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Government higher education scheme likely to get Rs 500 crore

Government's ambitious programme aiming at increasing enrolment in higher educational institutions is likely to get Rs 500 crore for financial year 2013-14.

A substantial allocation is also likely for setting up of 200 community colleges in the country, besides and research parks and innovation centres.

The Rashtriya Ucchatar Shiksha Abhiyan ( RUSA) aims at expanding the institutional base of higher education by creating additional capacity in existing institutions, establishing new institutions and incentivising state governments.

HRD Ministry officials said they would be pressing for at least five per cent hike in the budget for the Ministry so that focus could also be given on critical areas like enhancing quality of the teacher training programmes and meeting the requirements under skill development initiatives.

One of the budget proposals could also include allocation of 'norm-based' funds to central universities against the present practice of capital grants.

This would mean that varsities receiving central aid will be given on the basis of number of students and actual demands for infrastructure like laboratory, library etc.

As per the present practice, central universities are funded on account of total capital grants.

Secondly, one of the key areas for the Centre during the next financial year would be increased focus on state universities.

Adequate thrust would also be given on student financial aid programme too.

During 2012-13 financial year, the higher education sector had received Rs 15,458 crore while school education got Rs 45,969 crore.

However, the allocation for both these departments got 10 to 14 per cent cut recently along with those for other ministries.

Govt to set up six community colleges

The State Government plans to set up six community colleges on a pilot basis as part of the Centre's plan to set up as many as 100 community colleges in the country, sources in the Higher Education Department said Tuesday.

The proposed community colleges would be set up in the existing colleges and polytechnics and the Government is in the process to find out such colleges.

If everything goes as per plan, the courses would start from the Academic Session 2013, said officials.

According to sources, the Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD) has communicated to the Department of Higher Education (DoHE) in this regard recently and has advised to identify the places immediately.

Principal Secretary Higher Education Gagan Kumar Dhal has held talks with the district administrations in this regard, sources added.

The community colleges are likely to offer diploma and two-year courses on various subjects like health, computer application, fashion designing and garment manufacture, automobile mechanism, catering, plumbing technology, medical lab technology, computer hardware, sales and marketing management, travel management, bakery and confectionery, cargo management, printing technology, hotel management, rural marketing and community enterprises.

Incentives from the Government could be provided to the institutions acting as community colleges in shifts when normal colleges do not utilise their infrastructure including laboratories or classrooms.

However, it has not yet been decided under which college and University the certificate of merit would be provided to successful students, an official of the Higher Education Department said.

The National Knowledge Commission, in its report on higher education, has also advocated the setting up of community colleges for providing skillful employment to rural youth.

TISS-US univ tie-up to aid vocational edu

The Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) has become the first institution in the country to be awarded the Obama-Singh 21st century Knowledge Initiative (OSKI) grant of$2,50,000 by the US.

Prime minister Manmohan Singh and US President Barack Obama had signed the OSKI accord in 2010 to strengthen collaboration and build partnerships between American and Indian institutions.

The TISS will host a two-day conference on Friday and Saturday in partnership with the Rutgers University of New Jersey in the US on 'enhancing Indian higher education policy and practice in the federal context.'

"This will formally flag off the partnership between the two varsities," said professor B Venkatesh Kumar of the centre for public policy and governance at TISS, who is also an OSKI coordinator.

"India will soon be home to the largest number of youth in any single country in the world. We need to capitalise on this demographic dividend by identifying talent and scaling it up. This is where we see the role of the OSKI."

TISS director Dr S Parsurman said: "In this regard, vocationalisation of secondary schooling is an important step to increase the relevance of education and in helping students prepare for effective participation in any area of work."

One of the main facets of the partnership is to create a new national and vocational multi-skill school inthe country that will train about one million people each year.

CBSE schools to offer skill training

Now, Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) students in Std IX will learn retail, security, information and automobile technology. The board has introduced these vocational courses under the National Vocational Education Qualification Framework (NVEQF) from 2013-14 at level I, Std IX onwards.

The CBSE is currently offering various skill-based courses at senior secondary to impart knowledge and training that strengthen the core skills of the students. To further strengthen this programme of developing skills and competencies, the ministry of human resource development has launched the NVEQF to be implemented in schools, colleges, polytechnics and universities from 2013-14.

Biswajit Saha, programme officer (vocational education) issued a circular on January 10.

