Ahmedabad schools ace CBSE class X examinations

AHMEDABAD: Students were all smiles as the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) results for class X were announced on Tuesday at 4pm. The results were available on website and on SMS as well.

Compared to last year, the results were declared 10 days early this time. According to board officials, this has been made possible with the introduction of onscreen-marking system. CBSE schools across the city came out with excellent results with several students scoring 10/10 Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA). This time too, girls have outshone boys.

Total 425 students appeared for class X exam at Delhi Public School (Bopal). Out of them, 41 scored perfect 10 CGPA. As many as 166 scored 9 CGPA and above, while 251 secured 8 CGPA and above. DPS East too registered a cent per cent result. Out of the 24 students who had appeared, one secured full CGPA and five got 9 CGPA .

The scene was no different at Maharaja Agrasen Vidyalaya where the school registered 100% result with eight students getting 10/10 CGPA out of 134 student and 83 having above 8 CGPA. Around 40 students have been placed in A1 category. Shobha Tyagi, principal, Maharaja Agrasen Vidyalaya, said, "CBSE is no more a difficult exam as almost 70% of assessment is internal and only 30% is external. It is an excellent way to reduce student's stress.

Even St Kabir Drive-in has posted 100% result with 27 students scoring 10/10 CGPA. School principal Pragya Pandya said, "Sincere and dedicated efforts of all the 221 students have brought in such a positive result. As always, the girls are leading and as many as 19 girls have secured full CGPA as compared to nine boys". Registering cent-per-cent result, students of Rachana School are all smiles. Altogether 16 students have secured 10/10 CGPA out of 94 students who had appeared for the exam.

At Udgam School for Children, 35 students out of 164 secured full CGPA. In all, 58 students got CGPA between 9 and 9.8.

According to Kendriya Vidyalaya's assistant commissioner Prakash Madan, results of 43 KVs across the state have been received. Out of them, 39 schools have registered 100% result. Two KVs in Bhuj and Silvasa each and one each in Jamnagar and Ankleshwar have students with supplementary.

CBSE class 10 results to be out by 4pm today

NEW DELHI: The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) will declare the results of Class 10 examinations at 4pm on Tuesday.

The results can be viewed via the internet on www.results.nic.in, www.cbseresults.nic.in and www.cbse.nic.in, CBSE officials said.

It can also be known through IVRS by dialling 011-24300599, 011-28127030 and 1155536 (for BSNL subscribers, outside Delhi) or via SMS by sending SMS with their roll numbers to 57766 (for BSNL), 58888111 (for Tata Docomo), 58888111 (for Aircel and other numbers), the officials said.

Earlier in the day, the CBSE declared Class 10 results for Chennai and Thiruvananthapuram regions.

Agriculture studies can open new career paths

COIMBATORE: Agriculture is not just about crops, seeds, harvest, pesticides and yield. It also includes trading, funding, feasibility studies, food processing, marketing and economics. If the prospect of getting into the management or business side of agriculture interests you, then the relatively new course B.Sc in Agri-Business Management is the course for you. 

Introduced in 2007 by the Tamil Nadu Agriculture University (TNAU) based on feedback from industrialists, the four-year course is a mix of business management and agriculture technology. "Whenever we had industrialists visiting our campus, they expressed the need for people who know about business and agriculture so that they could help develop business strategies," says K Mahendran, professor, department of Agricultural and Rural Management. The course has a mix of business and management and agriculture technology courses. "Around 70% of our subjects are based on business management and the other 30% of the subjects are based on agriculture technologies," he says. Students who have taken the science stream can apply with their mark sheets. Some subjects students will study are micro-finance, banking, cost-analysis, supply chain management, packing and marketing of agri inputs and products among others. 

With the seed, fertilizer, food processing and commodity trade industry growing by the day, more such professionals are required by the industry, says Mahendran. "Our students are taught the basics of availability of various products, manufacturing processes, costs involved, sourcing and even export processes," he adds. Such students also seem to be in great demand in the banking industry. 

"With the Reserve Bank of India telling all private and public sector banks to keep aside at least 30% of their lending for agriculture or agriculture based industries, employees with agri-business knowledge are in demand," he says. Students in banking are required to evaluate projects, look at the credibility of the proposal, do risk analysis and scrutinise agriculture loans. 

The course is also offered at the University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad, Karanataka and the Acharya N G Ranga Agricultural University, Andhra Pradesh.

SC exam results to be announced on May 17; ICSE results to be out on May 21

CHENNAI: The Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations will release ISC and ICSE exams results at 3pm on May 17 and May 21 respectively.

Around 1.5 lakh candidates, including around 2,000 from Tamil Nadu, appeared for the Class 10 exams. Around 70,000 students, including more than 500 from Tamil Nadu, sat for the Class 12 exams this year.

Students can access their results by logging on to the council website www.cisce.org, a release from the council said. Schools can access the results by logging on to the careers portal of the council using the principal's login ID and password.

To receive the ICSE or ISC results by SMS, the candidate must type his or her seven-digit unique ID (for instance, ICSE 1234567 or ISC 1234567) to 09248082883.

17 Indian universities make it to Asia’s top 300

LONDON: A record number of Indian universities feature in the new Asian Universities Ranking published by QS: 17. 

IIT Delhi is the highest placed on 38, followed by IIT Bombay in 41st. 

Five other IITs feature in the top 100 led by Kanpur and Madras just outside the top 50. 

