Dl July 2013

Asia’s premier Monthly Magazine on ICT in Education

volume 9

I issue 07 I July 2013 I ISSN 0973-4139 I ` 75

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Private

University

Ranking 2013

Top 60 Private Universities in India

Digital Classroom Revolution Begins in Schools

Cloud The Future of Education

Contents

ISSN 0973-4139

volume 09 issue 07 July 2013

University

Engineering survey 2013

Ranking 2013 24

India’s Top 60

Private and Deemed Universities

28

35

40

Ashok Mittal Chancellor, Lovely Professional University

Dr Madhu Chitkara Vice Chancellor, Chitkara University

G K Prabhu Registrar, Manipal International University

46 Dr Murugesan Ponnavaikko Vice Chancellor, SRM University

school focus - digital classroom

corporate diary

12 Teaching Next Gen Kids

58 Laxmi Narayan Rao (Lux Rao), Chief Technologist,

14 Personalised Learning at Individual Space is the Next Big Frontier

Beas Dev Ralhan, CEO, Next Education

16 Synergising Current Teaching-learning Practices 18 Beyond Rote Teaching-Learning

Technology Services, HP India Sales

V K Virani, Director

Srikanth Iyer, CEO, Pearson Education

60 Vasu K Saksena, CEO, MeritTrac special feature 62 Skills Development at University Level

Dr Haresh Tank, Director, Station-e Language Lab

global perspective

leaders speak - private university special

63 Prof Michael Thorne, Vice Chancellor, Anglia

52 Gurmeet Dhaliwal, Chairman, Baba Farid Group

tech focus - cloud computing

of Institutions (BFGI)

54 Dr Vidya Yeravdekar, the Principal Director of Symbiosis Society

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Ruskin University

63 Cloud: The Future of Education

Asia’s premier Monthly Magazine on ICT in Education Volume

09

Issue 07

July 2013

President: Dr M P Narayanan Editor-in-Chief: Dr Ravi Gupta Group Editor: Anoop Verma

Partner publications

Advisory Board

WEB DEVELOPMENT & IT INFRASTRUCTURE Team Lead – Web Development: Ishvinder Singh

Prof Asha Kanwar, President, Commonwealth of Learning

Dr Jyrki Pulkkinen, Senior Adviser, Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland

Executive – IT Infrastructure: Zuber Ahmed

Dr Subhash Chandra Khuntia, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Govt of India

Prof V N Rajasekharan Pillai, Executive Vice President, Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment

Executive – Information Management: Khabirul Islam

Prof S S Mantha, Chairman, All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE)

Prof Parvin Sinclair, Director, National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT)

information management team

Finance & Operations Team General Manager – Finance: Ajit Kumar Legal Officer: Ramesh Prasad Verma Sr Manager – Events: Vicky Kalra Associate Manager – HR: Sushma Juyal Associate Manager – Accounts: Anubhav Rana Executive Officer – Accounts: Subhash Chandra Dimri

Editorial Team education Sr Correspondent: Pragya Gupta, Mohd Ujaley Correspondent: Rozelle Laha governance Assistant Editor: Rachita Jha Research Assistant: Sunil Kumar Correspondent: Nayana Singh

OUR UPCOMING EVENTS 9th

Health Sr Correspondent: Sharmila Das SALES & MARKETING TEAM: digital LEARNING National Sales Manager: Fahimul Haque, Mobile: +91 - 8860651632 Associate Manager – Business Development: Amit Kumar Pundhir, Mobile: +91 - 8860635835 Subscription & Circulation Team Sr Executive – Subscription: Gunjan Singh, Mobile: +91-8860635832 Design Team Assistant Art Director: Shipra Rathoria Team Lead – Graphic Design: Bishwajeet Kumar Singh Sr Graphic Designer: Om Prakash Thakur Sr Web Designer: Shyam Kishore

india’s premier ict event 23-24 July 2013 Hyderabad International, Convention Center, Hyderabad

Knowledge Exchange

KOVALAM 30 Aug-1 Sept 2013, The Leela, Kovalam, Kerala

Editorial & Marketing Correspondence digitalLearning - Stellar IT Park Office No: 7A/7B, 5th Floor, Annexe Building, C-25, Sector 62, Noida, Uttar Pradesh 201301, Phone: +91-120-4812600 Fax: +91-120-4812660 Email: info@digitalLearning.in August 2013, Patna, Bihar

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Financial Inclusion & Payment Systems 10-11 October 2013, Eros Hilton, New Delhi

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EDITORIAL

Private Varisties, Global Aspirations With the recently held India-US Higher Education Dialogue in New Delhi, and the big announcement of eight collaborative projects between the US and Indian universities under the Obama-Singh 21st Century Knowledge Initiative, time wouldn’t have been more ripe for the Indian education system to grab the global limelight. In this date and age India cannot afford to miss out on the significance of global cooperation in education.

Student and faculty exchange programmes, collaborative research projects, joint skill development courses, technology-enabled education and online courseware are the various strategies through which universities are forging ahead with global collaborations. The latest MoUs signed between the AICTE and American Association of Community Colleges on Cooperation on Community Colleges and between IIT-Bombay and edX on Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) are steps in this direction.

However, with India’s education system gasping under the humungous demand from a young and burgeoning population, it’s not going to be an easy task. The journey cannot be completed without the inevitable support from the Private and Deemed Universities. Equipped with the global best practices, technology-enabled pedagogy and linkages with the industry, Private Universities have the potential to take the Indian higher education system to new heights.

With this vision, we have come up with a Ranking Special of India’s Top 60 Private and Deemed Universities. Based on the six key parameters of Sustainability, Infrastructure, Academic Reputation, Academic Excellence, Faculty and International Exposure, these universities were rated across all four zones of India. The issue also carries tech focus on digital classrooms. The story highlights experience of schools with digital classrooms and with private companies’ initiatives to create a digital learning environment. In this issue, we are also bringing you a special feature on Cloud Computing.

On July 23-24, we are organising eINDIA 2013 event at Hyderabad International Convention Centre, Hyderabad. This would be the 9th edition of eINDIA with four parallel tracks on Education, e-Governance, Healthcare and PSUs. The Government of Andhra Pradesh is co-hosting eINDIA 2013 along with Elets Technomedia Pvt Ltd. The event is being supported by large number of government organisations.

We look forward to your presence at eINDIA 2013.

Dr Ravi Gupta Editor-in-Chief Ravi.Gupta@elets.in

digitalLEARNING / July 2013

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news

higher education

MHRD annuls Distance Education Council The Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) dissolved the Distance Education Council (DEC) with immediate effect.

Under the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), DEC was the apex regulatory body that looked after distance education offered by universities across India.

IIM-U adopts campus Mgmt Solutions Campus Management Corp, provider of enterprise software products and services for higher education, has announced that it has been selected by the Indian Institute of Management, Udaipur (IIM-U)as its software provider for supporting its academic experience management needs.

Aircel launches students’ plan Aircel has announced bundled offer for college students of Bengaluru entering into the new academic year.

It will be made available in over 50 colleges through a special campus activation sponsorship called Notezine.

NIT-T to hire 120 assistant professors The National Institute of Technology-Tiruchi (NIT-T) will recruit 120 assistant professors for its several undergraduate engineering departments. Currently, the institute has 245 faculty members against the total sanctioned staff strength of 393.

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Times of India Group enters education sector Media giant, the Times of India Group, recently entered into the education sector, with the launch of the Times Centre for Learning.

BSNL, Oracle to strengthen student training

BSNL has collaborated with Oracle to strengthen BSNL’s summer vocational training programme for engineering students. This is the first time that BSNL has engaged with an external organisation such as Oracle and introduced new curriculum content to enable students’ exposure to the latest technology trends relevant in the telecom industry. Last year, over 100,000 students across India were trained through BSNL programmes.

Maha tightens penalty for fake institutions In the last few years, India has seen rapid growth of unauthorised and illegal educational institutions. To restrict this malpractice, Maharashtra state cabinet has approved a draft ordinance. According to the provisions of the proposed ordinance, the owners, management and proprietors of such institutions will face a maximum prison term of one year and could be fined anything between rupees one lakh and rupess five lakh.

school educaton

AG8 opens Sprouts Preschool in Bhopal AG8 builders have opened Sprouts Preschool in Bhopal that is claimed to be central India’s biggest preschool campus. It was inaugurated in a grand ceremony in the presence of Chief Guest Lina Parasuram, President, IASOWA; Hemant Kumar, CMD, AG8 (Aakriti Group); and Manju Soni, Chairperson, Aakriti Educare Pvt Ltd.

news

Mid-day meal scheme under scanner

Applane offers Cloud based time table solution Applane has added Cloud based Time Table Generation Software for the schools in their school solution portfolio. Maintaining time table for teachers has always been a challenging work. However with the advent of technology what else can be a better bait to have a time table scheduling done in fraction of seconds.

Kerala govt approves 148 higher secondary schools The Kerala state cabinet has given its nod for setting up of higher secondary schools in panchayats that lacked the presence of such schools at present. By this, a total of 148 panchayats in the state would soon get their first government higher secondary schools.

Dell Champs 2013 for genius minds Dell has announced ‘Dell Champs – 2013″School Programme’, a 20 city student-outreach programme themed, “Education, Empowerment and Entertainment”. The programme features a technology-based quiz contest to provide parents with a platform to participate with their kids.

Gujarat to introduce biometric attendance in schools The Government of Gujarat is looking to introduce biometric attendance system for teachers and students in government primary schools in rural areas of the state. This will help in monitoring dropout rates and help manage funds granted for various schemes.

Indian girl stands out in Google Science Fair Srishti Asthana, 15 year-old from India, has made the whole nation proud by acquiring a coveted spot at the finals of the Google Science Fair, 2013. She is the only participant from India to have made it to the finals stage.

The Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) will introduce a state-of-the-art system to monitor the midday meal scheme on a realtime basis. The scheme will be monitored through latest communication system – Inter Voice Response System on a daily basis. The information will be uploaded from every school with details of the number of children being provided food.

The system will integrate webportal with Inter Voice Response System through Cloud Telephonic. It will be the responsibility of the Head of the school to upload the website.

Birla Edutech opens school in Hyderabad Birla Edutech Ltd, a Yash Birla Group company, has started a school, Open Minds, in tieup with DSR Educational Society in Hyderabad city. The school was inaugurated by Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy. It will follow the NCERT National Curriculum Framework 2005 as the benchmark.

digitalLEARNING / July 2013

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K-12 Speak school focus digital classroom

Digital Classroom Revolution

By Pragya Gupta, ENN

Opportunities Indian Education Sector projected to present $110bn business opportunity by FY2015, growing by CAGR of 16.5% (India Ratings Report – 2013 Outlook: Indian Education Sector – Published on January 21, 2013) This has attracted considerable notice from both investors and government. The sheer demand of support to such demand surge presents a huge opportunity for all Education Industry incumbents.

• Increasing Technological Intervention in Education would open • Micro specialisation and multiple skill development options that education now offers, opens up an avenue to reach out to broader audiences

Initial hiccups The initial hiccup was to help understand the teaching fraternity and the management that it was not a replacement tool but a tool to improve upon efficiency and delivery, thereby giving sustainable results to the students, by giving them pedagogically appropriate content.

Today Digital education is not an alien in the market and has taken the task to enhance the skills for the team. The major shift in this attitude is the level of understanding the student has developed in subjects.

Photo Courtesy: www.wiredacademic.com

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Dale’s cone of Learning says we remember only 20 percent of what we hear; but this percentage increases substantially when hearing is paired with seeing, observing, working and doing activities

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Begins in Schools Digital Classroom is an integrated compact teaching-learning system installed in schools.The system allows teacher to display digital content on a large interactive touchscreen surface and also to write on the projected surface Components of digital classroom Video projection system: It includes a ceiling-mounted projector and a large projection screen in the front of the classroom Audio system: It includes speakers that are designed to replace the ceiling tiles, which allows for quality sound without invasive speakers taking up valuable space Interactive Whiteboard: It is an interactive screen displays interactive content for teachinglearning Content: Content mapped with the board and tailored to the specific needs of the client Tablets and PCs: For students response and engagement Tools: For teaching and student assessment

Challenges • The mindset of teachers which is a major roadblock in adaptability • Majority of the teachers have been moulded in chalk and talk instruction approach and usually perceive technology as a means to replace them • Another challenge is government regulations as they put a cap on the pricing structure of the school and the ICT development proposals • Public schools are less resilient to considering the education solutions as the IT infrastructure to these schools are provided by the government • There is keen price sensitivity in the market • Lack of appeal, low enrolments, industry affiliations, employability issues

The story highlights experience of schools with digital classroom and private companies’ initiatives to create digital learning environment>>> digitalLEARNING / July 2013

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school focus digital classroom

Lalganj St Paul’s School, Bihar

Teaching Next Gen Kids Director: V K Virani Number of Students: 2,500 Number of Faculty and Staff: 120 Digital Classroom Solution: TeachNext by Next Education tion Center (CCC): Two Teacher PCs, Server and Network Switch Software that are only applicable for server are TeachNext Client Interface, Next Studio, Next Tools, Next Dictionary, Reporting System, TeachNext Application Server, Assessment Creation Software, Content Creation and Publish Software, Microsoft Office and Windows XP OS for Teacher PCs, Encyclopadia Britannica, BBC motion Gallery and Algodoo.

V K Virani

Services • Teachers training programme to help school adopt this innovative solution easily and ensure high usage • Continuous Support and Content Upgrade • Service Commitment Please share details about digital classrooms of the school?

Presently we are using 11 (digital) classrooms of TeachNext but will definitely increase more number of classrooms in the future. There are several reasons to adopt digital classroom solutions un our school. These include: • It makes learning more interactive and grabs the attention of student in the class • Earlier it was tough to attract the attention of primary class student but now primary students also take interest in learning different topics and subject • It makes the concept, problem, theorem etc, much easier to understand for the difficult higher class topics as well

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•

As per the scientific research, retention of audio-video learning is 80 percent more than the traditional way of approach

What are the components of TeachNext digital classrooms?

