India and UK Join Hands to Prosper Education Sector

The education sector in India is reaching unprecedented heights with government signing deals worth crores of rupees with various countries. With the mission of spreading high quality education to students in India, the Ministry is collaborating with numerous foreign education institutions. Through various multi-million agreements and deals, exchange programs, workshops and other such efforts, the educations system is surely undergoing a transformation phase.

Some of the recent achievements in academic sector include India-US summit on higher education; investment of gargantuan amounts in technology institutes; extension of loans at cheaper interest rates through education loan camps; promotion of e-learning trends and adoption of Unique ID system. The latest feather added in the cap is finalizing of a 5 million pound deal with UK facilitated through the UK-India Education and Research Initiative (UKIERI). The two nations are coming together to work on developing and disseminating education among students in both India and UK.

The Indo-UK deal involves setting up of new educational institutes and holding skill development & leadership programs. It includes focusing on assurance and maintenance of quality of the courses offered to the students. India and UK are equal partners in the deal i.e. both of them have invested 2.5 million pounds each after signing the MoU today on July 28. University Grants Commission (UGC), the Commission that allocates grants to Universities, has funded the share of nearly Rs. 18 crores on behalf of India.

UK has expressed interest in developing education with India as a partner by including the proposed Innovation Universities of our country on its agenda. It wishes to set up new institutes besides developing such universities and take it further. Indian education system is acknowledged worldwide and so, many countries are looking forward for active educational tie-ups. Such programs are expected to boost India’s education sector tremendously and take it to uncharted territories.

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Government Adopting Latest Technology to Boost Education System

The Human Resource Development (HRD) ministry is coming up with a unique ID programme to monitor education system in India. This program is set to help millions of students across the country in various ways from their primary and secondary to higher education levels.

The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) will store the entire record of a student’s education. It will be made compulsory to enroll students in the programme from the first day of their school. UIDAI, based in New Delhi aims to assign 12-digit universal identity numbers to more than 600 million citizens in India over next four years. Some of the benefits of adopting Unique ID are listed below:

-Monitoring the education system

-Speeding up the education loan grant process

-Smoothening the repayment of study loans

-Tracking school and college dropouts

Moreover, it will help check forgery as banks will not have to worry about students showing fake educational qualifications to avail loans. It will prove to be of immense help to poor students and can propel dissemination of education across the nation.

The Unique IDs will contain photographs, fingerprints and iris scans but since these keep changing up to 18 years of age, the biometric identity of parents will serve as a foolproof measure. And as soon as the student turns 18, his/her photograph and biometric prints will be treated final for all future uses.

The discussions between Union Government and UIDAI are nearing completion with two rounds of consultations already done in last three months. It is one of the largest government schemes in several decades and so, many highly experienced professionals are roped in to implement the task effectively and in time. Since ‘UID is not a one-size-fits-all product’, the biggest challenge is to market the idea among citizens from every caste, region and religion while creating ‘want’ for this identity number.

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Special Scheme for Education Loans Launched by Bank of India

A special scheme is launched to disburse education loans to needy students across the country. Bank of India is organizing Education Loan Camps pan India for two months to cater to the education finance needs of the parents and children. This loan can be repaid within 7 years after a year of the course completion or six months after getting the job whichever is earlier.

The campaign was inaugurated on 6th July by Chairman & Managing Director of Bank of India, Mr. Alok K. Misra in Chandigarh zone consisting Chandigarh, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh. Students from Chandigarh based colleges received on-the-spot sanction for education loans covered under Shiksha Suraksha Plan. The camps are run throughout the country as while South India is an existing education hub, North India is the upcoming one. With increasing movement of students for higher education, the financing needs have enlarged significantly.

