk recruiters have reduced the numbers,” she adds. “These five or six regular bulk recruiters used to pick up over 35 per cent, but this year they have hardly picked 25 per cent.”

Similarly, despite picking up students in “decent numbers”, the Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar (XIMB) says firms from the IT sector have reduced bulk recruitments. “From 25-30 recruitments last year, the figure for this year has come down to 8-10,” says Sabita Mohanty, faculty co-ordinator (placements). “This year, firms are making offers in a more focused manner. They are looking for the right fit. As a result, the numbers have reduced.”

Even a premier B-school like the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A), agrees the placement scenario is “a little less buoyant” than the last year. “The number of offers per recruiters are likely to go down this year, with 18-20 being the maximum,” says Saral Mukherjee, chairperson (placements). “However, most of these will be international financial companies. We don’t know if domestic firms will follow suit.”

Management institutes had to invite more firms this year. While it invited about 300 firms, Mumbai-based K J Somaiya Institute of Management Studies and Research (SIMSR) has seen only 63 coming to its campus for placements so far. Another 20 are expected soon. N D Sharma, placement coordinator at SIMSR, says, “By now, we should have placed all our students like we did last year. But so far, only 85 per cent of the 120-strong batch has been placed.”

Seconding his views is XIMB’s Mohanty. “We had to work a lot harder on inviting firms this year,” she notes. “Some we took for granted in the finance sector took a skip at the placements. Which is why this year we saw 70 firms at our campus as against 50 firms, since the number of offers per firm have also reduced,” adds Mohanty. XIMB recently placed its entire batch of 220 students.

BCG top recruiter as IIM-A begins placements
The final placement process for the management batch of 2010-12 began on Monday at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A). Global strategy consulting firms and international investment banks were invited to the campus in the first cluster. The Boston Consulting Group made the highest number of offers by recruiting 17. Others included McKinsey & Co, Bain & Co, AT Kearney, Credit Suisse, HSBC, Oliver Wyman and Accenture. The second cluster will be held on February 17.

Source: Business Standard, February 14, 2012

World Bank plans to fund skill development in India

2012-02-14T20:42:00.002+05:30

The World Bank (WB) plans to fund skill development initiatives in India and provide technical assistance to the National Skill Development Corp. (NSDC) in executing its mission. The World Bank may initially provide Rs. 480 crore (Rs. 4.8 billion) and lend further support depending on the success of the initiative, according to four people familiar with the development. The government has moved a proposal in this regard and the file is now with the Planning Commission for its formal approval. A senior Planning Commission official said the panel was evaluating the proposal. The official declined to be named.

NSDC, which has a mandate to train as many as 150 million people over the next 10 years, currently has a corpus of Rs. 1,500 crore (Rs. 15 billion), of which it has committed Rs. 1,147.9 crore (Rs. 11.47 billion) for skill training so far. “We have a larger mission and welcome support from bilateral and multilateral agencies,” an NSDC spokesperson said. NSDC has so far signed agreements with 46 training partners — 38 companies and eight sector skill councils. The partners have a target to train 60.6 million people by 2022. Vocational training in India is a $20 billion business annually, according to a July report by Kotak Securities Ltd. Around 475 million people will need training by fiscal 2022, it said.

Indian officials involved in the skill development initiative have been in touch with the bank for over a year, according to at least two World Bank officials, who did not want to be named. The bank is also eager to provide “technical assistance” as it has a “wide experience of skill development in several countries”. The officials said the funds can be used for developing innovations in skill training, giving better exposure to partners and putting in place a central monitoring system for mapping the growth of the sector, among other things. If required, foreign experts can be drafted to help Indian officials, an idea the Planning Commission may not support as such experts charge high consulting fees.

“NSDC represents an innovative approach to training and to skilling. We would help the skill mission if asked,” said John Blomquist, lead economist, human development, South Asia, World Bank. “All action has to be selective and in close partnership with the (Indian) finance ministry.” During the formation of NSDC in 2008-09, the government had said that the funds required for imparting skills to 150 million people through the body would be to the tune of Rs. 15,000 crore, and that the government would tap multilateral institutions among others to ensure that the funds are made available.

