TIME TO TAKE A DECISION

Pavan is an enthusiastic and a high energy kid. Ambitious and strongly focused towards his career goal, Pavan is sharing his views on the process of career guidance and planning. Pavan underwent the career guidance and career planning session last year.

 
HUZZ……BUZZ ………everywhere in schools do you know why, but I know because everyone is tensed and are anxious about their 10th board exams. Everyone after writing/finishing the board exams have to take a decision. It is time to take a decision about their future. Because life is a road and a person travels on this road of life and at this particular time and point he/she, but a student comes to a fork or to halt on their journey of life as they are in front of a road which has many divided sections of roads and this roads can be treated as the courses taken in inter first and second year. They are as follows Mpc, Bipc, CEC, MEC, HEC, etc. These are the roads for the students and at this particular point of time one has to take a decision as to on which road he has to travel or which course he has to take and on which he has interest and may have a bright future.

The student himself has to take decision as on this decision his future is dependent. Students are responsible for their future and they can’t blame others in future saying that because of u now I am suffering. It is time for every student to realize and to make a decision about his/her future. Always remember that “right decisions at right times bring bright results.”

Then why waste time? Go, run, get information about all the courses and colleges offering the groups and then take a decision but decide very carefully because it is your future and don’t try to play with it. And I request all the parents not to force their children to take a course that has a lot of demand in the society. We all know that parents are concerned about their child’s future but they should also give him a chance and try to find out where his interests are.
And if you have any problem, you can consult for aptitude test which can be written online and one of them is dheya.com. I opted for it and I am now enjoying my studies and I am also happy with my decision because at first I wanted to be an army man and the course for it is MPC but I am a lot weak in math’s and I don’t have any interest towards physics and chemistry. So I thought and decided to take CEC, and whatever may happen will happen.

Many criticized my decision and soon I was in a dilemma about my decision of taking CEC. But soon my mother noticed my position and she advised me to write an aptitude test. Aptitude means ability. I wrote the test and he guided me through the right path. They told everything about all the courses and that my decision is right and also asked me not to fear that my decision is wrong. They also said that people say many things but it is your future and nobody will help when u will listen to them and change your decision and opt for an unwilling course. There will be none and u can’t blame anyone about your fate. So try and wake up to take a decision.

And one more thing. After coming back home, after listening to them I still had a guilty feeling in me but after a few months I started enjoying my studies and I also top my class every time is it not enough for me and my parents.

A Note to the Parents

Dear parents, please kindly remember that when a child enjoys his studies he tries to learn more. “Marks are not important, but knowledge is important and when knowledge is gained then it automatically reflects in your marks. “And I also can give you an example when a boy or girl plays a game they try to play more efficiently in the next game as they enjoyed it and want to learn more of it. And when a student doesn’t like or is not interested in studies but still is forced to study, then he tries to opt for important points and mugs them up and vomits in the answer sheet. So let them enjoy their studies. Then they try to learn more of the subject. Even the scientists proved that a person in 24 hours of a day gets only 4 hours of concentration and in the remaining hours whatever he studies can’t be remembered, and none can tell when a person really obtains this concentration. 

Mmy name is V.PAVAN TANAY NAG;
INTER FIRST YEAR STUDENT, C.E.C, ALPHORES JUNIOR COLLEGE, KARIMNAGAR.
YOURS SINCERELY,
V.PAVAN TANAY NAG

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Technorati Tags: career guidance counselling aptitude testing

Dheya.Com's Blog. A complete career guidance, planning and development portal. Visit www.dheya.com for details. Dheya also offers aptitude testing and career counselling services.

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Need of the Hour: Career Guidance & Career Planning in India

Indian Education has many issues to deal with. Since the year 1835 the British started tinkering with the India’s traditional education system of ‘Guru shyshya’ which was value based and focussed on outcome and application of learning.

The new age education came into being with schools and colleges being set up across India.

In 1948 when the Radhakrishnan Commission was set up with an intention of designing a new National University Education Policy of free India, the commission stressed on the outcome of education into social, economic and cultural goals of the nation.

Dr S Radhakrishnan in his words said:

“The most important and urgent reform needed in education is to transform it, to endeavor to relate it to the life, needs and aspirations of the people and thereby make it the powerful instrument of social, economic and cultural transformation necessary for the realization of the national goals. For this purpose, education should be developed so as to increase productivity, achieve social and national integration, accelerate the process of modernization and cultivate social, moral and spiritual values.” ⁵

Since 1956 Commissions and committees were set up to deal with non-implementation of earlier recommendations and identifying gaps in the Education system.

On the ground, apart from introducing little new regulatory compliance there were no major changes that could be effected towards building outcome of education to the social, economic and cultural goals of the country.

In reality the focus of higher education always has been away from the outcome and application to just input based education. Outcome here means the education resulting in either economic growth or increased capability of the learner.

Unfortunately today education has minimal relevance to occupation, passion, interest of the individual learner. The age old beliefs have created havoc in making a choice of education. The aspirational needs, abilities and interest of the individual have been ignored. This has led to non-compatibility, career failures, drop outs and unemployables.

Today the youth do not value higher education. They acquire degrees with no connection to their occupations they would like to pursue. This is visible with higher un-employability and unemployment in the country. Hence, the gross enrolment ratios and dropout rates are far from desired.

