Inevitably the fastest growth has been in the independent schools sector particularly of those affiliated to national (CBSE and CISCE) and foreign (IGCSE and IB) examination boards which tend to be relatively free of interference from state-level education ministry bureaucrats. Consequently there’s been a spurt in the construction and commissioning of upscale primary-cum-secondary institu-tions such as the Jain International Residential School, The International School, Bangalore, the Indus International School and the Bangalore International School among others. To this list of mushrooming first world-style schools offering international quality education at third world prices in and around Bangalore add the Bala Gangadharanath Swamiji or BGS International Residential School situated on the Bangalore-Mysore highway after the 26 km milestone, a 40 minute drive from the city.

Promoted by the Sri Adi Chunchunagiri Shikshana Trust — a registered society (of whom Sri Sri Sri Bala Gangadharanath Swamiji is the 71st peetadhipathi or head) which comprises five education institutions including engineering, medical, commerce and arts colleges across Karnataka with an aggregate enrollment of over 5,000 students, BGS International was formally inaugurated by prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee on January 19, 2000. It admitted its first batch of 50 students on June 15, 1997.

Though the school’s name and antecedents are suggestive of an austere religious institution, in reality BGS International housed in two magnificent buildings with a built up area of 1.7 million sq. ft and modelled on Bangalore’s famous Vidhana Soudha, is a thoroughly contemporary capital-intensive CBSE affiliated school. Currently BGS International has 550 students, including 187 boarders of both sexes — instructed by a faculty of 49 — on the school’s muster roll.

Swamiji

Given the lofty and ambitious objectives Swamiji has set for Bangalore’s newest international school, it’s hardly surprising that its management turned to Col (Retd) William Hector Grant, AVSM, a highly experienced education professional, to translate Swamiji’s noble ideas and vision into workable school and classroom action plans. An alumnus of Bombay University and the Defence Services Staff College, Wellington (Tamil Nadu), after stepping back into civvy street following a long and distinguished career in the Indian Army (1948-80), Grant was appointed the first principal of the Army School, Bangalore (1981-92). Subsequently he moved on to establish other greenfield education projects — the Hamdard Public School, Delhi (1992-94); the National Academy for Learning (NAFL), Bangalore (1994-96) for NPS group chairman K.P. Gopalakrishna prior to signing up in 1997 to bring BGS International on stream. As such Grant has the unique distinction of having success-fully established four high-quality schools from drawing board to operational stage.

Perhaps because BGS International has been promoted by a highly revered Hindu saint and a massive painting of Goddess Saraswati adorns the façade of the main school building, Meera Krishnaswamy, a biology postgraduate of Mysore Univer-sity and former principal of Kumaran Children’s Home, Bangalore (1994-97) who is the principal of BGS International, takes pains to stress the secular character of this well-equipped, state-of-the-art school set amidst lush green fields in the suburbs of the garden city. "Swamiji’s objective upon starting this school for children of the upper strata in Indian society and of non-resident Indians was to encourage them to excel in whatever they are capable of. This is a commitedly secular institution; festivals and special days of all religions are celebrated here. We believe that learning must be a joyful experience correlated with activities like trekking, horse-riding, swimming and outdoor sports," says Krishnaswamy.

Certainly in terms of provision of adequate infrastructure for the school’s 400 male and 150 girl students, little expense has been spared. The school boasts fully-equipped laboratories for biology, chemistry and physics; an IT lab with 36 PCs connected to the internet; a well-equipped gymnasium; playgrounds for football, hockey, cricket, basketball, tennis, volleyball and badminton; a special playground for kindergarten children; a swimming pool which is being supple-mented with an Olympic size pool for senior students, and roomy dormitories supported by spic-n-span bathrooms and toilets. Though typically the school’s management is reticent about disclosing the capital expenditure incurred by the trust to construct BGS International, construction industry sources estimate it at Rs.15 crore.

Academically too, the school’s students have got off to an excellent start. In the CBSE class X board exams of March 2003, 23 of the 34 students who wrote the exams were placed in the first division.