During a skill council meeting on 19 January, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said India will need about 260 million skilled people by 2018 and around 340 million by 2022, according to estimates. These studies also indicate that India needs to provide quality training to around 80 million people in the next five years. There is a significant gap between the requirement and the supply which, unless checked, will constrain India’s economic growth, Singh said.

Source: Mint, February 14, 2012

Certified B-Schools: MAT may be withdrawn if government's test is made mandatory

2012-02-13T20:46:00.005+05:30

For the management aptitude test (MAT), a 24-year-old examination used by nearly 1,000 business schools across India to admit students, it could well be the end of the road as the government may soon make a test run by it mandatory for all approved institutions. The All India Management Association (AIMA), which has been conducting MAT since 1988, says it will withdraw the test in its present avatar in the face of government pressure.

“If CMAT stays then MAT will not continue with its normal version. Let’s not be unrealistic about what we have to face in the future,” Rekha Sethi, AIMA’s Director General, said in an exclusive interview. The Centre has devised a common management admission test (CMAT), the first edition of which will run during 20-28 February, on the lines of the popular graduate management admission test (GMAT) conducted across the world.

CMAT aims to be used by all 3,500 recognized B-schools in the country, except the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and the management schools of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) that admit students based on their common admission test (CAT). The government may make CMAT mandatory for all the 3,500 B-schools certified by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), Mint reported on 6 January.

“If the government wants every student to take CMAT, then what can you do?” Sethi said. “MAT is a great product. But it’s (CMAT) a government danda (stick).” She added that with CMAT coming into the picture, the “government is reinventing the wheel”. Sethi said that as a national body comprising institutes, industry and students, the association will withdraw MAT from AICTE-approved institutes in the spirit of collaboration. If organizers of “so-called national tests” are considering collaborating with the government on reducing stress for students then it’s a good move, said an official at the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), which oversees AICTE. “We are yet to get any formal communication from MAT organizers,” the official said on condition of anonymity. “Everybody should strive to streamline management education to improve quality and access.”

MAT is a good test and its discontinuation in the near future could hurt aspirants in small towns, according to the director of a Bhubaneswar-based institute, who declined to be named as it might invite AICTE's ire. Without giving a specific timeframe on when AIMA will withdraw MAT from AICTE-approved B-schools, Sethi said her organization holds that there should be less stress on students.

“We thought that if the government was planning for a national test other than CAT, then MAT will be the natural choice, given that our exam has been tested over two decades,” she said. “It has proved its mettle. It’s the only test which perhaps has no controversy. Moreover, the government has been viewing this as one of the key national tests for business education.”

“When you want to reduce stress, you need to make entrances flexible and MAT is a great relief here, as it is held four times a year,” said the director of the B-school cited earlier. “Exams like GMAT are popular because they are available round the year and authorities need to think it from students’ point of view.”

To be sure, AICTE is also aiming to make CMAT more flexible. “This is our debut year and from the next session, we have decided to hold it twice a year to make it convenient for students, parents, and of course, for the management institutes,” S.S. Mantha, Chairman of AICTE and the key person responsible for CMAT 2012, said on 6 January.

Not everybody says reducing the number of management entrance examinations is a step in the right direction. E. Abraham, Director of XLRI School of Business and Human Resources, Jamshedpur, who runs a separate national test, said one centralized entrance examination may not be a great idea for postgraduate programmes. The difference in the course curricula necessitates different types of selection processes, according to him. “One of our main focus areas is human resources, and we need to get candidates with the right aptitude,” he said. “Hence, a centralized test cannot give us that benefit.”

Both MAT and CMAT target smaller cities and towns as most well-known institutes in metros and larger cities largely use CAT to select students. Sethi said that since MAT is organized in both offline and online formats four times a year, it provides flexibility to students to better their score and opt for a better institute. “Our experience shows that only 9% of students like the online version. What we feel is that go with what the market wants and not what you want the market to want. Smaller cities are still struggling with Internet connections and electricity is still not available. What are you trying to do — a digital divide?” argued Sethi.

