Education, Careers & Professional News
IIT-Bombay signs MoU with Intellectual Ventures
Intellectual Ventures and the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay have signed a Memorandum of Understanding that is expected to result in the wider dissemination and practical utilization of inventions generated by IIT Bombay faculty, students, and staff.
Intellectual Ventures will both license IITB inventions accepted under this program and work on a number of possible commercialization strategies for them. Intellectual Ventures will pay IITB fees for such licensing and will also bear the patenting costs associated with these inventions. This engagement between IITB and IV is expected to enhance the atmosphere for innovation at IITB and also encourage more innovators to address important technological problems.
This partnership is not exclusive and allows both IIT Bombay and Intellectual Ventures to engage with others for IP related matters.
Prof. Devang Khakhar, Director, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, said: “We are pleased to be in a collaboration with Intellectual Ventures, one of the largest invention investment companies worldwide. Given our team of leading professors and students, we hope to generate some ground-breaking inventions and see them commercialized on a global scale.”
“This agreement demonstrates how Intellectual Ventures unique business model can enhance the creation, dissemination, and use of technological inventions coming out of premier institutes such as IIT Bombay. By accessing its global network of world leading companies, universities and research institutes, Intellectual Ventures can also help bring unique problems needing solutions to IIT Bombay. We take a long-term view of technology and are searching for solutions that will be useful five or even ten years in the future. Our goal is to find excellent collaborators to help us develop the best solutions for the global marketplace of the near future,” said Prof. Ashok Misra, Chairman Intellectual Ventures India.
As a company exclusively focused on building, buying, and partnering to generate invention, Intellectual Ventures believes that inventions are inherently valuable. By making invention investments and developing a variety of invention investment models, it is pursuing the goal of creating a more efficient and dynamic invention economy. By funding invention and collaborating with various institutes throughout India, Intellectual Ventures empowers the country’s next generation of great minds, perhaps even discovering the next Vikram Sarabhai or CV Raman along the way.
IIT uses nanotech for cheap textile wastewater cleanup
Indian Institute of Technology Madras said it has filed for two patents based on nanotechnology, including one for a nanocomposite adsorbent that could treat polluted wastewater from the textile and other industries.
S. Ramaprabhu, a professor at the school’s Alternative Energy and Nanotechnology Laboratory and department of physics, led the research on the extensive surface area of nanomaterials.
Ramaprabhu found that nanocomposite adsorbents would remove dye molecules and odors from factory wastewater, making it suitable for industrial or agricultural use. The dye molecules could also be collected for re-use, the researchers said.
The other patent covers nanomaterials enabling efficient drug delivery in cancer treatment.
The water-intensive textile industry uses a number of flushing steps that add fat, oil chemicals and dye to the wastewater emitted from factories. The fixation rate of dye on cotton is about 70 percent, leaving significant amounts of dye in factory wastewater.
Ramaprabhu says the nanocomposite adsorbents would be inexpensive because they are made up of 90 percent graphite. The remainder is made up of carbon nanotubes, which have smooth, water-repellent interiors. Only water molecules can pass along the interior of carbon nanotubes, while viruses, bacteria, toxic metal ions and other organic molecules are kept out, according to nanotech researchers.
Carbon nanotubes were the focus of water purification studies last year by the Atomic Research Centre in Mumbai, India. Researchers there were investigating how water filtration systems based on carbon nanotubes could be used to remove arsenic, fluoride, heavy metals and toxic organic chemicals
New sheets developed by IIT-Delhi to curb seepage help in water conservation
New Delhi At present, 50 per cent of the total water Delhi receives from canals and other sources is wasted because of seepage on its way to the city. The material used to line canals to prevent seepage gets spoiled easily, getting damaged during construction at times.
IIT-Delhi has now come up with a solution and has developed novel puncture-resistant sheets that can be used effectively to conserve water in the city. The material used to manufacture the sheets is fabric-based. The sheets have been developed in association with the Ministry of Water Resources to prevent water seepage when used as a lining in canals and ponds.
The sheets, which are around 0.5 mm thick and have excellent puncture resistance, have been successfully utilised at the Central Agricultural Research Institute (CARI) in Port Blair, in ponds in Maharashtra and in Bhubaneswar in Orissa, and in a pond in IIT-Delhi.
The developer, Professor B L Deopura of Textile Technology, IIT-Delhi, said the sheets can also be used in the construction of houses. A lining placed on the roof and in the basement while building houses can avoid water seepage from tanks or during rains.