Bank of India (BOI) holds 4th position with 5% share in the total outstanding in the Education Loan by all Public Sector Banks as on 31st March 2010. An overall growth of 29% and Chandigarh Zonal growth of 22.50% was witnessed at the end of last financial year 2009-2010. The education loan rates of Bank of India are 9.5% up to Rs. 4 lakhs and a further concession of 0.5% interest up to Rs.50,000 and 1% to loans over Rs.50,000 for girl students is also provided. Not only this, 1% interest concession is given to all the students upon service of interest during moratorium period of loan.

The higher education sector in India is developing at a swift pace with more and more number of students opting for post graduate studies. This is further encouraged by easy availability of education loans and finances that then support their career goals.

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3 Day India-US Summit on Higher Education

The city of Mumbai is all set to host a three day India-US higher education summit on July 30 to celebrate the completion of 25 years of the Indo-American Society. Union Human Resource Development Minister, Kapil Sibal will inaugurate the event that is expected to strengthen Indo-US relations on education front.

Marking the golden jubilee of the society, this event is aimed at creating collaborations and exchange programs between education institutions, students and faculty from India and US. It will offer participants with brilliant opportunities to get together with important business, political and academic personalities at both national and international levels.

The Indo-US society works on creating frameworks of government policy and partnership models. It also helps in gaining access to networks that enable education providers to explore the huge untapped demand growing everyday. Over a lakh students from India go to US for higher education while several more lakhs wish to do so. This offers immense opportunities to education institutes in US to attract a huge chunk of Indian students to their country.

The primary objective of the three-day summit is to promote the Indo-US society as a facilitator of knowledge cultivation and talent development. It is expected to serve as a catalyst for research and technology that will be of value to students planning to pursue higher education. Moreover, the summit would focus on implementing policies that can bring change in the current education paradigm to match international standards. This involves increasing access and enhancing quality of India-US higher education which would remain the predominant issues in the meet.

The India-America Summit is to be held in Mumbai at Hotel Grand Hyatt, chaired and addressed by prominent personalities from various educational institutions. Some of them are Vijay Khole, former vice-chancellor of Mumbai University; Sarah Farley, COO, Global Knowledge Initiative; Bala Balachandran, faculty, Kellogg School of Management; Joel M. Rodney, chancellor, Pennsylvania State University; N. Jadhav, member, Planning Commission of India and others.

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Indian Education Industry Going Places

The ever growing education market of India is expected to reach a staggering US$50 billion by 2015 according to industry estimates. The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Assocham) in its recent study said that more than 50% of Indian middle class families have started saving for their children's higher education.

I. With nearly a 20 to 25% rise in the income levels, the saving ratio has considerably gone up reflecting potential for growth in education industry. Till few years ago, it was looked upon as an expense but the need for higher education has been felt increasingly by Indian middle class. India has one of the largest middle class in the world which is calculated to be about 300 million.
India’s total education market size is valued to be around US$25 billion of which higher education sector contributes nearly US$15 billion. It is expected to more than double in next five years as evaluated by Assocham’s projections.

II. Not only this, education boom in India is spreading its wings to Canada and UAE as well. Canadian universities and colleges are opening up their doors to welcome higher number of Indian students. Canada India Education Council (CIEC) founded by former Canadian foreign minister Pierre Pettigrew believes that their education system is among the best and there is a need to build the bridge between India and Canada to promote it as an education destination. CIEC will endeavor to operate exclusively and strategically within the burgeoning Canada-India education corridor by creating a social, legal and physical presence in both India and Canada.

III. A human resource meltdown has been predicted by Kapil Sibal, HRD (Human Resource Development) minister of India. He foresees a shortage of young professionals as the population ages and is making efforts to come over the deficit by engaging in talks with other countries like UAE.

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Education Loans May Get Cheaper

Higher education system in India is third largest in the world after China and United States. The government is now taking initiatives to promote higher education in India by bringing down the interest rates on education loan.

1. In an attempt to take the education of the poor to a higher level, government is planning to provide them education loans at 4% interest rate. This initiative is brought in to uplift the higher education of students from weaker sections of the society. The discussions between HRD Ministry and Planning Commission are still on as the proposal is in its preliminary stage.

