digital LEARNING Magazine May Issue 2016

Making India Digital with eduPERIPHERALS

ASIA’S PREMIER MONTHLY MAGAZINE ON ICT IN EDUCATION

An indepth report on the growing popularity and future growth prospects of the eduPERIPHERAL industry

digitallearning.eletsonline.com VOLUME 12 ISSUE 05 MAY-JUNE 2016 ISSN 0973-4139

eduSTARTUPS Interactions with eduSTARTUPS on how they are catalysing the domain of education with innovative ideas

Educational Resource Planning A 360-degree perspective about how the software is fast becoming an indispensable tool for educational institutions across the globe

Determining the Direction & Levels of Research & Innovation

APPROPRIATE APPLIED & ADVANCED

Making ICT Work in Higher Education Institutions

GLOBAL CASE STUDIES

Learning Outcomes of

HIGHER EDUCATION

Creating

GLOBAL KNOWLEDGE Networks for CuttingEdge Collaborative Learning

Jnana

Sangama

ING

Most d Truste ING R E E N I ENG DS BRANDIA

eGovernance in Higher Education

STRATEGIES & PARADIGMS

in a Global Economic Scenario

Expanding Higher Education beyond the Campus Conﬁnes Integrating it with the LOCAL INDUSTRIAL & ECONOMIC ECOSYSTEMS

R TU A E F

LEADER SPEAK Transitions &

Transformations in Higher Education

IN IN

2016

NETIZENS RANK TOP ENGINEERING INSTITUTIONS OF INDIA

One-on-One Dr. ANN Murthy

Vice-Chancellor, Dayanand Sagar University

Prof SR Niranjana

Vice-Chancellor, Gulbarga University

Dr. P. Shyama Raju

Founder & Chancellor, REVA University

Col (Hon) Dr. N Sundararajan Vice-Chancellor, Jain University

Dr. KN Balasubramanya Murthy Vice- Chancellor, PES University

Dr. Leena Srivastava

Vice- Chancellor, TERI University

NATIONAL CONVENTION ON HIGHER EDUCATION

SPECIAL INTERVIEW Bharat Lal Meena

Additional Chief Secretary, Department of Education, Karnataka Government On his new mission to make ICT an eﬃcient tool for Learning, Governance and Academic activities in the State of Karnataka

WES Special 11 ISSUE 04 APRIL 2016 2015 VOLUME VOLUME 12 ISSUE 05 MAY-JUNE

Startup

University Admissions Go Online Under ‘Jnana Sangama’ Initiative

24 - Satish Kumar Nampally Byndr 42 - Harshil Gala eSense Learning Pvt. Ltd

Jnana

Sangama

66 - Pawan Shinde LabIn App

NATIONAL CONVENTION ON HIGHER EDUCATION

67 - Rajesh Bakshi NetSpec Global

Interviews

Bharat Lal Meena

ACS - Education, Govt. of Karnataka

Dr ANN Murthy VC, Dayanand Sagar University

Dr KN Dr Leena Balasubramanya Srivastava Vice- Chancellor, Murthy Vice- Chancellor, PES University

TERI University

VC, Gulbarga, University

Founder Chancellor REVA University

VC, Jain University

Prof SR Niranjana

Dr P Shyama Raju

Col (Hon) Dr N Sundararajan

Managing Director - International, DeVry Education Group

CEO & Co-founder, Next Education

Chief Financial Ofﬁcer & Executive Director CL Educate

Ranil Herath

Beas Dev Ralhan

Nikhil Mahajan,

28 - Making India Digital with eduPERIPHERALS 68 - Corporate World on a High with Educational Resource Planning May - June 2016 / digitalLEARNING

Audio Visual Solutions for Enhancing Learning Effectiveness. Godrej AV Solutions brings a range of audio visual solutions for education segment.

The advancement in audio visual technologies is creating a major impact on how learning is delivered to students. Institutions are relying on innovation and cutting-edge technologies in classroom, auditorium, and interactive learning spaces to teach, train and inspire students. Godrej AV Solutions brings innovative audio visual solutions to the education segment which helps both educators and students in effective and interactive communications. We understand the challenges faced by academicians in engaging with students of modern generation and our team of certiﬁed and experienced professionals develops customized solutions using state-of-the-art AV technology. We offer audio visual products and solutions that seamlessly integrate audio, video, display, lighting equipment and system controls for all applications. Our innovative solutions for the education sector: • Digital Classroom Solutions • Distance Learning Solutions • Auditorium / Seminar Hall Solutions • Video Recording, Streaming and Archiving Solutions • Information Display (Digital Signage) Solutions • Public Address and Paging Solutions • Web Based Distance Learning Solutions Godrej & Boyce Mfg. Co Ltd. Prima Division, Plant 14P, Pirojshanagar, Vikhroli (East), Mumbai - 400079. INDIA Tel.: +91 22 6796 2665 / 2666 / 2653 Fax: +91 22 6796 1526 Email : avsolns@godrej.com Website: www.godrejavsolutions.com

Mag.AD/Size 19.8 x 27.5 cm

ASIA’S PREMIER MONTHLY MAGAZINE ON ICT IN EDUCATION Volume 12

Issue 05

May-June 2016

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Dr Ravi Gupta EDITORIAL TEAM - DELHI/NCR Senior Assistant Editor: Nirmal Anshu Ranjan Assistant Editor: Souvik Goswami, Gautam Debroy Senior Correspondent: Vishwas Dass, Arpit Gupta Correspondent: Manish Arora BANGALORE BUREAU T Radha Krishna - Associate Editor

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May - June 2016 / digitalLEARNING

Editorial Let’s Talk Education At a time when governments across the globe are making all-out efforts to strengthen the enterprise of education, especially through Skill Development in the Higher Education domain, the various state governments in India are also working to that end in a steadfast manner. In the present digital age, the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has revolutionised every sphere of our life, and so has been its impact on the domain of Education. This impact is all the more visible in states like Karnataka, where the rate of literacy is significantly higher compared to other states. In this backdrop, the Department of Higher Education, Government of Karnataka, along with Elets Technomedia, has organised “Jnana Sangama” (Convergence of Knowledge) conference, where participants will discuss the past and present trends in education and reflect on the way forward. This Special Issue of digitalLEARNING is dedicated to the event. In an interview, Bharat Lal Meena, Additional Chief Secretary - Education, Government of Karnataka, and one of the major initiators of ICT in the State, briefs about the “whats” and “whys” that culminated into the Jnana Sangam. This issue also carries views of the Vice Chancellors of some of the leading universities of Karnataka. The ongoing trend of digitisation drive in the field of education has also propped up activities in the eduPERIPHERAL segment. We have also profiled some of the most prominent players in the segment, and present here their views, in addition to the outlook of top eduPERIPHERAL stakeholders, about the growth prospects and future of this fast emerging industry. Creating a trustworthy brand name in the domain of Education has always been a difficult task, and listing those in a credible manner a herculean one. But, in line with the promise made in our last issue, we have come up with a ranking of the “Most Trusted Engineering Brands of India” based on their Social and Online presence. The purpose of this ranking exercise is to project the TOP 50 Engineering institutions of India. Besides, ERP is one software that has made the education system virtually dependent on it. All educational institutions, whether big or small, use ERP for systematic flow and escalation and easy accessibility of information. That being the reason, we bring to you a special feature on eduERP, which presents a 360-degree view of the tool, both from the user as well as the industry perspective. digitalLEARNING.in, our website has undergone a major overhaul over the last few months. Do visit the website and enrol yourself in one of the forums there to stay informed about the latest happenings and participate in lively discussions taking place there. We look forward to your sustained patronage and support in boosting the enterprise of education.

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

digitalLEARNING / May - June

Introduction

digitallearning.eletsonline.com

Jnana

Sangama NATIONAL CONVENTION ON HIGHER EDUCATION

University Admissions Go Online Karnataka is soon going to become the first state in the country to go live with Online Admission System at its universities

Come June 2016 and Karnataka will roll out an online admission system (OAS) for programmes offered by its Universities in the State, thanks to the efforts of Shri TB Jayachandra, Minister for Higher Education, Karnataka, and his visionary team. The OAS is a software module developed by the Department of Higher Education, Govt of Karnataka, with the help of the National Information Centre (NIC) under the “Jnana Sangama” initiative. This online admission initiative is expected to benefit around 10 lakh students or more by facilitating easy admission process for various courses/ programmes offered by State Government-run universities in Karnataka and to much more, indirectly. “This online admission system is part of a 100-point blueprint designed for the Department of Higher Education’s functions. Of them, 15 modules are related to administration, 22 for Universities, six for colleges, 15 for colleges and polytechnics, 12 for universities and colleges and 30 for universities, colleges and polytechnics,” says Shri Bharat Lal Meena, IAS, Additional Chief Secretary, Department of Higher Education, Government of Karnataka, who is the brain of Jnana Sangama. The Jnana Sangama programme has been prepared to facilitate ease of administration and academic reach for students in universities and its colleges. The programme aims to provide end-to-end digital solution from admission to completion of education, covering all functions of the department and its stakeholders. The action plan has mapped all the functions of key stakeholders: students, faculty and administration, and feedback mechanism for parents. Through Jnana Sangama initaitive, the Higher Education system in Karnataka – 50 universities, 2,992 undergraduate and postgraduate colleges, 305 polytechnic colleges and 207 engineering colleges – will get a major boost. According to Shri Meena, all initiatives under Jnana Sangama are interconnected. Software is freely available to all institutions - private and public. Perhaps, Karnataka is the first state in India have implemented IT reforms in Higher Education, though the University Grants Commission (UGC) had wanted all the universities in the country to implement OAS. On December 28, 2015, Prof Ved Prakash, Chairman of the University Grants Commission had issued a circular to the Vice Chancellors of various universities in India, requesting them to implement online admission system for all the programmes offered by their respective universities beginning new academic year June-July 2016. Notably, it is the Department of Higher Education, Government of Karnataka, which first prepared and placed its blueprint in November 2015 for comprehensive IT reforms in Higher Education, thus becoming a model for other states to emulate.

digitalLEARNING / May - June 2016

Special Interview

JNANA SANGAMA initiative strengthens Higher Education in Karnataka Bharat Lal Meena,

Describe the Education Department’s mandate and its objectives. Who are your key stakeholders? The mandate is to make quality education affordable and accessible to all sections of students. The department deals with Higher Education i.e., college, universities and technical education. Its objectives are: v Development of undergraduate and postgraduate education; v Increasing access to Higher Education; v Development of infrastructure in Government colleges; v Maintaining high standards of education in colleges. v The key stakeholders are students, faculty, administration, parents and people in general. What systems and processes have you used to ensure the effective running of the department’s functions? In which functions, do you use ICT and how? The history of implementation of ICT in universities/

making a mark as the Managing Director of KPTCL by initiating ICT projects in Karnataka, is now on a new mission of making ICT an efficient tool for Learning, Governance and Academic activities as the Additional Chief Secretary, Department of Education (Higher Education), Government of Karnataka. He shares with T Radhakrishna and Sudheer Goutham of Elets News Network (ENN) about the Department’s mandate, initiatives, action plans, challenges in implementing ICT and more

colleges was poor till mid 2015. Basic computing was available in each office or institution, but office automation did not exist. The day-to-day functions of Higher Education were not connected in realtime IT environment. However, the potential for using ICT in the Higher Education is enormous. ICT is very useful tool for Learning, Governance and Academic activities. Tell us about how you have maximised the use of current facilities? What were the challenges you faced in managing them? In the absence of systems and processes, monitoring is a challenge. So is data sharing. There was low priority for collating and updating data. Cyber security and information overload are some other concerns. Going forward, the Education Department is seeing a massive ICT implementation to bring in digitization in Higher Education. While office automation is one aspect of it, there are a host of other student-centric initiatives. After I had joined the department about 15 months ago (in February 2015), I studied the situation and

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focused on how and where to use ICT in Higher Education to bring in productivity, accountability and transparency in the day-to-day functions. As part of this, I travelled to all the universities and held meetings with officers concerned and later called for presentations on best practices in Higher Education. Data sharing must be linked with critical areas like approval, renewal, grants, etc. Finally, we came out with a roadmap for ICT initiatives after elaborate discussions with internal stakeholders. Explain your 100-point ICT plan for your Department’s improvement. The Department has prepared a roadmap for ICT initiatives to facilitate ease of administration and academic reach for students in universities and colleges. The programme aims to provide endto-end digital solution from admission to completion of education, covering all functions of the Department and its stakeholders. The 100-point table is nothing but an action plan for each requirement of the Department’s functions. Of them, 15 ICT initiatives and solutions are related to Administration; 22 exclusively for Universities; six exclusively for Colleges; 15 for Colleges and Polytechnics; 12 for Universities and Colleges; and 30 for

There is a need for synergy of data exchange of different portals such as AISHE, UGC, AICTE, NAAC, NBA, DISE, MCA, etc. ICT initiatives in higher education need to be encouraged. Scalable and robust ERP - type ICT solutions could be developed and made available to all states by MHRD, based on the Karnataka model

digitalLEARNING / May - June 2016

Universities, Colleges and Polytechnics. The action plan has mapped the entire functions of key stakeholders – Students, Faculty and Administration, and feedback mechanism to Parents. What is the status on ICT initiatives? What is the main aim of ‘Jnana Sangama’? We have tested ICT initiatives on a pilot basis with the support of National Informatics Centre (NIC) and adopted most of the initiatives in a holistic manner. All the initiatives are interconnected. Software is freely available to all institutions. The Department has set June 1, 2016 for completing 100 percent ICT implementation. On November 6, 2015, the department launched ‘Jnana Sangama’ (Convergence of Knowledge), an ICT enabled programme in the presence of TB Jayachandra, Minister of Law, Parliamentary Affairs and Higher Education and Vice Chancellors of Universities. It is aimed at digitization of Higher Education institutions in the State. This ICT initiative is the ‘Smart Karnataka Education Yardstick’ (Smart-KEY), designed for digitizing most of the teaching materials in public and private domain throughout the State. Through Jnana Sangama, the Higher Education system in Karnataka – 50 Universities, 2992 undergraduate and postgraduate Colleges, 305 Polytechnic Colleges, and 207 Engineering Colleges will get a major boost. Highlight Student-Centric initiatives. Major thrust will be given to make the processes of entire pre and post-exam and admission, online. The Department will introduce online application and admission process for undergraduate and postgraduate courses. Digital attendance registration, inter-university information highway and online affiliation process are on the anvil. While some of these are partially implemented this year, the Department is looking at full-scale implementation from the next academic year. The Department will make the entire admission process online, including the application process. This will be implemented across all Governmentaided and unaided institutions for undergraduate and postgraduate courses. Not every student can secure admission in top colleges. However, on this account alone, students should not miss out on

The Department of Higher Education, Government of Karnataka has prepared a roadmap for ICT initiatives to facilitate ease of administration and academic reach for students in universities and colleges. The programme aims to provide end-toend digital solution from admission to completion of education, covering all functions of the department and its stakeholders quality education. This is the principle with which e-content sharing is being implemented. To begin with, 22 top colleges have been selected to record their lectures and share teaching aids with other institutions. The department has signed MoUs with private universities for sharing e-content, including video classes. Do you have any suggestions to Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD)? There is a need for synergy of Data exchange of different portals such as AISHE, UGC, AICTE, NAAC, NBA, DISE, MCA, etc. ICT initiatives in Higher Education need to be encouraged. Scalable and robust ERP type ICT solutions could be developed and made available to all states by MHRD, based on Karnataka model. Quarterly National level workshops in different regions be held for sharing best practices and case studies be undertaken and sponsored. Financial support be extended for reforms-linked activities and annual awards and incentives to innovative initiatives in states should be taken up.n

Interview

Featuring Among Top 10 Research Universities is

THE GOAL

The Dayananda Sagar Schools and Colleges of Science, Engineering, Health Science, Arts and Commerce are pioneering institutions founded by Late Shri Dayananda Sagar in the early 1960s. A front-runner in the field of education today, Dayananda Sagar institutions (DSI) operate under the aegis of the Mahatma Gandhi Vidya Peetha Trust, in Bengaluru. “DSI’s commitment to internationalisation is demonstrated in its collaborative research and exchange programmes involving global institutions. Besides our high-calibre faculty, the students are given a challenging academic environment with well-equipped resources such as lecture theatres, laboratories, libraries and networking computers,” says

Dr. Hemachandra Sagar - Chancellor

Dr. A N N Murthy - Vice Chancellor

Dr. A N N Murthy, Vice Chancellor,

Dayanand Sagar University, in an exclusive interview with Sudheer Goutham and T Radhakrishna of Elets News Network (ENN) After five decades of active presence in education, The Management of Dayanand Sagar Institution (DSI) has established a new private university called Dayananda Sagar University (DSU) in 2015-2016 academic year. How DSU envisions its way ahead? We wish to reach top 10 research based University rank. We are confident of achieving this goal with collective support of highly accomplished faculty, state-of-the-art facilities and resources, including ultramodern labs, and experienced global academicians and experience in R&D. Which are the programs that DSU offers? Share more light on the Engineering branch? Our institutions are characterized by the quality of education across a broad range of disciplines from Pre-University Courses (PUC) to Post-Graduation and Doctoral Programs, including Engineering, Business Management, Pharmacy, Dental and Nursing. The DSU in its academic program is offering B.Tech courses in Computer Science, Electronics & Communication and Mechanical Engineering during academic year 2015-16.In addition, under Engineering we have initiated M.Tech programs with specialization in Big Data, Cloud Computing, Internet of Things, Embedded Systems and Design Engineering. Each of these M.Tech programs are driven by Industry needs with experts from Industry participating as Adjunct faculty. Automotive Electronics is one such area.

