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IIMs have to reinvent themselves: Prof M J Xavier
Meet the Matchmaker Alvin Elliot Roth of Harvard University, who won the 2012 Nobel in Economics along with Lloyd Shapley
January 2013 l `50 $5
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Volume 2 Issue 1 | January 2013 Editor Ravi Deecee Deputy Editor Sanjeev Neelakantan Assistant Editor Dipin Damodharan Senior Reporters Lakshmi Narayanan Prashob K P Sreekanth Ravindran RESPONSE TEAM Coordinating Editor Sumithra Sathyan Reporters Tony William Biyanka Merlyn John Shalet James Neethu Mohan Design & Layout Kailasnath Anil P John
Head - Business M Kumar ADVT SALES Senior Managers Kainakari Shibu Rajasree Varma Anu P M Biju P Alex K S Syam Kumar Vinod Joseph ( Delhi) Rohil Kumar A B (Bengaluru) Managers Febin K Francis Bipin Kumar V S MARKETING Sr Manager Sabu Varghese Mathew Assistant Managers Priya P A Mobin E Mathew Circulation Athul P M Sone Varghese
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NESCO’s Education for All (EFA) initiative comprises six key goals. Without understanding the purpose of these goals, it would be difficult for anyone to understand the basic idea behind global child education campaigns, such as the one named after Malala Yousafzai, the 15-year-old torchbearer of girls’ education in Pakistan. Given below are the six EFA goals and the current status in terms of achievements:
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Expand early childhood care and education
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Achieve universal primary education
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Promote learning and life skills for young people and adults
Since 1999, the number of children in pre-school has risen by almost half; however, more than one in two children are still not attending at this level. In most countries, less than 10 per cent of the education budget is spent on early childhood, and it tends to be particularly low in poor countries. All countries must offer primary education that is free and compulsory for all, in accordance with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Currently, it appears that this goal will not be achieved by 2015, mainly because of economic barriers. It is essential to ensure that the learning needs of all young people and adults are met through equitable access to appropriate learning and life skills programmes.
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EDITOR’S NOTE
DC Media Publication
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Six objectives of Education for All
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Reduce adult illiteracy by 50 per cent
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Achieve gender parity and equality
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Improve the quality of education
There are still 775 million illiterate adults in the world. Two-thirds of these are women. Although it is one of the biggest successes of EFA since 2000, there are still many countries that are falling behind the goal of achieving gender parity in primary and secondary education by 2015. Sixtyeight countries have still not achieved gender parity in primary education, and girls are disadvantaged in sixty of them. Of the 650 million children of primary school age, over 130 million of those attending school are failing to learn the basics. In 112 countries, over 5.4 million schoolteachers are required to achieve this goal by 2015. These EFA goals are essential for any education campaign. This time, our Cover Story focusses on the poor education scenario and a few other disturbing factors in Pakistan, with Malala in the foreground. EDUCATION INSIDER I January 2013
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CONTENTS 20 COVER STORY THE REGULARS 15 Selling Point
10 Edu Capsule
Differentiate or die, says world renowned marketing strategist Jack Trout
12 News Plus 16 Personalities Tata Starbucks gets young CEO Avani Saglani Davda, a product of Mumbai University
17 Expert Interview
What are they all up to, Malala? 78 Motivation Door Step School, an NGO working in Mumbai and Pune, engages out-of-school children in a ‘School on Wheels’ project
Fifteen-year-old activist Malala Yousafzai is still undergoing treatment at Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham, UK. And Pakistan, UNESCO, and other multilateral agencies are set to raise funds for the Malala global education campaign. That’s the only forward movement. Other than pledges, Pakistan is yet to take any concrete steps to uproot the terror infrastructure from its soil. Rather, fresh militant attacks in Pakistan only reveal the holes in the government’s security strategy. Speaking of apathy, there’s more...
IIMs should reinvent themselves: IIM Ranchi Director M J Xavier
72 Life Coaching Members of an NGO give children lessons on life at Govt-run schools in Kochi
EXCLUSIVES 42 Alvin Elliot Roth
BRAINWAVE
This Harvard University professor, along with Lloyd Shapley of University of California Los Angeles, won the 2012 Nobel Prize in Economics for their contributions to the theory of stable allocations and the practice of market design. Roth talks about his matchmaking theory
44 Ravi Subramanian Ravi Subramanian talks about his fourth novel, The Incredible Bankster, and his inspiration
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50 Sramana Mitra Silicon Valley entrepreneur Sramana Mitra knows ‘The Chakra of Entrepreneurship’ quite well. A mentor to thousands of budding talents across the world, Sramana says that by 2020, we can create a million entrepreneurs
COLUMNS 60 Dr B Ashok, IAS Mere intelligence and knowledge of facts and figures is not enough for success in the civil services
30 Pavan Soni Making a case for research and teaching as a rewarding career
66 Dr Mohan Varghese It’s a tug of war for top academic posts in Kerala’s universities EDUCATION INSIDER I January 2013
CONTENTS 33 SCHOOL OF THOUGHT
The Good Shepherd Take a trip down memory lane with Dr P C Thomas, the Founder of Good Shepherd International School in the Nilgiris, Tamil Nadu. He never compromised with his ideals and worked persistently towards translation of his dreams into an edifice of international excellence
76 Emerging Career: Robotics Robotics is not all about designing the Robots. There’s much more to it, says Dr H D Maheshappa, the Principal of Acharya Institute of Technology, Bengaluru
FOREIGN CAMPUS
46 University of Glasgow With annual research grants and contracts crossing $150 million, University of Glasgow is one of the world’s best varsities in terms of student satisfaction. It is engaged in a wide spectrum of researches, from detection of Malaria parasites to the Large Hadron Collider experiment
57 A thought leader just for daily needs
Chintak Dholakia is at your service on the web, with daily solutions for people at DailyStuff. org, Shikshakosh.com, AskDaily.in, and HealChat.com
41 Forging ideas with INK
Co-host of TEDIndia 2009, Host and Curator of The INK Conference and Founder of Ixoraa Media, Lakshmi Pratury believes in shaping up ideas for the future
EDUCATION INSIDER I January 2013
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Fantastic cover story The cover story on performing arts in the December issue of Education Insider was fantastic. As the article points out, the celebration of life emanates from an appreciation of the culture of a civilisation. Education in the arts can mould the character of an individual the perfect way. So, the policy-makers should give enough thrust to arts education. Saraswaty, Chennai
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Stories on art forms ‘well-presented’ I liked Education Insider’s cover story in the December issue, which was on revival of the traditional Indian art forms. The stories were well-presented. The performing arts institutes covered by you, including Chennai-based Kalakshetra Foundation and Kerala Kalamandalam, have been making immense contributions to the art scene. However, you could have given a career angle to the cover story by focussing on the practitioners as well as the maestros, such as the Dhananjayans, or Kalamandalam Kshemavathy. They have been successfully training many students in various art forms. Now, you know what to do the next time you attempt to do a wholesome feature on the performing arts. Capt Chandran Kombathu, Bengaluru The interview with Dr Nandini Sundar in the November issue of Education Insider was quite informative. Dr Nandini can give our policymakers the much-needed direction. Faulty planning is the main reason behind India’s sluggish progress in many sectors, including primary education. I absolutely concur with
Dr Nandini on the tribals’ problem in Chhattisgarh. Our politicians and bureaucrats are hell-bent on keeping people illiterate and ignorant. A similar situation prevails in Jharkhand and Odisha as well. Kuku Kohli, Pune
Focus on career-related news Education Insider covers a variety of topics related to education. But these topics have to be studentcentric. So, please include more sections related to colleges and careers. Rohan, Chennai
The Innovator makes sense Pavan Soni’s column, The Innovator, is really informative. Columns like these encourage students to evolve a culture of innovation. Thanks for introducing me to Pavan Soni. The topic he had raised in the December issue of Education Insider (independent thinking) is very relevant. Rahul, Cochin EDUCATION INSIDER I January 2013
EDU CAPSULE Fee-waiver studentship in UK Google Apps for education
LONDON: The Department of the History of Art and Film at University of Leicester in the United Kingdom is offering a fee-waiver studentship in Art History and Film for EU and international students opting for the Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) programme. Applicants will have to meet the university’s Standard English language entry requirements, securing first class or high upper second class honours. They are also expected to have a Master’s with merit or distinction.
Free US online courses
MANILA: Ateneo de Manila University of the Philippines is set to adopt a computing solution with Google Apps for education, which is expected to benefit about 12,000 students and the alumni. Students will be able to collaborate using Google Docs, plan resource schedule using Google Calendar, extend its learning management system using Google Sites, and utilise the robust functionalities of Gmail. Ateneo de Manila is turning to the Cloud through Google Apps for Education and leveraging its functionality to collaborate better, work more efficiently, and establish a more accessible learning system for its students.
Exam for teachers in US MICHIGAN: US trade union leader Randi Weingarten, in association with the American Federation of Teachers, has proposed a ‘bar exam’ with the aim of raising standards for incoming teachers. The proposal comes in the wake of widespread criticism against high paid teachers for their poor performances. The new teachers would also need a minimum grade point average and a minimum teaching experience of one year.
WASHINGTON: Prominent colleges and universities in the United States will offer free online classes through a series of new high-profile programmes to broaden the reach of higher education schemes. Through partnerships with some of the top universities in the world, several newly-launched startups, including Coursea, are offering free online courses to enhance learning and research. Georgetown University in Washington would become the latest school offering free classes through a partnership with edX, a not-for-profit online education company founded by Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute for Technology (MIT).
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EDUCATION INSIDER I January 2013
Age of executive education now
CISI Centre of Excellence
MUMBAI: With the growing interest of international companies in the Indian market and a large number of Indian companies acquiring a global face, there’s a new market for Indian B-schools - customised executive education programmes. Indian School of Business, Hyderabad, is set to launch its executive education programmes in Mauritius in February 2013. On the other hand, IIM, Bangalore, and S P Jain School of Global Management will shortly deliver education programmes in Ghana and at a fullfledged campus in Australia.
BRISTOL: University of the West of England (UWE) has signed an agreement with the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment (CISI), which would recognise the University as a ‘Centre of Excellence in finance teaching’. This partnership provides an excellent opportunity for students to bridge the gap between the academia and the workplace. UWE MSc Finance graduates will be eligible for full membership (MCSI) of CISI, while UWE undergraduate degrees will be granted associate (ACSI) membership of CISI, subject to the content of the degree programme.
Relief for Chinese students
New sex education module PUNE: The National AIDS Research Institute has developed a sexual health and value education module, titled ‘Adolescent Reproductive and Sexual Health Education’, for students. The module is on life skills development, growing up concerns and nutrition, body image and adolescent sexual behaviour, reproductive and sexual health hygiene, interpersonal and gender relationships, and reproductive tract infections and sexually transmitted diseases.
LONDON: Chinese students aspiring for higher studies in Britain will find it easier to pay their course fees. Students from all provinces in China will be able to pay fees and deposits to UK institutions via online in their own currency. UK universities, which collectively spend an estimated 35 million pounds a year on banking and credit card transactions to collect fees from international students, will not be charged for the new service.
EDUCATION INSIDER I January 2013
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NEWS PLUS
Putting education to
work through youth
F
or the first time in its ten-year history, the Education for All Global Monitoring Report (GMR) has launched a youth campaign to call on governments to help the 200 million 15-24 year olds who never completed primary school and lack the skills to find decent work. Launched on the occasion of Human Right’s Day on December 10, the campaign is rallying young people to call on governments to ‘put education to work’ and help them get dignified jobs. To enable young people who are both on and off-line to take part in the campaign, GMR has set up the world’s firstever global SMS campaign. Young people just have to text their name, age, country, and mention what job they would do if they had the skills. The text message should be sent to +447580 484 263. ‘Let’s put education to work’ is fronted by A’Salfo, a musician from Cote d’Ivoire and the youngest ever United Nations Goodwill Ambassador, and run with partners, Visual. ly, Frontline SMS, Peace Child International, TakingITGlobal and the Youth Employment Network. The campaign aims to gather content by young people to create a usergenerated multi-media online magazine on the crisis of the youth skills deficit. GMR and young campaigners will then deliver the messages to Ministers of Education and media in the New Year. Young people are encouraged to join the campaign in a variety of multimedia ways. To start with, online partner Visual.ly gives campaigners a chance to take part in an infographic competition based on data showing young people’s desperate need for skills. Winners will become certified designers on
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Visual.ly’s online Marketplace. Meanwhile, an online petition and photo/film contest is being hosted by campaign partner TakingITGlobal. Already, many hundreds of young people have joined the campaign. They are taking part in online polls, sending in photos, and writing blogs. A facebook poll spanning numerous countries, including Brazil, Pakistan, Somalia, Zimbabwe, Iran, Egypt and Spain, shows that 90 per cent of under 30 year olds think that their government does not do enough to help disadvantaged young people learn relevant skills for work. A second poll run by campaign partner, Peace Child International, shows that young people want ‘transferable skills’ to be taught in high school so that they could confidently face different work environments and tackle job interviews. The poll result showed that over one in five wished they had been taught entrepreneurial skills in high school; just less than one in five would have liked to have been trained in communications skills. GMR Director Pauline Rose said: “Our report lays out the facts: A fifth of young people today never completed primary school and lack the skills they need to find jobs that can pay them a decent wage. Our new campaign is to help bring change from the huge groundswell of young people’s frustration behind these statistics. “This is the largest youth population the world has ever seen. We’re excited about pulling together their voices and anecdotes from pay as you go mobiles in developing countries and twitter in richer countries such as Spain. Join us – go to our website and sign up.”
EDUCATION INSIDER I January 2013
EDUCATION INSIDER I January 2013
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YOUNG ACHIEVERS
Six-year-old geographer
Twinkle twinkle
little star
B
eing an expert in geography is a Himalayan task even for adults, what to talk of children. But for Meghali Swain, a six-year-old from Bhubaneshwar, Orissa, geography is the most easiest subject. She is being called a “human search engine” specialising in geographical contents. Atlas and world maps are her best friends. Be it continents, countries, mountains, plateaus, plains, rivers, or any other geographical formation on the face
of earth, Meghali never bats an eyelid. A class one student, she is a studious child. At home, she is lost in her own world among maps. Her passion for geography began at the age of four. Even before she could pick up the alphabets in order, she started recognising various countries by name. Soon, she can tell which countries of the world are rich and which are not.
T
anishq Abraham is just eight years old. He is a great astronomer in the making. Born to an Indian and American, he has an extraordinary IQ. Story books have always been his best friends. When he turned four, Tanishq was accepted into the high IQ society MENSA, the largest and oldest high IQ society in the world, open to people who score at the 98th percentile or higher on a standardised, supervised IQ or other approved intelligence test. At the age of five, he completed Stanford University’s EPGY Math courses in five grades. At six, he took online high school and college level classes in Chemistry, Palaeontology, Biology, and Geology. At seven, he joined American River College and completed courses in Geology and Astronomy with ‘A’ grade. During this period, he had also completed an intensive course in Biotechnology. Thereafter, he started taking classes for students who are three times his age. He is not just an academic prodigy. He is a well-trained pianist and musician as well. Now, he plans to build a rocket that can go faster than the speed of light.
Brand marketing through clothing
A
merican-born Jason Sadler is known for his bizarre ideas of branding for products and services through clothing. He makes $500000 a year for sporting various brands on his shirts. He is quite an innovative marketing and advertising guru. After analysing the potential of marketing, he started an online organisation called iwearyourshirt.com. His company does exactly what its name infers. He and his team simply wear the
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respective sponsor’s shirts while socialising. The promotion happens on a large scale. Sponsoring companies only need to reserve their day (of promotion) and mail Sadler two T-shirts. Thereafter, Sadler’s company takes pictures of him wearing the shirts and posts it on Facebook, Flickr, and Twitter; Some video clips are posted on YouTube as well. iwearyourshirt.com’s target audience is the youth. All this may sound funny, but then the strategy paid off. EDUCATION INSIDER I January 2013
Jack Trout SELLING POINT “Claims of difference without proof are really just claims... You can’t differentiate with smoke and mirrors. Consumers are sceptical. They’re thinking, ‘Oh yeah, Mr Advertiser? Prove it!’ You must be able to support your argument,” says America’s marketing strategist Jack Trout in his internationally acclaimed book Differentiate or Die. Author of half-a-dozen bestsellers, Jack is President of Trout & Partners Ltd, a global marketing consultancy based in Connecticut, US. Jack has been consultant to Hewlett-Packard, Southwest Airlines, Merck, Procter & Gamble, and Papa John’s Pizza, among other leading global corporate players. He has even advised the US State Department on how to sell America in a better way. In 2006, he had helped Democrats regain leadership in the US Congress. He continues to advise the Barack Obama administration on strategy. In an interview with Education Insider, Jack shares a few of his ideas on marketing, branding, and strategies by Dipin Damodharan Jack Trout is an acclaimed author of many marketing classics, including Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind, Marketing Warfare (updated in the 20th Anniversary edition), The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing, Differentiate or Die, Big Brands Big Trouble, A Genie’s Wisdom, Trout on Strategy, Repositioning: Marketing In An Era of Competition, and Change and Crisis
Differentiate
or die
Message to young marketers
Get better at marketing. Understand competition better. Avoid a competitor’s strength. Exploit their weakness.
Best quality of a marketer
A good sense of strategy.
Biggest challenge
Increasing competition coming at you from all over the globe.
