Applied Science Courses In DU

The applied science courses, started by Delhi University (DU) to make science learning more application-based , have found few takers since their inception three years back.Like previous years, this season too there are seats in these programmes. BSc in Applied Physical Sciences (Computer Science), Applied Life Sciences and Bachelor of Applied Sciences , have remained vacant in the first few days of admission.Three years back, these courses were cleared by a special committee and not through the department of science . However, these courses certainly should be made more industry-oriented.

DU second cut-off

The second cut-off list issued on Friday brought good news for students planning to study Science at the Delhi University as the list showed an overall drop of between 2 and 5 per cent in all top colleges.North Campus colleges like Hans Raj, KMC and Ramjas registered a drop of 2-3 percent in Science, while it was nearly 5 per cent in Khalsa, Shivaji and Zakir Hussain. At KMC, cut-offs for Zoology (Hons) dropped by .5 per cent, and reduced by a whopping 5 per cent for Botany (Hons).BSc in Physical Science and Applied Sciences meanwhile saw an average of 7 per cent drop in cut-offs across all colleges. While Deen Dayal Upadhyaya, KMC and Miranda House colleges closed admissions in Maths (Hons), Deen Dayal Upadhyaya and IP College for Women downed shutters in BSc Computer Science.As many as 14 colleges, including Gargi, SRCC and Ramjas, closed admissions for BCom (Hons) — nearly 60 DU colleges offer Bcom (H).In Economics (Honours), the cut-offs dropped by a mere 1 per cent — to 92 per cent — at Hans Raj while admissions in the course were closed in Daulat Ram, Jesus and Mary, Kalindi, KiroriMal, Maitereyi, and PGDAV colleges.Admission to BCom (Hons) list is however still open in SRCC, Hindu, Hansraj and Miranda. In Arts, admission is still open in ‘elite’ courses like English (Hons) in many colleges.

IIMC admits first foreigner

Travis Donselman of IIM Calcutta’s new PGP batch marks a first on campus. The 26-year-old Californian is, in fact, the first foreign-origin student to join the ranks of the institute’s flagship two-year programme. The decision to head to India wasn’t an impulsive one. It came after enrolling for a masters course in international management at the University of California, San Diego, which he left midway to try for an MBA at an IIM.According to Travis who’s done his bachelors in history from the University of Pennsylvania, he wanted to take up a diplomatic career. But he reevaluated his goals after a stint as an instructor in English writing and history in South Korea.

Bihar to get IIT, IIM, IIIT

Bihar will have one IIT, one IIM and one Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) during the 11th plan period.Besides, every district in the state will have a UGC-aided college.A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting of the Planning Commission with State Secretaries of higher education, a Bihar government release said

Ramesh Gangolli

An Indian American has been chosen for this year's Spirit of Liberty award for his contribution to his community.Ramesh Gangolli, 72, who migrated to the US in 1963 and whose career is focussed on mathematics, will be honoured July 4 in Seattle.He obtained his Ph.D. at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1961 and came to Seattle to teach mathematics a year later. He became a naturalized citizen in 1971.For the past five years, Gangolli has been involved in a project that advocates better mathematics education in the Seattle Public Schools.

IM Lucknow set to start course on carbon markets

The Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow (IIM-L), is set to introduce a course on carbon markets in July even as the Multi-Commodity Exchange (MCX) and the National Commodity Exchange (NCDEX), India’s premier commodity exchanges, are readying for carbon trading. The school plans to offer the course first to students studying agri-business management.This will be the first attempt by any business school in India to educate its students on such subjects.The Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change assigns targets for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to the signatory nations. On an average, countries have to reduce their emissions 5.2% below their 1990 baseline over the next four years between 2008 and 2012.

India Among Top 13 Countries In Scientific Papers

India is among the top 13 countries in terms of published scientific research papers, according to a recent study by the Science Watch team of Thomson ISI.Thomson Scientific, also known as Thomson ISI, is a global leader in providing access to high-value, essential information for researchers and scholars worldwide for over 45 years.India published 211,063 papers as against 422,993 by China (more than twice the number of papers as India's). India had 694 papers in the most cited 1 percent of papers whereas China had 2,189 papers in this category (more than three times the number of such papers from India).Only 0.33 percent of Indian papers could get into the one percent of most cited papers, whereas for China and South Korea the figure was 0.52 percent.In terms of total papers in all fields from 1996 to 2006, India ranked 11th, ahead of South Korea and Taiwan. Its share was under one-tenth of the US, the leader which had almost three million papers published in this period.KnowledgeLink Newsletter of June 2007 noted that the May/June issue of Science Watch ranks 13 countries based on published scientific papers that reach the top one percent of most cited papers worldwide from 1996 to 2006.The US has produced more than 2.9 million scientific papers over this period, and took the lead in both the total papers among the top one percent and the percentage of total papers among the top one percent.

Pushpito Ghosh To Be New CSIR Chief

Pushpito Ghosh appointed as director general to head the Council Of Scientific And Industrial Research (CSIR).Ghosh is currently director of the Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute (CSMCRI) in Bhavnagar, Gujarat.The CSIR, which has nearly 18,000 researchers in 37 laboratories, has been headless after the departure of Ragunath Anant Mashelkar in December last year.According to officials in the science ministry, the selection made by the search committee has to be formally approved by the cabinet.At its June 18 meeting in New Delhi, the search panel chose Ghosh from among the four short-listed out of about 12 aspirants

IIT-JEE Counselling

During counselling for the 5,537 seats—in seven Indian Institute of Technologies (IITs), Institute of Technology-Banaras Hindu University (IT-BHU) and Indian School of Mines University (ISMU-Dhanbad)—this year, candidates were not informed about seats which are already ‘closed’. Earlier, counsellors used to inform students about already-filled seats and subsequently courses which are no longer available.JEE officials explained that the new policy has been put into practice since it is not possible to be cent per cent sure about a particular seat being closed due to various reasons.For instance, students opting for architecture and design courses have to pass an aptitude test, held on the last day of the counseling session. In case a student fails the test, he/she will not be eligible for admission to these courses. But this data is not available during the counselling procedure, hence it is not feasible to say if these seats are closed or not.There are more such complications in the admission procedure. According to IIT officials, as per a Supreme Court ruling, certified physical disabilities (PD) candidates can be allotted seats as per their 'birth category’—general, Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe. If a physically disabled candidate belongs to a scheduled caste, he will be admitted under the SC category.Similarly, a high-ranking student belonging to a SC or ST category may seek admission under the general category. That means a seat will be deducted from the general category, not the reserved categories

exclusive horticultural university

The Andhra Pradesh Government has decided to set up an exclusive horticultural university to give fillip to education and research, which is set to emerge as a major growth engine for boosting the agriculture in the days to come.The university will be set up on a sprawling campus at Venkataramannagudem near Tadepalligudem in West Godavari district and start functioning from the current academic year.Three constituent horticulture colleges would also be set up at Venkataramannagudem, Anantarajupeta in Kadapa district and Mojerla village in Peddamandadi mandal of Mahbubnagar district with an initial intake of 50 candidates each for the current year that would be increased to 100 from the next academic year.Students undergoing B.Sc (Horticulture) in the existing agricultural colleges would continue to be in the colleges from the second year onwards unless they opt for the new colleges being set up.The University will focus on advanced training in research methodologies & instrumentation, high-tech horticulture, biotechnology, micro-irrigation, fertilisation, integrated pest and nutrient management and product development with post-graduate programmes in fruit, vegetables, floriculture, plantation crops and post-harvest management of horticultural crops.

tuition fee waiver scheme

The Andhra Pradesh Government has decided to implement the tuition fee waiver scheme for women, economically backward and physically-challenged meritorious students in technical institutions, proposed by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE).Under the scheme, for every 60 sanctioned strength in a discipline of study, tuition fee waiver would be given to two woman candidates, three economically weaker students (annual income of parents less than Rs. 2.5 lakhs) and one physically-challenged student based on merit.In the event of non-availability of students in a specific category as above, the benefit would be given to any other candidate of other categories according to merit.The institution in turn would be allowed to admit 10 per cent of its sanctioned intake or the number of actual tuition fee waiver granted by the institution, whichever is lower, as an additional intake in the same discipline. The scheme is open for bachelors programmes in engineering, pharmacy, hotel management & catering technology, architecture and applied arts and crafts.

Govt to regulate medical facilities

The government has decided to regulate all clinical establishments, including diagnostic centres. A legislative framework to this effect has been proposed which will also have penal provisions for those who fail in providing minimum standards of services.All the clinical establishments including diagnostic centres will be registered and regulated by the National Council of Standards. The council will prescribe minimum standards for healthcare services and maintain a national register of clinical establishments. The council will be represented by members of medical, dental, nursing and pharmacy councils and Indian Medical Association (IMA). It will be headed by the director general of health services (DGHS).The council will conduct periodic review of the standards for healthcare services. State governments are expected to have similar legislation as health is a state subject. States like Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Nagaland and Manipur have already concurred with the proposed legislation.