Dr. D Premachandra Sagar - Pro Chancellor

How these programs are different from others? Our programs are unique as we bring a lot of importance to these programs and value to students pursuing these courses. Apart from academics, we facilitate regular interactions between industry professional and students. We also provide onsite training opportunities for the benefit of students. Our programs and their curriculums are upgraded periodically as per the needs of the industry. Accordingly, projects are being done in the beginning of the second semester in M. Tech. After second semester and before commencement of third semester, we will have industry leaders visiting our campus to interact with students. Elec-

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tives will be decided by the students and by the company. This will mainly focus on the requirement of industry, leading to employability. We are extending this practice to undergraduates too in final year. There is an unique program at Under Graduate level B.Tech Computer Technology with emphasis on entrepreneurship helping those who want to become entrepreneur in ICT. Under the program, students will be interviewed by the panel of industry personnel to assess student interest in becoming an entrepreneur. The team will see how students want to convert their ideas into business plans. Here the focus lies on two sets - one on computer technology, another on entrepreneurship. The industry expert will mentor and help students convert their ideas into a business plan within the span of four years. By the end of the course, students have potential to become entrepreneur as well as a B. Tech graduate. In case, he is not able to start his own business, the experience that he gains through the constant interactions/exercises will help him to become a productive employee. The DSU on Hosur Road, Bangalore has been named as Innovation Campus, which is highlighted with a tagline ‘Walk in with your ideas and transform it into a product’. Give us details? This space of DSU is a startup village

Our programmes and their curricula are upgraded periodically as per the needs of the industry. Accordingly, projects are being done in the beginning of the second semester in M.Tech with focus on the requirements of the industry, leading to employability

in the campus for innovation and entrepreneurship. It has a unique working model on ‘Make in India’ by creating an ecosystem for the ICT space and other verticals, including e-commerce. This space is a ready to manufacture, start-off and go-to-market facilities. This resource is open to any individual, our students and ambitious entrepreneurs. We have set up innovation labs in collaboration with multi-national technology based industry such as AUTODESK, Bosch Rexroth, IBM, VMWare, and Bosch Etas. For example AUTODESK Center helps in Design, Analysis, Modelling. An individual can carry out his ideation through 3D model with the help of 3D-printer. Then he can demonstrate it to the owner, and display it to the company. Keeping demand for this concept in mind, we will soon open 11 labs covering different aspects of ICT. Five years from now where do you see DSU positioning itself? Dr D Hemachandra Sagar (Chancellor) and Dr D Premchandra Sagar (ProChancellor) have a big vision for Dayanand Sagar University. They wish DSU to be among Top premier Universities in the world. We will grow strength by strength to achieve the goal. As part of the expansion plan, we are setting up a new campus. In another four years, our new campus will come up on 128 acres of land on Kanakapur Road in Bengaluru. The DSU Innovation Campus will compliment the new one. I visualize that in another six years, all streams put together, the annual intake of students in DSU will be around 4000. What were the challenges you have faced? We have faced several challenges. Key challenge was convincing technology companies to join the academia like DSU and work with us. Earlier, many technology companies were of the view that faculty members and students were not exposed to latest technologies. Similarly, education institutions felt that technology companies were not interested in working closely with the academia. After continuous efforts for some time, we were able to bring a change in this perception. Today, some of the global companies have joined DSU’s initiatives, working closely with us. What are the challenges that you

digitalLEARNING / May - June 2016

The University’s Board of Studies has participation from IT Industry (40%) and Academia and Research (60%). The Board will reach a consensus on the syllabus. I am quite happy with the content that we have prepared. Now the challenge is to deliver it see in reaching the goal? We know that achieving set goal as mentioned earlier is very tough. We see several challenges in the process towards our goal. The biggest challenge we see is to have qualified faculty. To deal with it, we need to evolve faculty development program regularly. The University’s Board of Studies has participation from IT Industry (40 percent) and Academia and Research (60 percent). The Board will take a consensus on the syllabus. I am quite happy with the content that we have prepared. Now, the challenge is to deliver it. We are working on several models to deliver the content with the support of the industry and other premier academic & research institutions. How do you plan dealing with faculty recruitment? For recruitment, we prefer referrals and also direct enquiries from qualified individuals with industry experience. We are also in touch with reputed institutions such as IITs and IISc for this purpose. What are the memborable events in your journey as Vice Chancellor? Dr. D Hemachandra Sagar (Chancellor) and Dr. D Premchandra Sagar (ProChancellor) have faith in me and have given freedom, allowing me to think and take up initiatives. The network I have developed with IITs, IISc, National Labs, IIMs and Departments at State level as well as National level is helping us in executing development plans we have planned.n

Interview

Gulbarga University: Empowering Youth in

HYDERABADKARNATAKA REGION Looked upon as an oasis of knowledge, wisdom and learning, research and extension in an otherwise backward region of Hyderabad and Karnataka, Gulbarga University has emerged as a harbinger of positive social transformation and a vehicle of inclusive and sustainable growth. In an exclusive interview with T. Radhakrishna and Sudheer Goutham of Elets News Network (ENN),

Prof SR Niranjana, Vice

Chancellor of Gulbarga University, shares the history of the University, challenges faced and vision for its students of the Hyderabad-Karnataka region

Kindly explain your vision for research at the University? Firstly, we need to identify the thrust areas for research in the development of Hyderabad-Karnataka region. The main thrust areas include problems in dry land agriculture, renewable energy resources, gender sensitization, and studies in heritage-rich literature (Vachana Sahitya, Dasa Sahitya, etc), Interdisciplinary and joint research programmes among the cognate subjects for establishing the centres of potential excellence in research areas (Solar energy devices, bio-molecules from natural habitats, Ambedkar philosophy, etc) and revenue generation for research through national and international collaborations. Mention the opportunities that you foresee for the University at the global stage? We see many opportunities, like: v Extension of already existing collaborations with European Universities under Erasmus Mundus Action plan; v Initiation of joint research degree programs with partner universities; v Improving the faculty level research linkages into

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collaborative ventures with national and international funding agencies (UNESCO, Ford Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, European Commission, etc); v Attracting students from SAARC and other Asian countries and NRI’s for some unique courses in the University (Sugar Technology, Psychology, Pali studies, Biotechnology, Music, etc). What do you consider to be the main challenges facing your University? Gulbarga University is facing many challenges. Few of them are: v Severe shortage of teaching and non-teaching staff in contrast to the increase in students’ strength and number of colleges; v Majority of students enrolled are from low socio-economic and educational background, thus with low communication and competitive ability; v University jurisdiction consists of four districts viz., Bidar, Gulbarga, Raichur, and Yadagir, which have

The HyderabadKarnataka Region has a rich cultural heritage of Vachana Sahitya, Sufism, Buddhism and Dasa literature. The values and traditions inculcated by the people form a significant legacy in educational reforms. The University’s vision for the empowerment of the youth of this region will be based on the value-aided education system, alongside the emerging areas of global importance

digitalLEARNING / May - June 2016

GULBARGA UNIVERSITY: STATISTICS Year of Establishment:

September 10, 1980

Number of Colleges: affiliated to University

333

Number of programmes:

UG: 51; PG: 41

No. of Students:

UG: 70,209 PG: 3606

Student-Faculty Ratio:

1:30

MHRD Rank:

Accreditations:

Awaiting the result of NAAC 3 Cycle Assessment

remote or no access to major industrial and commercial activities and international linkages. How would you like to build on the success of your University’s legacy? The Hyderabad-Karnataka Region has a rich cultural heritage of Vachana Sahitya, Sufism, Buddhism and Dasa literature. The values and traditions inculcated by the people form a significant legacy in educational reforms. The university’s vision for the empowerment of the youth of this region will be based on the value aided education system along with emerging areas of global importance. How would you like your ViceChancellorship to be viewed in seven years’ time?

I wish to view increasing Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) of this backward area from present 16 to 25, on the back of skill-oriented education and entrepreneurship among the youths. The research and extension activities for the societal benefits with an excellent outcome of publications / patents /technical know-how and literature; Students with extraordinary achievements in the field of sports, visual arts, music and professional careers; Eco-friendly, green and energy selfsufficient university campus. How do you continue to recruit and retain the very best staff? Teaching and non-teaching staff will be recruited with objective and transparent selection process, and the best possible promotion benefits will be extended to retain the best talent.n

Interview

Dr VG Talawar Vice-Chancellor, REVA University

Dr P Shyama Raju Founder & Chancellor, REVA University

REVA University: Transforming Students into

Dr S Y Kulkarni Principal Director-Academics, REVA University

EXCELLENT CITIZENS

The Founders of REVA University believe in the motto of ‘Knowledge is Power’. Driven by philanthropic vision and a missionary zeal, the campus is built to transform students into outstanding citizens. Dr. P Shyama Raju, Founder & Chancellor, Dr. V G Talawar, Vice-Chancellor, Dr. S Y Kulkarni, Principal Director-Academics, Dr. N Ramesh, Director-Planning, REVA University, share the University’s placement programme, skill development courses and collaborations with international universities Tell us about REVA University. REVA University was established under the Government of Karnataka Act 80 of the year 2012 at Bengaluru. Presently, we offer five Engineering programmes and run programmes in Law, Architecture, Humanities, Science, Life Sciences, Biochemistry

Dr N Ramesh Director-Planning, REVA University

and Biotechnology. Right now, there are nearly 12,000 students in our university. Our campus is spread across over 47 acres with proper infrastructure facilities. Our aim is to provide quality education. What is the University’s vision? How do you want the University to be in terms of quality and standard? REVA University aspires to become an innovative University by developing excellent human resources with leadership qualities, ethical and moral values, research culture and innovative skills through higher education of global

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standards. We aim to provide student-centric learning environment through innovative pedagogy and education reforms; â?&#x2013; To encourage research and entrepreneurship through collaborations and extension activities; â?&#x2013; To promote industry-institute partnerships and share knowledge for innovation and development. Moreover, we want to focus on research. We are working on various research based projects like nano-technology and even biosciences. In what ways is REVA University different from its competitors? Though the University is at a state level but our collaborations are with most of the Universities with global repute like University of Florida, California and Alabama. We also have faculty exchange programme, students exchange programme and also collaborative research with all these Universities. Apart from this, we also do collaborative consulting for them. In order to become truly international, we have students from other countries like Nepal and Gulf. Therefore, though our jurisdiction is only

Though the University is at a state level but the collaborations are with most of the universities of global repute like University of Florida, California and Alabama. We also have faculty exchange programme, students exchange programme and collaborative research with all these universities. Apart from this, we also do collaborative consulting for them

digitalLEARNING / May - June 2016

limited to the state but if you look at our working and our collaboration it is truly international in nature. What would you say about the Campus Placements of your University? The Training & Placement Cell of REVA University is the chief facilitator for the students to obtain placements best suited to them and primarily liaisons between Industry and the Institute. Its goal is to provide world class training to students. The Cell has emerged as a favored destination for many national and international organisations who come back year after year to recruit fresh talent nurtured at the University. Therefore, our Campus Placement is very high-quality. Nearly 100 MNCs and other companies visit our University every season. This year, we have reached almost 100 percent placements with our eligible students. With India giving special importance to Skill development, what all are you doing as far as hands-ontraining and skill development are concerned? We first try to identify what are the skills required by the students to become proficient Engineers and good professionals. In a way, all these skills are incorporated through our curriculum and are delivered to the students as and when required. REVA University is known as the centre for excellence in skill development activities for the Government of India. In the premises, many students are undergoing skill development activities. Can you tell us about the faculties enhanced by Skill Development? Firstly, we enhance the mechanical skills of our students. We also have

programmes like CAD/CAM and other IT-related skills are there to enhance the working abilities. We have programmes, even for our management and commerce students. Not only this, we have several skill development courses for our Banking and Finance students. What is the teaching strength in your institution? Highly qualified, experienced faculty members and scholars from reputed national and international institutions along with industrial and business experts have contributed in preparing schemes of instruction and curricula for these meticulously designed programs. REVA University strives to strengthen its team of committed faculty members and staff who ensure that the journey of enlightenment progresses smoothly for every student. For this, we have more than 600 teaching staff. Including our non-teaching staff, we are a 1000 plus workforce. What are you doing towards upgrading the quality of the faculty, as the University has to be at par with the industry standards? We have a lot of faculty development programmes for our teaching staff as well. We are continuously working towards filling-in the gaps between the skills that are required and what we are capable of. We see to it that our faculty members are made more comfortable, more capable and more confident. Once we have groomed our faculty members, it automatically percolates to the students. How are the faculty trained by the University? We do it in two ways. One is in-house training and another, is outside. We send our members outside after identifying training places. â&#x2013;

Interview Statement of the University states that it shall strive: v To provide quality education, creating

human assets and intellectual capital

v To enhance research and develop-

ment in different disciplines

v To develop a new generation of en-

Jain University: Imparting Quality Education, Creating

HUMAN ASSETS

Jain University is an intellectual destination that draws students from more than 25 countries to Bengaluru. The University promotes sports, encourages creative talent, emphasises on education for nation-building, innovates entrepreneurship, and facilitates employment generation. “Ensuring quality higher education is one of the most important things we can do for future generations (Ron Lewis),” quotes

Col (Hon) Dr N Sundararajan, Vice

Chancellor, Jain University, while sharing the University’s best practices, in an exclusive interview with T. Radhakrishna and Sudheer Goutham of Elets News Network

Can you explain your vision for research at the University? The University chose a vision to `Foster Human Development through Excellence in Quality Education, Research and Entrepreneurial Development`. The Mission

trepreneurs who will be instrumental in fueling economic growth v To create able leaders, managers and technocrats Research and Development is an important and an integral component of the mission of Jain University. It has a research policy, which is a vital document for realising the mission of the university. The following are a few salient features of the Research policy: v Provide optimum facilities to researchers v Purchase equipment, upgrade labs and subscribe to e-journals v Create national facilities like coating lab for fire testing facility with support from Underwriters Laboratory v Initiate the establishment of instrumentation center v Implement UGC regulation 2010 for M.Phil/ Ph.D v Collaborate with research institutions of repute v Create the position of a Dean for Research to coordinate research activities. What according to you are the main challenges facing your University? Jain University was declared as a Deemed University in December 2008. The University commenced its programmes from 2009-10 academic year. Over the last six years, the University has made conscious and concerted efforts to build on its strengths and consolidate on its achievements. Jain University is a self–financing University, facing multiple challenges. The real challenge is to ensure academic excellence and to get the best students. We need to build a very good infrastructure and tackle the financial problems. Along with this, retention of good faculty is also a challenge. Being a private unaided University, the faculty and administration have faced serious roadblocks in securing support and funding from Government research funding agencies and getting consultancy projects. What opportunities are there for