The components of our TeachNext digital classrooms are divided in three parts, they are as follow: Under Software and Content: We have content library, which is mapped as per the syllabus Under Hardware: TeachNext Device or CPU with Remote, Projector, Ceiling Mount Kit, Cabling - Audio, Video, Dual Speakers, 6’x4’ Green Board and Promethean Interactive Whiteboard Hardware at Central Coordina-

How has the adoption affected academic standards?

Definitely the standards of academics have been increased by the use of TeachNext digital classrooms. The level of understanding for students has increased, it has enabled students to understand difficult concept of all subjects easily. The standard of pronunciation of each student is also improving day by day with the use of digital classrooms and its tools. Before these digital classrooms, students used to mug up the concept or theorem to get marks in exams but now students are trying to understand the concept or theorem.

With virtual labs and experiment they are able to understand different facts, like students can see the result of experiment of photosynthesis in different

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Student’s Feedback As per Ajeet Kr Singh, student of standard X, “Learning has now become interesting, easy and clear.

We are now able to understand a difficult concept much more easily.

As a student, after understanding the concept its much easy for us to express it in any exam or test.

For me English language was a barrier to understand the concept, but as TeachNext digital classroom can explain the concept in Hindi as well, now I am able to understand the concept, theorem or problems much easily.”

seasons at different time. Simulation in different topics has helped students to understand same concept by putting different values and observing their respective outcom again and again.

Not only students, but teachers are also getting benefits of the TeachNext classes.

How has the evaluation of effect been done?

The evaluation or the result of the effect can be seen in our exams, assessments, experiments, debate competitions etc.

The marks of overall students are gradually getting better. After seeing an experiment in virtual labs, students are easily able to conduct them in real labs. Spoken English ability and pronunciation are also getting better among students. The MCQ exercises after every module help teachers to evaluate the understanding level of every student, and that is showing a continuous progress.

Teacher’s Feedback As per Vipul Virani, Vice Principal,“Next Education has digitised the entire syllabus in the form of 2D and 3D animation. It has made teaching easier and fun-filled in comparison to earlier teaching experience. It has made classroom teaching easy, engaging and effective. Next Education has made classroom future ready by providing digital interactive classroom.

These days, students are very much more eager to attend classes, to understand the concept by the digital classrooms. It is user friendly and easy to use in classrooms. The standard of learning is now common for all students of different cities.”

How has it enhanced teachinglearning process?

It has made teaching and learning easy, effective and engaging. In area like ours it is very hard to get very high-skilled teachers.

So with the help of this digital classroom, we have got a similar kind of learning for students all over India. For Instance: a student in Delhi or Mumbai using this technology is getting the same input as a student in small towns of Bihar.

For teachers, in chalk-and-talk method, it took a lot of time and was hard to express and make students understand 3D diagrams, biological parts, etc. But with digital classrooms, these can be easily explained to students. It was really tough for teachers to teach every category (excellent, good, average and below average) of students in class, but with the help of digital classrooms now it is easy to focus on every student. Teachers took lot of time to create a question paper; but with the help of this technology now the same work can be done in lesser time with lesser hassles and errors.

For students, learning has become far more fun-filled. They are able to understand a concept more easily. They can practise more number of problems and concepts through our Self Learning Modules. For areas in Bihar the concept has been explained in English and Hindi both, so that students can easily learn the concept in their desired language.

It has made learning interactive, clear and easy. Our students just love it and wait for the next concept to be introduced.

Please share teachers’ training and experience with ICT tools.

Teachers’ training is essential to understand the need and the way to use and teach students through digital classrooms. Teachers training program me helps us to adopt this innovative solution easily and ensure high usage.

Initially, when teachers saw different ICT tools like graph, protector, etc, they thought it was too tough for them to use, but after the training programme it made it easier for them to deal with different tools. Trainers are also cooperative during training session. And teachers have gained lot of new skill to use these classrooms. As a teacher it would never have been possible to teach graph or construction on board without these ICT tools. For every subject there are different tools. For instance, for Chemistry they also need Periodic Table, digital maps in social science is an outstanding tool to be used in class etc. As without this tool, they might have not taught or might have not been easy to teach different topics in different subjects, similarly without teachers’ training programme it would not have been possible for them to use TN and its ICT tools in effective manner.

What are the new innovations you are expecting in future?

So far it is very good but in coming future we expect more subjects to be added with some more innovative tools and interactive features along with the features through which my students can get the global exposure.

digitalLEARNING / July 2013

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school focus digital classroom

Q& Personalised Learning at Individual A Space is the Next Big Frontier There is a big shift in the classrooms of today with the intervention of technology. Beas Dev Ralhan, CEO, Next Education, highlights latest digital classroom solutions available for schools Please share USPs of your disgital classrooms over other players existing in this domain.

Our digital classroom package offers the USPs of – content, innovative technology, Control system and support for teachers.

Out Content is mapped to syllabus of all boards such as CBSE, ICSE, IGCSE and 23 state boards. We have innovative technology framework, which allows content to play in classrooms irrespective of connection to server. Our remote control system enables user to control 95 percent features with only 5 buttons. Therefore, teacher is free to walk across the classroom even while using this system.

user an option to create lessons, syllabi, etc as per needs.

Beas Dev Ralhan We provide end-to-end support for the teacher from lesson planning to assessment of students to generating student report cards along with high degree of flexibility, thus providing the

Tools and resources available for teachers Lesson plans

Interactive content

help the teacher to plan for a class

includes 2D and 3D visual content along with voice-overs to explain and help students visualise concepts

Next Studio

Next Dictionary

includes interactive tools to draw on the white board. It helps make the switch between traditional blackboard and the new system

is an interactive dictionary which can be used on the fly

Next Tools

CCE assessments

include quick reference tools such as logarithm tables, graph plotter, periodic table, etc.

includes questions for formative and summative assessments as well as for testing HOTS (higher order thinking skills)

Question bank/ Test creator/ exercises offer more than 80,000 questions that teachers can use

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Library resources from BBC and Britannica as well as simulations and experiments for science concepts

How can institutions leverage their existing infrastructure to upgrade to digital classrooms?

The TeachNext solution provides everything required to set up a digital classroom in a school, if at all a school has existing infrastructure, such as a computer, audio visual system, interactive whiteboard, etc, we can install the TeachNext server and enable these computers to connect to it to stream content. eachNext provides an end-to-end solution right from cabling to setting up of the server system in the school.

Please shed light on new innovations.

Personalised learning at individual space is the next big frontier. Currently, institutions pay the same attention to each student, and each child learns at the same pace. Self-learn systems operate at a different pace from the classroom. The next big move will be a technology-enabled, integrated system in which the student is at the centre. Students will be able to move from device to device, choose their learning style, and excel at understanding the concept rather than just the words. For this reason Next Education has launched a series of Labs which help schools enable this for students.

This involves a big attitudinal shift.

Schools need to be prepared to implement various new aspects of learning BYOD (bring your own device), multiple intelligences, big-data across various products, and an integrated ERP that allows the school to collate data across multiple systems.

school focus digital classroom

Aster Public School

Synergising Current Teaching-learning Practices Trustee: V K Sharma & Siddharth Sharma Number of Students: 3,000+ and Staff: 50+ Website: www.greaternoida.asterpublicschool.com

Digital Classrooms at the School We have initiated the process of digitisation with 54 classrooms to synergise digital learning and our current teaching-learning practices. We will plan to extend digitisation to all our classrooms.

With tomorrow being increasingly competitive, we strive to provide all our students the support they need to learn, grow and develop. Our objective is to provide our teachers with means to make more and better contribution in learning process of students.

Digital classrooms and lab set-up Classroom digitisation, by deployment of iken School, is the basic solution offered by Mexus Education. It spreads over infrastructure, set-up, digital platform and content repository of learning resources as well as continuous support to ensure optimum use and upkeep of the set-up.

Content platform and repository Mexus Education offers comprehensive multi-format digital content repository, running over hours, for teaching topics of entire K-12 segment. Lessons are re-created in several engaging multimedia formats including live videos, movie, animations,case studies.

These digital classrooms are complemented with Virtual Labs that include experiments of Science, applicationdriven solutions for Maths and experiences of skill-based language into the very classrooms.

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Number of Faculty

ly supports lesson-planning, classroom preparation and content counselling to ensure uninterrupted teaching learning support.

Services on board Digital Classrooms offer flexibility to plan content flow for a lesson in the manner that matches teaching style of our tutors with aptitude and learning orientation of classrooms. iKen Classrooms also provide us with exclusive digital expert who continuous-

Student’s Feedback “It is easier to understand anatomy and other such topics by seeing them rather than by listening to their descriptions. It becomes even easier to understand when we see it in movies with different perspectives. These activities, movies, demonstrations have made long classes much more fun and enjoyable. Studies do not feel like studying at all now,” says a student

Raising academic standards iKen School Eco-System facilitatedinstruction and explanation of complex topics while ensuring that every student in the class gets individual attention.

Teachers are required to ensure that entire class reaches the basic level of understanding on the topic.

Topic-wise formative assessment system has transferred the responsibility of performance partially to the teachers. Teachers have means to en-

Teacher’s Feedback “iKen Library has made it easier for teachers using these classrooms to explain complex concepts in a way that students would find easy to understand. Conducting classroom tests are not as difficult as they used to be. With iKen Evaluate I, now, have tests on every topic,” says a teacher

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Creating difference with digital classroom solutions Anil Goyal, Director, Mexus shares his experience on working with different schools across India. He further shares the innovative solution that schools can look forward to. Excerpts: tions minds to understand the concepts and apply it in the logical schema to real-life problem solving. The approach brings dynamism in thinking process by channeling minds in applying known information to new and unforeseen contexts. D&T Labs of Mexus Education supports schools in completely introducing ‘Design Thinking’ to Indian Schools.

Please shed light on Mexus Classroom Solutions? iKen Classrooms are designed with a consideration to leverage existing infrastructure and resources. Smart Classroom Infrastructure is compatible with all standard classroom aids viz writing boards, electricity arrangements, even seating arrangements and other installations.

Please shed light on new innovations on which institutions can bet on.

Orienting children to learn by observing and exploring rather than memorising right from the beginning of education process. To bring about a transition in learning, it is imperative that the mind-set of children is moulded into new thinking at an early stage.

Brain-E-Kids, a unique pre-schooling format, encourages creativity, application and learning by involvement. Its ease-of-introduction as well as endto-end support by Mexus team makes it easier for institutions to adopt the concepts of iKen pedagogy right from the pre-schools.

Design Thinking is one of the organised approaches to learning that is being increasingly considered by schools. This learning process condi-

What were the initial hiccups you faced while approaching these institutions?

Addressing developmental challenges in terms of R&D costs, building relevant platforms, also filing the content as per the board and publisher were the major concerns to tackle. Mexus Education has set up a specialised academic innovations team of 250 professionals across India to attend to school and region specific requirements.

Meeting with teachers’ increasing expectation of total content dependency Mexus Education has chalked out a comprehensive training and hand-holding programme for teachers’, whereby the technology and its objectives are introduced to teachers.

What are the requirements of localised content?

Our content has already been customised to a few major regional languages and contexts and developing universal content that connects India as a whole has gone a long way in defining its acceptability of iKen Library.

We are helping teachers realise the right perspective of utilising several resources. Therefore, we organise a Training programme as a separate module that introduces teachers to classroom orientation and mixing the resources appropriately to best relate with the students.

sure that a basic understanding level for a particular topic is achieved by entire classroom.

With focus on child development and memorising capacity, students are now expected to understand the concepts over mere memorising, as they are assessed through different modes beyond written exams viz. quick quizzes, activities, experiments, concept-applications, etc.

Evaluation of effect Evaluation of the system and its impact on the learning environment is measured in two ways: First is the evaluation of students through iKen Evaluate, which allows measuring the understanding levels of students immediately upon completion of topics and periodically.

Secondly, from the feedback of teachers, Mexus connects with teachers on regular intervals to assess and ensure adoption of new pedagogy.

Enhanced teaching-learning Ease of Navigation and Usage: The content is streamlined and catalogued on various parameters like class, subject and topic.

This makes the navigation more userfriendly and ensures the ease of access.

Age-appropriate content, localised characters, content and contexts make it easier for children to listen& understand the resources and content ; as they relate with the situations and characters.

Integrated formative assessment system allows teachers to identify the comprehension levels of class on the topic instructed immediately.

Expections from future The new innovations which we expect in the future is more into gamification which would help students enjoy the learning even more, resulting into enhanced retention levels.

Children enjoy playing and if the games can teach all the concepts that the students have to learn over a period of time, the teaching-learning process would reach the next level, bringing about a paradigm shift in what we perceive as effective education. digitalLEARNING / July 2013

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school focus digital classroom

Chinmaya Vidyala, Kerala

Beyond Rote

Teaching-Learning Number of Students: 1800 DigiClass by Pearson

Number of Faculty and Staff: 92 Digital Classroom Solution:

Smart classrooms@ School DigiClass was installed in 23 classrooms initially, however due to a phenomenal response from students and teachers , the school has been keen on the deployment of this solution for all grades and classrooms.

Prior to 2010, the school had little enthusiasm for ICT and infrastructural inept for its implementation. The school management however, showed interest towards teacher effectiveness and learning of students in the class, which further led to improved academic performance of students. Post a thorough evaluation of digital content offered

by Pearson Education Services, with considerations of the varied feedback received from the subject teachers, the school recognised the importance of ICT and adopted DigiClass. The school

Student’s Feedback “Classroom learning is a lot more interesting as we now have visual aids and 3D animated content which explains the topic. I look forward to my classes and we have a lot of fun learning”, Abdulla Shabil, Student of XII

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has seen phenomenal change in teaching and learning across grades and ICT is now embedded fully in this school and 11 group of schools across Kerala, Karnataka and Tamilnadu.

Higher academic standards Technology can play a vital role in helping students understand difficult and key concepts better, faster and also retention of the same for a longer period of time.

