Thursday, January 21, 2016

Global Initiative of Academic Networks (GIAN)

Govt. of India approved a new program titled Global Initiative of Academic Networks (GIAN) in Higher Education aimed at tapping the talent pool of scientists and entrepreneurs, internationally to encourage their engagement with the institutes of Higher Education in India so as to augment the country’s existing academic resources, accelerate the pace of quality reform, and elevate India’s scientific and technological capacity to global excellence.
In order to garner the best international experience into our systems of education, enable interaction of students and faculty with the best academic and industry experts from all over the world and also share their experiences and expertise to motivate people to work on Indian problems, there is a need for a Scheme of International Summer and Winter Term. During the ‘Retreat’ of IITs with Minister of Human Resource Development Smt. Smriti Zubin Irani on 29th June, 2014 at Goa, it was decided that “A system of Guest Lectures by internationally and nationally renowned experts would be evolved along with a comprehensive Faculty Development Programme not only for new IITs, IIMs, IISERs but also other institutions in the country.
For more details, please visit the below link:

Wednesday, January 20, 2016

THE J.N. TATA ENDOWMENT FOR THE HIGHER EDUCATION OF INDIANS

Announcement

Applications Can Now Be Downloaded Here

Applications for JN Tata Endowment loan scholarships are now available on this site. You will have to download the form, fill it offline and mail it to us at jnte@tatatrusts.orgDo not send the application by post. Please read the instructions carefully before you start filling the form and ensure that you provide information on all the mandatory fields. Please ensure that you submit a complete form as incomplete forms will be immediately rejected. Please click on the More button below to download the form.
MORE

AMAZON LAUNCHES EXAM CENTRAL

Amazon.in has announced the launch of an online bookstore dedicated to the upcoming entrance exams. Students can find study books, exam calendars, solved papers available for download, articles by popular authors and academics as well as tips from previous years’ toppers and FAQs for students.
Visit: Amazon.in





Source: Hindustan Times dated January 20, 2016

Apply for Abdul Kalam postgraduate fellowship

The University of South Florida is offering the Dr Abdul Kalam fellowship for Indian students, to help cover their tuition. The fellowship is available to an Indian graduate student who wants to pursue a PhD degree at the University of South Florida in the following subjects: applied anthropology, applied physics, business PhD programmes, cell biology, microbiology and molecular biology, chemistry, computer science and engineering, criminology, integrative biology, marine science, engineering and psychology.
To apply to this scholarship, applicants must have completed a graduate degree programme. Applicants must also have academic credentials and a passion for the STEM fields of study.
The university will waive off tuition for four years, and contribute a stipend of $18,000 (about Rs 12.2 lakh) over the nine months of the fall and spring semesters ($2,000 per month — about Rs 1.3 lakh).
The Provost’s Office will pay a nine-month stipend for the first year with the department/college contributing a teaching/ research assistantship for up to an additional three years.
Deadline: February 5 Visit: usf.e du/ world/ resources/ ka lam fellowship. aspx. For online forms, visit usf.edu/world/ resources/ kalam_ fellowship_ form 201617. pdf 




Source: Hindustan Times dated 20 January, 2016

Tuesday, January 19, 2016

Redefining education: Make it creative, encourage risk-taking and expand the idea of success

