It cos like Microsoft, Cognizant, HCL and Wipro to hire designers

  Big IT companies are now visiting design schools in order to hire graduates for designing their products, site and services by keeping in aesthetic sense in their minds. eBay and the local research laboratories of SAP and HP are also following these biggies for the same. It is expected that there would be an increase of 20-25% in the recruitment of these designers in the technology firms in the next 2-3 years. It is estimated that at present 5000 to 7000 qualified designers are working for various IT firms. These designers help the firms in their various activities like graphic designing, content writing, developing e-learning solutions etc.  


Client presentations over the web along with provision of design services, is becoming quite significant with the growth of e-commerce. The designers with their expertise are becoming instrumental in telling the story of the product to customer in the most interesting way. There is scope in mobile space also. Gaming industry too is bringing lots of job opportunities.

Not only the designers but many other non engineering graduates would also be hired by these IT companies and their number is expected to go up from 10% of the present workforce to 20-25%. This is likely to happen in companies like TCS, Wipro and HCL and Cognizant which already has 20% non engineering graduates in its workforce.

The package for a fresher could be anywhere between Rs 5 lakh and Rs 9 lakh per annum.

Source: Economic Times

IIT offers online courses 



A server has been created by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras which can be used by the students to download top academic material. These materials would be free of cost. The National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL), which is a joint programme of IITs and IIScs and funded by the Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry would be assisted by the server. 

The NPTEL programme was started to increase the quality of engineering and sciences education across the country. Union HRD Minister Kapil Sibal inaugurated the National Video Server. He said that it is a ''path breaking innovation''. Earlier the students used Google or Amazons for study materials but now they would have an opportunity to use India’s own server to communicate with universities.  

There would be 125 courses in web format and 135 courses in video format in the disciplines of technology, engineering and sciences in the NPTEL phase-1.They would include corresponding syllabi laid down by AICTE-approved institutions and programmes. More than 1000 UG and PG courses have been proposed in Phase-2 in various fields like engineering, technology, sciences and humanities. The programmes are likely to be completed by 2012 and would be free of cost. 

Syllabi of all universities and their courses would be covered by the same server.

20,000 jobs to be created by Cassidian 

Cassidian has opened the first ever defence oriented engineering college in Bengaluru. Cassidian is the defence and security division of the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS). It is expected that it would create 20,000 jobs for engineers in India in the years to come.  

EADS has its headquarters in Les Mureaux near Paris.

At present there are 60 employees which would be around 200 by 2012. This was announced by Dr Stefan Zoller during the inauguration of the centre in Begaluru.
If EADS finalizes the deal worth $11 billion with Indian Air Force, around 20,000 jobs would be there in the Indian market.  

He said that a rapid growth is seen in India and so they have decided to open this centre here. He said, “India is one of the leading nations in electronics; we have to get close to the resources to invest in the market, create capabilities and produce. It’s logical and a must”.

Cassidian is a global leader in providing civil and military solutions. Now it is looking forward towards establishing a joint venture with Larsen & Turbo (L&T) with respect to defence electronics. 

The centre aims to have a vast pool of qualified and expert engineers by capitalising on leading edge technologies, systems and products of Cassidian. The engineers would be working on developing competencies in the areas of radar systems, protection systems, avionic systems, engineering IT and 3D visual simulation, aero-structure and aerospace modelling and simulation.

Government to open up more medical colleges

The Health Ministry now plans to have new medical colleges in India. More seats would also be created in the institutes run by the government. This was announced by the Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad while attending the 31st convocation of the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER). 

The scheme would cost around Rs 1350 crore. This would be soon implemented and is expected to strengthen the quality of medical education in India.

Apart from this 269 new nursing colleges would also be opened to further strengthen the para-medical infrastructure. Better and improved medical facilities would thus be provided to the people in India and all kinds of communicable diseases would be eradicated soon. India also expects to become a medical hub for the cancer treatment in the years to come. 

4000 additional seats in medical colleges have been created by the medical colleges that are run by the central government. 