The government is doing all it can to improve access of education. It’s a known fact that 73% of the population lives in rural India, however 90% of the educational institutes are in urban India ⁶. I believe that it’s a superficial measure of increasing enrolments.

 

Towards Valuing Higher Education

The youth of India will value education only when they see benefits that result in their social, economic and personal growth. There needs to be sustained effort on helping the youth realize their potential and guide them into the right education which will lead them into a career that satisfying yet economically fulfilling.

Today 98% of young boys and 96% of young girls are confused while making a career decision⁷. The confusion is due to the lack of information and skill for making career decisions. This confusion drives them into making unfocussed investments of time, effort and money into education that may or may not deliver returns.

A scientific career guidance process with a reliable information base on education and career would transform the current scenario.

Guiding the student into taking up education that would lead to a career that’s compatible to his or her personal abilities, passion, interests, values and personality, would never let the interest levels in education diminish. Moreover, research tells us that students who are able to understand and internalize the connections between school and work will be more actively engaged in their academic tasks and will be more likely to succeed in high school ⁸

 

^{Excerpts from the paper ‘Relooking at the Indian Education System” Published by Anand Desai, Founder Dheya (www.dheya.com ), A complete Career Guidance and Planning Company.}

Technorati Tags: Career Guidance,Career Development,Career Planning. Indian Education System.

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Education in India: Is learning happening in Schools???

Penning down my thoughts on the way our kids learn in the current schooling system.

 

Does the school matter  anyhow ??

Schools irrespective of what medium,brand, funded or unfunded, the fact is learning has taken a back seat. Parents are expecting that their kids would turn into scholars once they get them admitted in the right school but its a big illusion. Age old beliefs like convent education being the best or English medium is better than the vernacular has played havoc. It doesn't matter which school the kid goes, learning matters the most.  

Lets understand what's happening in schools. May be I am generalizing and there could be exceptions. My thoughts are based on experiences and our findings after interacting with several schools.

From day one its the marks that the kid is thought to gain. I have seen parents pestering the kid on marks,I have also seen parents building personal relations, networking and flattering the class teacher to help their kid gain good marks. While its a fashion for the parents to tell others that their kid has gained more marks. What  they fail to understand that marks is just  a result of a that One or Two hour question paper that the kid answer after recitation. The strongest ability is  memory and recall and not the attainment of knowledge.

  

 

Hence there is no learning happening, its only the race for marks irrespective of the schools.

 

Does the Teacher Matter??

Till date the teaching profession was for those who don't get into the mainstream jobs or for house wives who need to spend some time outside. May be my statement would irk several people but its a fact.

In private schools its about ladies who have taken up this profession by some compulsion or just an occupation that keeps them occupied. Lack of passion towards the kids and teaching  is clearly visible. I have seen one of the renowned public school telling the requirement of the teacher that the lady should be good looking and well groomed. Teaching skills are not that important as the impression on the parents who spend a fortune is made by the looks of the teacher.

The salaries in private schools are bad. Since its not the main income in the family the level of perks and salaries are acceptable to ladies who take up teaching as a part time occupation. Even after 6th pay commission some school managements tell the aspiring candidates explicitly that the sixth pay commission salaries will not be applicable.

 

In such conditions passion for imparting knowledge or getting the student to learn is lost. Those parents who have the need engage their students to private tuitions at times to the same school teacher who give special attention to their  kid.

The big names in private tutorials are a joke. I don't understand why parents trust them. There are 40-50 students in a class in school, the private tutorials have more numbers sitting in a cramped place. The kids who have the guts to raise their doubts do it in schools as well as private tutorials and clarify their doubts. The rest of the kids keep mum with a fear of being laughed at for asking a question. What learning and understanding of concepts would happen any how??

The government/state/ municipal  schools even worst leaving some exceptions. Each state run school hires teachers who pass through a competitive exam. Unlike private schools the teachers come from needy background who consider teaching as the main occupation and source of income.  The competitive exam churns out the best in the lot who opt teaching as a profession. They may not be  well equipped with teaching aids plush classrooms but certainly have the knowledge of teaching. This lot of teachers take teaching for a secured job and not as a passion for imparting knowledge.  Ultimately the monotony and slow growth in their profession makes it an unattractive profession.

Irrespective of the schools the teachers are not driven towards results. Lack of passion, Lack of result orientation and performance measurement has destroyed the education culture in India.  

A serious  question comes in my mind.  What was bad in adopting the traditional education system and scaling it to masses?? It was the Gurukul system that has churned out the best students in the past. The Guru not only imparts knowledge but also drives in the Indian value system and ethos. The guru also mentors the pupil with learning avenues making the pupil capable and competent.  Our educationist blindly just adopted the westernized education system which has left the Indian population literate/qualified but not  educated.

Are exams effective ??

Exams is a game of TWO hours. Kids mug up for writing papers. I have seen kids singing and reciting  mathematical sums. The kids also know which are the probable questions. There are keys available in the market.

Exams today do not focus on practicality or the application of knowledge. Ultimately the marks gained is the measure of the  memory of the student that his knowledge.