UPTU Counselling

Uptu counselling for B.Tec is staring on 12th july from ranking 1 to 5000 and from 5000 to 12500 on 13th,from 12500 to 20000 on 14th, 20,001 to 27500 to 15th,27501 to 35000 to 16th,35001 to 50000 to 17th,50001 to 65000 to 18th,65001 to 85000 to 19th and 85001 to 112363 to 20th.SC and ST from rank 112363 to 139870 will also on 20th.B.Pham. counselling will be on 21,22th july,B.Arch on 23th july,MBA on 24 ,25th july and MCA on 26th july.For second year student it will be on 1 Augest.special counselling for SC/ST/OBC categories will be on 27,28,29,30 july.Additional special counselling for SC seats will be on 3,4 Augest.

Delhi University-cut-offs

job opportunities and the market economy seem to be having an effect on cut-offs to Delhi University courses.subjects related to sectors like finance (Commerce, Economics), media (Eng Hons and Mass Com), IT (Computers), urban development and real estate(Geography), psychology and a restructured BA Program have seen high cut-offs, those for courses like History and pure sciences are down.Students now rush for courses like Economics, Commerce and English which offer instant job placements as opposed to History or Sciences. The IAS has lost its charm with increasing privatisation, decreasing number of seats, more choices. This explains the stagnant and low cut-offs in History.DU officials attributed the fall in cut-offs in science to the large number of students opting for other courses.The biggest surprise this year has been the BA Programme, which has seen cut-offs shooting up by three to eight per cent.

Delhi University first cut-off

The Delhi University has released the first cut-off admissions to under-graduate courses in its colleges.This year's cut-offs marks have got higher by 0.25 per cent as compared to last year.Premier colleges like Sri Ram College of Commerce, Kirori Mal College, Hansraj College have all increased their cut-offs.To get admission in B.Com (Hons) in Hindu College commerce students will need at least 94.25 per cent and non-commerce students will need 96.5 per cent.For the same course in Ramjas College, commerce students will need 93 per cent and non-commerce students 95 per cent.While Kirorimal has fixed its cut-off at 94 per cent, commerce students aspiring for Sri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC) need 94.75 per cent and non-commerce students, at least 96 per cent.For admission in Daulat Ram Colleg one needs at least 92.75 per cent and above.Every year, nearly 35,000 students enroll in scores of undergraduate coursesFor an Economic honours course in Hindu, a student needs an aggregate of 92 to 96 per cent.While in Hans Raj it is 93 to 94 per cent, in Lady Sri Ram, the cut off should be 93.75 per cent. In Miranda House, an aspirant needs to between 91 and 94 per cent.And in Delhi College of Arts and Commerce, the requirement is between 85 and 90 per cent.For a seat in Sociology honours in Hindu College, one requires 86 to 95 percent. In Hans Raj, a student is expected to score between 93 to 98 per cent for a seat in computer Science (Hons).For a seat in Mathematics honours at Hindu College, the requirement is an aggregate of 93 to 95 per cent.For Physics honours, the cut-off is 90 per cent in Hindu, 89 per cent in Hans Raj, 80 percent in Gargi, 86 per cent in Kirori Mal and 85 per cent in Ramjas.And admissions will start from June 27th June. Students who fail to make the first list will have to wait for the second cut-off list that is to be released on June 30.CNN-IBN

Unlimited Potential--Microsoft India

Microsoft India announced the roll-out of project ‘Unlimited Potential’ to enable information technology access to a large number of Indians. The project will focus on creating innovative ways for deploying technology to transform education, foster local innovation, and enable jobs and opportunities to sustain a continuous cycle of social and economic growth in the country.As part of the project, Microsoft will scale up its existing initiatives on the education front and broaden the opportunity beyond institutions to enable access for individuals under a ‘Connected Learning framework’ called IQ, which is essentially a combination of an online and offline content tied into all aspects of a student’s learning process and growth.Microsoft also announced the launch of the MSN IQ Beta Education Channel, a repository of educational as well as edutainment content that will help students access curriculum, avail themselves of online tutoring, competitive exam coaching, online entertainment and counselling.Microsoft is also working with partners in government and industry to build an employability portal that will aid the country’s nearly four-lakh engineering students who graduate each year to improve their technology, business and communication skills through online training and verification.HINDU

Education In Sweden

Sweden, which is approximately the size of California and has a relatively small population of 9.2 million, is one of the most highly developed countries in the world with 100 per cent literacy.Though people here speak Swedish, English is the leading medium of international communication, especially with students and professionals. Most schools and universities tutor in both the languages.The Swedish local currency is SEK (Swedish Kronors). SEK 1 = Rs. 6 approximately.A typical classroom for a graduate or postgraduate course in a Swedish university would comprise students whose age range from 19-50 years. Ninety per cent of the undergraduate studies, postgraduate studies and research in Sweden is carried out at the 13 State universities and the 23 university colleges.Alongside the public universities and colleges, there are a small number of privately-run higher educational institutions that receive government funds. These include the Stockholm School of Economics, Chalmers University of Technology, Royal Institute of Technology (KTH- Kungliga Tekniska Hogskolan) and the University College of Jonkoping.The selection process is highly organised and unbiased. Higher education in Sweden is free for all students (local and international) except for a small fee paid to the student union for social services. The student also gets to enjoy many benefits through this union such as discounts on purchases at bookstores, airlines, etc. Approximately 85 per cent of the funding for undergraduate programmes comes from state grants.The average cost of living for an individual in Sweden in major cities such as Stockholm and Göteborg would be around SEK 5000 per month, which is inclusive of house rent and other expenses. Stockholm is one of the most expensive capitals in the world. But since education is free, the living expenses would not hurt your purse as much as it would if you studied elsewhere in the West.In addition to these, there are about 10 smaller private institutions with the right to award certain degrees of higher education. Types of jobs for which there is a current or expected future high demand include graduate-level IT specialists, engineers, finance and accounting professionals, and marketing and sales professionals. Renowned companies such as Ericsson, Volvo, Tetra Pak, SKF and IKEA are based in Sweden. hindu

CAREERS IN NANOTECHNOLOGY

The Government of India has approved the launch of a mission on Nano Science and Technology (Nano Mission) with an allocation of Rs.1,000 crore for five years.The Department of Science and Technology will be the nodal agency for implementing the Nano Mission.Nanotechnology is an inter-disciplinary subject involving a combination of physics, chemistry, biology and engineering. ‘Nano’ is a Greek word meaning ‘dwarf.’ Nanotechnology is a technology based on the scale of nanometres. One nanometre is equal to one-billionth of a metre. It is 5000 to 50000 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair.Nanotechnology is helpful in detecting the presence of narcotics and fingerprints of suspects. Nano-tube pacemakers, placed in a blood vessel of the heart, can generate electricity for cardiac functioning. The technology enables the manufacture of nano-sized robots to repair damaged and diseased tissues. Nano-coatings are transparent, scratch- resistant and dirt-repellant.Undergraduate courses in India are available only in a few institutes. Experts in the field do not recommend undergraduate courses. Rather, post graduate courses of Ph.Ds are favoured by them. The Amity Institute of Nanotechnology offers an M.Tech. course in nanotechnology.Courses or research opportunities in nanotechnology are being offered by the Jawaharalal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bangalore; the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore; National Physical Laboratory, Delhi; Solid State Physics Laboratory, Delhi; National Chemical Laboratory, Pune; Central Scientific Instruments Organisation, Chandigarh; Defence Materials Store Research and Development Organisation, Kanpur and Indian Institutes of Technology – Kanpur, Chennai, Guwahati, Delhi and Mumbai. Delhi and Benaras Hindu Universities also offer research opportunities in nanotechnology.Job opportunities would be limited for those pursuing nanotechnology with a science background in the country as of now. But the situation will certainly change in a coupled of years. It is a level playing field for both science and engineering graduates.from-HINDU

India set to become third largest banking market

ndia is likely to emerge as the third largest domestic banking market in the world by 2040 and could grow faster than China in the long run, according to a report by PricewaterhouseCoopers called ‘Banking in 2050.The report projects that the banking sector will grow significantly faster than GDP in the emerging economies of China, India, Brazil, Russia, Indonesia, Mexico and Turkey.Total profits from domestic banking in these countries could be around half of those in the G7 nations (US, Japan, Germany, UK, France, Italy and Canada) by 2025 and larger before 2050.The study examines the possible changes in the scale of the banking sector between now and 2050 and highlights the pace of change, while providing some measure of the size of the opportunity and challenge for banks.

John "Jack" Todd

John "Jack" Todd, a pioneer in the fields of computing and numerical analysis, has diedJohn "Jack" Todd, a pioneer in the fields of computing and numerical analysis, has died.Todd, who started his career in the days before computers or hand-held calculators, specialized in understanding how to find answers to complicated numerical questions.The logic by which today's computers operate "is very much the application of the kind of mathematics that Jack developed.Todd and his wife, matrix and number theorist Olga Taussky-Todd, came to the United States in 1947 to help establish the National Applied Mathematical Laboratories, where they helped launch the field of high-speed computer programming and analysis. The pair took teaching and research posts at Caltech in 1957.

medical colleges

Out of 262 medical colleges in the country, 60 odd, both private and Government, have not been issued certificates of continuance by the Medical Council of India (MCI), after the council members found deficiencies in terms of aspects like infrastructure and teaching faculty in these colleges.Seventy per cent of the affected colleges are situated in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Gujarat, Karnataka and Maharastra, a few are from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and other states.

ombudsman

Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur has for the first time appointed an ombudsman. The ombusdman would be like a Lokpal.Onkar Dixit of the Civil Engineering department has been appointed as the first ombudsman.his main object would be to convey the problems of the students to the institute's administration.The move came in the wake of two students committing suicide in the past one year, allegedly due to mental tension.