CAT is conducted in an online format. CMAT will also be conducted online. Gayatri Raut, an MBA aspirant from Bhubaneswar, said CAT is an elitist test and caters to the best of the institutes, but the less than 10,000 students who study in the top B-schools cannot fulfil all the needs of the industry. “MAT has been a reliable exam as it is held four times a year, and thus gives more choice to students. If you cannot do well this time, you can sit for MAT three months hence to improve your chance,” Raut said.

MAT may have to withdraw from AICTE institutes, but AIMA will focus to customize it for private universities who run independently. “AIMA is not all about MAT. We have a strong portfolio on management development programmes, and we will give more attention to skill assessment, among other things,” Sethi said.

Source: Mint, February 13, 2012

IIT-Delhi scientists develop autos that run on hydrogen; cause negligible pollution

2012-02-12T19:25:00.005+05:30

It's the main fuel of NASA's space shuttle launchers and will now power a test fleet of autos in the city. Hydrogen, so far used terrestrially in some avant-garde customized cars and experimental bus fleets, will run 15 auto rickshaws developed as part of an Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi (IIT-D) project. But unlike London's hydrogen buses and California's Hydrogen Highway project that use complicated fuel-cell technology, the Delhi autos will be built around cheaper internal combustion engines.

Professor LM Das of IIT-D, who has perfected the technology, explains the rationale for hydrogen power: "Hydrogen is like a slightly temperamental child. You need to tame it. Once controlled, it can be much more efficient than even compressed natural gas (CNG)". Das says he conceived the idea of using compressed hydrogen as an automotive fuel with Delhi's air pollution in mind. In the early '80s, it was a bold initiative - an idea ahead of its time. Lay acquaintances thought he was talking about making a hydrogen bomb. Detractors in the scientific community dismissed his research as a freak project.

But Das soldiered on alone over the next three decades as associates came and went. "No one can turn a blind eye to the environmental degradation caused by vehicles. In fact, before CNG came, Delhi had become unlivable.
So, despite all the criticism that my research was too futuristic, I pursued it. Now the world knows that aggressive steps are required to mitigate the environmental damage that has been done," he says.

Unlike petroleum-derived hydrocarbon fuels, pure hydrogen does not produce toxic carbon monoxide or the heat-trapping carbon dioxide on combustion. There are no oxides of sulphur, nor any particulates. Water vapour and oxides of nitrogen (NOx) are the only byproducts. Although NOx is a pollutant, Das claims their engine has been optimized to reduce its emission greatly. "We got the best efficiency and very low emissions," he says.

As a member of the government-appointed core group on automotive research, Das had worked on a hydrogen fuel assignment from United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the International Centre for Hydrogen Energy Technologies (UNIDO-ICHET) based in Istanbul, in 2006. Over the next three years, the engines were developed at IIT. A conventional CNG engine was used with modifications for compressed hydrogen gas. While the project at IIT-D's Department of Energy Studies resembled a turnstile, one man alone stayed on with Das - lab technician GP Singh.

The 14-member team stabilized after the project was officially taken over by automobile firm Mahindra that has built up a strong presence in alternative energy with hybrid and electric vehicles. The new system was implemented on autos provided by the company and trials were done inside the IIT campus. Apart from developing the autos - branded Mahindra HyAlfa and shown to the public at last month's Auto Expo - Das' team is also working on two hydrogen-fuelled minibuses with a 2014 deadline.

Senior project scientist, GP Subhash, who quit his job at the University of Petroleum and Energy Studies to join Das, says the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) is keen on developing a hydrogen-run minibus. "The Rs. 150-million project aims to develop two mini buses by 2014. The idea will take some time to be part of our daily lives. But we are at it to prove the efficiency of hydrogen fuel," he says. Meanwhile, the HyAlfa, which resembles Mahindra's Alfa autos commonly seen in NCR towns, awaits its commercial launch and will be the first mass-produced hydrogen-run internal combustion engine vehicle in the world.