Banks will provide this loan while a proposed funding corporation for higher education will re-finance the banks to help them compensate the loss. The mandate and functioning of the proposed NHEFC (National Higher Education Finance Corporation) is now being worked out.

2. In another effort to bring down the interest rates on education loans, government is working on a tax saving deposit scheme to fund cheaper loans. It has been trying to reduce interest rates to encourage higher quality education among students.

Investments in deposits under the proposed First Education Savings Scheme (FESS) will be eligible for tax exemption just like in public provident fund or life insurance premium. Savings under the scheme will be collected by commercial banks and transferred to the proposed NEFC for refinancing educational loans at cheaper rates. Banks will then transfer deposits under the scheme every month and get a commission for their services. NEFC will be set up with an initial equity capital and it will then raise funds through public deposits, domestic borrowings, grants, donations and bonds and debenture.

It is going to get easier to study at a higher level as soon as these proposals are passed and implemented by the Ministry.

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India Exults Over Appointing India-Born Dean of Harvard B-School

India is widely known for producing extremely talented and competent professionals all around the world. The news today is the decision to appoint India born Nitin Nohria as the next dean of the prestigious Harvard Business School (HBS). He is going to be the first Indian and in fact the first non-white to serve the position in the long 102 years history of HBS. Harvard Business School ranks among top 3 B-schools globally and is planning to establish its presence in India soon.

India has been endowing the globe with world class leaders and the latest is Nitin Nohria who will be the 10th dean of HBS assuming office from July 1. He gives credit to IIT Bombay for making him think ‘out-of-box’ and feels indebted to his alma mater even today at the age of 48. Nohria did bachelors in chemical engineering from IIT-B in 1984 and a PhD in management from the Sloan School of Management at MIT in 1988. He then moved to join HBS faculty as an assistant professor and is the Richard P Chapman Professor of Business Administration today. Nohria has co-authored and co-edited at least 12 books with his colleague Rakesh Khurana.

Anand Mahindra, vice-chairman of Mahindra and Mahindra and a Harvard graduate says “Nitin’s appointment is an advertisement to the world about the quality of human resource and talent in India”. It reinforces the fact that our country has international level of education system that creates talent for global markets. But, there is a need to turn the prestigious Indian Universities in India into institutes like Harvard that focus not on demand but knowledge.

Nohria has made not only his father proud but the entire country and its education system. These achievements proves and strengthens the academic superiority of India.

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Achieving Excellence in Higher Education

The education sector in India is set to reach new heights with top Indian B-schools and technology colleges spreading their wings. The entry of foreign universities into the country also shows positive signs for students who will now be endowed with better academic opportunities.

Union Human Resource Development Minister, Kapil Sibal is spearheading a huge reform by asking focus on increasing the number of college enrollments and the creation of more infrastructures for education institutes.

According to him:

-Education sector should be given priority lending rates and not commercial rates to enable construction of more schools and colleges across the country.

-The gross enrolment ratio (GER) should be improved which demands focus on substantially increasing the number of college going and research students. The GER of other countries varies from 40 to 50% whereas it is as low as around 12% in India, thus, becoming a matter of serious concern.

The coming up of new institutions would definitely add volumes to the opportunities available in higher education. This will help in potentially increasing enrolment and improvement of quality both directly and indirectly. But, this will help only if the foreign universities impart education in line with the goals, objectives and mission of Indian higher education.

The importance of creativity, new ideas and innovation has to be understood by our education system. It must give space to students and help them develop the qualities they already possess rather than forcing them to follow conventional study patterns. The scope and extent of collaborative learning and exchange programmes is huge and needs to be taken advantage from.

The mission of higher education in India is better access and excellence. As more students pursue higher education and take up research, it will bring immense benefits for the country and its economy.

