SHEMBLOG

Australia is on the verge of opening five Examination Centres in India. These centres would serve the purpose of recruiting for overseas doctors as Australia is fighting an acute shortage of medical professionals. In the present scenario, the hopeful candidates appear for the concerned examination in testing centres in far-away places like Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai or London.

The proposed five centres would come up in major metros like New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai. This makes a lot of sense as India is biggest contributor of trained overseas doctors migrating to Australia. Indians from India, U.K. and South Africa form a large percentage of annual overseas recruitments Down Under.

Kota in Rajasthan has been the states’ busiest industrial hub and famous across the country for its numerous coaching institutes and the large number of IIT/Medical aspirants that descend here every year. Kota’s coaching classes have been famous for decades now and the region is well-known for producing a large number of toppers and pass-outs in the entrance examinations. Now, the Rajasthan government wants Kota — the Education City of India, to be chosen for setting up the next branch of Indian Institute of Technology or IIT.

However, the Human Resource Development ministry isn’t in favour of the state government’s proposal. The HRD ministry’s viewpoint isn’t misplaced. The presence of the large number of IIT aspirants and money-minting coaching institutes could lead to the creation of a coaching lobby.

The Indian tourism industry is faced with an annual scarcity of 200,000 trained professionals. The current system offers only 12,000 trained people. Taking this problem into consideration, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, CCEA has approved the proposal for broadening the scope for better infrastructure and more trained manpower resources. As a result, new educational institutes will be created in the key areas of tourism and hospitality.

Even the existing polytechnics and universities would be upgrading to offer hospitality/tourism-related courses. This would translate into the strengthening of the currently-operational establishments like the IHMs and Food Craft Institutes. Some of these institutes would be turned into centres of excellence for the above-mentioned courses.

Hyderabad is on the verge of getting an international civil aviation university. Concordia University of Canada would be setting up the aviation-themed University. In all probability, the University would start offering its various courses in 2009. The campus would be set-up around 2010 in India’s first aerospace-oriented special economic zone in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh.

It has been proposed that it will be called the International Civil Aviation University (ICAU). The project would seek investment in the range of $40 to 50 million. The University’s initial programmes would include B.Sc. Mechanical Engineering, M.Sc. Aeronautical Engineering, B.Sc. Aviation Management, M.Sc. Air Transport Management and Aviation MBA. The University would span across Hyderabad, Montreal and Toulouse.

The Ahmedabad-based CERC or Consumer Education and Research Centre has called upon the government to follow the guidelines set by the UNEP — United Nations Environment Programme and begin formally educating the children about the sustainable consumption of natural resources and their conservation.

UNEP has already pioneered this cause and even mentioned the different developmental and environmental factors involved. CERC would be working together with a German agency called GTZ for developing easy-to-understand booklets and animation films for sending across this message to the students.

Bharathiar University has just signed a Memorandum of Understanding — MoU with AssessPeople. The Vice-Chancellor of Bharathiar University and the Chief Executive Officer of AssessPeople — a workforce assessment service company, signed the Memorandum which would help the students to prepare for professional placements.

The University students would be tested/analyzed/evaluated by AssessPeople in areas like formal communication skills, analytical aptitude, technical skills and other industrial skills. Students would undergo orientation by top-management professionals and professional experts. The Company will also organise research and workshops. The varsity would benefit from attracting more potential employers and higher salaries for the students

NComputing, located in California, is a provider of low-priced computing solutions. The company has been selected to provide computer access to nearly 1.8 million students across Andhra Pradesh. This educational initiative would benefit students of nearly 5,000 schools. Andhra Pradesh would be contracting NComputing to provide nearly free IT education by creating low-cost computer labs in these schools. The AP government would benefit as these labs would use nearly 90% lesser electricity when compared to traditional computer labs.

These labs would also allow nearly seven users to share and work on one PC, simultaneously. The system would use Microsoft Windows Server operating system and Microsoft Office Suite. This is an excellent example of ground-breaking and resourceful outsourcing model. This model is being referred to as Build, Operate and Transfer or BOT — the provider installs, staffs and manages the lab.

IT education is about to get a major boost in Chennai, especially for the unprivileged women as Young Women’s Christian Association, YMCA has started in a school for IT education in cooperation with the Tamil Nadu State Social Welfare Board, TNSSWB and Satyam Foundation. The first batch of women would be inducted in a 3-month computer course. Satyam Foundation has provided 100 computers for this noble cause. This IT course is unique as it is solely aimed at social upliftment. The students would seek further assistance when seeking a job. Tamil Nadu Industrial Investment Corporation, TIIC has been enrolled to provide assistance for the students seeking employment.