UGC asks HRD Ministry to give breather to PhD holders

http://cbseugcnetforum.in/media/ugc-asks-hrd-ministry-to-give-breather-to-phd-holders/

UGC once again proposed to the HRD Ministry to provide certain relaxation to PhD holders registered before 2009, a move which could provide breather to thousands of candidates applying for teaching jobs in universities.

The relaxation would help thousand of PhD holders affected by the new UGC guideline in 2009, which had made NET and PhD a minimum eligibility criteria for applying for assistant professor in colleges and universities.

At the full commission meeting here today, UGC decided to request the HRD Ministry to issue a notification in this regard after an examination of the matter.

According to a commission member, UGC had in May last year had proposed the relaxation, but the HRD Ministry had failed to act on the proposal, triggering discontent among the candidates and confusion in the academic circles.

The guideline had, however, laid down a set of procedures like course work, external assessment and entrance test to recognise a PhD.

PhD aspirants registered before 2009 and not fulfilling the laid down procedures went on a war path and protested the move, seeking reprieve from the government.

The relaxation would pave the way for recognising the PhDs on par with those done after 2009.

The commission meeting today also cleared a proposal to appoint D P Singh, the vice chancellor of Devi Ahilya Vishwavidyalaya, Indore as the new director of NAAC.

Singh, considered a right wing sympathisiser, had earlier served as vice chancellor of Banaras Hindu University and Hari Singh Gour Vishwavidyalaya, Sagar.

The meeting also decided to derecognise Sikkim-based private university for alleged irregularities in opening campus abroad and offering sub-standard degrees, a public notice of which would be issued shortly.

The decision came after numerous complaints were received against the fraudulent practices of the university.

“A public notice would soon be issued about the UGC decision,” the member said.

UGC also cleared the establishment of a Buddhist studies (a demed to be university) in Ladakh.

(With inputs from agencies)

UGC has released a list of 21 fake universities across the country

 www.ugc.ac.in

After much speculation, the University Grants Commission (UGC) has come up with a list of fake universities. This list consists of 21 universities, set up across the country. These universities have been found to be working in violation of the UGC Act, 1956.

The universities labelled as fake by UGC are listed below:

1. Commercial University Ltd., Daryaganj, Delhi

2. United Nations University, Delhi

3. Vocational University, Delhi

4. Indian Institute of Science and Engineering, New Delhi

5. ADR-Centric Juridical University, New Delhi

6. Kesarwani Vidyapith, Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh

7. Raja Arabic University, Nagpur, Maharashtra

8. St. John's University, Kishanattam, Kerala

9. Badaganvi Sarkar Open World University Education Society, Belagum, Karnataka

10. Maithili University, Darbanga, Bihar

11. Indian Institute of Alternative Medicine, Kolkata, West Bengal

12. D.D.B. Sanskrit University, Trichi, Tamil Nadu

13. Gurukul Vishwavidyalaya, Vrindavan, Uttar Pradesh

14. Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose University, Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh

15. Varanaseya Sanskrit Vishwavidyalaya, Vrindavan, Uttar Pradesh

16. National University of Electro Complex Homeopathy, Kanpur, Uttar Paradesh

17. Mahila Gram Vishwavidyalaya, Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh

18. Gandi Hindi Vidyapith, Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh

19. Indraprastha Shiksha Parishad, Noida, Uttar Pradesh

20. Uttar Pradesh Vishwavidyalaya, Mathura, Uttar Pradesh

21. Maharana Pratap Shiksha Niketan Vishwavidyalaya, Pratapgarh, Uttar Pradesh

For more information about the fake universities, students can visit the official site, www.ugc.ac.in.

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/education/story/ugc-releases-list-of-fake-universities/1/441924.html

Social Networks Use for Education

UGC to amend Act to empower colleges to grant degrees

The status of autonomy is granted initially by the UGC to a selected college for a period of six years

The University Grants Commission (UGC) has set up an expert committee to examine a proposal to amend the UGC Act, to empower colleges to grant a degree.

UGC has laid down detailed guidelines for autonomous colleges, to ensure the proper management of academic, financial and general administrative affairs of these colleges.

