Higher Education in India - seizing the opportunity : May 2009 Issue

the Monthly publication on ict and education

digitalLEARNING INDIA

Volume 5 issue 5

issn 0973-4139

MAY 2009 www.digitalLEARNING.in

Higher Education in India

seizing the opportunity 15 manipal education

17 guru gobind singh indraprastha university

20 gautam budha university

30 mindlogicx infotech

32 ncomputing

Contents 15

17

Cover story

6

Higher education in India: re-inventing and reaching out

research

12

30

23

an open source for subjective type exams

Corporate Diary

By Archana Rane from CDAC

Leader’s speak

perspective

Mindlogicx Infotech: Suresh Elangovan

15

raining young minds to t hone their skills

30 32

commentary

17

striving for market oriented professional education

36

Technology Trends in Higher

Education: Web 2.0 and Social

Learning

PRODUCT

20

NComputing: Manish Sharma

creating opportunities for those left behind

policy matters

40

DMP2009

23

digital inclusion: a pathway for economic development

school track

46

preparing students for 21st

case study

century

28

empowering communities through technology

Regular Features

News

corporate research

22 44 34 45

India

vivitek: learning with vivid visual technology

41

an effective recap and revision tool

50

Mark Your Calendar

38

32

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Asia Corporate World

editorial

Higher Education in India: Seizing The Opportunity The need for a rapid expansion of higher education infrastructure, to match the projection of over 144 million young Indian’s who would be eligible for enrolling into institutes of higher learning, has been voiced with increasing frequency in the past decade.

The growth in infrastructure carried out over the past 60 years, reflected in staggering number of state run and supported institutions, has been an impressive story. Yet the question of resources and skills to take it all to the next level is challenging our policymakers and experts more than ever.

In this issue we engage in a stocktaking of the past journey and current state of affairs on what’s happening with India’s higher education sector in terms of it addressing the dual challenges of supporting the country’s developmental needs and also responding to the need for integration with the market demands.

President Dr. M P Narayanan Editor-in-Chief Dr. Ravi Gupta Group Directors Maneesh Prasad Sanjay Kumar Assistant Editor Manjushree Reddy manjushree@digitallearning.in Research Associates Rachita Jha, Angela S Nath Research Assistant Yukti Pahwa Dy. General Manager - Marketing Siddharth Verma +91-9811561645 siddharth@digitallearning.in Sr. Executive - Business Development Rudra Ghosh +91-9810603696 rudra@digitallearning.in Sales Executives Vasundhra Singh +91-9650347170 vasundhra@digitallearning.in Ankur Agarwal +91-9313998750 ankur@digitallearning.in Subscription & Circulation Lipika Dutta +91-9871481708

For quite sometime now, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is seen as an answer for bridging geographical spaces and vast differences in student profile. It has allowed India’s education sector to think in terms of content and audiences beyond the confines of text books and classroom walls. It has changed the profile of students, in terms of their age and background.

The integration of ICT in educational processes and content has given a new meaning to developmental aspirations as the skilled work-force is set to expand exponentially and needs of the new knowledge economy are being addressed with greater flexibility and speed. All this has translated into the emergence of need-based courses and training that are delivered to student at his or her own time and space.

In this issue, we present three perspectives – central, state and private - on higher education as also view points from the industry leaders on what is happening in the sector and what needs to be done. Government agencies like CDAC have been involved in developing new open source technologies for facilitating a hassle free education delivery in the emerging modes of online or distance education. Technology also has an important function of empowering communities by imparting skills to those unreached so far and facilitating their participation in the knowledge economy.

We will be coming to you soon with another higher education special, focusing on the southern states of India. We invite all our readers to come forward and share with us news and views on relavant themes and issues.

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

Manoj Kumar +91-9971404484 Sr Graphic Designer Bishwajeet Kumar Singh Graphic Designers Om Prakash Thakur, Chandrakesh Bihari Lal (James) Web Zia Salahuddin, Amit Pal

Editorial & Marketing Correspondence digitalLearning G-4 Sector 39, NOIDA 201301, India Phone: +91 120 2502181-85 Fax: +91 120 2500060 Email: info@digitalLearning.in

digitalLEARNING is published by Elets Technomedia Pvt. Ltd. in technical collaboration with Centre for Science, Development and Media Studies (CSDMS).

Owner, Publisher, Printer - Ravi Gupta Printed at Vinayak Print Media D-320, Sector 10, Noida, U.P. and published from 710, Vasto Mahagun Manor, F-30, Sector - 50, Noida, UP Editor: Ravi Gupta

digital LEARNING

MAY 2009

COVER STORY

HIGHER EUDCATION IS A NECESSARY AND INCREASINGLY VITAL COMPONENT IN ANY NATIONS DEVELOPMENT. THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS AFFIRMS THAT ‘EVERYONE HAS THE RIGHT TO EDUCATION... AND HIGHER EDUCATION SHALL BE ACCESSIBLE TO ALL, ON THE BASIS OF MERIT’.

Higher Education in India

Re-inventing And Reaching Out

www.digitalLEARNING.in

India’s higher education sector presents an interesting scenario of challenges and contrasts. On the one hand is a painstakingly built network of government colleges, universities and institutes, which is arguably one of the largest in the world, on the other hand is a rapidly increasing demand for its expansion. Similarly, on the one hand is a role envisioned for it of a harbinger of development for the masses, on the other is its potential to compete in the global market.

These are only a few of the many unique aspects of the sector that has seen policy makers reinventing ideas and plan, while inspiring new partnerships for the local and global private linkages.

In this feature we try to place India’s tryst with higher education in its historical and current context by highlighting the challenges and promises that many say make the country a leading contender – in the developing countries – for the title of a knowledge economy.

We also look at the global linkages of India’s higher education systems, not only from the point of view of its ability to have attracted foreign students but also its integration with foreign institutes.

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A legacy of strength Enrolment into colleges and universities has been increasing at an impressive rate since India’s political independence. The last decade witnessed the fastest growth in gross enrolment rate. From 2.75 million in 1980-81, it increased by four times to 11.03 million in 2005-06. (Fig. 1) The institutional capacity has logically gone hand-in-hand with this trend. This reflected in the number of universities and institutions of higher learning. In the period of five decades, between 1950 and 2008, the number of universities increased from 25 to 431, number of colleges from 700 to 20,677 and number of teachers from 15,000 to over 5.05 lakh. The number of students in higher education institutions increased from mere one lakh in 1950 to over a 10 million. (Fig. 2) Besides this, India’s population will grow from 1.02 billion to 1.31 billion from 2001 to 2019, the significant aspect of this growth is a projected change in the demographic composition of population in the 18-24 age group.

This implies that people eligible for institutions of higher education will increase from 113 million (11%) in 2001 to 144 million (12.1%) in 2011. The demand for higher education is, therefore, expected to increase, requiring new infrastructure to accommodate an influx of students.

Both of these aspects, in terms of future policy trends, imply that the growth of infrastructural support for higher education will have to not only continue, but its pace will have to grow by leaps and bounds.

A realisation of the enormity of the challenge is reflected in policy indicators and announcements by government and government agencies. For instance, the National Knowledge Commission in India has recommended opening nearly 1500 universities to accommodate this influx of population.

The magnitude of infrastructural growth needed to begin addressing the demands of increase in gross enrolment rate is expected to place calls for massive resource mobilisation besides strong political will.

This realisation in the past decade-anda-half has set the stage for discussion on Private Public Partnerships (PPP). This concept has been a buzz word for a while now and through collaboration of the service providers, educational companies, state-owned institutions has seen creation of a positive environment.

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Figure 1: Growth of Enrolment and Teachers in Higher Education in India

Figure 2: Growth of Higher Educational Institutions in India

Balancing act: Private and Public Although the government run or supported institutes of higher education have been the mainstay of the sector, the state investment in the sector has not been increasing in the liberalisation era. This coincides with the increasing push by the private sector in creating a market. Private players today provide quality education to a substantial number of students and the content is tuned towards the market needs, but comes at a price that most people in the country cannot afford.

Commercialisation of education has raised concerns over exorbitant capitation fee for admissions; lack of uniformity in fees; undue

advantage to some groups in admissions; reduced access for marginalised groups; lack of accountability; entry of pseudo-educational ventures; lack of qualified teachers; and catering to subjects that ‘sell’.

The need to have private resources and players mobilised for keeping up with demands of higher education infrastructure and yet address the need for keeping a levelled playing field for marginalised sections is a dual challenge that has seen a lot of debate and discussion.

Inconsistencies and contradictions in the policies and practices of private education management led to a spate of judicial interventions down the years, for example, the J P Unnikrishnan judgement (1993), TMA Pai and others versus the State of Karnataka

// COVER STORY

The need to have private resources and players mobilised for keeping up with demands of higher education infrastructure and yet address the need for keeping a levelled playing field for marginalised sections is a dual challenge that has seen a lot of debate and discussion (2002) and Islamic Academy of Education and others versus the State of Karnataka (2003). Meanwhile the Birla-Ambani Report (2000) submitted to the previous government made a call for an all-out privatisation.

In spite of contending views on the relevance and methodology of privatisation of higher education in India, it is widely recognised that the State should be primarily responsible for ensuring quality education at all levels in all regions.

At the same time, the State should encourage through futuristic vision the facilitation of planned interventions by the private sector. To prevent commercialisation of education, transparent and unambiguous policy guidelines for the private sector are essential. Although current practices such as the establishment of universities by state legislatures, entry of foreign universities, and unwarranted growth of self-financing courses in universities are effective in enhancing educational opportunities, such practices require clear-cut policies in their management structures.

Addressing challenge of development

According to Ernst &Young-EDGE 2009 Report on Private Enterprise in Indian Higher Education, the share of private unaided higher education institutions has increased during the 10th Plan and is expected to grow further through the 11th Plan. Reduced public spending along with rising demand for higher education have primarily led to the growth of private sector in education.

However, the percentage of GDP spend on higher education has declined from 0.77% in 1991 to an estimated 0.7% in 2008. The share of expenditure spend on higher education as a percentage of total education expenditure has remained stagnant at approximately 19% over the past two years.

The extent of private sector involvement in higher education colleges varies across

major states with approximately 63% of the colleges in Andhra Pradesh being private unaided.

The education market in India is estimated to be approximately US$ 50 billion, with higher education occupying US$ 20 billion share. By 2012, it is estimated to grow by US$ 80 billion.

The private sector has a leading presence in few selected disciplines such as engineering, medical and management.

The market size of private engineering colleges is US$ 5.4 billion (approximately 84% of the US$ 6.5 billion private colleges market), followed by management with US$ 680 million (approximately 10%) and medical with US$ 350 million (approximately 6%).

In the professional courses segment, private management colleges are expected

India’s education system and particularly the agenda of higher education have been heavily influenced by the reality of underdevelopment and poverty of India’s majority.

One of the role that was envisaged for higher education during the Nehruvian era of state sponsored educational growth was to create a pool of people who will answer India’s quest to make development available to its millions of poor households.

Indian higher education is sensitive to the issue of sustainable development through the promotion of livelihood practices ensuring sustainability, reducing poverty, educating women and children and in fostering respect and interest in environmental protection.

The thrust given to agricultural universities, Women’s Studies progamme, vocational education programmes are some examples of this.

Presently, there is a mismatch between the skilled manpower required and what is

available. Every year millions of graduates pass out of colleges who do not have the specific skill sets required by the market.

To change this situation, the government is working on a proposal to develop Industrial Training Institutes through the private-public partnership (PPP) model.

Introduction of short-term modular courses and issuing scholarship reimbursable vouchers to institutions that focus on skills development are the other important initiatives planned by the government. The 11th Plan has set an ambitious target of creating 70 million jobs between 2007 and 2012.

Enriching from global outlook Higher education institutions are actively expanding the international dimension of their teaching, research and service functions. Cross Border Higher Education (CBHE) refers to international, inter-cultural and inter-disciplinary aspects of curriculum and the teaching/learning process and is reflected in increasing mobility of students, programmes, teachers, researchers, and institutions.

This trade in education has resulted in medium and long term benefits for India, in terms of its large number of students acquiring better education and specialised skills and the teachers and researchers being exposed to new curricula, delivery practices, and increasing specialisation in their disciplines.

to grow by 100% from 300 to 600 by 2012.

Number of engineering colleges is expected to grow by 67% to about 2000 and medical colleges to grow by 43% to around 200 by the same period.

The report pin-points to five major factors responsible for growth in demand for private higher education in India, namely: • Inability of the public university system to meet the demands of growing population.

• Conventional courses not geared towards creating employability.

• Increased purchasing power for high cost private education.

• Declining trend of public expenditure on higher education.

• Government policies to enhance privatisation.

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That the flow of students has grown in recent times than previously can be vouched from the fact that in the year 2000-01, the number of foreign students was 7783. In 2001-2002 it was 8137 and in 2002-2003 it was 7756. The majority of the students who come to India are from developing countries,

with Nepal topping the list. Mauritius, Kenya, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are the other countries in the list. (Table 1) Foreign students also come to India from South and South East Asia, Middle East and Africa. The low cost and high quality of Indian education system is a big attraction

Table 1: International Students in Indian Universities

for these students. Therefore, any effort to attract foreign students to India should focus on understanding the requirements of the students from these regions.