Energy management

The Indian Institute of Technology Bombay has proposed a new specialised B.Tech programme in energy science and engineering stream this year to mark its golden jubilee celebrations which begin in the month of September 2007.The country’s premier engineering institution is also gearing up to offer dual degree option and expand its research activities as well as engage in a comprehensive faculty development programme.Energy management will be among the biggest challenges of the next century and we have introduced a specialised course in energy science and engineering which will focus on subjects like physics, chemistry and alternative fuels which deal with the fundamentals of energy and include engineering and conservation.

study materials

Engineering students now access lectures and study materials of experts from top institutes, including the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore.IIT-Kanpur has been working on a Rs-13-crore National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL) that aims at spreading quality education among engineering colleges across the country through video and web-based learning material in some popular disciplines.The programme is an initiative of the Ministry of Human Resource Development. Altogether 120 video and 120 web courses in disciplines, including computer sciences, civil engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering etc, have been created. the study material is already available for use, the website (www.nptel.iitm.ac.in) is open to all and there is no cost involved in using the learning material.

Archimedes

Archimedes prepared the way for integral calculus and approximated the number Pi. He discovered the law of leverage and invented new formulas to calculate the properties of cylinders and spheres. He once yelled "Eureka" while bathing, after having dreamed up the concept of specific weight while splashing around. He even specified the number of grains of sand that could fit into the universe: 1063. Until then the Greeks had merely left it at a "myriad" (or 10,000).

genetic pattern of tumor growth

Using mathematical theory, UC Irvine scientists have shed light on one of cancer’s most troubling puzzles – how cancer cells can alter their own genetic makeup to accelerate tumor growth. The discovery shows for the first time why this change occurs, providing insight into how cancerous tumors thrive and a potential foundation for future cancer treatments.UCI mathematicians Natalia Komarova, Alexander Sadovsky and Frederic Wan looked at cancer from the point of view of a tumor and asked: What can a tumor do to optimize its own growth? They focused on the phenomenon of genetic instability, a common feature of cancer in which cells mutate at an abnormally fast rate. These mutations can cause cancer cells to grow, or they can cause the cells to die.The scientists found that cancerous tumors grow best when they are very unstable in early stages of development and become stable in later stages. In other words, tumors thrive when cancerous cells mutate to speed up malignant transformation, and then stay that way by turning off the mutation rate.

Curing Cancer With Mathematics

According to Lisette de Pillis, the secret to more effective therapies to fight cancer can be found in mathematics. A cancer researcher and mathematics professor at Harvey Mudd College in California, de Pillis is leading a team that is developing and testing new mathematically optimal approaches to controlling multiple simultaneous cancer treatment strategies, which include chemotherapy, immunotherapy and vaccine therapy.Professor de Pillis and her team will present their National Science Foundation-sponsored research project "Curing Cancer with Mathematics" at the 13th annual meeting of the Coalition for National Science Funding on Tuesday in Washington D.C.The project and team were selected to represent the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) at the CNSF exhibition in Washington, D.C., where they will showcase the kind of active research that takes place with undergraduates at HMC. Harvey Mudd College was named by the MAA to receive its first Exemplary Program in Mathematics award in 2006.

Schools stifling creativity: CBSE chief

Ashok Ganguly Chairman of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has said ,Most schools stifle the innate creativity of children by putting them through a repetitive and boring schedule. he attributed the reason for children failing in examinations to a faulty educational system. Not all children had left-brain skills. Trained well, those with right-brain skills could excel in their field of activity. A continuous evaluation process was required for the purpose. Compulsion must be replaced by the choice of study.making a presentation on “Key issues in school education,” he said that a principal must become the chief learning officer of the school. One had to be a good learner through life, to lead the school. The focus should not just be on obtaining marks in examinations. Emotional, physical, mental and spiritual well-being of the child too had to be given importance

anti-ragging rule

Now students of IIT Kanpur will have to sign a declaration that they would not be involved in any kind of ragging activities or else face severe punishment.Under the declaration, if any student was found in any type of ragging activity, he/ she would be bound for any punishment - from registration of police case trustication .Besides the students, their parents or guardians would also have to make declaration saying if their wards were found to be involved in ragging, they would acceptthe punishment as prescribed by the institute.The new rule will be applicable to both freshers and senior students of the institute.

central universities

The government is to establish 30 central universities to bring world-class higher education across the country.The ministry of human resource development, the University Grants Commission (UGC) and the Planning Commission have already began work on setting them up.As opposed to universities run by state governments, a central university is normally set up under an act of parliament and not only receives funding from the central government but is also governed by the UGC in terms of course curriculum.According to the ministry of human resources development, there are 18 central universities, including the Jawaharlal Nehru University, Banaras Hindu University, Jamia Milia Islamia, Delhi University and Visva Bharati.

Navratna

The government on conferred Navratna status on three PSUs - Bharat Electronics Ltd, Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd and Power Finance Corporation, giving them more financial and administrative powers.now 12 public sector enterprises are Navratna, the title originally meant for nine companies in 1999.These three PSUs will now be able to forge joint ventures both in India and abroad, which can be up to 15 per cent of their networth or Rs 1,000 crore, whichever is lower, without taking prior permission of the administrative ministry.four more PSUs - National Aluminium Company, National Mineral Development Corp, Power Grid Corp and Rural Electrification Corp - would also be given Navratna status as soon as they fill all the vacancies for independent directors. Seven companies were selected out of 10 PSUs that had applied for Navratna status. However, Coal India did not fulfill the basic requirements, while the Shipping Corporation of India`s case was withdrawn by the administrative ministry, pending further review of its performance. BSNL was not granted the status.BEL, under the Defence Ministry, was originally set up to meet electronic needs of the Indian Defence Services but has now become a multi-product, multi-technology and multi-unit company catering to the needs of diverse customers. During 2006-07, BEL recorded a turnover of Rs 3,960.38 crore and profit after tax of Rs 713.85 crore.Power Finance Corporation, which recently tapped stock markets, is engaged in financing of power sector projects. The company earned a net profit of Rs 983.21 crore during 2006-07.Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, a major aerospace company under the Defence Ministry, manufactures aircraft, aerospace, navigation and communication equipment and has plants in Nassik, Korwa, Kanpur, Koraput, Lucknow and Hyderabad.

UGC

The University Grants Commission (UGC) has directed institutions and Universities against retaining school,institution leaving certificate, mark sheet, caste certificate and other documents in original, preventing a candidate from joining another institution of his choice. It has come to the UGC`s notice that students were being admitted to various courses long before the academic session started and collected full fee from them and retained their certificates in original.The institutions were also reportedly confiscating the fee paid if a student failed to join on the due date.UGC clearly stated that it was of the view that by way of retaining the certificate in original, force retention of admitted students, which limited the opportunities for the candidates from exercising other options of joining other institutions of their choice.

Career in Geophysics

Geophysics is the study of the physics of the earth, especially its crust, and applied geophysics deals with the application of methods of physics to study the earth. Geophysics and applied geophysics are rare, specialised disciplines available at the postgraduate level. The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) at Kharagpur and Mumbai offer M.Sc. Geophysics and M.Sc. Applied Geophysics respectively (15 seats each) and IIT-Roorkee offers M.Tech. Applied Geophysics (10 seats).Besides, M.Sc.- Ph.D. Dual Degree programmes in Physics are available in the IITs at Mumbai (8 seats) and Kanpur (9 seats). M.Sc. Physics is offered at all IITs: Mumbai (25 seats), Delhi (35), Guwahati (30), Kanpur (19), Kharagpur (30), Chennai (35) and Roorkee (16). Selection to all these programmes are based on the Joint Admission Test (JAM) conducted by the IIT annually.Entry qualification for the M.Sc. Geophysics course conducted by IIT-Kharagpur is a bachelor's degree and the candidates should have studied any two of these subjects — physics, mathematics and geology — for at least two years/ four semesters and the third one for at least one year/ two semesters.Entry qualification for M.Sc. Applied Geophysics/ M.Tech. Applied Geophysics offered by IIT- Bombay and IIT-Roorkee respectively is bachelor's degree with mathematics and physics as subjects and any one of the following subjects: chemistry, geology, statistics, electronics and computer science.IIT-Bombay requires a bachelor's degree of at least three-year duration and IIT-Roorkee requires at least 60 per cent aggregate marks in the qualifying degree. M.Sc. Physics/ M.Sc.-Ph.D. Dual Degree programmes in Physics conducted by IITs at Mumbai, Delhi, Guwahati, Kanpur, Kharagpur, Madras and Roorkee require a bachelor's degree with physics as a subject for three years/ six semesters and mathematics for at least two years/ four semesters for admission, with varying mark stipulations.Students appearing in the final examination of the qualifying degree will also be eligible to appear in JAM. The test paper in geophysics is applicable for M.Sc. Applied Geophysics, Geophysics and M.Tech. Applied Geophysics and test paper in physics is applicable for M.Sc. Physics and M.Sc.-Ph.D. Dual Degree programme in Physics. The Department of Applied Geophysics of the Indian School of Mines University, Dhanbad - 826 004, offers excellent study facilities for M.Sc. Tech Degree (3 years) programme in Applied Geophysics. Entry qualification is B.Sc. Physics with mathematics as one of the major subjects. Physics students must have studied mathematics as one of the subsidiaries and mathematics students must have studied physics as a subsidiary subject. Other subsidiary subjects may be chemistry, geology, geography, electronics, statistics and computer/engineering science/application. Selection is through the all-India-level entrance test conducted by the ISM University. Test centres include Chennai, Hyderabad, Delhi, Mumbai and Varanasi.The entrance test includes one paper in physics (for physics main graduates) and one paper in mathematics (for mathematics main graduates). This entrance notification can be expected during December/ January every year.ISM University also conducts a five-year integrated M.Sc. Tech Applied Geophysics and Applied Geology courses and also an M.Sc. applied Physics course. For more details, visit website www.ismdhanbad.ac.in.Those who obtain higher degrees, including doctorates, can try to secure specialist jobs in scientific institutions such as the Centre for Earth Science Studies, Geological survey of India, Natural Institute of Oceanography, the academic field, Government agencies such as research laboratories, defence research development organisations, oil refineries and the ONGC.Those who specialise in exploration geophysics will find good opportunities in mining and refinery fields.