New curbs on non-EU students to be imposed by UK  

New restrictions are expected to be imposed by UK before visas are granted to the Indian and other non-EU students. It is being regarded as part of the Prime Minister David Cameron government's promise to lessen immigration and would also lead to reduction in visa abuse.

According to the current rules non-EU students are allowed to work for a period of two years after they complete their courses. This would be restricted now.
If there is migration of international students, it is worth 5 billion pounds to the UK economy every year.

UK’s immigration minister Damian Green in a statement said that there is an abuse of student’s visa system and now the non-EU students won’t be given permission to enter the labour market in Britain since unemployment was growing at a fast place. Allowing access to the labour market could result in putting an unnecessary strain of the graduates in their own country.  So it is likely that post study work route would be cracked soon.

He said: "The post study work route was intended to form a bridge between study and skilled work, allowing all international graduates to remain for two years after graduation. Many go into secretarial, sales, customer service and catering roles. At a time when graduate unemployment is at its highest level for seventeen years we need a more targeted approach". 

The private sector colleges were blamed for abuse of student’s visa system that did not have the necessary facilities or academic standing to offer courses. In some cases it was found that students worked at 20 different places and did not study at all. Some colleges also employed workers illegally on fake British passports.  At some other places studies altogether no regular studies took place and the students were sent on work placements.
Green also said that in June last year in New Delhi; there were forged documents of 35% of student applications that were verified by the visa section.

50% marks mandatory for admission in engineering colleges

From this year, the students would require a minimum of 50 per cent marks in their intermediate examination if they want to get admission in engineering colleges. AICTE chairman announced this recently.

Now scoring 50 per cent in group subjects (mathematics, physics and chemistry for engineering) would be mandatory from Eamcet 2011.  For SC/ST candidates this requirement would be 45%.

Till now the minimum score requirement by the state government was 35% for admissions in engineering colleges. The previous year almost 40,000 students who had scored just 35 per cent marks in the qualifying examination took admission in engineering colleges. But this could bring down the quality of the technical education. Therefore AICTE now would not, in any way, allow this 35% rule for the admission process.

The AICTE chairman also announced that new engineering colleges would be given approval to take admissions for the coming academic by May 31. Previously they were given sanction till August.

Some norms have been relaxed for colleges. The land requirements for setting up of engineering colleges have been reduced. 2.5 acres of land in cities and 10 acre of land in rural areas is required now.

The colleges that have adequate facilities according to the rule book would now be given permission. There would be a one time inspection and those colleges that do not satisfy the conditions would not be considered for rest of the year. 
  

India will soon have 'Navratna' Universities

Very soon India is going to have 'Navratna' Universities which would be based on the lines of the famous Ivy League varsities. It would be an Indian Ivy League. These would be free from government control. This was recently announced by Science and Technology Minister, Kapil Sibal while addressing the 98th Indian Science Congress at SRM University. This would be made possible by measures like generous financial support and access to external funding and would be provided complete autonomy.  

He was speaking on the topic 'Quality Education and Excellence in Science Research in Indian Universities.

There are eight institutions in Ivy League namely Brown University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Harvard University, Princeton University, the University of Pennsylvania and Yale University.

This initiative is expected to achieve the development of human and social capital which would prove useful to youth to work and compete globally.

Full powers would be provided to the existing navratnas like the IITs and IIMs. This would help them to:

• Create posts according to the approved norms
• Top up the salaries of the Directors and Faculty from the funds generated by them
• Open centres in India and abroad
• Amend rules within the framework of their Memorandums of Association and Rules Acquire and dispose property
• Manage funds generated on their own
  

The Director and the Board would be preparing annual action plans. All this is sought to build up accountability. It would also prove useful in tackling structural inequities in educational front. The changes in demographic front and demand pattern in labour market is also creating demand for higher education. With this step quality education would be provided. The objective of government is to double the Gross Enrolment Ration by 2020.