Knowledge if not put to practical use is sheer waste. Today unfortunately ,there is NO education process in India that links to the practical usage of knowledge. There is lack of purposeful education that leads to economic and personal growth.

 

The toppers in exams are not necessarily the most successful in life. Do do exams matter after all. Can we get rid of exams and try to put a process that assesses the practical usage of knowledge the student has gained??

Are Teaching Techniques Effective??

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Teachers are trained in Education degrees like B.Ed, D.Ed and M.Ed that

text book is just the reference point. you need to teach the students more that just the text books. Invariably the teaching is just limited to text books.

Today in the kids are tech savvy, they have seen computer games, they have seen cartoons on television, they love to see and then learn. They would like to experience and learn.

Here is a suggestion, can we integrate cartoons, national geographic, the history channel , games and checklist base education that engages the kid in learning, understanding , experiencing and playing with the topics to gain knowledge??

With the current system in education its the a dooms day in waiting, The so called educationists need to wakeup fast or just step aside to let the private players take over. Its the issue of nation building and is critical. Its absolutely important for to student to understand the purpose of his learning and what career/occupation he/she plans to pursue post his education.

 

Research has proven that students who internalize the relation between what they are doing today in academics, why are they studying what they are studying and how it will help in their career, do well in their academics.   

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DHEYA the 4th Idiot – 3 Idiots evolved it!!

 

Contributed by our Jharkhand Associate : Rajeev Ranjan (rajeev.ranjan@dheya.com). Rajeev Puts Dheya as the 4th Idiot trying to help students turn successful…read on…

 


 
People always say movies are always unrealistic and it’s a drama but the Irony is they always tend to follow what movies show cast. Following the latest hairstyles, the costumes, even the look alike it’s all about what people go on crazy to adopt. The funniest part is they miss or ignore the inspiration and teaching which movies try to showcase. Whether it be Lakshya or 3 Idiots they make lots of sense for both the old gen and the young blood.

What Aamir khan says in 3 idiots “ Don’t run after scoring marks or getting a degree or do things for sake of doing or being successful, just believe in excellence in whatever you do and then Success will itself run for you” . Doesn’t he justify his words by being an excellent, top league actor for whom success is immaterial as it follows him automatically because of his excellence? The essence of his real flick is to follow the Career path which makes you feel happy and where your interest lies. Just don’t go on follow the conventional Careers what your parents decide right at the time you are born and they dream about you, your relatives and friends suggest or what the latest trend is. Believe me the reason is you can excel in the career path you choose for yourself not your parents. The root cause of all the failures or drop outs in education or jobs is the selection of wrong Career path. And you won’t believe it is the only reason which is making the so called workforce “Unemployable”.

It is there where the 4th Idiot “Dheya.com” comes into picture. Why the term 4th Idiot you all will be thinking so? The reason is 3 Idiots revolve around making the right Career choice which automatically evolves the 4th Idiot “Dheya.com” as it is the only Organization operating with the mission of making the young generation choose the right and sensible career choice to improve employability and their productivity. It’s high time that they must go and follow Mr. Madhavan(the 2nd Idiot) and just out spoke about the career they feel is appropriate for them. But it’s a big truth that it is quite difficult to decide the right Career choice both for the child and parents and it is where “Dheya.com” acts as a facilitator to suggest you the right Career path on scientifically proven and technical grounds. They don’t only suggest that but also plan and draw the path to achieve it. If you don’t believe it I am sure a try with them will make you change your preconceived notion. The 4th Idiot is the only one who does it Idiotically(as Aamir khan does) but really!



Posted by Rajeev Ranjan Dated- 26th December 2009

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Dheya In News: Guiding Light

The Telegraph – Career Graph – Hemachaya De – 3rd Dec 09

Pramit Mukherjee loved physics and wanted to become an astrophysicist. That was until he took an online career assessment test.

Of course, he still loves the subject, but this 15-year-old student of South Point High School in Calcutta now knows that he will do best as an entrepreneur.

Mukherjee was chivvied into taking the test by his parents who felt that his academic performance was not satisfactory.

They realised he needed to be clear about whether he had an aptitude for basic sciences.

Not surprisingly, the test brought about a sea change in the boy's manner of thinking. He learnt that he needed to assess his strengths and weaknesses before setting his career goals. "The programme helped me realise that I can think independently and that I should concentrate on becoming an entrepreneur," says Mukherjee. "I may not take science in Plus Two as planned earlier."

Abishek Datta, a Class XII student of another city school, is also a lot more confident after taking the test. "I am studying commerce. But I was never quite sure that I would do well in finance," he says. His online assessment test results, coupled with one-on-one career counselling, have shown that he would be much better off if he took up BBA (bachelor of business administration) after school and followed it up with an MBA.

Mukherjee and Datta are not alone. A whopping 98 per cent of boys and 96 per cent of girls in India are estimated to experience difficulty in making career decisions at the school and college levels.



Only 4 per cent of students receives some sort of expert guidance in this regard. Sometimes career choices are based simply on market demands without taking into consideration whether or not one's skills and personality suit the profession one is opting for. This is where career assessment programmes like Aavishkar hope to make a difference.

The first-of-its-kind online career assessment programme is helping hundreds of students choose the best suited career. The programme has been launched by Pune-based career guidance portal dheya.com in association with the Bengali daily Ananda Bazar Patrika.