In such a situation, the main challenge for our policy makers is to raise the standard and quality of higher education across Indian universities, keeping in view the larger educational goals of equity.

Emergence of foreign institutions Foreign universities emerged on the domestic front in 1990 in collaboration with private institutions. According to a 2005 study on ‘Foreign Education Providers in India’ by NUEPA, there were 131 Indian institutions collaborating with foreign institutions in various states, mostly in metropolitan cities and some other cities where prospects of vocational courses existed on a large scale.

Out of the 131 institutions, 107 provided vocational courses, 19 technical courses and only 5 general education courses.

The data further showed that Business Management and Hotel Management constituted approximately 80% of the total number of courses.

Multiple methods of collaboration have been employed by these foreign institutions to deliver their programmes in

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// COVER STORY

Table 2: Types of Operation of Foreign Institutions in India

India. In general, the four categories are: the most preferred twinning arrangement; programmatic collaboration consisting of joint course and joint degree provision; franchisee institutions; and branch campus.

None of the foreign institutions came under the last category as there is no regulation for operation of a foreign institution in the domestic market. (Table 2) Entry in foreign markets Many Indian institutions are now opening their branch campuses abroad and have been rated high in quality owing to an increased awareness regarding the standard of our education system. The success of Indian students in the Silicon Valley and India’s recent BPO boom have also contributed in enhancing the brand value and global standard of its institutions.

Some of the institutions that are making their presence abroad include deemed universities like BITS Pilani and Manipal University, private institutions like NIIT India, besides some public institutions like Delhi University, IGNOU, SNDT University Mumbai, Mysore University and Madras University.

Although at present, the number of such institutions opening campuses is lesser than foreign institutions in India, Indian education can be popularised abroad through proactive policy measures enlarging the participation of our universities.

Issues relating to cross-border education Education in India has long been considered as a social service. But the recognition of education sector as a trade able service sector under the General Agreement on Trade and Services (GATS) has made it imperative for many countries to understand the duality of education as a social and trade able service.

In the absence of any policy to regulate the foreign education providers in India, there is a danger of the foreign universities

turning towards commercialisation, which goes against the classic view of education as for public good.

Another concern is that commercialisation will promote privatisation that will, in turn, enhance the cost of higher education. It is also feared that foreign and private providers will deliver essentially profitable subjects.

Effective regulation on the entry of foreign institutions is necessary for protecting Indian higher education institutions. There is also a need to evolve the process of certification of foreign institutions to upkeep quality of foreign education providers.

The policy of FDI in education under GATS is through automatic route with or without an Indian partner. It does not require the permission of Foreign Investment Promotion Board. However, under the current UGC Act the degree granting authority rests with the central or state universities and foreign institutions cannot operate through the automatic route. The absence of enabling domestic regulation makes FDI through automatic route ineffectual.

Stocktaking Higher education in India has developed as a strong institutional structure since independence. Most of the higher education institutions have good infrastructural facilities and set-up. The expansion of higher education along with its democratisation in the 60s has facilitated the accessibility of higher education to all. The reservation policy of the government has also extended the portals of the universities for the socially and economically marginalised sections of the society.

In the first phase, Indian higher education system expanded with government support to enable the masses to pursue higher education. The liberalisation policy during 1990s added many new features to the higher education system. Phenomenal growth of the private education providers took place with shrinking governmental finances, ultimately leading to the gradual

transfer of the cost of higher education upon students and parents. The course curricula were modified to suit the market requirements.

The strong growth prospects of our economy, coupled with present phase of globalisation, has fuelled the demand for higher education in India. To cater to this demand, the government has gone ahead with a new set of strategies in the XIth Plan. It has launched ambitious schemes for expansion, strong knowledge base and other quality parameters so as to adapt the system of higher education to the market requirements.

All these interventions will ultimately help our higher education system to exploit opportunities emerging from globalisation, at the same time catering to wide variety of needs that make up for the diversity of our society.\\ Recent Reforms in Higher Education Various interventions taken in the 11th Five Year Plan (2007-12) to leverage higher education: • Admissions on Common Entrance Test, Curriculum to be revamped, Semester system to be introduced.

• Accreditation of institutions through multiple rating agencies.

• National Eligibility Test to be restructured, Academic Staff Colleges to be revamped.

• Establishing an Inter-University Centre.

• Academic, governing and financial autonomy for institutions.

• Quantitative expansion in enrollment.

• Promoting inclusive education.

• Setting up of an ‘Equal Opportunity Office’.

• Quality improvement in course, domestic and global linkages, faculty.

• New Central universities in 16 uncovered states. Indira Gandhi National Tribal University to be set up, 14 new Central universities, aiming at world class standards.

• Supporting 6000 colleges and 150 universities for UGC assistance.

• New central scheme, with a Central– State funding pattern, for increasing GER. • Technical education institutions to be strengthened and upgraded.

Reference: NUEPA Country Report for the Sub-regional Conference of South, South-West and Central Asia on Higher Education, 2009

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Research

SuTE

An Open Source for Subjective Type Exams Archana Rane (archana@ cdacmumbai.in), CDAC Mumbai

www.cdacmumbai.in

Introduction Assessments are integral part of any educational organisation’s course curriculum. Typical assessment mechanisms comprise written and practical examinations, presentations, etc. In most of the written exam papers in universities, subjective type questions comprise a significant share.

Managing these written exams include number of complex and repetitive tasks such as maintaining different types of questions on a topic, setting a exam paper using paper patterns and question bank, conducting exams, evaluation of answer sheets, publishing of results, etc. Each task as well as the associated data is critical in nature and usually multiple faculty/administrative staff are involved in these tasks. All these tasks are bundled with lot of paper work as well. In absence of an effective management mechanism, these tasks can be tedious, time and resource consuming, and also error prone.

Online Assessments are now featuring in number of online distance learning programmes and also becoming popular in regular courses. Online assessment tools automate and ease many testing related tasks thus saving time and resources.

Most of the tools available are web-based and can be accessed using a browser on any machine connected to the system server via the network. Among the available testing tools, open source tools are gaining more popularity due to lower cost and the growing online community support available them.

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Question Paper Creation

Though there exist many systems which allow conducting online examinations, a very few deal with subjective type questions. The Educational Technology Unit alongwith the Open Source Software Division of CDAC Mumbai has developed a tool for Subjective Type Examinations (SuTE) to address the concerns related to managing subjective type examinations.

SuTE – Our Approach SuTE is an open source assessment tool mainly focussed on handling university type (written) examinations online. Many tedious tasks related to paper setting, answer sheet evaluation, etc are made online and easy using the tool. This article briefly describes how SuTE handles Question Paper Management

// RESEARCH

SuTE is an open source assessment tool mainly focussed on handling university written exams online.

and Exam Management (Conduction and Evaluation) for written exams.

Question Paper Management As we know, the structure of typical university exam question paper consists of multiple sections such as long answer questions, fill in the blanks, match the following, essay type, short answer questions, etc. Sections can also have optional sections. Question paper setting requires preparing new questions/ reusing questions from old papers and mapping appropriate questions to sections/ sub-sections in the basic paper pattern.

SuTE maintains questions, paper pattern and question paper separately, thus facilitating independent management of these tasks.

It also facilitates reuse of paper pattern and questions. Questions of various types can be stored in the question bank along with parameters such as difficulty level, maximum marks, topic, etc. Paper patterns can be created comprising various sections and subsections. Each section in a paper pattern consists of placeholders for questions.

The placeholders are also associated with maximum marks for the question and the type of question that it will hold e.g. subjective, match-the-following, etc. This information is useful for the paper creator to map appropriate questions to the place holders while preparing the question paper. To ease the complex task of setting the question paper, the paper pattern and question bank are displayed on a single screen. The faculty can select a specific paper pattern, search for the questions with specific complexity, type, topic, etc and map questions to paper pattern on the same screen using the intuitive drag and drop facility [see Figure 1].

Various validation checks are done and related error messages/colour indications are displayed to ensure syntactic correctness of the paper pattern/question paper when it is being constructed.

Exam Conduction and Evaluation Only registered students can appear for 14

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the test online within a restricted time frame.

The question paper displayed on the screen has a similar format of a traditional question paper comprising of: set of instructions followed by various sections and questions within the sections, each section and question clearly associated with respective marks and instructions (if any). From the displayed list of questions, the student can select question he/she wishes to answer and then key in response in the given text area.

Student is also provided with a facility to mark a particular question as ‘incomplete’ in case he/she wishes to revisit the answer.

Authorised examiners can manually evaluate the subjective questions in answer sheets of each student online. There are two types of evaluation modes available – ‘Question-wise’ and ‘Student-wise’. ‘Student-wise’ is the traditional way of evaluating complete answer sheet of a student at a time. ‘Question-wise’ evaluation mode allows evaluation for all students for a particular question. This mode can be useful to do comparative analysis of students’ performance and is also useful if separate faculty are handling specific set of questions.

Some useful statistics such as – number of unanswered questions, number of answered questions, etc for students and number of questions checked, unchecked, partially checked for the faculty are provided by the system. This information is useful to track progress of attempting/correcting a paper.

Similarly, objective type questions in the answer sheet are evaluated automatically.

This reduces the time and also possibility of human errors involved in manual checking of answer sheets. Paper patterns and questions

papers are stored in XML format facilitating interoperability of data.

Current Status The initial version of SuTE, along with installation manual and user manual is available for use and download from our website http://www.cdacmumbai.in/sef. We have also sent it for evaluation to variety of users - peers, teachers and students of different educational institutes (actual end users) as well as some corporate contacts. Feedback is being collected on a variety of evaluation parameters such as usability, effectiveness (teacher and student perspective) of the system, technical aspects, etc. The current version of the system has limited support for security and recovery mechanism. So the system is recommended to be used for class tests and other internal tests only.

Conducting university exams online using such a tool introduces its own challenges which cannot be overlooked.

Student performance may get affected by their typing speed and also by their level of comfort in computer usage. Also there is need of sophisticated answer editors to facilitate drawing diagrams, charts, maps, etc. The security mechanism needs to be robust enough so as to avoid intrusions, unauthorised access, etc. Also it should have a reliable mechanism for recovery in case of network failure, etc.

The system, though currently usable and suitable for internal tests, is being improved in many dimensions to make it more comprehensive to meet the university-type testing needs. \\

Archana Rane

Archana Rane has been with CDAC Mumbai for over 6 years and is currently working as a senior staff scientist in the Educational Technology Unit (ETU). Her research interests include Learning Management Systems, Constructive Learning Environments, Assessment Technology and Language Tutoring. She has also been a faculty in a number of courses.

PERSPECTIVE

PRIVATE

Training Young Minds To Hone Their Skills www.manipal.edu

Anand Sudarshan MD and CEO, Manipal Education

From a single medical institution in 1953, Manipal Education has emerged as a leading private education provider with global presence in 20 countries, over 195 courses and 96,000 students. It is a chosen destination not only for students from India, but from 51 countries across the world!

Anand Sudarshan, MD and CEO of Manipal Education, talks about various aspects that make Manipal a world-class institution. digital LEARNING

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// PERSPECTIVE

“Manipal has few active research collaborations with the industry. For example, with Phillips we have worked on several projects, one of them being on ‘solving problems at the bottom of the pyramid level’. We worked on developing a product to help detect oral cancer in early stages in people living below or slightly above the poverty line”

What is the USP of Manipal University?

We don’t have a USP...we have a UEP, that is Unique Education Proposition. We are probably the only educational group that is addressing all rungs of the education pyramid, right from high end education like medical education to distance education, continuing education to vocational education at the lowest end of the spectrum.

In what ways does the distance education courses of Manipal University strive to enhance the skills and employment opportunities of students?

What has been its success ratio?

Degree courses in the distance mode generally are not in tune with specific requirements of skills and seldom do they focus on employability as a core concern. But Manipal’s distance education courses try to address this concern by focusing on not just attaining a degree but also on making a sustainable career. We adopt a multi-pronged startegy for this. Firstly, we contruct the programme and curriculum with inputs from the industry so that it becomes industry relevant.

It also helps us create specialised programme components for specific industry verticals.

We make available to our students studying in 600-plus institutions in the country, additional programmes to hone their existing skills in tune with industry requirements. We also coordinate closely with various industries and sectors in the country so that our students get opportunities to work in them.

We have a lateral entry scheme for these professionals where we recognise some of the prior skills that these professionals have.

This scheme is for those already employed in the industry, but want to enhance their skills through a credit-based structure How extensively is ICT used in Manipal to facilitate an enriching teaching-learning experience.

In India, distance education predominantly is about ‘education through correspondence’. However, our distance learners are as near the campus as traditional

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learners, albeit minus the physical presence.