In fact, these sheets can even be used for rainwater harvesting as ponds used to collect water can be lined with the material, he said.
Deopura said work on the project started more than five years ago as a departmental project but later the Ministry of Water Resources took interest and started helping out financially.
Talks are on with states like Haryana and Rajasthan, which are exploring the possibility of using the material for water conservation. Deopura said: In some places, LDPE films of around 200 microns are used for lining canals and ponds but these films get damaged at the construction stage and, hence, serve very limited purpose in controlling water seepage.
He said the construction cost of canals that incorporate these sheets turns out to be much less when compared to those using conventional construction methods. The sheets have a wide variety of applications, including soil conservation in areas where soil around river banks and oceans can be easily washed off. Making tubes using these novel material and filling them with soil provides an inexpensive method for embankments, Deopura said.
Fewer job offers ahead of placement season in IIMs
Some alumni of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A) recently received an emailed list of around 130 companies from members of the management school’s student placement committee. In what increasingly looks to be a tough year for business school placements, the email requested alumni to help the committee with contacts in these companies to broaden their traditional portfolio of recruiters.
It’s been a roller coaster year for the Class of 2009.
We saw bumper final placements of the last batch, a cooling-off during our summer placements and finally a lukewarm final placement season for us, by IIM-C standards,” says Akshay Lal, 27, a second-year student of the postgraduate diploma in management at the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta (IIM-C).
“Cautiously optimistic” is how Lal, an electrical engineer from Pune, sums up the mood on campus as schools prepare for the placement season that begins in March.
Quite a change from the same time last year when offers made to students of IIM-C scaled a high of Rs1.36 crore a year; industry observers say pay packages will most likely miss the 20-30% spike seen year-on-year. Salaries are expected to remain at the same level as last year or may, at best, factor in the inflation rate.
Teachers say students might need counselling to tide over the dramatic changes that are likely to ensue in the hiring season. “I will have sessions with them (students) myself and if needed, we won’t hesitate to bring in professional counsellors,” says Prafulla Agnihotri, a professor and chairperson of placements.
“While this is still early to say, this year looks quite bad compared to the last few years,” agrees Sourav Mukherji, associate professor and chairperson (placement) at the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (IIM-B), who has overseen placements for the last two years.
Pre-placement offers, or job offers from companies where students have worked for during the summers, have seen a dramatic fall.
At IIM-C, so far 60 students have received pre-placement offers against 90 offers last year. The institute was earlier expecting at least 120 pre-placement offers to be made this year, according to Paul Savio, a first-year student and the external relations secretary of IIM-C. It’s the same at IIM-B. Pre-placement offers made to students post-internships total 55 for the batch of 2009 against 110 for the batch of 2008. IIM-A said they would rather not share how many pre-placement offers their students had received.
Small town wonders shine at IIT Techfest 09
Call them small town wonders. Five budding engineers from an engineering college
in Surendranagar got the better of Bombay University
boys in robotics competition at IIT Techfest 09. Teams from over 90 well-known engineering colleges in Asia had participated in the Robo Wars’, the main event at the Asia’s largest technical festival year hosted by Indian Institute of Technology in Mumbai.
It was also for the first time that students from CU Shah College of Engineering and Technology, Surendranagar had participated in such a mega event. They made a robot named gladiator’ which succeeded in defeating and destroying the robotic gadget made by team from Bombay University.
The team comprised third year engineering students Bhargav Shah, Geetesh Shakyawar, Radhika Rawat, Vipul Barot, and Aakruti Shah.
“Our only strength was the robot. We gave in our best and emerged as a winner,” said Bhargav, a native of Vadodara.
The team of six engineers worked for almost five months to build the perfect robot for the tech fest. “We did a market survey to find out which models are available and studied those which have been successful. Then we took a month for planning and designing the robot. In fact the tyres used for the model were designed by us, we did not outsource it,” said team leader Geetesh.
“We kept on improvising till we arrived at the perfect model that could give tough competition to other robots in the competition. Gladiator’ had a metallic disc which was used as cutter for a weapon which helped us defeat robots of other teams,” he added.
A city-based engineering firm Amit Engineering Works extended all the support that the students were looking for. “We did all the fabrication work at the workshop and the owner did not charge a penny from us,” added Vipul.