During his recent India visit, Google CEO Sundar Pichai spoke of how India’s education system would do well to emphasise greater creativity and risk-taking. We ought to listen.
There is perhaps no other country in the world that glorifies examination results and starting salaries the way we do. In most cultures it’s a bit rude to talk about these things even in private. But in India, it’s the stuff of front-page, prime-time news. Buses and outdoor hoardings are plastered with images of top rankers who have “cracked” significant exams and “aced” standardised tests. We put starting salaries and entrance exams on a pedestal and force a singular definition of success down our collective throats. Is the purpose of education really to max standardised tests and rake in the cash?
Most Indian parents today, themselves products of a top-down, instructional model of education, replete with corporal punishment, mindless cramming, and regurgitation of facts, would agree with Ken Robinson, that such a system, devised during the Industrial Revolution, is ill-suited to the needs of modern society. At the same time, there is huge anxiety among parents, teachers and children in India today about a society where 99-per cent cutoffs are the new normal for college admissions. Multiple voices compete inside the heads of everyone involved. Shouldn’t education be about a holistic exposure to all facets of life rather than a cracking of tests? Shouldn’t education be a force for peace, a means to overcoming prejudice? But the material world doesn’t reward these qualities! Yes, I want my kids to be creative and curious but didn’t the work ethic and analytical abilities drilled into us by old-fashioned Indian public schools make us a generation of high-achievers? Will new-age approaches to education turn my kids into under-achievers?
Multiple studies have shown that personality attributes such as grit, curiosity, and self-control are stronger predictors of achievement than IQ. Writer Paul Tough in his book, How Children Succeed, challenged what he called “the cognitive hypothesis” or the belief “that success today depends primarily on cognitive skills — the kind of intelligence that gets measured on IQ tests, including the abilities to recognise letters and words, to calculate, to detect patterns”. Instead, Tough offered a character-hypothesis or the idea that non-cognitive skills, like persistence, curiosity, conscientiousness, optimism, and self-control, are more crucial than raw brainpower to achieving success. Tough believes that character is created by encountering and overcoming failure. A culture that allows children to explore, take academic risks and learn from failure is a culture that creates curious, passionate, confident, and empathetic adults. As Einstein famously noted, “Imagination is more important than knowledge”.
An education system that values creativity is one that makes a deliberate effort to spark thoughtfulness and independent thinking, teaches students how to learn, instils a lifelong love of learning, pushes students to find their own interpretations, and guides the development of a strong moral compass. Creativity in education has to do with a constructivist approach to education, where learning is an active, contextualised process of knowledge construction that builds on prior knowledge, social interaction and authentic tasks, rather than the passive receiving of information.
By glorifying starting salaries and standardised tests in India, we also propagate a singular definition of intelligence that skews our incentives and priorities in unhealthy ways. This creates, for example, a society where blind obeisance to corporate imperatives is valued far more than, say, the pursuit of teaching or the arts. To be fair, this is a flaw intrinsic to capitalism but one that is at least recognised and partially redressed via generous subsidies and grants in the developed world. Harvard psychologist Howard Gardner introduced the theory of multiple intelligences in 1983, and posited that IQ was an inadequate measure of human ability. Beyond the linguistic and logical-mathematical skills that IQ tests entail, Gardner proposed musical intelligence, spatial intelligence, bodily-kinaesthetic intelligence, interpersonal intelligence, intrapersonal intelligence and naturalist intelligence as key expressions of human ability that find relevance in a wide variety of professions. Gardner’s research expanded the idea of intelligence. We could do with such an expansion in India.
A society that values multiple intelligences, encourages exploration, accepts failure, prizes environmental conscientiousness, and allows people to define success on their terms may be what Pichai had in mind. For India’s over-populated, hyper-competitive context, such a reality may still be a while away. But it’s a goal that’s well worth aiming for.

Friday, January 15, 2016

BOOK BANK FACILITY FOR FE TO BE


The library is providing the “Book Bank” facility to all the students FE to BE.
Date and timings are as mentioned below :

Date : 16/01/2016

Timing :10.00am to 1.00pm and 2.00pm to 3.00pm.

Thursday, January 14, 2016

Sachin Tendulkar's near-death experience while crossing rail tracks

Sachin Tendulkar's near-death experience while crossing rail tracks

Sachin Tendulkar recalled a scary experience which he underwent during his school days while crossing the rail tracks.

Batting legend Sachin Tendulkar on Wednesday recalled a scary experience which he underwent during his school days while crossing the rail tracks.
The former India batsman was speaking at the launch of two initiatives by the Mumbai Railway Police - SAMEEP (Safety Alert Messages Exclusively For Passengers) and B-Safe.
"Right from the age of 11, I travelled by trains in Mumbai. When I travelled, I had a kit-bag. I have also experienced jostling, being pushed in and out of trains...these experiences will stay with me," Tendulkar said.
"In school, I had gone to Vile Parle to a friend's place. We five or six boys... had practiced in the morning and had gone to his place for lunch. Then we decided to watch a movie. After watching the movie, we got late for practice and hence we decided to cross railway tracks and go to the platform, and board the train at Dadar," he added.
The 42-year-old talking about the horrific incident said, "While crossing the tracks, halfway, we realised that trains were coming fast on all the tracks. We ended up crouching on our knees in between the tracks with our kits. That was a scary experience and then onwards we never crossed train tracks."
Tendulkar also urged all rail commuters not to sit on train roofs and to avoid travel if the train is crowded.
"I feel in today's world every minute matters, there is competition everywhere. I feel, a lot of time (the thinking is) if we cross railway tracks, then we will reach quicker, there will be benefit of five minutes instead of crossing the bridge while going to the other platform. These are small things - one, you are breaking the law, and you are risking life for five minutes," he said.
"Your family and friends are waiting for you back home and if you reach there five minutes later it really does not matter. It is important to be there, safe and sound, rather than be in hospital. I will request: do not sit on the train roof and travel if the train is crowded. Everyone is hard pressed for time, but still (I ask you), leave that train, be patient and do not break rules," Tendulkar said.

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