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your University to operate on the global stage? The academic and other activities of the University is framed keeping in mind the core values of national development, fostering global competencies and inculcating a sound value system coupled with the promotion of use of technology. Devising to operate on the global stage has been a passion in the university. On one hand, it strengthens the investigation level, enabling to network with best people and developing strong network with reputed institutes of research excellence. On the other hand, these collaborations open multiple opportunities to work on a large scale. Currently, Jain University has 76 major collaborations with various funding agencies and institutes of excellence all over the world. They include University of California, Berkeley; Forum of Federations, Canada; International Association of Centres for Federal studies; Forum of Federation, Sudan; and Konard Adenauer Foundation; Wipro Technologies; Government of Karnataka; ICSSR, Government of India; CNN-IBN and World Value Surveys. What are the main strengths of the collegiate system? Colleges are vital and integral part of the University system. The main strength is how the University and the colleges coordinate to work together. They are inseparable and they need to work in unison. It is through the good work of the colleges that the reputation of university enhances. What all do you remember about your University when you were a student? I am an alumnus of National College, Trichy, University of Madras. During my Master’s programme, I had been influenced by the knowledge, intelligence, sincerity and dedication of my teachers. It was during this time that my interest to become an educationist who could bring about a transformation became stronger and stronger. Driven by the opportunities given to me today, I have been able to implement some of the thoughts into action. How would you like to build on the success of your University’s legacy? Jain University has confidently positioned itself as a ‘Space for Learning’ with a stamp of quality, innovation

digitalLEARNING / May - June 2016

and creativity. The University has set for itself the goal of achieving excellence in its teaching / learning, research initiatives and entrepreneurial ventures. I believe that quality and innovations are always ‘work in progress’. Every day, there is a need for creation of new milestones and raising the bar. I insist every stakeholder of the University to internalize the University’s vision and strive for excellence in every step, in every action, in every programme and in every new initiative. The focus on `quality education for all` inspires everyone in the University to be proactive, forward looking and fully energized to play their role in fulfilling the vision the University has set for itself. How would you like your ViceChancellorship to be viewed in future? Jain University has consciously ushered in innovative academic programmes and has a special focus on interdisciplinary / multidisciplinary research. I look forward to undertake even more focused cutting edge research in emerging areas of pure and applied Sciences, Engineering & Technology, Humanities and Social Sciences, which are relevant for National development. We desire to create chairs in different disciplines in the next couple of years and enhance University-Industry interface. To move ahead in the race, we need to be leaders of globally reputed groups. However, challenging it is, we have to gain international recognition, which would of course be our long term plans. Nothing succeeds like success and for me success means result orientation, quantification of quality work, conversion of dreams into reality and thoughts into action. How would you continue to recruit and retain the very best staff? The University believes in recruiting and retaining highly qualified and committed faculty. They are given facilities to conduct research and publish papers. They are also encouraged to go as resource persons to other institutions and the financial implications there on are taken care off by the University. Eminent faculty are associated with the University. For Professional development of the staff following measures are provided: v Periodic Faculty Development programmes v Motivation for upgradation of quali-

Jain University is self–financing. It is, facing multiple challenges. The real challenge is to ensure academic excellence and to get good students. We need to build a very good infrastructure and tackle the financial problems. Along with this, retention of good faculty is also a challenge for us fication

v Financial support and leave for par-

ticipation in National/ International conferences v Encouragement to take up minor and major research projects v Recognition and incentives for publications in indexed journals. What are your plans for Alumni relations? Our Alumni have been our true ambassadors of quality, excellence and professionalism. They play a very important role in building a relationship with various stakeholders and the University. Many of our Alumni are in important mid-career positions in their chosen domain of expertise. Some of our current students and alumni who have excelled in the field of Arts, Music and Cinema include Ambi Subramaniam (Classical Violinist); Tanvi Singla (Miss Asia Pacific World 2011); and many others. Some of our alumni have made a mark in the the sports arena. To name a few: Pankaj Advani (World Billiards & Snooker Champion); Robin Uthappa (Indian Cricketer); Shikha Tandon; and Rehan Pooncha (International Swimmers). The university has a healthy practice to have regular Alumni meetings. The wonderful support and the motivation will help us develop optimum networking with all the concerned stakeholders. n

Interview

PES University: Committed to Producing Highly

SKILLED HUMAN RESOURCES

PES was established in 1972 at Bengaluru, the Silicon Valley of India. The University is focused on four main educational areas: Engineering, Medicine, Management and Life Sciences. The institution offers both foundation courses in these areas, as well as specialisation with a Bachelorsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, Masters and Doctorate degrees. Years of experience in education with a unique curriculum, worldclass infrastructure, a committed responsive faculty and an unwavering commitment to quality of education has made PES successful with more than 18,000 students spread across four different campuses, three state-of-the-art campuses in Bengaluru and a Medical College with 750-bed hospital in Andhra Pradesh. In an exclusive interview with T. Radhakrishna and Sudheer Goutham of Elets News Network (ENN),

Dr KN Balasubramanya Murthy,

Vice Chancellor of PES University, talks about the unique PES University approach to shape the overall personality of its students

What is the mission and vision of PES university? PES Group was started in 1972 by the Peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Education Society (PES), the sponsoring body for the University. At present, we have close to 18,000 students and have the size of 1500 employee strength. Moreover, we have 40 plus programmes and an alumni strength of more than 30,000. The vision of PES University is to create an ethically strong and global approach for academic environment. The three important attributes to vision statement are: professional preparation, the ethical behavior of students and their global competence. We ensure that any student who graduates from our university possess

There are basically three possible avenues for students graduating with us. First is the obvious choice of many i.e Employability, second is Entrepreneurship, and third is Higher Education. Students can pursue Higher Education here, if they want

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these qualities. Our mission is very clear, we want to provide the students a sense of history, an understanding of values and ethics, the commitment to law and morality, the appreciation of human creativity and lastly an ethical enquiring mind. Our core value is excellence. What distinguished PES university from other Higher Educational institutes in the state? We are a State Private University, established under the Karnataka Act No 16 of 2013. At present, ours is one of the most sought after Higher Education institution in Karnataka. PES University emerged out of PES Institute of Technology, which was started in 1988. The objective of PES University is that we want every student to become good citizen first, only then he can become a good engineer and manager. What according to you are the problems that are being faced by Education sector of India? The PES University is aware of the problems faced by the higher education sector nowadays. The problems can be broadly classified into three categories: One, it is High Volume. There is a huge volume of graduate students who are keen about getting admission in higher education. Second, it is of low quality. We do not have enough mechanisms to handle

digitalLEARNING / May - June 2016

the increasing volumes. Three, is low employability. This is due to the development of automation fields, which affect and lower the employability rates. What all opportunities are there for a student who graduates from PES University? There are basically three possible avenues for students graduating with us. First is the obvious choice of many i.e Employability, second is that of Entrepreneurship, and third is Higher Education. Students can also go for higher education, if they want. A student has to self assess, as to what is his/her area of strength, and where will he/she fit in PES University. For this, we have also designed programmes, which shall help the students to make informed decisions. For example, we have programmes on entrepreneurship in which we conduct workshops and conferences, which in turn helps the aspirant to assess whether he can make a good entrepreneur or not. One of the most effective ways for this can be engaging the alumni in several ways, like we make them talk to the juniors, sharing their experiences about campus life and the professional life. We also try to ensure that the students always get good placements. We advise them not to take or leave a job due to salary. It is always better to make a decision on the type of work the company

The vision of PES University is to create an ethically strong and global approach for academic environment. The three important attributes to the vision statement are: professional preparation, the ethical behavior of students and their global competence. We ensure that any student who graduates from our university possess these qualities

is engaged in, so that in the long run it helps them to become good engineers. We also tell the students to get a job in the field they are interested. n

Interview

TERI University: Facilitating Creation of the Market for

SUSTAINABLE SKILLS

Can you explain your vision for research at the University? India, as well as the whole world, today are faced with several existential crises around climate, water, energy, food and several other issues. Whereas, in the past we had the luxury of time to experiment with solutions, today, we have to focus on designing and delivering on systemic solutions that maximise the probability of successful interventions. The research at the TERI University would leverage its interdisciplinary study programmes to encourage a blend of technical and socio-economic research, which would aim to create such systemic solutions. The University would also seek to strengthen its capacities on Institutional Design and Behavioral Sciences towards this end. Since sustainabili-

The roots of TERI University can be traced back to 1998, when 'TERI School of Advanced Studies' was established. The School was subsequently renamed as the TERI University in October 2006. The University was conceived to cater to the need of disseminating the vast reservoir of knowledge created by TERI, a notfor-profit, independent research institute recognised globally for its contribution to scientific and policy research in the realms of energy, environment, and sustainable development. Since its inception, the University offers not just world-class education, but also an environment that enables its students to develop fresh perspectives on their subjects of study. In an exclusive interview with T. Radhakrishna and Sudheer Goutham of Elets News Network (ENN),

Dr. Leena Srivastava,

Vice Chancellor of TERI University, shares the genesis, vision and outlook of TERI University ty pre-supposes resource efficiencies, we would also seek to integrate the application of Information Technology into our research. Kindly mention the opportunities that are included in the University for operating on the global stage? The TERI University joins only a few other academic leaders that are pioneering academic programmes on sustainability sciences.

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We already have a close collaboration with several of these leaders, either in terms of simply curriculum exchanges or including faculty/student exchanges too. We have recently initiated joint degree programmes with a couple of international universities. I hope that, over a period of time, we will be able to function seamlessly with our partners on identified initiatives through a more effective use of Information Technology. Some key partner Universities that TERI University has had the privilege of working with include: The Yale University, USA; Columbia University, USA; Freie University, Berlin, Germany; Deakin University, Australia; Queensland University of Technology, Australia; University of Technology, Sydney, Australia; Utrecht University, The Netherlands; Rheims University, France among a few others. What are the main strengths of the collegiate system? The TERI University is a Deemed University under UGC regulations. As such, it is not permitted to affiliate colleges. We are, however, permitted to establish a few campuses across the country and are progressing on the first couple of such campuses in Guwahati and Hyderabad. We expect to be able to start offering preliminary programmes from these campuses by 2018, if not earlier.

The TERI University is a Deemed University under UGC regulations. As such, it is not permitted to affiliate colleges. We are, however, permitted to establish a few campuses across the country and are progressing on the first couple of such campuses in Guwahati and Hyderabad

digitalLEARNING / May - June 2016

Once again, our focus is to ensure that there exists no distinction on access to resources and quality faculty across our campuses through specially designed ITbased enabling tools. What do you consider to be the main challenges facing your University? Our University offers interdisciplinary programmes on various sustainability themes. While sustainability concerns and awareness is increasing in leaps and bounds, this has not as yet fully translated into competitive employment opportunities for students. I have no doubt that very soon our students would be demonstrating the value they bring to any workplace through their contributions to society. We also have to actively increase our visibility and outreach, so that we may facilitate the creation of this ‘market’ for sustainability skills. How would you like to build on the success of your University's legacy? The TERI University is as yet a young University and is still growing. In the last 4 years that I have been at the University, we have added a new programme every year. Each new programme is designed to strengthen the links necessary to provide systemic solutions. Given the exposure of our students to theory and practice, we would now like to establish an incubation centre for sustainability solutions, which would also be open to students from other Universities or other desirous innovators. What, according to you, would be the real success for the University? Success to me would be in the form of our students becoming the visible drivers for the change that they would like to see in society (paraphrasing Mahatma Gandhi here). Since they would bring about this change by being embedded within organisations, I expect that they would drive this change from within, thereby making it more sustainable. Success would also be in the form of a more active demand for a larger number of our students, with the value systems that we are honing in them. Together, I hope we can create the force to drive India towards a more sustainable development pathway. Finally, success would also reflect itself from more sponsored research opportunities for the University and more industry funded Departments/Chairs in

Success to me would be in the form of our students becoming the visible drivers for the change that they would like to see in society. Since they would bring about this change by being embedded within organisations, I expect that they would drive this change from within, thereby making it more sustainable relevant subjects. How do you continue to recruit and retain the very best staff? ‘Best’ is a value term that cannot be defended. Our attempt is to attract faculty members, who align with our vision of interdisciplinary learning, who are highly committed to their students, undertake active research that would add to both society and academic curriculum, and who themselves are engaged in a continuous learning process. Once we create this culture in the University, and I believe we are getting here, a process of natural self-selection happens which we can aid by designing the right incentive structures. We are still on the learning curve on this subject. What are your plans for Alumni relations? We have a registered Alumni Association, which has elected office bearers in place. While this association organises annual event and also encourages Alumni to share their experiences with current students, the University is also trying to see how it can provide continued support to its alumnis. Targeted news services, free participation in events, access to learning resources, etc. are some of the avenues that we are exploring.n

Startup education sector? In developing countries like India and Indonesia, where there are not only a lot of Smartphone users, but they usually have to deal with bandwidth issues, due to network etc. Under such circumstances, we thought of creating a technological platform, which can perform in this kind of environment for the education sector. Byndr can connect the two most important parties in the education systemthe teachers and students on one platform through technology. Therefore, we are a cloud-based, Learning Management System (LMS). Left to Right: Satish Nampally - Head - India Sales & Operations, India; Marc Garabedian - VPUser Experience, US; Praveen Vangeepuram - CTO, US; Joesph Freed - CEO, US; Prashanthi Vangeepuram - VP-University Relations, India

Byndr’s Mission

ULTIMATE ACCESSIBILITY IN EDUCATION

Education has surely become the foremost frontiers for social entrepreneurship and innovation in the digitally developing world of today. Byndr with its roots, both in the U.S. and India, has a global mission to provide students the ultimate accessibility in educational resources. Satish Kumar Nampally, Co-Founder, Byndr speaks to T. Radhakrishna and Sudheer Goutham of Elets News Network (ENN) about the brand’s aim to provide easy-to-use, fast and mobile-first products for all stakeholders in Higher Education What motivated you to launch Byndr, an Educational Technological company? Byndr is a US based startup company, with its Corporate Office at Philadelphia and its subsidiary in India. Majorly, there are 5 Co-Founders of this company. Three of them are in the US and two (including me) are here in India. One of the Founders, being in the teaching profession, is working in a business school. We realized the need for this platform, when she told us that she

needed to connect with her students after the 60 minutes of physical class. From there we saw an opportunity and all of us collaborated to bring this out. At first, we made the beta version, then we went to University of Pennsylvania, to participate in their yearly event on education Start-ups. For our venture biz idea, we received an award of cash prize worth $20,000. This is how Byndr came into existence. How does Byndr help in the

What makes Byndr unique from other companies in the segment? There are many software companies, which are providing solutions for educational institutions. However, through research we found that out of these, not many cater specifically to academics. They either cater to the content, or the administration of the college or the transportation and library management. They basically are ERP based solutions. Moreover, the companies which are into academics also, are dealing only into content based solutions. In content based solutions, the teacher gets the readymade content. It binds the teacher to teach with the content, which she does not own or she has not made. On the other hand, our product makes the teacher manage her own content and teach in her own way. In what ways are you trying to empower the teacher? Our product empowers both the teacher and education institution. By now, I have visited more than 250 colleges with our software. I have found that, it is the teachers who make the content. They deliver lectures in whichever way they want to. We are not saying that we will provide the content and so there is no need of the teacher, that’s not what we want to do. Where do you see the company in the next five years? In the next five years, we want to expand to other emerging markets like Indonesia, Brazil etc. We want to create a platform which both, students and teachers can fall in love with. Creating such a platform is a very fulfilling idea. Our main aim is that if a college wants to adopt an innovative technology, they should not think beyond Byndr. n

May - June 2016 / digitalLEARNING

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Global Education What has been the focus of your India visits? The focus of our visit has been to interact first hand with prospective students interested in studying in the U.S. It is always good for the management to hear first-hand versions of their aspirations, what they are looking for and to find out if we are providing that support and not just rely on secondary or external resources. Additionally, visits also allow us to meet and engage with stakeholders in the market including various partners and organizations, and learn more about the trends in the market. These are not just for the industry, but for students as well as their parents also. There is a lot to observe on every visit and many best practices to learn from. We also love to visit India for the South Indian breakfast followed by North Indian dinners.

Now, Earn US-accredited Degrees Via ‘DeVry’

ONLINE LEARNING PLATFORM Ranil Herath,

Managing Director - International, DeVry Education Group talks about his recent visit to India and future plans in an interview with Elets News Network (ENN)

What’s the DeVry Education Model? DeVry University does not have any such collaboration programs, but we do offer direct online programs. Students have the facility to study online during the entire program duration, and earn a U.S. accredited MBA by DeVry’s Keller Graduate School of Management, for example. We offer this for all courses with DeVry undergraduate programs and Keller Graduate Programs. Students also have the opportunity to finish a portion of their studies abroad on campus in the U.S. without losing any credits they have obtained so far in their online program. For example, in MBA, students could potentially study for one year locally in India, and come to a Keller U.S. campus for their second year. Lastly, we offer a special program for international (including Indian) students who are high academic performers and wish to study in their home office. Based

TEACH @ DeVry v

Teamwork

Energy

Accountability

Community

Heart

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on certain academic and english proficiency requirements, some students may qualify for the American Pathways for International Scholars (APIS). Those who qualify for the APIS program are eligible for up to a 70 percent reduction in online tuition costs while studying in their home country. Should they choose to complete their studies at our campus in the U.S., their credits remain 100 percent transferrable, but the APIS discounted tuition rate will no longer apply. What steps are you taking to promote the participation of Indian students in DeVry University? DeVry University and its Keller Graduate School of Management offer international students the opportunity to gain valuable work experience before graduation, through the U.S. Career Experience Program launched in 2014. These international student applicants of DeVry University or its Keller Graduate School of Management are selected with the opportunity to gain valuable on-campus work experience through a paid, part-time job while attending one of DeVry’s campuses. Since 2014, we have had 12 Indian students participate as International Specialists who are engaged in real life, paid part time work experience during their enrolment. We have 40 positions available on a rolling basis every year. At present, we have 5 Indian students who are active in this program. In addition to this, in order to make Indian students aware of our university, it is always great to meet students face to face and interact with them. We meet them at various forums like at their institutions, education fairs and at our partner’s offices. What all it takes to realize the vision of “To be the world’s most extraordinary learning organisation”?