We have evolved a hybrid model of education delivery, which is the cornerstone of Manipal education. Apart from self learning material and face-to-face classes at flexible hours, we also deliver lectures through VSAT. Werecord lectures not just of the faculty but also industry experts, which is then delivered to our students at the learning centres through satellites. Currently the technology enables us to have live lectures through the useof one way video and two way audio.

The other aspect is Technology enabled Learning (TeL) through Internet. This was a piolt project, which has been developed now on the e-Learning model. There is lot of virtual interactivity like a dialogue box, student -to-student interaction, discussion room for students and faculty. We are also in the process of delivering assignements through the Internet. The section on multiple choice questions is one of the most popular sections in the website.

Please tell us about your tie-up with ICICI for Manipal Academy of Banking and Insurance?

The ICICI tie-up is unique as it focuses on inclusiveness. Through this programme we have managed to penetrate the Tier 2 and Tier 3 towns to reach out to the weaker sectionsof the society. The students are enrolled following an aptitude test by ICICI. The programme has been highly successful and we have about 1000 students studying with us.

It has been a fascinating joint journey and ICICI’s vision and commitment for doing this has been extraordinary. There is no parallel to this kind of activity in the banking and insurance sector.

What are your views on the current status of industry-academia collaboration.

Where does Manipal stand?

Connection between the industry and academia is important for developing the right skills of our graduates and enhancing their employability factor. Without getting

into any kind of blame game on who is supposed to do what, I will say that both the sides have to work at catalysing a mutually beneficial engagement. The three pillars of higher education are Teaching, Research and Industrial Engagement and all three are important.

Manipal has few active research collaborations with the industry. For example, with Phillips we have worked on several projects, one of them being on ‘solving problems at the bottom of the pyramid level’. We worked on developing a product to help detect oral cancer in early stages in people living below or slightly above the poverty line.

The HRD Ministry has reently been working at bringing a policy on ICT’s in education. Do you think such a step is required?

Coming to policy level, there are a lot of things that needs to be kept in mind. I would ask, do we require an ICT policy for roads or airports? It is for the airports to decide how to use ICT’s to their benefit. Similarly, I feel it is for the educational institutes to figure out how to use ICT’s for their good. However, if the government can enable it through a policy then I think it would be good. As educational institutions, our aim is to facilitate the growth of our students. Some might say ICT is a core way of doing so, other might not agree and they may be very right in thinking so. The ultimate objective is to improve learning and thereby employability, throough whatever means.

What message would you like to give to the young people?

We believe that technology has an enormous role to play in education and technology not only means e-Learning as is understood today. I would like to tell the students to keep their minds open... for technology is going to play an incredible role in education. As the phrase ‘You have to learn to learn’ goes, technology is one catalyst or impetus that would help us learn to learn.\\

PERSPECTIVE

CENTRE

Striving For Market Oriented Professional Education www.ggsipu.nic.in

Dr Dilip K Bandyopadhyay Vice Chancellor, Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University

Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University was conceptualised to provide the ever increasing youth population in Delhi and the country with an opportunity to pursue world class and market oriented professional education. That the university lays much stress on adapting to changing needs of the modern economy can be gauged from the fact that it runs more than 70 programmes of societal relevance like Disaster Management, Real Estate, Software Enterprise, Prosthetics and Orthotics, Public Health, etc.

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// PERSPECTIVE

Good academic institutions are built up by good faculty. This throws up an additional challenge of attracting the best brains, to academics. In my view this is a serious challenge our higher education is facing today.

In what ways does Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University seek to impart quality education?

The word university originates from universe. My vision is to turn GGSIPU into a place where there would be a conglomeration of students and faculty members from various places in the world to generate new knowledge and at the same time creating an environment where confluence of ideas would take place.

We also strive to provide a market oriented professional education to the student, which not only serves the cause of higher education but also meets the needs of the industry through various disciplines in traditional as well as emerging areas.

With GGSIPU being a fairly new university, what in your view are its main challenges?

The primary challenge for us is to meet up the scarcity of space. Fortunately, Delhi government has given us more than 60 acres of land and the construction work is in progress.

A University is known by the students it produces. So, another challenge is how to attract the best talented students and nurture them further, so that after passing out they bring name and fame for themselves as well as for their University. For this, we require to attract good faculty. Although, we already have a group of dedicated faculty, we need to attract more with cosmopolitan characteristics.

The third challenge is to ensure quality in 90 affiliated colleges that we have. These colleges are totally self-financed, so without intervening in their day to day administration, how their standard of education could be made better.

How would you rate the Indian higher education system?

Although we are coming up with new institutions of higher learning and excellence, there is a need to enhance our enrollment ratio in higher education. The enrollment ratio for higher education in India is merely 11%. A higher enrollment ratio resulting in enhancement of human capital, 18

www.digitalLEARNING.in

corresponds to an increase in the national wealth.

Education demands quality orientation.

Good academic institutions are built up by good faculty. This throws up an additional challenge of attracting the best brains, to academics. In my view this is a serious challenge our higher education is facing today.

How much can ICT in education contribute in overcoming these challenges?

Today the meaning of education and pedagogy has changed. You can not leave ICT aside while thinking of the former. ICT can help deliver the course content, best curriculum, and quality inputs in an effective way. Today if I am to deliver a lecture, I can prepare notes on the basis of content available on the MIT website. Hence ICT is one of the best intervention for enhancing quality of teaching.

ICT has also popularised the distance mode of education. Through videoconferencing students can interact with the professors, virtually making it as real as a traditional classroom. Distance education, enabled with ICT, can reach out to lot of people even in remote and inaccessible areas of the country. ICT enabled learning will emerge as the largest mode of education in the future.

What are your views on the industry readiness of our graduates?

This whole issue is a controversial one, because most of the time industries are not aware of the capabilities of our graduates or are not clear about their requirements.

Whenever industry has been involved in curriculum design of any institute, in most of the cases the experience has not been very encouraging. The situation will change, once more industries come ahead to develop home grown technology and processes.

But I think things are changing, for example lot of interaction has been happening between the pharmaceutical industry and educational institutions.

Can you identify some areas of

interaction between your institution and industry?

There are many areas where the University and industry can interface for the benefit of students and for the betterment of education. For example, Chemical Technology, Biotechnology, Environment Management, Information Technology and Management Studies etc.

Recently our bio-technology department was involved in a project to certify the pesticide content in vegetables like cauliflower, peas, potato, etc. We are also trying to develop a technology to laminate food items to increase their shelf life. World over, about 40 million dollars worth food items are wasted owing to their low shelf life.

Retention capacity of PHD students in India is very low. What do you think are the reasons for it?

The answer lies in the basic fact that if we give our students better opportunities, they will not leave.

Moreover, there are more opportunities in R&D abroad than in India. If similar opportunities are created here and industries increase their budget on R&D, we would be able to retain our students. At the same time, situation has now started changing as lot of Indians who went abroad are willing to come back.

How do you see the future of the Indian educational system?

The future of our educational system is very bright as 54% of our population is below the age of 25. If we look at developed countries, their population is aging. So our educational system should be geared to provide manpower to those countries.

Our education system is the best in the world and that is why they excel abroad. If we look at statistics, 22% of Silicone valley Engineers are from India, 32% of the teaching fraternity in USA belong to India. Although our IIT, IIITs, IIMs match up to international levels in teaching, we cannot say the same about other majority institution of higher learning.

Hence we need to bridge the gap between these colleges and premier institutes to bring them at par with world class education. \\

PERSPECTIVE

STATE

Creating Opportunities for Those Left Behind www.gbu.ac.in

Prof R S Nirjar Vice Chancellor, Gautam Buddha University

Gautam Buddha University was established in 2008 to impart quality post graduate education and research in emerging disciplines of management, IT, biotechnology, etc, to the disadvantaged sections left out from the purview of higher education.

Vice Chancellor Prof R S Nirjar shares his views on issues close to the university and higher education at large.

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“Our mission is to reach the weaker sections of the society to offer them opportunities to acquire high level competence, which in turn will ensure their vertical mobility”

What is the underlying vision of the Gautam Buddha University?

Gautam Buddha University seeks to provide world class education and research in emerging as well as conventional branches of disciplines. Our mission is to reach the weaker sections of the society to offer them opportunities to acquire high level competence, which in turn will ensure their vertical mobility.

We also endeavour to create a body of scholars, who will contribute to the needs of society and industry.

in post-graduate education and research.

As such the number of research scholars have declined over the years. And our professionals, especially those working in IT sectors and MNCs, are not involved in high-end research but are on the lower end of the system. We can move up the ladder only, if we develop our educational base by boosting post-graduate education and research. And Gautam Buddha University is dedicated to providing world-class education and research.

in ICT this session.

ICT is an undeniable part of our existence today. We cannot escape from it.

All types of original research, be it decimal, differential calculus, medical research, etc, have originated in India, except for the industrial revolution which we missed out. But we cannot now afford to miss out on the ICT revolution, which is a revolution of micro against macro. Since India has a very good intellectual capital, we should be the torchbearers of this great technological revolution.

How do you ensure equal access to the socially disadvantaged groups?

Ensuring equal access to the disadvantaged sections is not that difficult for us as we already have systems in place for it.

For example, in the entrance exams itself, the question papers are prepared considering various backgrounds of the student and their intelligence level. After all, we have to keep in mind that a student coming from rural area might not have the same standard of English as a student from the city. So the question papers are framed in a generic way and have a wider choice of questions. We believe that if a student is weak in some subject, it can be worked upon during the course of his studies in the University.

Additionally, we also provide financial assistance to students from weaker sections of society to pursue education.

“The industries are nowadays creating lot of noise about the skill sets of our graduates as they do not want to own up their responsibility of providing human resource training”

Recently there has been lot of talk on the industry readiness of our graduates.

What are your views on it?

I have full faith in our graduates. The industries are nowadays creating lot of noise about the skill sets of our graduates as they do not want to own up their responsibility of providing human resource training. They want ready made workers who suit their needs.

While universities bring out graduates who have the general conception and knowledge to fit into any industry.

In your opinion, what are the main challenges confronting India’s higher education system today?

There are three main challenges confronting our higher education system: (1) quality of education, (2) post graduate education and research, and (3) weak vocational education. Quality in education is important to curb heavy drain of India’s productive labour to the Western countries. We need to develop and improve our own industrial base, in manufacturing and other streams, so that our engineers and other technical professionals are absorbed in our country.

Secondly, we are absolutely lacking

Another main issue is our weak vocational education system. In India, we have a differential system. People, who acquire vocational education,especially at ITI levels, are not at an advantageous position as far as their vertical mobility is concerned.

So we need to ensure that a person from vocational stream has a chance to enhance his or her qualification further. For example, in Canada, 80% of engineering graduates are from vocational streams. However, in a country as huge as India, you would not even find 84 students. So we need to strengthen our vocational system. Gautam Buddha University also plans to start vocational studies next academic year and will be the first institution to offer Ph.D. in vocational streams.

What role do you think ICT can play in the higher education?

ICT is at the core of our very existence in GBU, and not just a branch. We have a wi-fi enabled campus, networked labs, etc.

We also are starting a post-graduate course

How would you rate our higher education on the global scale?

One cannot say what is best and what is not. There are certain good things about our system, whereas there are some inadequacies as well. For example, having a system of affiliated colleges, needs to be pondered over. However, sudden changes are not good as there are historical reasons behind having a particular system.

On the whole, our education system is not bad as our graduates who work in US or UK are producing wonderful results. An Indian student often takes less time completing Ph.D. in a foreign university when compared to students of that country.

Moreover, our spending on higher education is minute, not even up to 6% of the GDP, when compared to other countries in Asia who spend around 15-20%. We also need to focus on research and vocational education if we want to improve our overall standing in the global arena. \\ digital LEARNING

MAY 2009

21

NEWS

INDIA

IIM Calcutta launches programme for Indian Railway Service officers

provide financial assistance of Euros 500,000 to 10,00,000 to groups in India to spend on skill development.

‘The aim is to support the objectives of skill development in India where majority of the workforce lack expertise,’ said Daniele Smadja, Ambassador and head of Delegation of the European Commission to India, Bhutan and Nepal.

force, universities can lay emphasis on higher education and research work.

The NKC has received spontaneous reaction from several states including Delhi, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan and the Union Territory of Puducherry. All these states and UT have already started drafting a bill on the same.

Five out of six new IITs to have own campuses

IIM Calcutta has been commissioned by the Railway Board of India to conduct a 12-week executive general management programme for 60 officers, as part of the regular 18month training programme for Indian Railway Service probationer officers. The general management programme will cover topics in economics, human resource management, management information systems, public policy, behavioural sciences, finance and accounting, etc.

EU to help India for skill development European Union (EU) will provide vocational education and training in India to the marginalised groups in an attempt to help India increase its skilled workforce. EU has come up with a scheme under which it will

NKC proposes undergraduate board for colleges The National Knowledge Commission has proposed an undergraduate board to set the colleges free from the university rule and regulate all the administrative affairs for the smooth sailing of the colleges.

The undergraduate board will look into curriculum, exams, degrees, etc for colleges.

