Coming Up

* Applications have been invited for admission to junior diploma in co-operation (JDC) course conducted at the various Co-operative Training Centres in Kerala. A pass in SSLC or equivalent examination is the minimum qualification for admission. Applicants should be in the age-group of 16-35 years.

The application form and prospectus can be obtained on payment of Rs.30 from the Co-operative Training Centres at Kuravankonam (phone:0471-2436689), Avanur, Kottarakkara (0474-2454787), Aranmula (0468–2278140), Cherthala (0478–2813070), Nagambadam (0481–2564738), Pala (0482-2213107), North Paravur (0484- 2447866), Ayyanthole (0487–2380462), Palakkad (0491-2522946), Tirur (0494-2423929), Thali, Kozhikode (0495-2702095), Kannur (0497-2706790), Wynad (04936-289725) and Kasaragod (04994-207350).

Duly filled in applications along with relevant documents should be submitted to the principal of co-operative training centres in which admission is sought. Last date: March 31.

* Kerala University has invited applications for two-year fulltime MBA (general) and MBA (tourism) courses conducted at the Institute of Management in Kerala, Palayam, and its various extension centres. Application and prospectus can be downloaded from the web site www.imk.ac.in.

* The last date for submission of application for admission to B.Sc. degree course in hospitality and hotel administration offered at the Institute of Hotel Management and Catering Technology (IHMCT) has been extended up to March 10. Application forms are available at IHMCT Kovalam (Phone: 0471-2480283), Axis Bank branches at Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi, and State Institute of Hospitality, Calicut.

The selection is based on the basis of IHMCT JEE 2011.

* The UGC has invited applications for the award of fellowship for the year 2010-11 under Rajiv Gandhi National Fellowship scheme for the benefit of SC/ ST candidates. Last date: March 20. Web site: www.ugc.ac.in.

* Applications have been invited for B.Tech. lateral entry test. First class diploma holders in engineering and final year diploma students can apply online up to March 21 for the test. Web site: www.tekerala.org, www.dtekerala.gov.in.

* Pravara Institute of Medical Sciences (Deemed University) has invited applications for its entrance test to be held on April 30 for admission to MBBS/ BDS courses. Last date: April 16. In Kerala, Kochi will be a test centre. Web site: www.pravara.com.

* Yenepoya University, Mangalore, has invited applications for its Common Entrance Test to be held on May 15 for admission to MBBS/ BDS courses. Last date: April 15. Web site: www.yenepoya.edu.in.

* Academy of Medical Sciences has invited application for admission to PG Medical Courses for 2011- 12 (MD/ MS and postgraduate diploma courses). Applications form and other details can be downloaded from www.mcpariyaram.com. The application fee is Rs.5000. Last date: March 23.

New test for teacher recruitment

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Called the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) this examination is external and additional to any other qualification that an aspiring teacher would have.

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At a time when there is an ongoing debate about the urgent need to restructure the teacher education programmes in the country, would-be teachers in schools will now have to write an eligibility test conducted by either the Centre or the State governments before getting an appointment letter.

Called the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) this examination is external and additional to any other qualification that an aspiring teacher would have. According to a National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) document (this can be accessed at the web site www.ncte-india.org) the rationale for the TET is

It would bring national standards and benchmark of teacher quality in the recruitment process.

It would induce teacher education institutions and students from these institutions to further improve their performance standards

It would send a positive signal to all stakeholders that the government lays special emphasis on teacher quality.

The TET would be conducted by a “suitable professional body” designated by the government concerned. All questions would in the MCQ mode, and each will fetch one mark. There would be four alternatives given out of which one would be the correct answer. There would be no negative marking in TET.

Papers

Those wishing to get appointed as teachers for Classes I -V would have to appear only for paper one of TET. This one-and-a-half-hour examination would have 30 questions each on Child Development and Pedagogy, language-1, language-2, mathematics and environmental studies.