AIEEE

The All India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE) counselling process, which is the gateway for admissions to 40 institutes including 20 NITs, will be held from July 2 to 13. (The off-campus online counselling is already under way from June 16).

CPMT EXAM RESULT

The Poorvanchal University has announced the results of the UP Combined PMT exam after a revaluation.The results were pulled back last week and a revaluation was ordered after allegations of gross malpractices.According to the result posted on the NIC website, more than 53,000 students have passed this time, against just 15,000 earlier.The university Vice Chancellor KP Singh has resigned accepting responsibility for the errors.About 80,000 candidates had appeared in the examination seeking admission in different medical colleges in the state, having a capacity of about 1,500 seats. These also included the aryurvedic and homeopathic institutions.Significantly, Manvi Dua, who had topped the examination as per the earlier result, was now placed in the 20th position. Similarly, those who had figured among the top 20 in the previous result were now actually far down in the list.

residential public schools

Andhra Pradesh will set up rural residential public schools on corporate lines across the state. Two such schools in each district will be operational from the next academic year.main objective of establishing such schools was to provide corporate type secondary school education in rural areas. Each school will have CBSE syllabus from Class-VI to Class-XII with three sections each for every class. There will be only 40 students in a section.The move to set up such schools in rural areas is significant as it comes against the backdrop of state’s students bagging 25 per cent of the IIT seats this year. Students from Andhra Pradesh have also done exceedingly well in all India joint entrance exam for Engineering. All these students were trained in corporate tutorials which are in high demand.

OBC Quota

The Symbiosis International University’s move to implement the 27 per cent quota for OBCs and admitting students belonging to the OBCs has been challenged in the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court on Monday cautioned Pune-based Symbiosis University that it would be admitting students under the 27 per cent OBC quota at its “own peril.A student Anket Kumar, aggrieved by the admissions given under the 27 per cent quota for OBCs had moved the apex court saying these admissions had been given in violation of the apex court’s order

Upendra Singh

Seventeen-year-old Upendra Singh of Etawah's Gopiyapur Village has cleared the entrance examination for the Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech) degree course.Hailing from a poor family, Upendra lost his mother at a very young age. Besides studying, he supplemented the meagre income of his brick kiln worker father. He used to lend him a helping hand and himself became a midget labourer.But Upendra is indebted to the brick kiln owner for being so helpful and cooperative to him.But Upendra has a major task ahead to arrange funds for his studies

MHT-CET

Maharashtra has 18 medical colleges with an intake of 2,060 and four dental colleges with a total capacity of 240, which are run by the state government. That makes it 2,300 seats for MBBS and BDS. Of these, 15% of the seats are allotted to students coming through an all-India quota, thus leaving 1,955 seats for the state’s students.The demand for state-subsidised medical education is so high that, according to figures available with the directorate of medical education and research, 1,20,692 students took the exam this year for the 1,955 seats.Of these, 39,725 or 32.91% qualified with a score of over 100 of the total 200 marks. Maharashtra has 18 medical colleges with an intake of 2,060 and four dental colleges with a total capacity of 240, which are run by the state government. That makes it 2,300 seats for MBBS and BDS. Of these, 15% of the seats are allotted to students coming through an all-India quota, thus leaving 1,955 seats for the state’s students.The demand for state-subsidised medical education is so high that, according to figures available with the directorate of medical education and research, 1,20,692 students took the exam this year for the 1,955 seats. Of these, 39,725 or 32.91% qualified with a score of over 100 of the total 200 marks.

IIT-Kharagpur Top Technology College In India: Survey

The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur, in West Bengal is the top technology and engineering college of the country, edging out IIT-Madras which held the position last year, a survey said.According to the survey by Data Quest, a technology magazine in India, and International Data Corporation (IDC), a US-headquartered research firm, the seven IITs have bagged the top seven positions. IIT-Kharagpur climbed two places to the first slot.The National Institute of Technology (NIT), Warangal, has stormed into the top 10 list for the first time. While IIT-Madras has slipped from the top slot to second position, IIT-Bombay climbed two spots to occupy the third slot. The premier IIT-Delhi had slid to fourth from No.2 last year, while IIT-Roorkee has jumped two places to fifth spot.IIT-Guwahati is ranked sixth, while IIT-Kanpur is surprisingly the last in the rung of IITs at seventh spot.While Indian Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad, bagged the ninth spot, Institute of Technology of Banaras Hindu University (BHU) was at 10th spot.

Swapna Biswas

A physically challenged girl in Tripura has passed her Class 10 board examinations by writing with her feet.Born with a deformity that prevented both her hands from functioning, Swapna Biswas, 17, of Uttar Nalichara village in Dhalai district, about 100 km from capital, fought her way through life without letting the disability prevent her from leading as normal a life as possible.Swapna used her feet to do all daily chores, from cooking to fetching water, and learnt to write by holding her pen between her toes. Naturally, she was jubilant when she secured a second division in the Class 10 examinations.

Nivio

Twelve young creative programmers - part of a Delhi-based start up - have created the Nivio, the "world's first Windows based online desktop" which helps users create a full-fledged virtual customised desktop on the web.Registered users of the trial of the beta version get the full Windows XP interface, five gigabytes of storage and standard features like file back-up, virus and spam protection.The free bundle of software tools includes the 'Open Office' suite, Outlook Express, Internet Explorer, Acrobat 8 reader, iTunes and Winamp players, Yahoo Messenger, and for 'Open' software lovers: the choice of a Mozilla Firefox browser and the Foxit Reader. At the end of the free-to-use period in December 2007, Nivio will be offered on a monthly subscription of Rs 399 — with a 50 per cent discount.

DU Admission

The cut-off percentage in the first list will be very high and students should take admission wherever they could. last date for availability of forms has been fixed at June 15, the first cut off list will be out June 26.But now there will be some changes. Colleges that don't declare the list because of prestige will also have seats left in courses and will see students move from one course to another.While there has been hype about Commerce this year, the other courses that have found favour with students are Economics, English and Mathematics.However, the biggest surprise in the whole admission process seems to be the enthusiasm that students have had for evening colleges. Evening colleges allow students to add extra entry in resume and parents and students are realising this. Even the School of Correspondence is getting students with high marks, because they want to get more qualifications.Psychology Honours is specially designed for those who want to see their future as experts in the various openings offered by the subject. And since specialization doesn’t come easy, only eight out of eighty colleges in the varsity offer the course.As the cut off list of last year indicates, 92.25 % was the percentage in demand for pursuit of the course at LSR, 92% for Gargi College, 91.5% for Indraprastha College and 84% for Kamla Nehru College.

CPMT

Authorities of the Veer Bahadur Singh Poorvanchal University that conducted the UP Combined Pre-Medical Test-2007, have accepted that a ‘technical error’ caused gross inaccuracy in the results of the test.The results were declared on May 14. Eerror was discovered by the technical committee that was formed by the state administration to probe the alleged irregularities in the results after the protests

CPMT

CPMT seems to have lost its credibility over the last six years.CPMT examination process begins with the procedure for selecting the university, as directed by the High Court several years ago, for the purpose which begins around six months before the examination.For this, chancellor nominates a committee for the purpose which suggests a few names with a background of the organisers and the reputation of the probable organising heads. The chancellor goes through the report and then selects the final name.Another main reason behind the 'annual CPMT chaos' is limited seats. As against over 40,000 seats of the technical university there are 1500 seats in various medical colleges. Prior to the segregation of private medical and dental colleges from the CPMT exams, the seats were around 3,000.