Role of the CEO
The CEO is the ultimate keeper of the brand. He/she must be involved in implementation of the strategy. They also must get better at marketing.
Companies with best marketing strategies
BMW with their driving machine. Titleist golf balls with their leadership strategy. Bajaj Motorcycles in India. Apple, of course, with their product innovations.
Strength of a brand
The name of a product that has a clear position in the minds of a marketplace.
Brand-building
It comes in four parts: (1) Understanding your competition in terms of strengths and weaknesses; (2) Finding your point of difference; (3) Having the credentials to support that difference; (4) Communicating that difference by constructing your story.
Marketing research
I haven’t noticed any (marketing research tool) of value with the exception of using the Internet as a way to reach markets with a questionnaire. EDUCATION INSIDER I January 2013
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PERSONALITIES Avani Saglani Davda
Fresh brew in the coffee world by EI Bureau
O
h Tata! It’s Starbarbucks now! Starters, listen up! Avani Saglani Davda’s the new poster-girl of India Inc! A strategic thinker, this 33-year-old illustrious alumnus of Mumbai University is the new Chief Executive Officer of Mumbai-based Tata Starbucks chain. Davda is the youngest person to hold this post in one of Tata Group’s joint ventures. Her journey into the world of business began ten years ago, with her entry into the Tata Group as a Tata Administrative Service Probationer. She has worked in the Vice-Chairman’s Office for Tata Global Beverages as chief strategist and initiator, handling the portfolio of marketing and business development. With aplomb, she navigated through the tough terrains of diplomacy, innovation, negotiation, and relationship management, and strengthened the joint venture bond between Tata and Starbucks ahead of their dual purpose vehicle’s entry into the Indian market. In all, it took about ten years. Young talent is aplenty in the corporate world today. And only the rarest of rare have the ability to catch the undivided attention of global business icons. Davda’s ascension in the career ladder came with Chairman of Tata Coffee and Vice-Chairman of Tata Tea and Indian Hotels R K Krishna Kumar’s recognition of her talent during her stint with the sales and marketing team of Indian Hotels, a Tata Group company that owns the Taj hospitality brand. Davda made it to the coveted post of general manager in a short span of five years just because of dedication, hardwork, and adept handling of her assignments. She has helped Tata nurture its growth plans in the hospitality, beverages, and real estate sectors. Now, we know the fine flavours of strategy!
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Prof M J Xavier EXPERT INTERVIEW
IIMs have to reinvent themselves Is India’s management education system in the middle of a crisis? Even the country’s top management institute, IIM Ahmedabad, is struggling to produce good managers and leaders, going by market trends. Is it high time for B-schools to reinvent their teaching, learning, and training strategies to meet the growing demands of a competitive market? Management education experts say that the country’s B-schools have to step into the real world of innovation. “The invasion by American schools and new developments in education technology will make Indian B-schools disappear from the market. Both the IIMs and the second tier of B-schools will have to reinvent themselves by creation of context-specific knowledge applications and adoption of the latest technology,” says Prof M J Xavier, the Founding Director of IIM Ranchi and an expert in management education. In an interview with Education Insider, Xavier decries that management education in India is completely under the influence of the American model. He says that the creation of a caste system in education has only left us weaker by Dipin Damodharan Prof M J Xavier
EDUCATION INSIDER I January 2013
W
hat are your views on the Indian education system? The system developed by the British has completely lost its relevance. We have liberated ourselves from a system that had been merely producing the lower administrative (clerical) staff for Britishers. However, the
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EXPERT INTERVIEW Prof M J Xavier The subsequent decision of the post-independence governments to start professional courses by setting up institutes of excellence, such as the IITs and the IIMs, has only distorted the education system
The day American schools set up shop in India, the IIMs will lose their competitive edge. The best students will not come to the IIMs anymore
subsequent decision of the post-independence governments to start professional courses by setting up institutes of excellence, such as the IITs and the IIMs, has only distorted the education system further. This creation of a caste system in education has left us weaker than the Western systems due to lack of innovation and knowledge creation. What’s the fundamental difference between the Indian education system and the Western models? The Western systems have developed certain processes for effective delivery of knowledge. They have invested a lot in knowledge creation. Even now, they excel in terms of use of online technologies to make education accessible to the masses. The Indian education system in universities is completely fossilised with obsolete curriculum and a process of control that is driven by the syndicate and the senate rather than the market. Has the Indian education system been failing to produce employable students? Education need not always be concerned with production of employable students. Good employment (after graduation) is a by-product of quality education. But for a few university departments, high quality education is simply not possible. Again, in the so-called institutions of excellence, the focus is on ranking and the average starting salaries their graduates fetch. Market-driven education does not necessarily mean
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quality education. My observation is that our system needs to be thoroughly overhauled. It should prepare our students to be future-ready, not just job-ready. What’s the current status of management education in India? At least in areas like liberal arts, we have some hope. Management education in India is completely under the influence of the American model. With the consolidation of management education, weaker institutions do not stand a chance of survival. They are getting closed. With the arrival of American schools in India, the top end will also get wiped out. Harvard School already has eaten into the MDP (management development programme) market of the IIMs. Soon, online education will eat up the rest. What are the challenges in the field of management education? What are the new trends? The invasion by American schools and new developments in education technology will make the Indian B-schools disappear from the market. Both the IIMs and the second tier of B-schools will have to reinvent themselves by creation of context-specific knowledge applications and adoption of the latest technology. They should prepare students for the future market, not for the immediate market needs. As for trends, I see blended learning making conventional learning obsolete. This way, the faculty shortage will become EDUCATION INSIDER I January 2013
We need to impart holistic education that develops not only the intellect, but also the intuition and appreciation for infinity (forces beyond control)
P
rof M J Xavier is the Founding Director of IIM Ranchi. An MTech in Chemical Plant Engineering, Prof Xavier has more than 25 years of professional experience in teaching, research, and consultancy. He obtained his Doctorate in Management from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta. He has served as Research Executive in Mode Research, Calcutta, and as Manager in-charge of Management Development and Services with SPIC Ltd, Chennai. He has taught at XLRI, Jamshedpur, IIM Bangalore, IFMR, Chennai, and Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai. His book, Strategic Marketing, won the DMA-Escorts Award for the best Management Book of the Year 1999.
a thing of the past as quality gurus will be able to reach thousands of students in a single course offering. Mediocre teachers will get eliminated. The need for tutors, who can assist students in different study centres, will rise. The two-year MBA will get squeezed at the top by one year, while short duration and bottom end courses will be replaced by undergraduate programmes. I foresee the arrival of four-year BBA, which will be made the equivalent of engineering. What about the quality of the IIMs? The IIMs are very good at disseminating American management concepts using American textbooks and American case studies. The growth in enrolment, coupled with obsolete teaching methods, left us with little time to develop context-specific knowledge. Those developing India-specific knowledge are not encouraged as higher rewards are given to publications in US journals. The day American schools set up shop in India, the IIMs will lose their competitive edge. The best students will not come to the IIMs anymore. Also, the IIMs are becoming elitist, catering to students from certain sections of society. Management is not rocket science. It can be taught to illiterates as well. Sectoral focus can give sustainable advantage to the IIMs. Do you think there is a burning need to promote EDUCATION INSIDER I January 2013
entrepreneurship in the Indian education system? Innovation and entrepreneurship should undoubtedly be the thrust areas in any management programme. More importantly, we need to impart holistic education that develops not only the intellect, but also the intuition and appreciation for infinity (forces beyond control). We also need to teach things that are going to become important in the coming years, like Analytics, Neuromanagement etc. What’s your definition of education? Education is not about skill-building alone. Excessive market orientation is bad. We should impart education for life rather than living. Reforms in the higher education system alone cannot solve the problems. We should start with school education. The caste system in education, which helps only certain sections of society, should be eliminated from the school level itself. We should improve the literacy levels in the country to 90 per cent and more. Like Mao did in China, a cultural revolution in Indian education is not a bad idea. Mao closed all higher education institutes and made everybody teach the illiterates. Community colleges should come up in a big way. This will ensure regional development and allow people to stay back in their villages and earn a livelihood. For example, fishermen can do courses on fishery, farmers can learn poultry etc. We should use technology to reach the masses.
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COVER STORY The Malala Project-At first glance
What are they all up to,
Malala?
“Martyrs, cher ami, must choose between being forgotten, mocked, or made use of. As for being understood - never!” - Albert Camus, The Fall
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EDUCATION INSIDER I January 2013
by EI Bureau
T
he active involvement of world leaders in the Malala global education project strengthened our belief that Pakistan is on the threshold of making a timely architectural correction in its poorlymanaged education system. But then, education is just one part of a larger systemic malaise. What if the whole system in itself is in need of an overhaul? Before we talk about the crisis of learning spawned by a poor education system, we take a quick look at a few factors that are at the centre of Pakistan’s problems. Admittedly, the world is watching Pakistan with a bated breath. The fresh wave of violence in the restive Northwestern tribal region of the country claimed the lives of six anti-polio drive volunteers. Sadly, even a health drive for babies and infants is being forestalled since militants think “American spies” are at the helm of such campaigns. In short, governance stands challenged yet again, mainly because of the lack of conviction to put up a spirited fight against Terror Inc. So, what about the tall promises being made with the Malala global education project? To be honest, it seems like a great start, but some events associated with 15-year-old Malala Yousafzai and terror must be viewed together to understand the larger challenges at hand. To start with, the world is still united in the ‘I-amMalala’ chorus. But the Malala Project is lost in a maze of superficial humanism, as the high and mighty leaders associated with the campaign are comfortably blind and numb to the terror threats being faced by ordinary people in the vulnerable pockets of Pakistan. Why do we think so? Let’s take a relook at some of the events that unfolded in Pakistan after the October 9 Taliban attack on Malala and two of her schoolmates. Good news: On November 10, people all over the world observed the ‘Malala Day’. Bad news: Neither the Swat district administration nor the educational institutions there held any event in honour of the 15-year-old cause celebre, making a silent, yet loud presentation of the fact that life still remains as tense as it were during Malala’s days. Good news: Early in December, the Pakistani Parliament unanimously adopted a resolution asking the government to declare Malala as the “Daughter of Pakistan”. Bad news: Twelve-year-old Syeda Mehzar Zehra Zaidi and her father were shot by unidentified gunmen on November 30 on Karachi’s busy Shaheedi-Millat Road when she was being taken to school. Her father is dead, while she is battling for life. Sadly, not many of the global sympathisers and supporters of Malala know about this 12-year-old. Isn’t she a daughter of Pakistan? Reports suggest that she is a victim of religious hatred, another serious area of concern that Pakistan has always been giving a silent burial. Good news: Malala’s father Ziauddin Yousafzai has been named United Nations Special Advisor on Global Education by former UK Prime Minister and UN Special Envoy on Global Education Gordon Brown. Bad news: EDUCATION INSIDER I January 2013
Twelve-year-old Syeda Mehzar Zehra Zaidi and her father were shot by unidentified gunmen on November 30 on Karachi’s busy Shaheed-i-Millat road when she was being taken to school. Her father is dead, while she is battling for life. Sadly, not many of the global sympathisers and supporters of Malala know about this 12-yearold. Isn’t she a daughter of Pakistan? Reports suggest that she is a victim of religious hatred, another serious area of concern that Pakistan has always been giving a silent burial. Almost everyone in the global media reported widely that two of Malala’s schoolmates, 16-year-old Kainat Riaz and 13-year-old Shazia Ramzan, who sustained injuries in the October 9 attack, had returned to school with security escorts. Only a few have reported that Kainat and Shazia’s families have decided to relocate to a safer place fearing another Taliban attack. Good news: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton honoured Malala at a UNESCO event in Paris on International Human Rights Day. The advocacy event proved to be a success with the slogan “Stand up for Malala – Girl’s education is a right!” On the occasion, the Malala Fund for Girls’ Right to Education was launched, which is aimed at raising enough money to ensure all girls around the world go to school by 2015. Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, who met Malala earlier at Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham, attended this event and pledged $10 million to the fund. Bad news: With the threat of bombing, militants demanded cash from a church
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COVER STORY The Malala Project-At first glance
Pakistan’s education woes World’s second highest number of children out of school reaching 5.1 million in 2010. 49.5 million adults are illiterate.
Projections indicate that the number of illiterate adults will increase to 51 million by 2015.
The country ranks 113 out of 120 countries in the Education Development Index
school in Pakistan, accusing it of supporting Malala. Good news: Malala has been ranked sixth by Foreign Policy magazine in its top 100 global thinkers list. Interestingly, she is one place ahead of US President Barack Obama. Bad news: The US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, scheduled for 2014, is already causing jitters among both the Afghan and Pakistanis. There are other discordant notes as well. The Tehreek-eTaliban of Pakistan had threatened another schoolgirl from Swat for activism against the militia, forcing her family to flee to Islamabad. Another classic example is the impulsive, foolish act of rechristening a few institutions in Pakistan after Malala and putting other students at a greater risk without making any headway in containing the Taliban extremism. Students of a college in Mingora, Malala’s hometown, staged protests against the renaming of their institution purely on account of security. Were they wrong in doing so? Or can a knee-jerk reaction, made merely to identify oneself with the popular Malala wave, help in keeping the Islamic fundamentalists at bay? Moving ahead, Pakistan’s Interior Minister Rehman Malik has made a promise that Malala will be given security for life. So, what about the others whose lives are at stake in the terror zones of Pakistan? Is the government only committed to Malala’s safety? The official machinery’s lack of preparedness to tide over the terror crisis betrays conscience and defies logic. Well, we’ll leave it at that and move on to the larger context of the Malala story. Now, we look at Pakistan’s security situation. According to the Pentagon’s Report on Progress Toward Security and Stability in Afghanistan, submitted to the US
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Congress, “The Taliban-led insurgency and its al-Qaida affiliates still operate from sanctuaries in Pakistan, though the insurgency and al-Qaida continue to face US counterterrorism pressure within the safe havens.” The report adds, “Pakistani-based sanctuary for insurgents, such as the Haqqani Taliban Network in North Waziristan, as well as the financial and operational support that insurgents receive from various sources, keeps the security situation along the border with Pakistan in Regional Command - East volatile.” In addition to these challenges, the security situation in Afghanistan will change dramatically with the 2014 US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan. And the question is whether the Hamid Karzai government would be able to stem the Taliban resurgence. For now, according to several reports, Afghanistan and Pakistan are banking on a peace initiative that proposes removal of members of the Taliban from the UN terrorist list that would enable them to join negotiations for a power-sharing deal with Karzai. These are just problems at one end of the spectrum. Take a look at the other extreme – Pakistan’s poor progress in education.
Education woes
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he tenth edition of UNESCO’s Education For All Global Monitoring Report (GMR) couldn’t have come at a better time. “Pakistan has some of the worst education EDUCATION INSIDER I January 2013
indicators globally. It has the world’s second highest number of children out of school at 5.1 million (in 2010). Two-thirds of Pakistan’s out-of-school children are girls, amounting to over three million girls. At least 49.5 million adults are illiterate, twothirds of them being women. Globally, this is the third largest country in terms of adult illiteracy. Projections indicate that the number of illiterate adults will increase to 51 million by 2015. The country ranks 113 out of 120 countries in the Education Development Index,” says a GMR factsheet on Pakistan. “From 1999 to 2010, the primary net enrolment ratio rose from 58 per cent to 74 per cent. But the ratio for girls is still 14 percentage points behind the ratio for boys,” the UNESCO report states. The Society for Protection of the Rights of the Child, an NGO based in Islamabad, reported that at least 600,000 children in Northwestern Pakistan have missed a year or more of school because of militant attacks or threats. There are other factors contributing to this dismal scenario in education.
Pakistan’s spending on education
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akistan spends around seven times more on the military than on primary education. Instead of the six per cent that the UN recommends, Pakistan spends only 2.3 per cent of the Gross National Product (GDP) on education. According to GMR, Pakistan had reduced spending on education from 2.6 per cent of Gross National Product (GNP) in 1999 to 2.3 per cent of GNP in 2010. In fact, Pakistan’s spending on education is lower than five states under the grouping of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation. The budget for higher education has decreased by Rs 10 billion, while overall allocation is Rs 48 billion for 2012-13. GMR also says that Pakistan has the worst record in terms of education inequalities in the world. “In 2007, one quarter of 7-16 year olds had never been to school, with wide variations by region, wealth, status, and gender. While only 17 per cent had never been to school in Punjab, 25 per cent were in the same situation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and 37 per cent in Baluchistan. Poorest girls are among the most disadvantaged in all three provinces with over half never having attended school. In Swat district, only (around) one in three girls are in school,” says GMR.
Skill deficit among young people
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he pathetic condition of Pakistan’s education system is reflected even in the GMR findings on huge skill deficit among young people in the country. Over one in three young people in Pakistan have not completed primary school and, as a result, do not have the basic skills they need for work. Twelve million 15-24 year olds lack basic skills, which is the second highest number in developing countries. Another notable feature is that 69 per cent of women are not in the labour force, while the figure for men is eight per cent. Women with a high level of literacy earn 95 per cent more than women with no literacy skills.