DigiClass is based on the “Cognitive Learning Process” the most widely accepted theory of learning process, which recognises the close relationship between that which is known and that which is to be learned. Learning is a process which is based on relationships: teacher with student, student with subject, and learning with memory.

The school has noticed a significant

Teacher’s Feedback “DigiClass greatly increases the interest of a students towards the concept being taught, thanks to the animated content. This helps them fare better in revision tests and exams, as the multimedia content aids better understand and longer retention of the concept,” says Priya K S, Senior Biology Teacher

improvement in student retention and concept understanding due to use of the technology. This has helped the school move towards a more student-centered learning approach which brings in cognitive learning to replace the chalk and blackboard model. The students found it fascinating, thanks to the repository of animations, diagrams, videos and worksheets. They were thrilled with the concept of 3D interaction and not only enjoyed the process of learning but grasped concepts better. As DigiClass has been customised to suit the syllabi of all classes and children of all ages were able to take advantage of the solution.

Evaluation of effect One of the unique offerings of DigiClass is its effectiveness tracker, which allows the head of the institution to track the usage of the solution by teachers as well as monitor students progress.

Enhanced teaching- learning process DigiClass allowed teachers to customise learning plans based on the pace of the learner. They could add, delete or modify information. Even with little or no internet access, the teachers could import new information, which was available online.

Teachers were provided comprehensive training on the usage of DigiClass. Teacher Training programmes were conducted and to test their understanding, teachers would undergo an assessment, after which they received a certificate. With a shift from blackboards to whiteboards, teachers could save the diagrams, illustrations and writing and reuse them when required. The Effectiveness Tracker

school focus digital classroom

helped track the usage of DigiClass by teachers so that we could help them identify problem areas. Teachers could also monitor the students’ progress.

Teacher’s training and experience Pearson Education Services has worked closely teachers and management to order to curb their biggest fear; that of using technology. The teachers were trained thoroughly on the use of ICT in classrooms and they have ensured that ICT has now become embedded across all grades in the whole school. As a helping hand, a resource person has been deployed at the school to provide all assistance to teachers in using this technology.

Teachers are assessed at two stages after the initial training process, through: First Assessment - Teachers are eligible to take this assessment immediately after the completion of the Teacher Training Programme. This would be a basic assessment to check teachers’ knowledge on computer and the DigiClass solution.

Second Assessment - Teachers would be eligible to take this assessment only after using the DigiClass solution for one year. This assessment is aimed at checking the teachers on their advanced knowledge of the solution. This would give us a fair idea on how much the teachers have explored the solution and also if they have upgraded their skills within the one year of using the solution. This would be considered the Final Assessment for a teacher.

Teachers can take these assessments on the Internet from anywhere through the link provided by us. The teachers who pass the assessments would be awarded with a Pearson Education Services Certificate.

Expectations from Future Introduction of tablets in classroom learning presents itself as an incredible platform to further unlock the benefits of adopting ICT in the education space.

Tablets, with their intuitive interface and apps can aid learning to a great extent.

20

July 2013 / digitalLEARNING

Shifting towards a Learner-Centric Module Srikanth Iyer, CEO, Pearson Education Services talks about how Pearson classrooms are facilitating blended learning in schools with their digital classroom solutions

What does Pearson offers under its smart classroom solutions?

DigiClass is our comprehensive solution for all the ICT needs of a school. It applies the finest synergy of technology and education by seamlessly integrating traditional chalk-and-talk method of teaching and enabling the teachers to use the digital resources such as Educational Animations, Videos, Diagrams and 3D Graphics with audio. It makes the classroom session interactive by providing the students a multi-sensory learning experience, which in turn enhances their academic performance. This solution is designed to adapt to any classroom setting. It also empowers teachers to customise their teaching sessions, keeping the learners’ pace in mind.

DigiClass comes with: CPU, interactive device projector, DigitALly, which is a patented award winning teaching tool, syllabi specific course content, UPS, server, speakers and white board.

We offer it either in BOOT model or Outright Purchased Model. A resource coordinator sets up and maintains the solution in school and also trains the teacher in its usage.

Please shed light on new innovations on which institutions can bet on.

ICT in education has seen a major development in the recent past, the most pivotal being the introduction of a tablets which lead to enhanced dissemination of information, classroom engagement and also increased the accessibility of technology.

Tablets hold some major advantages and have the potential to simplify ICT provisions within the school by lending itself better to use of technology in learning.

This means that the current ICT scenario will witness a shift from teacher-centric module to a learner-centric module. All these translate to measurable learning outcomes through a portable and truly versatile learning tool.

Special Feature

education.eletsonline.com

Q& Reinventing Education System A

with Next Generation School ERP

Razi Ahmed, Country Manager / CEO – India, Edmatix Information Systems, a subsidiary of Mazik Tech Solutions talks about how the company is helping educational institutions to achieve their academic goals and bring people together by removing gaps between parents, teachers and students Please shed some light on Edmatix Solutions.

Edmatix is the education ERP division of Mazik Tech solutions which provides multi lingual educational solutions and services. Our products are built on latest Microsoft, Web 2.0 technologies to make it more user friendly and cater the education needs of various school boards such as state SSC, CBSE, ICSE and several others that exists in India it also caters colleges, training institutes and universities.

How Edmatix is helping Education Institutions across India?

Edmatix is helping education industry achieve their academic goals and set standards. We are totally committed to helping education community; reinvent education system to improve their education standards and student achievements to outperform in several state and central aptitude tests. Our education products are designed to help you support the lifecycle of active learning, inspires student success and create technology enabled environment.

Our products are built to allow seamless customizations to meet the needs of every school in the education community.

Edmatix has been committed to providing the best software solutions for education industry and helping schools maintain their competitive edge with their counter parts in the education market. Our mission is to provide schools a very comprehensive, easy to use and most cost effective solutions. We help schools and institutions to achieve their education goals by improving education standard, student grades, achievements and ofcourse achieve their target revenues to help them expand their servic-

enhancement to existing features in our releases. We believe in training our customers that to reduce the number support calls that we receive and help us use our valuable time to further build the software. We value each of our customers irrespective of their size and revenue.

Razi Ahmed es. Improvement in student grades and education standards will help schools to send more students to colleges and universities where they can be selected for the most demanding courses and programs to support Indian growth in technology and sciences.

How do you manage support for your existing customers when you are adding schools almost every week?

Along with our local support, we are constantly monitoring the industry and working with our customers who are driving the functionality of our software.

We are committed to exceeding our customer’s expectations. We completely understand that the software you buy today needs to last for decades, grow and adapt with your school’s changing needs and requirements. We follow a strict change management and control for every release of each new enhancement. Our implementation and support teams are very well connected with all our customers, they keep all customers very well informed about our new features and

What is the mantra of your rapid growth in a little span of time?

Edmatix is built using the technology stack such as .NET framework, Silverlight, Entity framework, CSLA and Reporting services. The framework is designed keeping in mind the type of industry this software is going to serve.

Every School works differently: our 11 years of experience serving educational industry tells us that no two schools works the same way. Our ability to customize our solution to every school needs is one of the main reasons for our rapid growth.

Inexperienced Technology Users: We totally understand that teacher’s job is to teach students and not spend lot of time managing student grades, attendance, lesson plans and etc. we have designed our system keeping in mind that teachers are not the regular users of computers.

Our intuitive and consistent layouts in every modules helps teacher understand quickly how to use the system.

Low Internet Bandwidth: We understand that not all schools and educational institutions afford to have high bandwidth internet connections. Our system is designed to work on low internet bandwidth using our software’s ability to safely and securely cache repeated data on local machines to help perform faster transactions without any waiting times.

digitalLEARNING / July 2013

21

higher education private university special

Higher Education

in India at a Glance The Indian Higher Education system is the largest in the world encompassing 17 million students and approximately 34,000 institutions. However, with the population of India expected to grow to over 1.3 billion by 2020, the capacity of higher education needs to nearly double, to meet the targeted Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) of 30 percent for the higher education segment. This would require an investment of USD 180 billion What’s Trending in Higher Education‌ Growing Need for Alliances

International tie-ups broadly help in developing curriculum, providing affiliation to a reputed brand, assisting in transfer of knowledge, placements, and student and faculty exchange.

New Education Paradigm

A new breed of institutions is being spawned by large corporate entities and educationists that aim to set global benchmarks. The new progressive initiatives provide state-of-the-art infrastructure and well-rounded, culturally, and socially relevant programmes to meet the contemporary challenges.

Growing Value of Accreditation

Accreditation is now a definitive indicator of the quality of education. In the context of Indian Higher Education, accreditation is expected to gain a lot of traction as the landscape is marred by several poor quality institutions, and accreditation provides them with an opportunity to differentiate.

Growth of Online Courses

The accumulation of educational content from many universities on one website would enable learners worldwide to access either the course content of any participating university or a common set of online educational tools shared by all participating universities.

Growth of Private Universities

Establishment of private universities has been an important achievement in the history of the Indian Higher Education segment. Private universities have witnessed tremendous growth in the past five years, as illustrated in the following exhibit.

112

89

Growth of State Private Universities 65

Source: : UGC, Technopak Analysis

48

30

Number of Universities 1 1995

22

2

5

2001

2002

July 2013 / digitalLEARNING

10

2003

13

2004

19

2005

28

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

education.eletsonline.com

Global Rankings Elude Indian Universities The coveted global rankings still elude Indian universities at large. Only one lndian institution features in the list of top 500 universities in the world. As per Webometrics’s 2012 ranking of global universities (20,300 Universities), only IIT Madras made it to the list of top 500 Universities in the World. Even in the Asian rankings, only IIT Madras (Rank in Asia – 66; World Ranking - 454) and IIT Bombay (Rank in Asia – 91; World Ranking - 576) made it to the list. This dismal statistic is repeated across the numerous reports issued by other ranking agencies, and is therefore a cause for concern.

We believe that the long-term performance of a university will be tied to its ability to offer quality education, create a USP for itself, and focus on employability & research. In the near term, we will see high growth trajectory. We also believe that few high quality initiatives that are being taken at this point of time will result in developing truly Enayet Kabir, Associate Director, Technopak Advisors

Faculty India has been facing an acute shortage of faculty in Higher Education. There is not only a 30 percent shortfall in the number of faculty members but also a huge challenge in terms of quality of faculty. As can be seen from the adjoining exhibit, the Indian Higher Education system currently needs 1.16 million faculty members as per the UGC norms. However, the current faculty strength is only 0.81 million. Considering that we need to attain a GER of 30 percent by 2020, we need to add 0.17 million faculty members every year. The problem of faculty shortage is consistently severe across premier institutions like the IITs as well as second or third rung colleges. The government recently allowed institutions to hire expatriate Indians to make up for faculty shortage.

world-class universities over the next decade or so.”

2012

2020

Number of Students (In Millions)

16.9

31.9

UG

14.6

27.4

PG

23

4.5

UG

15

15

PG

12

12

UG

0.97

1.82

PG

0.19

0.37

Total

1.16

2.19

Faculty:Student Ratio (As per UGC guidelines)

Faculty Required

Current Faculty Faculty Shortage Annual Faculty Requirement (till 2020)

0.81 0.35

1.38 0.17

digitalLEARNING / July 2013

23

Private

University

Engineering survey 2013

Ranking 2013

24

July 2013 / digitalLEARNING

education.eletsonline.com

India’s Top 60

Private and Deemed Universities

T

he Indian higher education system is one of the largest higher education systems in the world. While we are discussing our need for more universities in the country to cater to the ever-growing needs of the population, the bigger question that remains is the acute shortage of faculty members in most universities. With this deficiency arises a bigger challenge – taking quality of education to new heights.

Over the past few years, there has been an immense growth in the number of private universities being set up in the country. Today, there are total of 159 private universities according to UGC and 130 deemed universities according to MHRD. With a series of private university bills pending in different states of India, the number is only expected to grow. Can these universities help India make a mark in the Top 100 World Universities soon?

How We Ranked Them?

We have ranked the top private and the deemed universities across the country. To start with, we made a list of universities from the websites of University Grants Commission (UGC), Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD) website and National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC). We collected data from the official websites of these institutions based on factors like year of establishment, size of campus, total number of recognitions from regulatory bodies, total number of courses offered and disciplines in the university, number of foreign collaborations, foreign exchange programmes, total number of faculty members and so on. We validated the data by considering NAAC ratings, student reviews on online portals, views of Human Resources (HR) department in several corporate houses and the age of the university Based on the above data and reviews, we rated the top 60 private and deemed universities under five broad categories of Infrastructure, Academic Reputation, Academic Excellence, Faculty and International Exposure. digitalLEARNING / July 2013

25

Private

University

Engineering survey 2013

Ranking 2013

Top 10 Universities with High-Quality Infrastructure An eye-catching feature about most private universities in the country is their infrastructure. We have considered the campus area, number of laboratories and ICT-based learning as some of the key parameters for ranking the universities in this category.

Whereas, it was an easy task to get the details of the campus area of the universities, number of laboratories was not mentioned in many cases. To rate the ICT infrastructure, we used the website information and also interacted with leading ICT solution providers in the higher education sector to understand the keenness of universities in installation of such solutions in their campus.

Amity University, Noida, topped the chart because of the high rating in the criteria of the ratio of the number of laboratories and the total campus area. Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham University figured among the Top 5 because of its ICT infrastructure and good laboratories.

Infrastructure (100) Parameter

Score

Campus Area

50

Number of Laboratories

25

Use of ICT in Teaching-Learning

25

Rank

Name of University

City

State

Noida

Uttar Pradesh

1

Amity University

2

Bharathiar University

Coimbatore

Tamil Nadu

3

Banasthali University

Banasthali

Rajasthan

4

Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham University

Coimbatore

Tamil Nadu

5

Birla Institute of Technology

Ranchi

Jharkhand

6

Karunya University

Coimbatore

Tamil Nadu

7

Kakatiya University

Warangal

Andhra Pradesh

8

Sam Higginbottom Institute of Agricutlure, Technology & Sciences

Allahabad

Uttar Pradesh

9

Manipal University

Manipal

Karnataka

10

Lovely Professional University

Phagwara

Punjab Amity University

26

July 2013 / digitalLEARNING

LEADERS SPEAK

private university special

education.eletsonline.com

Lovely Professional University

Aiming Big, Flying High With students from 26 countries and tie-ups with over 35 international universities, Lovely Professional University has now consolidated its position and reputation the world over.