Source: The Economic Times (Online Edition), February 12, 2012

IIM-Ahmedabad shortens placement process

2012-02-11T20:30:00.003+05:30

Two years after moving away from the traditional day-based placement process, the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A) will further modify the cohort-based system. This year, students will get shorter gaps between two cohorts. The gaps would be just enough for them to let the pressure off after one round, but not too long for anxiety levels to rise. Thus what would take about a month to get over, placements will now be completed within a fortnight. The earlier Day process was a race against time and would be wrapped up within four-six days.

Under the cohort systems companies are grouped as per their sectors and role offered and not as per the salary, as is the case in the Day process. The students would get one week between two cohorts to help them prepare better as well as attend classes during the week. However, the long gap was found to have little benefits as students would increasingly get anxious. A student feedback suggested that a gap of around two days was just what was required.

The cohort-based placement process would typically be held over one month with interviews happening every week-end. The institute also applied the same cohort-based process for summer placements in 2010. The institute claims that the system reduces stress of students and allows more time to students and recruiters for detailed interviews.

"We have decided to offer shorter gaps between two clusters this year. We will organise the first cluster on February 13 and the last cluster will be held on February 25-26. We have seen that a gap of one week between two clusters makes students restless," said IIM-A placement committee chairman Saral Mukherjee. He added that a cohort system with shorter gaps was experimented during summer placements recently and it received positive feedback from students.

This year, the institute have clusters on February 13, February 16-17, February 20-21 and February 25-26. It will then offer rolling placements to remaining students, if any student does not get desired job. "Long gap increases anxiety among students. They think that the placements have started but nothing is happening. Two-day gap between two clusters gives time to relax. Also, it is difficult to manage a process of around a month for our students placement team and the shorter process is easier to manage," Mukherjee said.

IIM-A was only institute to have a relaxed placement process for two placement seasons. Now, IIM-Bangalore too has decided to introduce a process where companies will visit campus on week-ends. However, IIM-A has now decreased the gap. "We shared our opinion about the revised system with shorter gaps with IIM-Bangalore and IIM-Calcutta around summer placements," he said.

Source: The Economic Times (Online Edition), February 11, 2012

Rajasthan university ties up with University of Houston

2012-02-11T19:02:00.002+05:30

JK Lakshmipat University (JKLU) has tied up with University of Houston, Texas, for mutual cooperation in the field of education and academic activities. A memorandum of understanding for the purpose was signed here by Jerald W. Strickland, Assistant Vice-Chancellor, and William E. Fitzgibbon, Dean, College of Technology, on behalf of the University of Houston and Upinder Dhar, Vice-Chancellor of JK Lakshmipat University.

This is the fourth international tie-up signed by JKLU after similar agreements with Hanyang University, South Korea; St. Cloud State University, US; and University of Wales, United Kingdom.

The latest MOU allows academic cooperation in exchange of faculty, students and researchers; joint research, lectures, symposia and country visits for students; exchange of data, documentation and research material in the fields of mutual interest as well as working towards cooperative educational programmes for the future.

“The Indian economy is today globally integrated and growing. It is critical to keep in mind opportunities of joint research and sharing of knowledge with universities of international repute. This enables students and faculty members to compete at an international level,” said Dr. Upinder Dhar on the occasion.

As part of the industry-academia interaction, JKLU has also signed an MoU with IBM India for establishing a “Centre of Technology Excellence” to develop curriculum and courseware on next-generation technologies.

JKLU has been established under the Rajasthan Private Universities Act by the Lakshmipat Singhania Foundation for Higher Learning. The University of Houston, founded in 1927, is a leading American public research university.

Source: The Hindu, February 11, 2012

New chapter: ITIs to get B-school style grading

2012-02-09T20:51:00.006+05:30

Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs), the poor cousins of polytechnics or engineering colleges are in for an image makeover. The government is planning to come up with national branding of or grading of ITIs. “There are ITIs at various levels, from big to small. A national branding or grading would help us classify the institutes into various levels. This is a demand from the industry, and just as we rate the management institutes, we would be grading the ITIs as well,” said an official of the Directorate General of Employment & Training (DGET), Ministry of Labour & Employment.