IIM-A looks at new sectors for lateral placements
Mihir Lal, student co-ordinator, placements, IIM-A, said: “We are changing the placement fee structure to the firms’ advantage. We are also inviting many first-time recruiters to the campus. We are keen to look at new and challenging roles for students and move away from sectors like international banks and consultancy firms. Although these firms are among our long-standing recruiting partners, we are looking at a diverse set of sectors and firms.”
Sectors such as private equity, niche consulting, technology and logistics, which made a debut at last year’s lateral placements, have been visiting the campus this year also. At IIM-A, the lateral placements will last around two months.
“Given the market circumstances, we are likely to see a shift away from finance,” said Lal.
Approximately 120 students will be eligible for lateral placements. The institute is tightlipped on the average salary being offered. However, last year it was Rs 18.3 lakh a year.
IIM L Manfest 09 to focus on CSR, Leadership and Business Management
IIM Lucknow is all set to organise its annual International Business Conclave - Manfest 2009. Manfest, a much awaited B-school fiesta in the country, will be held from January 16 to 18, 2009 at the IIM Lucknow campus.
Based on the central theme of ‘Sustainable Development: Fuelling the Future’, Manfest 2009 aims to be bigger, better and more responsive to the ever-changing corporate scenario.
Eminent personalities such as Wilfried Aulbur, CEO and MD, Mercedes, Benz India; Dr. R.K Pachauri, Director General, TERI; Dr. Venu Srinivasan, Chairman and MD, TVS Motor Co. Ltd.; Mr. Shailesh Gandhi, Information Commissioner, GOI; Mr. Sudhanshu Sarronwala, CEO, Soundbuzz will address the conclave.
IIM L informs that Manfest 2009 is divided into four verticals: CSR initiative, Leader’s Express, Business Events at Manfest 2009 and Beyond Business.
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) will create opportunities and generate improved performance while remaining accountable to the environment and society. The CSR initiative includes: Affirmation-The Social Conclave; Prerna-The Social Awards; C Trader and The Green Run-The Annual Manfest Marathon. Affirmation will engage an elite panel of members on a discussion on CSR and its importance in the current world. Dr. J.J Irani, Director, Tata Sons will be one of the eminent speakers.
Manfest has also launched its first Social initiative for the year: Prerna – The Social awards. The awards are a means of identifying substantial work being done in the field of CSR and sustainable development.
The C Trader will simulate a scenario wherein teams will choose different industries with different carbon credit ratings. Participant teams will endeavor to build profitable plans from among the multiple choices of projects offered so as to obtain a mix of carbon credits and monetary profits.
The Green Run is Manfest’s annual Marathon which aims at raising funds for NGOs in Education field and increasing awareness of CSR. The participants of the marathon will be students, faculty and corporates.
Leader’s Express-The Speakers’ Forum at Manfest will provide a platform for leaders to share their experience, knowledge and ideas with diverse audiences through Talk the Walk. Prominent thought leaders such as Wilfried Aulbur, CEO and Managing Director, Mercedes –Benz India will grace the occasion.
The Sports Conclave will focus on the theme, “Sports as an Industry in India – Current Status and Future Opportunities.” Anirban Das Blah, Former CEO, Globosport; Sukhwinder Singh, Senior Marketing Manager, All India Football Federation; Shantanu Chari, Marketing Head, Rajasthan Royals; Arunava Chaudhary, Founder, Indianfootball.com have confirmed their presence at the event.
The Corporate Luncheon will highlight the importance of leadership. Through several interactive sessions, leaders will get to interact with faculty members, students, alumni and representatives from the corporate world and engage in a stimulating conversation.
Another event catching the eye-ball is Business Events at Manfest 2009. The Flagship event will consist of -The Next CEO, Call for Arms – The Battle of B-schools, Treatise – The International Thought Challenge, and BizQuiz.
The Business Theatre will include events in focus areas of finance, marketing, strategy, operations and systems will test the participants’ competencies and skills against the very best from across the country. It is conveniently divided into different verticals, with each vertical being based on a particular industry. On this basis, Manfest will be presenting Marksmen – The Marketing Vertical, Finesse –The Finance Vertical, Infrarcade –The Infrastructure Arena, Insurrection –The Insurance Arena, and Systematrix –The Systems Arena, among others.
Manfest goes online with events like Online Biz Theater which will include events like business quizzes, general quizzes and national debate giving a platform to the literarily inclined ones and Corporate Lords – The IPL simulation.
The Budding Economist, Brand Wars, and simulation games such as the C-Trader, The E-Capitalist, and the Treasury Simulation Game will provide the missing piece of the gigantic jigsaw puzzle will be played under: Arcade-The On The Spot Arena.
