As the start of the new academic year approaches, school-leaving A-level results are under scrutiny again. This year almost a quarter of all A-level students were awarded A grade, the second biggest leap in 30 years. And again this is posing problems as universities wonder how to distinguish top achievers inter se.
Despite being in the eye of numerous storms over the past half century, AIIMS has served as a laboratory to develop brilliant minds in undergraduate and postgrad medical studies
Despite regularly being in the news for the wrong reasons (epicentre of student anti-reservations stir, forced resignation of director etc), the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences […]
The seventh annual Rural IT Quiz conducted by the information technology (IT) department of the government of Karnataka in partnership with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has received overwhelming response. Over 955,000 students participated in the preliminary rounds conducted statewide on September 15, making it the biggest IT quiz programme in India. The objective of the Rural IT […]
They said it in September “I am ashamed of the behaviour of certain members of Parliament. We need educated and disciplined students to come forward for the development of our country.” — Lok Sabha speaker Somnath Chatterjee on the unruly behaviour of some members of Parliament”The task before the government and our leaders is to […]
Fifth revolution leaders”All happy families resemble one another, but each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” What Tolstoy wrote about families in Anna Karenina, is even truer of institutions. Be it Homi Bhabha at the Atomic Energy Commission, Verghese Kurien at NDDB, Vikram Sarabhai at IIM-Ahmedabad, Mohammed Yunus at Bangladesh‚s Grameen Bank or […]
The downside of the consumer boom following economic liberalisation and deregulation is a rising tide of effete epicureanism, aka love of luxury, which is sweeping India’s much-hyped, subsidies-addicted middle class off its feet.
Earlier this year as reported on this page, despite the current boom in civil aviation which has made air travel easier for […]
Comparative Higher Education: Knowledge, the University and Development by Philip Altbach; Ablex Publishers; 312 pp
To say that tertiary education in India is experiencing an existential crisis is to state the painfully obvious. Hamstrung by government interference and micro management; perennial funding shortages; obsolete syllabuses; unruly students and work (especially research) shy academics, India’s 344 universities and 17,700 […]
Rest & recreation in Al AinWhat Goa is to Mumbai, Al Ain is to Dubai ‚ a well-developed holiday destination offering footsore shopaholics a plethora of rest and recreation opportunitiesHistory is likely to prove that the rulers of the port city state of Dubai (pop. 1.1 million) were considerably wiser than the sheikhs and princes […]
A rising tide of teacher discontent and disaffection is swelling at a time when an unprecedented teacher shortage is manifesting across the country. Academic institutions are reporting an alarming shortage of faculty. Summiya Yasmeen reports
Within a society notorious for wasting valuable human resources, September 5 — Teachers Day — marked by desultory celebrations and mealy-mouthed homage to India’s […]
Parents and children guideMy son who has managed to pass his class XII exam in the second attempt, is faring badly in his studies. He doesn‚t want to do his graduation in arts or science as he feels the former is for “sissies” and the latter will prove too difficult. Please advise.A.S. BangaloreIt would be […]
This month my sermon isn’t about which chemicals (read poisons) to watch out for in our food, but about popular attitudes to food. Too often when we are handed a cup of branded coffee, be it a Georgia or Barista, we adjust our tastes to suit the coffee. Perhaps we need to be less accommodating. […]
Even as he was approachingthe end of his innings as principal of Bangalore’s Bishop Cotton Boys School (estb. 1865), commonly acknowledged as one of the country’s top-ranked K-XII schools, Dr. Abraham Ebenezer had set the ball rolling for promotion of the Ebenezer International School, Bangalore (EISB), an ambitious project which promises to set new […]
Your Counsellor RepliesI want to pursue a career in forensic psychology. Please advise.Arti, KolkataAfter completion of your B.Sc in psychology you could enroll for a one-year certificate course in forensic science at Delhi University. Two-year Master‚s programmes in forensic science are offered by Aligarh Muslim University; University of Rajasthan, Jaipur; Tata Institute of Social Sciences, […]
The job of a professional archivist is to meticulously collate, classify and preserve ancient documents, parchments, records and materials, so they remain in good condition
“If you want to understand the present, you have to know your past! India, with its long and diverse history has a cultural wealth of hundreds and thousands of manuscripts, records, inscriptions, […]
There’s a lot of hype nowadays about kidpower and how children are influencing key household purchase decisions. However, while this seems to be true, it doesn’t translate into child power or involvement in other walks of life. Kids are rarely involved in key decision-making and are seldom given the opportunity to become leaders of […]
A tour of sector 56 of Gurgaon, Delhi’s fast-expanding satellite township, indicates that every layout or lane boasts an ‘international school’, some housed in as small an area as 1.5 acres. Currently there are ten self-styled international schools in Gurgaon and the number is rising. Some of them advertise on the local cable network with all […]
The violent death of Prof. H.S. Sabharwal in Ujjain is the fallout of widespread student anger and frustration sweeping the Indian hinterland. Its fury could halt the momentum of the fast-track Indian economy. Dilip Thakorereports
Beyond the glow of the bright lights of mega shopping malls and soaring plate glass skyscrapers of metropolitan India where […]
An electronics and communications engineering graduate of Chennai’s Sri Sairam Engineering College, Arvind Ramanandan has been awarded the University of California Dean’s Distinguished Fellowship Award of Rs.55 lakh ($121,597). This scholarship entitles him to commence a doctoral programme in electrical engineering at UCal, Riverside, skipping the usually mandatory intervening postgraduate programme. On August 18 Ramanandan […]
Much anxiety has been expressed over the inclusion of contemporary history in the political science syllabus of class XII. Judgement of how these themes are handled should await the completion of the textbook. But the syllabus itself is revolutionary. For the first time there will be room for events that are an embarrassment to the […]
Consistently ranked among America’s top three liberal arts colleges, Swarthmore is one of the few in the us to also offer undergrad engineering education
Sited on the outskirts of Philadelphia, Swarthmore College has for several decades been consistently ranked among America’s top three liberal arts colleges. In its 2006 ranking of America’s colleges, U.S. News & […]
In a landmark order delivered on September 22, which could radically transform student politics in the country, the Supreme Court endorsed the J.M. Lyngdoh Committee’s stringent recommendations (submitted in July) on ways and means to clean up India’s notorious university and college elections. Under the order, a cap of Rs.5,000 has been […]
I am writingthis in response to your editorial ‘Muslim neglect of secular education’ (EW September). I had raised certain points in my earlier letters to you about how this minority community is just not interested in entering the mainstream of national life. After the recent 11/7 Mumbai bomb blasts, Outlook had published an article in which an […]
The Karnataka state government order of August 18 closing down a massive number of 1,416 privately-promoted primary schools with an aggregate enrollment of 2.73 lakh children in the six-14 age group, is symptomatic of all that’s wrong with post-independence India’s failed education system. It’s reflective of the reckless and negligent official mindset which has generated […]
When I recall the well-spent days of my youth, some of my fondest memories are of my days as a student (in London) deeply involved in student union activities. As such I passionately participated in formal debates on the burning political issues of the day, drafted detailed resolutions, campaigned for political parties and fought student […]
According to the World Economic Forum Future of Jobs report, skills such as Analytical thinking, resilience and flexibility are among the top competencies required in .....Read More
The K J Somaiya Institute of Management (KJSIM), in collaboration with the Indian Sport Management Association (INSMA), recently organized a conference titled “Shaping the Future .....Read More