Source: Economic times

Certification programme launched by BSA 

Business Software Alliance (BSA), a non profit organization present in 80 countries, has announced the launching of its education and certification programme-leadership in Software Asset Management (SAM) - in Andhra Pradesh. Earlier such programmes have been launched in Karnataka and Maharashtra.
 
BSA promotes safe and legal digital world and create conditions for innovation and growth.
 
The programme will be supported by the state government. It aims at improving corporate governance through cost cutting and improving of efficiency among small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
 
Awareness would be created among SMEs on the benefits of SAM, an ISO 19770:1 standard. It would promote the advantages of managing software licenses as assets within various companies and organisations.
 
It is expected that Andhra Pradesh would be become a leading state where SAM would be promoted. Thus strong corporate governance standards would also be promoted in the field of IT in local companies. This would also bring about cost efficiency, better risk management techniques leading to high level of IT maturity and improved standards of security. SMEs would be able to fulfil compliance obligations. Brand reputation would also be enhanced and this would in turn attract the international clients and investors. The certification programme would help to showcase improved management of the organization. 
 
The programme would benefit 1000 to 1200 SMEs in and around Hyderabad. It would be a four month long programme.
 
The state government is likely to empanel SAM-certified SMEs for awarding the government works in e-governance.

Source: The Times of India

More job opportunities for the dental professionals

The government wants to create more job opportunities for dental professionals so that fresh graduates may be able to get jobs easily. This was said by the Health and Family Welfare Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad. He was inaugurating the second clinical block of the H.S.J. Institute of Dental Sciences and Hospital.

India has large number of dental colleges in both private and government sector. Around 20,000 students pass out every year from these colleges. There needs to be found ways to create more employment opportunities as there are chances of having the field getting saturated. 

The minister said, “We are planning to create more job opportunities for dentists in the hospitals at districts and block levels. Our health ministry is trying to formulate plans about how to absorb dentists at the lower level. It will be a win-win situation for everyone and will take care of the problem of educated unemployment in the country”
A solution is being sought so that the fresh graduates might not get frustrated in the absence of proper job opportunities. Much of the emphasis is also being laid on maintaining the quality of education. 

Dentistry has great scope ahead as it has been estimated that 35% of the adult population smoke in our country.80% of oral cancer in India is caused due to the chewing of smokeless tobacco whereas12 percent people, between the ages of 60 to 65 years, start losing their teeth, either partially or completely.

Source: The Economic Times

Cognizant set to hire 25,000 personnel in 2011 

Cognizant is set to hire 25,000 professionals in 2011 as it aims to match the company's recruitment figure of last year. This was told by R Chandrasekaran, president & managing director of the company at an inauguration ceremony of its new tech park at Bantala. The park is spread across 20 acres in Bantala special economic zone. The first phase has a capacity to accommodate 4000 workers which is 65000 square feet of area. 2000 professionals are already working there. After the completion of the construction 16000 professionals would be able to work there.

Rs 2000 crores have been invested so far in the construction of its first phase.

1 Lakh people are working globally for Cognizant. 8000 of techies are employed in Kolkata where its operations started in 1996 with only 16 professionals.

The President and Managing Director also said that the demand was strong in the industry which will be continuing in future also.
 

The company aims to focus on emerging economies like India, Middle East, Australia and ASEAN countries apart from US and Europe. 

 
Source: The Economic Times 

Infosys HR to introduce new career path

A new course is being started by Infosys Technologies. It is a management course for its engineers. After clearing the course they would be eligible for business administration responsibility. The company is talking with B-schools for setting the curriculum and faculty for the students.

The course will be of four- months and will be conducted in Infy's Mysore Development Centre. This is being regarded as a major step for the engineers. The employees would now have the options for switching job profiles and moving up the career path.

The objective behind the starting of the course is to bring down the proportion of engineers against those in the consulting and administration. The focus would now on building domain experts along with technology. There are 80% core engineers in the company which has to be brought to the level of 60%. The remaining would now have management skills.