Once the undergraduate board comes into

Indian students flocking to New Zealand Indian students continue flocking to New Zealand for higher education and the number has increased by 300% in the last six years. ‘India is a big market of talented students for us. Their number has considerably increased. I do not think recession can stop Indian students from coming to New Zealand,’ Cliff Fuller, New Zealand’s trade commissioner in India, said.

According to Fuller, the percentage of Indian students enrolling in New Zealand institutes has increased nearly 300% in the last six years. ‘In 1998, only 150 Indian students enrolled. This figure rose to 1,500 in 2002. In 2008, we registered 6,000 new enrolments from India,’ he said.

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Bowing to resistance from existing IITs, the government has decided that five of the six new institutes of excellence will have to set up their campuses separately from the coming session. The decision was taken at a meeting held between Directors of seven IITs and Higher Education Secretary R P Agarwal to decide on the issue which has been a matter of controversy after the government suggested that the new institutes should be mentored by the existing ones till they find their own space.

Accordingly, IIT Bhubaneswar and IIT Punjab, which are functioning at their mentoring IITs in Kharagpur and Delhi at present, will be shifted to their own campuses from the coming academic session. Three others, IIT Hyderabad, IIT Gandhinagar and IIT Patna, are already running from temporary campuses.

JSWS to offer Leeds courses and degrees in India Leeds Metropolitan University, UK and Jagran Social Welfare Society (JSWS), Bhopal have entered into a partnership to start offering the former’s courses and degrees in India through the Leeds Met India, Bhopal campus.

The campus will begin its first academic year from September 2009 by offering Leeds Metropolitan University’s undergraduate courses in the field of business studies, retail marketing management, international business and business and HRM among others.

It also plans to roll out post-graduate courses by 2010 including MBA and MSc in various disciplines as well as new undergraduate courses including events management and marketing and advertising management. All the courses will be approved

by AICTE.

POLICY MATTERS

Digital Inclusion: A Pathway for Economic Development www.egovonline.net

Senior officials from three Northern Indian States and Union Territories- Punjab, Chandigarh, and Haryana, met during a recently held conference to recognise the progress and successes already achieved in the field of eInclusion and to consider the challenges that still remain. The conference saw the outcomes in the end of all discussions, aligned with its objectives, that, in these difficult economic times, it is more necessary than ever to support vulnerable people in our society. ICTs constitute an essential tool to achieve this objective. Joint action in the area of e-Inclusion can at the same time contribute to creating new jobs and to improving their quality, for example in the sector including putting in place activities for unemployed people. Better digital inclusion will contribute to strengthening the main asset of India: its human capital.

panel: socio-economic imperatives of ict in education

The one day Conference- ‘Digital Inclusion: A Pathway for Economic Development’ held on 19 March 2009 at Chandigarh was hosted by Centre for Science, Development, and Media Studies (CSDMS) in association with Intel and United Nations Solution Exchange. It has become the place for those with an interest in digital inclusion to meet, mingle and masticate over the latest in policy developments, technological advances, and ground level best practice.

A cross-government team representing all three states along with the representatives from Industry and the civil society organisations, making it around 15 key speakers lead the discussions in which around 80 attendees took part actively marking the conference success.

John davies, intel

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23

e-Inclusion ‘more necessary now than ever’ The conference moderated by Dr Ravi Gupta, the Executive Director of CSDMS had two parts of discussion, where in the Solution Exchange took lead to organise a round table discussion session on the theme.

The round table was followed by the opening plenary and the panel discussion sessions where several distinguished speakers set the stage for the discussion by laying out the challenges facing the national and international community and the opportunities posed by new information technologies and the networked global economy.

A number of central points emerged from the opening session discussions.

• The policy challenges for developing countries like India and for the international community as a whole are daunting and complex. Bridging the digital divide is not simply about giving people access to tools. It is about creating policy and regulatory environments, institutional frameworks, and human capacities that foster information flows, innovation, and effective use of the world’s knowledge resources in every dimension of sustainable development, from health, agriculture, medicine and education to trade and economic development, effective governance.

• The explosive growth of global information and communications networks (including the Internet) and

The explosive growth of global information and communications networks (including the Internet) and the equally dramatic expansion in the power and affordability of information technologies amount to nothing less than an economic revolution with profound global implications the equally dramatic expansion in the power and affordability of information technologies amount to nothing less than an economic revolution with profound global implications.

• The digital divide is real and growing, and has profound implications. This divide is not just about access to computers or telephones; it is a deeper and more profound divide that reflects and reinforces more fundamental economic and social divides between and within countries.

• Several speakers highlighted the important efforts and welcomed the opportunity of this dialogue to examine the challenges facing the states in this context.

John Davies, Vice President, Sales and Marketing Group General Manager, Intel World Ahead Programme, put forth his talk as the Guest of Honour.

Coming to India, John sees Internet as the game changer for the country. The country, where 2 lakh railway tickets are sold on the website of Indian Railway, 40% of legal queries are getting addressed through blogs, farmers get latest equipments and fertiliser tips from

ashish sanyal, dit, govt of india

sanjay kumar, haryana

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e-Choupals, etc., he said, the change is already happening through technology.

The opening session was also attended

by Sanjay Kumar, the Secretary, IT, Haryana, who was the Chief Guest of the conference.

The other guest of the evening, Ashish Sanyal, Sr. Director, Dept of Information & Technology, added some positive notes to the whole discussions. He said, ‘we can sill talk about 14-15 % telephony in a land, where ICT sector is increasing and mobile phones are being added 10 million a month, which is more than the population of Finland.

If we increase tele-density by 1%, the GDP growth becomes quiet vital.’

Some outline of Shri Sanyals deliberations included the few vital points mentioned below.

• There is a distinct difference between ‘Digital Inclusion’ and ‘Digitally Inclusion’.

• People now know that digitalisation is not e-Governance. People have understood that e-Governance is not a translation of the manual process. So digital inclusion is greater than ICT proliferation. ICT proliferation minus conduciveness then it is digital exclusion. If we don’t put a legal framework and we don’t put a policy in place then it will not be effective.

• When people talk about digital inclusion, it is mostly about urban-rural. However, there are many areas even in urban areas which are digitally excluded. There are several social and economic divides.

Whatever is responsible for these social and economic also has an impact on ICT divide. There are different players working in this field including NGO’s, government and other community organization. But a lot of other players must also come in. This is one area, where if we work on, it will be a win-win situation for all stakeholders.

• There are around 3 main things that need to kept in mind: 1) Acess; 2) Unioversalisation 3) Capacity Building.

Universalisation includes abilities, wages,

// POLICY MATTERS

•

•

•

universal availability of technology so that no section of the society is excluded. By 2010 we intend to give broadband connection to be accessible to everyone. Strong financial solutions to address problems of soci-economic barriers in access to digital technology needs to be brought out. Purchasing power should not hamper access to digital technology.

In South Korea, several senior citizens were given training in ICT’s for access to broadband and Internet. So in India, we need to find out the areas of where all we can do capacity building.

Public enterprises should take initiatives towards making wider availability of services; comprehensive content policy for the public good; public services to be designed with an universal framework; development of new services.

To make broad band available to every one, ICT ‘s nee to be accessed in schools; coordinated measures need to be taken to provide knowledge and informations to schools, teacher and students.

Digital Inclusion: A Pathway for Economic Development Digital Inclusion and Economic Development conference primarily brainstormed about the progress in National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) in northern India in terms of rolling mission mode projects like CSCs, State Data centers, State Wide area networks, etc. It also focused on accelerating e-Governance initiatives for Government to citizen interface, like land records, property certifications and public distribution system, etc.

The first Panel discussion session deliberated on Growing entrepreneurship and enhancing competitiveness of the growth sectors, relating to the Internet and broadband combined with IT solutions that have the potential to bring in efficiencies and competitiveness of the SME sector. The feeling was strong that, if all goes well, India can lead the world in broadband penetration and Internet access.

The panel discussion was moderated by Rajen Varada, The national co-ordinator of the education community of UN Solution Exchange. Representatives from ICICI Bank, BSNL, PCO Association, government officials from the Department of IT, Government

of India talked about the need to look at the e-Governance projects and services in retrospect.

The discussion allowed the panel to identify several areas of priority for the community, in its efforts to bridge the Digital Divide and contribute to Digital Inclusion: pursue, broaden and deepen its consultation process, further the dissemination and exchange of best practices in the social uses of ICTs, and raise global awareness about the importance of ICTs as a tool for development and a more equitable global economy.

• •

•

•

Socio-Economic Imperatives of ICT in Education The second panel discussion on ICT in Education: Socio-Economic Imperatives was moderated by Ashish Garg, Asia Regional Coordinator, Global eSchools & Communities Initiative (GeSCI). At the outset, she emphasised the imperative of education, against something which is there on everybody’s mind, that is the global economic downtrend, and its effect on children and ofcourse, education. Ashish laid the base of the discussion by the esteemed panelists of the education session by linking the current global economic downtrend with the technology mediated education scenario.

Jyoti arora, Commissioner, Higher Education, Govt of Haryana, Ranjit Singh Bajwa, Deputy Chairman, Punjab School Education Board, Tarun Vij, Country Head, American India Foundatiuon, B. Purusharth, Director, Technical Education & Industrial Training, Govt of Punjab made the education panel.

Unless universities are also brought on board, unless all the officials, the administrators - the central and state, and the teachers come in, providing just the infrastructure, the information and knowledge will become the seldom tasks

•

•

Whatever programmes are made, there has to be quality audit for that.

It is not the administrators or policy makers. We have been talking about the last student to be able to use technology, but unless the teachers whom we can not replace, are trained in using ICT, no way we can get to the last of the students.

We need to collaborate with the service providers, who are going to deliver technology from door to door.

And then we are taking about the policies. We have to consider education is not one colour. Education has different hues and colours and demands from different parts on education is different.

Like elementary education has different demands from education and digital inclusion. Higher education has different kinds of demands. Technical education has different demands. And therefore, it is not a simple matter of putting more computers. If any policy we want, it should take care of each and every thing.

The challenge of some of the computer based programmes like Digital Equalizer is, running those across multi states.

Learning computer Vs using computer, Variability of quality, Grappling with managing scales, critically managing execution skills/scales, are the few daunting tasks lye before the programmes. There is a need of adequate project based planning and connectivity.

There should be new openings and vistas for rural students, through revision, radical revision of text books, may it be through electronic medium, may it be through televised or particularly through video conferencing, audio conferencing or other means of ICT.

The End of the beginning….

This conference celebrated achievements and showcased successes in the field of eInclusion from across the three Indian states.

It helped industry, practitioners and policy makers to take stock of what still lies ahead and renew their commitments to achieve inclusion in the information society for all in order to overcome the current scenario of global recession and headway towards economic development. \\ digital LEARNING

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INDIRA GANDHI NATIONAL OPEN UNIVERSITY ACADEMIC PROGRAMMES ON OFFER, 2009 - 2010 S.No.

Name of the Programme

Eligibility

Programme Fee

S.No.

Name of the Programme

Ph.D Programme 1.

Doctor of Philosophy in Education, History, Tourism Studies, Political Science, Economics, Sociology, Public Admn., Library & Information Science, Nursing, Mathematics, Physics, Hindi, English, Commerce, Management, Social Work, Women’s Studies, Rural Development, Child Develipment, Gender & Development Studies, Food & Nutrition, Distance Education, Sri Aurobindo Studies and Agriculture Extension.

For details of Eligibility , Please see the prospectus of the Ph.D programme and/or the IGNOU Website.

Rs.5500/- per annum.

In case of course work Rs.5500/- extra 17.

Master of Library and Information Science

BLIS Degree from any recognized university or its equivalent.

Rs.6700/-

18.

Master of Science (Dietetics and Food Services Management

B.Sc(Home Science) specialization in Food and Nutrition, Dietetics and Clinical Nutrition or PG Diploma in Dietetics and Public Health Nutrition or its equivalent or Graduate (B.Sc) or equivalent (MBBS,BHS etc) from the following background - Home Science /Food Science and Technology, Science, Health Care, Medical, Pharmaceutical Catering alongwith the DNHE or CNCC or CFN offered by IGNOU (Simultaneous admission for CFN/CNCC is also permitted)

Rs.10000/- (I yr.)

Rs.9900/- (II yr.)

19.

M.Sc.(Mathematics with Applications in Computer Sciences)

Graduates with a Major, or Honours in Mathematics with at least 50% marks in aggregate.

Rs.4000/-+ Rs.100/Registration fee (I semester) Rs.4000/- (II, III & IV semester)

20.

Master of Business Administration

Bachelor’s Degree + 3 years Supervisory/ Managerial/ Professional Experience OR Professional Degree in Engineering Technology/ Medicine/ Architecture/ Law/Pharmacy OR Professional qualifications in Accountancy, Cost & Works Accountancy, company Secretaryship etc OR A Master’s degree in any subject

Rs.800/- per Course (Total 21courses) Rs.800/- per Course (Total 21 courses )

21.