To raise the adrenalin levels of one and all, Manfest will also take participants Beyond Business, where one will experience the other angle. The festival will include performances by well-known bands along with a high-profile rock competition under Hellraiser: The Rock Competition. The winner will get a prize money worth Rs. 1.10 lakhs. Manfest also presents Pronites which will consist of performances by premier musicians in the country. Manfest 2009 also promises to be different with a performance each in the genres of Ghazals, IndiPop and pure Rock.
The plethora of events at IIM Lucknow will offer a valuable opportunity to students from renowned B-Schools, in India and abroad to showcase their skills and prove their mettle. Manfest began in 1988 with a vision to provide a platform that brings together academicians, students and practitioners of management in an environment that fosters thought, deliberation and debate and where great minds and ideas of the future find expression.
India’s leading management portal MBAUniverse.com is the Official Management Portal of IIM L’s Manfest 09. Stay tuned to MBAUniverse.com for comprehensive coverage of Manfest 09.
Movie folks become lecturers at IIM
IN 2008, IIM-Ahmedabad had hinted that its premier courses would provide a thrust towards acquainting its students with insight into the multi-crore movie market. It had plans to introduce an elective course on ‘Introduction to Contemporary Film Industry’ from December, 2008, which would be offered to students of the institute’s flagship post-graduate diploma programme. It had roped in guest lecturers, Lalu Prasad and APJ Abdul Kalam, and was satisfied with the response. The intention to rope in Bollywood greats to elucidate the nitty-gritty of the film industry was because it was gradually emerging as a market that would grow in years to come. Hence, the requirement of professional managers was very much there and was bound to increase.
The latest news is that the director of Dhoom has set the ball rolling. Its director, Sanjay Gadhvi was the first guest lecturer for the above course which has been introduced at IIM-A this year. He is scheduled to take three classes and 86 students have registered for the course. Other Bollywood celebrities who might be seen in this novel venture are Aamir Khan and filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar. Both have impressed the industry with their innovations and IIM-A students would love to get a peek into how their minds work. After all it is not every day that one gets to come face to face with an actor-cum-director like Aamir Khan who has set his sights high and is determined to bag an Oscar award.
There was a proposal to include Sholay in the school curriculum. The realisation has dawned that film-making is real business where investments of several crores have become the norm and there are super minds at work in the background to ensure that returns on investments are always guaranteed. Markets are not restricted to within the country but have become global. That is what business is all about.
Need startup funding? Head to IIT Bombay
At a time when seeking funds for any startup has become very challenging, budding entrepreneurs will get a unique platform to showcase their products and services at the Investor Pitch being organised by the Entrepreneurship Cell (E-Cell) of IIT
Bombay.
Investor Pitch is meant for early stage startups which are looking for seed money or second-round funding after having begun operations, or those who need money to develop their plans.
“The Investor Pitch is unique as it facilitates seed-funding or early-stage funding, which is the most scarce form of funding available in India and something that is necessary to sustain a generation of entrepreneurs. The teams will also get advice from the experts,” said Cyrus Vesvikar, media manager of the E-Cell at IIT Bombay.
While the last date for submitting entries is January 10, applications will be shortlisted on the basis of the executive summaries of their business plans. Entries are also expected to mention the amount of funding required in the summary.
The results of the shortlisted teams will be declared on January 25 and over 20 teams are expected to be selected for the investor pitch.
Subsequently, shortlisted teams of aspiring entrepreneurs will get an opportunity to pitch their business plans before a panel of venture capitalists at the finals, during the Entrepreneurship Summit to be held on February 7.
“Each team will get around five minutes to pitch their plans, followed by a question-and-answer session. Funding depends on individual plans and it could go up to Rs5 crore for any team,” said Vesvikar.
The panel of venture capitalist firms will include Seedfund, Nexus India Capital, Ojas Ventures, Waygate Capital, Milagrow Ventures, Indian Angel Network, Mumbai Angels, Canaan Partners, Frontline Ventures, Helion Ventures, Navam Capital, Blue Run Ventures and Blue River Capital.
The Entrepreneurship Summit, an E-Cell initiative, will bring together aspiring and successful entrepreneurs, startups, venture capitalists and academicians on a common platform. The finals of “Eureka”, the business plan competition, will also be held during the summit, which will be followed by a global conference of entrepreneurship cells on February 8.