Questions in Child Development and Pedagogy would be all about the “educational psychology of teaching and learning relevant to the age group 6-11 years,” the NCTE document notes, “They will focus on understanding the characteristics and needs of diverse learners, interaction with learners and the attributes and qualities of a good facilitator of learning.”

The ‘language-1' questions would focus on the proficiencies related to the medium of instruction in each State.

Language-2 will have questions from among the list of languages prescribed in the application form.

The questions on mathematics and environmental studies would give emphasis on the “concepts, problems solving abilities and pedagogical understanding of the subjects.” The questions would be evenly distributed over the syllabi prescribed by the respective governments.

For those wishing to get appointed as teachers in classes six to eight TET paper-2 is the examination to take. Here, it is compulsory to answer the questions on child development and on the two language options. For the math and science teacher there would be sixty MCQs of one mark each, for the social sciences teacher there would be sixty MCQs of one mark each. Other teachers can answer either the mathematics set or the social sciences set. The question papers shall be bilingual; in English and in a language decided by the State government.

Those who wish to be considered for appointment to any class from one to eight would have to appear for both paper one and two of the TET.

Minimum marks

Only a person who scored 60 per cent or more would be deemed to have passed the TET. Though weight should be given to TET scores during the recruitment process, the NCTE document also makes it clear that passing the TET is only an eligibility criteria and that it does not imply a right to get appointed.

The NCTE has recommended that TET be conducted at least once a year. Each government can decide the validity of a TET; in any case this should not exceed seven years.

Certificate

Each successful candidate shall be given a TET certificate which would incorporate adequate security features and would be electronically generated.

The current thinking is to make TET optional for serving teachers. However, they would be encouraged to write TET just to see where they stand on the skills scale.

UGC-NET launches e-certificate

Candidates appearing for the UGC-NET will get the qualifying certificate within six days now with the University Grants Commission launching the e-certificate. The Minister for Human Resource Development (HRD) Kapil Sibal launched the service recently.

The process of issuing the UGC-NET qualification certificate to successful candidates normally takes around six to eight months, a cause of concern both to UGC and to the students. However, these E-certificates will cut down the time lag for issuing the certificate to just six days. Similarly, whenever an institution writes to UGC for verification of authenticity of the NET certificate presented by the candidates, the authenticity of the certificate can now be done within a span of 24 hours as against the earlier four months.

The UGC has already initiated steps for online registration of the NET examination so that all the necessary information with regard to the candidates is captured, including their photographs, at the time of registration itself. The information thus captured is proposed to be used for the award of these e-certificates once the results are announced.

The UGC has also released a compendium of UGC schemes where the 63 schemes of the UGC have been synoptically profiled, covering the objectives of each scheme, the criteria for becoming eligible to receive financial assistance from the UGC, the operational tenure of the scheme, process of selection followed in approving the proposals, and finally the quantum of financial assistance that can be provided to execute the scheme.

AICTE's new norms bring admission worries

STAFF REPORTER

Colleges in Karnataka fear lower intake as AICTE increases minimum marks for bagging engineering seats.

Will the number of admissions to engineering courses in Karnataka come down this year? This is the common question haunting both the State government as well as the managements of private engineering colleges.

The cause of this apprehension is the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) decision to increase the minimum marks required in the qualifying examination for admission to the engineering degree courses.

As per the new norm, students seeking admission to engineering courses under the general category across the country need to score at least 50 per cent marks in their second year pre-university or Class XII examination, instead of 45 per cent.

Students belonging to the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities will have to secure at least 45 per cent marks instead of 40 per cent.

The statistics available with the Higher Education Department in Karnataka show that nearly 10,000 students, who secured marks between 40-50 per cent marks in the qualifying exam held in 2010, had become eligible to join engineering courses.

According to the statistics, 1,947 students, who had scored less than 50 per cent and more than 45 per cent marks in the qualifying exams in 2010, were allotted ranks as they had become eligible to seek admission to engineering courses based on the minimum marks prescribed then. Of these, 269 had joined various engineering courses in private colleges.