Ashok Mittal, Chancellor, Lovely Professional University, sheds light on various initiaves taken by the university to create a new benchmark Focussing on research-based learning Our focus is not only limited to classroom teaching or theoretical knowledge but we propel students to think on how that acquired learning can be put to practical use, yielding applied gains. Thus, they are driven to add to the existing knowledge base, thereby raising the possibility of research on the mentioned subject. Furthermore, LPU now has a dedicated Research and Development centre of its own. We offer more than 200 programmes ranging from diploma, undergraduate, graduate, post-graduate and doctoral.

Faculty crunch - the biggest hitch The biggest challenge that I expect to face in near future is arranging for a truly world-class faculty that should conform to the goal of being one of the Top 200 universities of the world. I would not hesitate to say that India needs much larger faculty pool than what is available.

Virtual, paperless university Almost 90 percent of the day to day administration and most of the University procedures are carried out online. Ours is a virtual paperless university now.

Everything takes place on UMS (University Management System) – an IT based platform that has been deployed for e-Governance and which acts as a relation management tool as well. Recently, we have launched applications by the name of LpuTouch App and eConnect App, which work on a

28

May 2013 / digitalLEARNING

Ashok Mittal

variety of mobile platforms, thus bringing student/services on mobile phones as well. LPU was recently honored with Shiksha Ratna Award for its best IT practices in higher education.

Foreign collaborations – the way forward LPU has already partnered with over 35 universities across the world, in countries like USA, UK, Australia, Canada, China, Brazil, Poland and Spain. We aim to give global perspective of higher learning to our students by means of international academic programmes, foreign study tours and interactive sessions. We have plans to add more universities to our existing base of international partners, and incorporate more areas of collaborative undertakings.

Industry specific curriculum The Department of Academia-Industry Interface is responsible to enter into academic alliances with different institutions and industry sectors with a view to develop or refine the curricula, etc. as per specific needs. Also, Division of Career Services is the division that provides guidance to budding students in their choice of career by creating access to employers and generating placement opportunities.

Our students have got placements in more than 300 Global and Indian Superbrands including Infosys, Accenture, TCS, Samsung, IBM, Nestle India Ltd, WIPRO Technologies, Convergys, Axis Bank, DELL, Head Strong, Johnson & Johnson, etc.

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LEADERS SPEAK private university special

Rajendra Kumar Pandey, President, NIIT University

Shaping Leaders for a Plural Society We are different from the traditional industrial universities and our aim is to develop a leading centre of innovation and learning in emerging areas of knowledge society. In the 21st century, India has to create leaders who should be prepared to face new challenges because they have to operate in a multicultural environment.

So apart from developing the key knowledge of the chosen field, it is important that we must develop in our students understanding of not only our culture but also their specific concerns. Students must also be able to operate in different environments, language ambiences and so on. Our university’s role is to create leaders who respond to different challenges.

30

July 2013 / digitalLEARNING

Luminaries from private and deemed universities present views on shaping up higher education in India, in conversation with Chhavi Bakaria

Empowering Students through Flexible Courses Our university has always focused on developing a truly interdisciplinary education. The creation of our five schools of law, international affairs, business, government and public policy, and liberal arts and humanities has been done in that regard. The previous tight-jacketed approach of the conventional education has lost its relevance. The focus on interdisciplinarity is well-established in top universities across the world.

We stress a lot on interdisciplinary interactions so our students have had the opportunity of cross registering for courses across all schools and in our undergraduate and post graduate programmes. We also strive to provide maximum academic freedom to our faculty members in order for them to research and teach at the best of their abilities.

Prof C Raj Kumar, Vice Chancellor, O P Jindal University

education.eletsonline.com

Dr A S Zadgaonkar, Vice Chancellor, Dr CV Raman University

Aiming to Become a Centre for Innovation Creating Socially Responsible Citizens I believe higher education in Prof Vijay Kant Verma, Vice India is in a transition phase and Chancellor, AISECT University private universities have a very vital role to play in shaping it up. Our university has introduced minimum two skills in every course curriculum that can range from four wheeler repair to repair of mobile, etc. Also in addition to industrial experience, we encourage students to undertake social projects in the villages adopted by the University. The aim is to understand problems faced by the society and try to find a solution together. A social tracking system has been designed by a team of students to monitor and advise villagers on various health and social issues.

We are a relatively young private University, yet in this short period we have managed to carve out a niche for ourselves in terms of courses offered, quality teaching and students, placements and above all, research. Our focus lies on innovation and research.

Research with applicability in various areas is what we are working for. We hope to establish credentials as a research oriented center with pure, integrated as well as inter-disciplinary research.

Technological innovations are also in the offing. Our M Phil and PhD cells boast of relevant research with practical applications in our day to day lives. digitalLEARNING / July 2013

31

Private

University

Engineering survey 2013

Ranking 2013

Top 10 Academically Recognised Universities While private universities are growing by leaps and bounds, a crucial aspect that remains unchanged is the recognition of the university by some authorised regulatory body. Almost in every inspection done by UGC, an entire list of fake universities get unearthed emphasising on the need for academically recognised universities. We have given maximum weightage to National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) accredited universities and used the number of courses and departments in the university to validate the scores.

Academic reputation (100) Parameter

Score

NAAC Rating

50

Recognition (AICTE,UGC, others)

20

Number of Departments & Courses

20

Number of Patents

10

Rank

Name of University

1

Birla Institute of Technology & Science

2

Lovely Professional University

3

Amity University

4 5 6

State

Pilani

Rajasthan

Phagwara

Punjab

Noida

Uttar Pradesh

VIT University

Vellore

Tamil Nadu

Birla Institute of Technology

Ranchi

Jharkhand

Bharati Vidyapeeth

Pune

Maharashtra

7

Manipal University

Manipal

Karnataka

8

Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan University

9

University of Petroleum and Energy Studies

10

Jodhpur National University

Birla Institute of Technology & Science

32

City

July 2013 / digitalLEARNING

Bhubaneshwar

Odisha

Dehradun

Uttarakhand

Jodhpur

Rajasthan

Private

University

Engineering survey 2013

Ranking 2013

Top 10 Universities of Academic Excellence The academic quality of any educational institution can be best judged based on the quality of research papers being produced by the institute, the total number of students and also the number of PhD faculty members. We calculated the faculty-student ratio and also the ratio of PhD faculty and student ratio to validate the rankings.

Academic Excellence (100) Parameter

Score

Faculty/Student Ratio

60

Research Activities/Research Papers Published

20

Industry-Academia Interface

20

Rank

Name of University

1

Manipal University

2

Lovely Professional University

3

Bharati Vidyapeeth

4

SRM University

5

Kalinga Insitute of Industrial Technology

6

Birla Institute of Technology & Science

7

Sharda University

8

Koneru Lakshmaiah University

IIT9 Roorkee among world’s best SamisHigginbottom Institute of Agricutlure, Technology institutions and has contributed & Sciences immensly to the technical education 10 Shanmugha Arts, Science, & Research sector in the country over pastTechnology 150 years Academy

34

July 2013 / digitalLEARNING

City

State

Manipal

Karnataka

Phagwara

Punjab

Pune

Maharashtra

Chennai

Tamil Nadu

Bhubaneswar

Odisha

Pilani

Rajasthan

Greater Noida

Uttar Pradesh

Guntur

Andhra Pradesh

Allahabad

Uttar Pradesh

Thanjavur

Tamil Nadu

LEADERS SPEAK private university special

education.eletsonline.com

Chitkara University

Nurturing Knowledge Creators

By Dr Madhu Chitkara, Vice Chancellor, Chitkara University

W

ith the Indian economy opening up at a fast pace, the Chitkara University is aiming to create problem solvers and knowledge creators for the country. Universities and other higher educational institutions would have to bring about a paradigm shift in their approach to teaching. We have to lay emphasis on learning-centric approach rather than the examination and teacher-centric approach.

The University has two sprawling campuses located in Himachal Pradesh and Punjab. The Chitkara Institute of Engineering and Technology was listed amongst the Top 50 engineering colleges in the country within the first six years of its inception.

We select our faculty members with utmost care and we support them to enhance their skills. We invite senior

Madhu Chitkara faculty members from US universities at our campus as guest faculty for varying durations and that helps us hone the teaching skills of our faculty. I believe that if we look after the intellectual aspirations of the faculty then they will look after the students.

The University has built very strong collaborative arrangements with industry. Reputed industries like nVIDIA, NXP Semiconductors, Texas Instruments and

Cadence have set up laboratories at our campus.

We runs Campus Connect Programme of Infosys from its campus. The University has its own FM Radio Station that beams programmes daily to give hands-on experience to its media students. In addition, we have tie-ups with reputed organisations like Fortis Hospital and FTKMC to train students. Collaboration with foreign universities is another priority area for Chitkara University.

Our socialist environment has not been psychologically able to cope up with this massive expansion and higher fee structure of private universities. This has created an impression that they are out to make money. The reality is totally different. The lack of trust is the main reason for this state of affairs. We must accept the fact that not all private universities are indulging in wrong doings and not all public universities have standards.

digitalLEARNING / July 2013

35

9th india’s premier ICT Event

The 9th eINDIA (www.eINDIA.net.in), to be convened with the theme of ‘Building a Knowledge Society’ will be held on 23—24 July, 2013 at Hyderabad International Convention Centre (HICC), Hyderabad, India and hosted by Government of Andhra Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh Technology Services Limited (APTS). The summit is being organised by Elets Technomedia Pvt Ltd. The two-day summit will serve as a platform for knowledge exchange between the key stakeholders who are active in the fields of Governance, Education and Health.

Message from It minister of Andhra Pradesh

leaders at eINDIA 2013 P K Mohanty Chief Secretary, Government of Andhra Pradesh

Nallari Kiran Kumar Reddy Chief Minister Government of Andhra Pradesh

Sanjay Jaju Secretary, Information Technology and Communications Department, Government of Andhra Pradesh

Speakers at eINDIA 2013 Ponnala Lakshmaiah Minister for Information Technology and Communications, Government of Andhra Pradesh

Dr Akhilesh Gupta Secretary, UGC

Dr Prafulla Agnihotri Director, IIM Tiruchirapalli

Dr Srinivasan Sundarrajan Director, NIT Trichy

Dr W N Gade Hon’ble ViceChancellor, University of Pune

Ryan Pinto CEO, Ryan International Group of Institutions

Amol Arora Vice Chairman & Managing Director, Shemrock and Shemford schools

Navneet Anhal CEO, Zee Learn Ltd

Kartikay Saini Chairman, Scottish High International School and more ...

It is a matter of immense pleasure to share that Department of Information Technology & Communications, Government of Andhra Pradesh is co-hosting the largest ICT event eINDIA conference, exhibition and awards in Hyderabad, to be held from 23rd-24th July, 2013 at Hyderabad International Convention Centre (HICC).

I would like to welcome all the delegates to Hyderabad and will request them to participate whole-heartedly and make their trip a memorable experience.

eINDIA 2013 Education Award Categories Key Session Themes at eINDIA Education Summit School Education • Education for All: Cohesive Efforts by Government and Private Sector • Emerging Models of Setting up New Schools • Creating Excellence in School Education: Challenges and Opportunities • Nurturing School Leaders of Tomorrow • Pre Schools in India • Emerging Role of ICT in Education

With the increased focus being apportioned by the Government of India on ensuring quality Education for All, it is important to discuss about the challenges and the opportunities in the sector and utilise the earmarked resources in a comprehensive manner.

Highlights · · · · · · · ·

More than 1,000 high level representatives from India and all across the globe Largest & most exclusive platform for knowledge sharing Global Education Ministers’ Conclave & Secretaries’ Conclave Industry Leaders’ Conclave & Education Leaders’ Conclave Convergence of who is who of the educational sector Expo & Exhibition for showcasing best practices in teaching, learning and training eINDIA 2013 Award for innovation and excellence in education Power Sessions on School Education, Higher Education, Skills Development and Vocational Training

Higher Education • Fostering Quality in Higher Education through Accreditation and Assessment • Challenges and Opportunities in Revitalizing Technical Education • Bringing Research and Innovation in Management Education • Role of Private Universities in Promoting Inclusive Education • Critical role of Industry/ Academia interface in making students employable

Components

Conference

Awards

Expo

Who Should Attend?

Principals, Vice Principals, Chairmen, Directors, CEO E-learning Coordinators, IT Coordinators & Integrators in Schools and Higher Education Institutions Vice Chancellors, Directors, Deans, Registrars and International Higher Education Institutions Education Regulatory Bodies and Professional Association Representatives Edupreneuers, Entrepreneurs, Private Equity Investors, Venture Capitalists, Education Solution Providers

Host Partners

State Partner

Supporting Partners Department of Public Enterprises Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises Government of India

Organisers NATIONAL INFORMATICS CENTRE

Jammu and Kashmir e-Governance Agency

For programme related queries, contact: Rozelle Laha rozelle@elets.in +91-8860651634 For Expo and Sponsorship related queries, contact: Fahim Ul Haq fahim@elets.in +91-8860651632

eIndia.net.com

Private

University

Engineering survey 2013

Ranking 2013

Top 10 Faculty-Rich Universities Faculty is the most important pillar of an educational system. Good faculty is essential for imparting quality education among students. Availability of good faculty is a major problem in all institutions across the country. No matter how many institutions we set up, recruitment of good and quality faculty is crucial for excellence in teaching-learning.