In Pakistan, an equal number of girls and boys from the wealthiest urban households go to school, but only one third of girls from the poorest households ever get a chance to attend schools
EDUCATION INSIDER I January 2013
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COVER STORY The Malala Project-At first glance
In an exclusive interview with Dipin Damodharan of Education Insider, Pauline Rose, the Director of UNESCO’s Education For All Global Monitoring Report (GMR), says a culture of peace and tolerance can be promoted only through a sound education system
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hat do you think of the present education scenario in Pakistan? The greatest concern is that wide disparities in the country have left no chance for a large number of girls from poor households to even step into a classroom. The situation is not improving. Our new website, http://www.education-inequalities.org, on disparities in education shows that two out of three of the poorest girls have never even been to school – with only six African countries in a worse situation. The country’s progress in getting the poorest girls into school is less than half that of India, and Nepal, and a quarter of Bangladesh’s. The long-term effect of neglecting child education is that a large proportion of young people will be left without the skills required to find work and contribute effectively to the country’s prosperity, peace, and security. Our latest GMR shows that over a third of young people (equivalent to 12 million young people) in Pakistan do not have the skills they need for work. This is the second highest number of young people lacking even the most basic skills of all countries in the world. Pakistan has some of the worst education indicators in the world, leaving a life-long impact on the lives of millions of young women and men, and holding back progress in the country. Could you comment on the Pakistan government’s spending on education? Our evidence reveals that although Pakistan has the second largest number of out-of-school children in the world, it has reduced the amount it spends on education to less than 2.3 per cent of GNP. Only nine low-income and lower middle income countries spend a smaller share on education. Unless the government increases its spending on education, it will not be able to fulfill any of the goals of the recently-passed Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act. What impact can the Malala incident have on the
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Pak must increase education spending
existing system? Malala has put the spotlight on the need for governments around the world to ensure that every child has the right to education. In particular, Malala has drawn global attention to the plight of millions of girls who are denied the opportunity to go to school. I hope the world will step up their commitment to ensure that all children have equal opportunities to go to EDUCATION INSIDER I January 2013
Percentage of 7-16 years olds who have never been to school (Pakistan, 2007) National Average 100% Region 100% +Wealth Balochistan 100% Punjab 100% +Wealth + Gender Balochistan, Poorest 100% Balochistan, Poorest 100% Punjab, Poorest 100% Punjab, Richest 100%
Balochistan Poorest
Richest Poorest
Female
Male
Female
school and learn. What should the Pakistan government do to improve the situation? The Pakistani government needs to recognise the distance it has to cover before getting all children into school. It urgently needs to change its priorities by increasing its spending on education. Currently, the government spends seven times more on the military than on education. The country needs to look no further than its neighbours, such as India, or Bangladesh, who have covered huge ground in terms of increasing the number of children in school. India, for example, has reduced the number of out-of-school children by 18 million in the same time that Pakistan has reduced their numbers by just three million. It is time for policy to put free and fair education for all at the top of the list of priorities, with a budget allocated to fulfill these ambitions. Until this happens, generation after generation will be unable to find work that will pay them enough to feed their families, or to participate in realising a new economic dawn for Pakistan.
Richest Female
Male
Male
Female
Male
0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0%
Is education the only solution to boot out terror from Pakistan? Only education can bring about a culture of peace and tolerance. Our report in 2011 focussed on conflict and education. It showed that curricula can be developed to promote peace and responsible citizenship. Education can help societies confront violent legacies of the past and forge attitudes conducive to a peaceful future. However, if education’s role in fostering peace is not recognised, it can end up making a country more prone to violence, especially among populations with grievances and perceived injustices over inequalities related to language and ethnicity. If Pakistan fails to give its youth the skills they need to escape poverty and unemployment, despair can often lead to civil unrest. On its own, education cannot break down all preconceived beliefs or forge peace but, if education is seen as part and parcel of a strategy for achieving peace and security, it can be instrumental in promoting tolerance, and help in reducing conflict for future generations.
Tragedy at Connecticut school America is in a state of mourning. A twenty-yearold youth went on a shooting rampage at an elementary school in Newtown, a small town in the American state of Connecticut, on December 15, killing 28 people, including 20 children. The gunman shot himself in the end. Addressing an interfaith vigil a day after the incident, US President Barack Obama said, “Can we say that we’re truly doing enough to give all the children of this country the chance they deserve to live their lives in happiness and with purpose? I’ve been reflecting on this the last few days, and if we’re honest with ourselves, the answer’s no. We’re not doing enough. And we will have to change.”
EDUCATION INSIDER I January 2013
0% 0%
Punjab
A humble request to world leaders It’s high time for Pakistan to dismantle the terror infrastructure from its soil. And it’s also time for global statesmen to redeem themselves in front of the children of the world. They should prove naysayers wrong by setting up classrooms in the conflict-ridden parts of the world. Piecemeal measures and grants in the name of education will not work. And war may not always be the best solution to contain terror. An all-inclusive dialogue should be given a chance.
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COVER STORY The Malala Project-At first glance
Educati at the
n
risk of life For those who still do not know much about Malala Yousafzai, here’s a recap of the events that shot a simple Pakistani schoolgirl to centre stage Phyza Jameel
I
‘‘
’m Afraid. I had a terrible dream yesterday with military helicopters and the Taliban. I have had such dreams since launch of the military operation in Swat.” Malala Yousafzai wrote these lines in her diary on January 3, 2009, when the military operation had begun in the serene valley of Swat, located in the north of Khyber Pakhtunwa province of Pakistan. Malala was 11 years old then, a tiny schoolgirl from Swat who had
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started writing, in pursuit of her passion for education, on the website of BBC Urdu as a columnist. Publishing articles under the pseudonym ‘Gul Makai’, she spoke of the importance of small things in her life; like not being able to wear the school uniform to avoid detection by the Taliban; the absence of her classmates whenever there was news of terror; and the hope of seeing her English teacher again after the curfew. These small things speak of the high magnitude of fear and restrictions that a simple schoolgirl of Malala’s age had to face every day. They speak of the social and psychological changes that girls of her age had to go EDUCATION INSIDER I January 2013
through while pursuing education in Pakistan’s security-hit areas. Malala’s diary ended with the school closing “indefinitely” for the winter in 2009, when about two million inhabitants of Swat were temporarily displaced because of the full-blown military operation against the Taliban. Malala soon became a symbol of defiance (against Taliban subjugation), hope, and courage for schoolgirls. Sadly, on the morning of October 9, masked Taliban gunmen answered Malala’s courage with bullets, singling out the 14-year-old on a bus filled with terrified schoolchildren. They shot her in the head and neck and hurt two of her classmates. While her injured classmates finally returned to their school last week, Malala is still recuperating at a hospital in London. Restoration of Swat schoolgirls’ right to education is Malala’s main goal in life. And she wants to make it happen by becoming a politician and activist. In Swat district, only one in three girls attends school. Malala’s fight has turned the spotlight on a wider problem in Pakistan. The 2012 Education for All Global Monitoring Report (GMR) of UNESCO, published in November, says that Pakistan has the second highest number of out-of-school children in the world - over 5 million – and the second highest number of girls out of school. According to sources in the government, more than 400 schools were shut down in Khyber Pakhtunwa province and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan in 2009 due to security reasons. Unconfirmed reports suggest that the actual number of such schools may be two times higher than the official admission. Many of these schools had been targets of bombing and other terror acts. Thus, education still remains out of reach for thousands of boys and girls. Conflict in some parts of the country is certainly holding back progress in education. But conflict is not the only reason. The 2012 GMR says that Pakistan’s military spending is about seven folds higher than the assistance for education. Pakistan is one of a small number of countries that have reduced spending on education, which has dropped from an already abysmal 2.6% of the GNP in 1999 to 2.3% in 2010. Therefore, the security situation is just one of the troublespots in a long list of worries. Poverty alleviation and EDUCATION INSIDER I January 2013
lack of resources for a sound education system are among other serious concerns. “I’m sad watching my uniform, school bag, and geometry box and hurt, as my brothers can go to school while I can’t,” says Malala in one of her articles. Her writings have inspired thousands of girls in places where survival in itself is a great challenge and educational empowerment comes at a huge price. (Phyza Jameel is a consultant with UNESCO, Islamabad, in the Communication and Information Sector, working for the Freedom of Expression Division. She has worked as a journalist for CNBC and as a freelancer for Christian Science Monitor. She lives and works in Islamabad. Contact at phyzaa@gmail.com)
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VOICES
“Management education in India is facing a very significant challenge. We have not been able to focus on employability and the skill part of it” Dr Rajan Saxena, ViceChancellor, Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies and former Director of IIM, Indore
“The concept of autonomous colleges must be encouraged. Autonomy holds the key to excellence in education, research, and industryrelevant innovations” Professor P B Sharma, Vice-Chancellor of Delhi Technological University
“Flipped learning is the latest buzzword. In the US and Europe, especially in the UK, educators are becoming more of a mentor, or a coach, and helping students understand their subject rather than just being a public speaker” Lynnette Whitfield, Director, Education Industry Solutions & Market Development, Asia Pacific
“The idea of Rhizomatic learning is to prepare students for the uncertainty of the decisions they may have to make. Students come to my classrooms to understand a little more about how knowledge is being negotiated online” Dave Cormier, Rhizomatic learning expert
“Given our focus on English and foreign languages, we need to remind ourselves that this University has a huge potential in a knowledge society” Prof Sunaina Singh, Vice-Chancellor, English Foreign Language University, Hyderabad
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EDUCATION INSIDER I January 2013
Your search ends here! Enter a new world of empowerment! www.educationinsider.net
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THE INNOVATOR Guest Column Pavan Soni
The true
calling of a teacher W
hen it comes to development, what matters most is who’s leading from the front. If Britain, Germany, the US, and Japan led the charge in the earlier centuries, Singapore, China, and Israel are striving to emulate them today. What enables them to maintain the lead? Industrial revolution, technology boom, consumerism, and national productivity are all intrinsically related to the strengths of a country’s education system. Put it simply, education is a vital cog in the wheels of development, and these countries have given education the primacy it deserves. An evenly balanced education system provides a supply line of talent and tools for purposeful research aimed at meeting the present day demands and challenges of future. The education system of Singapore is a case in point. With an expansive growth
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model, supported by a strong education system, Singapore holds a prime position in the global economy, despite the absence of any significant natural resource. It only goes on to show that education at the primary level and research productivity at the higher level can have orbit-shifting impacts on societies and nations. The intent of this article is to make a case for research and teaching as a rewarding career, and to share my experiences as a researcher. After graduating from National Institute of Industrial Engineering, Mumbai, in 2005, I joined Wipro as a consultant. Between 2005 and 2011, Wipro helped me make a transition from the role of a consultant to an Innovation Evangelist. But for a short phase of one year, I have put the past five years to great use by investing my time in innovative endeavours, including studies,
writing, and consulting. One of the greatest benefits of working with Wipro, something I treasure, is the freedom the firm gave me in choosing my field of interest and experimentation. In many ways, I consider myself lucky, as I had some of the best people as my bosses. While at Wipro, I developed a keen interest in innovation and creativity, and my work allowed me to interact with hundreds of employees, teach at various educational institutes, consult with clients and organisations, and build my knowledge base. It was a dream run. I was so happy with the job that I thought I would retire from Wipro! But somewhere I had this urge to delve deeper into reading, writing, and teaching. I sensed that my capabilities could better be utilised in an academic set-up. Besides, I wasn’t adding much to my own body of knowledge in EDUCATION INSIDER I January 2013
a rigorous fashion. So, I decided to take the GMAT (Graduate Management Admission Test) and apply for PhD programmes at select institutes. Eventually, I got selected for the Fellow Programme in Management at IIM Bangalore. At IIM Bangalore, we are a cohort of 22 students selected from over 1,300 applicants. It’s been over 15 months, and I have been drinking from fire hose ever since. I not only enriched my knowledge base, thinking skills, reasoning, and articulation skills, but also got a larger perspective on life, and that’s perhaps why the degree (PhD) is called the ‘Doctorate of Philosophy’. I focus on innovation management since my key areas are Corporate Strategy and Policy. Given my interests, the institute’s expertise, and market demand, I think it’s a great place to be. Though it was a tough decision to give up a well-paying job and become a student all over again, I never felt the pinch monetarily, or otherwise. The prospects from here on are amazing, for I can join any of the coveted institutes as a faculty member, continue doing my research, and live my passion. Amazingly, over the last 15 months, almost 20 people reached out to me with an interest in doing this programme. It was heartening to see how people, disillusioned with their corporate careers, were in search of their passion. They had some very interesting questions, such as “what are the career prospects? How much time does it take? How difficult is the programme? How do I manage in terms of finance? Will I earn enough as a teacher?” I am sure there are several others who aren’t happy with what they are doing, but somehow can’t muster the courage to make a decision and act upon it. This article is for the fence-sitters who know that they aren’t enjoying what they are doing, but are unsure EDUCATION INSIDER I January 2013
of the next course of action.
Checklist for being a successful teacher
Money may not be the driving force to take up teaching. Nevertheless, good teachers do make decent money. To ask “how much money can I make after doing PhD?” is just like asking “how much money can I make after taking dance classes”. Like any other field, competence is what matters. Excellent teachers can make a lot of money, while the average ones can make a reasonably good living (post-PhD). But, ideally, moneymaking shouldn’t be the reason for pursuing higher education; money is just one of its many rewards. I have had the fortune of being taught by some of the best in the business. Their lessons have stayed with me ever since. Here is my list of traits that makes a good teacher: command over his/her area of study, creativity, curiosity, humility, and discipline. The mark of a good institute is its capacity to inculcate these traits among students. IIM Bangalore is one such institution, I can vouch for that. So, the first thing a PhD candidate must do is to make a self-assessment whether teaching excites him/her, irrespective of the outcome. If you love to delve deeper into concepts, and enjoy shared knowledge and ideas, teaching can be a highly rewarding profession in the longer run, both in terms of pay package and work satisfaction.
Rigour versus relevance
An academic must strike a fine balance between rigour and relevance to create a research environment that can broaden his body of knowledge in the best possible way. For long, our higher education system has been more focussed on offering relevance, which speaks volumes on the current alignment. The number of elective courses offered by various
Money may not be the driving force to take up teaching. Nevertheless, good teachers do make decent money. To ask “how much money can I make after doing PhD?” is just like asking “how much money can I make after taking dance classes”
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THE INNOVATOR Pavan Soni
management institutes and colleges is a case in point. But somewhere down the line, the teachers engaged in the process of broadening the audience base and the portfolio of subjects tend to lose focus, resulting in dismal performance on the (research) publication front. Interestingly, the IIM system manages to strike a fine balance. Most teachers take up postgraduate programmes and engage in industry consulting, while a rather lower mass focus on teaching PhD level courses and carrying out research. This IIM model is worth emulating. Publication brings international recognition and consulting helps build local reputation. Both are richly rewarding as long as one is willing to defer gratification. Having been involved in the field of consulting for quite some time, I look forward to getting some publications under my belt and build on the rigour domain.
Ability to influence character
A good teacher can influence students in many ways, just like parents. I firmly believe in this and have firsthand experience. Teachers, by the virtue of their power in terms of knowledge, authority, and responsibility, are uniquely positioned. They can influence a student cerebrally, affectively, and behaviourally in very fundamental ways. A teacher with an average career span of 30 years touches the lives of 4,000-5,000 students directly, and several others indirectly. An influential teacher can change the course of a student’s life and that
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of society. Hence I chose to be a teacher. So much for the benefits of being a teacher and the virtue of doing a PhD from a good institution. Now, how about taking the first step towards such a long journey. On an average, PhD programmes take four to six years, and this might come at the expense of career opportunities. Listed below are the three rules that helped me overcome the social, psychological, and financial barriers: Remain debt-free: Mostly, after an MBA programme, while a student is busy paying the education loan, better lifestyle choices may burden him/her further. A home, a car, and personal loans for a few other needs can lead him/her to an overbearing EMI trap. By the time the person repays his/her loan, it may be a little too late in the day. Hone multiple affiliations: One should always have a fallback option when it comes to making career choices or shifts. His/her networking, learning, sharing, and lifestyle changes should not revolve around his/her profession alone. Networking with different types of people, putting yourself in unique situations, and travelling to different places make you creative and help add spice to your life. Take half chances: Metros are full of opportunities for those aged between 25 and 35. People coming under this age group can afford to experiment or take risks. Risk-taking becomes a bit dangerous for those beyond this age. The right profile should guide your job hunt. Money alone should not be the motivating factor. Everything falls into the right place once you discover your true calling in life. That sums up the story of my life. I have been part lucky and part thoughtful in crafting a rewarding career, and I wish you the same.
About the author
Pavan Soni is an Innovation Evangelist by profession and a teacher by passion. He is currently pursuing his doctoral studies at IIM Bangalore and specialises on the areas of strategic management, innovation, and creativity. He works closely with the Karnataka Knowledge Commission and the Bangalore Chamber of Industry and Commerce, and offers consultation to leading organisations, helping them in promoting a culture of innovation. Catch him at www. pavansoni.net, or contact him at innovation. evangelist@gmail.com EDUCATION INSIDER I January 2013
School Of Thought GOOD SHEPHERD INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL
The Good Shepherd Writing about a great visionary, who erected one of the most venerated edifices of educational excellence in India, on the basis of one encounter is a tough task, given the paucity of time and space for a detailed look into his illustrious history. So, to make up for the gaps in the story, our correspondents thought it would be best to begin with Former Chief Justice of India Mr M N Venkatachaliah’s apt use of a poetic metaphor from Kalidasa’s Kumara Sambhava to describe the indomitable courage and commitment of the ‘Good Shepherd’, Dr P C Thomas: “Kaha Ipsithartha Sthira Nischayam Manah Payascha Nimnabhimukham Pratheepayeth (Who can reverse the course of a determined mind set on a goal or arrest the descent of a torrential stream hurtling down a mountain from reaching their goals)” by Sreekanth Ravindran & Sanjeev Neelakantan
EDUCATION INSIDER I January 2013
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GOOD SHEPHERD INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL School Of Thought
Kalidasa’s verse is part of an evocative foreword, penned by Justice Venkatachaliah, to Dr Thomas’ autobiography, ‘An Event Called Life’, which is scheduled for release in January 2013 at Kochi. Driven by an inquisitive mind, as we headed for the Nilgiri Hills in Tamil Nadu for an interview with Dr Thomas on the success of Good Shepherd International School, we were taken in by the breathtaking spectacle of nature, that made us wonder about the journey of this man to Ooty from a peaceful, small hamlet in Kerala called Ettumanoor.