“If an autonomous college fails to maintain standards, the UGC and the affiliating university can direct the connected college to maintain standards or even consider revoking the autonomous status of that college,” said Minister of State for Human Resource Development Shashi Tharoor, in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha.

The status of autonomy is granted initially by the UGC to a selected college for six years.

Each autonomous college, with the approval of its academic council, formulates an appropriate mechanism to self-evaluate its academic performance, improvement of standards, and assess the extent and degree of success in the utilisation of autonomy. Self-evaluation is done annually.

In addition, a UGC Expert Committee reviews an autonomous college between its fifth and sixth year of autonomy. Any autonomous college, which has undergone three successive reviews with no adverse comments by expert committees after being granted autonomy, can function independently and there will be no further reviews by the UGC visiting committees. However, having a UGC nominee on the governing board of such councils is a mandatory requirement.

The affiliating university may also send its review committee which may include a state government nominee, to review the working of autonomous colleges at least once during the tenure of its autonomy.

Source | Business Standard | 10 December 2013

From Jan, 100 engg colleges to get virtual lessons from IIT professors

A hundred engineering colleges from across the country will in January switch to a new time-table with half of the lessons delivered virtually by IIT professors. The move comes as part of an ambitious plan to take top notch course content and high quality faculty-student interaction to India's many engineering colleges. Phase I of the Quality Enhancement in Engineering Education (QEEE) programme kick starts on January 2, 2014 as the chosen 100 odd engineering colleges begin a new semester. 

As many as nine subjects, including Mechanical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Computer Engineering and Mathematics among others, will be co-taught by senior IIT professors along with the regular college faculty. 

Sample the draft new timetable that has been drawn up for this new age classroom. A Monday morning lesson across the 100 colleges will start at 8 am with a lesson on 'Wireless Connection' by IIT Kanpur's Prof A Jagannathan. IIT Bombay's Prof Neela Natraj would teach 'Linear Algebra' in the next hour, followed by Prof C Balaji of IIT Madras who would hold forth on 'Heat Transfer' for Mechanical Engineering. From 11 am to noon, Prof B S Murthy would lecture on 'Engineering Fluid Dynamics' while IIT Delhi's Prof Saurabh Bansal would deliver the last virtual lecture of the day on 'Operating Systems'. Similar daily lesson schedules with lectures beaming out from various IITs have been shared with the colleges. 

From the Dr K N Modi University in the Tonk district of Rajasthan to the Don Bosco College of Engineering and Technology (DBCET) at Azara in Assam and the Sagar Institute of Research and Technology in Madhya Pradesh, a range of colleges are waiting to see how this experiment at bridging the quantity-quality divide pans out. 

The QEEE's 'Direct to Student' programme will be backed by supplemental evening e-tutorials by senior students and industry experts in a study circle setting. Ninety minutes of such e-tutorials per week are expected to take off initially. E-labs involving real time online access to experiments conducted at top five labs will also be a part of the larger plan, as will a range of e-books and vocational augmentation courses. 

"Engineering apart, we hope to launch similar virtual modules across several other disciplines. The virtual lectures will be recorded and later put on a QEEE portal that is being developed and later we hope to also broadcast them", a senior official in the HRD ministry said. 

This novel pedagogical project also demands investment in technology. The chosen 100 colleges are busy putting in place the stipulated infrastructure-servers in well-equipped and adequately cooled rooms, 4mbps Internet connectivity, stable LAN between institute server and classroom desktops and student PCs, classrooms with two projectors, screens, audio video systems, cameras with tripods and DTH set top boxes among other requirements. 

Source | Financial Express | 11 December 2013

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HRD Ministry to open 50 educational DTH channels

HRD Ministry to open 50 educational DTH channels

Link:
http://www.indiaeducationreview.com/news/hrd-ministry-open-50-educational-dth-channels/11564

The Union Ministry for Human Resource Development (MHRD) has planned to
launch 50 DTH educational channels.

Ashok Thakur, Secretary Higher Education said these channels will be
different from the existing programmes on air including Gyan Darshan as new
one will be more interactive.
......

Regards
A. Mdhava Rao