IIM

The prestigious Indian Institute of Management (IIM) will soon be set up in Andhra Pradesh.AP will have an IIM in this plan period.union minister to sanction an IIM for the state which was emerging as a major knowledge hub in the country.The establishment of IIM has been a long-pending demand of the state.The centre had recently sanctioned Indian Institute of technology (IIT) for the state, which will be set up in the neighbouring Medak district.

Sushma

Seven-year-old Sushma has created a record by clearing the class X UP Board exam.In a family of high achievers, Sushma is not the only child prodigy. Her brother Shailendra cleared class XII Board examination when he was just 11 years old.He has also cleared the prestigious Scholastic Assessment Test and secured admission to a US university.

internal assessment

NCERT has recommended an increase in the marks allotted to internal assessment by up to 50 per cent.As part of reforms in the examination system, the Department of Education Measurement and Evaluation of NCERT has suggested various educational boards across the country, including CBSE, to give more weightage to school-based assessment which would be conducted through oral testing, projects and practicals.NCERT has also suggested revamping the question patterns in the written test with more emphasis on short answer type and Multiple Choice Questions (MCQ).As per the recommendations, the teachers in schools will conduct oral testing by asking questions to students and initiating discussions among them. The oral skills of students will carry certain marks.

research park

Tamil Nadu government has allotted 11 acres of land to Indian Institute of Technology- Madras (IIT-M) to set up a research park at the cost of Rs 100 crore.The plans and other financial arrangements for the park are ready and the project is expected to start within couple of months.The institute is also expecting a grant of at least Rs 60 crore from the Ministry of Human Resources Development to part-fund the project.The park, planned on the lines of research parks in Stanford and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, had put forward some pre-conditions for the companies, evincing interest to set up labs in the park.The companies must enter into a joint research pact with the IIT-Madras and provide internship opportunities to the students.The companies would be allowed to carry out only research in the park and not use the space for setting up sales or marketing offices. All proposals to set up labs would be scrutinised by a panel from IIT-Madras. Space would be rented out to companies at prices lower than the prevailing commercial rent.After setting up the labs in the park, the companies would have to earn credits through their operation period. Some avenues to earn credit, included teaching at IIT-Madras as adjunct faculty, pursuing a PhD at the institution and aiding ongoing research at the institute. The companies would also be evaluated every six months for credits

Medical JEE three-time limit

The Bengal government has decided to abolish its 35-year-old practice of allowing aspirants to take the JEE (medical) as many times as they want to ensure that fresh class XII graduates get right of way in medical schools.Starting next year, students will be allowed to take the entrance test only three times from the year they first sit the class XII exams.That means any candidate who has cleared the HS or an equivalent exam before 2006 would be ineligible to appear for the test in 2008.There has been an age limit for students taking the engineering entrance, primarily because recruiting companies prefer employing youngsters. But the Medical Council of India has no similar guideline.The new guidelines in Bengal do not explicitly impose an age limit on medical candidates, though for all practical purposes the curb on the number of attempts amounts to such a bar.The decision has yet to reach the public domain. But hints of such a step were greeted with rumblings of resentment in medical colleges as nearly 50 per cent of the current students have made it after multiple shots at the joint entrance.

Subra Suresh

MIT news announced on , June 14, that Professor Subra Suresh, the Ford Professor of Engineering at MIT, will succeed Professor Thomas Magnanti as the next dean of the School of Engineering. Suresh will assume his new leadership role July 23.A 1977 graduate of the Indian Institute of Technology in Madras, Suresh received a master's from Iowa State University in 1979 before pursuing doctoral studies at MIT, where he received the Sc.D. in 1981. After two years of postdoctoral research at the University of California at Berkeley, he joined the faculty at Brown University, where he rose to the rank of professor of engineering in 1989 before returning to the MIT in 1993 as the R.P. Simmons Professor. He was awarded the IIT Distinguished Alumni Award in 1997.Suresh, who served as head of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering (DMSE) from 2000 to 2006.Suresh holds faculty appointments in DMSE, mechanical engineering, biological engineering and the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology (HST). He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering.As head of DMSE, Suresh helped recruit nearly a third of the faculty members currently in the department and was instrumental in launching new laboratories along the Infinite Corridor as well as educational and research programs that include a new undergraduate curriculum and a new M.Eng. degree program. Working closely with the Department of Physics, he played a key role in the launch of a building project known as PDSI, whose renovations and new construction for Physics, DMSE, the Spectroscopy Laboratory and infrastructure are now nearing completion.Suresh is a strong proponent of innovative international collaborations in teaching and research. He was the founding chair of the Singapore-MIT Alliance (SMA) Program on Advanced Materials and is the founding director of the Global Enterprise for Micromechanics and Molecular Medicine (GEM4), which brings together 14 participating institutions from the United States and a number of foreign countries.Suresh's own current research focuses on experimental and computational studies of the mechanical responses of single biological cells and molecules and their implications for human health and diseases. His prior and ongoing work has also led to seminal contributions in the area of nano- and micro-scale mechanical properties of engineered materials.His many awards and honors include election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and academies of engineering and/or science based in Germany, India, Italy and Spain. Last year, he received the Acta Materialia Gold Medal for "pioneering research" into the mechanical properties of materials and was selected by MIT's Technology Review magazine for its TR10 list as one of the 10 scientists whose research will have "a significant impact on business, medicine or culture" in the years ahead.Suresh is the recipient of the 2007 European Materials Medal from the Federation of European Materials Societies. He is the first scientist based outside Europe to receive the award. Suresh will receive a gold medal and deliver a plenary lecture to materials scientists and engineers on the opening day of Euromat 2007, the official meeting of FEMS, to be held in Nuremburg, Germany, in September 2007.Only last month Suresh led an international research team that discovered the gene for a parasite protein that could lead to treatment for malaria.Suresh, who holds appointments in materials science and engineering, biological engineering, mechanical engineering and the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, has been studying the mechanics of red blood cells and the effects of malaria on those cells for several years.

Indira Gandhi National Tribal University

The rich tribal art, culture, language, customs and even medicine systems are set to get a major fillip as the central government Friday gave its consent to establishing a tribal university in Madhya Pradesh.The Indira Gandhi National Tribal University in Amarkantak district of the state will come up with funding from the department of higher education through the University Grants Commission (UGC), like other Central Universities. The initial financial requirement of the proposed varsity is estimated at Rs.600 million and a recurring expenditure of Rs.120 million annually.It would ensure establishment of a teaching and affiliating University for facilitating and promoting avenues of higher education and research facilities for the tribal population of the country.According to the human resource development ministry, the management of the varsity shall, as far as possible, be consistent with the special nature of the institution with adequate number of members of the executive council, academic council and the college development council and other bodies earmarked for persons from amongst the Scheduled Tribes.The ministry officials said the university would cater to the specific educational needs of the tribal population in the predominantly tribal areas comprising parts of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat.Similarly, an adequate number of seats in the matter of admission, of posts in the matter of employment, and other benefits shall be earmarked for the community.Apart from affiliating colleges, the varsity will have the power to establish its own regional centres in tribal areas.There will be at least one school in every regional centre to serve as a model school for the region, from where the tribal students would be expected to join the local colleges or the university.

Georgia Needs Math and Science Teachers

Georgia's colleges and universities are not graduating enough potential math and science teachers to satisfy the state's growing needs, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. According to a new study, "out of 25,000 public college graduates [in Georgia] in 2006, just three became high school physics teachers and nine became chemistry teachers," reporter Andrea Jones writes. "By 2010, Georgia will need more than 4,500 middle and high school math and science teachers. In 2006, the most recent statistics available, the University System produced just 678 in those fields.

L N Jhunjhunwala

Bhilwara Group Emeritus chairman L N Jhunjhunwala has been appointed as the Chairman of Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Indore's board and the society. Jhunjhunwala will take over from Bharat Forge Limited's Chairman Baba Kalyani.The appointment of Jhunjunwala was made by the Union Human Resources Development ministry for a period of five years.Kalyani was the longest serving Chairman of the board for full two terms since the IIM was established in Indore.

Vaishnavi-CAT examinee

A visually impaired CAT examinee has challenged IIM Bangalore’s final admissions list.Vaishnavi, a 22-year-old from Bangalore, obtained a percentile of 89.2 in CAT, above the mark set for candidates in the persons with disability (PWD) category.She now wants the B-school to provide her a copy of the PWD-category admissions list along with the marks each student obtained in the GD and interview.With the IIM unwilling to meet her request, Vaishnavi has moved the Central Information Commission.The B-school has told the Central Information Commission it is willing to reveal Vaishnavi’s marks in the GD and interview and the weight accorded to each “if the body insists”. The commission has asked the IIM to argue its case on June 18 in Vaishnavi’s presence.

IIMA

The new academic session at the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad will commence from June 21 with 300 students.The 300 students of the 2007 session are divided among three different programs at IIM-A: 250 students in the MBA level Post Graduate Program, 30 in the Post Graduate Program in Agriculture Business Management and 20 in the Fellow Program in Management.Though there are no major changes in IIM-A programs’ curricula as yet, the institute has set up a committee to study the changing needs.

