Empowering Indian youth

More young Indians need the right infrastructure to develop skills 

By 2020, India's population is expected to become the world's youngest; more than 500 million Indian citizens will be under 25 years of age and more than two thirds of the population will be eligible to work. This means that a growing number of India's youth need the right educational infrastructure to develop skills and adequate opportunities to get employed or become entrepreneurs. 

However, the wide gap between those who have access to education and skill development opportunities and those who do not, is a challenge that has to be overcome. 

In a bid to bridge this gap, Microsoft launched a series of programmes and initiatives that focus on developing the potential of the youth. Microsoft's YouthSpark Programme, a company-wide, global initiative, aims to provide opportunities that will impact 300 million youth over three years. In India, the programme will train 80,000 youths, help 65,000 in acquiring employment and aid 15,000 of them in starting their enterprise. Similarly, Project Oorja and Sakshartha are two youth-centric platforms that aim to cultivate the spirit of innovation by equipping Indian youth from the ITIs, polytechnics and marginalised sections with essential IT skills. 

Unemployed youth, marginalised women and rural communities have also been impacted by the company's input -imparting IT skills training and in stilling basic computer literacy. These skills enable the marginalised demographic to explore employment opportunities and sustainable livelihood options. Microsoft's partnerships with governments, non-profits and businesses have resulted in such initiatives, which connect young people to greater education, employment, and entrepreneurship opportunities. The project works to make them eligible for jobs that were not open or available to them earlier, while also encouraging entrepreneurship to foster the creation of additional jobs in their communities. Since 2004, through 1,425 learning centres in India, more than 4,70,000 youth have been trained under it and over 70% placed in jobs. Since December 2012, the project has helped start more than 600 youth enterprises. 

Cultivating and encouraging innovative entrepreneurs is the ultimate goal of these initiatives. One revealing example is of 22-year-old Vasanti, from western Gujarat, who enrolled in the YouthSpark -iLEAD (Institute for Livelihood, Education and Development) programme run by the Aga Khan Rural Support Programme, a partner organisation. The programme taught Vasanti the basics of operating computers after which she enrolled in the advanced course. However, Vasanti realised that the lack of jobs in areas near her home would be a problem. She decided to acquire a computer, under a government scheme, with which she opened a computer training centre in her single-room house, creating access to computer education for other local women. 

Says Vasanti, "Why should the girls in our villages suffer because the training centres are far away? If they cannot travel to the centre, then I will make sure that the centre travels to them." She now plans to acquire more computers and expand her training centre to other villages. 

Technology has a potential to change the world and improve people's lives. Vasanti's story demonstrates the incredible spirit of a youth-led enterprise and initiative, demonstrating how being empowered and encouraged can help an individual realise their full potential. 

Vasanti not only created an opportunity for herself, but also impacted the lives of others in her community.

-Madhu Khatri 

(The author is associate general counsel, Microsoft India)

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Over 40% engineering and more than half of management seats vacant in Maharashtra

MUMBAI: Over 57,000 of the 1.31 lakh engineering seats—over 43%—available in the state for the centralized admission process (CAP) are vacant after the first round of admissions. The situation is similar in B-schools. Over 53% of the 21,716 MBA/MMS seats available under CAP are also vacant.

According to an official of the Directorate of Technical Education (DTE), most of the vacancies are for courses that are not popular and in colleges located in remote areas.

"There are more seats than applicants. Moreover, the demand for these courses has been falling over the years," said the official. "Also, this year, students need to score minimum 50% in PCM to be eligible for engineering admissions. In the past, the eligibility criteria had been relaxed by 5%."

For the 1.31 lakh engineering seats, only 94,000 students applied for the CAP rounds conducted by DTE. In Mumbai colleges, of the 16,000 seats under CAP, over 5,000 seats are vacant in the first round. The highest numbers of vacancies—about 17,000—are in colleges in Pune, though the institutes affiliated to the Pune University have nearly 43,000 seats—the highest in the state.

Vacancies in technical institutes in the state have always been a problem. A recent report on vacancies in technical institutes submitted by a state-appointed committee revealed that 58% of MBA schools had more than 35% seats vacant in 2013-14 academic session. Similar was the case with over 50% of engineering institutes. The committee, which visited these institutes, recommended closure of some courses and institutes. Around 33 technical courses at 25 institutes were shut down this year, however, more colleges got permissions for additional intake.

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In a first, Mumbai varsity TYBSc students get marksheets online

MUMBAI: This year, TYBSc students from colleges affiliated to the University of Mumbai received their marksheets online for the first time.

"Usually students only get to know if they have passed or failed ...," controller of examinations Dinesh Bhonde said. "This year, we are giving them their scorecards too."

The marksheets can be used for provisional admission to post-graduation courses. Students may also apply online for revaluation.

The facility will ultimately be implemented for all courses.

Jamia Millia Islamia headed for academic reform

NEW DELHI: Unlike his predecessor whose focus had been on administrative reform, the new vice-chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia, Prof. Talat Ahmad, has made academic reforms his priority. Upon completion of one month as vice-chancellor, Ahmad spelled out his agenda for the next five years-from holding a student union election to setting up a medical college and hospital as well as a choice-based credit system for interdisciplinary studies. The university began its new academic session on Wednesday.

Drawing the roadmap for Jamia's progress under his stewardship, Ahmad made it clear that there will be no room for complacency. "My vision is to put Jamia on the national map in environmental studies, earth sciences and glacial studies, among other areas." With renewed thrust on research, the VC said Jamia has also applied for the Times Higher Education World University Rankings.

Some major academic reforms and initiatives Ahmad has been planning include setting up a medical college and hospital, starting a new school on earth atmosphere and planetary sciences and putting in place a choice-based credit system.