This implies that if a certain state has 50 ITIs, students competing for seats would be able to chose and decide which ITI they should seek admission. The ITIs support this view and say this would be a welcome move as they too are working at improving their standards and become competitive after the government decided to upgrade the ITIs through public private partnership (PPP) model in its 11th Five Year Plan period between 2007-2012.

“After we adopt ITIs, our endeavour is to improve the academic standards and the faculty and introduce new programmes,” says Sanjay Shivnani, President & CEO, Vocational Education Training, CL Educate, division of Career Launcher. CL Educate, which has around 21 ITIs under it — 15 in Punjab and 6 in Karnataka —has seen 100 per cent pass rate at its ITIs over the past year.

Total number of ITIs today stands at 9,415 of which 2,244 are government ITIs and 7171 are private ITIs. The ITIs put together have 1.329 million seats. Duration of the courses range from six months to three years, and entry qualification is from 8th to 12th standard. Since 2005-06, 400 government ITIs have been set up with World Bank's assistance and 100 through domestic funding.

Under the PPP model, industry partner leads the process of upgradation of the ITIs. An Institute Management Committee (IMC) is constituted and is registered as a society. The IMC prepares the institute development plan. The industry partner also leads the upgradation process, provides training to faculty members and on the job training to trainees, makes financial contribution and contributes machinery and equipment for training.

The Central government provides interest-free loan up to Rs. 25 million to the IMC which disburses the same to the ITI. Under the PPP model, financial and academic autonomy is given to IMC. “It has allowed us to create state-of-the-art infrastructure and introduce more ITI trades. Earlier, we used to have only two trades, but now we have seven. This has pushed up demand from the local candidates,” said said SB Raju, chairman, Institute Management Committees (IMC), ITI, Bhimavaram, Andhra Pradesh.

The ITIs say PPP model has also allowed them to bring in good principals. “In many ITIs the principals used to take advantage of the fact that ITIs are located in remote location and that no one would check whether they report to work or not. This has now changed,” said the CEO of a vocational education training organisation. The heads of ITIs say a good principal is like a CEO who is ready to empower the staff and students. “When ITIs were not under the PPP model, principals faced constraints while getting various approvals. Now the situation has improved,” added the CEO.

Vocational training is a concurrent subject of Central and the state governments. While laying of training standards, syllabus formulation and certification are the responsibilities of the Central government, the implementation of the training schemes rests with state governments. Thus each state has set up their own fee structure, ranging from Rs. 500 to Rs. 3,000 a year.

The ITI say they are also spending on creating better infrastructure now. “We have decided to give our institute a corporate look and feel. Therefore, companies take us seriously and visit us for placements. And this has paid off as we receive 100 per cent placement now,” said Raju. At ITI Karjat, which is handled by Rustomjee Academy for Global Careers, 1,112 applications were received for 404 seats in 2011. At its other ITI at Andheri, 801 applications were received for 249 seats. IT Is are also organising entrepreneurship lectures for their students.

Source: Business Standard, February 9, 2012

Australia varsity, Gujarat NRE Coke in pact for campus

2012-02-08T19:15:00.007+05:30

Australia's University of Wollongong is planning to set up a campus in India. The university has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Mr Arun Jagatramka, Chairman of the Gujarat-based entity, Gujarat NRE Coke Ltd. According to the pact, Mr Jagatramka “will assist the university and liaise between it and the Government authorities in the State”, said Mr. Craig Peden, Director, Corporate Relations, University of Wollongong.

In talks
He said, the university is exploring the possibility of setting up our campus in Ahmedabad in Gujarat. “A concrete decision on this is yet to be made. Due diligence is underway,” he said. However, according to sources, the university is advanced in stages of discussion with the Government authorities there and very close to finalising the location in Ahmedabad. If this works out, this will be the university's second campus outside Australia. It currently has one in Dubai, said Mr. Peden.