Early days
When Dr Thomas was barely four, his father had passed away. Yet, his mother made up for the loss by teaching him to brave fear and adversity with steely determination and courage. While majoring in Botany as an undergraduate at St Thomas College in Palai, Kottayam, Dr Thomas was drawn by the ideals of the Swatantra Party. He got an opportunity to organise several party events/ meetings, speak on its political ideology, and raise his voice for the marginalised sections of society. But the heart of a down to earth man did not blend well with politics, making him opt out of it soon enough.
Transition from a student to a teacher
After completing B.Ed from St Joseph’s College, Mannanam (Kottayam) and MA in
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English Literature from Devagiri College (Calicut), Dr Thomas, who in his later years obtained a Doctorate in Education Management from Columbia Pacific University, California, USA, started his professional career as an English teacher at Loyola School in Trivandrum in January 1969, with a copy of William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice before class XI students. A year later, he joined the Sainik School at Bijapur, Karnataka, where he learnt the art of military regimen. Three years later, internal politics made him leave Sainik School for a better position, of the headmaster, at the Cordite Factory School in Aravankadu, Nilgiris. Politics played the spoilsport yet again, forcing him to move on, this time, as the Principal of Breeks Memorial School, Nilgiris. For the next two years, he fought many battles with parents and teachers, either for his disciplinary action against erring students, or his open dismissal of the commercial private tutorial system being run for weaker students by teachers at Breeks. In 1976, Dr Thomas was tired of the “charades, the tension and the needless worries”. He then glanced upon a note of prophecy, written by his teacher and a genius in Mathematics, Prof Ramakrishnan Pillai of St Thomas College. Prof Pillai had said, “Thomas, I was checking your horoscope. You will create a legacy in education. You will go and build a great school in a hill EDUCATION INSIDER I January 2013
Swing on the water & make life in full swing
Thrikunnapuzha, Alappuzha, Kerala, India
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GOOD SHEPHERD INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL School Of Thought
station. You will also provide employment to hundreds of families and make your presence felt as an entrepreneur as well.” Dr Thomas wondered whether this would be true.
Prophecy comes true
In February 1977, with great support from his beloved wife, Elsamma Thomas, and a few close friends, Good Shepherd International School made a modest beginning at Mowbray House, a rented bungalow in the Nilgiris, with 54 children. Shortly after, well-known industrialist M A Chidambaram put in a word for Dr Thomas before Fatehsinghrao
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Gaekwad, the scion of the royal Gaekwad dynasty of Baroda, for sale of his summer palace in the Nilgiris to his educationist friend. The scion agreed to sell his palace. And Good Shepherd’s future started looking promising enough, just as the prophecy.
An introduction to Good Shepherd International School
This international residential school is home to students from more than 40 countries. While admissions to the school are offered from the first to twelfth standard, the academic programmes are synchronised with three of the world’s premier EDUCATION INSIDER I January 2013
examination boards, the ICSE/ISC of the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations, the Cambridge Primary/Cambridge Secondary I/ Cambridge IGCSE of University of Cambridge International Examinations in the United Kingdom, and the Diploma Programme of the International Baccalaureate Organisation, Geneva, Switzerland. With cent per cent passing rates, students have been persistently putting up an outstanding performance. Of course, this may not have been possible without the guidance of great teachers.
What makes Good Shepherd distinct? EDUCATION INSIDER I January 2013
The neatly arranged wenge wood-panelled cabin of Dr Thomas and the well-manicured garden only accentuate the value he accords to disciplined living and nature. His approach towards life is also simple and target-oriented. “Education must be holistic. Only then we can empower individuals, making them learn how to admire life, confront challenges, overcome difficulties, achieve success (in the long-term), and appreciate the bounties of life as well as nature,” says Dr Thomas. “This is the only complete residential school in the country, though I know that there will be many other schools who claim this. In our case, even if our staff is staying in the building next to the hostel, we make it compulsory for children to stay in the boarding house. Even my grandchildren are staying in the boarding. The other thing is about adhering to a holistic approach towards education. There is a lot of difference between claiming, proclaiming, declaring, and adopting or following such an approach,” says Dr Thomas. His wife and Senior Vice-Principal of Good Shepherd International School, Mrs Elsamma Thomas, too, points out the same, “Our outlook is different from other schools. We emphasise on meticulous training in all aspects of academics, along with personal attention and care to each child.” Career guidance and individual counselling are given utmost importance at Good Shepherd. The academic facilities include a fully-fledged library, audio-visual theatres, and computer, science, and language laboratories. The Career Guidance Centre keeps track of all students and identifies their specific areas of interest. Following completion of twelfth standard, students are helped in securing admission to various undergraduate programmes, both in India and abroad. Another important academic feature of Good Shepherd is the provision of value-based education.
Beyond academics
An erudite academician, Dr Thomas says, “We give equal importance to extracurricular activities. We offer training to students in mountaineering, rifle shooting, horse riding, golf, and billiards, among other things. A combination of academics and character development programmes helps us produce complete individuals. If a parent says that my child should get 95 per cent, I would say, sorry, please go to some other school; I can only promise to deliver a complete individual. Our teacher-
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GOOD SHEPHERD INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL School Of Thought
student ratio is one is to four. We have 18 coaches for different games, while most schools just have one physical education teacher. Besides, not many schools have accreditation from the Council of International Schools.” Acknowledging the therapeutic value of music in shaping talented individuals with a sense of emotional balance, the Good Shepherd Music Department offers training in piano, recorder, violin, classical guitar, trumpet, euphonium, and other wind and wood instruments. Every Shepherdian is taught at least one string or percussion instrument. Significantly, students of Western music get a chance to attend the examinations conducted by Trinity Guildhall College of Music, London, on an annual basis. The school has three brass bands and three pipe brands.
to attract the best teachers from India and countries like the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Australia.”
Private schools’ opposition to the Right To Education Act “As an educationist, I wish to offer my
Milestones
Dr Thomas proudly says, “Not a single year has gone by without any accomplishments. We received commendation at the International Baccalaureate review recently. We are seeking two more international accreditations. We, however, don’t rest on laurels. We are constantly exploring possibilities of improving quality, both on the academic as well as co-curricular fronts. Today, everyone is conscious of quality, and we know how to uphold values.”
Quality of teaching faculty
This is a grave matter of concern, says Dr Thomas, adding, “Finding good teachers is very difficult. We offer our teachers furnished family accommodation, free education for their children, and the best pay packages. So far, I have been able
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EDUCATION INSIDER I January 2013
arguments. Though we have been talking about universal access to education from the day the Constitution has been drafted, no progress has been made yet. Even the much-needed reforms (in the education sector) are not coming through. The Right to Education has been there since 1947, but nobody has ever bothered to implement it. Now that successive governments have failed, the private players are being blamed for the current imbroglio. The government has been collecting cess in the name of education. What has happened to this money? Where’s the transparency? Asking private schools to admit 25 per cent of students from weaker sections of society compulsorily within a 1.5-km radius of their institution could lead to social problems. We need intelligent policies to end social inequality. Policy-makers should have the will power to do the needful,” suggests the Principal of Good Shepherd International School.
What’s the way out of the mess?
First of all, he says, education should not be left to the state governments. “It (education) must be handled by the Union government. We should have an Indian Education Service. Such a system was there during the British times. Why did independent India decide to discontinue it? Instead of implementing the Right to Education Act, the government should ask corporate players to set up
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quality schools in different neighbourhoods and communities. I should be asked to set up at least two schools in the villages. I will run them with quality,” says Dr Thomas, adding, the state syllabus should be integrated with Central syllabus for better results.
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GOOD SHEPHERD INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL School Of Thought
How good is the residential school system?
Unfortunately, he says, most parents do not have enough time for their children. “Parenting is a serious issue. At Good Shepherd, we strengthen the bonding between a child and his/her parent. Parents can meet their children once in six weeks. They can talk to their wards over phone and write letters. The residential school system is known for strict discipline, but it teaches children about the values of our social systems,” says Dr Thomas.
Facilities at Good Shepherd
The school has two campuses: while the Primary School functions from the Fernhill Campus, the erstwhile summer palace of the Maharaja of Baroda, the Middle School, High School, and Higher Secondary School are located in the salubrious 90-acre Palada Campus of Good Shepherd Knowledge Village at Muthorai Palada, about five kms from Fernhill. The health concerns of about 2,000 residents, including students and staff, are taken care of by two 24/7 40-bed hospitals. The core health team consists of two resident doctors, supported by nursing and paramedical staff. The Intensive Care Unit is full-fledged and matches the standards of a specialty hospital. A well-equipped ambulance service is also maintained by the institute. Dr Ashok Prasad, the Resident Medical Officer at Good Shepherd, says: “Students are vaccinated against all possible contagious diseases. We educate
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them on disease prevention. We have a trained nutritionist who takes care of the students’ dietary requirements. An orthodontist visits the campus on a regular basis to take care of oral diseases among students. We conduct regular inspections at the kitchen and dining halls. Hygiene is ensured at all costs. We are the only international school in the country to give immunisation for Hepatitis A to food-handlers.”
A safe zone
Ruth C Jones, the Admissions Coordinator at Good Shepherd, says: “My daughter is also a Shepherdian. Like other students, she is in a safe zone, which enables the children here to blossom independently. That is the transformation being brought about by Good Shepherd.”
Scribbling from the past, signature for posterity
During his student days, Dr Thomas made a scribbling in his diary, charting out a journey for a lifetime. It read: “A passenger on the planet – that is what I am A passenger who will never walk on it again So make the most of it, I must In this one lifetime, I will not be an aimless missile, Not me, for I will Make a difference to those who matter And better this world of mine.” That’s how this Good Shepherd knows to keep his flock together! EDUCATION INSIDER I January 2013
Lakshmi Pratury STARTUP CATALYST
INKing ideas for future
Lakshmi Pratury is the host and curator of The INK Conference and Founder of Ixoraa Media. Co-host of TEDIndia 2009, she was featured in Forbes Asia’s 2010 list of 100 Most Powerful Women. In an interview with Education Insider, Lakshmi talks about the role played by InkTalks, an ideation platform co-founded by her, in promotion of the entrepreneurship culture in India
Photo: Nimish Jain
by Neethu Mohan Could you explain the role of InkTalks in promotion of entrepreneurship among Indian youth? Intalks began as a medium that could showcase untold stories (of heroism and enterprise). There are so many things happening not just in India but around the world, in emerging economies. We want to provide a platform that can translate ideas into strategies irrespective of the age of the people behind such initiatives. In other words, Intalks is a catalyst. The whole idea is to establish a new kind of university. Education should foster learning in the truest sense. It should not be limited to attainment of a degree, or the prospects of lucrative employment. What is your take on the entrepreneurship culture in Kerala? Do you think Kerala needs more startups like Innoz Technologies? Women in Kerala are strong. They represent the progressive face of a strong community. In Kerala, people are not short of brilliant ideas when it comes to entrepreneurship, but there is a great need to create the right kind of atmosphere for implementation of these ideas. Favouritism or personal jealousies should not come into play. What does the word entrepreneur mean to you? It is the pursuit of an idea. It is not about starting a new company. What really matters is the passion you have for an idea. What is India’s position in social
EDUCATION INSIDER I January 2013
entrepreneurship? Our society needs all kinds of entrepreneurships - social, cultural, technological et al. We must respect all kinds of entrepreneurship. Money shouldn’t be the criteria to judge the success of an entrepreneurship model. Rather, the focus should be on the impact it creates. What will be your agenda for the 2013 INK Conference? During the industrial revolution, the focus was on productivity. Then, the focus shifted to money. Our priorities keep changing. The very means of our survival depends on relationships between each other and with the Universe at large. Do you think the Indian education system has failed to produce students with entrepreneurship skills? The Indian education system is somewhat fine. What we lack is proper application of skills, though we are good at theoretical brilliance. Yet, many great personalities are byproducts of this very system. So, before calling it a total failure, we need to understand the flaws within. We have to bring in some practical orientation. What’s the link between education and entrepreneurship? Education is essential for the success of entrepreneurship. After all, we are not born with ideas.
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Nobel & The Matchmaker Alvin Roth
Matchmaker Matchmaker Make Me A Match... Alvin Elliot Roth of Harvard University and Lloyd Shapley of University of California Los Angeles were honoured with the 2012 Nobel Prize in Economics “for the theory of stable allocations and the practice of market design”. The American scholars studied the matchmaking that takes place when doctors are coupled up with hospitals, students with schools, and human organs with transplant recipients. The work of Roth and Shapley has sparked a “flourishing field of research” and helped improve the performance of many markets, said the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. Shapley, 89, is a professor emeritus at University of California Los Angeles. Roth, 60, is a professor at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Harvard Business School in Boston. He is also a visiting professor at Stanford University in California. In an interview with Education Insider early this month, Roth talked about the relevance of matchmaking theory in different markets
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EDUCATION INSIDER I January 2013
by Sanjeev Neelakantan
T
ell us about your educational background and the genesis of the matchmaking theory? I was educated as an engineer, with undergraduate and graduate degrees in Operations Research. So, I basically set out to learn how to make things work better. I became interested in all the ways people interact, and that brought me to the study of marketplaces. Matching markets are all those markets in which you can’t just choose what you want, but also have to be chosen. These are some of the most important markets in our lives, since they determine where we go to school and university, what jobs we get, even who we marry! How does the matchmaking theory work? Matching theory is about all the matchmaking that goes on in markets in which price alone doesn’t determine who gets what. How does the New England Program for Kidney Exchange work? Can this model be applied to other critical areas of healthcare? Kidney exchange comes about because healthy people have two kidneys. They can remain healthy with one. So, a healthy person can save the life of a person with end-stage kidney disease by donating a kidney to him. Sometimes, you are healthy enough to give a kidney, but your kidney is incompatible with the recipient. Kidney exchange lets two or more such incompatible patient-donor pairs arrange an exchange, so each patient receives a compatible kidney from some other patient’s donor. It’s also possible for a healthy person to donate part of their liver, and as that surgery becomes less dangerous, liver exchanges may become more
EDUCATION INSIDER I January 2013
common. Do you foresee introduction of the theory of matchmaking as a specialised discipline in the higher education system in the near future? I think that market design will become more commonly studied as a sub-discipline of economics, and, perhaps, also of computer science. What’s the concept of “repugnant markets”? Can you cite some examples of repugnancy in the modern day context? A repugnant transaction is one that some people would like to take part in, and other people think they shouldn’t be allowed to. So, the sale of kidneys for money is a good example: in many countries, it’s against the law (but not everywhere: the Islamic Republic of Iran is a notable exception). Whom do you admire the most when it comes to great economic theorists? I’m lucky to be sharing the Nobel award with Lloyd Shapley, one of the great economic theorists I admire. What kind of real world problems have you attended to so far through your theory of matchmaking? My colleagues and I have designed labour market clearinghouses, school choice systems, kidney exchange, and addressed a number of other matchmaking marketplaces. In one of your interviews, you have been quoted as saying, “Some say economics has all kinds of good tools and techniques, but it has an absence of interesting problems.” What’s the import of this statement? I certainly never said that, Steve Levitt did, in connection with his book Freakonomics. I was quoted as disagreeing with it. I think economics is full of interesting problems — economics is about how we live our lives, and organise ourselves to cooperate and compete. What could be more interesting than that? What are your current engagements? Currently, I’m caught up in the Nobel tidal wave: this week, I’ll be joining the other American prizewinners for receptions at the White House and the Swedish embassy in Washington, next week I’ll be going to Stockholm. What’s your message to the youth interested in pursuing a career in economics? Economics is the study of how we humans organise ourselves. It’s endlessly fascinating. But we don’t know much about it yet, so we can use your help.
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BRAIN WAVE Ravi Subramanian
Money, murder, corruption, and the incredible
banker by Neethu Mohan
With over two decades of experience in the banking industry, Ravi Subramanian entered the literary world with If God Was A Banker in 2007. After winning critical acclaim for I Bought The Monk’s Ferrari, and The Devil In Pinstripes, he came out with The Incredible Banker, which won The Economist Crossword Book Award in 2010. No wonder, he calls himself the “John Grisham of Banking”. In an interview with Education Insider, this IIM alumnus says the Indian education system should encourage creativity and do away with the textbookish mode of learning
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What’s the plot of ‘The Bankster’?
The Bankster is a modern thriller in which three bankers get murdered and people mistake the crimes for a chain of suicides. These murders are then linked to two parallel stories, one trail leading to a diamond and arms smuggling racket in Angola, and the other to a small village in Kerala which witnesses local warfare over a nuclear reactor project. The story takes another twist with the revelation that one of the main characters, a Banker, is actually a gangster. It is a corporate thriller, murder mystery, and not a political satire. Once you get past the first few pages, you won’t be able to put the book down.