Schools have been asked to offer all these courses of 200 hours each as additional compulsory subjects by rationalising the existing content for Stds IX and X on a pilot basis. Also, as a pilot programme, these courses have already been introduced in 42 schools affiliated to the board from the academic session 2012-13.

The competency-based curriculum package will consist of syllabus, student manual, trainers' guide, training manual, teacher qualifications and multimedia packages and e-material to facilitate the successful implementation of the courses.

"Schools have to choose any one or more courses to be offered from Std IX onwards starting from the 2013-2014 session. All the necessary support and guidance towards teachers’ training and other aspects for the successful implementation of these courses will be provided by the board," stated the circular.

Such courses were the need of the hour, say students. "Vocational training helps us in acquiring practical skills which will help us in seeking a job. It's beneficial for those students who are focused on what they want to do at an early age. I am fascinated by automobiles and wanted to study further on their workings, so I think the automobile technology course will help me," said Sanjay Kapoor, a Std VIII student from Powai.

Another student, Preeti Verma, believes the information technology course will be very popular among her classmates. "IT is a sector with a lot of job opportunities, and I am happy that we will learn about it from Std IX itself. Hopefully, it will give us an edge over others," she said.

Tech training for polytech faculties

Various faculty training programmes will be conducted by the Maharashtra State Board of Technical Education (MSBTE) under Content Updating Programme (CUP).

"The programme is for professors of the polytechnic faculty and is aimed to refresh their knowledge with reference to new technologies," said, SB Vishwarupe, deputy secretary of MSBTE.

The ISO program was also organised in Nashik on Monday by the Central Institute for Plastic Engineering Technology (CIPET). The program includes introduction to ISO standards, quality management principles, clauses and implementation strategies for different standards apart from field visits and case studies.

Vishwarupe said that new ideas on curriculum and latest technology are provided for staff training and to help them cope with the world of fast developing technology.

The training programme will also focus on providing knowledge on concepts such as 'Green Building' and 'Advanced Web Technology' to be held later this month.

"The green building concept training will be provided to faculties of Civil and Applied Mechanics of the polytechnic institutions in the state, while the web technology programme is aimed for computer related faculties," Vishwarupe said.

Under the green building training programme, faculties will be taught to understand the importance of sustainable development, provide knowledge on selecting the use of sustainable building materials, use of concepts such as rain water harvesting, preserving existing landscape and vegetation, minimising overall environmental impacts, improve indoor air quality, reduce and reuse of construction waste and identifying energy saving features of green buildings, he said.

For the IT faculty training sessions on developments in the topics such as .Net, VB.Net, ADO.Net, ASP.Net, server components and ADO.Net in ASP.Net will be provided.

"The respective faculties will later share this knowledge in informing students and making them aware of the practical knowledge and industrial requirements," Vishwarupe said.

Around 20 faculties are selected for each batch and will trained for a period of four days which will be conducted for all the polytechnic faculties before the commencement of new academic year.

Hughes Communications India to Provide 'Live' Satellite-Enabled Training Academy to Maruti Suzuki

Interactive training to benefit Maruti employees and partners across distribution chain at more than 30 remote locations

Hughes Communications India, Ltd. (HCIL), a subsidiary of Hughes Network Systems, LLC (Hughes), today announced that it is providing Maruti Suzuki, Ltd with a digital training academy incorporating satellite broadbandtechnology to provide "live" training across their distribution chain including company factories and offices, as well as key dealer outlets. Hughes will provide the studio integration at the Maruti Training Academy, classroom integration at the regional training offices, and set up the interactive delivery platform through a high-powered Ku-band satellite network. The training sessions will be conducted from a centralised studio at Maruti Suzuki's Gurgaon plant to over 30 locations across India. Training programmes will include technical, commercial, HR, and product module sessions.

Training sessions will be offered through the Hughes Interactive Onsite Learning (IOL) platform which seamlessly integrates the strengths and advantages of the traditional method of education with the latest in technology. Using a very powerful interface, the platform is easy to use, high quality and integrates solutions that are usable across heterogeneous networks. The platform allows Maruti's trainers to have high quality, interactive, real-time and two-way engagement with dispersed participants across the most remote locations individually or simultaneously.

At the launch of the Maruti Suzuki Training Academy, S. Y. Siddiqui, chief operating officer,Maruti Suzuki, said "The idea of the Maruti Suzuki Training Academy stems from the need to have skilled manpower in all aspects of our growing business. While colleagues within Maruti Suzuki will benefit from this academy, this facility is expected to bring value to the entire value chain of our operations. This academy will meet the need for appropriate training for the existing employees and will specifically orient new employees to the contemporary manufacturing culture."