Lures Indian offices
At a press conference, organised by the Australian Trade Commission in Chennai today, he said the university's Innovation Campus invites Indian businesses to set up their Australian offices and facilities on the campus. The campus would offer a steady source of well-trained graduates and research and development partnerships, all within a modern campus environment in south of Sydney, he said. The university's research institutes work in fields such as advanced IT, nanotechnology, intelligent materials and super-conductivity.

Indian investment
Addressing the press earlier, Mr. Michael Carter, Trade Commissioner and Consul-Commercial for Australia to Southern India, said Indian investment in Australia has now reached an estimated Rs. 50,000 crore (Rs. 500 billion). The investments are concentrated around the mining and resources, information technology, infrastructure and the financial services sector.

A spokes person of Gujarat NRE, which owns and operates two coking coal mines with estimated reserves of over 650 million tonnes of coking coal, said the company is currently producing 1.5 million tonnes of coking coal a year and it is set to increase it to six million tonnes a year by 2015.

Source: The Hindu Business Line, February 8, 2012

Australian varsity planning campus in Gujarat

2012-02-08T19:05:00.008+05:30

Australia's University of Wollongong (UOW) is planning to establish a 72-acre campus in Ahmedabad, an official of the varsity said Monday. "Indian students have a major presence in our country. So we thought why not establish a campus here which will allow them to get the Australian flavour of education without having to leave their shores," Mr. Craig Peden, Director Corporate Relations, UOW, said in Kolkata. The facility will be the UOW's second international campus alongside Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.

Financing

Gujarat NRE Coking Coal chairman Arun Jagatramka will assist the university with finance and liaise between it and Indian authorities. Gujarat NRE Coking Coal Limited (GNCCL) is a subsidiary of Gujarat NRE Coke Limited, the largest independent manufacturer of low ash metallurgical coke (Met Coke) in India.

Mr. Peden, however, refused to comment on the amount of investment involved in the project, saying it was only in the planning stage and anything concrete can be said only after the end of 2012. A memorandum of understanding was earlier signed by UOW Vice-Chancellor Gerard Sutton and Jagatramka in Mumbai.

Innovation Campus
Mr. Peden also said the university was mulling to establish a branch of Innovation Campus (IC), a technology and research precinct developed by it. "With a view to forge partnership with India in the field of R&D in areas like advance manufacturing, energy storage etc, we are looking for a suitable place here to establish a branch of the IC," said Mr. Peden.

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

Source: The Hindu Business Line, February 8, 2012

Meta-university may start from next academic session: HRD Minister

2012-02-04T20:30:00.006+05:30

HRD minister Kapil Sibal announced on Friday that a network of universities, forming a meta-university, will allow students to pick courses from across disciplines from different institutions from the coming academic session (2012-13). He explained that this would reinterpret the concept of a university as not just a traditional, physical space of learning, but as a repository of knowledge and information that can be delivered in multiple ways and can be accessed from anywhere and anytime.

Addressing a conference on 'One Globe 2012: Uniting Knowledge Communities' organized by US-India Business Council, Sibal said: "The 21st century meta-university would be a network and an ecosystem rather than a single brick and mortar space. Though the internet and technology are fundamental to this conception of the meta-university, at the crux is not a new technology but a 'new pedagogy' that is more in tune with the requirements of the knowledge society of the 21st century." Ten foreign universities that the Institute of International Education (IIE) is bringing from the US are participating in the two-day conference.

Referring to the announcement made by the PM two months ago on the formation of a meta-university with the broadband backbone linking institutions of excellence in specific fields of knowledge, Sibal added: "To give this idea a shape we have mounted a National Mission on Education through ICT to link in 25,000 colleges and 2,000 polytechnics for enabling e-learning and content sharing."

The minister said that there is a need to open the doors to reputed foreign education institutions to usher in global competition in the higher education sector as well as to expand its base. He said that the government is seeking to open up establishment of foreign educational institutions in India through enactment of a Foreign Education Providers Act, which will allow for 100% foreign direct investment (FDI) in higher education.

