Engineering entrances to be scrapped


The government is expected to scrap all engineering entrance exams from 2013-14. It has also come up with a novel idea of hiking Tuition fees of the students will also be hiked but the students will have to pay up once they get a job.


At present there are around 150 entrance exams a year including various state boards and institutions and the IITs. All these exams would be scrapped including the IIT-JEE and the AIEEE. All this was announced in a meeting of IIT Council (IIT directors) and officials from the ministry of human resource development (HRD). It was chaired by Union HRD minister Kapil Sibal.


He said, “There will be one merit list. Intitutes, including the IITs, will have to pick up students from this list. The list will be based on Std 12 marks and the entrance test results. Also, students will be counselled before they choose a course.” This test will be just like the common entrance exam for medical courses which would begin from next year.


A five-fold fee hike is proposed for IITs (BTech and MTech programmes). Sibal further said that the students would continue paying Rs 50,000 as annual fee, but they would have to “pay back” the difference money — the fee paid by a student and the money spent on him by an IIT after they get a job. They can pay in easy instalments. Due to government subsidy the current fees is nominal. But the actual cost is around Rs 6-8 lakh per student. 


SC/ST and OBC categories and students going for higher education or joining an IIT faculty would be exempted so as to encourage students to take up research work and meet the faculty shortage.


The degrees will be in a DMAT format. They will reflect the difference money as loan and employers will be told to deduct it from a student’s salary and deposit it with the government.


Source: DNA

Diploma in Child Rights, Child Protection and Juvenile Justice by IGNOU

The Indira Gandhi National Open University’s (IGNOU’s) School of Law (SOL) in collaboration with PRAYAS will soon be launching a Diploma course in Child Rights, Child Protection and Juvenile Justice. This was recently announced by Prof. V. N. Rajasekharan Pillai, Vice Chancellor, IGNOU.

The course is structured to create career opportunities and to provide specialized training, understanding and working on contemporary issues of the juvenile justice system and child protection in the country. The professionals who are already working on the child related issues would also find it useful to develop the required skills. It would also be useful in identifying the appropriate resources and treatment plans available in the community.

The course is needed because in Special Juvenile Police Units, at least one police officer with aptitude and appropriate training and orientation may be designated as the Juvenile and Child Welfare Officer. It would help in fulfilling the need of legal mandate and keeping India’s promise to save the rights of children. A lot of trained personnel are in demand in dealing with ‘Children in need of care and protection’ and ‘Juveniles in conflict with law.

The course would benefit the lawyers, police officers, NGO personnel, CWC member and social workers.

This Diploma course in Child Rights, Child Protection and Juvenile Justice, is of one year duration and part-time wherein 8 courses (7 theoretical, 1 practical) would be taught. The practical aspect will include the internship in observation homes, child welfare committees and non-governmental organizations.

Educationist and experts from IGNOU, Ministry of Women and Child Development, Home Affairs, UNICEF, PRAYAS, Special Unit for Women and Child, Jamia Millia Islamia’s Department of Social Work and Save the Children (NGO) together are preparing the study material of the course.

The learners would to gain understanding of the basic nature, problems and issues related to child protection and juvenile justice. They would also learn to build capacities and commitment aimed at ensuring prevention, timely intervention and accountability for promoting a healthy childhood. They would get training in developing a synergy between theory and practice on issues of child protection and juvenile justice.

The programme also prepares the personnel to manage various positions for effectively implementing juvenile legislation; improve their skills and comprehension; creates and enhances large scale social awareness and advocacy; enables legal, administrative and social work practitioners to seek the creation of new law in response to the newly emerging societal needs and improves the institutional infrastructure for implementing institutional services for children.

NGO personnels (at least a graduate) working in various child welfare fields, law enforcement agency officers, lawyers, magistrates, counselors, probation officers, social workers, superintendents/ deputy superintendents of observation/ remand homes and other institutions providing services to children can join this course.

Though the eligibility for the course is graduation in any stream but preference would be given to the post graduate in Social work/ psychology/ sociology from a recognized university or PG Diploma in rehabilitation psychology or professionals having minimum two years of working experience with law enforcement agency.

After doing the course, the students would become eligible to work posts in various government and non-government organizations that uphold child rights and protection, curb child trafficking or deal with the cases of missing children.

Source: India Blooms

Finance and consultancy preferred by IIM-A students'

IIM-A students prefer Finance and consultancy as a career choice. This was revealed by the first final placement report (for 2011) released by the institute. The report is as per the Indian Placement Reporting Standards.