Targeted at students aged between 13 and 26 years, Aavishkar has been designed by career experts and social scientists on the basis of psychometrics, mind exercises, simulations and questions to enable students realise their potential. "I have travelled across the world. In most developed countries, much emphasis is laid on career guidance for school students. In India, however, it's a neglected area. This is one of the reasons a large number of students do not opt for higher education," says Anand Desai, director of dheya.com. "In our country, only 12 out of 100 eligible heads enroll in colleges. According to the government, this needs to be raised to at least 60 to make the nation more productive.

"

Career experts also feel that such as- sessments should be made a mandatory part of the school curriculum. "Parents should be involved in these events because most often they are the ones who cause most often they are the ones who finance the children's education," says Salony Priya, a counselling psychologist who is part of the counselling teams in schools such as the Heritage School and DPS, Megacity.

Priya suggests that schools set up permanent notice boards on the premises disseminating career information for students. "I deal with hundreds of cases where students are depressed because they have taken up subject combinations for which they have no aptitude.

And also because parents exert pressure on them to follow conventional career paths such as medicine and engineering," she says.

However, academicians would like to put in a word of caution; they warn against bulldozing students into choosing a particular career path. "Perspectives change with age. And students should give themselves room to accommodate those changes. So although career assessment tests are welcome at an early stage, they should be done in a responsible manner.

We shouldn't straitjacket students into a particular mode of thinking," says Devi Kar, principal of Modern High School who is also a member of a central panel on school reforms.

So if you need some advice on which path to follow after school or college, you know which way to go.

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CAT couldn't catch the mice…

Online CAT day 2: 23 centers cancel test(

www.ndtv.com)

The

online Common Admission Test in around 23 centres across the country was cancelled on Sunday to allow necessary repairs to be completed at the labs where technical glitches disrupted the exams on Saturday. ...

 

 

 

This was expected. Issues to do with bandwidth and the administration were not handled properly. Its unfortunate that Prometric an American company has been awarded this program. Why doesn't this happen to SNAP, XAT which  are online exams with no crashes.

Even, we at dheya have manage simultaneous logins of more than 1000 and have never faced crashes.

This I guess is an immature way of handling by Thomson Prometic.  Its exactly what we call as THE WHITE SKIN EFFECT, overconfidence on firangi companies and no confidence on Indian companies.

 

The importance of the CAT exam has got diluted and a funny situation has cropped up where the Education minister has to embarrassingly answer to the media.

Its important to re-look at the technology partner like Prometric and may be helping Indian companies build capacity would be a solution. Prometric earlier also had no good record for their conducting various certifications anyhow. 

 

My worry is about how blindly our government, administration lay their faith on agencies like Prometric. Could it not be tested before its launch. Every software/ website does that.

 

Now this is funny: Prof Satish Deodhar, Convener of the CAT exams from IIM Ahmadabad says…..

"This is the first day of the first on-line test. Such an attempt to take an on-line test of 2.41 lakh students in the span of 10 days is being carried out for the first time in the world,"

  

 

"We must understand that there are bound to be some problems on the first day of such a huge exercise, but the exams are going on and it will go on for the next ten days".

 

 

 

  
Its really painful to the students. I am sure there are better ways to manage this.

 

Lets hope we learn from this

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75% Indian engineering students unemployable: Report

Discussing a report by software industry group Nasscom which says that 75 percent engineering students in India are unemployable, education experts here on Saturday said that the Indian higher education system must give skill building and practical training equal importance as academics to give them an edge.

In their latest report released in the last week of October 2009, National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) said that Indian IT firms reject 90 percent of college graduates and 75 percent of engineers who apply for jobs because they are not good enough to be trained.

We have been talking about unemployability and education. the mismatch between the academic processes and the its true application. Today we are teaching students in subjects that will not be required in future. Today with a gross enrollment ratio of Higher Education being 12. ie .. out of 100 eligible people (18 yrs to 24 yrs) only 12 take up college education, other 88% don't. among this 12% the employability ratio is 10% to 25%. Its sad and is a reflection of the effectiveness of the Indian Education System.

Its not important just keep approving central universities and colleges or just increasing the education infrastructure, its highly important to work on the effectiveness of the outcome of education towards economic and social goals of the country.

I guess we as a nation will never learn. We will keep doing superficial stuff and actions just to show that we are doing something. The quality of education need to improve. Youth need to appreciate the value of education. Majority of the youth do not see value in education. So do not opt for higher education. The condition is even worst when we see the figures relating to female enrollments in higher education.

Then whats the solution. Here is some action points suggested by Dheya to the Government of India:

1. A substantial effort needs to go into revamping the curriculum from Grade VIII onwards to link the curriculum and the occupations and jobs of the future.
2. Help the students to understand themselves and plan their careers for a horizon of 10 years
3. Equip the students with skills that would make them focussed and employable starting from the age of 13.

Hope they listen...

Anand Desai

Founder - Dheya

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Placement & Education: Wake up Call …

“The purpose of a B-school is to impart learning and not just to place a student. But come placement season and students’ attention is taken away from learning,”

........K Mamkoottam, new dean of Faculty of Management Studies (FMS), Delhi University.