India is still waiting for a breakthrough at the top of the rankings with the latest table showing a marginal decline in the positions. But the latest rankings have seen an increase of more than 50% in India's overall representation in the list. 

Amongst traditional universities, University of Delhi takes the lead at 81 having slipped one place since last year. 

It is ranked in the top 25 in Asia by employers and the top 40 by academics but is handicapped in some other indicators by its large size and low levels of international faculty and student exchange which brings down its overall ranking. 

Only the University of Calcutta ranks highly on students' exchanges coming second in Asia for outbound exchanges and 52nd for inbound. 

"The IITs have a great reputation among graduate employers, and now produce a relatively high volume of research, but it is not yet having a significant impact in terms of citations," says QS head of research Ben Sowter. 

"India's improved strength in depth is a sign of progress but there is a long way to go before the IITs can compete with the very best institutions in Asia. India's tally of 2 institutions in the top 50 places is behind Japan (13), China (9), South Korea (9), Hong Kong (6) and Taiwan (6) while being level with Singapore and Thailand," he added. 

In the latest Asian ranking, Banaras Hindu University, Punjab University, Manipal, Amity University, Birla Institute of Technology and Science and the Indian Institute of Information Technology all appear for the first time. 

With seven IITs among the leading eight institutions, the top levels of Indian higher education remain much stronger in science and technology than in the arts and social sciences. 

The QS University Rankings: Asia 2014 reflects a swing in the balance of power in the continent as a whole, as Singapore and Korea overtake the traditionally dominant Japan and Hong Kong. National University of Singapore (NUS) tops the rankings for the first time while Korea's KAIST rose from sixth to second place. 

Last year's number one institution Hong Kong University of Science and Technology dropped to 5th. 

The 2011 table-topper Hong Kong University dropped one place to third making this the first time in the rankings' history that a Hong Kong university has not topped the table. 

Japan's University of Tokyo falls to 10th its lowest ever position. 

"These rankings confirm the emergence of Singapore and Korea as the region's new major players, denting the dominance of Hong Kong and Japan," Sowter said. "Both NUS and KAIST have benefitted from major government investment in research; while operating in English has helped them attain new levels of global engagement," he added.

Lucknow University allows PhD admissions twice a year on JNU footsteps

LUCKNOW: Beginning this academic session, Lucknow University will follow the Jawaharlal Nehru University model for admissions to Doctorate of Philosophy (PhD).

University will admit students not once but twice a year. If all goes as planned, LU will be the first state university to hold PhD admissions twice in one academic session. In UP, only Banaras Hindu University (central university) follows the JNU model.

LU vice-chancellor S B Nimse said "this will benefit primarily, qualified candidates who appear for the exam in December to get NET/JRF. The one-time admission process in PhD forced these students to wait for six months (till June) and sometimes even more. This way we will attract more students to the university."

Admissions to PhD in LU were according to temporary changes in its ordinances. In 2011, LU changed its PhD ordinances as per the University Grants Commission regulations, 2009. The amendments helped the university carry its admission process in 2012 and 2013. Last year, the admission process began in September and continued till December. Delay in admissions was, however, not confined to LU.

Due to inordinate delay in admissions in different state universities, state government has drafted a model ordinance which increased the number of supervisors and allowed experts from the industry to take up research. This year, LU has decided to incorporate the changes in its ordinances.

After changes, admissions will be in a phased manner. In fact, PhD admissions will be every semester. In the first phase, admissions will be in July while the second time in January. According to officials, the amended ordinances will be included in executive council (EC) which will be held in June for approval. After this, it will be submitted to the Raj Bhawan for confirmation.

Officials informed that admission process for the first phase was supposed to begin with the UG admission process mid-May. In absence of ordinances, however, the process would now begin in June. A list of vacant seats in each department has been sought from heads of the departments.

The state government on August 26, 2011 announced that admissions to PhD would be through a common entrance test (CET). The decision was taken as per the recommendations of UGC to hold subject-wise CET for PhD courses. The major reason for holding CET was to enable students to apply for admissions in all state universities through one application form and to bring uniformity to the admission process. But it didn't work, forcing government to re-think de-centralising PhD admissions.

IIT Bombay launches its first MOOCs

Further to its collaboration with EdX, a massive open online course (MOOC) platform, last year, IIT Bombay (IIT-B ) recently launched its first three MOOCs. While sessions for two of the courses — Introduction to Computer Programming (part one) and Thermodynamics — will commence this July, the third course — Introduction to Computer Programming (part two) — will begin in September. 

Informs Deepak Phatak, professor, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, IIT Bombay, "The quality and content offered online will be same as that offered on our campus. The only difference being the MOOCs will allow students to learn anytime, from anywhere and at a convenient speed. Students can revisit study material as and when required and skip familiar topics." 

The courses can be pursued by anyone and will be delivered through sessions grouped into several themes or topics. Each session will be made up of two to four 15-20 minute 'episodes.' Each episode will consist of a video recorded lecture of about 8-10 minutes, followed by some practice problems /quizzes. 

There will be additional reading material/ references, which the participants can use for greater clarity, if required. Regular interactive sessions through discussion forums, video conferencing and other such technologies are also being planned. 

Students can register for an honour code certificate or for audit free of cost for the initial offerings. For students who wish to get a verified certificate of achievement at the end of the course, a charge of about Rs 1,500 will be levied.