Delhi
Standing Committee rejects NCHER
A parliamentary panel has advocated continuance of UGC (University Grants Commission) and AICTE (All India Council for Technical Education), rejecting a government proposal for establishing an over-arching National Commission of Higher Education & Research (NCHER) which would subsume the two regulators of higher and technical education.
“The committee has strongly recommended continuance of the existence of these vital bodies (UGC and AICTE) for effective regulation of higher and technical education,” a spokesperson of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on HRD informed media personnel in Delhi on May 3, adding that there is no dearth of funds for these agencies to fulfil their objectives.
Observing that uncertainty about the status of UGC and AICTE may increase with the passage of time, the committee spokesperson said “required action may be taken by the government on an urgent basis to ensure that both UGC and AICTE continue to function in a more organised and effective manner”.
Tamil Nadu
AICTE’s new activism
The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) will soon publish a National Perspective Plan for technical education to determine the demand for various study programmes and seats after collating data from the states, a top AICTE official informed the media in Coimbatore on May 11.
Acknowledging that there is confusion within the national student community with new engineering colleges being sanctioned even as colleges are shutting down because of inadequate demand, S.S. Mantha, AICTE chairman, has sent a circular to all state governments to submit their perspective plans, so that a national plan can be prepared.
According to Mantha, a national plan will help AICTE sanction colleges and courses according to the needs of regions and states, which will sharply reduce closure of colleges and wastage of resources. Mantha was in Coimbatore to participate in the graduation day celebrations of the PPG Institute of Technology and PPG Business School.
Mantha added that AICTE has set up 100 Quality Improvement Centres to help students conduct research. The council has also finalised a national Ph D aptitude test for students from 2014.
Goa
Plus Two agriculture programme
In perhaps the first such initiative, a state government education society has started a higher secondary school which will offer a two-year study programme in agriculture and allied services, starting from this academic year. The Ramanata Crisna Pai Raikar Education Society announced commissioning of its agriculture and allied services school at village Sanvoiverem, 35 km from Panaji, on May 10.
Manguirish Pai Raikar, chairman of the society, informed the media that initially 20 students will be admitted into the school for this Plus Two programme of the Goa Board of Seco-ndary and Higher Secondary Education. “The syllabus has been finalised with one-third focused on theory and two-thirds on practicals. It will cover tropical plants, vegetables and flowers,” he said.
The first module will be a foundation course, the second will focus on horticulture, the third on floriculture and fourth on fruit culture, he explained. “After completion of the course, students would be eligible for admission into degree colleges or for employment in the private sector and government,” he added.
Jharkhand
Tribal higher education initiative
Kolhan University (KU), Jharkhand is set to introduce the National Assess-ment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) evaluation model for affiliated colleges to improve the quality of higher education in the state’s tribal-dominated region, pro-vice chancellor of the university Dr. Shukla Mahanty said, addressing media personnel in Jams-hedpur on May 6.
Mahanty, who was recently appoi-nted pro-vice chancellor of KU, and is a member of NAAC and National Council of Educational and Research Training (Eastern Regional Committee), said as Kolhan is an extremely backward area the university will introduce higher education programmes in the distance mode to enable tribal students to avail them. Moreover, a placement cell in the university will create employment opportunities for students and expose them to the outside world, she added.
Mahanty was the principal of Jamshedpur Women’s College before she was promoted as pro-vice chanc-ellor of Kolhan University by the Jharkhand government in mid-April.
Haryana
Three major projects launch
Three national projects in the field of education and technology are set to be promoted at an estimated cost of over Rs.400 crore in the north India state of Haryana.
They include an Indo-Israel Centre of Excellence for Fruits in Sirsa district; the country’s second National Institute of Design (NID) in Kurukshetra, and a first-of-its-type defence university in Gurgaon district, an official spokes-person of the state government informed the media in Chandigarh on May 19. Prime minister Manmohan Singh is scheduled to lay the foundation of the defence university on May 23 while Union commerce, industry and textiles minister Anand Sharma will lay the foundation of NID in Kurukshetra the day before, he added.
A sum of Rs.100 crore will be spent during the first phase of the NID project, which will be completed within three years, the spokesman said, adding that over 20 acres of land have been acquired for setting up the institute. NID, Kurukshetra, will be a replica of NID, Ahmedabad (estb. 1961).
The Centre of Excellence for Fruits will be promoted as an Indo-Israel joint venture over an area of 72 acres at a project cost of Rs.9.70 crore under the National Horticulture Mission. Chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda to inaugurate the centre on May 21 in the presence of Israel’s ambassador to India Alon Ushpiz.