There's such a profound emphasis placed on achieving good grades that students always only bother to learn the material in order to see the grades they want on a report card. There's a difference between learning something and then being tested, and learning something because you're being tested. Whether they are parents at home or teachers at institutes, people are ruthlessly following the norms of past putting a lot of pressure on students towards good percentage in the exams.Today, the highly demanding corporate world demands multi-facet development from the student community. For this it has become very necessary to develop in students the love for learning. Helping students to achieve and grow at a subject is a key part of the effort, as people enjoy what they are good at, but test scores alone do not fully capture a teacher's success at inspiring lasting interest. It is very important to focus on imparting education and training along with preparing a resilient and treasured human resource, who not only shine as stars but pave the path of prosper future like many suns.Preparing students for tests is entirely different from getting them prepared for life. The main aim of learning should be setting the students up for a world where a lot of students will grow up to be obsolete in the way they think and what they do. Students who wish to move towards learning orientation are more focused towards learning and observing the knowledge being imparted in the classrooms. The rest view the classroom as a place where they are being tested.In recent past, it has been witnessed that the grades tend to diminish students' interest in whatever they're learning. A "grading orientation" and a "learning orientation" have been shown to be inversely related. Grades create a preference for the easiest possible task. More strikingly, through frequent studies, it has been witnessed that students are less interested in learning as a result of grading. This process is being followed from elementary schools to grading schools and across cross cultures. As a result, anyone who wants to see students get obsessed on words and numbers and ideas already has reason to look for other ways of assessing and defining their accomplishment.For instance, if the students are asked that what they are doing will count towards their grades will likely result in students avoiding unnecessary intellectual risks. The schools/ institutes are required to create real life engineers and managers by giving them a platform where they can implement their learning towards practical innovations and not just writing for marks. Through books we believe what we read but reality can only be depicted by practice. It has also been observed that students given numerical grades are significantly less creative than the students who just receive few good remarks. In fact, sometimes grading worsens the creativity of students who know that they would be graded. Achievement is when comments and compliments are given to your work instead of numeric marks.Students should take up assignments as a sign of showing their creativity through their projects and not to just satisfy the demands of their teachersA move from grading orientation to learning orientation is the need of the hour. INDIA being a country with huge population still lacks a conducive environment for research. There is a vital call for students and professionals who have a better understanding of research instead of being just technically sound. As a society we are inculcating in our young generation, the values that are necessary to grab a dream job in big organization with high pay packets. No one is actually guiding young ones to first learn and then gradually step up on the success ladder. INDIA is in dire need of the young generation joining research and innovates. We are still looking at outside world for new technology, new research and new innovations due to lack of R&D opportunities in our own land. Here where is the major revamp in delivery and role of technical institutes is required to prepare an environment of research among students.Another important aspect is how to bridge the gap between industry and academia. Today, the industry expects to recruit fresher's who are productive and less effort in terms of time and cost is spent on specific training programs to make them industry ready.In current scenario, Industry is forced to put efforts to first train to make them employable and then put them on projects. This gap can only be filled by developing curriculum in collaboration with industry and academia. For the same, known corporate are now focusing on skill building by providing a workable demo model in the institutes that will facilitate collaboration between teachers and students through learning activities. This will help the students in showcasing there aggression to do something and in becoming more interactive in the classrooms. In the IT and core sectors Industry leaders are contributing towards creating Centre for Excellence in the institutes. In current scenario, Industry is forced to put efforts to first train to make them employable and then put them on projects. This gap can only be filled by developing curriculum in collaboration with industry and academia.It costs a lot if companies spend on training the students and as a result of which students leave after being trained. Hence there is a dire requirement for the students to be more productive for which centre for excellences will add another pillar to their teaching module wherein students may give an insight to the surrounding problems and come up with ideas that would help in innovating industry viable products. This will help in establishing a self-sustaining ecosystem that promotes creativity and the spirit of innovation amongst the students. On the end of the professional institutes, it should be ensured that students undergo rigorous all round training by highly qualified teachers so that after graduation, they are ready to face a tough and competitive world and can take the challenges head-on.The author, Neeraj Goel, is general secreatary, ABES Engineering College, Ghaziabad
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Top educators from best rated schools around the world are coming together in Gurgaon for the first annual meeting of the Global Schools’ Alliance (GSA). The agenda for this year’s event is ‘Co-creating the world’s best schools’. The first and only school from India, Vega School, is the latest addition to the group. The head of GSA, Lene Jensby Lange of Denmark, chose India as the host country for the inaugural meeting. Between 13 to 16 October, the heads and founders of progressive schools in the US, UK, New Zealand, Cambodia, Indonesia and Denmark will travel to Delhi to attend the annual conference and exchange research and best practises about how children learn. The GSA will also set goals on how to collaborate with each other for the coming years and select projects on which children can work together internationally. Sandy Hooda, co-founder of Vega Schools, said, “Great educators from amazing schools like Allan Kjaer Andersen, Director of Orestad Gymnasium in Denmark and Sandra Jenkins from Freemans Bay School in New Zealand, are coming here to share their experiences. We hope there is a lot for Indian schools to learn from their counterparts and help put the child at the centre of learning.” GSA head Lange, said, “I see a lot of schools coming up in the region who intend to be progressive in nature. Schools in India still need to change a lot in order to become truly progressive 21st century schools”. Within GSA, partner schools and faculty are continuously learning from each other. Schools exchange research studies, best practises, and host other member school teachers for visits and teaching opportunities. Students attending member schools also benefit from the partnership, she added. Barbara Cavanagh from Albany Senior High School, New Zealand, said, “Through online facilities children are able to collaborate with students in other countries on projects. By doing this they learn about different cultures and how to work together with people from different backgrounds.”