Similarly, 7,802 students belonging to Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities, and Other Backward Classes, who had scored more than 40 per cent and less than 45 per cent marks in the qualifying marks in 2010, had become eligible to join engineering courses. Of these 1,890 had joined engineering courses.

The new norms are likely to make at least 10,000-15,000 students ineligible to seek admission to engineering courses in the State this year. As a result, more number of engineering seats are likely to remain vacant.

About 17,000 engineering seats remained vacant in 2010. In some colleges, the number of vacant seats was in the range of 250 to 278.

Director of Technical Education H. U. Talawar said that the State government has written to the AICTE that the decision to increase the minimum marks for eligibility is unilateral, without taking into consideration the local needs. He said that the students hailing from rural areas will lose an opportunity to join engineering courses.

The State has no option but to follow the AICTE norms as it applies to all engineering colleges across the country, said Mr. Talawar, while pointing out that many new engineering colleges, those situated in north Karnataka region, and those not ranked high among the colleges, would find it difficult to get students.

M. K. Panduranga Setty of Karnataka Unaided Private Engineering Colleges Association said that the revised eligibility norms will increase the number of vacancies in many colleges.

“It is certain that the number of admissions to engineering courses will reduce further. We hope that the increase in the intake into engineering courses under lateral entry scheme for those with a diploma and Bachelor of Science degree will attract some students,” said Mr. Setty.

The new AICTE norms may see increase in the number of admissions to regular undergraduate courses in the science stream and other equivalent courses, and many engineering colleges around Bangalore city too may witness more vacant seats, Mr. Setty pointed out.

Good move

He, however, felt that the increase in minimum marks is a good move as it is aimed at improving the quality of engineering graduates. “In fact, I feel that the minimum eligible marks should be 60 per cent in the interest of maintaining the quality of engineering graduates,” he added.

Ramesh R., a teacher in a private engineering college, pointed out that some students who had joined engineering courses by securing only 40-0 per cent marks in the qualifying exams, had done fairly well later and completed the degree in first class.

“What is the point in keeping a large number of engineering seats vacant? The quality of education in rural areas required to be improved so that more number of students succeed in the qualifying exam by scoring more than 50 per cent marks,” he said, adding that some private engineering colleges may opt for reducing their total intake.

Sudhakar Manjunath, a final-year engineering student, said that there was no harm in increasing the minimum marks. “I am unable to understand why AICTE is giving permission to new engineering colleges or permitting opening of new courses or enhancing the number of seats in the existing colleges if the AICTE is concerned with quality of engineering education.”

This year's pre-university examination results and completion of the admission process to engineering courses will decide the next course of action by the engineering college managements and the State government.

Forging new relations with institutions

The British Council has expanded its programmes in the country by implementing several educational and cultural projects over these years. Paul Sellers, the new Director of the British Council for operations in South India, says that the council is keen on building relationships with a variety of institutions and people in India through its ongoing and forthcoming initiatives. In an interview to The Hindu-EducationPlus in Kochi, Mr. Sellers, who had earlier held senior positions with the British Council worldwide, elaborates on a wide-range of topics related to the council. Excerpts from the interview:

How good is the demand for U.K. higher education among students in India? How do you plan to tap the growing opportunities in the Indian higher education sector?

The demand for U.K. higher education keeps increasing every year. We had a 16 per cent increase last year. There are around 15,000 Indian students going to the U.K. [every year] to study the undergraduate or postgraduate programmes offered by the universities in the country. That is the number of students on our record. It is probably more than that. Interestingly, Kerala accounts for around two-third of the number. It is the biggest among the States. The largest number of students come from Kerala. We attribute this to the good school education and literacy.

Possibly the demand for courses in certain subject areas isnot met even though there are very good higher educational institutions in South India especially in health care and engineering.

And IT is also coming up. British Council institutions around the world have always had a mission to promote the U.K. as a higher educational destination.