What inspired you to become a writer?
There is a philosophy behind it. People will laugh at me if I say that! People might forget the name of Pepsi’s CEO five years from now, but a book like John Grisham’s The Partner will stay in public memory for a long time. Creative people are often remembered than EDUCATION INSIDER I January 2013
corporate personalities. Initially, I just wanted to write one book. But the success of If God Was A Banker changed my outlook and ambitions yet again.
Tell us about your transition to a writer?
It was very easy since my stories deal with banking. I have 20 years of experience in the industry. Whatever I have written comes from real life incidents. The only challenge was to find time for writing after a stressful job schedule. Jeffrey Archer says the first draft takes about 1,000 hours. We don’t write as intensely as Archer does, so the first draft always takes a lot of time. Initially, I found it very difficult to strike a balance between work life and writing. Over a period of time, I mastered the art.
Were your plots a mere coincidence?
I combined my faith (in banking) with my craft in writing, which later became a strategy.
If God Was A Banker made me comfortable and confident about my writing. I realised the potential for books on banking. Books that deal with money, people, crime, and corruption have always evoked great interest among readers. My 20 years of banking has helped me a great deal. Banking as a plot started as a coincidence, becoming a carefully chosen path later.
Which writers have inspired you?
John Grisham has influenced me in a big way. The other writer I admire the most is Jeffrey Archer, known for his gripping plots and crispy writing.
What are your views on the Indian education system?
I think our education system is a lot more textbookish. Our education system tests our children’s memory power, not their knowledge. We don’t assess their all-around abilities. A system of this sort kills creativity and makes children slaves of rote learning. We need not have an exam-centric system. Expose them to extracurricular activities in a more effective way. Children in 10th standard have to bear the burden of an extensive syllabus, including portions from 9th standard textbooks. Why can’t we just go for a six-month evaluation? Children aged between 13 and 15 are put through a lot of pressure. I think our evaluation system should be more practical.
What’s your take on the management education system?
The management education system in India is nothing but rubbish. They just pick up communication skills, a few business jargons, and get a fair view of certain aspects of the corporate sector. Their exposure to corporate life increases only when they enter the job sector. But that doesn’t prepare them for the daily challenges of life. This is the reason why most people hop from one job to another in the first year itself. Management institutions should prepare them to take on the challenges of life.
What’s your message to the youth?
Get realistic. The nation depends on you. Be honest in whatever you do. Be realistic in your expectations. EDUCATION INSIDER I January 2013
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CAMPUS FOCUS University of Glasgow
Off to Dear
Green Place University of Glasgow is located in Glasgow, the largest city of Scotland known as Dear Green Place. Established in 1451, University of Glasgow, one of the oldest universities in the world, has grown into a centre of excellence with its global outreach and research initiatives. With annual research grants and contracts crossing $150 million, the university is currently engaged in a wide spectrum of researches, from detection of Malaria parasites to the Large Hadron Collider experiment. The university is a member of the prestigious Russell Group of leading British research universities and figures high on the list of world’s best varsities in terms of international student satisfaction. The university is well-known for its rich social and cultural diversity, as it attracts students from more than 100 countries. Now, one may still ask, why study in Glasgow? It’s simple. Known as the “Second City of the British Empire” for much of the Victorian era and Edwardian period, Glasgow is one of Europe’s top ten financial centres and home to many of Scotland’s leading businesses. Glasgow is also ranked as the 57th most liveable city in the world. In an exclusive interview with Education Insider, Prof Vivienne Baumfield, the Director of University of Glasgow International Educational Consultancy, talks about the university’s inclusive and consultative approach towards management and governance by Sreekanth Ravindran As an international study destination, what is the Scottish education system famous for?
Prof Vivienne Baumfield
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Organised institutional education has a long history in Scotland, having begun in the Middle Ages, and the country has three of the five oldest universities in the English-speaking world, of which University of Glasgow is one. Scotland was also one of the first countries in Europe, if not the first,
to establish a national system of compulsory education in 1496, at the time restricted to the aristocrats but later extended to all in 1616 by the School Education Act. As the years passed, Scotland’s education sector became highly respected. By 1750, Scotland achieved a literacy rate of 75 per cent, making it one of the most literate countries in Europe at that time. It was this high level of education that produced great thinkers who brought EDUCATION INSIDER I January 2013
the first African-American doctor, James McCune Smith, studied in Glasgow after denial of entry to university in the USA because of his race. Likewise, Dr Mortimer Sackler, an American-born neurologist and philanthropist, who was unable to enter university in New York because of entry quotas for Jews, was welcomed to Glasgow in 1937. The University has been associated with seven Nobel Laureates, including Frederick Soddy for his work on the nature of isotopes, and Professor Robert Edwards for his pioneering work in the field of fertilisation and IVF treatment. The University maintains academic and research excellence through continual investment in facilities, equipment, and staff, and an inclusive and consultative approach towards management and governance. The Court of University of Glasgow is the governing body, responsible for deployment of resources and strategic plans of the institution as well as holding the Principal accountable for effective management. The Senate is responsible for the well-being of students, the reputation of the university, and maintenance of the highest academic standards.
Which are the best courses offered by University of Glasgow?
about the Scottish Enlightenment in the 18th century. Famous philosophers such as Frances Hutchinson, Thomas Reid, Alexander Campbell, Joseph Black, and the ‘father of capitalism’, Adam Smith, either studied or taught at University of Glasgow. Today, Scotland’s universities are still highly regarded for their quality of teaching and globally important research. They continue to rank among the best in the world. EDUCATION INSIDER I January 2013
What are the unique features of University of Glasgow and how does it maintain its value system and academic excellence?
University of Glasgow is in most respects like any of the other ancient research-intensive universities, placing a great emphasis on research-led teaching and welcoming all kinds of students based on their intellectual abilities alone. Glasgow, in particular, prides itself on its openness and inclusivity. For example,
All of Glasgow’s undergraduate and post-graduate programmes meet high standards. Undergraduate programmes are filled every year. Some of our highly-ranked subjects include History of Art, Cardiovascular Medicine, Infection and Immunology, Dentistry, Allied Health Professions (Nursing), Physics, Computer Science and Informatics, Electrical Engineering, Psychology, European Studies, Celtic Studies, English Language and Literature and Drama, and Dance and Performing Arts. In the i-Graduate Summer Wave
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CAMPUS FOCUS University of Glasgow observatories.
How well are your students placed in the industry? Do you have any industrial tie-ups for practical orientation?
2012 International Student Barometer Survey, Glasgow is ranked second in the UK for the most satisfied students and fifth in the overall survey of 56 universities around the world, according to the UK Research Assessment Exercise 2008.
Tell us about your admissions process and fee structure, with special emphasis on international students.
Undergraduate admission to University of Glasgow is through the UK’s University and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) – www. ucas.ac.uk – and international students are allowed to apply to up to five programmes at one or more universities. The deadline for applications is June 30 or October 15 for medicine and dentistry. Students can apply before their Grade XII exams since conditional offers of acceptance can be made subject to achievement of the required marks/grades. For entry to most undergraduate programmes, Glasgow is looking for students with good grades at Grade 12/A-Levels/International Baccalaureate. They will require a qualification in English as a Foreign Language (EFL), the most popular being IELTS and TOEFL. Pre-entry EFL courses or foundation programmes mentioned above can help you meet entry criteria before you start. The fees for programmes at Glasgow for international students are
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competitive, with one year’s tuition for UG/PG at £12,250 (Rs 10 lakh) for Arts and Social Sciences programmes, and £15,750 (Rs 14 lakh) for Science & Engineering and Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences programmes. Some medical programmes (eg. studying to become a doctor) cost £28,500 (Rs 25 lakh). We have an international office with recruitment officers who provide advice and assistance to prospective students through a wide range of scholarships. We also have a partnership with Kaplan, which runs an international college on campus and provides preentry programmes with guaranteed admission to the university upon successful completion. We also have agents in cities throughout India where prospective students can consult for information. Many of our India alumni are also happy to speak to applicants about their experience in Scotland.
What are the research facilities available at University of Glasgow? Can you cite some (ongoing/ accomplished/planned) research projects?
University of Glasgow has top class research facilities, including Graduate Schools in each of our colleges, lots of post-graduate study space, modern, fully-equipped laboratories, several medical scanning devices, including three MRI machines, the James Watt Nanofabrication Centre, clean rooms, a wind tunnel, and two astronomical
Many of our programmes feature industrial placements as standard and we also offer placement opportunities and internships through our Club 21 Business Partnership Programme. We regularly have major international companies interacting with our students, through talks, conferences, and hackathons. Through Club 21, we are currently advertising placement opportunities with KPMG, Barclays, Morgan Stanley, Jaguar Land Rover, Ernst & Young, PwC, Amazon, EDF Energy, and Centrica.
Are the visa regulations liberal for non-EU students?
Visa regulations were recently changed in the UK as part of the government’s drive to limit immigration. It is still straightforward for a genuine student to gain a visa for studying in the UK at a bona-fide institution, and the UK welcomes international students.
What are your expansion plans?
The university has plans to develop a site adjacent to the campus in Glasgow, which will enable the construction of new buildings and facilities. Plans are at an early stage and will involve consultation with staff and students. In Singapore, we have an office with 15 staff which currently provides teaching in four programmes at Ngee Ann Polytechnic in partnership with Singapore Institute of Technology. We recently opened an office in Beijing, China, and are in the process of establishing presence in New Delhi.
Do you have any collaborations with universities or institutes of international repute?
We have numerous links with institutions around the world. Some of the biggest links are with Columbia University, USA; Delhi University; Nankai University, China; and Singapore Institute of Technology. We also have numerous research and exchange links at hundreds of other universities around the world. EDUCATION INSIDER I January 2013
Kerala Education Minister P K Abdu Rabb MANTRI’S MANTRA
Kerala’s classrooms to go global
Kerala, a global education hub
Keralites form a sizeable section of the enterprising, innovative, and multi-talented global workforce. Kerala’s literacy rate, cultural heritage, infrastructural strengths, and health standards are much better than even a few developed countries. However, we should not be complacent. We have to keep up with the global majors by making meaningful changes in our education system, the very source of talented manpower. While Aligarh University’s off campus centre in Malappuram district and Malayalam University at Tirur, Malappuram, have begun operations, a few projects, including a Central university at Kasargod, Hyderabad-based English and Foreign Language University (EFLU)’s off campus centre at Malappuram, and the Academic City, are at the discussion stage.
Promoting entrepreneurship
Kerala is in the process of laying the foundation for a world class educational infrastructure. This strategy for a makeover on the education front will help the state government in attaining higher social, health, and economic indices. After all, education is the main supply line of the best human capital, and a systemic makeover will effectively check student migration from Kerala to neighbouring states for better higher education avenues. The state government also intends to reinvent the education system with introduction of skill-based learning programmes and the concept of entrepreneurship in school and higher education institutions across all parts of the state, especially the grassroots level. In an exclusive interview with Education Insider, Kerala Education Minister P K Abdu Rabb touches upon key initiatives being taken to improve the state’s education sector
Today, about 45 lakh people are registered at the employment exchange. The unemployment rate is on the rise. Talent is aplenty. Lack of proper guidance derails them. Promotion of an entrepreneurial ecosystem will help us overcome the unemployment problem in a big way. To encourage a culture of entrepreneurship in the state, schools and colleges are conducting certain projects with government assistance. Students are being aided by Technology Business Incubator, an initiative of the Union Ministry for Science and Technology.
Kerala’s IIT dream
State officials held discussions in this connection with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during the recent Emerging Kerala Global Connect conclave. Kerala needs an IIT. We hope to get the green signal for the project in the 12th Five-Year Plan, which will also upgrade the status of Cochin University of Science and Technology to Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology.
On private universities
Kerala’s self-financing colleges are doing a commendable job. That doesn’t mean that we do not want to encourage private universities. We just need to maintain quality benchmarks.
by Prashob K P EDUCATION INSIDER I January 2013
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A GUIDE TO SELF-EMPOWERMENT Sramana Mitra
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Meet The Mentor 50
EDUCATION INSIDER I January 2013
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Infant Entrepreneur Mortality
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Edutech entrepreneurship gains serious momentum
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One Million by One Million
The Chakra of
Entrepreneurship
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Million Entrepreneurs by 2020 THE TARGET
One Trillion Dollars in Global GDP
Sramana Mitra is a Silicon Valley entrepreneur and strategy consultant mentoring budding talents. Her global virtual incubator, One Million by One Million (1M/1M), aims to nurture a million entrepreneurs and help each of them generate an annual revenue of one million dollars and beyond by 2020, thereby creating one trillion dollars in global GDP and ten million jobs. In an exclusive interview with Education Insider, Sramana tells us how entrepreneurship education can be the primary driver of global growth. But then, she is very concerned about the increasing rate of infant entrepreneur mortality because of the faulty presentation of entrepreneurship by Dipin Damodharan
You are one of the most celebrated entrepreneurs in the world. What does the term entrepreneurship mean to you?
Ten Million Jobs
EDUCATION INSIDER I January 2013
Entrepreneurship equals customers, revenues, and profits. Financing is optional. I find it extremely annoying that the global media has turned young, naïve entrepreneurs into compulsive investor chasers, selling them on the myth that entrepreneurship equals financing. It is creating an incredible amount of infant entrepreneur mortality.
How did you become an entrepreneur?
I am an entrepreneur’s daughter, so I knew that I was going to become an entrepreneur since I was 16. I started my first company at 24, when I was a graduate student at MIT. Basically, I just did it (in 1994), without waiting to figure out how to do it. Back then, there was no internet. The amount of knowledge about entrepreneurship that I could access was limited. Today, the situation is very different. You have programmes like 1M/1M – the global virtual incubator that I run (http://1mby1m.com) – to shepherd young talents through the learning process. In the earlier times, no such thing existed. I had to learn by doing, making silly mistakes, which are perfectly avoidable.
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A GUIDE TO SELF-EMPOWERMENT Sramana Mitra
This year, for the first time, I am seeing some real, serious momentum in the field of edutech entrepreneurship. Online education is becoming a force to reckon with. Both in the non-profit and the for-profit sectors, online education and educational technology are becoming active areas of entrepreneurship. The missing piece is adoption. Parents, teachers, and school administrators need to be more open, more experimental, and willing to test new solutions coming out of the entrepreneurial world.
How far have you succeeded in promoting entrepreneurship among youth?
Get started. Don’t be afraid of failure. Start using our FREE mentoring roundtables and we will guide you how to put one step before the other
What’s the relevance of entrepreneurship education today? Immense. I can’t stress how immense. Globally, cities, states, and countries are trying to develop themselves using entrepreneurship as the primary vehicle. There is tremendous interest in entrepreneurship education all over the world right now.
How can we effectively evolve an entrepreneurship culture in education?
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We cater to a global community of over 50,000 people; a large percentage of this is the youth population. Today’s youth is very interested in entrepreneurship, quite unlike youth of my generation, especially in Asia. The Silicon Valley youths, of course, are very different. They have always been drawn to entrepreneurship. But today, the trend has broadened well beyond Silicon Valley to geographies like India, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, Latin America, China, etc. Some cultures like Japan continue to be less open to risk-taking, but the fact remains that many cultures – even those that were very risk-averse – have made a beginning. They are willing to take risks to be on the path of success.
Could you explain the role of 1M/1M in encouraging and promoting young entrepreneurs in different parts of the world?
1M/1M is a global virtual incubator that aims to nurture a million entrepreneurs and help each of them generate an annual revenue of one million dollars and beyond by 2020, thereby creating one trillion dollars in global GDP and ten million jobs. Towards that end, we have been hosting FREE online mentoring roundtables every week that entrepreneurs from anywhere in the world can take part in. In early December, we hosted our 150th 1M/1M roundtable. Over 15,000 people participated in these sessions, and we’ve mentored close to a thousand entrepreneurs free of charge through them. Entrepreneurs come from anywhere in the world. In each session, up to five entrepreneurs pitch and go through a mentoring session. The rest of the attendees listen and engage through a public chat in a Webex meeting. In addition, we do a tremendous amount of work in the media to promote entrepreneurship, both through our blog, and a host of syndicated
EDUCATION INSIDER I January 2013
columns. Finally, the 1M/1M premium programme offers terrific video lectures and case study-based curriculum, private (members only) mentoring sessions as well as introductions to customers, channel partners, investors, media, analysts, etc. The premium programme costs $1000 a year for unlimited access.
What’s the future of entrepreneurship in India?
I am very bullish about it. India has a strong technically trained workforce. Even if a small percentage of that turns into entrepreneurs, we will be in a very solid situation. However, the gap is education, and we’re trying to address that gap in a scalable way.
What’s the basic difference between the entrepreneurship culture in India and the US? I think the main difference is how risk is viewed, and how failure is treated. If you want a highly entrepreneurial culture, society must accept failure. High risk is a necessary element of high reward. High risk also means a lot of failure. Failure in the US, especially in Silicon Valley, equates with learning. In India, failure is failure. There is nothing redeeming about it. That needs to change. Same is the case with Japan by the way, except that it is much more acute.
What are the drawbacks of the Indian education system in promoting entrepreneurship? It’s taught as theory by people who have never been entrepreneurs themselves. How can you learn entrepreneurship from academics who have never experienced what an entrepreneur goes through? This, by the way, is true around the world. A very large portion of the world’s entrepreneurship educators have never ever started or run a business.