This is true and valid for each institute may it be the Engineering college or a management institute. This is a catch 22 situation for all. On one side their admissions depend on the placement record and placement record depends on the quality of education and students. Many institutes are doing many things to build the placement record leaving the academic side of education aside.

I have seen institutes using their entire female student force to make calls to various corporate houses just to invite them for placements and the male student force to drop placement brochures. I remember I received 30 or more calls from the same institute and 12 brochures. The entire last six months starting from the mid of the 3rd sem is focussed on placement. This is a story of a B-/ C grade institute which takes more than 1000 students in different institutes (under the same group). Students are promised a placement with god knows what figures of past placements. Ultimately the placement record is dismal. The average salary of whatever mentioned at the time of placement is nowhere there and the numbers are bad. I guess this the same story across.

I sympathise with Mr. Mamkoottam, but i sympathise more with the students who keep a blind faith on the HUGE color adverts of the institutes for admissions.

Unfortunately our education systems hasn't got it yet. There seems to be no or limited linkage of academics to the job/occupation and a career. Outcome of education is just shelved under the carpet and shown as degrees earned and not employment. Very few institutes do talk occupations, careers, employment, life long learning in real sense. Its not understood by student what waiting for them at the end of their education. Educational institute have become a degree churning factories. By the way they also agree.

Why are we unable to do anything. Today's news was a sad one. Over 100 students of the Air Hostess Academy (AHA) gathered in front of the institute office on JM road, Pune on Monday protesting against the management for not providing them employment and certificates on completion of the course. Large number of police guarded the premises of the academy to avoid any untoward incident. Meanwhile, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) also came to the academy and demanded action against the management. Parents of students, also present on the spot, demanded action.

I guess this shouldn't happen to the so called management institutes/engineering colleges who charge in lakhs luring students on their displayed placement percentage. We calculated the investment of a student for MBA, its turns out to be anywhere between 10 lakhs to 16 lakhs. I am sure one day parents are going to questions, if not parents the students would certainly question. Also this will take a POLITICAL turn and will get into a complicated mess if don't tackle it NOW. Last time MNS took a huge political mileage in Pune by saying that there's no marathi manoos in the MBA institutes.. now it will be for no placements.

Sometime back we wrote about how admissions are done in Pune, people are waiting in queues to get their kids admitted with even paying below the table money. Institutes boast of people waiting in queue for admissions, but this may not be for long. Thanks to my favourite Mr.Kapil Sibal, theres going to be a flurry of institutes and central universities lined up to increase access for education all over India. Tomorrow if its IIT Ranchi Vs Sinhagad engineering college, it will obviously be the choice of IIT Ranchi than any xyz college in Pune.

Wake up institutes.Take these actions before its too late. Build Career Development Programs: Its important to build career planning and development programs as a part of curriculum. Build employability capabilities among students: Help students build employability capabilities so that job search and employment looks easy. Link Education to Outcome: Its important for the institute to help the students internalise their academic efforts to what career they plan to pursue.

LiveJournal Tags: Dheya,Employability,Placement,Management Institutes,Protests,FMS,Engineering Colleges

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2,600 Seats Lying Vacant In Orissa’s Pvt Engg Colleges

Financial Express – 4th August 09.

This makes me wonder, if we really need a JEE. I guess JEE is creating a great barrier for aspirants. I guess its a competitive exam to define grading of students abilities. However there has been no proven correlation to the students career success and such grading. The solution to this is each institute conducting their own short entrance approval test using more psychometric testing tools. At the same time working on their own branding with a positive display of academic and placement successes.

Bhubaneswar: : Chaos and uncertainty have proved disastrous for the promoters of private engineering colleges in Orissa. With the tussle going on between the newly formed Biju Patnaik University of Technology (BPUT) and Orissa Private Engineering College Association (OPECA) during admission time over seat quotas and fee fixation, students and their parents have become more cautious about admissions t his year.

As many as 2,600 seats in private engineering colleges are lying vacant as students who qualified in the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) refused to take admission. While about 21,000 students were called for counselling, only 6,176 students turned up. Besides this, 1,500 students have taken admission under the management quota.

With the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) increasing 1,500 seats in engineering colleges this year, the number of seats in 37 engineering colleges in the state has gone up to 10,500.

The tussle between BUPT and OPECA started when the latter resolved to conduct separate entrance tests for admission into management seats. However, BPUT insisted that no merit list, except JEE, would be entertained for admission into the colleges.

This led to confusion and thus marred the admission prospects of these private engineering colleges. Moreover, the fee hike this year in private colleges has also made students rethink about taking admission. “The students are shying away from engineering courses because there are not enough job opportunities and the overall expenses have gone up” admits state industries minister, KV Singhdeo, who is also the chairman of the JEE Board.

He, however, said that seats lying vacant was not a new trend in the state. About 2,000 seats were vacant in engineering colleges last year.

This year, the worst hit are colleges imparting Master in Computer Application (MCA) courses. The uncertainty in information technology job market has reflected the mood in during the admission season. Only 650 of the 2,622 seats in the engineering and MCA colleges in the state were filled up this year.

Meanwhile, looking at the seat vacancy position, OPECA has urged the state government to allow it to admit students outside the JEE list.

