Anna University engineering forms to be available from tomorrow

CHENNAI: The application forms for the single-window counselling for engineering coordinated by Anna University will be distributed from Saturday. 

The application forms will be issued till May 20 at various centres designated by Anna University. The candidates can also submit application online. The Anna University website also provides details on the necessary certificates and eligibility criteria for the candidates applying for counselling this year. 

More than 500 engineering colleges across the state will be offering around 2.05lakh seats in various streams this year. The higher secondary state board examination results are expected to be announced on May 9. Around 80,000 seats remained vacant after the counselling last year.

UGC directs varsities to recognize CBSE's new subjects for admission

PUNE: The University Grants Commission (UGC) has directed all universities to take appropriate steps to recognize 13 new subjects introduced by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) at Stds XI and XII level for admissions to undergraduate courses.

"The CBSE has introduced various academic subjects at the senior secondary level. It is imperative that these subjects find a reflection in the subjects already being offered at the graduate level in various educational institutes," UGC deputy secretary Shakeel Ahmed stated in a letter sent to vice-chancellors of all universities on April 22.

Ahmed added, "It is important that appropriate consideration may be accorded while admitting students to the undergraduate courses at the college/university level."

A senior official at the University of Pune said, "The UGC's letter will be put up for consideration before the appropriate bodies, including the academic council, for a decision regarding implementation."

Sadhana Parashar, director of CBSE's academics, research and innovation wing, had earlier written to the UGC secretary that the 13 new subjects have been introduced as elective/optional subjects at the senior secondary level (Stds XI and XII).

"The scheme of studies for these new subjects is rigorous in nature and designed specially with the industry and employability avenues in mind," Parashar stated. For instance, the subjects can provide avenues in the legal profession, mass media, entrepreneurship, graphic design, creative writing and translation, theatre studies and biotechnology, among others.

While some of these subjects were introduced two to three years ago, others have been introduced at the Std XI level this year and will be a part of the Std XII board exam for the first time in 2015.

Parashar had stressed the need for these subjects to find a reflection in the courses offered at the undergraduate level in various departments, colleges, institutes and universities.

"This may be brought to the notice of all concerned institutes so that students face no difficulty when they pass out from Std XII. The information brochures, prospectuses, websites or any other form of communication may accommodate the names of these new academic subjects, so that students may be treated as eligible for admission to higher education as per their preferences," she stated.

The Subjects

* Knowledge tradition and practices of India

* Legal studies

* Human rights and gender studies

* National Cadet Corps

* Heritage crafts

* Graphic design

* Creative writing and translation studies

* Functional English

* Entrepreneurship

* Biotechnology

* Fashion Studies

* Mass media studies

Mumbai University papers clash after rejig of exam schedule for Lok Sabha polls

MUMBAI: The traumatic exam season for students of the University of Mumbai this year is far from over. With several exam dates rescheduled owing to the Lok Sabha election, the new dates are now clashing with other exams for the same set of students.

While the university is regularly making changes to the schedule and uploading it on its website, several students tend to not log on to the website during exams.

The latest victims of the series of rescheduling done by the university are the TYBA students pursuing psychology. TYBA students who will be appearing for the semester VI exams under the credit-based grading system have their abnormal psychology paper on the same day, April 22, as their semester V counselling paper for repeater students.

"There is complete chaos," a student from SIES College said. "The exams have been rescheduled already and the new dates released by the university clash with our ATKT paper. We have written to the university through our college. But the university is yet to clarify."

Adding to students' woes, the university website server was down on Thursday evening for a long time.

Controller of exams Padma Deshmukh said that she had received the complaint from a couple of individuals on Thursday. "If the dates are clashing, we will reschedule soon," Deshmukh said.

Several arts and science exams are overlapping with each other. With exams on election dates and training days affecting six exams, the university had to reschedule several exams. After rescheduling the exams, the new dates were clashing with other exams for students from the same course. Such exam dates were revised again. On Saturday, some of the TYBA regular students who are giving the exam under the credit-based grading system did not appear for the exam in the remote areas under the university's jurisdiction. "The university had rescheduled the dates for TYBA students under old course, but many regular students believed that their exam was rescheduled," a teacher said.

New IIT-Bhubaneswar director may be hired after poll results

BHUBANESWAR: An acting director is likely to be appointed for IIT Bhubaneswar (IITBBS) as a stop-gap arrangement after incumbent Madhusudan Chakraborty completes his five-year tenure on May 18, government sources said.

An officer in the Union ministry of human resources development (MHRD) said that since the model code of conduct is in force, the government would not go for appointment of another director at this juncture and in all probability wait for the new government to decide on the matter. "It is most likely that an acting director would be appointed. Either that, or Chakraborty will get an extension for a month or so," he said.

Even if the government publishes an advertisement now, aspirants will have 45 days to apply, far more time than the less than one month that Chakraborty has as director.

Sources said a five-member team comprising IITBBS former chairman and vice-chairman of Tata Steel B Muthuraman, IITBBS chairman and MD Vedanta Aluminum S S Roongta, chairman of the IIT council standing committee M M Sharma, MHRD additional secretary Amita Sharma and IIT Bombay former director Ashok Mishra had recently reviewed the performance of IITBBS and submitted a report to the ministry. They had not given a favourable report, the sources said.

