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APJ
Abdul Kalam for education that promotes entrepreneurship
MUMBAI, March 17, 2013: APJ Abdul Kalam Ex-President of India
Monday said there was a need for creating an educational system that
highlighted the importance of entrepreneurship. "In the present
context, the education system has to be designed in a way that
produces large number of employment generators and not just
employment seekers," Kalam said while addressing students on
the 54th foundation day of the Indian Institute of
Technology-Bombay.
To achieve this, he said, there was the need for a strategy
that could make education more attractive, skill oriented and
employment generating.Kalam said the country's education system
should prepare students to get oriented towards setting up
enterprises which can give them creativity, freedom and ability to
generate wealth.
He also called for the banking system to provide venture
capital to those graduates who have the aptitude and keenness to
create their own new enterprises. "Entrepreneurs have to
produce competitive products to become successful in their
missions," Kalam said. Kalam said IIT-Bombay should utilize
services of its placement cell to take a lead in compiling success
stories through venture capital funding and employment generation
opportunities across India and the world. He added the IIT
curriculum should provide market research support to students for
selection of right products and guide young entrepreneurs through
the incubation period till they stand on their own. He also
highlighted the role of technology and its impact on society, saying
that technology can affect fundamental changes in the ground rules
of economic competitiveness. "Science is linked to technology
through applications. Technology is linked to economy and
environment through manufacture of knowledge
products.
Economy and environment are linked to technology, which
promotes prosperity to the society. We have to use innovation to
generate high value added products for becoming a global
player," he said. Kalam inaugurated the new building of
Bio-Sciences and Bio-Engineering Department at IIT- Bombay and also
presented to winners the
Distinguished Alumnus award, Young Achiever award and Faculty award.
Indian School Teachers to be Trained in U.S.
Bangalore, March 3, 2013: This year, a six-month training programme for Indian school
teachers will be launched under the Fulbright-Nehru Fellowships programme in the U.S., said Maya
Sivakumar, director of United
States-India Educational Foundation (USIEF). Talking about ‘Experience America’, a three-day programme organized by
the U.S. Consulate General, Sivakumar said that the Indian teachers will
get an opportunity to enhance their skills on a variety of academic subjects in the U.S. universities as a part of the
programme, as reported by TNN.
Judy Reinke, the U.S. commercial service minister counsellor for
commercial affairs, American Embassy informed that the programme has
been organized to encourage business ties between Indian and the U.S.
companies and to support Indian students to pursue a range of courses in
American universities. Judy further said that "We will help the agricultural sector of India by
organizing Pack Expo, an event about packaging technology of agro products at Las Vegas on September 25," as reported by
TNN. It was noted that the programme ‘Experience America’ will have nine U.S.
companies and universities presenting their catalogues.
David J Gainer, public affairs officer of the U.S. Consulate General
talking of the education sector, said, "Fifteen years ago about 30,000
Indian students were pursuing courses in American Universities, but today there are more than 1 lakh Indian students. Similarly about 4,000
American students are pursing various courses in India," as reported by TNN..
Distance education students can pursue two degrees
ALLAHABAD, February 3, 2013: In a fillip to distance learning programmesin the
country, the Distance Education Council (DEC) has decided that though students
cannot pursue two degree programmes simultaneously, they can pursue two
programmes simultaneously through distance or combination of distance and regular modes.
Uttar Pradesh Rajashri Tandon Open University PRO Prabhat Mishra in a
press release said the DEC has decided to allow students to pursue two or more programmes simultaneously in various combinations.
According to the decision of the DEC communicated to UPRTOU vice-chancellor Prof AK Bakshi, while a student cannot pursue two degree
programmes simultaneously, he can do the same through distance or combination of distance and regular modes from the same or different
university/institution in various combinations.
The DEC has also mentioned some of the combinations which students can
opt for. These include one degree and diploma/postgraduate diploma/certificate. Likewise, a student can pursue one postgraduate
diploma and one diploma/certificate, one diploma and one certificate, two postgraduate diplomas, two diplomas and two certificate courses.
"There are large number of students in our institutions who wanted to pursue more than one course at a time but were not able to do so because
of various constraints. But after the DEC decision, students can get
admission in more then one course," said Prof Bakshi. Source: Times of India
Airtel Launches Educational Platform mEducation In India
January 03, 2013: Airtel has launched mEducation, a platform that enables Airtel
mobile customers in India to access educational services including courses for
language skills, entrance exam preparation and career counseling from universities and professors on their mobile phone.
Airtel will offer these educational value added services (VAS) through
Interactive Voice Response (IVR), SMS and WAP. These services range from Rs 1.5/day to Rs 99 for a course, depending on the type of course a user
wants to subscribe to. It offers English Guru (IVR) for Rs 30/ 30 Days, Mock Tests
(WAP) at Rs 99 (12 mock Test) /Rs 49 (5 Mock
Test), Scholarship Alert (SMS) at Rs 1.5 per day, among others. Users
can find more information at the Airtel website <http://www.airtel.in/education/>.
As of 2011, the number of students in India under the age of 14 was
reported to be 134 million. Adding students in graduate schools, the number only
increases. There’s a tremendous opportunity for VAS players to cash on
the education sector. However, it depends on service providers as to how
they market the educational services. The market is still a bit premature and nobody seems to have figured out what works and what
doesn’t. Airtel seems to have approached the market by converging the
services it offers on platforms such as SMS, WAP, and IVR. Previously, Airtel had partnered with Hungama Mobile to launch ‘CAT Fastrack’ pack – a 30 day crash
course for CAT aspirants for subscribers on their network accessible at
m.crackcat. Airtel had partnered with Aakash Educational Services Limited to provide its Airtel digital
TV with coaching services through its interactive service, iExam. Source: MediaNama |
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