The government and BPUT should relax the JEE guidelines to take more and more students in the professional courses, says OPECA president Kaminikanta Patnaik. “If the admission norms can be relaxed for MCA, why can’t the same be done for all other engineering subjects”, he adds.

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Set the campus free

by Ila Patnaik

Kapil Sibal, the new minister for human resource development, has his first task cut out for him. He acquires a portfolio so ill-served by his predecessors and one that has such a critical bearing on India realising its social and political aspirations that he must hit the ground running.


The HRD minister needs to bring about a new policy framework for higher education in India. Thousands of young Indians, unable to find a decent university education in India, are flocking to universities abroad. Of the multitude of students coming out of schools, a substantial fraction want a university education. The license raj in university education has stalled the growth in university seats of even a minimum acceptable quality. The affluent struggle to find the money to send their children to study abroad, and the poor struggle to access the 10,000 seats at the Indian Institutes of Technology. Sibal’s focus must be to create a policy framework whereby a large number of high quality universities spring up.



The existing framework for running universities in India has been tried for many decades, and has been shown to have failed. In striking contrast, China has been able to get far ahead of India in building universities. If progress has to be made in India, every assumption of the HRD ministry now needs to be questioned. In addition to removing entry barriers against new private or foreign universities, the four new ideas that need to be brought in are: autonomy of universities (including on budget); reduced core funding combined with more competitive research grants; a flexible salary structure; end of government interference in recruitment of staff and students.


The best universities in India, those that we are particularly proud of, are not well rated by international standards. The Times of London’s Higher Education Supplement ranks universities around the world. In 2008, their data showed IIT Delhi at rank 154 and IIT Bombay at rank 174 globally. No other university in India made this top 200 list. By way of comparison, China has universities at ranks 50, 56, 113, 141, 143 and 144. In other words, China has six universities which are superior to IIT Delhi and IIT Bombay.


Last week, the NBER Digest carried an article by Linda Gorman summarising a research paper by Philippe Aghion, Mathias Dewatripont, Caroline M. Hoxby, Andreu Mas-Colell and Andre Sapir which investigates the sources of success in building universities. The paper is immensely useful in thinking about how to build universities in India; it should be on the top of Kapil Sibal’s reading list.


The paper finds that the first element that pulls down the rank of a university is the process of budgetary approval from the government. The average European university that sets its own budget has a rank of 200 while the average European university that needs approval from the government has a rank of 316. In other words, giving a university autonomy to set its own budget on average yields an improvement of 116 ranks. The message for India: in order to obtain high-quality universities, we need to give universities autonomy.


The second important feature is the role of government in funding universities. They find that each percentage point of the university’s budget that comes from core government funds reduces the rank of the university by 3.2 points. The message for India: in order to obtain high-quality universities, we need to give them less money through core funding from the government.


The third issue is inequality in wages. European universities which pay the same wages to all faculty of the same seniority and rank have an average rank of 322. Universities which vary wages for each faculty member and pay different salaries to two people of the same seniority and rank, have an average rank of 213. In other words, flexible HR policies yield an improvement of 109 ranks. The message for India: freeing up HR policies is essential to building high-quality universities.


The fourth issue is the recruitment process for students. Universities which are free to recruit undergraduate students as they like have a rank 156 points higher than those where the government determines the composition of students. The message for India: universities should have full freedom to recruit students as they like, without interference from the government.


The fifth issue is competition. Each percentage point of a university’s budget that comes from a competitive research grants process yields an improvement in its ranking by 6.5. The message for India: the “core funding” money that is taken away from universities should be turned into a competitive process through which a panel of Nobel laureates choose which universities are the most deserving for getting research funding. Defence, space and atomic energy contracts are also ideal sources of meritocratic research funding, because these customers care about results and will not throw money towards a process of political patronage.


Variation across state governments in the United States shows that the best universities come up in states which allow more autonomy, such as independent purchasing systems, no state approval of the university budget, and complete control of personnel hiring and pay.


There is only one university in India which has autonomy on budget setting, recruits its own students, has flexible HR policies, etc., and this is the Indian School of Business. It is perhaps logical that, in 2008, ISB was ranked the 20th best MBA programme by The Financial Times, and in 2009 this rank was improved to 15. None of the IIMs feature anywhere. This is a striking contrast between enormous state expenditures on the IIMs failing to yield measurable results when compared with an alternative which has landed India in the top rankings of the world.


Universities will not be built overnight. But the framework that can lay the foundations for this change can be laid under UPA II over the next 100 days.



The writer is a senior fellow at the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, Delhi express@expressindia.com

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Career Planning – An Overwhelming Experience

Posted By Aditi Bhattacharya.

that I dream of being an Ophthalmologist or a Radiologist. A  Scientist , Doctor who owns a restaurant……Rajiv Roy, Class XII

Career planning, the second phase program of Aavishkar, a joint initiative of ABP and Dheya, took place in Kolkata on September 13, 09. The career planning was conducted by career planners, trained and certified by Dheya. Children between age group of 13 and 24 were helped to define their careers and career for next 10 years has been planned for them. Dheya also takes the initiative to track the children for next ten years and guide them as and when required.