Entrepreneurship is her passion Sramana Mitra: Entrepreneur, strategy consultant Ventures: Dais (off-shore software services), Intarka (sales lead generation and qualification software; VC: NEA) and Uuma (online personalised store for selling clothes using Expert Systems software; VC: Redwood). Renowned strategy consultant:
Held consultations with more than 80 companies, including SAP, Cadence Design Systems, Webex, KLA-Tencor, Best Buy, MercadoLibre, and Tessera,
EDUCATION INSIDER I January 2013
What is your message to the budding entrepreneurs in India? Get started. Don’t be afraid of failure. Start using our FREE mentoring roundtables and we will guide you how to put one step before the other.
among others. Books: Sramana has authored a series of books, demystifying entrepreneurship. Entrepreneur Journeys (Volume One) and Bootstrapping, Weapon Of Mass Reconstruction (EJ Volume Two) and Positioning: How To Test, Validate, And Bring Your Idea To Market (EJ Volume Three), and Innovation Need Of The Hour (EJ Volume Four). Sramana has also authored Vision India 2020, a futuristic retrospective on India set in the year 2020, in which she has developed 45 of her own billion dollar business ideas leveraging India’s strategic strengths. Education: Master’s in EECS from MIT and a Bachelor’s in Computer Science and Economics from Smith College.
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RESULTS FOR LEARNING Global Partnership for Education
World is still far behind EFA, MDG goals, says report by EI Bureau
A
bout 61 million children of primary school age and a few more millions of secondary school age are staring at a blank future, as steady dropout rates brought on by poverty continue to haunt many countries across the world, says the 2012 report of Global Partnership for Education (GPE), entitled “Results for Learning: Fostering EvidenceBased Dialogue to Monitor Access and Quality in Education”. Launched as the Education for All (EFA) - Fast Track Initiative in 2002 by the World Bank and its development partners, GPE helps low-income countries meet the EFA goals as well as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in education. “The Results for Learning Report
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shows the progress made by countries supported by GPE is helping children get into schools. It also highlights the tremendous challenges ahead in providing truly universal access to education,” said Bob Prouty, Head of GPE. “Too many of the most marginalised children are still being left out. We need more financing, and we need to ensure that it supports children in poverty and areas of conflict. We also must do much better at collecting and acting on the education data needed to bridge the tremendous gap in learning outcomes in developing nations,” he said. In the last ten years, Global Partnership for Education has grown from seven to over 50 partner countries, mobilised more
than $3.5 billion to improve access and quality to education and helped nearly 23 million children go to school for the first time, supported the construction of over 37,000 classrooms and trained over 413,000 teachers. But there’s more ground to be covered, as amplified by the Results For Learning Report. Its findings are as follows: • More children are completing primary school in GPE countries; Completion rates have risen from 56 to 71 per cent in the past decade. • Fewer children are excluded from school in these countries, with the rate of out-of-school children declining from EDUCATION INSIDER I January 2013
34 to 18 per cent in the past 10 years. While youth literacy rates have increased somewhat, particularly for young women, learning levels are still alarmingly low. In most low and lower middle income countries, up to 75 per cent of children in grades 2 to 4 cannot read at all. • Developing countries have consistently increased their own funding of education, while GPE’s donors have grown their external support for these countries; yet funding gaps still exist, exacerbated by teacher shortages and the need to expand access to secondary education. • Assessments of learning are not sufficiently established or used to improve quality of education plans or teacher instruction, often leading to higher costs and poorer learning results. GPE developed the Results for Learning Report as a part of its monitoring and evaluation strategy to measure the progress made in helping developing nations implement their own •
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education sector plans. This is the first of a series of annual Results for Learning reports that will be used to determine GPE partners’ impact on children’s learning and progression. The report compares the access and learning targets in each GPE country’s education plan to the actual results. It uses data from developing countries’ education sector plans, “joint sector reviews” of education sector plan progress, GPE grant applications, as well as data provided by GPE partners such as UNESCO and the World Bank. “We believe the Results for Learning Report will strengthen the dialogue among all our partners, accelerate progress in education and ensure that all children can claim their right to a good quality education,” said Prouty. GPE admits that investing in education is the single most effective means of reducing poverty. GPE points out that if all children in low-income countries could read, it is estimated that poverty would drop by 12 per cent. In addition, it also affirms that educating girls and women is the
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RESULTS FOR LEARNING Global Partnership for Education
most effective investment for achieving long-term health benefits for a nation, thereby saving the lives of mothers and babies and creating healthier and stronger families. By beginning a three-year replenishment campaign in 2011, GPE has put into action a fivepronged strategic plan aimed at: • improving education in fragile and conflictaffected states • promoting girls’ education • increasing literacy and numeracy • training and supporting teachers, and • providing financial support for education
The World Bank and GPE
The World Bank launched its partnership in education in collaboration with other donors; it hosts the GPE Secretariat; and it serves as Trustee for GPE trust funds, including the new GPE Fund. The World Bank is also Supervising Entity for the majority of allocations provided to GPE countries. Collaborating with developing country and donor country partners at the country level as well as at the global level to realise the promise of GPE is a high priority for the Bank. GPE supports the Bank’s overall objectives for education, which is a vital contributor to economic and human development and poverty reduction; helps countries address the large gaps they face in meeting education MDG 2 and 3, in areas of policy, capacity, data, and finance; helps countries accelerate progress, which requires more effective aid, and more external funding; assures improved efficiency and lower transaction costs for donor assistance because donors come together around a single country plan rather than engage in fragmented efforts (this is especially
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important in the context of substantial donor interest in primary education); helps extend the Bank’s reach and leverage in support of education through the partnership; and recognises that progress must be countrydriven and that more money at the global level alone is not enough. The Bank’s involvement is essential because it has historically been the largest external financier in education and has a strong presence in most low-income countries’ education sectors. The Bank brings unique strengths to the table that can benefit recipient countries and strengthen the effectiveness of aid; and can use its convening power to help take forward the Paris Declaration agenda of donor harmonisation and alignment around each country’s own education sector plan. With the mission to impart education for all children, including the poorest and most marginalised, GPE helps developing countries address barriers faced by out-of-school children, helping them build safe and accessible schools where they can learn and reach their potential. Many developing countries already allocate portions of their budgets to education and may receive additional support from developed countries or multilateral agencies. Playing a major role to bring all education partners to one table and promote mutual collaboration towards the common goal of delivering a good education to all girls and boys, GPE helps the developing country partners develop and implement sound education plans by mobilising and coordinating resources. Promoting dialogue among partners around shared objectives, GPE fosters mutual accountability, encourages knowledge-sharing on best practices, and calls for transparency at all levels. Only developing countries which can demonstrate collaborative commitment can access funding and resources from GPE. Australia is the fourth largest donor to GPE. GPE provides technical feedback to developing partners to help them develop specific education programmes and identify key issues that need to be monitored for achievement of best results. Ensuring that all developing country partners have a quality education plan with sufficient and sustainable resources to successfully deliver quality education for all children, GPE provides funding through four three-year grants: Education Plan Development Grant, Programme Development Grant, Programme Implementation Grant, and Global and Regional Activities Programme. EDUCATION INSIDER I January 2013
Chintak Dholakia FOOD FOR THOUGHT
C A thought leader for your daily needs Thought-sharing and troubleshooting for the greater good of people through the internet is a noble deed indeed. And while an avid net surfer knows where to look for answers to his daily list of queries, there are many people who may not be aware of the existence of web-enabled “shubh chintaks” (well-wishers). We bring to you a unique thought leader living up to his name, literally. Chintak Dholakia is a biomedical engineer, freelance WordPress developer, web consultant, student, and blogger with a followership of over a million people. Chintak is the brain behind four widely read websites, DailyStuff.org, Shikshakosh.com, AskDaily.in, and HealChat.com by Lakshmi Narayanan
EDUCATION INSIDER I January 2013
hintak entered the world of blogging during his school days. It soon turned into a hobby. But personal blogging made him restless after some time. He wanted to share his substantive ideas with a larger audience. After making intensive studies and researches on the feasibility of his ideas, he took to active blogging. His internet addiction helped him earn a moniker from his friends, ‘internet ka keeda’ (‘keeda’ means bug in Hindi). Taking that in good spirit, he continued his creative journey into the social domain with a motley bag of simple solutions for people’s daily needs.
DailyStuff.org
Chintak’s enrolment for biomedical engineering at L D College of Engineering, Ahmedabad, never hindered his blogging
ambitions. While in the third year of his course in 2011, he went under the weather because of some illnesses that required specialised treatments. When naturopathy helped him get back to shape in a short time, he was astounded by the simplicity of techniques of cure for some chronic ailments. Soon after, he launched
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FOOD FOR THOUGHT Chintak Dholakia
DailyStuff.org that offered simple solutions for daily needs. Today, DailyStuff.org is a leading health website with more than a million followers.
Shikshakosh.com
One day, Chintak met some poor children doing menial jobs at tea shops. He asked them, “Kya Tum Padhna Chaahte Ho? (Would you like to study?)” One of them responded, “Saheb, paisa kahaan hai? (Sir, where’s the money?)”. Their sorry plight made him think of a free open web source for educational information. He soon put the thought into action. “Shikshakosh.com is an open source educational multimedia website offering free videos that contain informative lectures or classroom lessons. These videos are generated by the users themselves. The website is focussing on school education (standard I to X) for now. The videos will be in Indian languages so that they can be understood by every child on the street,” says Chintak. But how can street children access internet facilities? “The web interface will be supported by library facilities where such children will be provided the study material. We are trying to realise the goal of making education free for all,” adds Chintak.
signup by users. You can start a chat instantly. The website will add many supporting features for inclusion of various kinds of diseases in its chat service portfolio. As of now, it offers chat service
AskDaily.in
As the name suggests, AskDaily.in, a sister website of DailyStuff.org, caters to anyone with a list of queries. Anyone can register and ask a free
for heart, brain, stomach, respiratory, and pregnant patients.
Future plans
question. Answers will be provided by the DailyStuff. org staff. To generate a firm user base, Askdaily.in will offer gifts for regular visitors.
HealChat.com
HealChat.com is a relatively new website based on the concept of random chatting between users suffering from a similar kind of disease. The website protects anonymity and needs no registration or
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Chintak is currently busy with research for establishment of some more ventures. “Time is the biggest constraint these days. While weekends are strictly dedicated to my websites, I give a few hours for website management on a daily basis. I moderate the websites once a day. It helps me keep them clean and safe for readers,” says Chintak. Chintak is planning to take DailyStuff.org a step forward by giving readers/visitors a chance to write articles. It may take some time, but better connectivity is on the way. EDUCATION INSIDER I January 2013
INSIDER VIEW Guest Column Dr B Ashok, IAS
Clearing the exam is just the beginning Mere knowledge of facts and figures isn’t enough to serve society. Leaders should have the ability to study an issue deeply and focus on the task(s) at hand for sensible solutions
H
ow much do you know about the young crop making it to the Indian bureaucracy? Here’s a categorisation of young entrants joining the IAS and other services: Ten to fifteen per cent of the recruits are of superlative quality, with an ability to accomplish challenging assignments. They are assets to the country; Thirty per cent of them are of satisfactory quality, attitude, and endowment. Thirty to forty per cent of them have merit, but they need to work steadily for uniform results. They suffer inconsistencies in terms of efforts and attitude. Systematic training could make a difference; Twenty to twenty-five per cent of them, I am sorry to say, make the grade through various screens of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), although they are unsuitable for public service. The system is simply not robust or sensitive enough to weed out a candidate of doubtful motive. Intelligence helps a person only in a small way while preparing for a career in public services. After all, clients, especially the common man, of the public service system are
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not necessarily highly intelligent. At the same time, intelligent and highly qualified people have always found it difficult to survive the Ballot. Dr B R Ambedkar, a double doctorate from Columbia University and LSE, had a shaky Lok Sabha innings. He had to quit electoral politics, despite the fact that he wrote the Constitution, which created the Houses. The situation is no different today. For instance, many honest politicians still find it hard to woo the electorate. It only shows that honesty and intelligence should be complemented by great translational skills. Mere knowledge of facts and figures isn’t enough to serve society. Leaders should have the ability to study an issue deeply and focus on the task(s) at hand for sensible solutions. One characteristic of most civil service aspirants is that their ambition stops with their entry into bureaucracy. More than anything, they are drawn by the assurance of job security. They have no ambition to grow and possibly become the most competent public servant of the country. To be an IAS officer is one thing, and to be the best is a totally different story. People
EDUCATION INSIDER I January 2013
who prepare for IAS and other services should bear in mind that learning is a lifelong process and clearing the exam
is only the beginning. Public policy is a complex process and looking for ‘silver bullet’ solutions is not advisable. The challenges of our multi-tiered society and fragmented
EDUCATION INSIDER I January 2013
polity need to be understood thoroughly before the policy-making process is initiated. There are no overnight solutions for all our problems, given the diverse nature of our country and the difficulty in adapting models from homogenous democracies. Just look at how China acquires land for a new industrial complex. Since there is only limited private ownership of land, the planner just sends notices to those who have to vacate their homes. A special paint is applied at the door of houses which need to be vacated in a month and the bulldozers roll in on the scheduled date. There are ‘no land rights’ as such. In contrast, as a young civil servant in India, you may find it extremely difficult to remove illegal encroachments. This is where he/she should engage in patient, skillful negotiation without use of force until there’s a good enough reason to do so. The best way to learn the art of patient communication is to teach younger
children. Help them with a subject you are good at. Interviewers might provoke you on various vexatious issues plaguing our democracy. There was a time when it was customary for the board to seek the views of a candidate on a presidential system of government, military rule etc. There are many candidates who put forth arguments very convincingly. But in our heart of hearts, we know that our present system has not been fully explored. It takes a detailed observation to understand what worked and did not, and why. The ‘why’ factor is all the more important when we encounter failure. Social inequality is a core issue an IAS aspirant has to tackle. Reservations are a case in point. Understanding complexity without fear comes from logical reasoning skills. Convince the board with strong reasoning and minimum verbal play. This is exactly why there is a need for verbal debates in the preparatory phase. Studying in a group is as crucial as burning the midnight oil. Besides, breaking into a debate after, say, two hours of studies, refreshes the mind. So, your circle of friends matter. You need to hunt in a pack to get your game right. These days, information is easily available with the internet offering instant access to any kind of data. So, it is vital to make sense of facts with reasoning, logic, and comprehension of the content and the context. The ‘why’ factor needs to be accorded more importance than the ‘how’ factor. Let me illustrate this with an example. ‘Has Parliament become irrelevant?’ A candidate may answer in the affirmative, saying that legislators are holding the public to ransom with frequent disruptions in Parliament. But a keen observer of various polities may argue that settlement of issues before full public view is any day better than a street fight. The wise will acknowledge that a Parliamentary system cannot be wished away.
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Prospective courses GUEST COLUMN Dr T P Sethumadhavan
Of travel, cryobanks, social work, and realty
This time, we take a look at four education streams that are meeting the global economy’s demands in a big way. Tourism is an ever-green sector; Cryobiology is an emerging science. Social work is an inseparable part of community living. And real estate drives the economy of housing Prospective course in tourism
Graduate programmes on international tourism are designed for executives, government officials, and those interested in tourism and allied sectors. Students can get an in-depth understanding of themes and issues relevant to contemporary world tourism and build an innovative, analytical, and critical perspective on the prevailing physical, cultural, economic, and technological environments. This programme will teach you how to market and manage international tourism with optimum utilisation of information technology. An MS in international tourism will provide a clear perspective of career opportunities in the travel and tourism industry. The programme, aimed at creating managers for the tourism sector, will help in development of a strategic perspective and enhancement of management skills. In particular, this programme will provide a wide range of challenging, innovative, and flexible learning strategies vital for development of important leadership traits among service managers.
Cryobiology
A branch of biology, cryobiology studies the effects of low temperatures and freezing of cells, tissues, and organisms. These effects have great importance in many areas of biology, including plant and animal science, entomology, microbiology, medical sciences, veterinary medicine, and food science. A course in cryobiology will provide a sound theoretical and practical education and training. Moreover, it will be beneficial to students interested in research on related disciplines. The course curriculum includes theoretical aspects of cryobiology, cryopreservation, and conservation, including practical and research methodologies, biomedical applications, and conservation of biodiversity. In Canada, the UK, and the USA, cryobiology students have access to excellent laboratory and comprehensive learning resources and opportunities, enabling them to
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EDUCATION INSIDER I January 2013
take up research projects at various organisations. It helps them develop awareness on the ethics and safety issues of cryobiology, its applications in biomedicine, and the principles of quality assurance. Students can evaluate the roles, benefits, and limitations of cryo-banked materials, potential for genetic resource banks, and gain an insight into the important role of cryopreservation in assisted reproduction. On successful completion of MSc in cryobiology (cryopreservation and conservation), students will be equipped to undertake work in areas such as tissue and organ transplants, veterinary science, agriculture and aquaculture, assisted reproduction, in-vitro fertilisation and conservation of endangered species.
Social work
In the UK, MSc in social work is a popular programme. This course, developed with the help of statutory and voluntary partner agencies, reflects the changing needs of social work as a profession. Combining practical experience and academic study, the course is designed for students who already have a degree in a social science discipline. The course aims to provide valuable experience in the rapidly changing, challenging field of social work through practice placements in a variety of social care settings. For more details on social work courses in the UK, visit www.gscc.org.uk, or contact bursaries@gscc.org.uk. Upon successful completion of MSc in social work, one can look forward to a meaningful career in a wide range of statutory, voluntary, and private sector organisations.