Stressing on the need for the participation of the private sector to give a boost to the gross enrolment ratio, Sibal urged to increase it from existing 15% to 30% by next eight years. Hence, the aim is to raise the present 16 million enrolment in higher education to 42 million by 2020. "A second wave of creating institution of excellence has been initiated by starting eight Indian Institute of Technologies (IITs), five Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISERs), 16 central universities, two schools of Planning and Architecture, three Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), and 10 National Institutes of Technologies (NITs). The 14 innovation universities are also on anvil for setting up benchmarks in education and research. We are also aiming to establish at least 50 research parks for quality research programs. But, we are depending heavily on the private sector to come forward and participate in this endeavour," Sibal added.

Source: The Times of India, February 4, 2012

IIMs aim to raise own resources, hike staff pay

2012-02-02T20:41:00.003+05:30

The Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) have requested the Centre that they be allowed to raise funds from alumni networks and corporates to supplement budgetary support. The additional funds will help finance existing operations and new initiatives at the country's premier business schools.

The director of an IIM told FE that the government’s financial burden will come down if the institutes are allowed to leverage their own resources for expansion and infrastructure programmes. “We discussed this proposal with the human resources ministry at a recent workshop as the government cannot finance the requirements of all public institutions in future. The ministry is keen on giving us this autonomy,” said an IIM director.

The Planning Commission's approach paper to the 12th Five Year Plan had recommended that IIMs should be encouraged to raise money through various legitimate means. According to the director of a new IIM, old institutes have the advantage of vast alumni bases while new ones can benefit from corporate philanthropy.

Each IIM is a society formed under Societies Registration Acts, having a memorandum of association (MoA) outlining its objects and rules. The board of governors is responsible for the general superintendence, direction and control of the affairs of the society and its income and property. The IIMs depend on government support for most of their finances. Recently, the HRD ministry amended the MoAs, empowering IIM boards to independently set up search-and-selection committees to shortlist three candidates for the post of director. In the new regime, four of the five old IIMs (except IIM-Calcutta) at Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Indore, Lucknow and Kozhikode are free to set up campuses, raise funds and dispose property except those purchased with public money.

“Till now, these proposals used to come to the HRD ministry but after the amendments, the institutes can take their own decisions,” said a ministry official. “The amendments will help us raise and manage funds, recruit and compensate the faculty and set up campuses in India and abroad,” said Debashis Chatterjee, Director, IIM-Kozhikode. “With the changed MoA, making faculty pay more flexible is on the institute’s agenda and it is discussing the matter with the board. We are looking at excellent faculty and ways of retaining them by topping up their salaries,” said Chatterjee. The institute is also looking at launching new programmes for working executives at its new campus in Kochi.

A review committee set up by the government under RC Bhargava, Chairman, Maruti Suzuki had suggested that remuneration of all IIM employees be determined by the board, considering market conditions to attract and retain high quality talent, ability to pay, and the need to provide motivation for performance.

Source: The Financial Express, February 2, 2012

Mumbai Business School shuts shop within 3 years

2012-02-02T19:58:00.003+05:30

It is a classic case of how brand and marketing gurus have not been able to sustain their own baby. Mumbai Business School (MBS), a privately-run B-school promoted by A. Mahendran, Managing Director, Godrej Consumer Product Limited (GCPL), has shut shop after three years of its operation.

MBS registered itself under Section 25 of the Companies Act as a private entity. It was modelled on the lines of the Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad, to provide a one-year full time programme in management. The school, promoted by Mahendran (who holds over 60 per cent in the venture), and a few of his academic friends in India and abroad, including Jagdish Sheth, leading marketing guru, and Charles H. Kellstadt, professor of marketing at Emory University who was also the chairman, academic advisory council at MBS.

“We were not able to generate the operational cashflow and capacity utilisation was below the mark. So we decided to down the shutters,” said an official from the school. The institutes which was located in Malad, suburban Mumbai, could not sustain itself due to lack of students.

As its last attempt to save itself, the B-school had roped in Bala V. Balachandran, founder and honorary dean at The Great Lakes Institute of Management, last year. The tie up which as supposed to shore up the B-school's profile, also failed. "People who were supposed to run the B-school failed in their duties. We brought in Bala last year to help us. Balachandran was supposed to play an active role in the institute's functioning. But even he failed," the official added.