With the school having completed its first phase of growth and successfully navigated into midstream, the manage-ment has set its sights on upgrading its pedagogies and academic standards. "Our objective is to develop our students for higher studies anywhere in the world. Therefore our curriculum will increasingly become IT-driven and library and computer lab infrastructure will be upgraded. Within the next two years aggregate enrollment is expected to rise to 800 students but we will maintain the teacher-pupil ratio of 1:11. We are totally focussed upon our mission of delivering value-based school education imparted in a healthy, joyful environment," says Grant.

Even if that sounds like a challenge to the host of other international schools which have sprung up in the environs of Bangalore and beyond, nothing but good can flow from it.

Admission & fees

Affiliated with CBSE and the Karnataka State Secondary Education Board (Plus Two), BGS International School (est. 1997) is set within 150 acres of sylvan countryside on the Bangalore-Mysore road — a 40 minute drive from downtown Bangalore. Currently this capital-intensive co-educational school endowed with world-class infrastructure and equipment has 550 students including 187 boarders from ten countries instructed by a faculty of 49, on its muster roll.

Fees (NRIs)

Prospectus and application form Rs. 675.00 $200

Registration and admission Rs 30,000 $ 3000

Tuition & residence (per year) Rs 120,000 $ 5,500

Tuition, conveyance etc (day scholars) Rs 90,000 —

For further particulars write to the Director BGS International Residential School, Nithyanandanagar, K. Golahalli P.O. Bangalore South 560 060 Tel: 080 28437582/652/655; Fax: 28431025; e-mail: bsgsirs@123india.com; www.bgsirs.net.

Dilip Thakore (Bangalore)

Monash University

Oz’s largest and most international university with six campuses in Australia and two abroad enjoys an enviable reputation for its excellence in teaching and research

Clayton campus: enviable reputation

The largest university in Oz in terms of student enrollment (48,000) Monash University enjoys an enviable reputation in the sixth continent and beyond for its international focus and excellence in teaching and research. The Good Universities Guide (2003 edition) awards Monash five-star ratings for prestige, cultural diversity, graduate outcomes and quantity of research. "Monash is now known as Australia’s biggest and boldest university," it says. Monash also boasts a strong record of graduate employment with many of its alumni holding apex-level positions in government, industry and academia. In 2000, 86 percent of Monash graduates were employed full-time and earned some of the highest average salaries in Australia while 26 percent of graduates continued into postgraduate studies.

Monash University is also Oz’s most international education institution. It has established six campuses in Australia; one in Malaysia and South Africa; two European centres and a research and exchange network that spans the globe. Moreover of the aggregate number of students on its muster roll more than 12,000 are internationals enrolled in Australian campuses (60 percent) and the remaining in offshore programmes.

"Ours is an internationally recognised institution offering degrees that open doors across the globe. Monash is one of the Group of Eight, Australia’s leading universities recognised for excellence in research, scholarship and teaching. As a large, diverse university of the 21st century, we offer a wide rage of learning options and innovative course combinations. Our students experience academically rigorous programmes that prepare them for the highly competitive global job market, or equally for a career in further academic research," says Prof. Peter Darvall, vice-chancellor and president of Monash.

Melbourne. One of Australia’s most cosmopolitan cities, Melbourne (pop. 4 million) is home to immigrants from over 100 nations. It’s a safe city with open spaces, fresh clean environment, temperate climate, casual lifestyle, low crime rate and an efficient and inexpensive public transport system. Within an hour of Melbourne are some of the most unspoilt spots in scenic Australia — beaches, rainforest, mountains and lakes.

For those interested in the arts, Melbourne offers world-class theatre, concerts and galleries. Sports lovers have numerous opportunities to witness international sporting events such as the Grand Prix, the Australian Tennis Open and the Melbourne Cup. Eating out is inexpensive with the city offering multi-cuisine restaurants to suit all budgets.

Campus facilities. Monash has six campuses — Berwick, Caulfield, Clayton, Gippsland, Parkville and Peninsula and one city office in and around Melbourne.