“Discussing the scope of activities of an e-cell and ways in which they can be widened, discussing possible common mutual collaboration and creating a common networking forum are some of the agendas of the conference,” Vesvikar said.
IITs may change entry norms for physically challenged
The Indian Institutes of Technology
may now have to relax admission norms for physically challenged students to cope with the issue of
reserved seats staying vacant. The colleges may also have to start offering the one-year preparatory course to physically challenged candidates who don’t make the mark even after entry levels are lowered.
The chief commissioner for persons with disabilities sent out a directive to all the premier tech schools after two physically challenged IIT aspirants from Thane and Chennai demanded an overhaul of the reservation policy designed for students like them. M K Maheshwari from Chennai and Deepak Somai from Thane said the IIT’s 3% reservation policy for physically challenged candidates was ‘‘not in line with’’ what was followed by other institutes.
Of the 3.11 lakh students who took the 2008 Joint Entrance Exam (JEE), 8,514 were from Scheduled Tribes and 28,393 from Scheduled Castes; and, if the last general-category student admitted to the IITs had an overall score of 172 out of 489, the aggregate cut-off for an SC/ST student was 104 (after a 40% relaxation). But cut-offs for physically challenged candidates stood at 155 (after a 10% relaxation).
So, following JEE 2008, the 13 IITs merely managed to fill 20 of the 200-odd seats meant for PD aspirants. In the coming year, these seats are likely to go up as two new institutes — IIT-Indore and IIT-Himachal Pradesh — will start operations in 2009. For students with reading disability, specially printed enlarged font question papers are provided in the JEE.
More : timesofindia.indiatimes.com
Education leaps higher in Karnataka
As far as Karnataka is concerned, 2008 has been on the whole, a year of more pluses than minuses in the higher education sector. On the plus side, we find the budgetary allocation for higher education in the state has significantly increased in line with the increase in the Central as well as of the several state budgets in the country for higher education.
This may be attributed to the higher rate of growth of our national economy during the last decade, primarily owing to the emergence of the knowledge society. We now find strong participation of the state government in setting up of government colleges in science, engineering, medicine, dental streams.
Being a young country, India may look forward to the institutes of higher education to transform our youth, as quality human capital for which there is great demand in every other country of the world.
The state government has taken up several initiatives during 2008, such as setting up of the State Knowledge Commission, committees to recommend amendments to the current Karnataka State Universities Act and is pursuing the recommendations of the task force for Higher Education in Karnataka for setting up of a State Council of Higher Education in Karnataka.
There has also been progress in the process of granting autonomy to identified colleges, particularly in the engineering colleges that are affiliated to Visvesvaraya Technological University, Belgaum.
The Central government has sanctioned a central university for Karnataka to be set up at Gulbarga and another central university of excellence to be set up at Mysore from the academic year of 2009-10.
On the negative side, we find the state government’s request for setting up an IIT in Bangalore has not received a positive response from the central government.
The plea put forward by the Government of India is that Bangalore already has an Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and hence it may not be possible to sanction an IIT (Indian Institute of Technology) (for Bangalore).
But the fact of the matter is that IISc has been set up nearly a century ago much before independence.
Further, after independence, Bangalore has grown by leaps and bounds, and has emerged as the “silicon valley of India” and “IT capital of India,” with the setting up of a large number of IT/BT industries, defence, CSIR labs etc.
Setting up an IIT in Bangalore will provide the quality human capital as well as a research base, which are critical for consolidation and further expansion of the industrial/research base of Bangalore.
The sanctioning of new universities for horticulture, law, Sanskrit and music by the state government is certainly indicative of the high priority being given to the higher education sector in the state.
Sun and IIT establish e-governance centre
Sun Microsystems and the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) have announced the establishment of an e-governance centre in Delhi.
The centre will conduct research on a variety of topics, such as the improvement of social infrastructure, security enhancement and a reduction of the government’s budget. The insititute is also slated to evaluate the impact of technology on society and formulate appropriate IT policy papers.
The e-governance facility has already organised various workshops to highlight technological advances, such as the national seminar on ODF, workshop on data centres and the IGNOU workshop.
“The role of technology in enabling e-governance is paramount,” said Jaijit Bhattacharya, a Sun India director. “Technology can connect the three participants in an e-governance structure, namely government, citizens and businesses, as well as support processes and activities. We have already received very positive feedback from several government agencies such as Ministry of IT and National Informatics Centre with some of them expressing a keen interest in sourcing out the strategic conceptualisation of projects from this Centre for E-governance.”