Infosys is also hiring laterals and B-School graduates apart from training its own employees from within the company. The target is to hire around 1000 lateral in 2-3 years.

The course can be voluntarily applies by the engineers. The admission would be through a test which would be like CAT.

The course would be a rigorous one and after doing it an engineer could move up to the consulting, solutions and many more areas. Though these certifications are acclaimed by Infosys but it would also qualify the candidate for similar roles elsewhere too.

Source: CIOL

Crisil to grade B-schools 

 

While general interest and business magazines have for years been 'rating' business schools and other higher education institutions, for the first time a reputed ratings agency has got into the act.

Credit Rating and Information Services of India Ltd (Crisil) – promoted in 1987 by the erstwhile ICICI Ltd, along with UTI and other financial institutions, but now a Standard & Poor's Company – announced the launch of a ratings programme for B-schools.

''It is an in-depth and interactive evaluation exercise, which will classify management education programmes on an eight-point scale from 'A***' to 'B','' said Roopa Kudva, managing director and CEO, Crisil. While initially the agency is targetting B-schools, it plans to provide similar grading for engineering, medical and even under-graduate and primary education programmes.

According to Kudva, it is a voluntary exercise and institutes will have to offer to get their programmes evaluated. Crisil will be charging Rs.3 lakh for grading an institute. The agency will separate the business development and analytical functions to ensure transparency in the grading process. The gradings will help both students and their parents and recruiters. The gradings would be done both at the national and state levels.

Crisil would provide a comprehensive report on the graded institutions on its website for free. About 20 institutes, across the country, have been graded in the first exercise. They include 10 in Maharashtra (Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and Pune), five in Delhi and the National Capital Region and one each in Chennai, Hyderabad, Coimbatore, Bhubaneshwar and Guwahati.

''We spent a year in developing and testing our criteria and methodology for business school evaluation,'' adds Kudva. ''Our process uses quantitative as well as qualitative assessment parameters.''

Beginning with management institutes, the Credit Rating and Information Services of India Ltd (CRISIL) launched its education grading initiative on Monday. CRISIL will be providing an independent and all-round assessment of the various programmes offered by B-schools. At the launch event, CRISIL

Of these five — SP Jain Institute of Management, Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies, Sydenham Institute of Management Studies, Institute of Business Studies and Research and ITM Institute of Financial Markets — are from Mumbai.

While the highest grade is A***, the lowest is B.  

“We are not grading institutes sequentially because it is not about rankings but about the quality of courses. We include parameters such as placements, curriculum, faculty and fees,” said Mitu Samar, marketing and communications head, CRISIL.

“These ratings are valid for a year and the institutes are under constant surveillance. So any changes will reflect in the ratings,” Samar said.

B-schools will have to apply for these ratings. They will be graded both on a national and state level. 

For instance while Sydenham Institute of Management Studies has an A*** rating in the state, nationally its programmes are graded as A**.

A comprehensive report on graded institutes including their faculty and student profile and best practices adopted by the institute will be available on the CRISIL website for free.

Source: The Hindustan Times

Jobs in abundance in India, global crisis is gone

There is an improvement in employment numbers in almost all the sectors of our economy .This was told by the Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday. He said that Indian has now fully recovered from the global financial crisis. The minister was addressing the pre-budget meeting with the trade union leaders.

He told during the meeting that the Labour Bureau’s quarterly reports have shown an upward trend. Textile sector, IT/BPO industry, automobile industry and metal industry have shown quite a remarkable growth rate in employment. The export oriented industries too have shown this upward trend. All this lead to the conclusion that post crisis recovery has now come to stay in India.

Trade unions have asked for a ban on futures trading in food item in order to control growing inflation. They also want banning of big corporation and multi national firms into retail trade and banking operations. They also want making of stimulus packages for industry conditional on their employment plans.

Source: The Indian Express

Professional courses would now be costlier 

Now the engineering and medical degree are likely to cost more as the private college managements have communicated to the government about their intentions to hike their fees. It would be implemented from the next academic year. Likewise the Punjab government also has recommended a 33 per cent hike in the tuition fee to be paid by students doing technical courses in government as well as private engineering colleges across the state.