IITs alumni group

Senator Hillary Clinton is set to take time out of her presidential campaign next month to interact with an influential alumni group of the prestigious Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs). Approximately 4,000 Indian Americans are expected to attend the event, which is just one sign of the growing clout of the community in US politics.In April, prominent Indian American hotelier Sant Chatwal announced that Indian Americans plan to raise at least $5 million for Clinton's presidential campaign.The Indian American community has one of the highest average incomes in the country, according to the US Census Bureau.In 2005, median household income for 'Asian Indians' in America was $73, which is 59 per cent above the national average. More than a third of Indian-American adults have an advanced degree compared to 10 per cent of the general population.

Ram Murty

Queen's math professor Ram Murty has been widely lauded for his work in algebraic and analytic number theory and has been published in an array of mathematics journals. But he's never had as much attention as he has be attracting recently, since he and fellow Queen's math professor Agnes Herzberg became the first to explore potential mathematical connections to the popular number puzzle game Sudoku.
Both Sudoku fans, for fun they decided to study the potential mathematical connections to the game, which has players fill a nine-by-nine grid so that each column and row and three-by-three box contains the numbers one to nine. "We came up with probably the first definitive mathematical theory of the puzzle," Murty said. "We analysed it from a mathematical perspective and found beautiful connections to other parts of mathematics, for example, graph theory, number theory, probability theory, statistics." Their research was published in the June/July issue of the American Mathematical Society's journal Notices. Using graph theory, the math professors systematically analysed Sudoku puzzles and found the theory behind them could be used in a wide array of practical applications, including analysing communications networks and airline schedules. The pair also determined that working on Sudoku puzzles improves people's math skills because the game is essentially a math problem. "There are some logical skills that people are unlocking when they're solving a Sudoku puzzle," Murty said. "There are logical skills, combinational skills that come out." Murty finds it amusing that the research he and Herzberg did for fun has garnered so much attention, but he said he's happy to see that Sudoku's popularity has inspired more Canadians to work on their math skills. He urges math-a-phobics who find the numbers game intimidating to persevere. After all, he said, even the average mathematician takes 30 minutes to an hour to solve one of the simpler Sudoku puzzles. "Everyone has an innate mathematical ability," he said. "It just has to be brought out and in some way Sudoku does that."

GGSIPU Admissions

Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University (GGSIPU), better known as IP University, will reserve 85% of its total seats for Delhi Students from this academic sessions.The 85 percent quota for Delhi Students will be valid only in the institutions and colleges affiliated to the university and not in those institutions which are aided by the Central Government.The varsity offers 7000 seats at the undergraduate level. The remaining 15 percent seats will be reserved for the outstation students. The 10 percent management quota will also be introduced in the affiliated private institutions.

DU Admission

On the first day of the admission process, 1st June, 32,576 common pre-admission forms were sold from 17 information centers set up across the city. In fact, Kirori Mal College, one of the three information centres in North Campus, fell short of application forms mid-way and had to bring in a new lot. Hansraj too fell short of forms. At the Arts Faculty at Delhi University, 2,800 forms were sold by the evening.Interestingly the Delhi University provides only upto 35,000 seats at the undergraduate level for non-professional courses and 5,000 for the professional ones which means on the first day itself the number of aspirants almost touched the mark of the number of seats available. Also to be noted is that, if last year the university sold close to 1.50 lakh admission forms; with around 35,000 mark close at hand only on the first day and with 14 more days to go, the forms sold mark will expectedly soon soar higher than last year’s records. As per what was scheduled then, while the last date for availability of forms has been fixed at June 15, the first cut off list will be out June 26.These are the undergraduate, largely non-professional courses and yet easily some of the most coveted and best designed ones. They are honours courses in B Com, Economics, Psychology, Journalism and English. DU is very famous for commerce and arts courses and not surprisingly it is B Com and B.A Economics Honours courses that go on to be the highest grosser of skyrocketing percentages and the best scorers in the country.The university is also known for the brilliantly structured arts courses, the most coveted ones being; Psychology, Journalism and English. From counselors, to multinational human resource experts to clinical psychologists; Psychology Honours is specially designed for those who want to see their future as experts in the various openings offered by the subject. And since specialization doesn’t come easy, only eight out of eighty colleges in the varsity offer the course.As the cut off list of last year indicates, 92.25 % was the percentage in demand for pursuit of the course at LSR, 92% for Gargi College, 91.5% for Indraprastha College and 84% for Kamla Nehru College. Journalism, on the other hand being close to a sort of professional course, is offered by only a handful of colleges of DU namely- LSR, Kamala Nehru, Delhi College of Arts and Commerce, Kalindi and Maharaja Agrasen College. This course needs no introduction.English (Hons) too is one such course designed with the student’s interest in mind. It is certainly the best bet for those driven by passion for literature. The specialty of this course is that although it has nothing to do with ‘improvement in English’, it helps in developing a general worldview and analytical understanding of the text and the issues embodied within.catering to the dynamic, ever-changing scenario of science and technology, the university offers specially designed courses in Biochemistry, apart from the traditional Physics, Chemistry and Biology schemes.
In fact catering to popular demands, the university is quick to come up with fresh innovative courses. A recent addition in the ever increasing list, is the introduction of Green Chemistry at Hindu College, commencing this session. Also keeping in mind popular tastes, Ramjas College has designed an add-on course on Gandhigiri which will add an amusing dimension to academically-oriented course structures. zee news

quota

St Stephen’s has proposed a 10-per cent quota for Dalit Christians from this academic session.As per the new policy, seats for general category students would be reduced from the present 50 per cent to 40 per cent. The college will also set aside 20 per cent seats for other categories: 5 per cent for the sports quota and 15 per cent for SC/ST, disabled and children/widows/wives of soldiers killed or disabled in action.The majority of teachers also opposed the new admission policy, which proposes to increase the quota for Christians, the minority community that runs the institution, from 30 per cent to 40 per cent. Of this, 25 per cent seats are proposed to be reserved for Dalit Christians.

Higher Education in UP

Against over 15 lakh students, including over nine lakh of UP Board, who have qualified the 10 plus 2 examinations this year, the number of seats available in degree colleges and state universities is only around one lakh. If one adds around 50,000 seats in technical, medical and agriculture colleges as well, the number would go up to 1.5 lakh. Let us assume that 10 to 20,000 students would manage to get admissions to educational institutes in other states, around 30,000 may join open university and 50,000 polytechnics and private vocational institutes. Still, 12 lakh students of the state will have no opportunity to pursue the higher education.
Significantly, students passing the 10 plus 2 examinations this year will also have to compete with around 10 lakh students, who could not get admissions in higher education previous year. In Lucknow, there are only around 30,000 seats at under-graduate level against the two lakh students who seek admissions every year.
Uttar Pradesh has three Central universities, 12 state universities, two agriculture universities, one technical university, one medical university, one dental university, five deemed universities, two open universities and 800 degree colleges. Out of around 14,209 posts of teachers in the state universities, 20 per cent are lying vacant. The total number of students in all the three under-graduate years and two post-graduate years as well as in technical, medical and agriculture colleges is around 10 lakh. It means the teacher-taught ratio is around 1:100 against the UGC's prescribed ratio of 1:60.

technical education

A preference for degrees over diplomas has affected technical education in India with many outstanding polytechnic institutions becoming poor and offering degree courses.In the past, the number of technicians were almost double than that of engineers in the country. However, today there are more engineering students that polytechnic students and more engineering colleges than polytechnic institutes. technical education had been witnessing a large number of drop-outs every year. Though nearly 36,000 students get admission to technical institutes every year as against nearly 47,000 for engineering courses, a number of students drop out of the course by the end of first or second year.

MATH EDUCATION

Parents whose children are weak at mathematics, reading, and writing better watch out for symptoms of sleep disorders in their kids, for a research suggests that such symptoms may cause students to have more trouble academically than their peers.Authored by Alyssa Bachmann of Chappaqua Public Schools in New York, the study was focused on the parents of 218 second and third graders, who completed Sleep Disorders Inventory for Students - Child Form, a brief screening tool validated for use in the schools.The results showed that students with reported symptoms of sleep disorders received significantly worse grades, specifically in maths, reading and writing, than students without symptoms of sleep orders.

Teaching Workforce

A new report released Monday by business leaders and educators highlights a call to arms to reverse a large deficit in math and science teachers.The report -- An American Imperative: Transforming the Recruitment, Retention, and Renewal of Our Nation's Mathematics and Science Teaching Workforce -- was released by the Business-Higher Education Forum and provides a comprehensive plan to increase the quantity and the quality of math and science teachers nationwide.The report focused on the need for math and science teachers at the middle school and high school levels and projected a national shortfall of teachers of more than 280,000 by 2015.