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Entry in a renowned college is a sure short way to success

Students these days are very much considered about their future and the job to which they land after doing a particular course. Whether it’s you or me, we make it sure that a proper plan is followed to reach the destination or the goal decided. Obviously there are back ups for the same, but we put in the best possible efforts to fulfil our aim through the primary route. For students like us, the sure short way to success is grab a seat in the most renowned college, after which things like jobs and success follows. Though, the most difficult part is taking admission in these colleges, but, once a student gets enrolled in such colleges, the road to success is comparatively much easier and convenient. Hard work is surely the synonym to success, so if you say, its difficult, that a lot of hard work has to be put in, for taking admission in the cream college of the country, then it’s surely not your cup of tea.

These colleges takes a lot from you in the starting, you need to study like crazy, need to have extra intelligence, must have great analysing power, put in a lot of money, but at the end what it gives you back is unbelievable. Loads of success, name, fame and an ever growing bright career, are the sure rewards given by these institutes. Whatever you put in, whether its money, hard work or madness in the form of time you studied for, works as an investment for your future, the return of which is manifold.

Therefore, one should never hesitate or act lazy in investing all these factors, because initially if you are able to crack a seat in the top institutes of the country, then your future is set. The associations, these institutes have with companies and faculty is mind blowing and surely helps in making it easy for the student to find a perfect and suitable job for himself. Being a part of such institutes, your condition can also be compared with a child who is in the safe arms of his mother, where you don’t have to fight for anything, everything comes to you in a ready made format, which is in this case is money, fame and loads of success!!

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Gujarat hoping for help from IFC, for funding in higher education projects

Higher education is the ultimate route, which helps in landing the person to his dream job. Whether it’s you or me, everyone wants to achieve high degrees from good institutes or colleges, the degrees which helps us in cracking most demanded jobs in the industry. The students in the small cities of the country, mostly have to sacrifice their luxurious and lavishing lifestyle in their hometown and move to the metro cities, for obtaining higher education. But now there is good news for the students of Gujarat, the International Finance Corporation, has formed associations with the Gujarat government to help the underserved areas of the city, with the facility of higher education.

The development support agency of Gujarat has appointed IFC, as the main transaction advisor, to help in the set-up of the higher educational institutions, as a result of public- private partnerships. This would definitely lead to a developmental start up of the higher education projects in the state. This is according to a report by business standard, under which it was mentioned that the project which is planned for five years, will provide higher education to 1000 students every year. The city of Gujarat has already been famous for its structural reforms and according to the reposts, the city is said to produce 20 million by the year 2020, in almost all the major industries of the country.

Providing higher education to the underserved areas of the city will surely be an achievement for the government and also because of the larger interests and involvement of the private sector in the reformation of the education as an industry, this declaration, doesn’t seem to be fake or wage. So, in the next few years, we would surely be able to see city of Gujarat as another major hub of education.

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RTE- a step towards a developed nation

RTE or right to free and compulsory education for children is a step by the government of India, which is bound to make major reforms in the education system of the country, thereby, marking a noticeable growth in the country’s economic condition. According to the act, children from the age of six to fourteen are entitled to free and compulsory education from a neighbourhood government school. There is no direct or indirect fees attached with this system, the children can seek free elementary education from the government. The passing of the RTE Act 2009, is said to be a historic moment in the country’s development, due to the fact that it will act as a key to the dreams of all the unprivileged children who because of their financial conditions are not able to attend schools.

Also, with the increasing prices of all the commodities, parents these days are very worried about the rising fees of the schools. Free education at the elementary level will work as a relief for parents and will allow then to save money for the higher education of their children, which we all know is touching heights these days. Government has also planned to provide training to the teachers about all the advanced technologies and teaching methods, to impart best education to the students. This will also help in improvising the image of education standards of government schools in the country.

Special measures would be taken to ensure children friendly environment and to motivate them to learn and study. School management committees will be formed in every school, which will be entitled to work for the betterment of the students and ensure that proper standards of education are maintained in the school. Well, all this many more reformatory measures are said to be covered under the RTE Act 2009, but what a common man like you and me would wait for, is the implementation of these acts. Implementation of these acts would ensure a developmental and hassle free growth for our future generation and thereby making education a birth right for every individual, leading the country towards the tag of a developed nation.