Those who qualify for the APIS programme are eligible for up to 70% reduction in online tuition costs while studying in their home country

digitalLEARNING / May - June 2016

THE DeVry MARKET LEARNING v

Hear first-hand versions of student aspirations

Find out first hand whether that support is being provided

Do not rely on secondary or external resources

The purpose of DeVry Education Group is to empower its students to achieve their educational and career goals. Our vision is to be the world’s most extraordinary learning organization, where students and colleagues thrive, and to achieve this vision we follow a certain set of values we call TEACH. TEACH stands for teamwork, energy, accountability, community and heart. What methodology do you follow to make your students future-ready as well as industry-ready? Our professors at DeVry bring real-world work experience into their classrooms so students get the knowledge to be career-ready. This program can provide international students of DeVry University or its Keller Graduate School of Management who apply and are selected with the opportunity to gain valuable on-campus work experience through a paid, part-time job while attending one of DeVry’s campuses. In addition, DeVry University students have the support of dedicated staff to help them achieve academic and career success and help with student finance. Our courses are offered in eight-week academic sessions, giving students the flexibility to design a schedule that accommodates a schedule that works for them (students can take a one

session break, assuming they maintain the minimum course requirements for visa status). What constitutes the core of higher education system of the United States? Students should be very careful and do a good amount of research before selecting a particular university for higher studies. They should be very sure of the course they want to pursue, the country they would like to pursue it in as well as the university they select. U.S. is a very attractive destination for higher studies and universities here offer a range of programs at both the undergraduate and graduate level. The country also offers internationally accepted qualification and the huge diversity of subjects offered is unparalleled. Programmes range from Management, Engineering and Technology, Humanities, Media technology, Journalism to Fashion. USA is at the forefront of Science and Technology research and offers opportunity to be taught by leading researchers. In addition to this, students pursuing their higher studies in the U.S. have the option of working while studying and not just after the completion of their course. This provides the students a hands-on experience of the real world without compromising on their education.n

eduTECH

Making of a Digital India with

eduPERIPHERALS

Confused with the term ‘eduPERIPHERALS’? Maybe, we haven’t heard it or used it anywhere; but as they say, there is always the first time for everything! digitalLEARNING is known for bringing out new things, so let us coin-in a new phrase now! Abha Garyali from Elets News Networks (ENN) brings out the the growing popularity and future growth prospects of the eduPERIPHERAL industry, straight from (as they say) the ‘horse’s mouth’

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duPERIPHERALS, as the term suggests stands for the PERIPHERALS which have proven their worth in the education system. As PERIPHERALS include a wide array of auxiliary devices, connected to the Personal Computer in any way so it’s more logical not to include them by large. In the article, we would be emphasising on largely the PERIPHERALS used in the modern Learning- Teaching process, ie- Personal Computers, Laptops, Smart Phones, Tablets, Interactive Screens and Interactive Pens.

eduPERIPHERALS as Marketing Differentiators

It has been a decade of using personal computers in schools, but there is a large difference now. As compared to earlier, where PCs were just used in computer classes, now everything from A to Z is being done on computers. It’s not just PCs but also laptops as well as mobile phones and tablets, which are making a huge difference. According to a recent study, Indian users, spend more than 4 hours every day, on an average, with their smartphones. Therefore, it is high time that the same mobile phones are used to revolutionise the Indian education sector! Moreover, any nation’s progress depends on the system of education adopted by it to prepare the next generation. With the proliferation of peripherals in all walks of life, it was need of the hour for the education system in India to remodel and upgrade its delivery system. Nothing but mobile phones, tablets, laptops etc can help in the quick conceptualisation of smart education systems. This can be mainly attributed to the fact that India is now the second largest smartphone market in terms of active unique smartphone users, with the total base crossing 220 million users, according to a new report from Counterpoint Research. The research firm’s data showed that in India LTE shipments reached 32 Million units in 2015, while smartphone shipments crossed 100 million for all of 2015. The last quarter saw smartphone shipments in India grow at 15 per cent annually. Talking about tablets, making waves in the education system, in a recent news, in Hyderabad, many pre-school chains have made it compulsory for parents to buy tablets for their kids who are in play school or studying in classes till UKG. This shows the dependency that teaching can have on tablets. According to market reports, India saw sales of about 475,000 units of media tablets in the last calendar year. As stated in a report from research firm ‘Frost & Sullivan’, the tablet PC user base in India has increased from 60,000 units in 2010 to 300,000 in 2011. The report further says that overall tabletPC user base is likely to grow at a CAGR of 107 per cent to reach 23.38 million by 2017.

Salient Features vis-á-vis Educational Usage

eduPERIPHERALS need to have few basic features to prove their worthfulness, especially in the education system. Some of these are mentioned below: Pricing range: Being for specially the students, the price of the PERIPHERALS is most important. Small kids as well as higher education students cannot afford very expensive smartphones, laptops, tablets etc. Therefore, good brands are launching reasonably priced products. Financing Schemes: Financing options should be available to students so that buying becomes convenient for them. Robustness: Being for students, these PERIPHERALS

digitalLEARNING / May - June 2016

It is need of the hour for the education system in India to remodel and upgrade its delivery system, because India is now the second largest smartphone market in terms of active unique smartphone users, with the total base crossing 220 million users, according to a new report from Counterpoint Research

eduTECH need to be essentially robust in their handling. Water-resistant, drop-resistant, shock-proof gadgets are being manufactured. Key Features: Any eduPERIPHERAL should include key features like good battery life, storage drive, easy keypad, network connectivity etc. After-Sales support: PERIPHERALS like mobile phones, tablets etc need to have support throughout from the manufacturer so that consumers (students) do not have a tough time.

Government Policies to Boost eduPERIPHERALS

With the present government totally involved in transformational programmes like Digital India, Make in India, Skill India, Startup India, Standup India and smart cities for changing the face of the nation, many initiatives have been taken for making India ‘Digital’. One of the most prominent among them is the setting up of the ‘National Program on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL)’ by the ministry of human resources development. The aim of NPTEL was to develop curriculumbased video lectures and web courses to enhance the quality of engineering education in India. In another scheme in UP, under the Akhilesh Yadav Government, laptops were freely distributed among students for developing the laptop culture. Moreover, initiatives by Educational as well as Corporate are also being made for digitizing India. Pearson Education, HCL Infosystems and Aakash Educational Services Limited (AESL) are some of the few companies who have specially launched their tablets for educational purposes. While talking about corporates boosting eduPERIPHERALS, name of Microsoft India can not be left out. Microsoft, since 25 years, has been running several initiatives in India and partnering with students, educators, school leaders as well as with governments and communities to transform education through effective technology, pedagogical innovation and best practices. Microsoft has collaborated with third-party Original Equipment Manufacturers

According to market reports, India saw sales of about 475,000 units of media tablets in the last calendar year. As stated in a report from research firm Frost & Sullivan, the overall tablet PC user base is likely to grow at a CAGR of 107 per cent to reach 23.38 million by 2017 (OEMs) to offer highly subsidized Windows tablets and PCs running free software to help state governments across India in providing students with a window into a new world. Windows software is free for OEMs manufacturing devices that are under 9 inches in size. Microsoft has also partnered with the Government of Meghalaya to create digital classrooms, and contribute to their vision of expanding digital literacy.

Trend of Refurbished eduPERIPHERALS

Everything starts and ends with only one thing- COST factor! Especially in the education scenario, being cost effective makes the product popular initially. However, getting great quality at a reasonable price is somewhat dicey and many students make their parents spend a lot on buying expensive gadgets. Keeping this in view there is growing demand for refurbished eduPERIPHERALS. These professionally restored devices ensure that you always get top-notch performance along with availing brand warranty on them. Now, due to increasing popularity many big brands along with specially created websites take pride in giving easy access to a long list of quality assured refurbished phones and tablets at the most reasonable prices. n

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What Industry Stalwarts Say on

eduPERIPHERALS Hewlett-Packard (HP) Hewlett- Packard, popularly known as HP, a name to reckon with in the electronic industry, does not require an introduction. HP is a name synonym to PCs, laptops, tablets etc. So if we are discussing about the eduPERIPHERALS then no one can forget this brand

MANIKANDAN R

Director – Mobility Education & Healthcare, HP

Key drivers: w With the introduction of technology, students have started taking more interest in the curriculum w Technology in education has helped improving the quality of education in India w Face of education is shifted partly from books to ebooks w Everything from books and study material to the method of teaching, is tending to go virtual w Technology is also altering the way the education is provided, making it faster and easier to grab w Need of the hour is to make sure that technology is available to every corner of the country w 21st century skills require Innovation, Collaboration & Critical thinking, for Indian students to become more employable universally. Evaluation Procedure: w HP believes in the value of the Hybrid Learning model, combining the best of digital printing with electronic content, to optimize learning outcomes w At HP gadgets are not just sold and handed out, but also are provided with the support and training necessary to turn a device into an instrument of change w The education edition tablets are ruggedized to meet IP52 certifications to prevent damage from accidental drops and liquid spills and are preloaded with HP School pack. Case Study: HP has applied its experience deploying education technology, serving millions of students around the world to meet the challenges of 21st century education. Digital solutions maximize learning outcomes, focusing on planning, leadership, and total access to content for always-on, always-connected teaching and learning. HP’s Education solution suite aims to enable such comprehensive learning. For example, the students can carry out various experiments by interfacing appropriate ‘probewares’ with HP Tablets. HP has gone a step further to offer Education Edition tablets that are built for schools & designed for learning.

digitalLEARNING / May - June 2016

eduTECH iBall iBall, a famous brand in consumer electronics, started off with just one product category - the mouse, but is now present in over 27 product categories, which includes Mobile Phones, Tablet PCs and many others . With vast experience in the Information Technology and Digital lifestyle products, it was a natural progression for iBall to enter into the arena of mobile phones and Tablet PCs

NILESH BHASKAR RANE Sr. Sales Manager Head, Tablet PCs, iBall

Key drivers: w Audio-visual learnings giving more impact than normal text-book learning w Initiative of government to try to minimize burden of school bags by starting digital project. Evaluation procedure: w Value for money w Device to be loaded with latest technology w Easy to learn applications w Prominent service support. Case study: iBall is considered the pioneers in providing tablets to a school in Taluka-Vita, Dist- Sangli where the school received an edge of being first digital school in Maharashtra.

wwwwwwww Wishtel Pvt Ltd

MILIND SHAH

CEO, Wishtel Pvt. Ltd

Wishtel, a leading manufacturer of Tablet PCs, Netbooks and Mobility solutions, has recently been featured amongst the TOP 10 tablet brands of the nation by The Economics Times. Wishtel, possessing in-depth expertise and vast experience, has succeeded in building an ecosystem of highly integrated hardware and software for tablets PCs and multimedia boxes

Key drivers: w Shift to a learner-centered model in which class time explores topics in greater depth and creates meaningful learning opportunities w Online videos used to deliver content outside of the classroom w In flipped classroom, video lessons prepared by the teacher or third parties are used to deliver content on mobile devices w Mobile devices also leverage on online collaborative discussions, digital research, and text readings. Evaluation procedure: w Foremost is the Operating System which is a big influencer w Availability of all â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;appsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; in the device w On-site service for devices w Future proof providing for at least 3 years in terms of configuration. Case study: In a recent happening, at a particular school in the eastern suburbs in Mumbai. through the involvement of alumni community, Wishtel has successfully deployed a smart class solution, coupled with a flipped classroom approach.

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Notion Ink Design Labs

ROHAN SHRAVAN Founder, Notion Ink

Notion Ink has made a reputation in the laptop market for its beautifully crafted Cains and Propens. Cain has been designed keeping in mind that it would be used primarily for productivity, while replacing a user’s existing laptop and tablet

Key drivers: w Inaccessibility of proprietary content, which was just developed by coaching classes w Spread of content generators for democratizing great content w Cheap Android tablets acting like catalyst from 2013 to 2015, but this momentum was stalled due to their unreliability w Momentum shifted towards iPads and Windows-based 2in1s since 2015 as these products are real value for money w HTML5 has also made content platform agnostic so moving from one platform to another is very easy. Evaluation procedure: w Three parties are involved-Hardware, Software and Warranty Services w Hardware available at all price points but buyers must keep in mind that cheaper hardware is cheap because the lifespan is less w The best model of selecting the ideal software is to do research on other institutions regarding which platform have they picked and what problems are they facing w Large dependency on Cloud, so investing on an outsourced cloud is the best option, one can move from one platform to another giving one freedom on cost and infinite scalability w Picking the Software platform on monthly models, so there must always be some pressure on the partner to keep improving their services w Warranty ‘n’ Services being a very crucial part- It is much better to buy a `15000 tablet with three years additional warranty at 5000 (total becomes 20000), instead of a `6000 tablet which will stop working after six months. Case study: Experience comes after working with a large number of educational institutions. Notion Ink has avoided going into the price ways by bringing in cheaper hardware which doesn’t last. The focus is also on Windows as this is the best platform for educational institutions. Google doesn’t use Android as Android is not built for anything else than for a phone. Institutions need mathematical programming, developmental, testing, and various other tools with flawless integration with all their accessories. Moreover 2in1 packs in all the features of tablets and laptops. Notion Ink devices make writing, tagging, multi-touch interactions and keyboard input possible at every instant.

digitalLEARNING / May - June 2016

eduTECH

Hitachi India Hitachi India Pvt. Ltd is a well-known name in marketing and selling a wide range of products ranging from Power and Industrial Systems, Industrial Components & Equipment. Its product range also includes the sale of Projectors and Interactive White Boards

TARUN JAIN

Country Head-India, Hitachi Home Electronics Asia(S) Pvt. Ltd

Key drivers: w Technology making life easier for both students and educators w Shift from typical Indian classroom characterized by an hour-long teacher monologues w Present day, digital teaching solutions for students well-versed with the likes of PlayStations and iPads w Classroom environment becoming more inclusive and participatory w Comprehension of the students increasing with use of devices like Hitachi Interactive projectors Evaluation Procedure: w Technology to support current and future requirements of Hardware and Software w Product versatility with the interface systems for todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s equipments and future demands w Ease of use w Commercials and supplierâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s capability for supply and service the equipments. Case study: Hitachi has a proven track record with the education institutions in India. Hitachi Interactive projectors are installed at major educational institutions. For users, it is a seamless technology experience in the classroom. Hitachi Ultra short throw interactive Projectors have been very successful. It combines an array of advanced features in a compact, portable design perfectly suited for classrooms of any size. Small in size, but big on performance, the projector provides vibrant image quality, cost-effective operation, and long-lasting reliability.

wwwwwwww Scientech Technologies Pvt Ltd

CHAITANYA SISODIYA Export Manager- Scientech Technologies Pvt. Ltd

Scientech Technologies, with more than 550 diverse products has a strong presence in education domain as well. Catering to a variety of academic disciplines and offering wide range of products, avant-garde educational and interactive classroom solutions such as Interactive White Boards, Scientech has become a leading technological solution provider with a global footprint

Key drivers for eduPERIPHERALS: w Novel technologies to boost the learning environment w Eagerness of children to become most competitive in order to align themselves with the need of time. Evaluation procedure for eduPERIPHERALS: w Necessity of a particular device w Scope of usage w Benefits in terms of revenue as well as study point of view.

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Cybernetyx Interaktiv RAMYA CHATTARJEE

Director, Sales & Marketing, Cybernetyx

Cybernetyx is a privately held, fast growing multinational technology corporation which develops and markets one of the most advanced multi-touch interactive products in the world.

Key drivers: w eduPERIPHERALS act as an impetus to integrate technology standards for real life w Kids are more exposed to the digital devices and learn and play with these devices w Using eduPERIPHERALS in the classrooms satisfies the growing standard of technology w Make students think beyond their books and explore the learning skills w Introduction of gadgets in schools, colleges, and universities helps students to learn from the gadgets and grow their learning skills w Not only useful for students but also helpful for teaching staff. Evaluation procedure: w Return on Investment of the eduPERIPHERAL w Feature strength and user-friendliness of the software w Cost of maintenance, robustness of the product w Service support infrastructure w Resource availability & training Case study: Cybernetyx has made tremendous advancement in educational institutions. There is not one but many examples where Cybernetyx products have made learning more impactful. However, to site some examples: w Advancement through deploying Cybernetyx Interactive Products at Seth MR Jaipuria Group of Schools w Making learning experience impactful with EyeRIS Interactive System from Cybernetyx in Delhi Public School at Haridwar.

digitalLEARNING / May - June 2016

eduTECH

BenQ India BenQ is a multi-national company that sells and markets technology products, consumer electronics, computing and communications devices under the “BenQ” brand name. BenQ stands for the company slogan Bringing Enjoyment N Quality to life. Its featuresdproducts include TFT LCD monitors, digital projectors, and mobile computing devices.