Civil-Services Examination

Every year during the month of May, the UPSC announces the results of the previous year's Civil-Services Examination selection list, and, also conducts preliminary examination of the current year. While a microscopic minority clears the exams in their very first attempt a majority do so only in their third or fourth attempts and a few others in their sixth to ninth attempts! Aspirants who have cleared the Civil Services but could not get into the IAS, and aspirants who have missed the selection by a whisker decide to try again.During the 2006 selection, 525 were selected.about two lakh aspirants appeared. After going through the selection process, in three stages, only 474 got selected finally. The rate of success is about 0.24%. Inspite of this, the number of aspirants is on the increase year after year

civil services

The Government is firm on enforcing the rule of a minimum tenure of two years for cadre posts of Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers.The Government had brought in a fixed-tenure of two years for key posts such as the Cabinet Secretary, Home Secretary, Director of Intelligence Bureau and chief of the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW).Though a notification, amending the IAS (cadre) rules, was issued on August 24 last year after consultations with State Governments, only Jammu and Kashmir gave its consent to the minimum two-year fixed tenure.An officer may be transferred before the minimum tenure only on the recommendation of a Committee on Minimum Tenure. The committee or the Civil Services Board shall seek detailed justification for the transfer of an officer before the minimum tenure from the administrative department concerned

Civil Services

Civil Services the coveted prize for all the citizens and the real backbone of Indian democracy is no more the most sought after profession among young Indians.With economic liberalization the monopoly of private sector as well as government has declined and in turn has generated competition in every field. Private sector especially IT has produced lots of job opportunities with handsome salaries that act as a bait for young Indians. Also the rapid development in this field and the growing Indian economy has simply multiplied the probabilities of exploring new fields.The present generation thinks of their country as big and different but with a changed perspective. Students after completing school go for their technical education just because they find more opportunity to earn money with a luxurious life. To find solutions for this crisis seems really difficult but it needs to be addressed largely for the betterment of the country.newstrackindia

foreign universities

India will soon open up its educational sector to foreign universities, science and technology minister Kapil Sibal has said.We are going to open up our educational sector to the foreign universities and it is going to be one of the largest FDI earners,” Sibal said replying to a question at the Tehelka Summit here on the ‘Challenge of India’ which concluded yesterday. Sibal said relevant legislation for the purpose would be carried out soon.“All foreign universities would be allowed in India,” he said. Sibal said the main concern of the government was how to actually spread education and allow talents to grow in India.

IIST

The Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST) has announced its counseling session for 2007-2008 academic year.Students placed in the extended list of IIT-JEE 2007 can register their names for counselling in the IIST website from 11 June. Students placed in the main list of the IIT-JEE 2007 are also eligible. The online registration will remain open until 3 July.A list of 600 students will be selected to attend the counselling session in Bangalore on 20 July. The final list will be announced via the IIST website on 9 July. As of now, two courses are on offer at the IIST ~ an under-graduate B.Tech programme in Space Technology with specialisation in Avionics and Aerospace Engineering / Bachelor of Technology (4 years) and an Integrated Masters in Applied Science (5 year).The IIST is yet to have a permanent campus but it will in two years. The IIST will be located close to the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre and Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre in Thiruvananthapuram.An Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) project modelled on IITs, the IIST will train space scientists for India’s future space missions. The ISRO had dreamed up the project after being faced with an acute talent crunch.The Union Cabinet had sanctioned an initial investment of Rs 2.70 billion for setting up the institute in Thiruvananthapuram.Fat paypackets in the IT sector has been drawing away talented science graduates and engineers. So, talent crunch plus crammed schedules in the years ahead had forced the ISRO to set up the IIST, so that the nation’s space programmes do not suffer. The annual intake of students at the IIST will be 150-200.In the years ahead, the ISRO has a crammed schedule which include the first unmanned moon mission, 'Chandrayaan,' slated for 2008.

iit

Indian Railways has asked Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) to design a motorised opening system at the centre of Pamban bridge.The railway bridge connecting Rameswaram island with the mainland has a unique opening to allow ships to pass under the newly laid broad gauge track between Rameswaram and Madurai.Railway Board had decided to replace the present manually operated opening system.

math lab

Aimed at creating the right ambience for learning mathematics, an institute here has come up with a Mathematics Laboratory to make its learning more pragmatic and interesting.The Mathematics Lab, designed by the Institute of Scientific Research and Training, provided the conducive environment in the classroom, where the student would learn the basics and essential concepts and skills through simple activities, according to a release here.The various methods used in the Lab would help in making learning of mathematics, often considered to be difficult, more interesting and purposeful, Managing Director of the Institute Anian Koshy said.The Lab would help a student learn the subject with the help of concrete objects and verify and discover certain geometric properties using models and measurements. It not only helped the children but also the teacher to visually explain some abstract concepts by using three-dimensional models, he said.The Institute had developed about 120 items, which included Algebraic identification, Tangram, Mathematical puzzles and projectile motion. All the models had been designed by innovative methods.

ASI

The Archaeological Survey of India has sought technical assistance from Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (IIT-K) to save the country's historical monuments from earthquakes.Under the project "Seismic Evaluation", the civil engineering department of the prestigious institution will examine two historical monuments of Lucknow — 'Bara Imambara' and 'Rumi Darwaja'— in the first phase.Delhi's Qutab Minar and Hyderabad's Char Minar will be evaluated in the second phase

Vigyan Prasar

THE Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (IIT-K), in collaboration with Vigyan Prasar, an autonomous body of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), is making efforts to improve the teaching of Physics in schools. Physics teachers from all over the country have been invited to attend the national workshop on “Innovative Physics Teaching’ from June 8-13, 2007. Distinguished guest and director of Vigyan Prasar, VB Kamble told that making students learn science in easy. Innovative methods and triggering interest among teachers is the main objective of Vigyan Prasar.Prasar is busy with making a series of science programmes on health, astronomy, nanotechnology and science quizzes for children. Another major achievement of Vigyan Prasar is setting up of EDUSAT, a satellite dedicated for education programmes.

gaokao

The national college entrance examination, or "gaokao" in Chinese, will last for two days for students in 26 provinces, and three or four days in Shanghai, Shandong, Guangdong, Hainan and Jiangsu.This year marks the 30th anniversary of the restoration of the national college entrance examination. Chinese universities stopped enrolling students from 1966 to 1976, due to the political turmoil of the Cultural Revolution.Over the past three decades, almost 60 million Chinese have taken part in gaokao, with 10 million enrolled at universities.During the decade of the Cultural Revolution, many young Chinese lost the chance to study. When Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping reinstated the gaokao in 1977, about 5.7 million Chinese competed for the 270,000 university places that year.Chinese people describe gaokao as "thousands of troops on a single-log bridge" because of the low enrollment rate. For students in poverty-stricken rural areas, the tough exam is their only opportunity to escape the rigors of country life. China is in the grips of summer "gaokao" madness. Success in the gaokao can change a candidate's life in this fiercely competitive society.The Ministry of Education said earlier that a record 10.1 million people had applied to take the exam this year, but only 5.67 million would be able to enter college.A new monitoring system was launched on Thursday to ensure the exam runs smoothly and prevent cheating. All exam venues in more than 15 provinces and regions can be monitored and viewed via a huge screen

CBSE medical topper

Savinay kapur of DPS( RK Puram) stood first in CBSE medical entrance examination 2007.Savinay also topped the Delhi Pre-Medical Test ( DPMT ) this year.He ranked 20th in IIT-JEE.His father ,Dr. Prem Kapur ,a medical superintendent in private hospital, has left it to his sonto make his own choice for higher studies.Pegrabab Singh of Chandigarh stood second in the exam.Kaustav Mazumdar of DPS ( Vasant Kunj) secured the third rank in the merit list.He has decided to be neuro –surgeon.

AIPMT

The results of the All India Pre-Medical/Pre-Dental Entrance Examination (AIPMT), 2007 conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) were declared today. Based on the score of the final examination, 1,681 candidates have been placed in the merit list and another 1,681 on the wait-list, CBSE said in a release here.The examinations were held in two phases-- preliminary and final. More than 2,10,316 candidates had appeared for the preliminary stage of which 17,135 qualified for final examinations, held on May 13. The results of the AIPMT could be accessed on the websites www.cbseresults.nic.in and www.cbse.nic.in.The first round of counselling starting from June 15 through video conferencing shall be conducted in New Delhi, Kolkata and Puducherry.

I-Desire

A poor waiter in Patna has become a celebrity of sorts after his son cracked the IIT entrance exam this year. The overjoyed man gives full credit to I-Desire - a small group of former IITians in Bihar who coach underprivileged kids and provide them study material.Mani Bhusan Singh and his parents are getting privileged treatment in their neighbourhood after the 18-year-old cleared the Indian Institute of Technology Joint Entrance Examination (IIT-JEE).There are 15 other students from underprivileged families here who have made it to IIT thanks to I-Desire. The former IITians have been funding I-Desire, which provides free coaching for a year and counselling by IITians, explained Grijesh Jha, coordinator of I-Desire and a former student of IIT Kanpur

Super-30

Amidst outpouring of support and requests from well-wishers around the world, assisted by the reported apologies by the three students in the center of a controversy, the founders of the Super-30, Abhayanand and Anand Kumar, on Monday, indicated they may revive the institute after all though a final decision would be taken in next few days.The three students had earlier gone to the CM and it was dubbed that they denied being part of the Super 30 and affiliated themselves with another coaching institute.The three boys not only requested to continue the Super 30 project, but also promised to help out by teaching future candidates and setting test papers.