The Director of IIM-A said that after consultancy and finance, manufacturing companies have now begun hiring aggressively.

Jobs opportunities are on a rise in India since offices of the multinational companies are being setting up here.

Consulting and Finance has remained the most preferred choice by those who have pursued the IIM-A's flagship Post Graduate Programme (PGP). There are 314 eligible students for final placements in 2011.

In consulting and finance 91 and 93 offers have been accepted respectively by the students.

The final placements process started on February 12 at IIM-A. There were 120 firms that participated in the lateral and final placement process.

The reports have also stated that the median per year salary offered to students in banking, finance services and insurance (BFSI) and consulting was Rs 15.30 lakh and Rs 13.60 lakh respectively.

IPRS has been adopted by IIM-A since this year so that transparency could be brought about in reporting of placement data and standardise placement reports across campuses in the country. This is expected to provide authentic data to prospective B-school students that would be comparable.

CRISIL has audited the IIM-A's final placement report for 2011 which is as per IPRS.

Source: Bhaskar

Jewellery designing to become a major career option by 2015

Jewellery designing to become a major career option by 2015 

Recently a survey has been undertaken by apex industry body ASSOCHAM, according to which the gems and jewellery industry in India is likely to reach Rs. 2.13 lakh crore by 2015. The industry is said to be continuously growing at a steady rate of 15 per cent.
At present the domestic gems and jewellery market stands at Rs. 1.22 lakh crore. It is expected that jewellery designing will become as one of the most affluent career options in Indian employment market. The reason for this is attributed to high growth rate in the economy.

There is even increase in the demand for courses related to the subject.  This was reported by the premier institute in Jewellery Designing, Pearl Academy of Fashion. Though jewellery has always been an inseparable part of Indian culture but the sector has witnessed major changes in product styles, aesthetics and retail environments all due to ever changing socio-cultural scenario of the country. There is great scope for the professional growth in this sector because of the India aesthetic heritage coupled with the industry growth.

More and more man trained power is needed in jewellery industry. If there is availability of structured training through a well developed curriculum, the industry could grow leaps and bounds with new innovative designs with different materials. Pearl Academy of Fashion offers such courses that equip students with comprehensive skills and knowledge in jewellery design. They are also taught about latest global design trends. They are also given experience and knowledge of marketing, management of a jewellery business.

After the completion of course graduates can be hired as designers in a range of business and manufacturing sectors including jewellery and lifestyle products. They may even develop their own entrepreneurial setup.

Source: IndiaInfoLine

One year internship mandatory for dental students

One year internship mandatory for dental students

Now all undergraduate dental students would have to undergo a one-year-internship before getting their BDS degree. This has become mandatory for them.

It is for the first time that the internship will also include a three-month compulsory rural posting. The re-introduction of a one-year rotational, compulsory and paid internship in the Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) course has been approved by the Union health minister Gulam Nabi Azad.

The duration of course will be of four years with an additional one-year internship. Though the new norm is going to be implemented from this academic year (2011-12), but it is also applicable for batches admitted in the 2008-09 session.

The Dental Council of India (DCI), in 2007, had made the BDS degree a five-year regular course and had dropped the need for any hands-on training with patients. The reason behind this step was the lack of seriousness among the students.

A ministry official said, "Students on completion of a four-year theoretical BDS course will have to undertake the year-long clinical programme.” This is almost same as that done by the Medical Council of India (MCI) with the revised MBBS curriculum.
It was also considered that most of the dental colleges in India are private. So majority of students wouldn't attend the internship and there were chances of obtaining a fake certificate by them. Moreover in the final year there were nine subjects which led to great pressure on the students. So BDS was made a five-year course without internship. But now it is felt that internship is an important part of the training.

The order by Union health ministry stated, "The revised BDS course — 3rd Amendment Regulations, 2011 — also incorporate three months of compulsory rural attachment. All parts of internship will be done in a dental college duly recognized/approved by Dental Council of India for the purpose of imparting education to dental graduates in the country."

Source: The Times of India

Ban on PhD and MPhil lifted

Ban on PhD and MPhil lifted

The two year ban on distance PhD and Mphil has been lifted by the University Grants Commission (UGC) after widespread protests by various universities. Protests came from many Open Learning Universities like IGNOU on the ground that their respective laws, passed by Parliament or legislatures, allowed them to provide such courses.