RAJEEV SINGH Managing Director BenQ India

Key driversS: w Education shifting the emphasis from a teacher-centred to a learner-centred environment w Classrooms being active learning centers that encourage lively discussion and engage teamwork w Students collaborate with one another using a variety of gadgets, from smartphones to tablets and laptops w Bringing a truly interactive learning experience into classrooms via interactive display design. w Hardware and software play equally important roles that drives the development of Interactive projectors and Interactive Flat panels w Building the ultimate learning platform, not only simple and easy to use, but also incorporates and integrates more valuable educational resources w R&D resources play an important role to display innovation for the classroom, facilitating effective instruction and student engagement Evaluation Procedure: w Educational institutes keeping a strong tab on throw ratio of the product w Long throw products are not greatly useful as they glow in the eye of teachers w Projector with lamp life of 10000 or 7000 lamp hours should be chosen w For brightness the schools must ensure that the projectors are 3200 Lumens and above for clarity w Brand, its service reputation and warranty need to be kept strongly in mind w In built proprietary softwares that decrease the total cost of induction of IFP’s w Extremely easy to be used by teachers w No need to put in extra money to buy add on softwares Case Study: Chennai Public School(CPS), a loyal BenQ customer since 4 years, wanted an interactive solution which eliminates the need of Smart boards. BenQ suggested Interactive Short Throw Projector with Point write module featuring multi-pens collaboration allowing up to 4 students to contribute at once. These required hassle free installation along with minimum training for teachers for using them.

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Wacom India Pvt Ltd Wacom Co. Ltd is present in India since last 15 years through its partners, and for last 5 years as a subsidiary with Wacom India Pvt Ltd. It is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of interactive pen tablets and displays as well as of digital styli and solutions.

MANU NANDA

President & Managing Director, Wacom India

Key drivers: w Competition to be among the best in country w Innovative digital products emerging to improve efficiency of both, teachers and students w With both the stakeholders – the teachers and students, getting digital savvy, such hardware initiatives are welcomed. Evaluation Procedure: w Earlier decent spec and lowest price is what every institution wanted w However, with technology getting outdated fast, Institutes want the newest technology and are ready to pay a slight premium for it w Keeping in mind the stature of the brand, history of the brand, its presence, service set-up and out of warranty charges w Evaluate the product to its core and then arrive at the buying decision. Case Study: Wacom has been at the forefront of eduPERIPHERALS from the very beginning as the Indian customers soon realized the benefits of using a digital pen tablet and display in education. The top Indian institutes like IITs, IIMs, IIIT, IIFT, NITs, BITs, Modi Institute, NIFT, NID, MIT, DSK, etc have been using the Wacom products for many years now. The Bamboo Spark, Wacom’s newest product is a smart folio that can be used by both teachers and students alike.

digitalLEARNING / May - June 2016

Interview

After 7,000 Schools and 700,000 Students

WHAT’S NEXT AT NEXT EDUCATION? Beas Dev Ralhan, CEO &

Co-founder has the answer

gamification, and a comprehensive mentor manual. We realise that continuous innovation and becoming a ‘one stop solution’ for anything education is the way forward, and we are out to achieve that. Having partnered with 7000 schools and 7 million students, what is your ‘Next’ step now? We were among the first few who started out as an education solutions provider in India. After creating a self-learning module called LearnNext, we realised there was a need to improve and enhance the style of teaching in Indian classrooms. It wasn’t easy for us to create content at a global level which not only adhered to the Indian education system but also made learning more efficient and fun-filled. It hasn’t been a simple task to establish our presence in more than 7000 schools and among approximately 7 million students in last 8 years. Continuous learning and understanding of the industry have enabled us to shape the trends and have led us to become thought leaders. Next Education’s dedicated R&D team has relentlessly worked to keep improving our products and the user experience based on the feedback received. At the same time, they have also led us to branch out into various new product lines like NextBooks, NextLabs and Next ERP. Products like NextLabs provide a more comprehensive understanding of hands-on learning experience, whereas NextERP is an integrated school management system which streamlines all processes, departments and functions of a school. NextBooks is a complete curriculum solution that combines the best of books, digital content, hands-on activities and

Next Education Pvt Ltd has recently launched a new initiative “Workshop for Principals” with a view to develop leaders. What was the basic drive behind this workshop? “Next Academy” workshops for the principal fraternity is a pioneering initiative by Next Education. The aim of this interaction is to engage with school principals, update them about changing technologies, understand their views on current trends, evaluate changing mindsets of classroom teaching and learning, understand the expectations of parents and students and also recognise the life skills that need to be imbibed into students today. At the same time, principals learn from the best teachers out there – each other. Our workshops emphasise more on making schools future-ready, and so we are extremely meticulous in selecting the points of discussion. This year we plan to conduct 50 principal workshops across India with fresh themes that are in sync with contemporary challenges. We believe that creating thought leaders will impact the entire education ecosystem.

TYPES OF LEARNERS v

The visual learner who sees and learns

The auditory learner who learns by listening

The kinesthetic learner who learns by movements

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Product Line LearnNext v NextBooks v NextLabs v NextERP v TeachNext v

What is your new initiative “Robotics” all about? How powerful are Robotics as a tool for education? Next Education’s initiative NextRobotics aims to promote robotics as a tool for application of concept-based learning in a classroom environment using STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). Robotics is fast emerging as one of the most powerful tools in education. The idea is to rediscover and redesign learning by engaging students with a ‘query’-based approach and to be creative in solving open-ended robotic challenges. Observing the current scenario of a classroom, we can say robotics is also used as a formative assessment tool in line with CCE recommendations. What sets NextRobotics apart is that we provide the students everything that they require. From hardware components to build robots to the various softwares required for programming, an easy-to-use kit which can help students to focus all their energies into simply being creative and developing a practical approach. The kit contains many different kinds of sensors that a robot can use to react to its environment and take decisions. Here, students learn many senses like touch, sound and light that can be replicated in a robot. Further, our robot programming software, THINK, offers a graphical drag-and-drop coding interface to novice programmers. This provides selfexplanatory programming blocks that enable them to write powerful pieces of code with ease without getting bogged down by complex syntax and constructs of a textual programming language. Real-life problems often do not have a unique solution, but robotics offers students the flexibility to be imagina-

tive and approach the same problems in their own unique way. These days there is a lot of stress on skill development. What are your views and how is Next Education working towards this? Skill development is one of the most important agendas for both the government and the private sectors in India. The skill development initiative has become of prime focus to generate employment and entrepreneurial skills in India. Thus, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched many schemes like National Skill Development Mission, National Policy for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship 2015, Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) Scheme and the Skill Loan Scheme. From its inception, Next Education was determined to adopt a hands-on style of learning. In order to make the learning process easier, we have created content in such a way that it requires a practical approach rather than just theoretical knowledge. How popular are your recently launched products and services like TeachNext, LearnNext, NextBooks, NextERP etc. among students and teachers? Are these products more Student-centric or Teacher-centric? Each of our products TeachNext, LearnNext, NextBooks, NextERP and even Labs provide a distinct solution to a relevant problem that a school might be facing. The good thing is that all our products have been received quite well by schools. However, TeachNext enjoys maximum penetration at the moment. The underlying idea has always been to make the processes of learning and teaching more enjoyable and fun-filled while imparting the required knowledge. For example, when we learnt how the heart worked, all we had before us was a one-dimensional picture of the heart in a black and white textbook with arrows that depicted points from where blood flowed in and out. That was probably enough for a theoretical understanding, but nothing more than that. Compare this with a student who learns how the

THE NEXT ONWARD DRIVE v

Continuous Innovation

Becoming ‘one-stop solution’ for anything is education

digitalLEARNING / May - June 2016

Product Design Focus Strike the right balance between being student centric and teacher centric heart functions with the help of a multimedia platform and gets to see it in 3D. They acquire a practical understanding of the process, how blood flows in and out and various other functions. We try to strike the right balance between being student-centric and teachercentric, as we understand that both have to be extremely comfortable with the product. With a product like TeachNext, while a teacher maybe the user, a student is the target consumer. A teacher also needs to understand that these products are only there to further enhance their teaching, not to replace their expertise in any way. That is not possible! Human touch will always be prevalent and a primary requirement in this sector. How do the10,000 learning modules make teaching easier and more effective for teachers as well as students? Our flagship product TeachNext has made end-to-end processes of teaching and learning easier, more engaging and interesting through its rich multimedia content. It is designed in a way that it caters to all types of learner – the visual learner who learns by seeing, the auditory learner who learns by listening and the kinesthetic learner who learns by doing. Also, with more than 10,000 learning modules and a set of over 500 tools including NextStudio, NextDictionary, NextMaps, periodic tables, log tables and pH indicators, learning is made delightful for the students. While developing the content, we also keep in mind the Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) guidelines. Using the technology is very easy. A simple hand-held remote can accomplish all the required actions, so the teacher can operate it from anywhere within the class. Teachers can also use interactive touch-boards to demonstrate a more details, zoom in, ask students to solve problems, etc.n

7k schools, 7m students and growing!

Startup

Navneet forays into e-learning domain

THROUGH eSense What prompted you to start an elearning solution company? Navneet believes that leadership in any field is essential. In order to be an effective educational leader one must foster a concept of excellence within the classrooms. This is where we stand out. Time has proved that Navneet has been an integral part of Educational Revolution and now as a sister concern of Navneet, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s our part to play. We provide a number of e-learning Solutions so as to boil down the complex issues of education and provide a concise statement of what all needs to be done. In what all innovative ways is eSense integrating technology with learning? Please tell us about your latest offerings, eSense TOPClass. eSense is creating 2D and 3D multimedia animation based content which has transformed the traditional textbook in 2D & 3D animation, making it easy and more fun for students to learn from. eSense TOPClass is a complete digital education solution which consists of interesting and attractive animated

ESENSE TRANSFORMERS v Audio-Visual content v Assessment Software v Question Bank v Analytical Reports eSENSE OUTREACH 2500+ Schools 10,00,000+ Students

v v

Harshil Gala, Director,

eSense Learning Pvt Ltd informs

content for every chapter. Thus, making teaching and learning easier and faster. eSense has also developed artificial intelligence based software which is compatible with tablets and mobiles. This makes it cheaper in terms of digital education. Do you think students have adjusted to e-learning methodology of teaching? Do they prefer e-learning to the traditional chalk & board teaching? E-learning is growing in India and students along with their parents have started to accept e-learning methodologies. Especially, students who have been exposed to the e-learning content prefer it over the traditional chalk & talk method. However, there is a long way ahead to go for e-learning, but with Digital India campaign, the importance of digital education in India has been highlighted. We cannot be sure and say that students prefer the e-learning methodology over the traditional chalk and board teaching, but it is definitely considered as a technique which helps students to retain more of what they have learned. This is because Audio/ Visual helps them to retain around 70 percent of what they see and learn. What are the USPs of eSense? E-learning in itself is a unique concept. Nevertheless, our USPs are mentioned

as below: v Syllabus based for MSB, GSB and CBSE students v 2D/3D Animation for each chapter v Artificial Intelligence based assessment software v Unlimited practice exams v Limited final exams v Performance comparison with peers across state v Analytical reports to focus on weak areas and incorrect answers. How do you plan to deal with your competitors? There is competition for sure. However, we believe in transforming the process of learning through the support of Audio-Visual content, Assessment software, Question bank and Analytical reports. Students can learn better, understand faster and remember more with the help of TOPScorer. We treat knowledge as wealth and our content has been appreciated by schools and the stats say it all. What are your future plans regarding expansion of eSense? eSense aims to go beyond the chalk & talk method and stimulate the learning environment. In the next 5 years we foresee each and every student learning through the content of eSense. We want to replace the traditional textbooks with our content and want that students from every school and household, should be learning from eSense content. n

May - June 2016 / digitalLEARNING

Exclusive Interaction

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Marching Towards IPO::

EMERGING TREND IN EDUCATIONAL ENTERPRISES

In an exclusive interaction with digitalLEARNING,

Nikhil Mahajan,

the Chief Financial Officer and Executive Director, CL Educate speaks in greater detail about the company, its firm foundations, its diversified portfolio, its growth prospects and its innate intent to file for an IPO What is thriving at CL Educate? CL Educate has a thriving and diversified business portfolio whereby testprep segment accounts for only 40-45% of the revenue accrual. The publishing division of CL Educate under the auspices of G K Publications bring about authentic reference & preparatory material for various entrance examinations. The organisation is working closely with the Governments of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha and Gujarat for their Skills Enhancement programmes, leveraging their ample expertise in the domain of test preparation. The group has 7 Schools to its kitty having a total installed capacity of 6000 students, expandable to 11000. The current capacity utilisation is at 50 percent. Instead of adding new ones, the focus shall remain to grow to the full potential. To what extent, would you augment your international portfolio? Not Much. The total revenue expectation from the international operations is

digitalLEARNING / May - June 2016

being seen not more than 4-5 percent of the entire revenue inﬂows. What are the underlying reasons for going the IPO way? Well, the way we look at IPO is more of a landmark or milestone in our company’s progression. We have had been working for the last 5-7 years preparing ourselves to get listed. It’s more of a strategic opportunity for us to create a sizeable stable enterprise in the domain of education. Ofﬂoading the burden of two of our private equity investors - Gaja Capital and HDFC, along with a number of individual benefactors, is also on cards, by way of raising some Rs 300-350 crores from the market. Where do you see the maximum action happening in the education section? For us at CL Educate, we are expecting a double digit growth across all our business portfolios. We have always stood for a balanced growth, though the revenue mix varies for historical reasons.

In such a vast country, with progressive demographic trends, education sector happens to be one of the largest one and is slated to grow by leaps and bounds. The achilles heels, however remains the utter disorganization and non-systematic unprofessional governance of educational enterprises. This has brought some dis-repute to the sector, when it comes to public offering. What are the core operational strengths at CL Educate? We have evolved as an entirely process driven organization, with sound technological fundamentals. All our centres are connected through a dedicated in-house ERP system. Our testing platform is again our in-house creation which empowers the core business vertical of ours. We have moved towards a cloud based governance ecosystem and content dissemination regime. Our mobile apps are a big sensation amongst our students at large. Though the direct revenue from the online sales is pegged at 5 percent but it’s support system has helped us scale and sustain the momentum of our growth.■

Most d e t s u r T G N I R E E N I ENG S D N A R B IA IN IND 2016

The

DIGITAL Scorecard digitalLEARNING, a premier publication of Elets News Network, has made an initiative to unravel the Indiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Most Trusted Engineering Brands on the basis of their Social and Online Presence. This ranking has been tabulated zone wise, dividing India into 5 major zones East, West, North, South and Central. Furthermore, under these zones lie the Top Universities of the major Indian states. These include both Deemed as well as Private Engineering Universities, ranked keeping in mind their Online popularity and Social footprints.

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Ranking Parameters INSTITUTIONAL WEBSITE

Websites are the preliminary entry ports to an Institutional digital identity. The quality and performance of an institutional website has found a high degree of correlation with some of the conventional evaluation of progressiveness. To cite an example, the recently released India Rankings for Engineering Institutions across the country based on National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) found a whopping Correlation to the tune of 75% with MOZ Score - a web analytics score - implying that both datasets matched 75% of the times. We have thereby deployed MOZ Score on the institutional websites of the Engineering Universities that predicts how well a website will rank on search engines. MOZ Score is based on Domain Authority Score (a 100-point scale) developed by Moz. To determine Domain Authority, Moz employs machine learning against Googleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s algorithm to best model how search engine results are generated. Over 40 signals are included in this calculation.

SOCIAL MEDIA LIKES

Nothing adds-on to the digital identity and social engagement of an organisation than the simple parameter of Social Media Likes, be it Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn. The avenues of multilateral communication which it opens up is certainly a metric of progressiveness of a particular institution. In the context of an academic institution, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s an invocation of transparency and openness with the risk of being questioned by the members of the general public.

digitalLEARNING / May - June 2016

Most d Truste ERING ENGINE D BRANDIA

ARUNACHAL PRADESH SIKKIM ASSAM

IN IN

NAGALAND

MEGHALAYA

2016

MANIPUR TRIPURA

MIZORAM

WEST BENGAL

East

ODISHA

Under the East zone, the TOP Universities of the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Jharkhand, Meghalaya, Odisha and West Bengal have been ranked according to the basis of their online popularity and social footprints. Online Presence

Social Footprint

3 2 1 6 5

3 2 1 5 4

1 2 3

3 1 2

Birla Institute of Technology, Ranchi Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad

2 1

PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES JH01P Jharkhand Rai University, Ranchi JH02P Sai Nath University, Ranchi JH03P The Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India University, Ranchi

1 2 3

1 3 2

S. No.

Institutions ARUNACHAL PRADESH

DEEMED UNIVERSITIES AR01D North Eastern Regional Institute of Science & Technology, Itanagar PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES AR01P Apex Professional University, East Siang AR02P Arunachal University of Studies, Namsai AR03P Himalayan University, Papum Pare AR04P North East Frontier Technical University, West Siang AR05P The Indira Gandhi Technological & Medical Sciences University, Ziro AR06P Venkateshwara Open University, Naharlagun PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES AS01P Assam Don Bosco University, Guwahati AS02P Assam Down Town University, Guwahati AS03P The Assam Kaziranga University, Jorhat DEEMED UNIVERSITIES JH01D JH02D

ASSAM

JHARKHAND

May - June 2016 / digitalLEARNING

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S. No.