Real estate courses
According to economists, real estate finance, investment, and appraisal are some of the emerging areas in the real estate sector. There are many job opportunities, both within the country and abroad, for those pursuing courses on real estate. Recently, many universities in the UK offered real estate courses, particularly, post-graduate programmes on corporate real estate and facilities management, real estate investment and finance, and real estate appraisal. Students have the option of completing any of these courses in two years or six years. All the modules in the Master’s programmes are available on a continuing professional development basis. Students are required to attend the direct learning programme in the university for a short duration of up to one semester, while the rest of the course can be completed on a continuing professional development basis through the internet. The MSc programme in corporate real estate and facilities management is designed for professionals in the real estate market. Management of complex corporate real estate portfolios in the emerging business context is one of the main focus areas of the programme. The MSc programme in real estate investment and finance can help a student enter the expanding sub-sector of real estate finance and investment. The MSc programme in real estate appraisal deals with issues concerning the commercial real estate sector. This programme focusses on economics, ethics, law and environment in a global context. University of Reading, one of the best universities in the UK, offers post-graduate programmes in real estate management. Since the direct learning course at Reading is of a short duration, students can complete the programme at a lesser expense. Those who require financial support during their stay at Reading can do part-time work (20 hours in a week). For more details visit www.reading.ac.uk/rep EDUCATION INSIDER I January 2013
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STUDY DESTINATION Ireland
One sure way to scale great heights in career is to follow the trail left behind by great masters of arts, music, literature, science and technology, mathematics, or any field of study for that matter. After all, life is something “where the streets have no name”, as Irish singer Paul David Hewson, better known as Bono, crooned, gently provoking millions of fans across the world to take a lighter, liberating view of everything that decides the fate of our lives. The Emerald Island (Ireland) has many more sons of soil who inspired millions through their simple imaginative stories, or discoveries that made life simpler. So, ever thought of pursuing your higher studies in Ireland? The Irish education system is the 16th best in the world, according to Universitas 21, an international network of research universities that studied the education systems in 48 countries by Biyanka Merlyn John
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A gem of a career at
Emerald Island
I
reland’s culture is an integral part of its educational system. With a literacy rate of 99 percent, high academic standards, and fine ethnic diversity, Ireland provides a vibrant, energetic, and multi-cultural environment for overseas students.
Irish education system
The Irish education system comprises three levels - primary, post-primary, and higher education. Ireland is a ‘Free Fees Initiative’ country, promoting free education up to the tertiary level for European Union (EU) citizens. Under this initiative, the Exchequer not only pays the tuition fees for students from the EU, but also takes care of their residential requirements. The universities and higher education
institutions follow a process of “modularisation”, enabling students flexibility of choice in terms of courses. The teaching system consists of lectures, tutorials, practical demonstrations, and laboratory work. The majority of international students interested in pursuing higher education generally opt for Dublin, the capital and main economic centre of the island republic. The admission cycle normally begins in the months of September and October, and only about five per cent of the marginal (student) intake happens in the months of January and April. Since most universities follow a semester system (two to three semesters), the EDUCATION INSIDER I January 2013
Sons of soil Literary greats such as W B Yeats, Oscar Wilde, James Joyce, and Samuel Beckett, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature, physicist Ernest Walton, who won the Nobel Prize in Medicine for his “atomsmashing” experiments, philosophers George Berkeley and Edmund Burke, and mathematician William Rowan Hamilton, who discovered Quaternions, belonged to Ireland. College, National University of Ireland, University of Limerick, Dublin City University and several other young institutions lead the pack. University of Dublin is the oldest university in the country known for its highly competitive academic system. Trinity College Dublin (65th position), University College (134), and University College Cork (181) figured in the top 200 list of the 2011 QS World University Rankings.
Scholarship scheme
academic year normally runs from September to June.
Courses offered in Ireland
Ireland’s higher education institutions offer more than 5,000 courses, covering major streams such as medicine, science and technology, engineering, business, law, languages, literature, history, philosophy, psychology, sociology and other areas within humanities, as well as specialisations in the creative audiovisual and performing arts. Students can pursue an ordinary or honours level Bachelor’s, Master’s, or Doctorate, or even undergraduate and postgraduate diplomas.
Main universities of Ireland
With 38 higher education institutes and 12 technological colleges of international repute, Ireland is among the global leaders in education. University of Dublin, an Anglican-run Trinity EDUCATION INSIDER I January 2013
Universities in Ireland offer several scholarship awards to Indian students with strong academics and good performance in standardised exams and extracurricular activities. The scholarships are awarded by various organisations such as the Narotam Sekhsaria Scholarship for Higher Studies, Aga Khan Education Services, and American Alumni Association, among others. These organisations offer university scholarships in the UK, the USA, Australia, Canada, France, New Zealand, and Belgium as well.
Requirements
Except for students pursuing an English language course, anyone who requires a visa to study in Ireland must meet minimum English language requirements. All students who are not a citizen of a European Union member state, Switzerland, or the European Economic Area must register with the Garda National Immigration Bureau upon arrival in the country.
Ranked high among OECD countries
Ireland ranks high in the list of Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries because of the rate of expansion in study opportunities in the higher education sector.
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ACADEMIC POLITICS - Kerala GUEST COLUMN Dr Mohan Varghese
Tug of war for top
academic posts O
nce again, it’s the fighting season in Kerala, with professors setting their eyes on the coveted academic thrones of ViceChancellor and Pro Vice-Chancellor. The battle lines have been drawn. On one side, the idealist take a principled position, quoting lavishly from various commission reports calling for the highest academic, social, and ethical standards for these posts. They want the selection process to be honest and transparent. On the other side, the social lobbies, including casteist and religious groups, are well-armed with arguments of social justice. The state government is in a Catch 22 situation: decision-makers are caught between the devil and the deep blue sea and forced to look for political rather than academic solutions. Mahatma Gandhi University, a relatively young university in Kerala (created in 1983), had the honour of getting Dr U R Ananthamoorthy, a literary genius, from the neighbouring state of Karnataka as its first Vice-Chancellor. Eminent academicians who succeeded him led the university efficiently. The university can take credit for successfully implementing the choice-based credit and semester system before other varsities in the state. Having said that, how can one explain the current climate of uncertainty at the university with no Vice-Chancellor and Pro Vice-Chancellor? What prevents the state government from filling up the posts, which fell vacant on November 15, 2012? More than a month has elapsed and hectic parleys are on to find suitable candidates. Meanwhile, the newly-launched Thunchath Ezhuthachan Malayalam Sarvakalasala, the newest university in the state, set up at Tirur on the 56th birth anniversary of Kerala (on November 1), was fortunate enough to receive K Jayakumar, the just-retired Chief Secretary of Kerala, as its ViceChancellor. But Vice-Chancellorship in four other
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universities will fall vacant in the next three months and no proceedings have been initiated to find suitable nominees for the top posts. A keen sense of socio-political observation is necessary to get some clue as to why this inordinate delay occurs. Kerala, despite its high rate of literacy, has not made enough inroads into the higher education sector. One of the reasons for this not-so-high rating of the higher education sector in Kerala is the absence of visionaries at the helm of the university structure. Either the visionary who takes over as the Vice-Chancellor fails to live up to the expectations due to political interference through an extremely politicised Senate and Syndicate or the incumbent happens to be a mere pen-pusher, having secured this covetable post as a result of intense lobbying. Consequently, there arises a huge mismatch between what society expects from the varsities and what a parochial Vice-Chancellor-led academic establishment provides. It is high time that the aforesaid situation came to an end. Any consideration other than the academic one is counterproductive as far as this post is concerned. Universities are selfgoverning
EDUCATION INSIDER I January 2013
academic institutions that require the service of very eminent academicians as Vice-Chancellors. That is why the University Grants Commission (UGC) has adopted the highest standards prescribed by Prof Thyagarajan Committee for the selection of Vice-Chancellors, well laid out in its ‘Regulation 2010’. This guideline stipulates the setting up of a three-member search committee, consisting of the Vice-Chancellor’s nominee (the officio chairman of the committee), nominee of the Chairman of the UGC, and nominee of the university syndicate or executive council, each being national level luminaries in the field of higher education, having no vested interests in the university concerned. The committee is expected to submit three to five names from which the Chancellor (Governor) is free to select a proper candidate as the Vice-Chancellor. It is not easy for the state government to influence a committee of this nature with a malicious motive. Unfortunately, relevant parts of this regulation, designed to limit political interference in the Vice-Chancellor’s selection process, were deleted by the UGC’s high-powered committee in July 2012, allegedly due to the pressure exerted by some state governments and private universities. Now, the state is set for hard bargaining with the coalition partners of the Congressled UDF for top academic and
EDUCATION INSIDER I January 2013
administrative posts at various state universities. There are more than a dozen posts in the offing. That includes the already vacant posts of ViceChancellor, Pro Vice-Chancellor of Mahatma Gandhi University, and Vice-Chancellorship of University of Kerala, Sanskrit University (SSUS), Kalady, and National University of Legal Studies, respectively. Also, the Vice-Chancellor’s post, or Pro Vice-Chancellor’s post, will fall vacant shortly in Kannur University, Cochin University of Science and Technology, and KILA Deemed University. The larger political wisdom lies in seeing the whole number of vacancies as a comprehensive package, where slots can be allotted amid the warring communities and factions, satiating their thirst for power and influence in Kerala’s education sector. Therefore, welcome NSS, welcome SNDP, welcome Christian and Muslim communities, and their denominations. A situation can be created whereby each and every community in Kerala throws its hat into the ring and waits for the spoils. In this complicated power-sharing process, the only thing that can be compromised is the quality of the candidate or rather his/her academic credentials. Self-proclaimed educationists from umpteen aided colleges
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ACADEMIC POLITICS - Kerala Dr Mohan Varghese
in the state will also join the fray. Some of them disregard the fact that they neither have postgraduate teaching experience nor publications in quality journals. They shuttle between the homes and offices of influential people to get their names endorsed. Grapevine has it that these non-serious contenders can at best serve as spoilers. Some of them may hit the jackpot by securing the post of principal of some reputed unaided school or selffinancing professional college after retirement as associate professor from a college or university by virtue of a whisper campaign that the person was considered for the post of a Pro Vice-Chancellor. Another group joining the rat race comprises small-time politicians, or satellites of political heavyweights, or the ultimate decision-makers. These middle men try to see whether there is any possibility to generate some sweat equity in the process. They extract large sums of money from wealthy professors willing to cling to any straw with the dream of Vice-Chancellorship. In every sense, it is a win-win situation for all players in this academic game. Community leaders are happy when their political and social clout grows with the selection of some of their nominees. Ministers and star politicians secure unflinching loyalty from those who finally make it to the coveted posts. There was a time when the Kothari Commission report of the sixties put academic excellence and administrative acumen, in addition to moral and ethical credentials, as qualities required for the post of Vice-Chancellor. Gone are the days of idealism. Also forgotten is the spirit of the Gajendra Gadkar Committee report of 1971 that stipulated the qualifications, mode of appointment, and most importantly, the actual powers of the Vice-Chancellor. The report
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formed the basis of statutes of most universities in the country. Therefore, the role of the ViceChancellor, who was originally and ideally defined by the Dr S Radhakrishnan Commission in 1948 as “the link or bridge between the academic and administrative matters of the university set-up�, has now become moribund and meaningless amid the onslaught of caste- and community-induced political pragmatism and power-sharing in the name of distributive justice. It is time the political leadership of Kerala came out of the self-imposed mental shackles and initiated measures to liberate the varsities of the state from political control. Saving our newly-appointed Vice-Chancellors from the predicament of serving three masters at the same time is a social priority. Let the ViceChancellors get selected by virtue of their superior academic and administrative credibility. Only that can save them from the ruthless political masters. Let them lead the university from the front, free of the roadblocks created by the Senate and the Syndicate, which claim to be the cross section of a democratic society. Let them also be liberated from the pressure of religious communities. Are the managers of the political factory listening? If they do, the civil society will be extremely grateful to the government for upholding the secular and democratic credentials of the universities. Yes. Kerala is a literate state. Let us also make it an educated one! (Dr Mohan Varghese is the Chairman of the Department of Media and Communications of the National Council of YMCAs of India. He is Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science, Mar Thoma College, Thiruvalla, Kerala)
EDUCATION INSIDER I January 2013
Nehru Group of Institutions FOCUS
Nehruvian era of the
studious kind
One of the most successful educational chains of South India, Nehru Group of Institutions was established by P K Das, an eminent educationist, in the year 1968. Over the decades, the group has established a number of prestigious educational institutions that have been accredited with the ISO 9001:2000 certification by the International Certification Services by EI Bureau
N
ehru Group of Institutions is run by the Nehru College of Educational and Charitable Trust (NCECT), based in Coimbatore. The trust is managed by Advocate Krishnadas P and Dr Krishnakumar P, who have been carrying forward their father’s legacy. With its campuses located in Tamil Nadu and Kerala, the Nehru Group consists of twelve renowned educational institutes catering to the diverse needs of students in Aeronautical Sciences, Engineering, Information Technology, Management, Medicine, Pharmacy and Arts and Sciences. Nehru College of Aeronautics and Applied Sciences is uniquely equipped with world class facilities like aeronautical laboratories and workshops. The institute also has several aircraft for training and research. They include King Air C 90 Beach, Learjet 25 B, Cessna 150 & 152, Europlan aircraft, and Bell and Estron F 28 helicopters.
EDUCATION INSIDER I January 2013
According to Advocate Krishnadas P, the Managing Trustee of NCECT, “Our campuses provide the right atmosphere for academic excellence. The Group is sailing on its high profile academic journey with a disciplined and competent faculty strength of about 750, world class and modern infrastructure facilities like libraries with online backup, computer laboratories with CAM/ CAD and internet and Wi-Fi facilities, modern classrooms, seminar halls, board rooms, workshops and production units.” All campuses have proper residential facilities, enabling students to pursue studies on a 24/7 basis. Apart from this, a strong fleet of transport network, run by the educational group, facilitates commutation of about 7,000 day scholars.
Institutions under Nehru Group
Nehru College of Aeronautics and Applied Sciences, Coimbatore: The institute offers Aircraft
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FOCUS Nehru Group of Institutions
Maintenance Engineering, a course approved by the Director General of Civil Aviation, Government of India. Other courses available here are MBA (Airlines and Airport Management), BSc (Aeronautical Science) and BSc (Aircraft Maintenance Science). Nehru College of Management (NCM), Coimbatore: NCM offers two-year, full-time MBA programme and three-year, full-time MCA programme, approved by the All India Council for Technical Education, recognised by the University Grants Commission (UGC), New Delhi, and affiliated to Bharathiar University, Coimbatore. Nehru Arts and Science College, Coimbatore: The college is affiliated to Bharathiar University and recognised by the UGC, New Delhi. It caters to the needs of aspirants by offering all popular courses in the Arts and Science streams. This college has all modern infrastructure facilities, including imported as well as Indian equipment in various laboratories. Apart from MPhil and PhD programmes in Biotechnology, the college offers the following courses:
Post-graduate courses • • • • • • •
Master of International Business (MIB) Master of Social Work (MSW) MSc in Biotechnology MSc in Microbiology MSc in Applied Electronics MSc in Computer Science MSc in Electronic Media
Undergraduate courses • • • • • • • •
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BSc in Electronics & Communication Systems BSc in Catering Science & Hotel Management BSc in Costume Design & Fashion BSc in Biotechnology BSc in Microbiology BSc in Visual Communication (Electronic Media) BSc in Computer Science Bachelor of Computer
Application (BCA) BSc in Information Technology (BSc IT) • Bachelor of Business Management (BBM) • BCom with CA Nehru College of Engineering and Research Centre (NCERC), Pampady, Thrissur: The college is approved by the AICTE and affiliated to University of Calicut. BTech programmes offered at NCERC are Automobile Engineering, Computer Science Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electronics and Communication Engineering, Electronics and Electrical Engineering, and Information Technology Engineering. MTech in Machine Design, and MBA and MCA courses are also available here. Nehru College of Pharmacy, Pampady, Thrissur: This paramedical college, approved by the AICTE, is affiliated to University of Calicut. It offers BPharm and MPharm programmes. Nehru Institute of Engineering & Technology, Coimbatore: This college, approved by AICTE and affiliated to Anna University, Chennai, offers graduate programmes in Aeronautical Engineering, Computer Science Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electronics and Communication Engineering, •
and Electronics and Electrical Engineering. Students can also pursue MBA and MCA programmes at this institute. Nehru Institute of Information Technology and Management (NIITM):Affiliated to Anna University, Coimbatore, NIITM is one of the prestigious institutions in Tamil Nadu, offering a three-year, full-time MCA programme and a two-year, full-time MBA programme, approved by the AICTE. Jawaharlal Institute of Technology, Coimbatore: This college offers courses in Aeronautical Engineering, Computer Science Engineering, Civil Engineering, and Electronics and Communication Engineering. Jawaharlal College of Engineering and Technology (NCERC), Lakkadi, Palakkad: The college is approved by the AICTE and affiliated to University of Calicut. The courses offered at NCERC are Aeronautical Engineering, Computer Science and Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Electronics and Communication Engineering. Nehru Institute of Management Studies, Coimbatore: NIMS is approved by the AICTE and affiliated to Anna University, Coimbatore. The institute offers a two-year, full-time MBA with dual specialisation. EDUCATION INSIDER I January 2013
‘We have international
tie-ups’ In an exclusive interview with Education Insider, Dr P Krishnakumar, the Chief Executive Officer and Secretary of Nehru Group of Institutions, says that private players have an important role to play in the Indian education sector
Tell us about the beginning of Nehru Group of Institutions.