Professor MP Gupta of IIT explained that collaboration with Sun leveraged their technology to create a sound platform for e-governance projects.
“This centre is also an apt platform to further the cause of open source and open standards, both of which are extremely relevant for the government and Sun’s expertise and propagation of these two areas as well known,” he added.
More : itexaminer.com
Sun and IIT establish e-governance centre
Sun Microsystems and the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) have announced the establishment of an e-governance centre in Delhi.
The centre will conduct research on a variety of topics, such as the improvement of social infrastructure, security enhancement and a reduction of the government’s budget. The insititute is also slated to evaluate the impact of technology on society and formulate appropriate IT policy papers.
The e-governance facility has already organised various workshops to highlight technological advances, such as the national seminar on ODF, workshop on data centres and the IGNOU workshop.
“The role of technology in enabling e-governance is paramount,” said Jaijit Bhattacharya, a Sun India director. “Technology can connect the three participants in an e-governance structure, namely government, citizens and businesses, as well as support processes and activities. We have already received very positive feedback from several government agencies such as Ministry of IT and National Informatics Centre with some of them expressing a keen interest in sourcing out the strategic conceptualisation of projects from this Centre for E-governance.”
Professor MP Gupta of IIT explained that collaboration with Sun leveraged their technology to create a sound platform for e-governance projects.
“This centre is also an apt platform to further the cause of open source and open standards, both of which are extremely relevant for the government and Sun’s expertise and propagation of these two areas as well known,” he added.
More : itexaminer.com
Bright spots in local education
Let’s face it, public education often gets a black eye in realm of public opinion.
There’s not a week that goes by without the latest report on dropout problems, low test scores or funding disparities hitting the papers. Although a lot of the information coming out about public education highlights the system’s warts and flaws, there are a lot of good things happening that often get drowned out by the doom and gloom put out by various think-tanks and policy advocates.
The Eagle has selected these bright spots in local education to showcase what our schools are doing right:
n Magnet schools — The city’s two magnet schools, Montana Elementary and Carver Middle, provide a strong academic and disciplinary program for students. The two schools are so popular that a proposal to demagnetize Montana and Carver and create mini-magnet schools at all Dothan’s elementary and middle schools met with fierce resistance from parents. The Dothan City Schools instead is creating two new magnet schools at Heard Elementary School and Beverlye Middle School, doubling magnet school enrollment opportunities in the city.
n The Alabama Reading Initiative — ARI has been credited with strong gains in Alabama students ability to read. ARI provides improved teacher training, focuses on using individual student data to help each student and stresses student engagement. Allyson Morgan, director of secondary curriculum, said the city schools’ reading scores have improved every year they’ve been a part of the program, and several high poverty schools now have 85 percent of their students scoring at or above passing on the Alabama Math and Reading Test.
n Grandview Elementary School — A high poverty, mostly minority school, Grandview defies the assumption of failure schools with similar demographics get tagged with. The school has steadily increased its Alabama Reading and Math Test scores in recent years and is currently implementing an after school arts enrichment program.
Principal Todd Weeks chalks up the school’s success to old-fashioned elbow grease.
“We’re like Nick Saban; we’re going to outwork our opposition,” he said.
n Dual enrollment — About 141 local high school students are getting a head start on college thanks to Wallace Community College’s dual enrollment program. Dual enrollment allows students to earn college credits while they are still enrolled in high school. Participation in the dual enrollment program helps students make a smoother transition from high school to college, and those who participate are more likely to attend college with high grade point averages, Sally Buchanan, a Wallace spokesperson, said. Most scholarship and financial aid opportunities require a high school diploma or a GED but students can use PACT Prepaid Affordable College Tuition money and other personal college savings plans to pay for dual enrollment classes.
n Wiregrass Foundation — The Wiregrass Foundation has stepped up to the plate to provide the chronically underfunded Dothan City Schools with money for innovative, potentially game-changing new programs. The foundation funded a scholarship program that allows almost all graduating seniors in Houston County to attend Wallace College, has put up $500,000 per year for three years for an arts infusion program at two high-poverty elementary schools and is contributing funds for a high school and middle school reform effort.
“We’re a health legacy foundation, and we think the best way to drive health statistics in this community is an abundance of good jobs and good paying jobs, and the best way to provide this is to have very good public schools,” Vince Edge, Wiregrass Foundation director, said.
n ACCESS program — The ACCESS program allows schools to conduct classes at a distance by means of teleconferencing. The program helps rural schools by making available specialized courses such as foreign languages or career courses that these schools might otherwise not have the resources to offer. The program also helps schools offer more high demand classes more often by allowing them to pool their teaching resources. About 28 students in Dothan are currently taking ACCESS courses.