Monash’s newest campus, Berwick offers technologically advanced facilities and is home to the university’s School of Multimedia Systems. Monash’s second biggest campus, Caulfield’s diversity is reflected in the range of programmes it offers in art and design, arts, business and economics, information technology, engineering and science. Clayton is the largest campus and was the first of the varsity’s eight global campuses. The diversity of its study programmes is reflected in the fact that eight out of Monash’s ten faculties are represented on Clayton campus.

Academic support is provided by eight libraries spread across the six campuses, plus a range of affiliated libraries around Melbourne. Altogether they provide more than 2.6 million resources and access to thousands more via an electronic network. Sports facilities include swimming pools, gymnasiums, tennis, basketball and squash courts, martial arts venues, hockey, soccer, baseball and athletics fields and a ski lodge at Mt. Buller.

Admission. The minimum eligibility requirement for admission into Monash’s undergraduate programmes is successful completion of Plus Two (CISCE’s class XII Indian School Certificate or the CBSE’s All India Senior Secondary School Certificate). For postgraduate programmes, the minimum eligibility criterion is a bachelor’s degree. Overseas students who have not completed their secondary schooling/ tertiary education in English medium have to write the IELTS (International English Language Testing Service) exam (minimum required score 6.0) or the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) exam (minimum score 550).

However international students who don’t fulfill the minimum eligibility criteria have the option of enrolling in a pathway programme with Monash College or Monash University’s Foundation Year programme. Students who meet the university’s academic entry requirements but don’t have the mandatory English requirements, can enroll in a language course at the Monash University English Language Centre.

For further information contact Monash International Centre, Building 73, Monash University, Wellington Road, Clayton 3800, Victoria, Australia. E-mail: study@monash.edu. Website: www.monash.edu.au.

Accommodation. Four of Monash’s six campuses in Australia offer on campus accommodation. They are Berwick, Clayton, Gippsland and Peninsula. The other two campuses offer a choice of private-owned housing. On-campus housing includes fully furnished self-contained units, or halls of residence with central kitchen and bathroom facilities.

Students who prefer to live off-campus have a wide range of options which include home stay, full or part board, hostels and private rental accommodation.

Degree programmes. Monash University offers a wide range of undergrad, postgrad and doctoral degrees. Its ten faculties — art and design; arts; business and economics; education; engineering; information technology; law; medicine, nursing and health sciences; pharmacy and science — award degrees in over 100 academic disciplines. Apart from bachelor’s and Master’s degrees, Monash is highly rated for its double degrees. With nearly 80 of them on offer, students can study for two bachelors degrees (duration: five years) simultaneously by combining the two and reducing the number of electives.

Scholastic options at Monash

Monash offers a comprehensive range of undergrad, postgrad and over 80 double degrees. The faculties include:

Faculty of Art and Design. Multimedia design, fine arts, visual communications, industrial design, interior architecture, visual arts (tuition fee A$14,900-17,000)

Faculty of Arts. Communication, journalism, behavioural science, languages, cognitive science, music, letters, performing arts, social welfare (A$14,000-15,000)

Faculty of Business and Economics. Accounting, banking and finance, human resources, law, management, marketing, retail management, risk management, commerce, economics, tourism (A$17,000-18,000)

Faculty of Education. Adult learning and development, early childhood education, primary education, sports and outdoor recreation (A$14,000)

Faculty of Engineering. Computer systems, industrial, chemical, civil, materials, mechanical, mechatronics, environment and telecommunications engineering (A$17,300-20,000)

Faculty of Information Technology. Computer science, computing, business systems, digital systems, multimedia, network computing and software engineering (A$19,200)

Faculty of Law. Law (A$18,000)

Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Heath Sciences. Medicine, surgery, nursing, behavioural neuroscience, biomedical science, nutrition and dietetics, radiography and medical imaging (A$17,700-30,500)

Faculty of Pharmacy. Formulation science, pharmaceutical science, pharmacy (17,000-20,250)

Faculty of Science. Environmental science, biotechnology, science (A$18,000)

Living expenses (per year): A$ 18,000-22,500

NB: A$=Rs.26