Though the government is considering an extension for IIT Hyderabad director U B Desai, IIT Ropar director M K Surappa and IIT Gandhinagar director S K Jain, it is averse to giving a second term to IIT Patna director Anil Bhoumick (who is facing a vigilance case) and Chakraborty, the sources added.

The Union government is not considering another term to Chakraborty because it is not happy with the slow pace of work for the permanent campus of the institute at Aragul village on the outskirts of the city, sources said.

The campus is coming up on a 950-acre plot and had original an commissioning deadline of 2013. During his foundation day lecture on February 12, the IITBBS director had said that the institute would move to its new campus by July this year. While civil works for the hostels are complete, work for water, power supply and peripheral development are yet to be done.

Education has to go beyond textbooks, experts say

NEW DELHI: What is written in textbooks can only lend to bookish knowledge. For holistic learning and sensitisation at an early age, educational institutions should go beyond classrooms, experts say. 

In a panel discussion here Thursday on "Education: What's Going on in the Classroom (or not)?", experts from diverse fields deliberated on the need to engage students in healthy debates and discussions on varied topics ranging from sex education, sexual violence and emotional quotient. 

Referring to a recent incident in the capital where a class 6 student was bullied by a group of schoolmates, Manika Sharma emphasised on the need to aim at holistic learning for overall development of a child. 

"As a teacher community, we always wonder what is plaguing the society. This is why we believe education has to go beyond schools and not restrict itself to reading," Sharma, director of the Shri Ram School, said at the conference "The Catalyst Conference: Igniting Leadership to End Sexual Violence". 

"We (our school) has been addressing this issue for many years because we believe society can better when educational institutes contribute. 

"We show movies, documentaries, have discussions and sessions with counsellors for our students," she said, adding these methods contribute in the overall development of a child. 

While many private institutions have adapted these new ways of teaching, Rukmini Banerji, director of Pratham - an NGO working towards providing quality education to the underprivileged children said 85 per cent of the children in India still go to government schools. 

"Government schools are not dealing with these subjects that can educate children about sex education, gender equality and leadership. Hence, we are not tackling the issue," Banerji said. 

"These teachers may be willing to touch upon these topics and discuss them with children, but at the policy level these school teachers are not given the opportunity," she added. 

Banerji also felt the need to take parents along with children on this ride. 

"We have realised that for most of these children studying in government schools, their parents have never been to school themselves. So, to empower children, we need to create a balance by educating parents as well," she said.

IAM to start MBA programme in fashion business

GURGAON: The Institute of Apparel Management (IAM) in Gurgaon is set to launch a new course, MBA in fashion business, on Friday. Prominent fashion designers, Rohit Bal and Ritu Beri, are expected to attend the event.

The institute is supported by the ministry of textiles and trains candidates apart from giving them hands-on experience in the apparel industry,

Directors of the institute say that the course is different from the fashion marketing and management courses taught in NIFT and other management institutes. The two-year MBA programme is a blend of both creative elements of fashion designing and those of business management required exclusively to run fashion industries.

Sumesh Singh, joint director of IAM, said, "The course aims to provide adequate thrust on design management to manage creative businesses, fashion marketing to build ability to market luxury products, and innovation and entrepreneurship to encourage new ideas and industries that can shape the growth and development of the fashion industry."

The course will also have specialized semesters, and during the programme, two meritorious students will be selected to get hands-on training from top designers in the industry.

The course fee for the entire course is Rs 6.5 lakh and the number of seats is 30.

Citing that the lifestyle industry across the globe has touched $4.3 trillion, Darlie O Koshy, director of the IAM and former director of National Institute of Design (NID), said, "Fashion has become the fastest growing industry in last few years. The fashion and textiles business has grown at the rate of 10-12% per annum with the exports sector doing extremely well of late."

"Sensing the growth of this industry, we realize that the apparel industry needs more than just general management graduates from IIMs and the likes. Having an understanding of the changing trends and to be able to scrutinize the history of the fashion industry in India and in the world at large is important to successfully manage a fashion brand. The IAM has therefore conceived an MBA programme in fashion business," said Koshy.

Gujarat Technological University tightens its exam norms

AHMEDABAD: Worried by the incidents of paper leak, the Gujarat Technological University (GTU) has put in place a set of stricter guidelines for the conduct of the examination beginning May 19. 

As part of this, it has decided to ban centres which do not have CCTV cameras installed. GTU has said that no college can be a centre where CCTV cameras are not there. 

It has also decided that the downloading and printing of the question papers will have to be done in the presence of senior staff members of the college concerned. The password for opening the question paper will be sent to the coordinator on his/her mobile and the same will have to be opened and then printed in the presence of several senior staff members. GTU officials said that the entire process should be videographed. 

Apart from the coordinator, no other staff member will be allowed to carry the mobile phone. The supervisor and the invigilator will not be allowed to carry their phones. 

The university has also made it compulsory that any student who gets out of the examination hall will have to mention his seat number, the time he leaves and the time he returns in the logbook. 

The university does not want to leave any chance where the question paper can be circulated on the social media.