The career planning session was an overwhelming experience by itself. It was not only a happy moment for the children but also for the parents who were extremely satisfied with the whole procedure. Before the session started, parents were bit sceptical about the program, but after going through the two hours rigorous session along with their children, they were immensely pleased and delighted.

A few of the parents commented that such sessions were not their in their times and hence, they remained confused through out their academic career and lacked confidence even in their professional career, further, it also made them unhappy about their career choices to some extent. One of the parent said that this kind of program should have been conducted a few months earlier, so that whatever wrong career decisions their kid has taken so far, could have been avoided, nonetheless, it was never too late, as further damage has been avoided, henceforth.

The parents also expressed their gratitude to ABP and Dheya for taking such path breaking steps in the field of education. The children were benefitted multi-fold. There were certain complex cases too where Dheya has taken initiative to help the respective children to build their lives in more than one sitting without any additional charges, helping them first with counselling followed by career guidance and career planning.

In a nutshell, career planning session has helped the children in the following way:

· To choose the correct line of education in congruence to their personality and ability and to their interest to some extent.

· Facilitated them with sound decision whether to invest in particular stream of education/certification.

· Assisted in setting their goals in life.

· Created a focus in their lives.

· Made them confident about their future career decisions.

· Helped them to walk towards their dreams.

· Helped them to have a vision in life.

The careers planning program was a wonderful experience for the Career planners too and they are thankful to have got the opportunity to shape the future of Indian youth.

 

… By Aditi Bhattacharya. Head – Content

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Be Wise in Choosing an Educational Institution...

Source :http://thetoteditor.blogspot.com 

May 10th 2009

By A Concerned Citizen

For more than a month and a half now, Icfai institutes in Hyderabad, Bangalore, Jaipur and other places have been in the news for all the wrong reasons. In fact, on Thursday, many students turned violent and ransacked the Icfai Institute of Science and Technology (IcfaiTech) at Bangalore after learning of its legal status. Today, these students face criminal cases against them and their future is in jeopardy. Students need to be extra careful before joining any institution, especially for pursuing a course leading to their first degree. They should not merely go by advertisements and promotional campaigns. They need to check the legal status of the institution that they are planning to join.

A student should ask four crucial questions before joining an institution of higher learning. These are regarding the status of affiliation and the legal status of the institution awarding the degree, the status of approval by the concerned statutory professional council, the status of accreditation, and the acceptance of the degree by other universities in India and abroad.

Is the Institution awarding the degree, either a valid University or Deemed to be University? If yes, is it operating within its authorized jurisdiction?

In India, valid degrees can be awarded only by a University set up either by an Act of the Parliament, in which case, the University is popularly known as a ‘Central University’ or by an Act of a state legislature, in which case, it will be known as a ‘State University’. Central and state universities come under section 2(f) of the UGC Act. There is also a provision for Central Government to grant 'Deemed to be University' status on institutions of higher learning on the recommendation of the UGC. Such institutes become known as "Deemed Universities" and come under section 3 of the UGC Act. They can also award degrees to their own students, provided their courses have been recognized by the UGC. However, deemed universities cannot affiliate other colleges and institutions.

While Central Universities can have an all-India jurisdiction, subject to the provisions of the Act of the Parliament under which it came to existence, state universities cannot have jurisdiction outside the geographical boundaries of the state. In fact, for several state universities, the jurisdiction might be limited to a few districts within the state. Deemed Universities are unitary universities, which cannot affiliate other institutions. However, as per the 2003 UGC private universities regulations, after five years of their existence, private universities, including deemed universities, under exceptional circumstances, and with the permission of the respective state governments and UGC, can have off-campus centres outside their main campus. BITS Pilani, which now has a legally valid campus each inHyderabad and Goa, is the best example for this.

Keep this in mind! No university is ordinarily allowed to have campuses or study-centres outside its jurisdiction. So always check which university is going to award the degree after the completion of the course. If the university does not have jurisdiction over the geographical area where the institute one is joining is located, then any degree awarded by the university on successful completion of an undergraduate/post graduate program in such an institution would be legally questionable. The only exception to this rule is when it is a legally authorized off-campus centre of an established deemed university like BITS Pilani, in which case the institution is a constituent of that deemed university, and not an affiliate. If your institution claims to be an off-campus centre, and hence, a constituent of a valid university elsewhere, first check if the university in question is more than five years old and whether the campus you are planning to study has been officially notified by the university as an off-campus centre after taking prior permission of the UGC and the concerned state government.

In case, the course you are pursuing is a distance learning course or a flexible learning program as some institutions would call it, irrespective of where you are attending contact classes and writing exams, the course has validity only if its approved by the  Distance Education Council (DEC) and the UGC. In all cases, it is advisable that one check with the UGC if the University under question is in the list maintained by it under section 2(f) of the UGC Act.