Faculty (100) Parameter

Score

Permanent Faculty

60

PhD Faculty

20

International Faculty

20

Rank

38

Name of University

1

SRM University

2

Sharda University

3

VIT University

4

City

State

Chennai

Tamil Nadu

Greater Noida

Uttar Pradesh

Vellore

Tamil Nadu

Kalinga Insitute of Industrial Technology

Bhubaneswar

Odisha

5

Lovely Professional University

Phagwara

Punjab

6

Bharathiar University

Coimbatore

Tamil Nadu

7

Kakatiya University

8

Gandhi Institute of Technology and Management

9

Banasthali University

10

Koneru Lakshmaiah University

July 2013 / digitalLEARNING

Warangal

Andhra Pradesh

Visakhapatnam

Andhra Pradesh

Banasthali

Rajasthan

Guntur

Andhra Pradesh

Courses affiliated to

Courses affiliated to

Punjabi Uni. Patiala

PTU Jalandhar

MBA

����i��oma�i����tai��Ma�a��m��t

M.Sc. (Physics)

����i��oma�i���o�r�a�i�m�a�d�Ma���Comm.

M.Sc.�(Geography)

B.Sc.(Agriculture Integrated course after 10th)�

����i��oma�i���Ba��i���������ra�c�

M.Sc.�(Maths)

M.Sc.�(Chemistry)

M.Sc.(IT)

M.Sc.(IT)2nd year Lateral Entry

B.Sc.�(Agriculture)

B.Sc.(Biotechnology) B.Sc.�(Comp. Sci.)

M.Sc. (Airlines, Tourism & Hospitality Management) B.Sc.�(Med. & Non-Med.) B.Sc.�CSM (Computer, Statistic & Mathematics) M.Sc.�(Service Industry Management)

B.Sc.�MCM (Mathematics, Computer & Management)

M.A.�(English)

B.Sc.�ATHM (Airlines, Tourism & Hospitality Management)

M.A. (Punjabi)

M.A. (Economics)

BBA

M.A.�(Political Science)

B.Com.�

M.A.�(History)

M.A.�(Education)

B.T�c�.�(CSE) B.T�c�.�(ECE) B.T�c�.�(IT) B.T�c�.�(CE) B.T�c�.�(ME) B.T�c�.�(EE) M.T�c��(CSE, ECE) Courses affiliated to

P.S.E.B., Mohali 10+1���10+2 (All Streams) �����to�Matric

BCA

B.Com.�(Professional)

B.Ed.

M.Com.

B.A.

���CA�

Edupreneur Award-2013

gov campus

An Initiative of Govt. of INDIA

(Selected Among Top 100 Educational Institutions in India)

Only 100 Campuses in INDIA

100%

Placement Guarantee for

B.Tech. & MBA

Indian Achiever’s Award-2013

(Only Educational Institution in Punjab)

EARN WHILE LEARN (A unique Initiative of BFGI to study and earn side by side)

GLOBAL INTERNSHIP PROGRAMME SCHOLARSHIP & CONCESSION POLICY-2013

LEADERS SPEAK private university special

Q& Manipal University Aiming to be a A

Frontrunner in Healthcare Education

Manipal International University received the deemed university status in 1993. Over the years, it has spread its wings far and wide. Apart from three Indian campuses, it also boasts of international presence with a campus each in Dubai and Malaysia. G K Prabhu, Registrar, Manipal University, in conversation with Pragya Gupta. Excerpts: How is the Manipal University aiming to enhance higher education in the country?

Manipal University today is well known for education and healthcare and we have about 24 institutions that are catering to various fields of study. Our vision is to be a global leader in human development, excellence in education and healthcare.

G K Prabhu

40

July 2013 / digitalLEARNING

According to you, what are the major challenges being faced by private universities in India?

A private university does not get any kind of government grant and thus everything has to be taken care by the students’ fees. So the cost of education is passed on to the students, but we also know that with high cost, we are unable to attract the quality students.

Thus, we have to strike a balance and we need to create scholarships through which we can attract quality students.

Another challenge is the appointment of staff and faculty. Building quality physical infrastructure is easier, but what is more important is to attract quality faculty.

There are some regulatory challenges as well. For example, we have to wait for a long period of time to get a nod for increasing the number of institutions or students. The authorities must not paint every deemed university with the same brush. They are right in their own way, but being one of the oldest private universities, I think we deserve some kind of flexibility in regulations.

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What kind of innovations have you introduced at Manipal University especially in the fields of medicine and management?

We have nearly 400 courses on offer, including engineering, dentistry, pharmacy, journalism, mass communication, hotel management, etc. From the last two to three years we have also introduced courses like humanities, European studies, and philosophy.

This year we are celebrating the diamond jubilee of medical studies at our university and we have introduced integrated learning. For example, there are different courses like antatomy, physiology or pathology. Through the new teaching-learning concept if somebody talks about a particular organ then what the structure will be, what are the functions and if something goes wrong then what must be the pathology and what kind of medicine has to be given.

So all those things will be taken care immediately at the same time.

In management courses, we have a lot of industry interactions, as it makes the course very interesting as well as fruitful.

“Building quality physical infrastructure is easier, but what is more important is to attract quality faculty�

How is your University addressing employability concerns?

We have introduced a concept called the Practice School. Under this, in the last semester of engineering programme there are no course-works and students to go to the industry and do projects.

We also invite many industry people to be part of our faculty and that has also helped in bringing the industry and academia together. We also have sabbatical under which some of our faculty mem-

bers go to the industry, they work there for about two or three months, and get an exposure to the industry working.

We also invite members from the industry in our board of studies.

few engineering students study at our campus for two years and towards the end of the second year all the credits that they earned are transferred for a partner university. The students continue studies for the next two years in the partner university either in the US or the UK, Australia, etc. In engineering it is called a 2+2 programme and students get a degree from the foreign at University.

Secondly, we dual degree pro-

On DU’s FYUP: In my opinion, for a BSc or a BA programme four-year course is not required, as three years are sufficient. An additional year of study should be optional, and can include some kind of industry training.

Industry tie-ups We have tie-ups with Infosys, Philips and many other firms.

Also, EMC2 has set up its lab in our engineering institution and they have also given a particular curriculum which has an elective subject and what to teach is given by EMC2.

Please share with us your international collaborations.

We have collaborations with nearly 100 foreign universities. These collaborations work at three levels. Firstly, the twinning programme, under which a

gramme designed for the post graduation engineering courses. For one year students study here and second year at the partner university. At the end of the programme they receive separate degrees from both the universities.

Thirdly, we have general student exchange programme in which students go for some courses at foreign universities and spend between two to six weeks. These are called elective courses. This works the other way round as well and we also receive many students from abroad who come here for a semester and then go back. This has been a very active programme at our University for last four to five years.

Apart from this, we also have faculty exchange. The faculty from our and partner university jointly writes research proposals and seeks funding.

For example in the European Union, there are a lot of research funds available for research collaborations between a European University and a non-European University.

digitalLEARNING / July 2013

41

Private

University

Engineering survey 2013

Ranking 2013

Top 10 Universities with a Global Connect Most of the private universities these days are being set up as world-class universities. International exchange programmes and foreign collaborations are important features in most of these universities. OP Jindal Global University also figured among the Top 10 because of its exchange programmes and foreign partnerships. Universities like Azim Premji University and Shiv Nadar University are also good universities with a potential to top the list. However, these universities are more popular for their exchange programmes and more weighatge was given to foreign collaborations as compared to the exchange programmes.

International Exposure (100) Parameter

Score

Foreign Collaborations

60

International Students

20

International Exchange Programmes

20

Rank

Name of University

City

State

Coimbatore

Tamil Nadu

Sonepat

Haryana

Pilani

Rajasthan

University of Petroleum and Energy Studies

Dehradun

Uttarakhand

5

Lovely Professional University

Phagwara

Punjab

6

Symbiosis International University

7

Sharda University

8

Koneru Lakshmaiah University

1

Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham University

2

OP Jindal Global University

3

Birla Institute of Technology & Science

4

9

Kalinga Insitute of Industrial Technology

10

Chitkara University

Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham University

42

July 2013 / digitalLEARNING

Pune

Maharashtra

Greater Noida

Uttar Pradesh

Guntur

Andhra Pradesh

Bhubaneswar

Odisha

Solan

Himachal Pradesh

Private

University

Engineering survey 2013

Ranking 2013

Top Universities East Zone Name of University

City

Birla Institute of Technology

Ranchi

Kalinga Insitute of Industrial Technology

Bhubaneswar

Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan University

Bhubaneswar

Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda University

Howrah

West Zone *Map not to scale

Name of University Birla Institute of Technology & Science

With proposals of at least five more private universities in Kolkata, ten in Bangalore, three in Gujarat, three in Maharasthra and many more across the country and private university bills pending to be approved, private universities are tomorrow’s education hubs of the country

44

July 2013 / digitalLEARNING

Bharati Vidyapeeth Banasthali University Symbiosis International University Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies NIIT University

City Pilani Pune Banasthali Pune Mumbai Alwar

Pratap University

Jaipur

Nirma University

Ahmedabad

Jodhpur National University

Jodhpur

Suresh Gyan Vihar University

Jaipur

Mahatma Jyoti Rao Phoole University

Jaipur

Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information and Communication Technology NIMS University Sir Padampat Singhania University

Ghandhinagar Jaipur Udaipur

JECRC University

Jaipur

JK Lakshmipat University

Jaipur

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Across Zones North Zone Name of University Lovely Professional University Amity University

City Phagwara Noida

Sam Higginbottom Institute of Agricutlure, Technology & Sciences

Allahabad

Gurukula Kangri Vishwavidyalaya

Haridwar

Thapar University

Patiala

University of Petroleum and Energy Studies Sharda University Sant Longowal Institute of Engineering & Technology Galgotias University

Dehradun Greater Noida Sangrur

Greater Noida

OP Jindal Global University

Sonepat

Maharishi Markandeshwar University, Mullana

Mullana

Shobhit University

Meerut

ITM University

Gurgaon

Jaypee University of Information Technology

Solan

Jaypee Institute of Information Technology

Noida

Mangalayatan University

Aligarh

Chitkara University

Solan

Manav Rachna International University

Faridabad

GLA University

Mathura

Shiv Nadar University Apeejay Stya University

South Zone City

Name of University SRM University

Chennai

VIT University

Vellore

Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham University

Coimbatore

Manipal University

Manipal

Koneru Lakshmaiah University

Guntur

Kakatiya University

Warangal

Bharathiar University

Coimbatore

Karunya University

Coimbatore

Gandhi Institute of Technology and Management

Visakhapatnam

Kalasalingam University

Virudhunagar

Shanmugha Arts, Science, Technology & Research Academy

Thanjavur

Hindustan University

Chennai

Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning

Anantpur

Sathyabama University

Chennai

Periyar Maniammai University (formerly PMIST)

Thanjavur

The Gandhigram Rural Institute

Dindigul

Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswathi Viswa Mahavidyalaya

Kanchipuram

Greater Noida

Saveetha University

Chennai

Gurgaon

Yenepoya University

Deralakatte

digitalLEARNING / July 2013

45

LEADERS SPEAK private university special

SRM University

India Needs Rural-Centric and Affordable Education Catering to nearly 45,000 students in five campuses across the country, SRM University is one of the largest privately-funded universities in the country offering programmes in all disciplines. Dr Murugesan Ponnavaikko, Vice Chancellor, SRM University, talks about the University’s vision and future plans in conversation with Chhavi Bakaria.

Education to promote rural economy The people at the helm of affairs are trying to bring foreign universities in this country. They do not understand that bringing foreign universities is going to be futile. One-third of India’s population is living below poverty line, and we need to provide education at affordable costs. By bringing foreign universities can they offer programmes at low cost? How can the authorities or the HRD ministry feel that the foreign universities are really going to help this country?

On DU’s Four-Year Undergraduate Programme With a four-year Bachelor of Science (BS) degree in computer science, a candidate can compete with Bachelor of Technology (BTech), but with a lesser course fee. This will be one of the greatest benefit for students”

46

July 2013 / digitalLEARNING

education.eletsonline.com

India is a rural and agro-based country, and none of the Indian universities -whether government or private -are offering programmes that are relevant to this country. Thus, we are developing graduates only for foreign countries and not for our country. As a private university we have more freedom to revise our curriculum and we can define and develop programmes suitable for the local areas where we are serving. So the education programme should be formulated in such a way that the graduates are produced with skill sets and knowledge

“With Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), we have established a lab called ‘Learning through discovery’. It is called actual learning laboratory similar to which is available at MIT, Boston

so that they can use their expertise for developing rural-based industries, using the local resources so that the rural population and economy will grow.

Improve faculty selection procedure Providing good faculty is a real challenge in this country today. University professors are selected through the National Eligibility Test (NET), which is only a written examination. I doubt if only a written examination can qualify a person to teach. A person who cannot talk or communicate properly even if he has knowledge is useless. I suggest that the University Grants Commission (UGC) and the Ministry of Human Resource Development should come up with a specific teachers training programme for engineering and higher education similar to BEd or MEd programmes that are required for school education.

Industry and overseas collaborations If the Indian education has to really flourish, we will have to make the education more in collaboration with the

industrial partners so that the students get to know about their requirements. A person with knowledge, skill set and human values is only called human resource, so such an education will only really help growth in this country.

SRM University has collaboration with Bosch automobiles, Germany who have established their own testing facilities in our campus. We are also having close collaborations with the medical, bio-engineering and pharmaceutical industries. We have brought industrial training as one the important aspects into the curriculum with some credits.

Collaboration is different from bringing foreign universities in this country and it is an essential component. We have signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with more than 85 universities around the world like the USA, UK, Australia, Japan, Korea, etc. Around 100 students and faculty members spend one semester in any foreign university especially the US Universities.

SRM University’s links with Partners International, an organisation of top US hospitals, affiliated to Harvard Medical School, USA, and Queen’s University, Canada, contribute greatly to knowledge exchange, joint research and career opportunities.