"We were looking for technology which is stable, proven and scalable. We are happy to partner with HCIL for such a critical project," said Rajesh Uppal, executive director of IT and CIO at Maruti Suzuki.

Partho Bannerjee, president and managing director of HCIL, commented, "We're looking forward to a long and successful partnership with Maruti Suzuki. We're now seeing many companies with large branch networks take advantage of the Hughes satellite broadbandsolution to create a robust training infrastructure that spans the entire distribution ecosystem from employees to partners."

The Hughes Interactive Onsite Learning platform provides breakthrough solutions for employee- friendly corporates like Maruti for learning and development across even the most remote locations since physical classroom training and residential courses are becoming difficult to manage, especially when people are geographically dispersed.

About Maruti Suzuki

Maruti Suzuki India Limited, popularly referred to as Maruti, is a subsidiary company of Japanese automaker Suzuki Motor Corporation. It has a market share of 37% of the Indianpassenger car market as of November 2012. Maruti Suzuki offers a complete range of cars from entry level to hatchback, sedans 'C' segment, Multi-Purpose vehicle and Sports Utility vehicle.

It was the first company in India to mass produce and sell more than a million cars. It is largely credited for having brought an automobile revolution to India and is the market leader in India. Maruti recently sold its 10 millionth vehicle in India.

About Hughes Communications India

HCIL is a majority owned subsidiary of Hughes Network Systems, LLC (Hughes), the world's largest provider of broadband satellite networks and services. HCIL is the largest satellite service operator in India providing a comprehensive range of broadband networking technologies, solutions and services for businesses and governments, including Managed Services to meet every communications challenge.

About Hughes Network Systems

Hughes Network Systems, LLC (Hughes) is the world's leading provider of satellite broadbandfor home and office, delivering innovative network technologies, managed services andsolutions for enterprises and governments globally. HughesNet® is the #1 high-speed satellite Internet service in the marketplace, with offerings to suit every budget.

To date, Hughes has shipped more than 3.3 million systems to customers in over 100 countries, representing over 50 percent market share. Its products employ global standards approved by the TIA, ETSI and ITU organizations, including IPoS/DVB-S2, RSM-A and GMR-1.

Headquartered outside Washington, D.C., in Germantown, Maryland, USA, Hughes operates sales and support offices worldwide, and is a wholly owned subsidiary of EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ: SATS), a premier global provider of satellite operations and digital TV solutions.

SCTE announces SCTE India for training wireline and broadband engineers

Telecom Lead @ Convergence India 2013: SCTE (the Society for Broadband Professionals, formed in 1945) announced the formation of SCTE India.

The new initiative is expected to boost the future of the Indian broadband industry by supporting increasing numbers of trained and accredited engineers and technicians in the country. SCTE's India initiative propels wireline engineers and technicians onto the global broadband stage as infrastructure and digital switchover programs on the sub-continent progress.

SCTE India will be based in New Delhi.

With nine founder members from across the Indian telecoms industry, SCTE India is a Learned Society aimed at the promotion of expertise, exchange of information/experience and the training and accreditation of members.

Membership will be open to all engineers and technicians engaged in the broadband industry in India and a corporate membership option is available for relevant organizations throughout the country. SCTE will represent members' interests, provide a focal point of information and will also run lecture meetings across India.

"SCTE India, and its nine founder members, will drive the professional development and accreditation of India’s wireline engineers and technicians as well as provide a networking platform and knowledge base to support members across India," said Roger Blakeway, president of the SCTE.

The nine founder members of SCTE India:

Prem Behl, chairman, Exhibitions India Group, VC Khare, Cable TV Industry Observer and Advisor, Akhil Mathur, Indusind Media & Communications, Bikash Madan, vice oresident, John Mezzalingua Associates, Kannan Krishnan, Motorola Mobility India, Kuldeep Kaul, Horizon Broadcast Electronics, Jayant Changrani, NDS Services, Vikas Kapoor, CommScope and Rahul Nehra, Exset.

Working in collaboration with Broadcast Engineering Consultants India Ltd, the SCTE has helped to set up new training centers throughout India, and now delivers world-class qualifications for engineers and technicians in the Indian broadband industry. SCTE and BECIL now offer three core skills training courses to the Indian market – Installation Technicians, Service Technicians and Network Technicians, each with internationally-recognized certification.