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Foreign Universities coming to India

Foreign universities, foreign education, has always been a craze among students. Foreign degrees in higher education even do wonders for students in terms of preference in job opportunities. Students with degrees from foreign universities are in high demand comparative to degrees from Indian schools and colleges. The major factor involved in courses from foreign universities, is the price and the difference in lifestyle and culture of the foreigners from India. Now students don’t have to worry about their adjustments in the foreign land, and the extra pounds they had to shed for food, house rents and many other things. The students now can earn foreign degrees, studying in their country only, without sacrificing the love of their mom and the home food, which are the most prominent things which are said to be missed by students.

I m not exaggerating anything, I am just writing, according to the Foreign Educational Institutional bill passed, by the Union Cabinet of Indian Government. The bill states the biggest milestone in the Indian education sector, as per which, foreign universities are now onwards allowed to set campus in India. Yes, I am, not kidding, finally the dreams of many foreign universities have got fulfilled, and they have already approached many Indian institutions for tie ups. The entry to these institutions would be in the form of tie up and associations with top Indian universities and large business groups.

Though, the approval for 200 universities is pending, covering few of the top universities like Cambridge and Oxford. India has proved to be a great market for the education industry, because of the level and standards of school education in the country, many foreign universities want to open campuses in India, so that they get to the produce the cream of the society. It’s good for the future of the students of India as well, because it will give birth to more choices for the students to opt as a career and advancements in term of educational practices and the methods to disseminate information to the students will be seen.

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Undergraduate Application Procedure for USA - Study in USA part 2

Undergraduate Application Procedure for study in USA

Application Forms

Enquiries must be sent at least 15 to 18 months before the proposed date of admission. There are three ways to get application forms.

1. Requesting Application Forms via email: One can request application forms from the universities website itself. Most universities have a form on their website which can be completed online to request application material.
2. Requesting Application Forms via Air Mail: Application material can be requested by sending an airmail and the request should contain a brief description of ones educational background, academic objectives, source of financial support, English proficiency and standardized test scores.
3. Downloading from the university website: Many universities have a downloadable and ready to print versions of their application forms on the net. These can be used for applying just as regular forms.

Tests required to be taken by the candidates

1. TOEFL: This test is mandatory for International students applying to a Graduate course or University in US. The minimum score required by most universities for admission is 570 (Paper-based test) and 230 (Computer-based test).
2. SAT's: The SAT (technically known as the SAT I) is a general test of verbal and quantitative reasoning accepted for U. S. college admissions. The test is required for admission to undergraduate programs of most US universities. Many universities also require you to take SAT-II tests.

SAT 1 - Reasoning Test

The SAT-I test measures verbal and mathematical reasoning abilities that develop over time. Most colleges require only SAT-I scores for admission.

SAT-II: Subject Tests

The SAT-II test measures your knowledge of particular subjects and your ability to apply that knowledge. Many universities may require you to take this along with SAT-I.

3. ACT: A few Universities may also require you to take this test. The ACT is designed to assess high school students' general educational development and their ability to complete college-level work.

Methods to register for the tests:

There are three common ways of registering for SAT:

By mail: Obtain the "SAT Information Bulletin" available free with USEFI offices or from college-board website at www.collegeboard.com. The forms are then mailed to
College Board SAT Program
Princeton, NJ 08541,
USA

Online Registration (Credit Card required): The form is filled up online and the payment done through credit card only. This is the easiest way to register for SAT.

Requesting the form from the U.S. Education Foundation:
Information on USEFI office in Delhi
Address: USEFI
Fulbright House
12 Hailey Road
New Delhi - 110001
Telephone: 23328944
Fax: 23329718
Walk-in hours: 1:30 PM - 4:30 PM (Monday to Friday)
Email: adviser@fulbright-india.org

Read more Study in USA part 1

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