My father P K Das was an officer in Indian Air Force. He was passionate about teaching. He had his own vision on education. After retirement, he established Nehru Group of Institutions in the year 1968, with the primary objective of rendering selfless service to the cause of higher education, originally in the field of Aeronautical Engineering. The engineering course was affiliated to the Aeronautical Society of India, and Air Force personnel were allowed to pursue engineering in those days. Coimbatore was selected because of its close proximity to Sulur Air Force Base. We are one of the oldest institutes in the country to conduct engineering courses in aircraft maintenance engineering. Gradually, we entered other avenues of higher education as well.
Do private players need to play a bigger role in the Indian education sector? Private institutions have a greater role to play. They should supplement the government’s efforts to improve the higher education sector. The government has its own limitations. It
EDUCATION INSIDER I January 2013
cannot be expected to cater to the entire needs of the sector.
the Middle East University, Ras alKhaimah, in the United Arab Emirates.
We have a placement department that looks after students’ career opportunities in the industry. In addition to this, every department maintains links with at least 20 companies. These are the companies where students undergo training and internship.
We are actively involved in research programmes. Nehru Institute of Technology has associated itself with Indian Space Research Organisation’s mini-satellite projects. Our students are into individual research projects supported by the AICTE, the Defence Research and Development Organisation, and many other governmental agencies.
Tell us about your placement facilities and ties with industry.
Do you support the entry of foreign universities into the Indian education sector?
There are positive as well as negative factors. The entry of foreign universities will definitely bring quality into our education sector. However, it could also lead to exploitation if a student doesn’t check the background of a particular foreign university. Regulators such as the AICTE should ensure that only foreign universities with minimum credibility are allowed to function in India.
Do you have partnerships with foreign universities?
We have partnerships with many international institutes of repute, including German and British universities. We also have tie-ups with
Tell us about your research programmes.
What are your future plans?
We are planning to transform two of our engineering colleges - one in Kerala and the other in Tamil Nadu - into centres of excellence. Partnerships with many more foreign universities are also on the anvil. Though we are eligible for autonomous status, we are not planning to apply for that. Autonomous institutions have the right to prepare its syllabus and conduct evaluations themselves. And this has led to a decline in quality of students over the years. Despite a high result of 90 per cent and more, students from the majority of autonomous institutions are hardly employable.
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SMALL WONDER Amaara Foundation
Giving children a
chance to paint on the canvas of life They are just like you and me, busy as a bee. Yet, every Saturday morning, a group of individuals make it a point to go to three government-run schools in Kochi, Kerala, and share some of their work and life experiences with underprivileged children by EI Bureau
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eekend comes with a whole lot of fun and games for the high school children at three government-run schools in Kochi. The classroom silence breaks all of a sudden with the entry of a group of part-time teachers. It’s time for the children to pack up their textbooks and engage in a series of story-telling sessions and friendly quiz competitions. That’s life coaching simplified! In real life, these part-time teachers are students, IT professionals, entrepreneurs, and even homemakers. They are driven
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by deep love for children, a kind of passion that is at once ethereal and eternal (‘Amaara’ being the Sanskrit word for it), considering that the subjects they deal with include those beyond the barriers of time and space. “The sole aim of Amaara Foundation is to help children become better people,” says Rashmi Deepak, Founder of Amaara Foundation. Rashmi’s face lights up as she recalls the efforts that had gone into the formation of Amaara. Two years ago, Rashmi, along with her friends Kala, Susheela, Beena, and Kanaka (all homemakers based in Kochi), EDUCATION INSIDER I January 2013
and their common friend, Christopher Roshan, surveyed government-run schools in the city for a firsthand knowledge of the importance accorded to imparting of life skills in the current education system. They found that the current system was simply not enough to prepare children for the multiple challenges of life. “We wanted to fill up that void in the education system by introducing children to simple concepts on life. The outcome was very encouraging. Our idea clicked, and we managed to bring about a great change in the mindset of children,” says Susheela. Currently, Amaara Foundation holds life coaching classes at Panampilly Nagar Boys School, Tripunithura Girl’s High School, and Mar Athanasius School, Kakkanad. “The performance and progress of the children are constantly monitored by their assigned volunteers. Interactive storytelling sessions, audio-visual aids and quizzes are some of the very innovative techniques used by the volunteers to conduct classes. We ensure that no child is left behind. Each child gets an opportunity to showcase his skills,” says Beena. “To break the monotony of learning, we conduct camps every once in a while,” says Kala. “Camps provide the children with a platform to showcase their talents in extracurricular activities. The camp programme schedule includes theatre, yoga training, singing, story narration, interactive games, and so on. Many a time, the rate at which these children pick up new skills leaves us spellbound,” remarks Kanaka, adding that a special volunteer skilled in yoga, drama, painting, or any other art form, comes for each camp. Do all children show uniform progress? No. “To ensure that the children pick up new skills and remember the lessons for life, they are given regular unit tests once in three months. Below par performers are then given special care and individual attention so that they can catch up with the rest of the class. Worksheets also help the children,” says Christopher. So, what the incentive that keeps Amaara Foundation going? “It’s the smile of a child that moves us. It motivates us to make better presentations in the following week,” says a radiant Rashmi. EDUCATION INSIDER I January 2013
“We have taken so much from society. It is our duty to give something back to the needy at the right time” Alexander Raja, Wipro
“The smile of a child is our biggest achievement. It’s a great source of energy” Kavya, Student
“The spark that we see in each child motivates us to work more assiduously” Roopan Roy, Visual IQ Inc
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FOCUS CMS Group of Institutions
A brainchild of
eminent Malayalis
The CMS Group of Institutions comprise a science and commerce college, a college of education, an engineering college, and two management institutes, all based in Coimbatore by EI Bureau
O
n completion of its silver jubilee later this year, Coimbatore-based CMS Group of Institutions aims to scale new heights with its well-maintained infrastructure and committed faculty members. Presently, the group has a science and commerce college, a college of education, an engineering college, and two management institutes under its aegis. Recalling the beginnings, T A Venugopal, the Secretary of CMS Group of Institutions, says: “Back in the eighties, there were not many avenues in higher education in Coimbatore.
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So, when M G Ramachandran, the then Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, came up with the idea of self-financed institutions, 50 eminent Malayalis from Coimbatore Malayali Samajam founded a trust called CMS Educational and Charitable Trust and approached the Education Ministry. Subsequently, we received the go-ahead for a science and commerce college. That’s how we began our journey in 1988, with three courses and 40 students.” As the years went by, the CMS Group forayed into different sectors of education, including EDUCATION INSIDER I January 2013
engineering and management, and established itself as a prominent education group of Coimbatore. “In 1992, we started CMS Institute of Management, offering an MBA programme. Then, in 2008, CMS College of Engineering and Technology was established. It offers courses in five branches of engineering,” Venugopal adds. CMS Institute of Management Studies (CMS IMS) is a leading business school run by the CMS Trust. It is affiliated to Bharathiar University, Coimbatore, and approved by the All India Council for Technical Education, New Delhi. It is co-located with the CMS College of Science and Commerce and has modern infrastructure and state-of-the-art facilities. It also offers an accelerated oneyear, full-time MBA programme through James Cook University, Australia. CMS Academy of Management and Technology (CMS AMT) is yet another business school started by the Trust in the 2009-10 academic year. It is affiliated to Bharathiar University and approved by the AICTE. This school is also colocated with CMS College of Science and Commerce and has all basic facilities for business education, as is the case with other institutions run by the CMS Trust. CMS College of Engineering and Technology (CMSCET) is an institution for technical education established by the Trust in the 2009-10 academic year. This institution was started with a commitment to train the next generation of engineers and technocrats. Situated at Thirumalayampalayam, off Velanthavalam on Coimbatore-Palghat National Highway, CMSCET has a total land area of about 27 acres. It has a large academic block, workshop, administrative office, canteen, and playground. The college offers engineering courses in various branches, including Electronics and Communication, Electrical and Electronics, Computer Science, Civil and Mechanical EDUCATION INSIDER I January 2013
Engineering. Apart from academics, CMS Institutions actively promote extracurricular activities. Venugopal points out, “Extracurricular activities are promoted at our institutions for the T A Venugopal, Secretary, holistic growth of CMS Group of Institutions an individual. We also have tie-ups with the Fine Arts Department of Calicut University for provision of in-house skill development programmes.” The group’s mission is to create responsible global citizens through holistic, qualitative, and value-based education. He says, “Since imparting values and moulding good citizens is the ultimate aim of education, we have dedicated counsellors and faculty members who groom students and put them on the right track.” Industry interface is something that makes CMS Institutions stand out from other educational institutions of Coimbatore. According to Venugopal, “Our institutes have concrete tie-ups with the industry. Engineering and management students of CMS institutions get the opportunity to work as interns with best companies of Coimbatore.” There is an effective Placement Cell catering to the career interests of all students. It functions with the primary object of making students employable in reputed companies. To impart employability skills to students, the Placement Cell engages them regularly in various soft skills learning modules. The training modules cover aptitude tests, group discussions, interview techniques, selfmotivation, stress management, and a host of other need-based skills. Towards these ends, both in-house and professional external faculty are involved. The Placement Cell also arranges parttime job opportunities and project work in companies in and around Coimbatore. Prominent companies that visited the campuses of CMS Group of Institutions include South Indian Bank, TCS, Infosys, Wipro Technologies, Premiere Evolvics, Ernst & Young, IGATE, HCL, VWR Lab Products, Capgemini, First American India, PPTS, Hewlett Packard, Spi Pvt Ltd, Sutherland Global, Spanco, and Mahindra Satyam.
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EMERGING CAREER Robotics
Renowned American science fiction author Isaac Asimov was right about one thing: the emergence of an age of the Robots. As for the wild imagination of Robots developing a mind of their own and trying to gain a control over the humans, let’s just hope that education in Robotics will make the man perfect and guard him against errors of apocalyptic nature. Talking of education in this emerging field of science and technology, the Principal of Bengaluru-based Acharya Institute of Technology, Dr H D Maheshappa, focusses on the prospects of Robotic studies in India and the rest of the world in an exclusive interaction with Education Insider
I, Robot:
Rebooting education
the new way by Lakshmi Narayanan
What’s the potential of Robotics studies?
A course in Robotics trains and educates a student in the field of artificial intelligence, computer-aided manufacturing, computer-integrated manufacturing system, computational geometry, Robot motion planning, digital electronics, and microprocessing. The different facets of building a robot include development of the hardware, software, intelligence control, and adaptive control of this machine. Robotics is not all about designing the Robots. Maintenance, development of new applications, and research are equally important components of Robotics. Specialising in design and control in Robotics is close to mechanical engineering. For hardware design of Robots, a BTech in electrical or electronics and communication engineering offers a good base. Computer engineers can look at hardware design in Robotics and the controls part requires certain aspects of electrical engineering. This field also requires the application of computer-integrated manufacturing, mechanical engineering, electrical and software engineering, and biological mechanics. The use of Robots is increasing, the military sector being one area of its utilisation. Lots of innovations in this area are being processed to make a better future. Many new techniques are being adopted to popularise the field of Robots. In terms of future scope and perspective, Robotics can better the standard of living and quality of our life. Robots are being used in space for exploration and India is on the verge of getting this technology implemented.
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EDUCATION INSIDER I January 2013
Investment in Robotics 2007 - $6.5 million 2011 - $18.2 million
Job prospects in Robotics
You can get into companies dealing with: • Artificial Intelligence • Computer-aided manufacturing • Computational geometry • Robot Motion Planning. • Digital Electronics and Micro Processors • Robot Manipulators
What’s the scope of Robotics in India and abroad?
According to the International Federation of Robotics, about two million personal robots were in use around the world in 2004, and another seven million were installed by 2008. In South Korea, the Ministry of Information and Communication hopes to put a Robot in every home by 2013. The Japanese Robot Association predicts that by 2025, the personal Robot industry will be worth more than $50 billion a year worldwide, compared with about $5 billion today. The world’s Robot population has reached 4.49 million, and that number should nearly double by 2010 to 8.37 million, according to The International Federation of Robotics. Scope in India: A candidate having an ME degree in Robotics can get job opportunities in space research organisations like ISRO and in industries manufacturing microchips. Job opportunities also exist at the Indian Institute of Technology for extensive research work in artificial intelligence. Furthermore, the Indian Institute of Chemical Biology offers openings in the form of research Dr H D Maheshappa graduated in Electronics & Communication Engineering from University of Mysore in 1983. He has a postgraduate degree in Industrial Electronics from University of Mysore (1987). He holds a Doctoral Degree in Engineering from Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru. He is specialised in electrical contacts resistance measurements,
EDUCATION INSIDER I January 2013
fellowships in Robotics and Artificial Intelligence. Indian Robotic firms include Precision Automation Robotics India Limited (PARI), ABB, Kuka Robotics, and DiFACTO Robotics and Automation. Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) has a whole arsenal of Robots to tackle various situations and problems. In fact, it has institutes dedicated to building intelligent systems and Robots, like the Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics. Established in 1986, DRDO’s initial research focus was on the areas of Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, and Control systems. Scope Abroad: A Robotics Engineer can get employment opportunities abroad to programme, troubleshoot, and maintain Robots in companies like Plastech in USA. Research fellowships as an intern with ATR, the premier research institute emphasising on humanoid Robotics and computational neuroscience, are also available. Companies like Intel recruit Robotics and artificial intelligence specialists for microchip manufacturing. The Robotics Industrial Association in North America provides job opportunities in Robot manufacturing and maintenance systems integration. NASA is the ultimate job destination for those interested in applying Robotics to space science.
even the basic requirement in India on account of lack of trained manpower, lack of co-ordination and pooling of experience, low level of investments in R&D activities, lack of testing and certification laboratories spread across the country, non-existent standards of performance, safety etc. This, in turn, has led to minimal efforts towards technology absorption. Further, on account of very small requirements of components, sub-assemblies and T&M instruments, required for this industry, even indigenisation of these has been rather slow. These factors have, therefore, caused major technology gap areas in the field of industrial robots in India as compared to that in other leading countries.
Do you think India can be a major hub of Robotic studies?
Robotics is the wave of the future. India has the highest youth population in the world who will be the main stakeholders of consumer/ research/defence-related Robots etc, which creates enormous scope for development in this field. Hence India can become a hub for Robotic studies.
Is there a need for more Robotics institutes in India?
Robotics is a highly demanding field from the point of view of R&D inputs of a very high calibre. In India, these inputs are mostly in the nature of systems engineering and application engineering. These efforts fall short of
micro contacts, signal integrity interconnects etc. His special interests in research are Bandwidth Utilisation in Computer Networks. He has been teaching Electronics for nearly three decades. For over one decade, he has been into Education Management. At present, he is serving as the Principal of Acharya Institute of Technology, Bengaluru.
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MOTIVATION School on Wheels
Education at
poor doorstep of the
by Neethu Mohan
, Bina Lashkari
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D
The goal of free and compulsory education will remain a stillborn dream unless the Union government makes an architectural correction in the institutional system with an all-pervasive plan of unequivocal access for the underprivileged. The government can take a cue from the winds of change being blown into the education sector by a non-governmental organisation (NGO) that believes in taking classroom learning right to the doorstep of the abandoned and neglected ones
oor Step School (DSS), an NGO operating in Mumbai and Pune, has been holding “mobile classes” for out-of-school and working children, who either live in slums, or on pavements, or under the wide expanse of the sky. Christened “School on Wheels”, the project idea is simple and easy to implement: a school bus comes and picks up children in the age group of seven to 18 on a daily basis and makes them part of an inbuilt classroom, says the Founder of DSS, Bina Lashkari, adding, “Five learning sessions are held in the mobile classroom on a daily basis.” The majority of the underprivileged children in the country do not attend school because they have to go for some odd job for a better part of the day, just when their better off or rich counterparts are engaged in play or studies at schools, says Bina. Significantly, she says, the poor children are respected for what they do for a living, and they have a flexible time to be a part of the mobile learning system. Currently, DSS has about 80 NFE (non-formal education) centres in Mumbai and Pune, making it easy for these oft-on-the-move children to continue education at another NFE centre. DSS gives each child a book called Majhepustak (my book), which contains information about him/her and his/her enrolment details. When a child moves to another centre, the teacher there can get information about
a child’s progress in learning from his/ her Majhepustak. DSS extends benefits of the NFE system to adolescent girls whose parents are often hesitant to send them to school, says Bina. So, how did the Door Step School originate and what kind of success has it been able to achieve so far? Bina says, “In 1988, while in the second year of my post-graduation, I had been assigned to conduct a study on the main reasons for high drop-out rates at a municipal school in Mumbai. The findings were shocking. While most children opted out of school because of their economic burden that compelled them to find work, some of them never had the funds to finance their education, despite their interest in studies. This revelation had a big impact on me, and to provide such children a much-needed hope in life, I founded Door Step School in 1989. At the initial stage, we only had two teachers for 89 students. Now, the staff number is 500.” Bina also runs ‘Balwadis’, preparatory schools, for tiny tots and assists those who are enrolled in schools but have no tutorial backup. “All our students come from humble backgrounds. The number of those educated in the families of such children is often close to zero. The opportunity to study at DSS may be the first chance for a member of a given family to obtain education. Some of our students have also been successful in finding gainful employment in the form of community work,” says Bina. EDUCATION INSIDER I January 2013