More : dothaneagle.com
SIUC’s off-campus military programs honored
The success of Southern Illinois University Carbondale’s military programs in providing off-campus educational opportunities to the nation’s military is attracting national attention.
Military Advanced Education magazine lists SIUC as one of the nation’s 2008 top 20 military friendly colleges and universities in its December 2008 issue. Because of ties, 22 schools are in the top 20 in the publication’s second annual list of rankings. According to the magazine, an independent panel of judges from education and the military based the selections on “each institution’s favorable policies toward our men and women in uniform.”
The award shows “that we are absolutely doing things the right way with our students out there, and the people who work for us are treating our students the right way,” said Thomas H. Beebe, director of SIUC’s Office of Military Programs.
“Every one of the people who works for us is committed to do what they do, and each and every one of them is dedicated to the student – not only in the field, but also here on campus,” he said.
SIUC’s Office of Military Programs coordinates the activities of the University’s three colleges that offer bachelor degrees to active duty military and reserve personnel, their families, retirees, and at some locations, community members. Started in 1973 at Scott Air Force Base, the program is now at 39 military and civilian locations in 16 states. The program is in Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and Washington.
“SIUC has a proud history of providing outstanding educational opportunities to men and women in uniform. We are pleased that we can be of service to our military personnel as they serve our country,” Interim Chancellor Samuel Goldman said.
SIUC was among the first universities to offer off-campus academic programs to military personnel, said Beebe, who has directed the program since September 1996. Prior to arriving at SIUC, Beebe coordinated SIUC’s degree program at Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, N.M., for five years.
There are 1,542 students enrolled in the six degree programs via three of SIUC’s colleges. The College of Applied Sciences and Arts offers degrees in health care management, aviation management, electronic systems technologies and fire service management. The College of Engineering offers a degree in industrial technology, and the College of Education and Human Services offers a degree in workforce education and development.
Each college appoints a director to oversee the day-to-day academic matters.
Beebe emphasizes that while students may never step foot on the Carbondale campus, the degrees they earn are every bit as valued as for students living in residence halls on campus. The off-campus students typically enroll as full-time students unless military obligations require a part-time class schedule.
More : thesouthern.com
IIM-A enters finals of ET-Citi Grand Masters
Deepak Sekar and Saurabh Basantani of Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad beat five other teams from IIM-A and Nirma
Institute of Management (NIM) to emerge winners of the Ahmedabad zonal round of the ET Citi Grand Masters that was held at IIM-A Ahmedabad campus on Tuesday. The competition was divided into two parts, for debates and quiz.
The winners of the Ahmedabad round will be competing with winners of zonal rounds of Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Kolkata in the grand finale scheduled to be held in Mumbai.
While the quiz and debate is being managed by Derek O Brien and Associates, the event is sponsored by Citi and powered by ICRA, with Travel Port and Samsonite being travel partners. While the official time keeper is Pierre Cardin, campus partner is ET in campus, beverage partner is Qua and online media partner Pagalguy.com. The ET Citi Grand Masters project has been organized and managed by The Times Red Cell
More : timesofindia.indiatimes.com
IIM Calcutta increases grants for fellows
IIM Calcutta has announced a significant increase in the stipend for its PhD programme students. This decision was taken in the Board of Governor’s meeting held on December 23, 2008.
The institute has a doctoral fellowship programme leading to the title of Fellow of IIMC in various management and related disciplines such as marketing, finance, strategy, economics, behavioural sciences, information systems, sociology, regional development and operations management.
The new stipend policy provides Rs. 20,000 to Rs. 24,000 per month and a Rs. 20,000 annual contingency grant. Students are also provided a one-time grant for field study, laptop grant and a fully supported international conference attendance anywhere in the world.
The institute has also revised various rules and policies related to the Fellowship Programme in order to ensure a more enriching academic experience. This includes Teaching Assistantships with exposure to designing courses and taking classes, which will fetch upto Rs. 11,000 per month for the students in addition to the monthly stipend.
Professor Bhaskar Chakrabarti, Chairperson of the Fellowship Programme, said the increase in stipend will attract more students especially those with industry work experience to get into an academic career.