Institutions

ML06P ML07P

CMJ University, Shillong Mahatma Gandhi University, Ri-Bhoi Martin Luther Christian University, Shillong Techno Global University, Shillong The Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India University, Tura Bazar University of Science & Technology, Ri- Bhoi University of Technology & Management, Shillong

DEEMED UNIVERSITIES OR01D Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology, Bhubaneshwar OR02D Shiksha O Anusandhan University, Bhubaneshwar

PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES WB01P Amity University, Kolkata WB02P Seacom Skills University, Kendangal WB03P The Neotia University, Sarisa WB04P University of Engineering and Management, Kolkata

digitalLEARNING / May - June 2016

7 1 5 6 4

6 1 4 7 5

3 2

1 4 3 2

3 4 1 2

ODISHA

WEST BENGAL

Social Footprint

MEGHALAYA

PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES ML01P ML02P ML03P ML04P ML05P

Online Presence

Most d Truste ERING ENGINE D BRANDIA

RAJASTHAN

IN IN

2016

West

GUJARAT

MAHARASHTRA

Western Zone includes the TOP Engineering Universities of Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Rajasthan. Rajasthan leads with the maximum number of Engineering Universities, both Private and Deemed S. No.

Institutions

Online Presence

Social Footprint

1 2

2 1

4 14 10 1

6 11 3 14

6 15 9 13 11 3 2 8 5 7 12

4 13 9 12 1 8 5 1 2 7 15

5 6 3 1 4 7 2

5 7 3 6 4 1 2

2 1

GUJRAT DEEMED UNIVERSITIES GJ01D Gujarat Vidyapith, Ahmedabad GJ02D Sumandeep Vidyapeeth, Vadodara PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES GJ01P Ahmedabad University, Ahmedabad GJ02P C U Shah University, Wadhwan GJ03P Charotar University of Science & Technology, Petlad GJ04P Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information and Communication, Gandhinagar GJ05P Ganpat University, Mehsana GJ06P GSFC University, Fertilizer Nagar GJ07P Indus University GJ08P ITM-Vocational University GJ09P Navrachana University GJ10P Nirma University, Ahmedabad GJ11P Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University, Gandhinagar GJ12P Parul University, Waghodia GJ13P R K University, Rajkot GJ14P Rai University, Dholka GJ15P UKA Tarsadia University, Tarasadi MAHARASHTRA DEEMED UNIVERSITIES MH01D Bharati Vidyapeeth, Pune MH02D D.Y. Patil Educational Society, Kolhapur MH03D Dr. D.Y. Patil Vidyapeeth, Pune MH04D Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumba MH05D Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai MH06D Padmashree Dr. D.Y. Patil Vidyapeeth, Navi Mumbai MH07D Symbiosis International University, Pune PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES MH01P Ajeenkya D Y Patil University, Pune MH02P Amity University, Panvel

May - June 2016 / digitalLEARNING

ADMISSIONS OPEN 2016

The LNM Institute of Information Technology, Jaipur

Deemed-To-Be University in De-novo category established in 2002 First Public Private Partnership (PPP) venture in Higher Education in the State of Rajasthan by the Govt. of Rajasthan and L.N. Mittal’s Foundation

B.Tech., M.Tech. and Ph.D. in:  Computer Science & Engineering  Electronics & Communication Engineering  Communication & Computer Engineering  Mechatronics Engineering  Mechanical Engineering B.Tech.-M.Tech. Dual-Degree in CSE, ECE, CCE M.Sc. & Ph.D. in Physics and Mathematics Ph.D. in Humanities & Social Sciences

Salient Features:  100 acres of lush green residential campus with world class academic, sports & healthcare facilities  Ranked 3rd in Private University category EDU RAND in 2015  90% placement with the highest package of 25 Lacs for 2016 graduating batch  Faculty members possessing Ph.D. degrees from IITs and Institutes of International repute  Strong Alumni base working in top industries or pursuing higher education in India & abroad  Industry oriented courses with co-branded laboratories from Microsoft, IBM, SAP, KPIT etc.  State-of-the-art laboratory facilities from National Instruments, Texas Instruments, HP etc.  Merit, Merit-cum-Means and BPL scholarship for deserving students  Funding support for students and faculty to present research papers in India & abroad  Summer Internship for selected students in academic Institutions & Industries including ArcelorMittal, Kazakshtan

B.TECH. ADMISSIONS ONLY THROUGH JEE-MAIN SCORE (2016) | NO CAPITATION FEE & NO MANAGEMENT QUOTA | MERIT BASED ADMISSIONS FOR ALL PROGRAMMES

For details visit www.lnmiit.ac.in Campus address: Rupa-Ki-Nangal, Post Sumel, Via-Jamdoli, Jaipur – 302031 (Rajasthan) India Toll Free No. : 1800-180-6566 B. Tech. admission related query: 0141-5191-791/792/731 PG admission related query : 0141-5191-719

S. No.

Institutions

Online Presence

Social Footprint

4 1 7 6 5 8 2 3

2 3 4 8 7 5 6 1

1 23 14 6 11 8 16 2 10 5 25 26 3 4 9

1 4 18 8 3 7 11 9 14 13 17 25 2 26 20

19 18 22 20 17 12 7 15 21 24 13

6 16 10 23 19 21 15 22 5 24 12

RAJASTHAN

DEEMED UNIVERSITIES RJ01D Banasthali Vidyapith, Banasthali RJ02D Birla Institute of Technology & Science, Pilani RJ03D I.I.S. University, Jaipur RJ04D Institute of Advanced Studies in Education, Churu RJ05D Jain Vishva Bharati Institute, Nagaur RJ06D Janardan Rai Nagar Rajasthan Vidyapeeth, Udaipur RJ07D LNM Institute of Information Technology, Jaipur RJ08D Mody Institute of Technology & Science, Sikar PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES RJ01P Amity University, Jaipur RJ02P Career Point University, Kota RJ03P Dr K N Modi University, Newai RJ04P ICFAI University, Jamdoli RJ05P J K Lakshmipat University, Jaipur RJ06P J.E.C.R.C. University, Jaipur RJ07P Jagannath University, Jaipur RJ08P Jaipur National University, Jaipur RJ09P Jayoti Vidyapeeth Womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s University, Jaipur RJ10P Jodhpur National University, Jodhpur RJ11P Maharishi Arvind University, Jaipur RJ12P Mahatma Jyoti Rao Phoole University, Jaipur RJ13P NIIT University, Neemrana RJ14P OPJS University, Churu RJ15P Pacific Academic of Higher Education & Research University,Udaipur RJ16P Poornima University, Jaipur RJ17P Pratap University, Jaipur RJ18P R N B Global University, Bikaner RJ19P Raffles University, Neemrana RJ20P Sangam University, Bhilwara RJ21P Shridhar University, Pilani RJ22P Sir Padmapat Singhania University, Udaipur RJ23P Sunrise University, Alwar RJ24P Tantia University, Sri Ganganagar RJ25P University of Engineering & Management, Jaipur RJ26P Vivekananda Global University, Jaipur

May - June 2016 / digitalLEARNING

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Most d Truste ERING ENGINE D BRANDIA

JAMMU & KASHMIR

HIMACHAL PRADESH

IN IN

2016

North

PUNJAB

HARYANA

Institutions

DELHI DEEMED UNIVERSITIES DL01D Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, New Delhi DL02D Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences(ILBS),New Delhi DL03D Jamia Hamdard,New Delhi DL04D National Museum Institute of History of Art, Conservation and Musicology, New Delhi DL05D National School of Drama, Bahawalpur House, New Delhi DL06D National University of Educational Planning & Administration, New Delhi DL07D School of Planning & Architecture, New Delhi DL08D TERI School of Advanced Studies, New Delhi HARYANA DEEMED UNIVERSITIES HR01D Lingayaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s University, Faridabad HR02D Maharishi Markandeshwar University, Ambala HR03D Manav Rachna International University, Faridabad PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES HR01P Al-Falah University, Faridabad HR02P Amity University, Manesar HR03P Ansal University, Gurgaon HR04P Apeejay Stya University, Gurgaon HR05P Ashoka University, Sonepat HR06P BML Munjal University, Gurgaon HR07P G D Goenka University, Sohna HR08P Jagan Nath University, Jhajjar HR09P K R Mangalam University, Gurgaon HR10P M V N University, Palwal HR11P Manav Rachna University, Faridabad HR12P NIILM University, Kaithal HR13P O P Jindal Global University, Sonepat HR14P Shree Guru Gobind Singh Tricentenary University, Gurgaon HR15P SRM University, Sonepat HR16P The Northcap University, Gurgaon

digitalLEARNING / May - June 2016

DELHI

UTTAR PRADESH

TOP Universities of the states of Delhi, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand lie under the Northern zone. Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh have the maximum universities. S. No.

UTTARAKHAND

Online Presence

Social Footprint

6 8 4 3

4 7 3 6

2 1

1 8

7 5

5 2

3 1 2

3 2 1

16 1 4 3 5 7 11 12 13 14 15 9 2 6 10 8

15 3 9 16 4 5 8 14 6 2 10 12 13 1 11 7

S. No.

Institutions

HIMACHAL PRADESH PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES HP01P Shoolini University of Biotechnology and Management, Solan HP02P Baddi University of Emerging Sciences & Technology, Baddi HP03P I E C (India Education Centre) University, Solan HP04P Manav Bharti University, Solan HP05P Career Point University, Bhoranj HP06P Jaypee University of Information Technology, Waknaghat HP07P Chitkara University, Barotiwala HP08P Arni University, Kathgarh HP09P Sri Sai University, Palampur HP10P Indus International University, Una HP11P Maharaja Agrasen University, Baddi HP12P Eternal University, Baru Sahib HP13P Abhilashi University, Mandi HP14P ICFAI University, Mandhala HP15P Bahra University, Kandaghat HP16P Maharishi Markandeshwar University, Solan HP17P A P G (Alakh Prakash Goyal) University, Shimla PUNJAB DEEMED UNIVERSITIES PB01D Sant Longowal Institute of Engineering and Technology (SLIET, Sangrur PB02D Thapar Institute of Engineering & Technology, Patiala PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES PB01P Chandigarh University, Sahibzada Ajit Singh Nagar PB02P GNA University, Phagwara PB03P Sri Guru Granth Sahib World University, Fatehgarh Sahib UTTAR PRADESH DEEMED UNIVERSITIES UP01D Dayalbagh Educational Institute, Agra UP02D Jaypee Institute of Information Technology, Noida UP03D Nehru Gram Bharati, Allahabad UP04D Sam Higginbottom Institute of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences, Allahabad UP05D Shobit Institute of Engineering & Technology, Meerut

Online Presence

Social Footprint

4 6 10 2 16 1 5 7 14 13 15 8 17 9 11 3 12

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17

1 3 2

1 2 3

1 2 4 3

3 1 4 2

May - June 2016 / digitalLEARNING

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ACCREDITED BY

ASIC, UK

ASIAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Premier Institution

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At MMU our mission is to develop better than the best professionals for the economic development of the country. To prepare students with an integrated and technology oriented education for a better career and to be worthy citizens of a global society. You Just Decide what you want to be, we have it all. Over 200 UG, PG & Doctorate Programs offered

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digitalLEARNING / May - June 2016

Centre of Excellence

Advertorial

ABOUT The UNIVERSITY JS University, Shikohabad is the ‘dream come true’ of Shri Jagdish Singh Ji, through Sri Jagdish Jan Kalyan Educational Trust which is working for quality education for rural area students since long back. Dynamic educationist Dr. Sukesh Kumar is working vigorously in expanding the Colleges of this Trust in terms of a well planned University. The State Government under the leadership of Shri Akhilesh Yadav, the Honorable Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh took cognizance and introduced a Bill to the status of a University in March 2015 and christened it as J.S. University, Shikohabad, Firozabad. Hon’ble Chief Minister proposed, “With a view to encourage infusion of philanthropic capital in private sector to participate in the field of Higher Education and encourage competition to attract high quality faculty and students and continuously enhance quality it has been decided to establish and incorporate a teaching University by the name of J.S. University, Shikohabad, Firozabad by Shri Jagdish Jan Kalyan Educational Trust, Shikohabad, Firozabad..” We are working hard for this noble purpose. Our motto is

(Progress through proper application of knowledge.)

J.S. UNIVERSITY

(University established by U.P. Govt. Act No. 7 of 2015) Let our rich variety of courses in the sciences and technology, social sciences, humanities, commerce and management, agriculture, pharmacy, education and physical education, journalism and mass communication etc. open your mind to the broader horizons of the dynamic and changing world of today.

Salient Features

v The university is spread over lush green, pollution free, more than 24000 square meter carpet area, of networked & safe

campus, juxtaposing tradition with modernity.

v The State recognised Private University of Uttar Pradesh providing education from Graduation to Ph.D. level. v The university has established the Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Advance Study & Research Institute which will offer M.Phil.

/ Ph.D. programmes and innovative programmes like Political Thoughts and Leadership Studies, Management, Police Studies and Forensic Science, Criminology and Security Management etc. v UGC proposed “Choice Based Credit System” (CBCS) at U.G. level courses. v The university will regularly organise Youth Parliament to hone leadership skills of students. v The university is signing MOUs with many foreign universities of repute and with major manufacturing and core industries, Banks and insurance companies. .

List of Programmes/Speciﬁcations of Degrees offered by the J.S. University v v v v v v

Engineering/Technology - B.Tech., M.Tech. Sciences - B.Sc./B.Sc. (Hons.), M.Sc., B.C.A, M.C.A Management - B.Com./B.Com.(Hons.),M.Com., B.B.A.,M.B.A. Agriculture & Allied Disciplines - B.Sc. (Agriculture), M.Sc. (Agriculture) Education/ Teacher’s Training - B.Ed., B.PEd.,M.Ed. Other Certificate/ D.El.Ed. ( B.T.C); Diploma - D.Pharm, P.G.D.J.M.C., D.F.S.M., P.G.D.Y.T.

May - June 2016 / digitalLEARNING

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Chancellor’s Welcome

Prof. Hari Mohan - Vice Chancellor

Dr. Sukesh Kumar - Chancellor

Dear Students, My hearty welcome to you to at J.S. University, a peaceful and resplendent Temple of learning. We promise for taking special pride in preparing you well for your journey in life through consecrated faculty and excellent curricula with a deep commitment to make you learn what is needed for your success in life. The premises of the J.S. University, with its glorious infrastructure is greatly admired, it creates a perfect atmosphere for academic drive. One has to step into the lush green environs of J.S. University to live the serenity, warmth of life and pulse of youth. Most of the infrastructure of the University has been completed and it is my pleasure to express the achievements made by the University is really commendable and praiseworthy. It is a upstanding proof of the continuous hard work and resolve of the University’s entire team and I do hope that they would continue their efforts to bring the University’s to national and international fame. I firmly believe that the J.S. University should be a vibrant Knowledge Centre for our youths. It is the ultimate platform to help ﬂourish the multi-dimensional talents of the students through different academic and co-curricular activities. The university should provide the quality education which is rich in values and modern in content. Being the Chancellor of this University, I would again like to ensure focus on integration, expansion and diversification, with the following key thrust areas: v To make the University responsive to ever changing societal needs. v Strengthen University on the National and Global Map of education and research. v New methods and teaching aids which will contribute more to the society. v Teaching enhancement program for teachers to adopt new methods and teaching aids. v To make best use of IT Infrastructure for Automation in Administrative and Academic process. v Transparent administration and Fool proof examination system. I invite you to take this journey towards excellence with us at J.S. University, and convey you my best wishes for a rewarding career. Dr. Sukesh Kumar Chancellor

digitalLEARNING / May - June 2016

Dear Students, At the very onset, I am prompted to quote Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam “Learning gives creativity, Creativity leads to thinking, Thinking provides knowledge, Knowledge makes you great”. Being the founder Vice-Chancellor of this University, it is a matter of great pride and consolation that the University has successfully entered into its 2nd year of its age. I would fully utilize all my energies, experience and potentials to make this University a great seat of learning. Our focus would be on academic excellence and would try that the University may prove its distinction imparting quality education, learning, research and other academic activities. The University currently offers various on-campuses programmes in various disciplines including Engineering, Management, Sciences, Pharmacy, Education, Physical education, Arts and Humanities, Social Sciences etc., nearby one dozen Ph.D. programmes plus offering PG Diploma programmes in different fields. We would not halt here and would try to expand the sphere of academic activities by launching more new disciplines in emerging sciences. Indeed, I am content and proud of my dedicated team members for their candid collaboration and support and also feel indebted to patronage of Hon’ble Dr. Sukesh Kumar ji, the Chancellor of J.S. University for putting this University on the way of success. I welcome all the students who chose to be a part of this newly born University, I am sure that they will feel proud on being associated with us and make us equally proud with their academic excellence. Prof. Hari Mohan Vice Chancellor

S. No.

Institutions

PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES UP01P Galgotias University, Greater Noida UP02P IFTM University, Moradabad UP03P Integral University, Lucknow UP04P Invertis University, Bareilly UP05P J S University, Shikohabad UP06P Jaypee University, Noida UP07P Mangalayatan University, Aligarh UP08P Mohammad Ali Jauhar University, Rampur UP09P Monad University, Pilkhuwa UP10P Noida International University, Noida UP11P Rama University, Kanpur UP12P Sharda University, Greater Noida UP13P Shiv Nadar University, Greater Noida UP14P Shobhit University, Meerut UP15P Shri Ramswaroop Memorial University, Lucknow UP16P Swami Vivekanand Subharti University, Meerut UTTARAKHAND DEEMED UNIVERSITIES UK01D Graphic Era University, Dehradun UK02D Gurukul Kangri Vishwavidyalaya, Haridwar PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES UK01P DIT University, Dehradun UK02P Himgiri Zee University, Dehradun UK03P Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India (ICFAI), Dehradun UK04P Swmi Rama Himalayan University, Dehradun UK05P University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, Dehradun UK06P Uttaranchal University, Dehradun

Online Presence

Social Footprint

4 15 10 9 16 12 8 14 7 6 13 1 2 3 11 5

3 11 6 7 16 15 14 10 5 4 8 1 2 13 12 9

2 1

1 2

5 3 2

5 6 3

4 1 6

4 1 2

May - June 2016 / digitalLEARNING

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Most d Truste ERING ENGINE

TELANGANA

S BRAND IN INDIA 2016

south

KARNATAKA

ANDHRA PRADESH

PONDICHERRY TAMIL NADU KERALA

The Southern zone includes the Universities from the states like Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu. It needs to be mentioned that Tamil Nadu leads the zone with 22 Deemed Universities. S. No.