Master of Business Administration (Banking & Finance)

The candidate should be a member of the Indian Institute of Bankers and should satisfy the following conditions: S/he should have passed the CAIIB examinations of the Indian Institute of Bankers, Mumbai, and awarded the requisite qualification/ credentials thereof by the Institute.

S/he should have been working in the banking or financial services sector for a period of at least two years. S/he should be a graduate from a recognised university.

Rs.8300/- per semester

22.

Master of Science (Hospitality Administration)

B.Sc. in Hospitality and Hotel Administration; OR Diploma in Hotel Management from NCHMCT stream + any other degree qualification; OR Diploma in Hotel Management from NCHMCT stream with 2 years work experience in a supervisory category in any established and approved star hotel or other hospitality/service organisation/ faculty with minimum 2 years of teaching experience from NCHMCT affiliated institute/ AICTE approved institutes of Hotel Management. Note: Admission through entrance test conducted by NCHMCT . For details contact Director (NCHMCT) or visit their website www.nchmct.org.

Rs.3100/- (I year) Rs.2900/- (II year)

23.

Master of Arts (Public Policy)

Bachelor’s Degree. At present only for IAS probationers at LBSNAA, Mussorrie

Rs.5000/-

i) Graduation in any discipline or equivalent from a recognized university/institute ii) Admitted in the Chartered Accountance Final Course or A certified Chartered Accountant (Exclusively for Chartered Accountancy Students – ICAI)

M.Phil in School of Interdisciplinary and Transdisplinary Studies

Masters Degree Programme 3.

Master of Arts (Distance Education)

Diploma in Distance Education (DDE) OR Post Graduate Diploma in Distance Education (PGDDE) from IGNOU

Rs.1700/-

4.

Master of Arts (English)

Bachelor’s Degree or a higher degree from a recognized University

Rs.3100/-(I year)

5.

Master of Arts (Hindi)

Bachelor’s Degree or a higher degree from a recognized University

Rs.2900/-(IIyear)

6.

Master of Arts (Economics)

Bachelor’s Degree or a higher degree from a recognized University

Rs.3100/-(I year)

7.

Master of Arts (History)

Bachelor’s Degree or a higher degree from a recognized University

Rs.2900/-(IIyear)

8.

Master of Arts (Education)

Bachelor’s Degree or a higher degree from a recognized University

Rs.4600/-(I year)

9.

Master of Arts (Political Science)

Bachelor’s Degree or a higher degree from a recognized University

Rs.4400/-(IIyear)

10.

Master of Arts (Public Admn.)

Bachelor’s Degree or a higher degree from a recognized University

Rs.3100/-(I year)

11.

Master of Arts (Sociology)

Bachelor’s Degree or a higher degree from a recognized University

Rs.2900/-(IIyear)

12.

Master of Arts (Social Work)

Bachelor’s Degree or a higher degree from a recognized University

Rs.10000/- + Registration fee of Rs.100/-

13.

Master of Arts (Rural Development)

Bachelor’s Degree or a higher degree from a recognized University

Rs.3100/-(I year) Rs.2900/-(IIyear)

14.

Master of Arts (Tourism Management)

Category 1: BTS/BA(Tourism): B.Sc. Hospitality and Hotel Administration; and those students who have done their graduation in any field along with a One year Diploma in Tourism, which is recognized in the University System or by AICTE.

Rs.3100/-(I year) Rs.2900/-(IIyear)

Category 2 : Diploma in Hotel Management (from an Institute recognized by the NCHMCT or AICTE) or a Bachelor’s Degree in any field. However, all students of Category 2 will have to pass four additional courses during their period of study.

(I year) Category I Rs.3100/- Category II Rs.4400/(IIyear) Rs.3000/- for both categories.

24.

Master of Commerce (in Finance & Taxation)

25.

Master of Arts (Mass Communication)

26.

Master of Education

27.

M.A in Sri Aurobindo Studies

15.

Master of Commerce

Bachelor’s Degree or a higher degree from a recognized University

Rs.4100/-(I year) Rs.4000/-(IIyear)

16.

Master of Computer Applications

Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science/Applications/Information Science/ Information Technology from a recognized/deemed University OR Non-Computer Science B.Tech/M.Sc./ other graduates (such applicants are required to pursue CIC/CIT(from july2009 onwards) concurrently with MCA 1st Semester OR Graduate with PGDCA from a recognised/deemed univerity or its equivalent course of not less than one year from a state board of Technical Education or its equivalent body established by the Central/State Government.

Rs.6700/- per semester + Rs.800/- for CS-60 for non-Maths students and Rs.3300/- for CIC

Programme Fee

Note: (i) The student who have not studied Maths at 10+2 level are required to do CS-60 in the 1st Semester of MCA (ii) The student enrolling for the MCA Programme who have completed the DOEACC O-level programme are not required to enroll for CIC/CIT(from july,2009 onwards.

M.Phil Programme 2.

Eligibility

IGNOU has several other academic programmes in offer, which will subsequently be covered here. More information about these courses are also available on IGNOU website.

www.ignou.ac.in

case study

Project Jyoti

Empowering Communities Through Technology

A

rti’s father Raj Kumar died when she was three years old. Her father’s sudden demise burdened her mother, a teacher, financially. With great difficulty, Arti managed to complete class 10th. Then she was forced to work in a ‘bindi’ making factory to supplement the family income.

In 2006, during a mobilisation programme for rescuing child labourers, Arti was counseled to join a training programme by CAP Foundation. She was given the CRS course along with the Microsoft Unlimited Potential (MSUP) module under the Unlimited Potential Community Technology Skills Program, nicknamed Project Jyoti in India.

‘Launched in 2004, Project Jyoti aims to help realise digital inclusion by providing basic IT skills training to people of all ages which can be a source of livelihood and

information,’ says Dr Vivek Goswami, Lead CSR, Microsoft India.

For Arti, the project gave her a golden chance to gain IT skills and thereby realise her potential. ‘MSUP modules changed my perception about computers. I used to think learning computers was tough and meant only for highly educated people,’ says Arti.

Following the training, she was selected

by ICICI Prudential as a customer care executive with a salary of INR 7000 along with incentives. Slowly she rose to become one of their star performers. And now she has started her own agency and has also employed two other people.

The pivot of Project Jyoti is a Community Technology Learning Centre (CTLC) where people of all ages and abilities can come and learn about computers, use Internet,

Brad Smith Senior Vice President, General Counsel, Corporate Secretary, Legal & Corporate Affairs, Microsoft Corporation , shares his thoughts on the Community Technology Skills Program

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explore career opportunities, or further their education. A typical CTLC will have around 5-15 PCs depending on the size of the community, an IT instructor and a CTLC manager. So far around 1000 CTLCs have been established across 20 states and Union Territories and around 1,60,000 persons trained in IT skills.

‘Microsoft has so far partnered with around 13 NGO’s across country for running the programme. The support comes in three ways: cash grants, software donations, and providing IT training curriculum. And the benficiaries include marginalised women, unemployed youth from urban slums, farmers, fishermen, village community, rural self-help groups, and rural entrepreneurs,’ says Anshuman Varma, Community Affairs Coordinator, Microsoft India.

Microsoft has been active around the world with its Community Technology Skills Program. How would you rate its impact?

The impact of the programme has been phenomenal. In today’s world if you teach a person to use a computer, it throws open new set of opportunities. And this holds true for anybody in any part of the world, who thinks he does not have a bright future. Especially for women, once they master computer skills, they also end up mastering a part of their life.

Even young children in many orphanages we have worked with, showed improvement in confidence, reading and writing skills. I think

‘Most of the people who come to our centres don’t have any prior exposure to a PC. So just getting them to use it is one major obstacle. There are eight different modules under the course. The intention is not to make programmers out of them, but to give them some amount of IT expertise that they need in a regular job,’ he adds. Apart from IT skills, training is also given on life skills, spoken English, and domain specific skills for sectors like BPO, retail and hospitality, etc.

Some partners also impart vocational training. Uttar Pradesh based NGO ‘Datamation Foundation’ has developed IT based modules for stitching, candle making, bag weaving, etc. In a unique experiment, they are also helping ‘chikankari’ workers use computers for creating better embroidery designs, through a new software called CHIC. An important impact of these centres has been access to information for the community, be it fishermen, farmers, etc. Some centres run by the M Swaminathan Foundation in Tamil Nadu offer contextualised information to the community on pest control, fertilisers, market price of produce or fishes, information on weather, etc.

But running such a massive programme involving the community is not an easy task.

The challenges are manifold. ‘We keep running into new challenges almost everyday.

But as long as you have good partners you are equipped to overcome any challenges,’ says Varma.

A major challenge faced in rural areas is

there is something universal about the fact that when people gain IT skills it gives them a sense of self-confidence.

What plans do you have for India under the programme?

In India, our plan is two pronged: scaling in terms of centres, and reaching out to more and more people who want to enhance their skills. We would like to focus on women, young people from various sections of population, people with disabilities, etc. But I also feel that we need to adapt our vision according to the changes in the computing industry as computers are going to change a lot of things around us.

of resource generation and sustainability. To counter this, Microsoft has evolved a policy of partnering only those NGOs which are self-sustainable. Another stumbling block is literacy as basic literacy is a minimum requirement for IT skills. Convincing people regarding the benefits of IT skills so that they come forward for training is also difficult.

Till date Microsoft has invested INR 47 crore in Project Jyoti, with the latest release of an additional funding of INR 7.63 crore to three partner NGOs – Aide et Action (INR

4.56 crore), CAP (INR 1.20 crore), and Mahila SEWA Trust (INR 1.87 crore).

Commenting on the need for taking IT to marginalised sections of society, Dr Goswami says, ‘A large section of our population lives below the poverty line and the need of the hour is to generate more opportunities for employment for these people. We at Microsoft believe that technology can be a catalyst for this change as it holds the potential to create economic opportunities and enable equitable development.’\\

Any plans for specific focus on people with disabilities?

For people with disabilities, computers are a fundamental tool that enables them to connect with the world. So disability has always been an important focus of Microsoft.

Early on, we developed specific features in our operating systems for people with visual or hearing impairment. Microsoft’s history has been very rich in terms of forging partnerships with disability groups around the world. And the engagement has been very enriching.

programmes?

As far as the organisational strategy goes, we have managed our costs well. Moreover we are very clear that it is fundamentally important for us to sustain our mission and also scale it for bigger impact. We tell our customers that we help people use computers and realise their potential. Moreover, in times of economic crisis, it becomes much more important for people to develop IT or soft skills which can help them retain their jobs or even get new jobs. When the economy gets tougher there is pressure to cut cost and strive for efficiency. And technology makes us efficient.

Has the current economic slowdown affected Microsoft’s community

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LEADER’S SPEAK

Re-skilling & ‘Up-skilling Graduates www.mindlogicx.com

Suresh Elangovan CEO & Managing Director, Mindlogicx Infotech Limited

Mindlogicx Infotech Ltd specialises in knowledge management delivery in virtual learning space. The company has developed and successfully deployed intelligent assesment known as “VEDAS”. This provides technology platform for the flagship services of Mindlogicx including MindSpace for universities; Knowledge Assessment Platform (KAP) for corporate skills assessments and Knowledge Network (K.Net) services for its Online Finishing School.

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GradFirst is a finishing school designed for creating job or self-employment opportunities for students

You have seen the higher education markets closely in India. What is the role and potential of technology solutions in the education system in the future?

Indian higher education market is at a nascent stage vis-à-vis the global markets for two reasons, one of which is market acceptance. Indian markets are just picking up. The decision-makers in the universities continue to carry the weight of conventional mindset mode of operations and don’t want to take a chance on new technologies. The second roadblock is the marketability of product, as various states have their own regulations. Hence IT deployment in higher education has been slow until now. The demand for IT-enabled services and facilities is expected to surge with the increasing competition amongst higher education players.

IT is going to be the driving force in the delivery of higher education in India. That is the only way to scale up operations beyond physical and geographical boundaries. With the market becoming more competitive and foreign universities trying to enter India, the only way an Indian university can cope up with stiff competetion is by adopting IT technology and tools. This is crucial for their success.

What gives MindLogicx the edge over other competitors offering technology solutions in the education sector?

We came across three major requirements of the universities; one is to scale up their operations and take their courses beyond geographical boundaries. We built a learning solution called MINDSPACE for delivering education through virtual platform.

Second challenge is to conduct a hassle-free examination and examination management.

So we introduced assessment solution and an examination management solution deployed under the controller of examination to cater to distribution delivery of examination papers, assessment, conducting offline examination and enabling multiple digital

valuation of answer scripts, publishing of results, declaration of marks etc. The third challenge is to get employment opportunities for the students. Every Vice Chancellor is looking for creating employment opportunities for his students through campus placements.

We wanted to introduce a solution that would help the student be industryready. Most of the students out of universities are not industry-ready. The statistics say only 10% are employmentready and 90% of the students are not in a position to get employment, because they lack the skill sets which the industry is looking for.

Kindly tell us more on the Finishing school solution GradFirst?

There is a quality gap between education delivery and knowledge skills. Finishing schools in India cater to only IT graduates and we conveniently forget about those from B.Com, B.Sc Maths, B.Sc Physics, etc.