More : business-standard.com
LDA homes to have drains by IIT-Roorkee
Lucknow The Lucknow Development Authority (LDA) has roped in Indian Institute of Technology — Roorkee (IIT-R) —for planning the urban drainage system in its upcoming housing schemes.
The institute will also assess the designs of the multi-storeyed apartments to make them earthquake resistant.
The IIT-R has already started its work from the Gomti Nagar Extension and will later assess the building map of the River View Apartment planned to be developed in Sector 6 of the Gomti Nagar Extension scheme.
“Hydrology experts from the Civil Engineering Department of IIT-R will draft the designs of the urban drainage system and will help in constructing earthquake resistant apartments,” said Mukesh Kumar Meshram, Vice-Chairman, LDA.
“The institute will also give tips for introducing advanced technologies like rainwater harvesting, eco-friendly development and recycling of waste water in all the upcoming schemes,” he added.
The earthquake resistant technology will be introduced in the River View Apartment followed by another multi-storeyed housing scheme in Aishbagh.
More : expressindia.com
IIT heads cite quality concerns again against faculty quota
CHENNAI: Heads of various Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) on Friday reiterated their opposition to the union human resource development (HRD) ministry’s proposal to introduce an OBC quota for faculty at the premier technical institutions.
Speaking on the sidelines of PanIIT, the annual gathering of faculty and alumni, on the leafy Madras campus, Sanjay G Dhande, director, IIT Kanpur, expressed his peers’ concerns about lowering the selection criteria for teachers. “This is a very sensitive issue. We do have to follow the law of the land but the IIT system has been, if I may say so, very fanatical in terms of quality. Therefore, while the law of the land has to be maintained, it cannot be at the cost of quality.”
The IITs have reservations for OBC students. Besides, they have a reservation quota for faculty recruitments at the juniormost level in which the designation is that of a lecturer and is for a temporary posting of a year. On the basis of performance, the administration often offers such candidates a position as assistant professor.
In recent months, the IIT heads have, however, stood united against the plan to introduce compulsory reservations for faculty. A joint letter addressed by all the directors was sent to the HRD ministry underlining their reasons for rejecting the plan. The IIT Guwahati director had even personally expressed his opposition to the Prime Minister in a meeting. The issue is now before the Cabinet.
While not making a specific reference, IIT Madras director M S Ananth alluded to it at PanIIT while speaking about the need to safeguard the autonomy of the institutions. Noting that the “benign neglect” of the government had helped the IITs over the years, he said “too much of attention is not warranted and we must guard against erosion of autonomy.”
More : timesofindia.indiatimes.com
IIT Hyd at a loss to house students faculty
Travails of students and teachers at the newest Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) at Medak will continue for the next few years
what with the Union government yet to release funds to start building work at its campus. What is worse there is no indication when the funds would be released.
In a hurry to start the IIT, the government kickstarted the prime institute on the premises of the ordnance factory at Medak, some 50 km from the city of Hyderabad. The ordnance factory was chosen as location because that’s the only public place available near Medak which could be comandeered for a public purpose. The ordnance factory is five km away from the place identified as site for the IIT.
The IIT started last year with 120 students but with this year’s batch the total strength would go by 120 to 240 students. “There is no temporary accommodation available to house these students. I don’t know where they will be put up,” said a faculty member of the institute who shuttles up and down from Hyderabad everyday as do many of his colleagues.
As per the original plan, the first phase of the new campus was supposed to be ready at Khandi village in Medak district by the next academic year beginning August 2009. All the students were expected to be relocated to the new place before the beginning of the academic year.
The HRD ministry strapped for funds instead of making money available has thrown the ball in the court of institute officials asking them to develop the present place to accommodate more students. This, however, is not possible as the ordnance factory where the institute is currently situated cannot accommodate any more students. “The place has been developed completely,” an institute official said.
Though the Union HRD ministry has no funds to construct buildings for the institute, the land has been made available by the Andhra Pradesh government. A grant of Rs 50 crore was supposed to be given by the HRD ministry for the building needs.
The IIT is still searching for place to set up advanced research labs since there is no facility for that in the ordnance factory. The research centre was supposed to be identified and research shifted to the place by the beginning of the coming year.
In charge director of IIT, Hyderabad, C V R Murthy, when asked said that there was no assurance that the new campus would come up so soon. “The new campus will come up only in the next two years. The new students will have to be accommodated on temporary premises. The places have not yet been identified but this will be done before the beginning of the academic year,” he said.
More : timesofindia.indiatimes.com