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MDI Gurgaon has finished its summer placements for the class of 2015-17 in a record time of 2.5 days. Last year, it took 3.5 days for placing the entire batch. Summer internships which are a mandatory requirement for the fulfillment of the MBA curriculum.A total of 98 companies participated in the process, for 241 students of the flagship PGPM (Post Graduate Programme in Management) and 60 of the PGP-HRM (Post Graduate Programme in Human Resource Management).The average stipend for the entire batch of 301 students in the two-year post-graduate programme was Rs 1,41,000, and the highest stipend pegged at a whopping Rs 3,00,000 for two months.Snapdeal made the highest number of offers, recruiting 17 students for various roles. The campus saw an onset of exciting new relationships with prestigious organizations including Anheuser-Busch InBev, Edelweiss Financial Services, HCL Infosystems, Hindustan Unilever, Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages, ITC Ltd., Marico, Microsoft, Multi Screen Media, o3 Capital, and Saint Gobain among others.(BW Online Bureau)
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Haider Ali KhanManagement Development Institute (MDI), Gurgaon, one of the top B-schools in India has revamped their part time executive programme to cater skill development of the executives for the 2015 session. The changes have been introduced following the review meeting held in MDI.Top industry leaders and thought makers from the institute participated in the review meeting. MDI has launched its 27th batch of its executive part time programme.The millennium city Gurgaon is a hub for start-ups and MNCs. Commutation during the peak hours towards the campus was a concern for the participants and one of the suggested changes. Now, instead of evening classes, the institute will hold classes in the weekends.The Institute has made the course flexible as participants who cannot complete it in three years can be allowed up to five years to graduate in exceptional cases. At the same time, others can finish the programme in two years.“The key to sustainability is adaptation to the changing business eco-system. We invite feedback from the industry to make our curriculum flexible for the participant. Value addition in the participant’s career encouraged to revisit our programmes regularly and make them participant friendly. We are delighted to introduce these changes in our curriculum. The changes will be most helpful in flexible training and skill development of the executives,” said Professor A K Jain, chairperson, PGPM-Part Time programme.The programme is open to working executives with at least three years post qualification experience. It is aimed at including strategic thinking, decision-making and problem solving abilities, team spirit, entrepreneurial and leadership capabilities and mind set ready for innovation and change.