How will they get an employment? There are ample number of opportunities available for them and we need that specialisation training for these sectors. There is a distinct difference between education and knowledge. Education is all about preparing a student for a curriculum and authentication of the process and its thrust is primarily on certification. Knowledge is more about acquiring skill sets for employment, catering to the needs of the industry environment.

We provide two kinds of knowledge services- one is re-skilling and second is up-skilling. Re-skill is to create employment opportunities for the job environment and make them industry-ready. Upskilling is to upgrade their skills sets and new specialisation and domain knowledge.

GradFirst is a finishing school designed for creating job or self-employment opportunities for students. The finishing school aims to convert a job-seeker to a jobprovider. It is a technology platform and we have tied up with knowledge partners who provide industry-approved content. \\

Mindlogicx recently launched a first of its kind reference tool on Indian universities.

The ‘Universities of India 2008’ documents the achievements of prominent universities across India. A total of 165 universities and university level institutions that fall under the purview of the UGC have been covered in the publication.

Highlights of the survey include: • The total number of enrolled students grew by 81% for the academic sessions between 200608. However, the faculty recruitment has not been able to keep pace with the growing number of students.

• Quality of education and retention of faculty emerged as key concerns – thus moving beyond the traditional concern of lack of funds.

• Over the years, governments have been promoting women’s education, which seem to have culminated in positive results. The study shows that women enrolment accounted for nearly one fourth of the total enrolment and increased by around 100% in the academic session of 2007-08 over the previous session.

• Increasing use of Information Technology has added a new dimension to education delivery in India. Around 20% of the universities offer e-Learning content and have the capacity to offer the full programme online. This percentage is expected to increase significantly over the next few years.

• Tthe number of students with work experience increased by 53% from 1,439 in 2006-07 to 2,212 in 200708. A key driver for this has been new courses and programmes that attempt to meet industry requirements.

• Student enrolment for Ph. D programmes grew by 17% for the academic session of 2007-08 over the previous year.

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LEADER’S SPEAK

Bringing Affordable Computing To The Next Billion www.ncomputing.com

Manish Sharma Vice President, Asia Pacific NComputing

The name NComputing is synonymous with mathematical term ‘N’, which stands for an infinite number. And true to its name, NComputing is into virtualisation of desktops which enable multiple users to simultaneously share one computer.

Manish Sharma, Vice President, Asia Pacific, talks about the company’s impact and the higher education scenario in India.

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// LEADER’S SPEAK

We enable a poorer college or training institute to bring computing access for a fraction of the cost. With more access, these students play on a level playing field vis-à-vis the more affluent institutions

Please tell us about NComputing and its vision.

Currently there are about 850 million people in the world who have computer access.

Researchers say that another billion people want access to computing, but simply cannot afford it because the cost of computer hardware and management is too high. NComputing’s vision is to bring affordable computing to the next billion people so they can join the digital economy.

Our technology allows a single desktop computer to be shared by many users at the same time for approx INR 4,000 per seat. This is a breakthrough in affordability that is unrivaled and we are seeing tripledigit yearly growth because the need is so immense.

How suitable are NComputing products for the higher education segment in India?

There is a massive building boom in higher education in India. Despite the economic slowdown, this is part of a 2030 year long term trend that has to do with the long term ambitions of India as a major global economic player. As new colleges and universities are being built, especially in the private sector, there is actually competition developing for attracting the students. So higher education institutions are building state-of-the art computing labs and facilities to differentiate themselves. But they also need to do this under very tight budgets, and that is why they use NComputing’s shared computing solutions. Globally thousands of colleges and universities use NComputing, for example USA itself, has almost 500 colleges and universities. We are seeing a similar level of interest across Asia and in India.

What impact has NComputing had on increasing access and enrollment ratio in higher education, especially in weaker socio-economic areas?

The rich schools, whether in India or other emerging Asian nations, have funds for computers. But in weaker socio-economic

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areas, they simply don’t have the funds to buy expensive stand-alone PCs or laptops. We are the equalizers. We enable a poorer college or training institute to bring computing access for a fraction of the cost.

With more access, these students play on a level playing field vis-à-vis the more affluent institutions.

Despite major reforms in India’s higher education sector, we have not yet been able to match up to the demand for skilled workforce. What do you think are the reasons for this?

When a student is in the college/ university learning subjects that will prepare him or her for a lifelong career, the computer is a tool for research, collaboration and communication. Private colleges/universities are taking the lead in bringing technology to the students as they have more flexibility and can charge higher fees, whereas government institutions have more limitations placed on them.

In the transition phase from college to the work place, the private sector has done a good job to provide practical skills needed through internal training. But this is typical in larger companies and urban areas, so there is still much that needs to be done.

Can our higher education system measure up to other Asian countries like China, Singapore, Malaysia, etc? What do you think are the main challenges?

Absolutely. We Indians have a passion for learning, it ingrained in our culture and heritage. We had the first world university thousands of years ago. And with ‘top of the pyramid’ systems like IIT, IIM and ISB, India already measures up to other Asian counterparts. The question is how do we expand this excellence to rest of the pyramid? Government colleges/universities will need to be more ‘competitive’ by significantly changing the teaching models and approaches. Private schools will have to ensure quality teaching along with rapid

growth. Private companies and NGOs need to increase their engagement with the education sector. Building world-class higher education systems take decades, not years. It will take time, but it is happening for us.

In what ways can an effective industryacademia collaboration build our higher education capacity? Do you think the Indian government is doing enough in this regard?

Andhra Pradesh is a great example of Public-Private Partnership in primary/ secondary education.

The government wanted to outfit 5,000 government schools with computer labs in an affordable and sustainable way. And they wanted to do it quickly so that the current students get its benefit. So they engaged with the private sector using a BOOT model (Build, Own, Operate and Transfer) and awarded the 5year turnkey project to seven public and private education services companies. These companies had to install computer labs, hire and train 10,000 computer teachers, and have labs ready in the schools in a record time of 4 months. The government had put strict performance standards for all vendors. We think Andhra Pradesh’s approach is a blueprint for other states to follow, not just in school education, but also higher education.

What are the future plans of NComputing vis-a-vis education and ICT solutions?

There has been a rapid acceptance of NComputing products across all segments, especially Education. The reason is simple – when a prospect asks the simple question that why does he need to buy 10 desktop computers when only one would be sufficient without any compromise in functionality, he makes the smart move to NComputing. To assist them, our future plans are centered on expanding, educating and training our channels partners. These partners build value added solutions using NComputing tailored to their industries. \\

NEWS

CORPORATE

IBM announces Shared University Research awards IBM has announced S h a r e d University Research (SUR) awards for three Indian institutions to promote research in areas of mutual interest.

The SUR awards, totaling US$ 210,000, will drive key projects across International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) Hyderabad, Indian School of Business Hyderabad and SP Jain Management Institute and Research (SPJMIR) Mumbai, and strive to connect the research and researchers at the universities with IBM experts in similar fields of work.

which will provide all Sri Lankan universities with the latest software that will enable them to expose their students to the best of worldclass technology.

(IC³) along with the official Microsoft Office certification programmes. The pilot project, developed by the Rotary Club of New Delhi, aims at helping students to stay in school and enable them to make both ends meet.

Students will be given training on essential aspects of computing, Internet and MS Office applications at participating schools by qualified trainers from CyberLearning.

Telefonica, Nokia tie-up for introducing m-Learning in Latin American schools

Uganda: Microsoft to train 200,000 teachers in ICT Microsoft has tiedup with Ministry of Eeucaiton to make all teachers in Uganda computer literate in five years’ time. Under this partnership, over 200,000 teachers will be equipped with computer skills in a bid to modernise and improve learning using technology in the classroom.

Telefonica and Nokia have signed a strategic agreement to bring educational content to remote schools in Latin America through the use of mobile technology. The two industry giants made a commitment to transform the delivery of education in isolated areas as a way to close the digital inclusion gap in the region and promote social development.

Disclosing this at the Uganda National Innovative Education Forum, Minister of Education Namirembe Bitamazire said the project will benefit underprivileged schools since it will now be possible for schools to share information and good teachers using advanced technology.

Certiport to help Delhi students develop IT skills A pilot project will be launched by the Certiport to enable 500 12th class students in Delhi with little or no computer experience, to develop critical digital skills through Certiport Internet and Computing Core Certification

The agreement will help expand the current scope of Telefonica Foundation’s ‘Pronino’ and ‘Educared’ social programmes focused on using information and communications technologies in the improvement of the quality of education in the region - and complement Nokia’s ongoing work to harness the power of mobile technology for social development.

The first implementation of this agreement is planned for Chile, and will be later expanded to other countries in Latin America.

Microsoft Sri Lanka empowers universities with IT tools Microsoft Sri Lanka recently unveiled a project called ‘Software for the 21st Century’

In addition, this programme will enable the students to obtain genuine versions of the software free even for their personal and home use, during their university tenure.

Faculty members can also enjoy the same benefits. As part of the extensive national programme to increase ICT awareness for all Sri Lankans, MSDNAA (MSDN Academic Alliance) will be offered to the universities as a free programme for three consecutive years.

Aptech forays into Brazil, enters into JV with Falgo group Aptech Limited, a global retail & corporate training solutions major, has announced its plans to enter the Brazilian market by partnering with a Brazilian group through a Joint Venture (JV). Ninad Karpe, CEO & MD, Aptech Limited, said, ‘The JV would primarily focus on the ICT training business through Aptech Computer Education, to begin with. Aptech Brazil will be addressing the retail market with ACCP and other related ICT courses. These programmes will be in line with Brazilian University programmes, in order to give the best benefit to students in terms of enhanced employability options upon completion of Aptech programmes.’

The JV constitutes 51% investment from Aptech, while the rest is being invested in equal parts by the Brazilian group Falgo.

Aptech’s foray in Brazil will help the company to develop, expand and focus better on the entire Latin American region. Currently Aptech has its education centres at Mexico, El Salvador & Peru. digital LEARNING

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commentary

Technology trends in Higher Education: Web 2.0 and Social Learning www.excelindia.com

Not too long ago, powerpoint was considered cutting edge technology in Higher Education (HE). Today, Web 2.0 tools are making serious in-roads into Higher Education to help create a social and collaborative learning environment.

Web 2.0 is simply a term that refers to the new era of internet use where those who were previously mere consumers of information have now become creators and contributors, thanks to easy to use tools and software.

This social dimension of the Internet, that allows users and groups to communicate across space and time, has opened up the era of ‘Social Learning’. By harnessing the “wisdom of peers” and the emerging technologies, this can greatly enhance the learning outcome.

The tools of Social Learning Web 2.0 tools take the form of: Blogs: Short for ‘Weblog’, a blog is an online journal, which has an owner (a person or oragnisation) and readers serve as contributors and commenter’s that shape the dialogue. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, web pages, and other media related to its topic.

Wikis: The best way to describe a wiki is by giving the classic example of Wikipedia, which is an online encyclopedia generated, validated and maintained by users.

Podcasts: Series of digital media files which can be both audio and/or video.

Mashups: Similar to a portal, mashup is a newer, loosely defined Web 2.0 technique for content aggregation. Examples of popular consumer mashups are Google maps and Diggs.

Social networking and communities: Popular social networks like Facebook, orkut, LinkedIn, used to build an online community 36

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of users which share interests and/or activities.

A combination of these tools are transforming learning environments to be social and personalised. While traditional Learning Management Systems (LMS) like Blackboard or Web CT are course centered and driven by faculty, the new approach is to create a ‘learner centric’ system.

Personalised learning solutions from Excelsoft With 8 years of experience in the e-learning industry, Excelsoft have developed an end to end portfolio of technology platform products called SARAS, that caters to the learning requirements of over 10 million end users worldwide.

The SARAS platform includes Learning Management Systems, Test & Assessment Management Systems and Learning/Talent management portals. Excelsoft is an early mover in the Social learning wave and has released a Learning Communities tool based on Web 2.0 technology called the SARAS Learning Spaces. This innovative product has been designed to create a personalised learner centric system and can be integrated into any learning management system.

Blended Learning in Higher Education With Web 2.0 technology, online learning is developing into highly social and collaborative environments. Coupled with the management and administrative tools available in most course management systems today online learning environments are fairly robust.

This begs the question: Can learning be done completely via an online environment?

The approach being adopted to embrace

technology is the Blended Learning model, which is a hybrid of online environments and face-to-face class room instruction.

Excelsoft has an exhaustive experience working with customers in Higher Education sector in India and abroad. Our customers include Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU), Anna University, Oxford University, Cambridge University Press, British Open University, Syrian Virtual University to name a few.

A case in point: The Syrian Virtual University, which approached Excelsoft for an eLearning platform, got the following benefits with the adoption of SARAS: • Cost-effective solution that is Easy-touse and manage.

• Scalable to handle multiple concurrent users as the size of the student & tutor community grows gradually.

• Content porting, packaging, integration with a variety of 3rd party tools.