A meeting was held by UGC on the issue last month. There it was decided to lift the ban. The minutes of the meeting said, “An open university may be permitted to conduct MPhil/PhD programmes through distant education mode subject to condition that it does so strictly as per the provisions of the UGC Regulations.”

IGNOU vice-chancellor Rajasekharan Pillai has assured that they would follow the rules and their regulations are already stricter than those of the UGC.

UGC has lifted the ban but it has imposed another condition for Phd. It says that the principal guide should be from the Open University. The UGC had clamped the bar by notifying a rule — the Minimum Standards and Procedure for Awards of MPhil/PhD Degree Regulation — in 2009. All this has come up because UGC believes that research courses in the distant mode were of poor quality. 

The regulations would definitely affect the future of nearly 10,000 students pursuing such courses across the country. The academician who has been as to frame a policy on distance education, M. Madhava Menin said, “There should not be any blanket ban on MPhil or PhD in distance mode. If institutions meet the required quality parameters, they should be allowed to offer such courses.” His report would be submitted next month.

The other area of concern is the inadequate infrastructure of many open universities for carrying out research work.Regarding all this a meeting will be held on 15^th September to lay the appropriate guidelines.

Source: India Education Review

Licentiate Test for MBBS graduates

Licentiate Test for MBBS graduates

Those who now wish to practice medicine in future would have to follow up their MBBS course with a licentiate examination.

The MBBS graduates would not have to clear the licentiate India Medical Graduates (IMG) degree test, after a one-year internship if they want to do medical practice in the country. This crucial reform has been mooted by the Medical Council of India (MCI). This will come up for discussion at the national summit to be held at Manekshaw Centre, Parade Road, Delhi, on September 12.

After the acceptance of this proposal, MBBS graduates would have to complete a one-year internship in a hospital before they can appear for the licentiate examination. All the principals from medical colleges in the State have been invited to the meet who woul give suggestions based on the local needs of the state.

In another important move which is put forward by the MCI, there is a proposal of abolition of entrance examination for PG courses. PG entrants will be selected on the basis of the marks obtained at the MBBS level and the marks obtained in the internship to get the IMG. Students for the PG courses will be selected from a national-level merit list, prepared after taking into account the marks obtained in the theory test and in the licentiate test.

These new reforms would be optionally implemented from 2013 and would become mandatory from 2017.

Under-graduate students will have to do a foundation course for two months which would comprise of medical ethics, communication, health economics, biohazards and environmental issues, in tune with the proposed reforms.

There is also a suggestion for the introduction a new two-year M Med scheme at PG level. After obtaining M Med, students will have the option of getting MD, dual degrees, PhD and DM.

The draft paper of the MCI has also suggested that the number of examinations of MBBS will be reduced from four to three.

Source: IBNLive

Indian jobs market remains optimistic

Indian jobs market remains optimistic

There is a spurt of layoffs worldwide which has been triggered by tough business conditions. But Indian employment market, even in such conditions, remains optimistic about the buoyant hiring prospects in the retail sector.  

In India companies are now focussing more on getting the right talent rather than recruiting in large numbers.  

Staffing services firm, Ma Foi Randstad, is of the opinion that till now India remains insulated from the phenomenan of worldwidelayoffs happening at present.  Thus the Indian employment market seems "cautiously optimistic."

It is estimated that about 1.5 million new jobs are being created annually in India, which is way less than the number of people entering the labour market every year.  

Global HR major Hay Group's Mayank Pande said, "Hiring activities are still on the accelerator, with recruitments expected to grow exponentially in the retail sector."

Companies, in India, are now more serious about getting the right talent... many are looking for lesser number but more skilled and efficient people. Companies are also now weighing expenses before recruitment.  

Sectors like defence, hospitality, nuclear power and retail are likely to increase hiring activities in the coming years. Here, small and medium companies increase their workforce by about 10 to 15 per cent every year, while large corporations increase their head count by around five per cent every year, says an estimate.  

Many global corporations  like Cisco, Nokia, Research In Motion (RIM), Credit Suisse, and US-based Merck & Co have decided to have massive job cuts in the wake of tough global economic  conditions. There are also aggressive cost cutting measures that are being taken. 

American pharma major Merck & Co has recently announced their plans to slash around 13,000 jobs. In the same way Blackberry-maker Research In Motion said it would cut 2,000 jobs while Cisco intends to reduce its workforce by about 6,500. 

Source: The Economic Times