The hike would be in fees for professional courses for both government and management quota seats from 2011-12.

The colleges want to hike the fees in order to implement the recommendations regarding the pay scales given by the sixth pay commission.

The government would be scrapping the fee-fixation committee. It would work out a fee formula in consultation with private college managements.

It is expected that the current tuition fee of Rs 45,000 per student per annum would be hiked to Rs 60,000 for technical degree courses approved by All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE). The fees for diploma courses would be increasing from the current Rs 19,000 per annum to about Rs 25,000 per annum.

Source: The Times of India

Accor intends to hire 3000 people in India  

Global hospitality firm Accor, a global hospitality firm is all set to hire 3,000 people by next year in its upcoming hotels in the country.

Currently it has eight hotels under brands, Novotel, Ibis and Mercure, and two convention centres. There it employs about 2,000 people at present.

Regional Director of Human Resources Ashwin A Shirali  of Accor hotels told media,
"By the end of 2011, we will employ total 5,000 people at Accor operated properties across India”.

There would be entry level jobs which would be 30 per cent of the total job opportunities being created here. The company will operate Ten new properties would be operated which are likely to start in 2011.

Accor also plans to open 90 hotels by 2015, out of which contracts for 60 hotels have already been signed. By the end of 2012, 21 of these hotels would be operational.
At present Accor has partnership with InterGlobe Enterprises. Accor and Interglobe have created an investment fund for building these hotels in India. 

The aspiring candidates interested in hospitality field can now look forward to greater job opportunities now when Accor plans to hire qualified people in India.

Source: The Economic TImes

Education centre opened by Hong Kong in India 

A delegation from Hong Kong recently visited Delhi and announced the opening up of their education centre in India. The delegation comprised of experts from the field of education and representatives from eight institutions: the City University of Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Baptist University, the Lingnan University, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Institute of Education, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, the University of Science and Technology and the University of Hong Kong. It also met HRD minister Kapil Sibal.

 Hong Kong’s permanent secretary for education said, “The setting up of the India office signifies that both India and Hong Kong are important to each other. We hope to establish long-term relations with India.” The present collaboration is only at institutional and student level. It is also expected to come up at research level soon and also attract students at graduate and post graduate level. 

Hong Kong is an international city and has world-class institutions. Its two universities are among the top 50 in QS 2010 rankings and four among 150 in the Times ranking. Around 130 Indian students are studying in Hong Kong with a total of 9300 international students. Tuition fees there ranges anything between US$9000 to US$13000 a year.  

There scholarships available for foreign students in Hong Kong for providing them financial support. There is a HK$1 billion government scholarship.  

Non-local recipients can get government scholarship of HK$80,000 i.e. around Rs 470,000. There is also PhD Fellowship Scheme to attract students from different countries who can receive HK$240,000 (around R1.4 million) a year in stipend with other research-related allowances.

Source: The Hindustan Times.

Education ties between U.S and India 

There is increasing co-operation between India and US. This can help in building up proper and widespread infrastructure of educational facilities in India. This was told by the Indian ambassador Meera Shankar at a function held on Tuesday in order to commemorate the 60th Year of Nehru-Fulbright Educational Exchange Programme.

The Ambassador further said, "India sees education as critical for achieving its goals to have inclusive growth and to realise the potential for taking the Indian economy to a higher growth trajectory".

Recently a bill has been introduced in the Parliament to open up the education sector for foreign universities in India. This can enable the students here to study in U.S universities. The opening up of the off-share locations or through tie-ups with Indian institutions both the U.S universities as well the students would get benefited.

The Nehru-Fulbright Education Exchange Programme which enhanced the educational cooperation came at the time when political relations between the countries were not so good. But this programme has helping in improving and transforming the relationship between our two countries.