• Remote tutoring for e-Tutoring using collaboration tools • Online tests and examinations In Conclusion, Learning technology of today is being shaped with the help of Web 2.0 tools to create a social, highly collaborative and personalised environment. Educators, management and administrators who are pro active in embracing this trend with the help of the right technology partner, are in a position to create significant competitive advantages.

This includes not just an enhanced learning paradigm but also efficient economies of scale for the educational organization to meet the growing demand. \\

Dev Ramnane Director, Sales And Account Management Excelsoft Technologies Pvt Ltd. Dev.r@excelindia.com

case study

Vivitek: Learning with vivid visual technology www.vivitekcorp.com

Technology is changing the way faculty teach and students learn. As technological advances are introduced into the academy, campuses are more and more attracted by the promise and potential of technology for enhancing access and learning. Faculty, staff, and administrators need to understand what technology can and what it cannot do.

Technology must be seen as a critical complement to the educational experience, opening more opportunities for the students.

The advances in technology has led to Globalisation and increased the power of Knowledge. Students must be aware of the knowledge that is being transmitted to their counterparts in other parts of the world.

Hence, the teaching standards have to be as good as anywhere else in the world.

Knowledge is important for increasing innovation, competitiveness and entrepreneurship. For this, the use of latest technology in our schools and colleges has become mandatory.

Vivitek offers D8 series of projectors which can enhance the learning experience of students in any classroom. The vivid color wheel technology provides outstanding vivid color suit for all applications. The rapid start and cool down functions assist in saving time and energy. The series also come with upto 3000 hours of lamp life time for extended use.

The world is quickly learning the benefits of adding multimedia capabilities to educational environments. Classroom projectors include component video inputs that allow to network the projector to DVD players, VCRs, and more. By using digital video projectors and multimedia projectors, one can view streaming videos from the Internet, play audio files, and teach in the classroom. This technology offered by Vivitek is the latest in the field of multimedia projection.

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Classroom multimedia projectors provide many significant benefits to students such as improving student attention and retention of information, improving presentation quality and ease of presenting the information.

Multimedia projectors allow teachers to provide diverse content to all students in the classroom at once, allowing students to have a visual and colourful learning experience during a given lesson.

Vivitek brings a technology solution like Videowall, which helps to present multiple types of information simultaneoulsy, so that cross references can be easily made without the need to scroll or change pages or screens

The projectors are perfect for this generation’s visually oriented youth, because they help make abstract concepts easier to

understand. Not only do projectors better keep the attention of students, it also provides an easy study guide for absentees. It enables students to take a more active part in the lesson, and teachers to take account of different learning styles, such as the kinaesthetic and the visual.

For higher education, Vivitek plans to work with the responsible oranisations within the government and also private institutions to expose the benefits, which can be derived out of employing new techniques. The educational institutions have suffered from lack of technology, largely due to expensive equipments, which are ill afforded by these institutions of higher learnings. But now Vivitek brings technology, which makes these aids affordable to them. Some of these solutions are Videowalls which help to present multiple types of information simultaneoulsy, so that cross references can be easily made without the need to scroll or change pages or screens. Similarly, other new technologies are also being introduced

by Vivitek in India.\\

PRODUCT profile

DMP2009

Reinventing Education in a Personalised Way www.dereksolutions.co.in

Imagine if you could record interesting programmes or cartoons for showing students in the classroom the next day, that too using an economical portable device!

DMP2009 from Derek Technologies Solutions Pvt Ltd promises just that. By just being connected to a Set Top box and the TV, it records programmes, that too over 120 hours.

DMP2009 is a portable HDD media player built in with personal video recorder. As small as a DVD case, it has a built in SATA Hard disk capacity of 320 GB. DMP2009 The device is useful even for recording EDUSAT programmes or any satellite based programmes in colleges for later telecast.

Moreover, it is an economical solution as it replaces the PC, TV, tuner card and the manpower needed to record programmes. It also eliminates consumables like DVD’s for saving the content.

DMP2009 has NAS functions which enable you to manage and exchange files between the media player and PC through network.

The media player can identify all the media files on the network and can run those files on to the TV. You could run movies or 40

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DEREK Technology Solutions providing technology solutions to educational institutions and helps teachers make a paradigm shift to enriched teaching and learning. DEREK range of solutions include: • Interactive Whiteboards and devices • Audio-visual equipments • Classroom Management Software • Multimedia content for classes • Campus storage and campus networks • ERP and Learning Management DICE (Digital Interactive Classroom Experience) is another offering from DEREK, which enables teachers to have highly interactive and visually enriching classroom sessions with students. It helps in developing technology infrastructure for creation and delivery of content.

programmes on TV anywhere in the canteen or hostel, provided the programmes are available on the server or any PC in the network. It has both Ethernet connectivity as well as WiFi for network access.

It is a true personal device as one could copy movies, music, and photos from PC to DMP2009 and enjoy the multimedia content with the family on TV. One can even use this device to watch movies while on the move.

DMP2009 is available at INR 12,000 + taxes with one year warranty.

A truly four-in-one product, it functions like a DVD player, TV recorder, external HDD and a NAS device. It boasts of true multi-format media decoding and encoding, supports decoding many media formats including video (RM/RMVB, H.264, MPEG-2/4, DivX, Xvid, FLV,WMV,Avi), Music(MP3, WMA) and photo(JPG,GIF,BMP). It also supports video clips from You Tube (FLV Video).\\ For enquiries, please contact Email: sales@dereksolutions.co.in

research

Yo knowledge

An Effective Recap and Revision Tool www.yoknowledge.com

Introduction of YO Questions Pro ensure easier learning through collaborative learning with help of snap card game, practice sessions and test sessions

I

n today’s classrooms, various teachinglearning methods, strategies and tools are employed by teachers to impart the content. All these help the student to hone different cognitive abilities and aid content mastery. The desired result of all teaching-learning activities and experiences is to facilitate knowledge through recall and recognition, aid comprehension, increase the ability to apply the same, improve the ability to analyse and synthesise and enhance studentperformance at the evaluation stage.

A study was conducted by YoKnowledge on Class 6 students of Jasudben M L School in Khar, Mumbai, to map the difference in

performance levels of students after using YO Questions Pro and YO Questions Lite softwares (a recap and revision tool) as a teaching-learning aid. Both the softwares were introduced in the classroom to make learning easier and more retentive through a collaborative process, practice sessions and test sessions.

The chapter ‘Antarctica’, which is part of the Geography syllabus for Class 6, was used to demonstrate the software. The students from the three sections of the class were expected to answer questions (application oriented/ direct and multiple mono word eliciting questions) based on

the entire chapter. Different strategies were used so as to involve group learning and individual learning while making optimum use of the varied features of the software, which have been designed with the purpose of aiding content-mastery through knowledgeenhancing activities. The YO Questions Pro Version was used with the following: Practice session, Test session, Snap Card game, and written assignment. Class 6-A&C were taken as a non-controlled group, while 6-B, was used as a controlled group.

The performance of students in the study revealed that the practice and test sessions had aided them dramatically in tackling digital LEARNING

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// CASE STUDY

the assignment. The non-controlled group (Classes 6-A&C) performed extremely well (over 75% of the students scored full marks), in the test after using the software. In Class 6C of 39 students, 31 attained full marks; eight scored between 16 and 19 marks; and not a single student scored less than 15 marks.

And in Class 6-A, among the 41 students, 32 attained full marks; eight scored between 16 and 19; and one between 11 and 15 marks.

In the controlled group, ie. Class 6-B, a dramatic change was witnessed in the results after the use of software, where the percentage of full marks scorers went up from zero (prior to the use) to 87%.

Before the practice and test sessions, not a single student had attained full marks; the performance varied and ranged between 5 marks and 19, which only one student had attained; and most of the students had shown average performance. While after the practice and test sessions, 34 students attained full marks; four scored between 16 and 19 marks; only one scored between 6 and 10.

It was concluded that the practice and test modules were effective teaching tools which made learning easier and more retentive.

While dealing with longer and more difficult lessons, the same modules become very necessary as recap and revision exercises.

It was also felt that repeated sessions would lead to thorough study of the course ware and complete content mastery. In fact, through an effective lesson planning, the practice and test sessions should be used as the concluding part of every lesson.

The module can even serve partly as a substitute to written homework. Occasionally, online tests could also be conducted which would make learning more effective and enriching with minimal stress for both the teacher and learner.

The performance of the students indicated that besides benefitting from the practice and test sessions that had been carried out, they had learnt from their mistakes too. This implied the benefits of repeated learning, which was enhanced by the modules. In the final analysis, it was observed that YO Questions Pro proved to be the most effective and easy-to-use software ever used in classroom teaching for collaborative learning, and as a tool for easy self-practice and self-testing.\\ 42

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5th

India's Largest ICT Event 25 - 27 August 2009

DELEGATE REGISTRATION FORM

Hyderabad International Convention Centre, India

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NEWS

ASIA Japanese Education ministry announces additional package

Bangladesh receives $81 mln from World Bank to develop higher education Bangladesh has signed a credit agreement worth US$ 81 million with the World Bank to develop higher education in the country. The credit from the International Development Association, WB’s concessionary arm, has 40 years to maturity, including a 10-year grace period and carries a service charge of 0.75%.

Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology has announced a 2 trillion yen education package, as part of the government’s additional budget, with a heavy emphasis on technology and English teaching.

Among the measures are the outfitting of every public elementary and junior high school in the country with an interactive white board, upgrades to televisions, computers and networks as part of the school information and communication technologies plan, and a 1 billion yen English program for elementary school teachers. Training teachers in charge of English for 5th and 6th year elementary school students is the other major part of the new package.

A WB release said the Higher Education Quality Enhancement Project will support both innovation and accountability within public and private universities and enhance the technical and institutional capacity of the higher education sector in Bangladesh.

MSU scholars to help reform Pakistan’s teachereducation system A team of education experts from Michigan State University will play a key role in a US$ 75 million effort to improve basic education in

MS Cloud Computing to be launched in Thailand in 2,000 schools Microsoft is planning to launch its cloud computing service in Thailand in the second half of this year.

In an initial stage, the company will begin a pilot project in collaboration with Sripratum University in which students at 2,000 schools around the country will be able to sign-on to Live ID, allowing them to experience Microsoft’s Live service on a cloud platform.

Cloud computing, in simple terms, can be seen as offering computing as a utility service, like electricity, where instead of purchasing expensive capacity and software, clients pay only for what they use by connecting with a cloud platform via the Internet.

44

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Pakistan by improving teachers’ training and skills over the next five years. MSU researchers will support the Pakistan Higher Education Commission’s initiative to create a standard curriculum for a four-year baccalaureate of education degree at Pakistan universities.

Currently, teacher education programmes in Pakistan vary widely and are often subpar, said Reitumetse Obakeng Mabokela, associate professor in MSU’s College of Education and the project’s principal investigator.

MSU will collaborate with 15 universities from Pakistan’s four provinces to improve their training and certification programs for instructors who will teach at the high-school level.

growing demand for Private education in Singapore The private education sector in Singapore has seen growing demand as more people seek additional training. The East Asia Institute of Management (EASB) is seeing a significant jump in student enrolment and has plans to roll out more degree programmes.

EASB said it has admitted 30% more students in the last six months, especially into the MBA programme. Principal of EASB, Andrew Chua, said: ‘Students and working adults who are retrenched recently are taking the opportunity to improve themselves for better paying jobs when the recovery takes place.

Students get laptops in Dadeldhura, Nepal With the aim of improving education quality and access, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in Nepal has provided laptop computers to 180 school children and teachers (grade 2 and 3) of three public schools in Dadeldhura district. The project is carried out in partnership with Open Learning Exchange Nepal (OLE Nepal) and Department of Education.

WFP Country Representative Richard Ragan said, ‘The laptop project will improve the quality of teaching and provide teachers and students with new learning opportunities and resources, in an attempt to bridge the inequalities across Nepal’s different socioeconomic populations.’

NEWS

WORLD

AMSI takes over the Lebanese School in Qatar Academia Management Solutions International, which wons and managing some of the renowned schools in the UAE and Lebanon, has taken over the highly reputed The Lebanese School in Qatar with a commitment to enrich the curriculum of the school with the latest ICT integrated system and to elevate the institution to a world class school within a short span of two years.

Established in 1975, The Lebanese School has over 1600 students studying in both English and French mediums. ‘We shall better the academic delivery, enhance the student perception of standard programmes and take full advantage of technology and advances in occupational fields to improve the school performance with total commitment to social development and welfare,’ announced CEO Adonis Nasr.

Brunei students as tech savvy as their peers elsewhere Brunei’s students are as tech savvy as their peers in other developed countries like the United States. A survey conducted by the

Department of ICT, Ministry of Education on pattern and usage of ICT among students in Brunei Darussalam revealed that students spend between 2- 3 hours on instant messaging (IM), online games and e-mails and about 2 hours on school-work using word processors, spreadsheets and information retrieval.