Vice Chancellor

The President of India has approved the appointment of Prof. (Dr.) P.K. Abdul Azis as Vice Chancellor of the Aligarh Muslim University for a period of five years with effect from the date he assumes charge of his office. The office of the Vice Chancellor of the University fell vacant from the afternoon of 7th April, 2007 following resignation of the previous Vice Chancellor, Mr. Naseem Ahmad.

GIRLS IN IIT

Out Of the 54,025 girls who appeared for JEE-2007, 587 have qualified, up from 394 who qualified through JEE-2006. The difference is about 200, a rise of almost 50 per cent in the number of successful girl candidates, though this will still remain a small proportion of the overall number of students across the seven IIT campuses. The fact that girls have come a long way is evident when one looks at the data on student composition in the past. Back in 1972, of the 342 seats for the BTech course, IIT-Bombay had merely six girl students. In the intervening decades, the proportion remained more or less the same. In fact, even 30 years later, it had not more than 13 girls studying on its Powai campus. The change has come about in the last five years.The highest-scoring girl candidate this year is Ankita Sharma from Mumbai who is ranked 55th in the overall merit list.Apart from her, there is just one other girl in the top 100 IIT-JEE rankers: Saloni Khandelwal from the northern zone.

Super 30

An IIT coaching institute, which claimed to teach 30 students drawn from the underprivileged class for IIT examination, has shut shop following controversy over three successful IIT aspirants being claimed by more than one coaching institute as their students.Super 30, the brainchild of mathematician Anand Kumar and an IPS officer Abhayanand, was shut when I-desire and Genius-40, two coaching institutes of Patna, claimed that three students of Super-30 were trained by them.Students of Super 30 held a protest march in New Delhi demanding a reconsideration of the institute's decision.Super 30, floated five years ago, provided free lodge and boarding besides coaching for the IITs to 30 poor students selected after a test.

Super 30

The son of a watchman from Bihar who earns a paltry Rs.1,600 a month has cracked the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) exam this year. But the boy may never have made it without the Super 30 coaching institute.Father and son live in a small one-room house in a lower middle class neighbourhood in Patna. The costly coaching, study material and the lack of an environment conducive to studying posed huge obstacles for Abhishek.

scholarship scheme

The Union Cabinet on Thursday approved a scholarship scheme for higher education for students of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes. To be implemented from the current financial year, it would cover students beyond the 12th class, whose family income did not exceed Rs. 2 lakh a year.The scholarship would cover the tuition fee and other non-refundable dues for those studying in government and government-funded institutions. For those in private institutions, the scholarship would be restricted to Rs. 2 lakh a year for courses other than those conducted by flying clubs for commercial pilot training. Students training to be commercial pilots would get an enhanced amount, up to Rs. 3.72 lakh a year.

central university

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced the setting up of a central university in each of the 28 states and degree college in every district to meet the increasing enrolment and improving access to higher education.Chairing a meeting to review the state of higher education in the country, he said the government would set up at least one Central University in every state and assist state governments to ensure that there is at least one degree college in every district.At present, there were 20 Central universities. While 16 States did not have a single Central university, some such as Delhi had four. In the 350 districts, where enrolment was below national average, it would be brought up to the national average. The degree colleges would have to be set up by the States, but the Centre would assist them through the UGC.

UPTU RESULT 2007

RESULTS of the Uttar Pradesh Technical University (UPTU) State Entrance Examinations (SEE) were announced . As many as 2,12689 students had appeared in the exams for admissions to courses like B.Tech, B.Pharma, B.Arch Bachelor of Hotel Management, MCA and MBA.According to the merit list of UP, Rohit Singh (Ghaziabad), Priyank Sharma (Lucknow) and Vijendra Kushwaha, have secured the first, second and third places respectively in B.Tech. In B.Pharma, Rahul Mishra, Shashank Mishra and Abhai Kumar Singh, have secured first, second and third places respectively. Neha Gupta, Deepak Tiwari and Shivam Kapoor have secured first, second and third places under the MCA admission category.Though UPTU has not announced the dates for counselling, officials of the varsity said the process may start on July 8.

Vyas Maharshi Pareshkumar

Vyas Maharshi Pareshkumar of Ganesh Vidhyamandir, Ahmedabad and Patel Ashish Rameshbhai, Pratap High School Baroda have topped in the SSC by scoring 95.38%.
The result this year is 70.65%. This year there are 75 students in the merit list. Of these 41 are boys and 34 girls. Out of 75 students in the merit list 15 students are from Ahmedabad.The result this year is 12 percent more than the previous year. Last year it was 57.71 percent. However the number of students is less this year. 45,000 less students have passed this year. This is because this year there was five lakh plus students against seven lakh plus last year.This year success rate of boys is 69 percent while that of the girls is 73.48 percent, which is 4.48 percent more.

Millennium Bismay

Eight-year-old whiz kid Millennium Bismay who was allowed by Orissa High Court to appear for this year's Class 10 boards has moved court once again - this time for declaration of his results.The results of the examination conducted by the state Board of Secondary Education (BSE) from March 7-16 came out Tuesday. However, Bismay's results were not declared, with the board authority withholding them on the ground that the matter was sub judice."We moved the same court again Wednesday requesting it to direct the authority to publish the result," his uncle Niranjan Behera told IANS. The boy, who does not study in any school but is said to have extraordinary memory, is worried: "If my result is delayed I may lose one academic session.Bismay is a resident of Sarcha village in Balasore district, 230 km from this city. Born Oct 31, 1998, he is virtually self-taught.

JIPMER RESULT

The results of the entrance test for admission to the MBBS course in JIPMER have been announced.According to a press release from K S Reddy, Dean, JIPMER, K Sasank topped the merit list by securing 164 marks out of 200 in the all India general category. The results are available on JIPMER website www.jipmer.edu. According to a press release here from JIPMER Dean K. S. Reddy, the examination was conducted on May 27 at six centres — Puducherry, Chennai, Hyderabad, Delhi, Kolkata and Thiruvananthapuram — and a total of 18,429 candidates appeared. The second rank goes to Ayushi Chauhan who scored 163 marks and third to Nishant Gurnani with 162 marks.The elected candidates will be informed individually on the dates for personal appearance, medical fitness and admission.The full marklist will be available from June 1 on the website.

iit-jee

Students, who gave the IIT-JEE (Joint Entrance Examination) this year, gave a sigh of relief after results were declared on Wednesday. Interestingly, a majority of those who topped the JEE studied through their respective state boards, thereby breaking the dominance of CBSE students.Following the confusion prevailing among the student fraternity over the implementation of the proposed 27 per cent OBC quota, IIT-Bombay said the admissions to the seven IITs would be conducted as per the process followed last year.

Ayush Ruia

Ayush Ruia, a resident of Kolkata, got 592 rank in IIT-JEE exam this year and topped AIEEE B.Arch exam. “Though the success was a sure shot, it never came to my mind to get the first rank in AIEEE. I simply could not believe my eyes and checked my results three times,” said Ayush. Hailing from the family of engineers, he considers his father and elder brother as his role model. “Private tutors, who taught me at senior secondary level, guided me well to get through competitive exams. As physics is my favourite subject, I always wanted to study in IIT. I never missed any chance to collect information about IIT-JEE through books. For AIEEE, I thoroughly studied NCERT books,” said the young talent from Kolkata. He draws moral support from his mother, who is a home-maker. A great fan of table tennis and action movies, Ayush always wanted to carve a niche for his parents’ sake. “The first rank in B Arch category in AIEEE made me and my parents popular like a celebrity among my relatives and friends,” said Ayush, who believes in focussed study.

aieee result

The results of the All-India Engineering Entrance Examinations were declared by the Central Board of Secondary Education today. The exam was conducted on April 29 this year for admissions to B.E/B.Tech. and B.Arch/B.Planning courses in 20 National Institutes of Technology (NIT), three International Institutes of Information Technology (IIIT), few self-financed deemed universities and central government funded institutions, and different states which opted for AIEEE. There were 6,44,758 candidates registered for the examination who appeared in 1,047 centres in 79 cities throughout the country and one centre each in Dubai and Riyadh.Out of the 6,41,276 candidates registered for BE and B Tech courses, 5,99,096 students appeared for the examination. For B Arch and B Planning out of 45,321 registered candidates, 36,303 students appeared for the examination.Anirudh Kulkarni from Secunderabad got first rank in BE, B Tech and Ayush Ruia from Kolkata bagged the first rank in B Arch, B Planning category.Gaurav Sharma with an overall rank of 26 topped among boys from Delhi while Parul Agarwal topped among girls from Delhi.These institutions will be using the AIEEE-2007 ranks to fill seats through their own counseling. Approximately 12,000 seats (9,600 in NITs and 2,400 seats in self-financed deemed universities) will be filled through the Centralised Counselling that will be conducted by the Central Counselling Board constituted by MHRD, Government of India. A total of 97, 619 candidates have been declared eligible for central counseling for B.E./B.Tech., and 10, 070 for B. Arch./B.Planning.There are over 18,000 seats in different institutions that consider AIEEE score including the National Institutes of Technology.