Institutions

ANDHRA PRADESH DEEMED UNIVERSITIES AP01D Gandhi Institute of Technology and Management (GITAM), Visakhapatnam AP02D ICFAI Foundation for Higher Education, Hyderabad AP03D Koneru Lakshmaiah Education Foundation, Guntur AP04D Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning, Ananthpur AP05D Vignanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Foundation of Science, Technology & Research, Guntur KARNATAKA DEEMED UNIVERSITIES KA01D B.L.D.E. University, Bijapur KA02D Christ University, Bangalore KA03D Jain University, Bangalore KA04D K.L.E. Academy of Higher Education and Research, Belgaum KA05D Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal KA06D NITTE University, Mangalore KA07D Sri Siddhartha Academy of Higher Education, Tumkur PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES KA01P Alliance University, Anekal KA02P Azim Premji University, Electronics City KA03P CMR University, Kalyan Nagar KA04P Dayanand Sagar University, Begur KA05P Institute of Trans-Disciplinary Health Sciences and Technology, Attur KA06P KLE Technological University, Hubli KA07P M S Ramaiah University of Applied Sciences, M S R Nagar KA08P PES University, Banashankari KA09P Presidency University, Hebbal KA10P Rai Technology University, Bengaluru KA11P Reva University, Yelahanka KA12P Srinivas University, Mangalore

digitalLEARNING / May - June 2016

Online Presence

Social Footprint

4 3 2 5

4 2 5 1

7 2 4 5 1 3 6

6 2 3 7 1 4 5

2 3 7 8 6

2 3 9 5 11

9 5 1 11 10 4 12

6 8 4 7 12 1 10

S. No.

Institutions

TAMILNADU DEEMED UNIVERSITIES TN01D Academy of Maritime Education and Training, Chennai TN02D Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Coimbatore TN03D Avinashilingam Institute for Home Science & Higher Education for Women, Coimbatore TN04D B.S. Abdur Rahman Institute of Science & Technology, Chennai TN05D Bharath Institute of Higher Education & Research, Chennai TN06D Hindustan Institute of Technology and Science (HITS), Kancheepuram TN07D Kalasalingam Academy of Research and Higher Education, Virudhunagar TN08D Karpagam Academy of Higher Education, Coimbatore TN09D Karunya Institute of Technology and Sciences, Coimbatore TN10D M.G.R. Educational and Research Institute, Chennai TN11D Noorul Islam College of Engineering, Kanyakumari TN12D Periyar Maniammai Institute of Science & Technology (PMIST), Thanjavur TN13D Ponnaiyah Ramajayam Institute of Science & Technology (PRIST), Thanjavur TN14D S.R.M Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai TN15D Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai TN16D Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences, Chennai TN17D Shanmugha Arts, Science, Technology & Research Academy (SASTRA), Thanjavur TN18D Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswathi Vishwa Mahavidyalaya, Kancheepuram TN19D St. Peter’s Institute of Higher Education and Research, Chennai TN20D Vel Tech Rangrajan Dr. Sagunthala R&D Institute of Science & Technology, Chennai TN21D Vel’s Institute of Science, Technology & Advanced Studies (VISTAS), Chennai TN22D Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore

Online Presence

Social Footprint

19 2 16

15 6 13

15 14 6

22 8 3

22 5 9 21 20

18 5 7 10 14

3 12 17 4

1 4 21 11

18 8

17 9

2 May - June 2016 / digitalLEARNING

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digitalLEARNING / May - June 2016

Advertorial

K L University

Aiming to be among South Asia’s top 5 by 2020

Recognized as a Deemed University in 2009 by the Government of India’s (GoI’s) apex higher education regulator University Grants Commission (UGC), KL University is a large, multidisciplinary, and non-governmental technical university in India with the vision to be among South Asia’s top 5 independent universities by 2020.

May - June 2016 / digitalLEARNING

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NATIONAL AND GLOBAL RECOGNITION 2016 v KLU College of Engineering (KLU-CE) is Top 1 in AP and Telangana as per Government of India’s NIRF 2016. v KLU was ranked Top 7 among India’s best private engineering universities by SiliconIndia, 2016. v KLU was conferred Global Best Practices in Education Award for innovative and successful interventions in higher education at World Education Summit 2016 Dubai. v KLU’s Co-founder and President Sri.Koneru Satyanarayana was extended Enabling Edupreneurship Award at World Education Summit 2016, Dubai. 2015 v KLU was ranked Top 10 in India and Top 5 in southern India among private technical universities by India’s popular news magazine the Week, 2015. v KLU’s engineering college KLCE was ranked No.1 private T-school in both Telangana State (TS) and Andhra Pradesh (AP) by the Times of India, 2015. v KLU, its B-school, and its people received 16 awards for educational excellence, the largest number for any institution, at Indo-Global Education Summit 2015. v KLU was named Best Private Technical University in Asia at the Asian Education Excellence Awards 2015 organized by CMO Asia at Singapore in Aug 2015. v KLU was adjudged the Best Private University in South India by Brands Academy for Excellence in Education, 2015. v KLU’s engineering college KLCE’s Outcome Based Education (OBE) was named Best Innovation in Higher Education at World Education Summit 2015. 2014 KLU Business School (KLUBS) was ranked Top 10 among premier, non-IIM B-schools in India by the Dainik Bhaskar, the largest Hindi daily in India, 2014.

Based out of Guntur district, in the capital region of the sunrise state of Andhra Pradesh in the economically developed southern India, KLU has two undergraduate and three postgraduate schools, with over 720 faculty, 640 staff, and 65,000 successful alumni in diverse professions around the world. Consistently ranked among India’s top 10 private technical universities, KLU offers 15 bachelor’s, 26 master’s, 14 dual-degree, and 14 doctoral programs to over 12,000 students and 1200 PhD scholars from across India and 16 countries from Asian, African, and North American continents. In April 2016, KLU College of Engineering (KLU-CE) was ranked Top 1 in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana states by National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) 2016, an initiative by the Government of India’s Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD.

digitalLEARNING / May - June 2016

ISO-9000 certified since inception, KLU has been accredited twice in a row at A grade (valid up to Jan 2018), by the GoI’s National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) and recognized as Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (SIRO) by the GoI’s Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR). In the last three years (2012-15), KLU faculty published over 2600 papers in national and international conferences and journals. Over 80 sponsored projects worth Rs.18-crore from the government and industry are currently being carried out at KLU. n For more details about KLU, its programs, faculty profile, research, admissions, campus life, student facilities, and global recognition, check www.kluniversity.in.

Most d Truste ERING ENGINE D BRANDIA

BIHAR

IN IN

2016

MADHYA PRADESH

JHARKHAND

CHHATTISGARH

Central The Central zone has the major universities of Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. The state of Madhya Pradesh leads with maximum Private Universities. S. No.

Institutions

PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES CG01P Amity University, Kharora CG02P Dr C V Raman University, Kota CG03P ICFAI University, Durg CG04P ITM University, Raipur CG05P Kalinga University, Naya Raipur CG06P MATS University, Arang CG07P O P Jindal University, Punjipathra

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Social Footprint

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CHHATTISGARH

MADHYA PRADESH PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES MP01P A K S University, Satna MP02P AISECT University, Bhojpur MP03P Amity University, Gwalior MP04P ITM University, Gwalior MP05P Jagran Lakecity University, Bhopal MP06P Jaypee University of Engineering & Technology, Guna MP07P LNCT University, Bhopal MP08P Maharishi Mahesh Yogi Vedic Vishwavidyalaya, Katni MP09P Oriental University, Indore MP10P P K University, Karera MP11P Peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s University, Bhanpur MP12P RKDF University, Bhopal MP13P Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan University, Bhopal MP14P Sri Satya Sai University of Technology & Medical Sciences, Sehore MP15P Swami Vivekananda University, Sagar MP16P Techno Global University, Vidisha

May - June 2016 / digitalLEARNING

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CONFERENCE | AWARDS | EXPO SMART INVESTMENT FOR A BETTER FUTURE

DELHI SUMMIT

JULY 2016

digitalLEARNING / May - June 2016

50 BEST

G N I R E E N I G N S D N A R B IA IN IND 2016

UNIVERSITYâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S NAME

STATE

TYPE

RANK

Amity University, Gwalior

Madhya Pradesh

Private

Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal

Karnataka

Deemed

Amity University, Manesar

Haryana

Private

Koneru Lakshmaiah Education Foundation, Guntur

Andhra Pradesh

Deemed

Amity University, Panvel

Maharashtra

Private

Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore

Tamilnadu

Deemed

Amity University, Jaipur

Rajasthan

Private

Bharath Institute of Higher Education & Research, Chennai

Tamilnadu

Deemed

S.R.M Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai

Tamilnadu

Deemed

Sharda University, Greater Noida

Uttar Pradesh

Private

University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, Dehradun

Uttarakhand

Private

Karunya Institute of Technology and Sciences, Coimbatore

Tamilnadu

Deemed

Christ University, Bangalore

Karnataka

Deemed

Manav Rachna International University, Faridabad

Haryana

Deemed

Chandigarh University, Mohali

Punjab

Private

Hindustan Institute of Technology and Science (HITS), Kancheepuram

Tamilnadu

Deemed

NIIT University, Neemrana

Rajasthan

Private

R K University, Rajkot

Gujarat

Private

National School of Drama, Bahawalpur House, New Delhi

Delhi

Deemed

Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Coimbatore

Tamilnadu

Deemed

Mahatma Gandhi University, Ri-Bhoi

Meghalaya

Private

May - June 2016 / digitalLEARNING

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Shiv Nadar University, Greater Noida

Uttar Pradesh

Private

Maharishi Markandeshwar University, Ambala

Haryana

Deemed

Birla Institute of Technology & Science, Pilani

Rajasthan

Deemed

Shiksha O Anusandhan University, Bhubaneshwar

Odisha

Deemed

Jaipur National University, Jaipur

Rajasthan

Private

Ashoka University, Sonepat

Haryana

Private

Alliance University, Anekal

Karnataka

Private

Shree Guru Gobind Singh Tricentenary University, Gurgaon

Haryana

Private

PES University, Banashankari

Karnataka

Private

Parul University, Waghodia

Gujarat

Private

Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad

Jharkhand

Deemed

Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology, Bhubaneshwar

Odisha

Deemed

Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi

Delhi

Deemed

Mody Institute of Technology & Science, Sikar

Rajasthan

Deemed

ITM University, Gwalior

Madhya Pradesh

Private

ICFAI University, Jamdoli

Rajasthan

Private

Galgotias University, Greater Noida

Uttar Pradesh

Private

Jaypee Institute of Information Technology, Noida

Uttar Pradesh

Deemed

Birla Institute of Technology, Ranchi

Jharkhand

Deemed

Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai

Tamilnadu

Deemed

TERI School of Advanced Studies, New Delhi

Delhi

Deemed

BML Munjal University, Gurgaon

Haryana

Private

J.E.C.R.C. University, Jaipur

Rajasthan

Private

Dayalbagh Educational Institute, Agra

Uttar Pradesh

Deemed

Ansal University, Gurgaon

Haryana

Private

Graphic Era University, Dehradun

Uttrakhand

Deemed

Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University, Gandhinagar

Gujarat

Private

Azim Premji University, Electronics City

Karnataka

Private

J K Lakshmipat University, Jaipur

Rajasthan

Private

digitalLEARNING / May - June 2016

Start-up

LabIn App Empowering Education with

REAL-TIME SIMULATIONS

Pawan Shinde, CEO, LabIn App speaks about LabInApp’s real-time 3D computer graphics technology promoting the ‘learn by doing’ pedagogy

What was the main drive behind starting LabIn App, a 3D Interactive Science Lab? During our journey of 20 years in the ﬁeld of education, we have come across lot of issues which need attention. One such problem, related to Science education is of practical learning. The science education in schools is mainly driven by theory classes, with little or nothing to do in practical labs, which results in loss of interest in the subject among students and teachers. Moreover, the students don’t get enough time in schools or colleges to explore the science experiments, leading to many doubts. Hence, there is a need for a platform where students and teachers can perform science experiments at anytime, anywhere with lot of insight in the subject. This is possible with the powerful real-time simulation platform developed by us. “Our mission is to empower every learner and teacher with real-time Simulations” With this we started off our journey from an incubation center, CTIE located in KLE Tech University in Hubli, Karnataka. What are the various hurdles encountered in doing business on ground level? The biggest hurdle that stands in our way is to meet the key people or decision makers of schools, since our product is exclusively for the education sector. Very often it is not the Principal, who is the decision maker in such purchase offers. Another big hurdle is keeping everyone happy. The expectations of teach-

ers, management heads, parents and students are different in the educational scenario. Fulfilling everyone’s demands is always a big challenge. Winning the ‘StartEdu’ competition organized by Unitus Seed Fund (USF) and later partnering with Sylvant Advisors, an Education sector focussed strategic firm, founded by Anand Sudarshan and Madan Padaki, helped us in cracking many of the challenges mentioned above. Who do you see as your target audience? What techniques are adopted by you for reaching them? We are working in K-12 segment and our offerings are aligned to the curriculum of 9th to 12th standard. We are reaching out to our target audience, who are teachers and students, through channel partners, Education Service Providers, tab providers, DVD providers, book publishers etc. What can be the major benefits for Institutions/ Individuals adopting your solutions? Various benefits for Institutions as well as students are: ❖ Fast revision of lab syllabus, without compromising on the learning factor in schools ❖ Live demonstration of science concepts/experiments in the classroom by teacher, since every theory chapter is related with some hands on activities or experiments ❖ Students can use LabInApp in school or at home without having to worry about availability of lab resources ❖ They get to learn a lot of things in the LabInApp software before they go to the actual laboratories. Where do you see your company in 5 years time? In few years from now learning is going to be more personal and even more interactive. With the current rate of penetration of smartphones and tablets in every region of the country, it is evident that these devices are going to be the platforms on which LabInApp has to run. We would like to see ourselves as leaders in providing real-time simulation in India. ■

May - June 2016 / digitalLEARNING

Startup

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‘Jumping Frog’ Synchronising Students, Parents and Teachers on a Jumping Frog seems to be quite a unique name related to education. What motivated you to take on this name for your brand? At NetSpec, we live, eat, sleep, and breathe education and think of ways to enhance the entire experience of learning more interesting and enriching for students. For this, we need to get deep into the psychology of the students to understand their state of mind and make them learn without giving any kind of a stress. We try to create ‘Digital Content’ with many multimedia images and videos which makes information more playful for students. Therefore, the name of ‘Jumping Frog’ fits into the psychology of the student as it seems as a fun game rather than any educational tool or a learning management system. What is Jumping Frog all about? How does it act as a communication bridge between teachers, parents and students? Jumping Frog is a comprehensive collaborative cloud based platform. Everything that happens in life span of the three major stakeholders in K-12 education, who are parents, teachers and students is automated on Jumping Frog. Within the collaboration, it has features like complete School Information system (SIS), Smart Grading and Report Cards, Digital Assignments and Homework. With all this data that we accumulate, it also gives a lot of analytics on the overall performance of the students individually and collectively. Besides collaboration, Jumping Frog has module on learning as Learning Management

digitalLEARNING / May - June 2016

CLOUD-BASED PLATFORM

Rajesh Bakshi, Managing Director, NetSpec Global speaks regarding the company’s latest venture-“Jumping Frog’

