The year took the education sector by surprise. The government established three IITs on a fast-track basis. B-schools revised their placement strategies by inviting new companies on campus. Companies did their bit too, by planning a foray into the education sector. Business Standard highlights a few interesting education events of the year:
IITs implement faculty quota on campus
The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), for the first time since their inception, implemented quotas for faculty members from this year. The HRD ministry, however, assured the country’s premier technical institutes that they could de-reserve the posts after a year if vacancies remained.
IITs, according to a Ministry of Human Resource Development directive, are expected to reserve 15 per cent seats for Schedule Castes, 7.5 per cent for Schedule Tribes and 27 per cent for OBCs in faculty positions. However, till date, reservations for backward category candidates were provided only in administrative posts.
Eight new IITs commissioned
The human resources development ministry announced plans for setting up eight new IITs instead of just three that were supposed to begin operations this year in Bihar, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh. The sum total of 13 IITs will now have a total of 6,872 seats.
The ministry also plans to start classes for IITs in Punjab, Orissa and Rajasthan as sub-braches of the IITs in Delhi, Kanpur and Kharagpur respectively. Also, under a mentorship programme, IIT Mumbai is mentoring IIT Gujarat; IIT Kharagpur is mentoring IIT Orissa for three years and IIT Madras is mentoring IIT Andhra Pradesh.
Second wave of institution building
Under the “second wave of institution building”, the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, proposed the setting up of another 20 Indian Institutes of Technology besides 30 new Central Universities, seven Indian Institutes of Management, five Indian Institutes of Science and 10 National Institutes of Technology.
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Funds for expansion of IIMs
In the wake of Supreme Court’s nod to the OBC quota in central educational institutions, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs gave its ‘in-principle’ approval to an outlay of Rs 10,328.20 crore required for the 54 per cent capacity expansion in these institutions to implement the OBC quota.
IIMs hike fee
Studying at the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) became costlier with two institutes — IIM-Calcutta (IIM-C) and IIM-Ahmedabad hiking fees. IIM-C hiked its annual fee for the first year to Rs 3 lakh from Rs 2 lakh and for the second year to Rs 4 lakh from Rs 2 lakh.
IIM-A also increased fees for the post graduate programme in management for executives from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 14 lakh, starting from the 2008-09 batch. IIM-Bangalore (IIM-B) also raised the annual fee for its flagship management programme by Rs 75,000 to Rs 2.5 lakh.
CAT to go on-line from November 2009
The IIMs’ CAT committee announced that it is looking at conducting the CAT exam on-line from November 2009. The exam may be formatted on the lines of the GMAT (Graduate Management Admission Test) so that the scores are valid for two to three years.
The move is expected to benefit thousands of students. In 2007, around 230,000 students took the exams. This year the number is was around 300,000. The IIMs could outsource the project to an IT firm specialising in education and training services.
B-schools face the slowdown heat
The economic downturn took its toll on B-school placement. B-schools are anticipating a 25-30 per cent drop in placement this academic year. Some tier-II B-schools will not be able to attain 100 per cent placement for their students.
With the collapse of Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch, the two prominent recruiters from the IIMs, the IIMs too are cautious on the final placement figures. Summer placement at IIMs however, posted was impressive. Students managed to bag diverse offers for summer internships in April. The financial sector continued to pour in offers, contradicting fears the sector would tumble this year.
Placement scenario grim at IITs too
Final placement at the premier Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) are expected to be turned out to be a tame affair, considering the clowdown in 2008.
When last heard, IITians were planning to approach companies on their own. The IITs so far have received a lukewarm response from the corporate world. Some IITs were also planning to extend the placement till April. The placement for IITs begin in December and will go on till February.
University for PIOs in Bangalore by 2012
The Manipal Academy of Higher Education was selected by the Ministry of Overseas Affairs to set up a university for Persons of Indian Origin (POI); 50 per cent of the seats will be reserved for the PIOs.
Manipal University plans to set up a Rs 600-crore Persons of Indian Origin (PIO) University in Bangalore by 2011-12. It will primarily cater to the needs of quality education for children of the burgeoning Indian diaspora. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh first mooted the idea of an exclusive university for PIOs/NRIs during the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas in 2006.
Corporates plan universities
HCL Founder and Chairman Shiv Nadar sought 300 acres of land in Noida, near New Delhi, to set up a Rs 300-crore multi-disciplinary university. Educomp Solutions, an online learning solutions provider, is also planning to enter the higher education space by setting up a private university in New Delhi. The company is looking at acquiring anywhere between 25 acres and 50 acres of land in and around the Delhi-National Capital Region.
in associate with Vinay Umarji & Chitra Unnithan