Balachandran had earlier told Business Standard that he plans to take over the Mumbai Business School and convert it into the Great Lakes, Mumbai, campus. "Mumbai Business School was created as a for-profit organisation, so I was not keenly involved. Now I took it over as a not-for-profit institute. The change of ownership is in approval process. The school could be re-named Great Lakes, Mumbai campus,” he had told Business Standard earlier.

The institute had, according to an official who has quit the B-school, put in around Rs. 4 crore (Rs. 40 million) as initial investment. The campus was taken on rent. After three batches passed out of the institute, it did not admit new students as it did not receive sufficient applications to fill a class size of 30 students.

One of the members of the school said the investors in the MBS plan to stay on and are looking at different models of the business schools. “We are planning to develop it into a brand school or a super speciality B-school now. We are working on a new concept which is getting ready. We have identified a CEO for that who could take a brand school concept forward and specialise in brand equity development,” said an official from MBS.

Crisil research in a study anticipates a shake-out in the higher education space in India on account of declining occupancy levels. The research said that several colleges have not been able to equip students to meet the requirements of corporate India.

According to Ajay Srinivasan, head, Industry Research, Crisil Research, “Low occupancy rates are making it difficult for many lower-rung colleges to sustain operations. As a result, we expect a number of colleges to face closure or change in ownership over the next few years.” According to Crisil Research, the average occupancy rate declined in 2011-12 to around 67 per cent for engineering colleges and to about 65 per cent for B-schools. In October 2011, Pune-based Training and Advanced Studies in Management and Communications Group closed its business school in London due to tighter restrictions on student visas in the UK.

Source: Business Standard, February 2, 2012

IIM-Shillong to launch executive MBA with special focus on China's growth story

2012-02-01T20:49:00.006+05:30

As Asia's influence in the world economy grows, the youngest Indian Institute of Management --- IIM, Shillong --- plans to teach a lesson or two on how the Chinese, boasting of the biggest economic powerhouses in the region, do business. The Rajiv Gandhi Indian Institute of Management at Shillong is going to launch a one year executive MBA course from April with special focus on China.

The course --- a postgraduate programme (PGP-Ex) in international business with special focus on China --- has decided to focus on India's giant neighbour as it has become the largest trading partner for the US and European Union and its trading volume with India has been increasing every year, said Ashoke K. Dutta, Director of IIM-Shillong. Talking to a select group of journalists here last week, he said the IIM has entered into an MoU with Ocean University of China to start the new programme.

Dutta added that they were also looking to see if they could award a dual degree to participants from IIM-Shillong as well as from Ocean University, China. "We need to look at the Asian giant --- as to how it does business and its growth. Our managers must be trained on similar lines so as to catch up with the growth rate and that is why IIM-Shillong has planned to design the course with special focus on China," he said.

"Unless you understand China and doing business with China, your economy will be affected. Using China as a model will be a great education for our management products and they can implement a lot of learning from the Chinese experience and make it applicable in our country," Dutta said and added the course will prove to be a game changer in the near future.

The PGP-Ex curriculum incorporates best business practices and issues affecting each world region with a focus on India and China. The core courses were designed by key faculty members from the Sino-Indian business school. People enrolled in the PGP-Ex course would have to study the Chinese management system for six months at the Ocean University campus in Qingdao. In the first year, 30 students would be inducted into the programme. The fee structure of the course is likely to be fixed at Rs. 1.2 million.

Dutta was optimistic that apart from India, the course would attract foreign students too. During the students' stay at the Chinese university, they would have to take courses like "Chinese businesses and foreign invested business in China", "Chinese culture", "basic Chinese" and a business internship. The only IIM in the northeastern region, IIM-Shillong has also started an advanced management programme on China for senior management executives and bureaucrats. The Meghalaya government has recently sent 20 of its officers for the advance management course in China.

Source: The Economic Times, February 1, 2012