Archive for the ‘Colleges and Universities’ Category
More Endeavours to Improve Employability
Every day, more and more institutions are waking up to the fact that students passing out from their portals are not equipped enough to contribute to the industry. What they are lacking is employability skills. The institutions are worried because a dip in campus placements reflects poorly on their capabilities. They know that the best way to attract students is to show them a long list of successfully placed candidates. In order to ensure the development of soft skills, they are tying up with companies, training institutes and universities like IGNOU. Among the soft skills, effective communication is given the most importance as most students are weak in this area. Click here to read a report about it.
Choosing The Best Places to Study
All of us want to be in the best schools, colleges and universities right? Not only does a renowned institution guarantee good facilities, it also adds a lot of value to our profiles. While looking for a job, recruiters will undoubtedly be impressed if you are from a premiere institution. So how do we go about looking for the best places to study? Most often, academic rankings come to the rescue. Irrespective of the country you want to go to, you can easily find lists of top ranking institutions for that country. Often, the rankings provide you the websites as well so that you can choose your dream destination and get in touch right away.
However, always remember to look at how good the faculty for your area of interest is. Often we get carried away by looking at the overall rankings only to discover that the course we want to pursue is not one of the university’s strengths. It would be better to make a list of the top-ranking institutes and then research the department of your choice in all of them. Make a second list based on the reputation and quality of the departments and go for the top ones.
Found an interesting article on The Hindu about the way the rankings are arrived at. Take a look.
More on Education in Germany
Sometime back I posted a blog on education in Germany and the DAAD scholarships which can get you there. Today I came across an article in The Hindu that discusses the prospects of education in Germany and what it has to offer to Indian students. I got some new information and decided to share it here. The article gives details about the different categories of Universities to be found in Germany. The range of courses offered is extensive. Germany currently offers 90 Bachelor’s programmes, 450 Master’s programmes, and 190 doctoral programmes. Check out the article here if you are considering courses abroad.
Study As You Like in Community Colleges
Education is trying to seamlessly fit into every lifestyle and is taking varied responsibilities into consideration. Not everybody can follow the rules laid down by conventional means of imparting education and more and more people are realizing and respecting this fact. This is why we are seeing the upsurge of online learning and distance learning which are great alternatives for people who are unable to make it to schools and colleges. Future education, training and communication will be largely online and it looks all set to pervade all corners. It’s little surprise then that states are considering community colleges for the purpose of education of all levels.
A community college lets you pursue your degree the way you want it. You have the option of attending regular face-to-face classes, you can choose to take your programme online and you can opt for a part-time or a full-time course. Thus community colleges are a one-stop-shop for all kinds of courses. You can enroll for an associate degree in various fields which will enable you to get admitted to a college or university for completion of degree. Karnataka’s first initiative, the Geeta Ramanujam Educational Institution (GREI), is off the mark with 29 students who have signed up for associate degree courses. The certificates will be given by IGNOU and the job-oriented courses will ensure that students get employed soon after course completion.
Looking forward to more such initiatives in other states of India. With this, the vision of bringing education to everybody is getting brighter by the day.
Wipro BPO to Train Potential Employees
Sometime back I had written about hiring activities in Wipro BPO. From the looks of things, the recruitment drive is still on and Wipro is getting up close and personal with the process. Faced with the fact that graduates coming out of the various colleges typically lack employability skills and the colleges do little to improve the situation, Wipro signed a MoU with the Acharya Nagarjuna University (ANU) to take the responsibility of training emerging graduates. Under the scheme, students who are passing out of regular degree colleges and who possess decent communication skills, will be trained by Wipro and subsequently absorbed.
Apart from requirements for its BPO, Wipro also needs people for various other positions such as technical support executives, human resources, accounting, supply chain and others. In order to make the most of the MoU, officials from Wipro will visit different colleges and identify students who would be suitable for these positions. The identification will be followed by a training programme where the potential employees will be trained to handle the various responsibilities and will be made to experience what working in Wipro is all about.
The company has announced two recruitment drives already for the PB Siddhartha College of Arts & Science. One in September and the second in November.
New Universities to Build a Strong Talent Pool
The need for increased enrollment in higher education has never been felt more as India grapples with the lack of quality talent in the professional sphere. In order to introduce more students to advanced learning and to hone their skills, the government plans to set up 735 additional universities all over the country. Deviating from the norm of a University being a space for all kinds of courses, the new universities will feature several exclusive ones that will cater to select programmes only. We can safely assume that most of these select courses will be job-oriented and in line with the current and upcoming industry demands.
While it is good to know that more people are being exposed to higher education and important skills, such a large number of new institutions can also be a cause for concern. It is not enough to set up a centre of learning; we need able people to guide the students effectively. Finding quality faculty for all these institutions will be a tough ask and we know that sub-standard faculty can turn the whole noble scheme upside down. Care should be taken to design the curriculum in a way that will cater to not only current openings but new developments in future as well. Here’s hoping that the government will use discretion and not rush to get the new institutions up and running.
Universities Outsourcing The Examination and Evaluation Process
Admission is not possible without completion of all the formalities and formalities include submission of mark sheets and relevant certificates. For several renowned universities and institutions which see students coming from all over India, the formalities lead to major problems. As students come from various colleges and universities and each of them have their respective dates for the declaration of results, the students often fail to provide all the necessary documents resulting in denial of admission or grant of a provisional admission. Without a doubt, things will be much simpler if all institutions declare their results together.
An initiative along those lines is being taken in the state of Karnataka where the Examination Reforms Committee has suggested that a Karnataka State Universities Examination Authority (KSUEA), an autonomous institution to conduct examinations on behalf of all the universities, be set up so that results of all the universities of Karnataka can be declared at one time. This will reduce the burden of the universities as they won’t have to spend time on evaluations and preparation of mark sheets and can use the time to focus on academics. A panel of experienced professors will be roped in for evaluation and the authority may be run in a corporate style with a CEO at the helm. The sole function of this body will be to conduct and evaluate examinations while the degrees will be awarded by the respective universities.
If the proposal is accepted then Karnataka may become the initiator of a major makeover that will change the face of our education system. Hopefully this process will make the evaluation process faster and more efficient. However what I will be looking forward to is a system that will not just serve a state but the entire country so that delays in declaring results, malpractice, complaints about evaluation and re-examinations will be drastically reduced.