This was revealed by Awang Haji Abdul Rahim bin Derus, the Acting Director of the department during the official launching of Microsoft Live@Edu for Chung Hwa Middle School (CHMS), BSB. He added, ‘Towards this end, we are providing the resources and support to assist students and teachers in this digital journey that promises to transform the teaching and learning environment.

HELP set to achieve RM 100 mln revenue Driven by increasing student numbers, higher fees and a plethora of new product offerings, HELP International Corp Bhd is set to achieve about RM100 mln revenue in this fiscal year ending October 31. ‘We want to hit more than RM 100 mln in turnover and we are very confident of reaching our target, buoyed by these factors,’ President Datuk Dr Paul Chan Tuck Hoong said.

The university college operator in Malaysia is well-known for its economics, business and psychology courses. Datuk Hoong said HELP aimed to recruit up to 3,500 students this year. The market potential for international students remains huge with as many as 72,000 pursuing higher tertiary studies in Malaysia last year, a 40% increase from 2007.

ICT training for 145 schools in Uganda Teachers in 145 business, technical and vocational institutions are to be trained in the use of information and communication technologies. The training was launched by Education Minister Namirembe Bitamazire at the Nakawa Vocational Training Institute in Kampala.

An agreement for this was signed between the government and the UN Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation in January to implement the 16-month project. Dr. Jane Egau Okou, a member of the project steering

committee, said the project would also create a master pool of trainers in ICT.

Prescriptive national curriculum restricts teachers in UK Teachers are expected to adhere so strictly to the national curriculum that they do not have the freedom to respond to the needs of pupils, says Julian Chapman, president of NASUWT - the largest teachers’ union in the UK. Addressing the Union Annual Conference in Bournemouth, he said, students’ concentration span appears to have been tailored to the sound and vision bite, rather than having to undergo the more rigorous process of in-depth learning. ‘One solution ... might lie in allowing greater freedom for teachers to make professional decisions as to what and how, and even when, they teach, within much less restrictive guidelines.’

New Zealand’s reannz worth $200 million a year Investing in an advanced national research and education network will deliver at least $4 of economic benefits for every tax dollar spent by 2015, a recent study suggests.

The study, undertaken by Temple: Capital Investment Specialists, assessed the value of REANNZ (Research and Education Advanced Network New Zealand) to the New Zealand economy.

REANNZ is a crown-owned company that operates KAREN (Kiwi Advanced Research and Education Network), linking New Zealand’s tertiary institutions, research organisations, libraries, schools and museums. The government is pouring $51 million a year into REANNZ. The study suggests that economic benefits from the investment will rise steadily, reaching $200 million a year by 2015. digital LEARNING

MAY 2009

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SCHOOL TRACK

Preparing students for 21st Century www.theindianheights.org

“The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn�

- Alvin Toffler

T

his is when it becomes important for us to develop responsible global citizens and leaders by providing a worldclass international education by nurturing, developing and guiding our current and future manpower. Here, The Indian Heights School, Dwarka is trying to change the face of education in this fast moving interconnected world by making the children familiar with a range of learning styles, including their own, with appropriate use of learning resources including technology.

Brainchild of well known publishers Arya Book Depot, and founded by Bhagwati Devi Foundation, The Indian Heights is distinguished by its attitude and values towards learning, and its commitment towards providing quality education. The Indian Heights School has leveraged the best of both traditional and contemporary schools of education, aspiring to be the best progressive school in India.

The school focuses on excellence in academics and on nurturing pupils to develop their full potential so that they may face future 46

www.digitalLEARNING.in

Inviting You All to Digital Learning Authors’ Forum 5th

India's Largest ICT Event 25 - 27 August 2009 Hyderabad International Convention Centre, India

Dear Digital Learning ‘Authors’ & ‘Readers’, How many of us have taken time to explore the Digital Learning programme in its entirety and to translate what their significance is? There are various viewpoints regarding magazines and programmes like Digital Learning, in terms of what they can offer the world.

This is where the role of the ‘Authors’ comes into sharp focus. You, as valued ‘Authors’ have a role to play in turning this tide around.

Digital Learning Authors, so far, have played an invaluable role in projecting the programme’s aims and objectives of knowledge sharing. However, there is no point in attracting many authors to such platforms and then not make them feel welcome through high engaging services and a simple friendliness that simply says: Welcome!

It is good to be in touch and at a time when there is a lot happening in the world of education and development. On an occasion such as eINDIA, we thought, it is appropriate to make a launch of our magazine’s ‘Authors’ Forum’, putting the real heroes at the centre stage of knowledge activity in the programme. We hope, this is a welcome news.

The forum will recognize and felicitate the contributions of all our estemed authors till date, who have contributed in the magazine either through interviews, articles, case studies, etc. and have been our brand ambassadors in helping us create awareness and dissemination of information on ICT applications in Education in India as well as globally.

While we do not expect Authors to sing praises of the programme by launching this exclusive Forum for them- we do expect that they would go out of their way to sing the lines of knowledge sharing, education and development, that we have to share with the world.

The logistics are being put in place, for this arrangement, which will be activated with the offical launch of the Authors’ Forum at the sidelines of eINDIA2009 conference and exhibition. Digital Learning India 2009 will see a ‘Special Launch Session of Authors’ Forum’ to felicitate them in presence of prominent industry leaders, eminent educationists, policy makers and technology providers.

The idea behind it is to provide our author community with a place to discuss problems, developments and ideas, ask to questions and provide answers. We can then discuss the Digital Learning programmes, articles or just chat amongst the members of the community about anything we want.

So what we want to achieve something simple yet extremely important with this forum is to bring the Authors of our magazine together and offer them a nice place to exchange ideas.

They are already there and have been here for a while; now they can talk to each other beyond the borders of our magazine.

We at Digital Learning wish you well and hope to keep working with you in all time to come.

Dr Ravi Gupta Editor Digital Learning

// SCHOOL TRACK

Every classroom is connected to the Wi-Fi network, therefore making the campus student-friendly, with universal access to Internet and other technological support, students become aware from the outset that learning can and should be ‘Anywhere-Anytime’ challenges with confidence and enthusiasm.

The Indian Heights School is unique in its weave of inventive thinking, multiple intelligences and differentiated learning. Simmi Kher, Director, The Indian Heights School, says, “We recognise the need to prepare the children for the challenges of the world, and we are committed to nurture creativity in each child of our school. The curriculum is based on the education system that stimulates children to use their multiple faculties through broad-based activities programme.”

The Indian Heights incorporates the best practices of our heritage by combining globalisation and intimacy for education, social inclusiveness and a sustainable future for humanity, collaboration as a vehicle for change, technology as a lever of transformation and having an open system which would foster innovation through its unique features.

Tradition The curriculum ensures that the children are exposed to the rich heritage of Indian history, folklore, literature, art, and culture.

The classical languages and Yoga are therefore an integral part of the curriculum.

Above all, it is the constant endeavour of the staff to sensitise the students not only to the traditional Indian values but also universal values that epitomise our Indian culture.

Technology The advent of the new technological era has redefined the very parameters of the educational process. While recognising this basic fact The Indian Heights School has kept the teacher as the pinnacle of the learning process-but with a difference. The teacher is no longer the ‘provider’ of all knowledge. He or she is a ‘facilitator’, who uses the new technology to motivate the students to explore for themselves the world of knowledge.

Technology is extensively used as a learning tool. Every classroom is connected to the Wi-Fi network, therefore making the campus student-friendly, with universal access to Internet and other technological support, students become aware from the outset 48

www.digitalLEARNING.in

that learning can and should be ‘AnywhereAnytime’.

Laboratories are fully equipped with learning aids for the assigned subjects in addition to video screens, LCD projectors, interactive white boards and networked computer terminals. Teachers use their computers to draw in the appropriate levels of new research in lesson plans. A rich digital library, in addition to the conventional library, provides comprehensive resource material to the teacher and student to prepare their lessons. e-Learning has become part of education and is improving the quality of learning through using interactive computers, online communications, and information systems.Video conferencing is another such powerful tool. The class one students of the school have been video conferencing with their counterparts in Lenah Valley School, Australia.

Excellence The school recognises the fact that teach child must feel that soul-lifting joy that comes with the recognition ‘I did my best!’ This search for excellence is conducted in a very positive environment where every child revels in the scaling of greater heights.

Learning by doing Understanding of cultures, developing creative ways of looking at problems and guided tours to places of everyday interest arouses the child’s innate curiosity to learn and discover. This way child gets to apply knowledge which not only cements understanding but also makes him/her confident, life long learner and hands on person.

Collaboration It is the firm belief of the school that its students can grow only if the ambience, in which they live and work, is shaped by a genuine collaboration amongst all stakeholders; students, teachers, parents, management, and the local community. The

school has adopted a slum school ‘Anugrah’ in Bhartpur so students not only empathise with the needs of the lesser privileged, but also to ‘give back’ to the community in which they live.

Multiple Intelligences The children learn in myriad ways and demonstrate intelligences beyond mere language and mathematical abilities.

The school encourages the exploration, demonstration and excellence of these intelligences. The curriculum provides opportunities for children to learn, and demonstrate their learning in multiple ways.

International Understanding School to School exchange programmes all over the world and educational tours are orgainsed to various parts of the world with an aim of sensitising students to different cultures. Children from overseas study here and many international festivals, camps and activities are organised incorporating a global dimension into the curriculum.

The Director Simmi Kher,the Director is an educator par excellence both towards pedagogy as well as establishing sound school management systems.

She has teaching and administrative experience and joined the school from Springdales School, Pusa Road where she worked as coordinator Computer Resource Center. She combines her instruction, administrative and consulting experience with a deep understanding of meaningful know-how in education and pedagogy. She brings with her rich experience of Indian and Global education systems. She is a recipient of the several prestigious awards both at International and National levels, Vidyahree Award for excellence in Education, Digital Learning Power School Award, Mondialogo School Award, Environmental Award, to name a few.\\

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EVENTS

Mark your calendar

American Canadian Conference for Academic Disciplines 25 to 28 May 2009 Toronto, Ontario, Canada http://www.internationaljournal.org/torontoconference.html

National Conference on Open Source Software (NCOSS) 25 to 26 May, 2009 Mumbai, India http://ncoss.cdacmumbai.in/

eLearning Africa 2009 27 to 29 May 2009 Dakar, Senegal http://www.elearning-africa.com

European Conference for Academic Disciplines 1 to 4 June 2009 Bad Hofgastein Outside Salzburg, Austria http://www.internationaljournal.org/austriaconf.html

2009 International Conference on Computer Engineering and Applications (ICCEA 2009) 6 to 8 June 2009 Manila, Philippines http://www.iccea.org

23rd ICDE World Conference on Open Learning and Distance Education including the 2009 EADTU Annual Conference 7 to 10 June 2009 Maastricht Netherlands http://www.ou.nl/icde2009

eLearn 2009 8 to 11 June 2009 St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago http://elearn2009.com

IADIS International Conference e-Learning 2009 17 to 20 June 2009 Algarve, Portugal http://www.elearning-conf.org/

e-Learning Baltics 2009 (eLBa 2009) 18 to19 June 2009 Rostock, Germany http://www.e-learning-baltics.de

EDULEARN09 International Conference on Education and New Learning Technologies 6 to 8 July 2009 Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain http://www.iated.org/edulearn09

eduWeb Conference 20 to 22 July 2009 Chicago, IL, United States http://www.eduwebconference.com

Society for Values in Higher Education 22 to 26 July 2009 Chicago, Illinois, United States http://www.svhe.org

VIII Iberolatinamerican Conference in Informatics and Special Education 6 to 8 August 2009 San José, Costa Rica http://capacidad.es/8ciiee/

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25-27 August, Hyderabad International Convention Centre India

Fifth annual eIndia 2009, the largest event in India on Information and Communication Technologies, will be held on 25 - 27th August at Hyderabad International Convention Centre, Hyderabad, India. This three-day international conference and exhibition is a unique platform for knowledge sharing in different domains of ICT for development and facilitates multi-stakeholder partnerships and networking among governments, industry, academia and civil society organisations of various countries, including India.

The objective is to bring together ICT experts, practitioners, business leaders and stakeholders of the region onto one platform, through keynote addresses, paper presentations, thematic workshops and exhibitions. eINDIA 2009, through its four seminal conferences, will focus on four emerging application domains of ICT for Development: e-Governance, Education, Rural Development, and Health services. The four tracks of eINDIA are: • eGov India • Digital Learning India • eHealth India • Indian Telecentre Forum Call For Papers eINDIA 2009 seeks abstracts/ proposal(s) for speakers who illustrate innovation in using information and communication technologies for development, by 15 April 2009.

Abstract Submission: 15th April 2009 Notification of Acceptance of Abstract: 15th May 2009 Full Paper Submission: 30th June 2009 Submit your abstracts/proposals at papers@ eINDIA.net.in Exhibition eINDIA 2009 will also host an exhibition featuring the best in cutting edge technology across India and beyond. The list of exhibitors will be made available online and will be updated regularly in the run up to the event in August.

For more details on the event, log on to www.eINDIA.net.in

RNI No. UPENG/2008/25311

UP/GBD - 70/2009 - 20011