ICT in Education When I joined Tamil Virtual University to SRM University, I started a Directorate for Virtual Education and we are using ICT for education in developing virtual laboratories, virtual repositories and teaching to students. In fact, in engineering branches like computer science or power, many things cannot be seen or visualised, spoken, communicated through words. Using ICT we can develop animation, video-based materials so that the students can see and understand. So ICT is going to be the core pedagogy for teaching, but at the same time it cannot be a replacement. It will be an excellent tool for the teacher for communication purposes.

digitalLEARNING / July 2013

47

Private

University

Engineering survey 2013

Ranking 2013

India’s Top 60 Private and Overall Rank

48

Name of University

1

Lovely Professional University

2

Birla Institute of Technology & Science

3

Bharati Vidyapeeth

4

SRM University

5

Banasthali University

6

VIT University

7

Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham University

8 9

City

State

Zone

Infrastructure(100)

Phagwara

Punjab

North

79.00

Pilani

Rajasthan

West

66.40

Pune

Maharashtra

West

67.50

Chennai

Tamil Nadu

South

62.50

Banasthali

Rajasthan

West

92.50

Vellore

Tamil Nadu

South

67.50

Coimbatore

Tamil Nadu

South

90.00

Birla Institute of Technology

Ranchi

Jharkhand

East

89.00

Manipal University

Manipal

Karnataka

South

79.50

10

Amity University

11

Kalinga Insitute of Industrial Technology

12

Sam Higginbottom Institute of Agricutlure, Technology & Sciences

13

Koneru Lakshmaiah University

14

Kakatiya University

15

Bharathiar University

16

Gurukula Kangri Vishwavidyalaya

17

Karunya University

18

Thapar University

19

University of Petroleum and Energy Studies

20

Symbiosis International University

Pune

Maharashtra

West

65.00

21

Sharda University

Greater Noida

Uttar Pradesh

North

53.15

22

Gandhi Institute of Technology and Management

Visakhapatnam

Andhra Pradesh

South

54.85

23

Kalasalingam University

Virudhunagar

Tamil Nadu

South

66.00

24

Shanmugha Arts, Science, Technology & Research Academy

Thanjavur

Tamil Nadu

South

58.40

25

Hindustan University

Chennai

Tamil Nadu

South

57.50

26

Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies

Mumbai

Maharashtra

West

52.50

27

Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning

Anantpur

Andhra Pradesh

South

60.00

28

Sathyabama University

Chennai

Tamil Nadu

South

67.50

29

Sant Longowal Institute of Engineering & Technology

Sangrur

Punjab

North

72.55

30

Periyar Maniammai University (formerly PMIST)

Thanjavur

Tamil Nadu

South

60.80

31

NIIT University

Alwar

Rajasthan

West

55.00

July 2013 / digitalLEARNING

Noida

Uttar Pradesh

North

98.00

Bhubaneswar

Odisha

East

56.40

Allahabad

Uttar Pradesh

North

81.50

Guntur

Andhra Pradesh

South

52.50

Warangal

Andhra Pradesh

South

82.50

Coimbatore

Tamil Nadu

South

95.00

Haridwar

Uttarakhand

North

50.65

Coimbatore

Tamil Nadu

South

85.00

Patiala

Punjab

North

62.50

Dehradun

Uttarakhand

North

51.50

education.eletsonline.com

Deemed UniversitiesRanking Academic Reputation (100)

Academic Excellence (100)

Faculty (100)

International Exposure (100)

Additional Points (100)

Total Score (600)

90.52

95.80

63.58

69.17

43.67

441.74

93.19

65.20

42.00

75.00

90.12

431.91

68.52

90.59

48.83

46.67

89.33

411.44

51.19

86.88

92.50

40.83

70.93

404.83

44.00

55.90

55.75

55.00

89.83

392.98

71.33

44.46

79.83

50.83

73.47

387.43

52.15

55.75

53.33

94.17

40.93

386.33

70.00

46.64

47.75

45.00

87.31

385.69

60.19

96.25

41.08

45.00

61.47

383.49

84.67

47.99

41.08

53.33

46.93

372.00

45.93

71.16

79.25

58.33

50.13

361.21

40.52

59.99

41.25

40.00

93.02

356.28

47.44

62.95

55.33

60.00

73.40

351.63

39.63

50.61

59.50

40.83

77.53

350.61

33.85

45.96

61.17

40.00

70.13

346.11

53.04

45.33

42.83

40.00

98.89

330.74

31.11

55.41

44.17

50.00

63.60

329.29

36.56

50.16

45.75

46.67

85.00

326.63

58.44

49.75

49.67

70.00

41.53

320.89

36.22

56.54

48.67

65.00

49.47

320.89

31.11

63.29

83.92

61.67

26.33

319.47

40.04

54.63

58.08

40.83

71.00

319.43

40.19

54.18

45.42

49.17

64.47

319.41

39.56

56.65

53.50

49.17

59.67

316.94

49.26

54.55

44.42

46.67

58.93

311.33

35.26

49.38

46.75

48.33

76.87

309.08

47.07

45.48

47.33

40.00

67.87

307.75

40.11

51.25

48.33

43.33

55.67

306.19

46.11

47.05

42.67

40.00

52.73

301.11

49.70

51.48

41.92

41.67

53.73

299.30

36.11

43.26

41.25

45.00

75.07

295.69

digitalLEARNING / July 2013

49

Private

University

Engineering survey 2013

Ranking 2013

Rank

Name of University

City

State

Zone

Infrastructure(100)

32

The Gandhigram Rural Institute

Dindigul

Tamil Nadu

South

60.00

33

Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan University

Bhubaneswar

Odisha

East

60.00

34

Galgotias University

Greater Noida

Uttar Pradesh

North

54.75

35

OP Jindal Global University

Sonepat

Haryana

North

54.00

36

Pratap University

Jaipur

Rajasthan

West

75.00

37

Maharishi Markandeshwar University, Mullana

Mullana

Haryana

North

59.00

38

Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswathi Viswa Mahavidyalaya

Kanchipuram

Tamil Nadu

South

52.50

39

Nirma University

Ahmedabad

Gujarat

West

55.50

40

Shobhit University

Meerut

Uttar Pradesh

North

53.15

41

ITM University

Gurgaon

Haryana

North

50.50

42

Jodhpur National University

Jodhpur

Rajasthan

West

51.50

43

Jaypee University of Information Technology

Solan

Himachal Pradesh

North

51.25

44

Saveetha University

Chennai

Tamil Nadu

South

56.50

45

Suresh Gyan Vihar University

46

Yenepoya University

47

Jaipur

Rajasthan

West

51.60

Deralakatte

Mangalore

South

51.57

Jaypee Institute of Information Technology

Noida

Uttar Pradesh

North

50.78

48

Mahatma Jyoti Rao Phoole University

Jaipur

Rajasthan

West

55.00

49

Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information and Communication Technology

Ghandhinagar

Gujarat

West

53.00

50

NIMS University

Jaipur

Rajasthan

West

53.00

51

Mangalayatan University

Aligarh

Uttar Pradesh

North

53.60

52

Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda University

Howrah

West Bengal

East

57.30

53

Chitkara University

Solan

Himachal Pradesh

North

50.84

54

Manav Rachna International University

Faridabad

Haryana

North

50.72

55

Sir Padampat Singhania University

Udaipur

Rajasthan

West

55.00

56

GLA University

57

Shiv Nadar University

58

JECRC University

59

Apeejay Stya University

60

JK Lakshmipat University

50

July 2013 / digitalLEARNING

Mathura

Uttar Pradesh

North

52.60

Greater Noida

Uttar Pradesh

North

64.30

Jaipur

Rajasthan

West

51.60

Gurgaon

Haryana

North

51.60

Jaipur

Rajasthan

West

51.50

education.eletsonline.com

Academic Reputation (100)

Academic Excellence (100)

Faculty(100)

International Exposure(100)

Additional Points (100)

Total Score (600)

34.37

46.49

52.08

40.00

62.66

295.60

59.93

56.61

47.08

40.00

27.80

291.42

37.78

50.69

52.83

46.67

46.27

288.98

21.85

53.13

41.92

84.17

31.13

286.19

35.56

42.66

40.67

44.17

46.20

284.25

38.89

46.68

42.67

40.83

56.07

284.13

48.89

48.06

44.17

43.33

46.47

283.42

35.89

51.25

45.58

49.17

45.73

283.12

36.30

43.26

42.92

47.50

59.60

282.73

42.78

46.94

48.25

44.17

48.47

281.10

57.04

47.50

46.83

40.00

34.87

277.74

40.19

45.25

46.92

44.17

45.27

273.04

49.26

42.93

42.67

43.33

38.27

272.95

41.11

43.53

41.75

45.00

42.13

265.12

23.33

54.66

41.75

45.00

48.40

264.72

28.52

48.21

48.83

45.00

43.00

264.34

37.37

43.26

43.00

40.83

41.87

261.33

28.52

42.48

44.25

44.17

47.80

260.21

55.56

42.51

41.75

40.00

24.07

256.88

42.04

47.39

44.67

40.83

26.13

254.66

33.52

42.55

41.92

40.83

37.67

253.79

21.48

47.39

41.67

57.50

32.47

251.34

20.74

53.39

42.00

47.50

35.73

250.08

20.74

43.49

44.17

42.50

39.80

245.69

31.63

49.49

47.25

40.00

21.40

242.37

21.85

42.33

41.17

43.33

29.07

242.04

34.52

48.70

43.42

40.83

17.53

236.60

22.59

42.18

41.08

50.00

27.40

234.85

21.11

40.98

41.42

40.00

21.87

216.87

This Ranking is based on analysis of data available on the official websites of the universities. The additional points were allotted on the basis of HR Views (40 points), age of the university (40 points) and student reviews (20 points).

The ranking team was led by Amit Pundhir. Editorial Support was provided by Chhavi Bakaria. Data support was provided by Vineet Sinha,

digitalLEARNING / July 2013

51

LEADERS SPEAK

Q& Stressing on Skill A

Development in Students

Gurmeet Dhaliwal, Chairman, Baba Farid Group of Institutions (BFGI), highlights the key issues plaguing the higher education sector and shares steps taken by BFGI to overcome them.

In conversation with Seema Gupta. Excerpts: What is the vision behind setting up Baba Farid Group of Institutions (BFGI)?

We dream to make students financially independent during study and provide with 100 percent placement to our students after completion of their education.

What are the challenges faced by upcoming private higher education institutions?

The challenges faced by upcoming private higher education institutions include: • Inadequate financial assistance from government for research • Outdated curriculum • Creating employable professionals from completely unskilled freshers • Lack of availability of skilled and research-oriented faculty • Less focused students as they have chosen career by chance but not by choice • Lack of industry-academic interface What are the steps taken by BFGI, to increase employability of students, which is currently a major concern in India?

At BFGI, firstly we ensure that students opt for a course after making proper

career choice. To facilitate that we have established a department of career guidance and counselling that conducts online and offline aptitude tests.

Another hurdle is the absence of skills evaluation system and for the same we have developed a student employability scorecard.

There is also lack of skills among the students. BFGI is taking several steps to counter this deficiency. We conduct internal training for students, which is a crucial part of our curriculum and timetable. The unique feature is that we have a dedicated team of more than 25 trainers who strive hard to provide right platform to the students not just by enhancing their skills but also by evaluating these students through student employability scorecard.

Internal trainings are not only sufficient to accomplish the goal of overall development thus, we have collaborated with reputed corporate giants like HP, HCL, Wipro and Manpower for providing students with professional training both on technical and non-technical fronts.

We have also collaborated with AIESEC to provide summer internship programme from six to eight weeks in order to give global exposure to our stu-

On Employability The biggest hurdle in employability is that majority of students opt their career by chance not by their choice and also the absence of skills evaluation system and for the same we have developed a student employability scorecard at BFGI

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Gurmeet Dhaliwal dents and making them open towards inter-cultural diversity.

Our students participate in stipendbased live projects with big industry giants in order to accomplish the objective of Earn while Learn.

Please share with us some research or innovative projects undertaken by students or faculty at BFGI. We have a dedicated innovation centre in collaboration with Microsoft Corporation. We have established DATA64 Centre of excellence where live case studies are carried on cyber crime.

IT giant Apple has selected and uploaded a 3D iPhone game “Salvador” developed by one of our student. Also one of our students has developed a working project on Live Bidding of scrap and faulty materials for Jindal Steel Group, Delhi.

Besides all these projects, our students and faculty members are consistently working on research-oriented activities.

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In Conversation LEADERS SPEAK private university special

Q& Growing from Strength A

to Strength

Symbiosis’ journey with education spans over four decades. With an ambition of spreading its name internationally, the Symbiosis International University is now working towards strengthening innovation and research. Dr Vidya Yeravdekar, the Principal Director of Symbiosis Society, in conversation with Chhavi Bakaria. Excerpts:

Dr Vidya Yeravdekar

Please share with us the vision behind Symbiosis International University.

The organisation called Symbiosis, which is a not-for-profit organisation, was established by Dr Shantaram Balwant Majumdar in 1971 with the objective of helping foreign students who came to study in India. We have come a long way since then and now we are a group of about 43 institutions that were initially affiliated to Pune University. In 2002, we got the deemed university status and became the Symbiosis International University. It was like getting wings to fly. We cater to over 30,000 students from 81 different countries and also from all over India.

We have a strategy towards internationalisation, capacity building and offering programmes that are innovative with a thrust to improve employability, which is a major issue in India.

How important are private universities in the Indian context and how have they contributed to education?

The private players have played an important role in the expansion of higher education in India. I think quality and excellence have to be the focus rather than the debate about

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July 2013 / digitalLEARNING

education.eletsonline.com

public or private institutions. The Indian government should look at making accreditation compulsory for almost all institutions. Also, there are foreign institutions and universities that are looking to collaborate with Indian Universities, and I think barring the IITs and IIMs, they find it very easy collaborating with private universities. Thus, private universities are in the forefront of joint programmes and foreign university collaborations, bringing foreign students to India and in the whole process of internationalisation, which has still not happened at the public university set up. In addition, the competition between public and private can actually bring about quality and excellence.

