Colleges News

With an aim to enhance the capacity and quality of India's higher education institutions, the government has decided to convert 45 autonomous colleges into universities by end of 12th Plan and bestow them with the power to grant degrees. The total amount earmarked for 12th Plan for this scheme is Rs 2,475 crore.

Stung by the economic slowdown, campus hirings in a number of B-schools, apart from top institutes like IIMs, have dropped by 40-50% and pay-packages by 35-40% this year, according to an Assocham study. The number of admissions have declined as well with 190 B-schools closing down in 2012 and 300-500 institutions having become defunct because of not filling-up enough seats.

Two B.Tech students of Indian Institute of Information Technology, Allahabad, have bagged job offers of Rs 60 lakh p.a. from Facebook , while another student has been chosen as student ambassador of Google. Last year, a BTech final student at Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology, Allahabad was hired by Facebook for a package of Rs 1.33 crore p.a.

Increased fees and reduced job offers have decreased the number of CAT-aspirants this year to a five-year low of 1.94-lakh, a 10% drop from last year's 2.14-lakh. 58-applicants will compete for 1-seat in an IIM this year, compared to 68 last year. Only 10% of Indian MBA-graduates are employable and campus placements went down by 40% in 2012, reported Assocham.

The HRD ministry has asked IITs, IIMs and central universities to accept self-attested documents of students aspiring for admissions and ask for originals only at admission time. This citizen friendly move comes into effect from this session, providing a much needed relief to students, especially those in rural areas, said officials. State-level institutes are being requested to adopt this policy.

UGC's latest data show that Hyderabad's Osmania University is the largest university with 901 affiliated colleges. Pune University, which enrols 45% of foreign students studying in India, comes second with 811-colleges, followed by RTM-Nagpur University (800-colleges), Rajasthan University (735-colleges), and Mumbai University (711-colleges). Rampant rise in colleges affiliated to universities is said to have deteriorated the quality of higher education.

The total number of new enrolees from India in US graduate schools in 2013 witnessed a 40% rise, driving the growth of foreign enrolment in US, while increment in enrolment from China was 5%, after seven consecutive years of double-digit growth. However, China continues to be the largest source (34%) of international graduate students followed by India and South Korea.

A parliamentary standing committee report shows that about 38% of sanctioned teaching posts in central universities and 40% in state universities lie vacant. Moreover, a media report estimated that 40% of college teachers were low-paid contractual teachers working for Rs 4,000-20,000 per month -- far below UGC recommendations; and many of these non-regular teachers weren't well-qualified, tarnishing quality of education.

With 3.5% decrease in student enrollment from India in 2012-2013, the total Indian student count in the US has shrunk for the second consecutive year to 96,754, said an open doors report on International Educational Exchange released on Monday. China, which was displaced by India as the biggest source of foreign students, surpassed India with 235,000 students in the US.

Most US companies that do not have operations in India have not registered for placements at Indian tech schools this year. The reason is largely accredited to the US visa issue that surfaced last year. However, sources in IIT Delhi have revealed that about five new international companies are coming for the first time, including some Japanese.

A study published by the National Bureau of Economic Research shows that students who are cheats in school are more likely to opt for government jobs. Similar is the case with nurses working in India, those found to be dishonest in a unique test were more prone to fraudulent absenteeism in the government sector.

Ranking Indian MBA graduates as the world's most academically distinguished, the QS Global Business School Report 2013 has placed IIM Ahmedabad in the top 39 elite B-schools of world. Moreover, students at IIM Bangalore (780) and IIM-A (767) have the highest average GMAT scores in the world, ahead of the leading US institution Stanford (730), and INSEAD in Europe (704).

As per a top official, twelve students at IIT Kanpur have bagged a package of Rs 1 crore or more. Reportedly, Oracle has offered a package of Rs 1.3 crore while Google, LinkedIn, and Tower Research offered Rs 1 crore. The official dismissed the report that the three students being given Rs 1.3 crore per annum have refused the offer.

IIT Kharagpur has set a record of getting maximum number of students placed in any IIT in one phase, with 1,010 students securing jobs in the first round of placements that ended in December. 195 organisations visited the campus, with the highest package offered being Rs.77 lakh. At IIT Mumbai, there were 900 offers while IIT Delhi got 750 offers.