Education Briefs

The Central government sponsored Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) announced the launch of its Karnataka Learning Partnership (KLP) — an innovative primary education initiative in collaboration with the Akshara Foundation — on July 12. The first phase of this programme will help over 75,000 children in 1,411 government schools in nine educational blocks of Bangalore to become better readers through an accelerated reading programme conducted over three months. The programme will use breakthrough GIS (geographical information systems) technologies to track all participating schools.

A unique public-private joint venture, KLP is the result of increasing concern about poor learning outcomes in government schools in Karnataka. The reading programme is being implemented by over 4,000 government school teachers trained by Akshara Foundation and government master resource personnel and cluster resources persons.

"This is a landmark year for Akshara Foundation as we undertake this initiative. We are partnering closely with the government of Karnataka and SSA on this project," says Rohini Nilekani, chairperson of Akshara. "We hope the Karnataka Learning Partnership will spread across the state over the next two years to ensure that every child in Karnataka is in school and learning well."

The Visveswaraya Technological University, Bangalore has permitted the Institute of Finance & International Management, Bangalore (IFIM B-school) to offer a Ph D programme in business management with effect from the current academic year. Following this, IFIM B-school has joined the league of few autonomous institutes in India to be awarded this authorisation.

"VTU’s permission to start a Ph D programme at IFIM B-school will boost our research and academic activities. Establishing a research centre for pursuit of doctoral studies is definitely a step forward for IFIM which has already implemented various initiatives such as a management journal, allocation of substantial funding for research activities, case studies and paper presentations by faculty in national and international seminars, for value addition to our students," says Dr. M.R. Gopalan, additional director of IFIM B-school.

Established in 1995, IFIM B-school has acquired a good reputation in the corporate world for the quality of its alumni, offers a flagship two-year full-time postgrad diploma in business management which is recognised by AICTE and Association of Indian Universities as the equivalent of an MBA degree of Indian universities.

Cambridge University Press (UK), which bills itself the oldest book printing and publishing house worldwide, has announced the acquisition of a 51 percent equity stake in the New Delhi-based Foundation Books Pvt Ltd (and its divisions Foundation Media and Foundation e-Learning). The composite new entity has been renamed Cambridge University Press India Pvt Ltd (CUP).

Announcing the acquisition, Stephen Bourne, chief executive of CUP and president of the new entity said, "Cambridge University Press India Pvt Ltd will become a base for publishing quality educational materials for many countries in Asia and elsewhere." According to Manas Saikia, managing director of CUP, this is a win-win merger.

Cambridge University Press (UK), a department of the University of Cambridge, is among the largest academic and educational publishers worldwide, publishing nearly 2,500 books and over 200 journals annually, sold in more than 200 countries. Foundation Books (estb. 1992) had hitherto represented CUP in South Asia including the markets of Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Maldives and Bhutan, a role it continues to discharge.

The Bangalore-based Academy of Business Management, Tourism & Research (ABMTR), an education institution promoted last year by the Bethel Educational Trust, recently signed an MoU with Kings International University of Science & Technology (KIUST), USA to offer the latter’s MBA and Ph D programmes in India. This MoU is ABMTR’s second foreign collaboration agreement. Last year it joined forces with Griffith College, Dublin, Ireland to offer its MBA programme. Under this twinning agreement, students will study one year at ABMTR and transfer to Dublin for the completion of the programme.

"ABMTR is a new generation B-school which believes and practices a differential knowledge culture. We are committed to releasing the creative potential and capabilities of all our students by leveraging their aptitudes and capabilities to succeed in the marketplace," says Dr. Shaji Thomas, director of ABMTR.

Currently this B-school offers a Masters in business management (two years full time); a Masters in tourism administration (two years full time); a postgraduate diploma in international business (one year full time) and certificate and diploma programmes in airport management (six months). These study programmes are supported by experienced faculty drawn from academia and industry.