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British-born economist Angus Deaton won the 2015 economics Nobel Prize for "his analysis of consumption, poverty and welfare", the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said on Monday (12 October). The academy said that Deaton's work had been a major influence on policy making, helping for example to determine which social groups are affected by an increase of value-added tax on food. "To design economic policy that promotes welfare and reduces poverty, we must first understand individual consumption choices," the award-giving body said on announcing the 8 million Swedish crown ($978,000) prize. "More than anyone else, Angus Deaton has enhanced this understanding," it said. Deaton also spearheaded the use of household survey data in developing countries, especially data on consumption, to measure living standards and poverty, the academy said. The economics prize, officially called the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, was established in 1968. It was not part of the original group of awards set out in dynamite tycoon Nobel's 1895 will. Deaton, who was born in Edinburgh and holds both British and U.S. citizenship, is professor of Economics and International Affairs at Princeton University in the United States.(Reuters)
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By C H UnnikrishnanIndia is emerging as a key region for design education as the concept of formal training in design is catching up fast in the country and the standard of curriculum and the faculty is similar to the one that is offered in any other part of the world, says David Van Zandt, president, The New School-Parsons School of Design, New York, one of the world’s top art and design schools.According to Zandt, the importance of design education is increasing as design has started engaging boardrooms now.“Design schools are not only a major source of new talents for the economy’s rapidly growing creative sector, but are critical catalysts for entrepreneurship,” he said in Mumbai while inaugurating the Mumbai Academic Campus of Indian School of Designs and Innovation (ISDI) and Parsons School of Design, on Friday (9, October).The new art academic campus, where two unique design education institutions are coming together to provide a common platform for creative education and design thinking, is first of its kind in India. With this, Parsons School of Design will support ISDI by creating a unique design education delivery system in terms of faculty, ongoing training curriculum student and faculty exchange among others.“ISDI with Parsons in Mumbai is laser focused on building a new generation ecosystem of design and innovation driven by creative entrepreneurship in India,” said Radha Kapoor, ISDI founder and executive director, and an alumnus of Parson School of Design, New York.“By formalising the strong partnership with Parsons, we are building up the capacity of global faculty in the Mumbai campus of ISDI,” said Siddharth Shahani, executive director, ISDI.
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ICICIdirect Centre for Financial Learning (ICFL) and XLRI - Xavier School of Management, Jamshedpur teamed up to offer Management Development Programme (MDP) and Long Duration Programme (LDP) specialising in Finance.With this objective, ICFL and XLRI have come together to offer these programs through a convenient online mode with an aim of honing the financial skills of working professionals with atleast 2-3 years of experience.Prof Ashis K. Pani, Associate Dean (VIL) from XLRI – Xavier School of Management said, “By leveraging the complimentary capabilities of each other; we look forward to successfully delivering high quality Programs to working professionals. In other words we can say this program would equip participants with the expertise of financial domain for the better tomorrow. This tie-up will help interaction between student and industry experts.”This collaboration will establish a framework for both XLRI and ICFL to attain and strengthen their shared objectives through the design, creation, distribution and delivery of programs in the domain of finance.While, XLRI brings its expertise through curriculum design, quality of faculty, content development and delivery, ICFL will bring a practitioner’s perspective by introducing programs based on the industry requirements, participation in content design, delivery by practising professionals and reaching out to learners with the proposition.“ICICI Securities has always been at the forefront of simplifying finance whether it is at individual level or at corporate level. Young working professionals need simple modes of learning finance that help them save their time as well expense while pursuing their career. We are excited to associate with XLRI, a reputed institute through a unique knowledge based industry-academia partnership. We are looking forward to a successful partnership which will help several young Indians take up finance as a career option,” said Vineet Arora, EVP- Product and Distribution, ICICI Securities.XLRI Professors will deliver the course from a studio at the XLRI Campus in Jamshedpur using a Virtual Interactive Learning environment. ICFL Authorized Learning centres will enable the delivery of the programs. Since the programs are online, professionals will benefit from flexibility to study while pursuing their career. Besides the cost benefit is as an added advantage since participants will save on travel and residential costs.eMDP: These include Management Development Programs (MDP) focused at skill development of working professionals. Some of the topics covered under this program are Financial Analysis Techniques and Equity Research, Finance for Business Managers, Financial Instruments, Markets and Investment Choices, Data Analysis and Financial Modelling using Excel. The program fees will be Rs 25,000 – Rs 100,000 per participantLDP (Long Duration Programs): programs of duration ranging from six months to one year in finance /related area. The fees for LDP will be in the range of Rs 150,000- Rs 300,000 per participantThese programs could be seen as events for continuous learning and knowledge enhancement by mid to senior level working professionals. A longer duration program would be relevant for those seeking a deeper engagement in the specialized functional skills.(BW Online Bureau)
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Course providers of EduKart, online education marketplace, are launching a special scholarship programme through a contest to provide a better education to deserving students.The company's investor and brand ambassador, cricketer Yuvraj Singh is supporting the programme and has himself set the criteria for awarding the scholarship.The company has organised a contest for the students basis which deserving candidates will be chosen by the course providers for the scholarship. Many course providers like Assam Down Town University and AskIITians are participating in this initiative.“This is a great initiative as it will help deserving candidates to pursue quality education. I firmly believe that nobody should be denied access to education because of financial constraints and this scholarship program is an amazing step in that direction,” said Yuvraj Singh, founder YouWeCan Ventures.The company announced its referral programme earlier this month which has seen a lot of traction from students. This is another campaign by the company to help deserving candidates make their education decision.(BW Online Bureau)
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