Increasingly, we want to build sort of mutual links between U.K. universities and India. We make it easy for the U.K. universities to come and present themselves before Indian students by holding U.K. education exhibitions. We also work closely with the British High Commission so that they can give information on visa requirements, which is an important issue. We are conscious of the competition from Australia, South East Asia, and Europe. The U.K.'s niche is often the postgraduate programmes that complement the undergraduate programmes students pursue here especially in niche subject areas.

One of the ways forward is to link educational institutions in India and the U.K. so that students have a real choice where to study and from where they get quality education.

Do you think that the move by the Indian government to allow foreign universities to open shop here would pave way for the entry of higher education providers in the U.K. to India?

I think definitely there is an opportunity. The new legislation is a positive step forward. I see the U.K. institutions going for joint ventures in India. Some would set up their own campus. But I understand it requires a lot of investment. Some universities thrive on that — Middlesex, Nottingham and some others. They already have campuses in China and the United Arab Emirates running successfully. The reputation of universities is very often based on its locality or presence. The best option, the low-risk model, is to have joint programmes and exchange of faculty and students. And again here British Council intends to help by maintaining the contact with the Indian universities. We can put them together when institutes in the U.K. want to go for joint collaboration.

Do you think that the visa restrictions imposed by the U.K. government would impact genuine applications for higher education?

No, definitely not. There is no barrier at all in terms of the standard students who want to pursue a programme in the U.K. on a bonafide basis especially in undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. What the U.K. government has done is to tie-up some of the loose ends in the legislation. It is a fact that some students heading to the U.K. for short-term programmes like language courses are not necessarily going for that sole purpose. We encourage students to come. The student with the right qualification is offered a place in the U.K. in the right institution.

What is your advice to students who are searching for data on the higher educational opportunities in the U.K.? How would they be able to identify fake agents and agencies?

They should go through the British Council web site (www.britishcouncil.org). We have a database of all the universities in the U.K. And this list is vetted and guaranteed by the British Council. It also gives a breakdown of the courses and subjects specialised by each university.

If you are lucky enough to be in a place where you have access to one of our U.K. education exhibition, you can talk directly to the representatives of the universities.

I think the vast majority of agents do a really good job, as they assist the students in finding their right course.

If their advice and data match the initial research you have done on the basis of the British Council web site, it is more likely that they can help you. Do not pay fees upfront without a written guarantee and a contract or paper work. I believe nearly a dozen agents based in Kochi have passed the British Council training for agents.

We offer them a special training. Another thing to do is to check whether they are accredited by the council. It is not mandatory. But it is yet another guarantee.

Could you elaborate on the ongoing ‘Learn English' project initiated by the council?

Project English, a regional initiative on English language teaching (ELT) and training, was launched in November 2007 with the commitment to provide every teacher and learner with skills, ideas, and access to the best resources from the U.K.

A target of indirectly training 7.5 lakh teachers in India from 2007-12 has been set. We have currently reached 74 per cent of the target. Since November 2007, we have trained 4,266 master trainers, 5,56,166 teachers and 28 million students through this initiative.

We are in the middle of a very productive contract with the Kerala government to train teachers of English in the public sector.

The methodology is to train a cadre of master trainers. In the past 18 months, we have trained 300 master trainers. They have trained over 6,000 teacher trainers. These trainers have taught two lakh students in Kerala so far.

We do have similar agreements with nine State governments including Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Our aim is to get as close as to the end user — the student.

The council keeps a quality control over the programme. Considering the huge demand in India, our ambition is to become more high-tech with learning of English. We are now researching and investing in English through mobile phone technology and online programmes. Picking the right technology is the key.

One technology might be right for Europe but may not be right for India. Mobile phone market in India had outstretched. Our Internet provision is very good. It will help in increasing your capabilities in learning English. There is a whole range of free materials on the council's web site on learning English.

The focus is still on the teacher. There are very good teacher support materials on the web site.

We already have the Cambridge teacher training course. And we are looking for ways to transmit a similar course through television.