How do you address the challenge of increasing employability of your students?

We work very closely with industry partners and we have them on our board of studies and on our academic council as well. Our alumni are also on the board of management because we think it is important to get their inputs about the way curriculum should be shaped. Being a deemed university there is an advantage of flexibility. The University alumni that are now well placed in the companies do come back and recruit students in their companies. We also work very closely with industry bodies like CII, FICCI, and ASSOCHAM. Why Indian Universities, both private and public, lag behind in international rankings?

I think the major lacuna here obviously is the huge population that you are trying to cater to. Indian policy makers really are looking at expansion and quality at the same time. It should be left to the institutions to actually look at quality and excellence. Also, finding quality faculty is a big hurdle.

Earlier, the faculty scales were pretty low and teaching was the last career option. Now faculty salaries have risen up and we are seeing a lot of industry people wanting to come and teach, so

On India-US Higher Education Dialogue 2013 The India-US Higher Education Dialogue was excellent. We have learnt a lot from it especially on community colleges.

We do have a couple of community colleges, but the policy makers will instituionalise this whole community colleges concept in India. Use of ICT in education through the MOOCs (Massive Open Online Course) and similar platforms, this is something new to us On Employability Challenges Our alumni are on the board of management because we think it is important to get their inputs about the way curriculum should be shaped

faculty quality will definitely improve over time.

Another important thing is research. Even though we are known for our IT expanse and contribution to IT, but we have always been service providers, we have never been innovators. So I

think innovation and research together is lacking. One of the main reasons behind that is the dearth of government’s funding for research. Also, private institutions are not treated as equal players when we come up with a research proposal.

Moreover, a lot of research organisations should be located on university campuses. Take the example of Pune, if the National Chemical Laboratory was part of the Pune University’s chemistry department, probably innovations would have occurred. Even ideally the R&D centres of companies should be on university campuses. This is where it differs from American Universities. At Standford University there is a technology park dedicated to research and innovation.

Please share with us various foreign collaborations and future plans of your University.

We are a part of the Erasmus Mundus Consortium of the European Universities and thus we have collaborations with a lot of French and German Universities. We have also partnered with some of the top universities in Asia like the Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. We have a lot of tie ups with American Universities, but now we are also looking at developing new programmes like Scholar Residence where foreign faculty can come and stay at our campus, be part of our faculty group and help develop joint research.

We have earmarked about 80 acres where we will have our engineering school. We are also planning to set-up a medical school, a hospital and some paramedical and nursing programmes in the area, which we are going to designate as the technology park. We have set up an IPR (Intellectual Property Right) cell along with an incubation centre. If our alumni have a good idea and they want to come out with a new product, we will give them the space and resources. For this we are developing small incubation centres, and hopefully we will develop a technology park in years to come.

digitalLEARNING / July 2013

55

LEADERS SPEAK private university special

University academicians voice opinions and share their vision for private higher education in India, in conversation with Chhavi Bakaria

Prof P P Mathur, Vice Chancellor, KIIT University

Dr Upinder Dhar, Founding Vice Chancellor, JK Lakshmipat University

Upping Employability

Higher Education should be Genuinely Priced

Increasing employability of our students, especially the engineering graduates is top on our agenda. This year we have introduced skill-based learning courses so that the students become much more skilled. We provide a lot of flexibility to the companies to take up company-oriented training.

These courses help our students as well as the faculty, for instance we have ‘Train the Trainers’ programme with Accenture in which they coach our teachers on how to train students in different programming languages that they would like to learn. Thus, we train our students to be day-one ready for employment.

Two years back we started with only two streams of technical education: management and engineering. We don’t want to become a mass or me-too kind of university. We want to concentrate on a niche area that will enable people to get employed and also focus on research so that new knowledge can be generated. Ours is a corporate backed university with a CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) motive in mind and that helps us in increasing industry interactions. I think, genuine pricing should be allowed in higher education as quality comes at a cost. For example, even in IIMs students pay hefty fees for quality education. However, profiteering should not be permitted in education.

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education.eletsonline.com

Prashant Bhalla Senior Vice President, Manav Rachna International University

Autonomy is the Need of the Hour

Nikhil Sinha, Vice Chancellor, Shiv Nadar university

Focus on Knowledge Creation rather than Dissemination The University’s mission is to develop students with the breadth of vision, knowledge, skills and attitudes needed to shoulder the globally responsible and ethical leadership burdens of the 21st Century and beyond. With our academic partnerships with Babson, USA, we aim to create India’s first entrepreneurshipfocused centre and business programme. There is also a tie-up with Duke TIP for establishing a Center for Gifted Children and promoting research in the field of education. Also, behind the strong emphasis on inter-disciplinary research at SNU, the idea is to seamlessly connect all the schools to enable interaction across disciplines and actively engage faculty and students to constantly create knowledge rather than just disseminate it.

Though we have come a long way in terms of privatisation of the education sector, but we need to improve upon areas like giving autonomy to higher education, liberal support for research and development, progressive and forward looking laws based upon self-regulation for private universities to prosper. We need to ensure that brilliant minds stay in the country rather than looking for opportunities abroad. At Manav Rachna, we have a highly qualified teaching faculty, state-of-the-art infrastructure, industry-oriented courses, foreign collaboration, to boost academic tie-ups and research. We also want to promote extra-curricular activities like sports, as there is a pool of talent available, but remains underutilised due to lack of proper coaching and infrastructure. digitalLEARNING / July 2013

57

corporate diary

Q& India Needs Higher Standard A

Teaching Tools

Laxmi Narayan Rao (Lux Rao) is Chief Technologist, Technology Services, HP India Sales.

Rao’s division helps customers adopt technologies and solutions such as cloud computing, big data, mobility. He talks about how ICT adoption in education in India is taking big leap and need for good teaching tools in education. In conversation with Sruti Ghosal, ENN ing this in mind we need a set of tools which will actually help the students sift through the correct information.

Indian education sector is an 85 billion US $ opportunity for business. How do you see education as a vertical for HP? At HP we have come with a solution called HP video book. It essentially scans a book, and identifies the key words in the text. These keywords are those which are relevant to the child. It automatically sifts through the content, identifies the key words, cross references it with known knowledge repository, brings in the best videos and offers a side by side knowledge experience to

Laxmi Narayan Rao How do you look at the role of technology on growth of education sector in India?

Education sector is one domain which has seen mass proliferation of technology. Previously it was the classroom education, which was prevalent, but now students can gain knowledge from multiple channels. These channels can be through Internet or other means.

Since there are a lot of means to gather information there is not the right kind of tool to sift through the information and gather the correct ones and omit the ones which are not needed. So keep-

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ply it to the industries they might have passed three four semesters and there remains a possibility of the lesson fading away from their mind. There is a gap between the theoretical understanding of the topic and practical understanding to it. So a video book bridges this gap by bringing in videos referring to the content. This video book offers a 360 degree perspective to the child.

Talking about a service like HP video book the need for actually sifting the content for quality information is very important. A person who wants a holistic understanding of the subject, it is very important that he comes across the right content and does not get distracted. In HP technologies it has al-

For a person who wants a holistic understanding of the subject, it is very important that he comes across the right content and does not get distracted the child. So this is something which actually can be game changing as far as a child’s learning is concerned. If we take an example of a 8th grade student, he must be interested in knowing more about the relevant topic so he might look into the internet. In the process he might get much information but the possibility of being side tracked by unwanted information cannot be subdued.

This is one part of the video book. The second part is that, if we take a 1st semester electronic student he might have understood the theoretical functioning of an optic fibre. But by the time they ap-

ways been an effort to simplify education and cloud today is playing a vital role in it.

What are the challenges and opportunities in this market?

India has a very lucrative market and as a market is also has a need for large amount of good standard teaching tool.

With technology the barrier between the rich and the poor can be bridged and everyone can get access to quality education. So tools are very important so that great quality education can be imparted to the students.

corporate diary

Q& A

Easing the

Examination Process

MeritTrac provides examination process and assessment solutions to Educational Institutions, Government, Public Sector and Corporate. Started in 2000, MeritTrac has offered numerous innovative solutions in assessments. Vasu K Saksena, CEO, MeritTrac talks about change in the way of conducting examination in India. In conversation with Sruti Ghosal, ENN. Excerpts: Vasu K Saksena

centre of examinations. This adds significantly to candidate’s convenience.

You have worked with many government bodies. What has been the response from the government’s side?

We have worked with a large number of government and private bodies by supporting them in their examinations.

Boards and universities are interested in making their exams go paperless, there by making it more efficient. They show interest in adopting technology for greater speed, accuracy, security. It is not just computer-based exams they are keen to adopt. Digital evaluations (On Screen Marking), candidate authenti-

How have online examinations changed the nature of regular examinations?

Online Examination has been transforming the examination landscape in the country. It has the power of enhanced security – mitigating paper leak, and other fraud – the most vital aspect of any high-stake examination. To add to this, transparency of examination process and detailed audit trail makes it easy for organizations to address reporting and RTI requirements. Secondly, these technology based examinations churn our results faster. The accuracy of online examination also makes it a compelling phenomenon. From a candidate’s perspective, as many online examinations are administered as multiday, multi-batch examinations, they get the freedom to choose the date, time and

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cation, and secure question paper management – the influence of technology is all pervasive in examinations.

How has digitisation of exams helped students?

To start with, increasing accuracy ensures that the right candidate gets the right opportunity. Greater audit trail, transparency and security features coupled with proven examination processes mitigates all types of errors and frauds associated with examination. An emerging technology called On Screen Marking has been making evaluations accurate, faster and transparent thereby enhancing confidence of students in the examination process. Last, but not

education.eletsonline.com

the least, the facilities are numerous, for example the environment and convenience of the students with respect to time and location is also taken care by it. The students are also not kept in any suspense about the exam result as get their report cards quickly.

Indian Higher Education’s Plan for Online Exams 9% 2%

21%

68%

Plan to increase / introduce online assessments Do not plan to increase / introduce online assesments Considering increasing / introducing online assessments Can’t foresee Source: ValueNotes Research

How has MeritTrac catered to the demands of global customers?

MeritTrac is a global organisation. It is operating worldwide and catering to critical needs of very large global customers. Leading international boards have appreciated MeritTrac’s experience and capability to administer their examinations. MeritTrac’s ability to deliver technology solutions to conduct computer based examination is a critical value proposition and its examination processes have stood the test of time. MeritTrac has also devised next generation examination related technologies which large international boards have been utilising. In the next few years, we see more and more international institutions leverage our ability and knowledge to best effect.

Towards Physical and Mental Development Kishen Wahabi, Programme Director, Leapstart, on benefits of sports and physical training for students’ development Give us an overview of Leapstart programme undertaken by you.

We are a company providing which is providing a blanket of services predominantly in the co-curriculum space. Our pioneer brand was leap start, which provides physical education and training programmes. We have partnered with spark, which the US based company. We provide cocurriculum programme within the academic curricular. We have programme designed for all age group starting from kindergarten to class 12. Our programmes are developed to facilitate the growth of the child at that age. So leapstart was started with the goal of making these children empower themselves with the knowledge of sports and also facilitate movement for a healthier nation.

The second programme that we have come up with is GAIT. It is basically a dance education programme. In How has been the response from parents?

We started with nine schools and now we have moved on to 150 schools. So the statistic clearly shows that there has been an attitudinal change among parents. Earlier parents used to think that engaging their

children in physical education won’t shape their career, but now the mindset has changed and more and more parents are engaging their children in sports and encouraging them to take up sports as a subject.

In today’s world, where parents are only worried about academics, do you think sports as a subject is losing importance?

Sports not only enhance physical development but also enhance mental development. It stimulates the brain cells and acts as a catalyst in greater academic performance. Physical education has also proved to produce fruitful results in academic performance, job prospect, etc. physical education takes care of the overall development of a child. Through physical education one learns the art of leadership, communication, coordination and other skills.

In Leapstart we have also extended this programme to the physically challenged children whereby they also get an opportunity to engage in sports. As these children do not have much scope of movement therefore they fall prey to obesity, Leapstart gives them the best possible way for adopting different skills. The parents of these children are also very enthusiastic about engaging their children in such activities.

digitalLEARNING / July 2013

61

special feature

Skills Development at University Level By

Dr Haresh Tank,

Director, Station-e Language Lab

E

very time university world rankings are announced, we harp on the way Indian universities lag behind in research and we have not been able to establish world class institutions. This clamour translates into a few articles on the renowned universities with higher rankings in the world order and that is all. We have yet to unearth the root cause of why Indian universities fare so badly in the university rankings. Universities are entirely different from the culture of rote learning and rat race for numbers that we celebrate at the school level. Last year, we fared equally badly in PISA rankings.

It is this kind of schooling that does not develop the key competences and skills that leads the young generation of the country to institutions. While all this happens, nobody asks the key question that if students score so many marks in

Dr Haresh Tank

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July 2013 / digitalLEARNING

the university examinations and secure such wonderful grades, why are they considered unemployable by the World Bank and the market at large?

Our problem starts with the policy of higher education. It is sad to note that our policy begins and ends with increasing the GER. When GER increases, we feel we have triumphed. And what about the quality of higher education?

There is a deep, meaningful silence over this at the policy level. In the era of internationalisation of education, our policy papers do not reflect any learning from the best practices of the world class institutions of the world. For instance, in China, all students whether science or arts have to compulsorily study and do well in English and Computers. They form integral part of their education because China knows that these are core skills in the 21st century. In India, even if English is offered, passing marks would do and hence, engineers and MBAs are speechless when facing an interview conducted in English.

At the level of policy, it is pertinent to note here that even countries like US and UK are also remodeling their education system because they have also lagged behind in the university rankings and they have been quick enough to respond to the fact that countries like Finland, South Korea and Germany have done remarkable work in terms of skilling their youth through higher education and this has led to the enhancement of students’ competencies and skills in a way that their students are readily employable and have the skills required for the real-life situations, unlike the rote learning we have cherished.