Does the course/ programme have the approval of the relevant professional council ? In India, we have various statutory professional councils which have regulatory powers in their respective domains of education. For instance, the DEC that was mentioned above is the concerned professional council when it comes to distance education or Open University system. When it comes to technical education (courses in the field of engineering, computer applications, Management, Pharmacy, Architecture, Hotel Management, etc), the statutory authority is the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE). AICTE is the standards maintaining authority and so all institutions of technical education have to maintain the minimum standards prescribed by AICTE. While universities and their constituents legally do not need to take AICTE's prior approval for running technical programmes, even they are expected to maintain the minimum standards prescribed by AICTE, failing which UGC can take action against them. It is mandatory for most deemed universities, colleges and other institutes to take AICTE's permission before running technical courses. Even a seat cannot be increased without AICTE's permission. Exceptions are there: IIMs, IITs etc do not need to take AICTE's permission as they are run directly by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) and hence are sister institutions of AICTE. IIT, IIM degrees are, therefore, automatically AICTE approved. Also, long established deemed universities like BITS Pilani, (BITS Pilani became a deemed university in 1964) legally needn't take AICTE’s permission to run technical courses because they were established and were running popular technical courses long before AICTE Act of 1987 was passed.

Analogous to the role performed by AICTE in technical education, is the role performed by Medical Council of India (MCI) in medical education; Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR) in agricultural education and research; National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) in teacher education (B.Ed, M.Ed etc);Dentists Council of India, Pharmacy Council of India, Indian Nursing Council and Bar Council of India in the fields of dental education, pharmacy education (up to graduate level), nursing education and legal education respectively;

Does the institution have valid accreditation? If it is an institution approved by the UGC and if its credentials are good, the institution is likely to go for National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) accreditation. NAAC accreditation, therefore, is an indication that the institution has send out at least two batches of students already and that it has nothing to hide. In addition, if the NAAC has awarded a high grade (A, A+ etc) then that is official recognition of the quality of education that such an institute provides. For instance, the University of Hyderabad has been awarded the highest possible rating given by NAAC. If it is a technical institution approved by the AICTE, then the accrediting body is the National Board of Accreditation (NBA). NBA after its examinations merely gives an 'accredited' or 'not-accredited' status to institutions. NBA accreditation is again an official recognition that the institution meets or exceeds the stipulated minimum standards for technical education prescribed by AICTE.

Is the institution awarding the degree a member of the Association of Indian Universities? It is not a legal requirement that all universities and deemed universities in India should be members of the Association of Indian Universities (AIU). However, all traditional universities and deemed universities in India are members of the AIU. Several universities, when considering students for higher education, insist that their previous degree should be from a university, which is a member of the AIU. Even some of the reputed non-Indian South Asian universities are associate members of the AIU. Since AIU is authorized by the member universities to determine the equivalence of various degrees across different universities in India, it is always good (from a mobility perspective) to earn your degrees from universities/deemed universities which are members of AIU.

It is important that students know the regulatory environment in the field of higher education in India. Knowing the legal requirements and taking reasonable care in these matters can help the youth of this country avoid losing money and precious years to well marketed, money-oriented educational business empires. It is certainly better to be careful than to be sorry!

TOT Editor's note: It is a timely message. The Opportunistic Times would like to place on record our thanks to the concerned citizen who wrote this and has shared it for publication. Also, please note that the usual disclaimers apply. The author has taken reasonable care while collecting and presenting the information contained above. This is posted here for information purposes alone, in the spirit of a public service message. Any erroneous reporting of factual details, if pointed out with evidence of the correctness of the claim, will be rectified with due acknowledgment within reasonable time. Needless to say, any act of accessing and reading information here does not create any relationship, including a solicitor-client relationship, and the author and the publisher takes no responsibility of actions taken on the basis of information provided in this blog.

Posted by JMG at 12:05 AM

Labels: AICTE, DEC, Deemed University, Icfai, IcfaiTech, MHRD, UGC, University

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I Just Quit My Job... Am I Crazy?

I Just Quit My Job... Am I Crazy?

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Discover your calling

Campus Buzz Careergraph The telegraph, Kolkata Jul 22,09, Thursday

NEWS, VIEWS AND TRIVIA STRAIGHT FROM SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES

Statistics reveal that only 4 per cent of students in India receives expert career counselling. Not surprisingly, according to a Nasscom report, just 15 per cent of graduates in the country are employable.

To address this problem, Anandabazar Patrika and Dheya (www.dheya.com) — an educational services company — have started Aavishkar, an online assessment programme for students. The programme provides around 700 career options and the methodology comprises mind exercises, simulations and questions to help one discover his or her true calling. Those interested have to fill in a form, published in Anandabazar Patrika and The Telegraph, and submit it along with a cheque for Rs 600 to any ABP classifieds office.

The programme will also include an hour-long career planning session, which will be held on Saturdays and Sundays. Candidates will have to register for this separately. For details, write to aavishkar@abp.in.

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CAREER SUCCESS WORKSHOPS @ KOLKATA DHEYA – ANANDABAZAR PATRIKA VENTURE

Launched the career success workshop on 1st June 2009, 38 students participated. The workshop covered the career assessment and career planning sessions, self esteem enhancement sessions, goal setting and achievement orientation session..

THE CAMPAIGN..

THE WORKSHOPS

The workshop is designed by us to make a long term positive impact. While career assessment gives us a psychological profile of the student, the career planning process helps him set a direction towards his or her career goals.Using scientific and tested methods we helped Students plan their careers. No slide shows, no presentations only experiential sessions. Unique techniques with a scientific base to equip the students with success skills.

The Victory Session

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