"The Supreme Court has granted us a little over 114 bigha of prime land in Jamia's vicinity. One of our proposals for that area is setting up a hospital and medical college. World over, universities have choice-based credit systems. I also propose to put one in place within two years to enable students to move to diverse disciplines under the interdisciplinary rubric. We will start this at the postgraduate level."

Ahmad is also planning collaboration with Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi University and Indian Institute of Technology for interdisciplinary studies and co-supervisor facilities for masters and PhD scholars. "There is a good possibility of other universities in Delhi like DU, JNU and IIT sharing expertise and resources. There can even be exchange programmes in which students can do a course of their interest in the university which is known for that subject and earn credits," said Ahmad. He also has a mega-plan of bringing library resources from these central universities under one platform and offering their remote access to students and teachers.

It has been over eight years since Jamia had a students' union. Ahmad is in favour of a students' union. "We have to work that out since the matter is sub-judice. I will allow formation of students' union this year in some form. There could be 50% female representation in the union. But beyond that, I can't say anything else."

Rs 55 million scholarship scheme for X-XII kids

NEW DELHI: In a first, of its kind, a Rs 55 million scholarship scheme was launched for students of classes X to XII on Monday. This will be India's Outside of government initiative, this will be India's biggest scholarship scheme outside of government initiative. 

Lore India Foundation Scholarship Trust announced the scholarships, for students from classes X to XII, which are being promoted by top academicians of the country, including IIT-Delhi professor Seyed E Hasnain, professor, IIT- Delhi, former UGC chairman Hari Gautam, former UGC chairman, and vice-chancellor of National Law %University Ranbir Singh, ice-chancellor, National Law University, Delhi among others. 

The scholarship comes with another unique feature monetary awards to top schools to improve infrastructure, acquire new technology or fund meritorious students from disadvantaged background. 

There will be 103 scholarships from Rs 3 lakh to Rs 50 lakh, which will be given based on a learning aptitude test (LAT). The undergraduate scholarship endowments can be used by scholars to pursue higher education in any discipline. It can be also used to prepare for coaching required to prepare for entrance exams. to get admission to a programme of the scholar's choice. 

The programme also includes rewards and recognition programmes for schools, which will be ranked based on the performance of their students in LAT. The top three schools in the country will receive monetary awards of Rs 25 lakh, %Rs 15 lakh and Rs 10 lakh respectively. 

The scholarship aims to identify, assess, reward and mentor the brightest young minds. The students will be shortlisted through The LAT, which is devised to test a student's aptitude as opposed to their academic learning, which is being designed by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). Apart from the Rs 55 million cash reward, qualifying students Qualifying students will receive cash scholarships from a corpus of Rs 55 million and will also be mentored get coaching provided by renowned academicians. They will undergo a comprehensive interest schedule/psychometric test to gain insights that for the purpose. that will allow experts to gain insights and provide them effective guidance. in their educational careers. 

LAT is devised to test a child's aptitude or innate brain power as opposed to their academic learning. 

The Lore India Foundation's governing council includes both serving and retired professors from IITs, IIMS, Indian School of Business, (ISB), Medical Council of India and UGC, among others. 

The undergraduate scholarship endowments can be used by scholars to pursue higher education in any discipline. It can be also used to prepare for coaching required for entrance exams to get admission to a program of the scholar's choice. The scholarship amount is set up as an interest generating trust fund available to the scholar to draw upon for a period of seven years from the date of the award. The first second and third ranked students will get Rs 50 lakh, Rs 30 lakh and Rs 20 lakh respectively. Those between fourth and fifty-third ranks will get Rs 5 lakh each and rest will get Rs 3 lakh. 

Registrations opened on July 14, 2014.

Bangalore University's new integrated system gives student a range of choices

BANGALORE: Even as Delhi University's four-year undergraduate programme is mired in controversy, Bangalore University (BU) is the first in the state to introduce Choice Based Credit System (CBCS) in all its UG and integrated masters degree programmes. BU has made it clear it will apply only for students entering BU-affiliated colleges from this year (2014-15).

Like the Delhi varsity programme, this system has multiple exits too. A student enters the UG programme after class 12. The special feature is, after completion of two years of the UG course, the student can exit the programme, and the university will award an associate degree certificate (advanced diploma). If the student wishes to pursue the third year and exit, a regular degree certificate is given. A student who wants to obtain an honours degree has to complete the fourth year (first year of postgraduate programme). This new system also allows students to study all five years and walk away with a Masters certificate.

The advantage of CBCS is, after completion of the second year, students can exit any programme in any year and rejoin whenever they want. For instance, a student who exits with an associate degree certificate and wants to obtain a regular degree certificate after a gap of one or five years, can directly join the third year.

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Univadis, a medical education website, to be launched in India

Pharma company MSD announced the launch of Univadis, a medical education website in India to empower and equip healthcare physicians with information and developments in the medical world. The interactive Univadis service will be a one-stop shop, and provide a wealth of medical resources, powerful tools, and accredited education courses from independent sources, exclusively for healthcare professionals through the website `www.univadis.in'. 

Univadis is an online resource for healthcare professionals that has been launched in over 40 countries, is available in 17 languages with over 20 million registered users worldwide. MSD is depending on the growing internet connectivity in remote towns, and net browsing habit of healthcare professionals, MSD MD KG Ananthakrishnan said, adding that this was yet another effort by the company to further the cause of medical education for doctors. 
MSD has collaborated with leading medical journal, The Lancet, to bring content in the form of articles, news, research papers, medical advancements, videos, and educational tools. 

An advisory board of 12 doctors has been set up in the country, which will decide the content for the India-specific website.

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