In the era of internationalisation of education, our policy papers do not reflect any learning from the best practices of the world-class institutions of the world Skills Development Centre With the concerns of Skills Development in view, Station-e envisaged the concept of Skills Development Centre (SDC).

It is a unique construct, aiming at upskilling the youth of the country. We have established several SDCs at various educational institutions – college and university campuses across the country.

SDC serves as the training wing of the university, operated in a digital learning lab and powered by highly sophisticated technology. SDC comes with in-built training programs on soft and life skills, integral to the theme of skills development and empowering the youth. Customised to the core, these modules have astonishing transformation value as they produce remarkable results in virtually no time.

The youth across the country have benefitted from the innovative Skills Development Centres and have carved a niche for themselves in their chosen area of endeavour.

Global Perspective

education.eletsonline.com

Q& Partnership is the Key to Capacity Building A Prof Michael Thorne, Vice Chancellor, Anglia Ruskin University shares his opinion on Foreign Universities Bill in an interview with Mohd Ujaley

What are the major trends you see in global education?

I think, without any doubt, the future of world for two reasons depends on education. One is to bring the world together for political stability, the more we understand about each other, the better we engage, and secondly, the economies of all the countries are going in the same direction, and will depend on how educated our work force is, so obviously being involved in university education, the most important thing to me is to get educated as many people as possible upto university level.

I also see lot of partnerships happening for capacity building. India is a very vibrant democracy and we need to engage with each other at various levels to improve the quality, increase capacity of our university and teachers.

Professor Michael Thorne

How do you look at bill pending in Indian Parliament to regulate the operation of foreign university in India?

We look at it other way around, in a country where such partnership are already allowed, it has benefited them in providing

quality education and added to the capacity of a country to get more people educated to university level without a country to spend a lot for making new buildings etc.

We are hopeful that Bill will be passed because this legislation has potential to bring foreign universities to India, thereby increasing the capacity of India to educate more people. Also worldwide, there is shortage of quality staff, so partnerships can bridge this gap. For example, the UK is adding the capacity of university education of Malaysia for many years, although there is still quite a lot Malaysian students come to the UK, but there also very large number of Malaysian students who are being educated same degree in Malaysia in partnership with Malaysian universities, that has really worked well for both the countries.

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digitalLEARNING / July 2013

63

Tech Tech Focus Focus Cloud Cloud Computinging Computing

Cloud

The Future of Education

By Pragya Gupta, ENN

T

here is no doubt about a great future of education in India.

Yet, the way to reach out to a great future still has to be thought about. Cloud is emerging as the medium to make quality education accessible to all. Cloud-based solutions are now widely accepted everywhere for two main reasons : Minimised cost of ownership and operations, and anywhere, anytime learning potential. But still it is not understood, and used the way it can be used for its real benefits especially in education.

The first thing is to understand what Cloud means, and what it can do for the education segment. Unlike its synonym Cloud, it is simply a metaphor for various data networks generally located remotely and accessed via the internet, and has nothing to do with the stratosphere. Various apps like Google

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Benefits of Cloud For Institutions Less capital costs Broader reach Easy to upgrade Easier to provide new courses Efficient processes and better management control For Students Anytime, anywhere learning from best of the faculty Better quality of education Lower overall cost of education

Drive, Facebook, Gmail, Drop Box, Web conferencing, ERP as a service, etc are the most common examples of Cloud, where the entire data is saved and processed in some remote data centre.

Simplifying the Cloud, Lokesh Mehra, Director-Education Advocacy, Microsoft defines, “Cloud in simple terms is a network of shared resources that can be located anywhere. The main advantage that comes with cloud is: it’s cheaper, scalable, and maintenance free for the end user.

Cloud computing can be viewed typically as a large ecosystem, which is not owned by any educational organisation. Within this ecosystem, learners and educators act as the users and producers of cloud-based learning services, with complete control over the choice, use and sharing – providing learners anywhere, anytime learning.

Faster, Cheaper, Reliable and on Demand – the cloud truly has a green lining.”

education.eletsonline.com

Endless scope Cloud computing has a tremendous opportunity to provide greater cost efficiency, flexibility in schools while improving the learning outcomes. One of the most interesting reasons to adopt cloud is that schools’ need not invest in the implementation, maintenance issues, and buying new software everyday. Data volumes are going high; it helps in keeping away from server and storage worries.

Implementation cost saves from buying new hardware or software updating cost. Schools have to pay just monthly subscription fees to get all that done in a hassle-free manner and helps them to focus more on operations and on enhancing learning delivery.

Nilaya Varma, Managing Director, Health & Public Service, Accenture India, shares the benefits of Cloud computing, “The power of Cloud computing in education can be used best in the areas of data and content management, document and records management, online learning resources, web-delivery of classroom trainings, and knowledge management. Education in India in the next few years will move away from public universities to private universities, Cloud will help these universities with optimising resources for physical infrastructure by using technology infrastructure, on a per-use basis. Content across these universities will be more standardised, which shall enable students to transfer across

universities. Content management will be a service that these institutions will be interested to leverage.”

Cloud’s power to offer anywhere, anytime learning will penetrate education to far flung areas, where there is scarcity of institutions, teachers, and unavailability of courses with the benefits of collaborative and peer-learning.

Highlighting the potential of Cloud, G Raghavan, Chief Executive, Career Building Solutions, NIIT Ltd says, “The breakthrough Cloud technology has the potential to transform the education industry in India. Through Cloud high quality educational programmes can reach to the remotest corners of the country, thus addressing the dilemma of scalability and quality in education that our country is currently facing.

Backed by powerful technologies, such as NIIT Cloud Campus, the collaborative platform puts the power to learn in the hands of the students by making learning with buddies, and learning

service (IaaS), and now emerging in the education is Content as a Service.

Lokesh Mehra further shares the details of three important set of offerings from Cloud: SaaS: Software as a Service (SaaS) provides schools with different applications that can accessed from anywhere, such as emails or different educational applications. It gives the benefit of collaboration among students. Microsoft Office 365 for Education provides free email, websites, online document editing and storage, IM and video conferencing helping students easily connect with faculty, experts, and one another to inspire, research, and form new ideas.

PaaS: Platform as a Service (PaaS) provides users with tools that allow them to create and host the applications.

The tools available are cheap, and can be used by students to learn and create loads of applications. It allows you to dynamically scale, as demands fluctuate.

IaaS: Infrastructure as a Service

Dr Shashi Throor, Minister of State for Human Resource Development, says: “Cloud has tremendous potential in India. It has the potential to make available massive amount of education database across the country. Regularly updated database will give students and teachers opportunity to learn what they miss in the classroom. And teachers also can stay updated with latest knowledge resources. Potential is enormous but challenges are also there, like power infrastructure and the lack of last mile connectivity. We are yet to have the basic infrastructure required in taking advantage of technology. Technology is moving fast, and I believe that story will be totally different, sooner.” anytime and anywhere possible.”

Students are demanding more technology services from their schools, and the schools in turn are keeping pace by adopting newer and better technologies.

Cloud brings a range of solutions that are not offered by the traditional IT. Cloud computing is available in many ways from software as a service (SaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), and infrastructure as a

(Iaas) gives the freedom of storing your data on the Cloud, and then accessing it from anywhere. This option is normally used in educational institutions for uploading the assignments and other documents that can be used by students from anywhere. During admission or result cycles the load increases, and instead of investing in CAPEX, an institute can leverage the Cloud.

digitalLEARNING / July 2013

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Tech Focus Cloud Computinging

The benefit of Cloud lies in its ability to service, to assess people, and to automatically integrate them to build and discuss in communities Ashutosh Chadha

Important for skills development Cloud will play an important role in the development of skills. People can upgrade their skills by anywhere, anytime learning. Ashutosh Chadha, DirectorCorporate Affairs Group, Intel South Asia says, “We need to understand how education will mature over the next 5-15 years. Cloud will take a bigger manifestation. We are going to a situation where personalised, anywhere, anytime learning is extremely important. So the Cloud should not be looked as only a repository of content. We should look at Cloud as an interactive learning medium based on what we want to learn and then be able to assess, and immediately curate it.

If I am taking Xth grade examination online and it finds that I am weak in algebra or differentiation or integration, etc.

Next time I go to learning it should talk about those modules, which are relevant to me. This is personalised learning, because this is how we see education moving over the next 15 years. It is going to be here and now education. People are going to move from one skill to another as per need, and they may not have time to go through the entire course, but want those specific things. The benefit of Cloud lies in its ability to service, to assess people, and to automatically integrate them to build and discuss in communities. Community learning is going to be very important.

On the flip side Cloud does offer some challenges in terms of security issues, or accessibility problems due to slower Internet speeds in India. The control over the content

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available in the Cloud may be limited for the users. Also a shift from the existing traditional infrastructure to the Cloud may prove to be a tricky and difficult task for the educational institutions, as data sovereignty may be a question for government institutes. But these challenges are being addressed by the industry. Offerings with greater security and more reliable networks are being rolled out.

Stringent copyright and plagiarism laws, data integrity, data security and data privacy are the need of the hour

In India, there are various challenges when it comes to the delivery of quality education, and reaching out to the peripheries. To address these issues Cloud has a huge potential. Commenting on the challenges of cloud, Nilaya Verma adds: “There are a few challenges that we foresee for Cloud in education to become a reality. The biggest of them would be the regulatory environment

Nilaya Verma

education.eletsonline.com

Features

Software as a Service(Saa)

Platform as a Service (PaaS)

Infrastrucutre as a Service (IaaS)

Content as a Service (CaaS)

Applications can be accessed from anywhere

Provide tools to create and host applications

Store data and access it from anywhere

Easy to manage content issues

Supports Collaborative Learning

Allows to dynamically Scale as demand fluctuate

Upload and share Assignment and projects

Helps in managing content quality

Helps in addressing the demand during Admission cycle

Keep the curricula updated

Optimise eLearning content delivery

in a changing political landscape. Stringent copyright and plagiarism laws, data integrity, data security and data privacy are the need of the hour. Some of the challenges can be addressed by having a well-defined, documented data governance framework that has tight oversight and controls. Also, proper risk mitigation steps need to put in place to address data security issues. The firms in India can leverage of the successes and failures of global players in addressing some of the governance challenges.�

Cloud in simple terms is a network of shared resources that can be located anywhere Lokesh Mehra

Ultimate Security for Transcripts and Certificates 100% Secure and tamper proof.

3 levels of security to protect the transcript.

Does not access any confidential data or database.

Simple and easy for verification.

Printed on the document to avoid manipulation.

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TRS Forms & Services "We Secure your documents�

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Special Feature

education.eletsonline.com

Transcripts – The State of the Matter

O

Dr Sankaran Raghunathan

ne issue that is being addressed across countries in higher education is the secure generation, distribution, and, subsequent verification of transcripts. Traditionally, transcripts are printed on paper and delivered to students. In order to secure the transcript, universities started the use of a security paper to print the transcript on, hoping that a secure media also secures the data. The cost of such a secure paper is passed on to the student.

Verification of transcripts issued by universities poses its own logistical nightmares. Employers who receive transcripts from graduates or universities who receive transcripts from ap-

plicants need to have these paper transcripts verified for authenticity. Such verification is done directly with the issuing university; this is time consuming and expensive. Employers engage third-party agencies for such verification. The issuing university needs to devote resources to process requests for verification.

In order to avoid such verification requests, universities established the practice of taking the request for transcripts from students and sending the transcripts directly to the final recipient; this way the receiving university or employer gets the transcript directly from the issuing university and therefore further verification become redundant.

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Special Feature

Strategies prevalent across various countries:

However, the issue of securing the paper transcript still remains. In spite of using security paper for transcripts, tampering and fraudulent transcripts could not be avoided.

Drawbacks The EDI system can only work when the member institutions harmonise their systems to generate, send and receive transcript data in a particular format.

Therefore, the EDI system works well only within a system of universities within a state system. Recipients outside the system therefore are unable to participate.

The Central Repository method suffers from the general flaws of any centralised system – the need to have a huge infrastructure, security of such a central database, sharing of student records by universities with a third party are not insignificant issues. The very weight of

such a repository brings it down.

The eTranscript or PDF transcript system, while elegant in its electronic automated process for handling requests from students and generating transcripts and directly distributing the transcript to the end recipient suffers from one fundamental flaw of requiring the originating university to share the student record with the third party which uses the software system to generate the PDF transcript. Legislations such as the FERPA in the United States prohibit such sharing of student records with third parties. In addition, this system also requires high expenditure on new software systems and hosting infrastructure.

Imagine a situation where universities can generate transcripts either on ordinary paper or electronically in a very secure format that cannot be

An apt solution for universities should: • Avoid sharing of student records with any central repository or third-party • Not require investment in any new infrastructure either for generation or distribution of transcripts • Enables generation of tamper-proof transcripts on ordinary paper or electronically • Not require any additional spending on media • Verification of transcript should be simple, universal, and not require access to the original database • Be less expensive to implement in terms of time, effort and money

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• Some countries, especially China, and more recently some European countries have established a centralised repository of transcripts. Universities in those countries send the student data to this repository that issues transcripts and verifies them as well. The Groningen Declaration is an attempt by European Consortium to bring uniformity across countries for such a centralised repository. The National Student Clearing House in the US has about 1,200 universities that have subscribed to this centralised repository.

• Electronic Data Interchange (EDI or EDX) is a system used by most US university systems, at least within each state, to send transcripts in a pre-determined format electronically upon the request for the issue of transcript by a student.

• eTranscripts or transcripts in PDF format generated by a computer system and sent electronically via the Internet to the end receipientdirectly at the request of the student is another trend. eTranscript vendors provide the software or the service for this

tampered with; distribute this secure transcript without the need for sharing the data with any third party; with the transcript so issued being verifiable at any time or place via the Internet without recourse to the original database or the issuing University.

The solution that meets all these requirements will be discussed in the next part.

(Dr Sankaran Raghunathan, Dean, The National Management School, India, is an expert in transcript or document security matters)

RNI NO. UPENG/2008/25311

UP/GBD-70/2012-14