Confidence has been increased and horizons have been broadened in the past 60 years. There is increasing partnership in a positive way between the two countries; she said
 
More than 17,000 Fulbright and Fulbright-Nehru scholarships, Fulbright-Hays awards, Humphrey Fellowships, Distinguished Fulbright Awards in Teaching have been awarded till now since 1950 by the US-India Educational Foundation.

The funding has been tripled in this Programme since past two years with respect to the number of students and scholars it supports each year.

Source: The Economic Times

Delhiites top job changers: A survey 

A survey of Mafoi regarding manpower mobility for 2010 has found that the employees' in India are ready to change jobs in next six months. And Delhiites topped the list of job changers as compared to other metros.

It has been found by the mobility index on people working at various levels of management that people in the age group between 18 and 24 and senior people in the age group between 55 and 64 changed their jobs vigorously in 2010.

The attrition of senior management in corporate enterprises shows instability which in turn affects their organizational growth. Disengagement has now resulted from junior level exodus and replacement. It has been recommended by the survey that employer need to reach out to this segment of workers.

Delhiites and Chennai workers are at par with each other in expressing their sentiments. They want improvement of primary working conditions in 2011. They are also expecting expansion in their employment benefits in the present year.

There is high mobility both in government and private sector with continuous churning of temporary positions. Those possessing moderate level of education try to look for secure and comfortable positions.

When comparisons were made between the countries, the survey found that Indians remain happier with current positions than the Chinese who remain unhappy with their organization. Most of the Indian are satisfied with their working conditions and expect a promotion as a reward for their loyalty and involvement in work. Churn is loved more by the Indians than the Chinese.

Source: Silicon India

India is the net job creator for US

A common public perception that outsourcing of jobs to India is resulting in job losses in US, has been refuted by National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom). The economic woes there are mostly the result of free trade agreements.
Mr Som Mittal, the president of the apex body of India’s information technology and business process outsourcing industry, said to the Seattle Times, “India is a net job creator for US companies, not the other way around. The Indo-US economic relationship benefits the American economy and its job market in many important and tangible ways".

US, is at present, a preferred destination for Indian investment. After United Arab Emirates, India stands at the second place in the list of fastest growing foreign investors in America. India has also become destination for American goods and services since the rapidly growing population demands various kinds of good and services. There has been an increase of total outward foreign direct investments by India while many other countries have even not been able to get out of recession.

Investments in US by the Indian companies have been increased by more than $20 billion over the last five years. Mr Mittal quoted the statistics collected by Ernst & Young. The investments have supported the creation of more than 65,000 American jobs. All this was brought about by a study commissioned by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).

Export deals by US business leaders have been signed with India which are of more than $10 billion amount. All these steps are expected to create 50,000 jobs in America.


Source: International Business Times

Duration of MBBS to be reduced

It is expected that the duration of MBBS course would be reduced by 6 months in India from the next academic year. 

An eight- member Undergraduate Education Working Group has recommended that the council should shorten the duration of course by six months i.e. from five and a half years to five years. This was told by senior officials of the Medical Council of India.

The objective behind the formation of the committee was to look into the shortcomings of medical education and also to advice on the matter of how to increase the number of medical professionals in the country in order to cater to the growing population.

An official also said that the MCI has been advised by the working group to restructure the whole course by introducing the 4+1 format. Division of the curriculum into core and non-core with the non-core part of the curriculum made elective or applied has also been recommended. Reduction of the duration of the course shows the possibility of attracting large number of intelligent students to join the course.

The course would be more inclusive. There would also be change in the guidelines related to the going of the MBBS graduates going and working in rural areas. There would be special introduction reservation for students from rural and remote backgrounds. This can motivate the students to work in areas of need.

Suggestion about changing the present clinical training module and introduction of the ‘student doctor’ method has also been made. The students would be posted to respective departments as a clerk or sub-intern and takes partial responsibility for patients as a team member. During sub-internship, students have specific objectives for learning in relation to history, examination, procedural skills, and management of ambulatory and emergency.

Source: Deccan Chronicle