Jumping Frog is built using Open Source technology with various modules incorporated in it, realising the need for a solution that is purposely built to fit the specific requirements of the education sector and overcoming the traditional pedagogy of educational system System (LMS), powerful assessments and it is also completely integrated with MS Office 365. How has been the response towards it so far? What can you foresee about the future of Jumping Frog in India? We had a tremendous response that is still leading on with bright output as we have catered to the needs of more than

1,00,000 students and 10,000 teachers. We, at Jumping Frog create solutions with students and teachers in mind. For students, our aim is to enhance their school experience beyond just academic learning. For teachers our focus is on efficiency of faculty by saving time, using state of art technology, thereby creating a more productive learning process. Kindly share your views regarding competition. Do you see any competition for Jumping Frog? Though there are many applications in the market but Jumping Frog caters entirely to the core needs of students, teachers and parents that make us stand visible among our present clientsl. Our educational apps are designed and developed to provide real-time collaborative learning and teaching experience to the students and teachers. Where do you see Jumping Frog in 5 years time? We are working in collaboration with Microsoft, INTEL and HP to popularise the concept. We see ourselves as a major domain catering to our clients with optimum results in next half a decade. Also, One Note App. is the most significant and organic change process ever in the school. It is seamless and keeps up with teachers. It provides the place to bring everyone together and helps focus and prioritise things.n

eduGOVERNANCE

Projects

Purchasing

Mails

Business Analytics

Sales

ERP

CRM

Financial Management

Corporate World on a High with

Educational Resource Planning May - June 2016 / digitalLEARNING

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With digital space conquering almost every aspect of human life, education is one such segment which has witnessed remarkable transition with digital tools, systems and solutions. This piece of digitalLEARNING takes a sneak peek into the upcoming ERP segment and makes an attempt to decipher some of the key unresolved issues

o quote internationally acclaimed and recognized author Heidi Hayes Jacobs “Teachers need to integrate technology seamlessly into the curriculum instead of viewing it as an add-on, an afterthought, or an event.” The two liner exactly defines what is happening in the world of education today. With rapid digitization taking place in almost every sector including education, managing school and higher education campuses via ERP based applications has witnessed a major transition. This ranges not just from the tectonic shifts in back-end processing but also in terms of

We have introduced many newer product lines like Open Learning, Research and Invent (enabling campus to achieve maximum beneﬁt from research), Time Tracker (tracking performances on an item-by-item level, measuring pace, speed of response, and accuracy to predict the best time to review) and many others

ROHIT KUMAR

Cloud ERP helps educational institutions to automate their processes and thus enables them to focus on delivering high-quality education. Armed with 16 seamlessly integrated modules and 5 easy to use dashboards, Applane addresses the needs of all stakeholders in the education process. It automates the functions of almost the entire educational enterprise - back-ofﬁce, academics, classrooms, transport, library, hostel etc

KUMAR NILABH

Business Head Applane Solutions Pvt. Ltd

digitalLEARNING / May - June 2016

CEO & CMD-XIPHIAS Group, XIPHIAS Software Technologies Pvt Ltd

new product development catering to the futuristic needs and aspirations of the users.

What is ERP

ERP basically stands for ‘Enterprise Resource Planning”, that integrates information and business processes to enable information sharing throughout the organization. However, for digitalLEARNING, ERP has a different connotation, it stands for ‘Educational Resource Planning’, keeping in mind that ERP based applications have contributed immensely to the magical transformation in the educational institutes, both at school and higher education levels, specifically in the fields of students system and grants management.

eduGOVERNANCE The eduERP Market

North America and Europe are considered primarily the honey pots in terms of adoption of eduERP system largely because of high number of universities and advanced infrastructure in these countries. The 21st century Asian education market has opened up a whole new world for technology service providers, specifically for the developers of eduERP application. One of the world’s leading research and advisory company Gartner, Inc. in its report on ERP based education solutions stated that the Software as a Service or SaaS-based ERP solution is expected to grow at 28 percent CAGR. Wherein, the public cloud services market in India has grown at 29.8 percent in 2014, taking it to total USD 550 million. Spending on SaaS has hit USD 218 million in 2014, growing at the rate of 30.3 percent from 2013 to 2014. Gartner has predicted that from 2013 to 2017, USD 4 billion will be spent on cloud services in India and SaaS is the largest overall cloud market segment.

eduERP- A Necessity

In the coming 10-15 years, the whole system of imparting education in the country will see a dramatic change, their modus operandi, the methodology followed by the faculty members due to automation through ERP

AMIT TIWARI

C.E.O, MKT Softwares Pvt. Ltd.

In view of Karan Garg, “Cloud based solutions and Mobile Apps for Students, Parents, Faculty and Management of Institution are a need of the time. Our ﬂagship product of ‘IFW Campus ERP’ is currently being used by more than 85 Higher Education institutions in India. By following .Net technology religiously we are able to keep track of all the latest offerings from Microsoft and keep on upgrading our processes and solutions for the benefit of our clients and growth of our products.”

Education: An Ever Evolving Industry

The contribution of education to India’s overall growth story irrespective of sectors is widely known and reported. If considered in monetary terms the overall size of education industry is estimated to be more than `20,000 crore which is more than the

Quick Bytes Dr Manoj Kulshreshtha said, “We have more than 70 successful installations and implementation. Our clientele includes Galgotia Group, Sharda Group, Mody University, Ansal University, Desh Bhagat University, IEC Group and JSS Academy of Technical Education to name a few. “ Karan Garg informs, “From Coaching Centers to Universities we are covering the complete spectrum of Educational Institutes in India. Our idea was always to offer complete solutions to this sector. By offering all levels and kinds of solutions to our clientele we are able to meet all their demands.” Rohit Kumar shares, “We believe in connecting from the root i.e Academic Boards, Senate System, University, Autonomous Campuses, Colleges and Schools. These includes like, Medical, Engineering, Law, Science etc.” Kumar Nilabh said, “Our applications are best suited for group of schools. Universal education Group, a few schools of DPS groups and a few Army Public schools are some groups using Applane to manage their processes. However, it has also been implemented in other schools, provided the student count is substantial enough to cross break even. Presently we have around 250 schools across length and breadth of the country that are using our products.”

May - June 2016 / digitalLEARNING

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size of domestic software or the automobile industry. A unique feature of the education industry which provides for optimum ERP implementation is the combination of large size which is enviable and high growth rate. This makes it one of the most attractive sectors in the country today.

Growing Complexities

The stupendous growth which the education sector has registered, has also resulted in increasing complexity of the organisations both in structure and operations. They are no longer institutions that impart education alone. Their range of activities include marketing of institutes to students for admissions and corporates for placement, managing internal operations (smooth conduct of classes and motivation for faculty and staff), sophisticated financial cash ﬂow planning, coordination with statutory and regulatory authorities etc. In addition to this, educational institutes are prone to the vagaries of market forces due to stiff competition and demanding customers.

Need for Sophisticated Tools

It is clear that with diverse scale of operations educational institutes are no less than ﬂedging corporate houses. So application of the latest available technology in both internal and external management is essentially required. We have seen how an efficient Management Information Sys-

We have full Cloud Based Solutions such as SchoolSAAS.com, CollegeSAAS.com, CoachingSAAS.com especially developed for institutions who have chain of institutions and want centralised database and reporting. This also helps them to cut down on cost of servers and network management. We have added many new plugin applications for our clients in our product portfolio like Online Examination Management, E-Library, Student Grievance Handling Systems etc

KARAN GARG

Founder & CEO, IFW Techno Creations Pvt. Ltd

Scholastic Ofﬁce is a complete ERP application to automate day-to-day activities of any scholastic organisation, ranging from schools to universities. It is just been one year of scholastic ofﬁce. By next year we are planning to at least have worked with 2000 organisations. This is the scope of ERP in India

SOMANNAGARI VENUGOPAL

Founder & CEO, SVIC India

digitalLEARNING / May - June 2016

tem (MIS) has facilitated in cost reduction, responsive and effective decision making and brand enhancement. Nowadays most large organizations across industry lines have reaped significant improvement in performance in terms of cost reduction, speed and accuracy. Somehow, the education sector has lagged behind in this drive for automation probably because of the lack of comprehensive and specific ERP solutions. The distinction of ERP market emerges from the fact that it can be deployed on premises and also on cloud services. Certainly the cloud based ERP has more advantages as compared to premise ERP, both for the vendors as well as the end users, majorly due to the management of security of data which is taken care by the vendors. Depending on the services offered by ERP vendors, the market is categorized as implementation, consulting, training and support, and portal services.

Key Parameters

Of late the Indian software industry players have started to recognize the untapped demands of the educational institutes. Companies ranging from some proprietary concerns to big Multi National Corporations (MNCs) have come ahead to fill up this need. Some of the key parameters that need the tick of the

eduGOVERNANCE

We have recently introduced many new ERP systems like the G5 Platform, a comprehensive education ecosystem which not only supports the huge, integrated database through core-SIM engine, but also AIMS, the voice-software interface for Admission management, and a variety of services to all stakeholders - students, parents, faculty, staff, administration and top management. The platform provides 24x7 global access through cloud-based system using Responsive Technology, Smart Card and provides Business & Predictive Intelligence to academic administrator and management

DR MANOJ KULSHRESHTHA VP- Academic Alliances, Global Infoways

Since the time of inception, our experience has led to the development of various inhouse ERP applications for catering to speciﬁc industry needs and requirements. For Education sector, we have developed an ERP application by name of ‘Academics’. The application ‘Academics’ is been developed with Microsoft technologies & MS SQL (on open sources platform it’s under development) as a backend for Database storage and management. With the growing trend towards internet based application, (most of the application are now been offered as internet based application as SAAS model), but we have clearly focused towards key requirements of education sector i.e. none of the institutes wants to have the full dependencies over net

KSHITIJ MATHUR

VP- Government and Education Vertical, Dataman Computer Systems (P) Ltd

checkbox before choosing an ERP application are as follows: Integration- For an enterprise engaged in the business of imparting education, the product for automation should compulsorily cater to the integration of all activities such as admission, library, payments, students, hostel etc. Based on Internet- An internet based ERP application is favored as it enables the end user for a mobilised approach over a localised one. It further empowers the parents to access student information from the comforts of their home/office and also facilitates the management to access important information irrespective of location constraint. Multiple Users- With the increasing engagement of parents in the academic programmes of their ward, visa-vie the institution, the multi usability of the application becomes indispensable.

Decision support system: The ERP based application should not only be automation oriented in terms of processes, but also facilitate decision making in real time basis. It is through informed decision alone that the true benefits of process gains and cost reduction can be achieved. Aju AS, CEO, GESCIS Technologies briefed on another aspect where ERP is really needed. He shares, “ Our latest release of the software, WebSchool 3.1, is far superior to its earlier versions as well as other campus management software applications. The Vehicle Tracking module is designed to assure parents about their child’s safety by sending SMS alerts once the student has boarded or left the campus vehicle. The online payment module

May - June 2016 / digitalLEARNING

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makes fee bills, receipts and long queues, things of the past.”

Challenges Ahead

Major challenges lies in the school front. Availability of a good and consistent internet connection is also a matter of concern. It has also been surveyed that parents in Tier II and III cities are not as tech savvy as compared to parents of Tier I cities. Moreover, about 60 percent of customers are based in non-

metro cities. Kshitij Mathur, says “ There are various gaps in the administration of schools, colleges and university. This is because as till date there is no significant approach made towards synchronizing all institutes under one umbrella.” To overcome this challenge, he suggests, “ In future, growth of ERP should be particularly from the government owned schools and colleges.” n

Forecasting the

FUTURE

Due to its worthfullness in the education system for tracking at all levels, ERP is sure to have a bright future. This is especially forecasted by the Corporates who are getting all set to tap-in the increasing demand for their products by the Educational Institutes. ROHIT KUMAR PREDICTS: v Learning Tools and Administrative process will get merged in the coming years v ERPs in Education sector no longer be restricted to just the management of administrative process of the institute v It will also cover the complete academic and ‘Student-Faculty’ performance management process v More and more academic content of all schools and colleges will be available on digital platforms v Education will cross the limits of just the classroom or single faculty of a subject v Only those solutions who sync all these things into there products and solutions will survive the markets. v Support by Govt. of India and bodies like AICTE, UGC, Ministry of HRD etc. is very much required for this sector’s growth v Time has come for ERPs to be made mandatory for Schools, Colleges and Universities KUMAR NILABH FORECASTS:

v Indian education is transforming gradually from conventional brick and mortar to digital space v Online learning market size and investments is to grow significantly in the coming years v Government’s initiatives to boost the use of digital technology is certainly going to help the edu-

cation domain.

AS PER DR MANOJ KULSHRESHTHA:

v ERP solutions using Cloud-based Global Access shall become default v Responsive Technology; Business Analytics & Predictive Intelligence shall become the Industry

standard for ERP in Education

v Wider adoption of powerful ERP solutions at schools, which can be integrated at State govern-

ment level

v Compliance monitoring by governing Bodies like CBSE, AICTE, MCI, UGC, etc with mandatory

modules like OBE, QMS, PMS etc.

AJU AS BRIEFS:

v Convergence of digitized education and campus management being implemented on a mod-

erate scale

v Campus management software systems have proven to be reliable and necessary in the virtual

era

v Complete takeover of the duties of a campus’s administration is inevitable and will happen in

the immediate future.

digitalLEARNING / May - June 2016

Product Review

An eletsLABS Presentation Expanding the Frontiers of Collaborative Ideation: Barco’s ClickShare shows the way Imagine a board room undergoing a high-octane deliberation on a proposed business strategy with datasets from various divisions in multiple avatars, or an intense huddle over the proposed features of a new product seeking inputs from various quarters or a routine admin review of an institution... No single presentation, howsoever meticulous or elaborate can fit in the requirement of a live ideation. No amount of standardization works either, as different people have different preferences, the way they see through things and want to present in the way they want, something so very important for the free flow of innovation. The real time culling of ideas from various sources during the course of deliberations adds another layer of complexity. With a regime of multiple set of computational devices setting in, this real time, multi-user, multi-device sharing of ideas in multiple formats seem to be a difficult proposition. Barco - a global technology leader of Belgian origin, that develops networked visualization solutions for entertainment, enterprise and healthcare markets has come up with a hands on solution, in the form of ClickShare.

As the name duly resonates, ClickShare makes the video/projecting system of the room shareable. Everyone sitting in the room, with the due access codes can thereby become the Presenter. People can take charge of the presenting system and display their visuals as they contribute to the deliberation. Like the good old micro-phone buttons in a conference room which made a user audible, ClickShare can make it even visible on the screen. The CSC-1 Base Unit brings about a complete ClickShare collaboration experience by enabling to display the content of up to 4 users simultaneously. 64 buttons can be wirelessly connected to the Base Unit, ready to share. Furthermore, perfectly synchronized sound and video ensures that movie clips can be optimally enjoyed. Moreover, dynamic content from iPads, iPhones and

Samsung Galaxy devices can be shown directly on the screen using the specialised apps. A ClickShare CSC set consists of a Tray, four Buttons and a Base Unit. Additional items are sold separately.

The ClickShare Universe

Buttons Button are dongles which can be connected to the USB-port of your PCs or MACs. Simply pressing in the buttons make it shareable. Mobility For iPads, iPhones or Android devices, you just need to get hold of the ClickShare app to share. It can thereby be a good usecase for a smart classroom demonstration as well. Video and audio The system can play videos at 30 frames per second (higher than the worldwide standard for movie theater film projectors at 24 fps), with sound through the meeting room’s AV system. Zero installation ClickShare intends to keep things as light as possible. It has been designed as a zero footprint application, which leaves no ‘software’ on the client PC or MAC. Just plug the buttons and share. The engineers of ClickShare have gone a level ahead to ensure the fidelity of this toy. They have gone overboard in using both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands simultaneously to guarantee a great wireless connection at all times, which has remained a pain point across even the best board-rooms, specially in this dusty part of the world. Barco’s ClickShare worked well at the eletsLABS and we found the actual performance closer to the claims. The product certainly can be recommended for a try by all those organizations which want their collaborative meetings to be really productive and keep away the logistic nuisance of moving back and forth struggling with the VGI Cables of the projector et al.n

May - June 2016 / digitalLEARNING

RNI NO. UPENG/2008/25311

UP/GZB/70/2015-17