SHEMBLOG

A new Indian university Asian Institute of Medicine, Science and Technology (AIMST) was inaugurated by Malaysian prime minister Abdullah Ahmed Badawi in the Kedah state of the country. The University will be run under direct control of Maju Institute of Educational Development, which is the education arm of the Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC).

The new institute aims to provide software and business outsourcing professionals to the country. The university provides undergraduates courses in the following domains:

Medicine and health sciences
Dentistry
Engineering and Computer technology
Applied sciences
Business and management

Currently, a total of 2,300 undergraduates are pursuing their degree in various medical and engineering courses in the university. Recently, the university has also got permission to conduct its Ph.D program in biotechnology.

Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) has signed Memorandums of Understanding (MoU) with Washington University Law School and John Hopkins University for academic exchange program.

The tie up will enable all 3 universities to exchange valuable research and study material with each other. Under the exchange program students, faculties will visit other universities and research material will be shared among all 3 universities. The program will be implemented from next academic session.

AMU is planning to sign similar kind of MoU’s with 5 more American universities to broaden the research and standard of Aligarh Muslim University.

Tamil Nadu State Government is seeking more authority and power from Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry for controlling deemed universities in the state.

Universities who gets deemed status from HRD, reserves the right of complete control of admission process and fee structure. As a result lot of government reservation quota seats are alloted to private candidates. Recently, Cettinad Medical College got the deemed status from the HRD ministry without the recommendation of the state government. As a result, the government lost about 83 seats under reservation guidelines.

The state government demands control over fixing fee structure and allocation of quota as per new reservations guidelines in these deemed universities.

Government of India has decided to open two new Medical colleges in Delhi under direct affiliation with Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University (GGSIPU), Delhi. The two medical colleges will be setup in Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital and College of Nursing at Safdarjung Hospital.

Both medical colleges will offer B.Sc (Nursing) Hons. program of 4 year duration. Admissions will be given on the basis of performance in Common Entrance Test (CET), which will be held on 20th September, 2008. Last date for submitting the completed application form is 30th August, 2008.

National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), Patna has started the classes of its first academic year with 60 students. 30 students are doing Bachelors of Design in Fashion Communication, while the other 30 are pursuing Masters Degree in Fashion Management.

At present the institute will run from temporary premises of a Bihar Industrial Area Development Authority building near Gandhi Maidan, Patna. Bihar government has sanctioned 10 acres land and Rs. 586 million for the institute. The construction work and infrastructure buildup will be completed by the end of this year. Out of total sanctioned money, 270 million will be spent in the current financial year for initial setup of the institute.

Currently, faculty members from Delhi, Hyderabad and other branches will be teaching the students on rotation basis, till the branch does not gets its own permanent faculty members.

Much like the socio-economic diversity in India, school education also offers a multifaceted model. Overall, the schooling in India is split in different levels – primary, secondary and senior secondary. The school age begins once the child is three years and is normally completed at the age of sixteen. The secondary and senior secondary level, from grade VIII to XII is the most important in terms of career goals and achievements.

There is often a wide debate on accrediting the best school and the best board governing the secondary and senior secondary education system. The question –What is better for the child, CBSE or ICSE, often becomes serious for the parents, as it is them who have to decide. So far as CBSE or ICSE are concerned, one has to know about their structure and how they function, so as to arrive at any positive conclusion.

Technically speaking CBSE and ICSE cannot be clubbed together, as the former refers to the board and the latter to an examination conducted by a different one. Let us examine the two boards and see what do they offer.

CBSE and CISCE

CBSE or Central Board of Secondary Education is one of the most popular school boards in India. The board is responsible for preparing the syllabus for class 9 to 12th, secondary and senior secondary level. Another important function of CBSE is to conduct examinations based on the prescribed syllabus. It is a recognized board and its syllabus incorporates the national curriculum as well as additional subject matter. The board conducts two examinations – All India Secondary School Examination, AISSE (Class X) and the All India Senior School Certificate Examination, AISSCE (Class XII).

ICSE on the other hand is one of the two examinations conducted by yet another board, CISCE or Council for the Indian School Certificate Examination. It is similar to AISSE conducted by the CBSE. Its (CISCE’s) equivalent for AISSCE is the Indian School Certificate or ISC.

First Dissimilarity – The Medium of Instruction

The first and foremost dissimilarity between the two boards is the medium of instructions approved by the board. Whereas CBSE approves both English and Hindi language as the medium of instructions, CISCE or ICSE does not recommend Hindi.

Regular and Private Candidates

CBSE is affiliated to a large number of schools all over India. The board allows both regular candidates, who study in CBSE schools, as well as private candidates from non-affiliated schools to appear in the exams. Contrary to this, ICSE does not allow a candidate who has not been studying in ICSE affiliated school.

Recognition

Both CBSE and CISCE are self-financing education institutions. However, CBSE is recognized by Indian government and ICSE is not. Although the certificates provided by both of them are globally valid, yet CBSE has a better footing in the subcontinent than ICSE. The ISC by CISCE is recognized by many foreign education systems as equivalent to senior examination or high school. Therefore students qualifying ISC are not required to go for bridge courses while seeking admission in colleges abroad.

Syllabus

The syllabus prepared by CBSE is more suitable for qualifying in various entrance examinations, including the medical and engineering professional exams. The syllabus of ICSE is more detailed and requires the student to remember a lot. CBSE is comparatively easier than ICSE.

Assessments

One more point of distinction between the two boards is the evaluation and assessment of students. In ICSE, internal assessments are vital and practical tests are aggregated with the overall scores. ICSE lays more emphasis on lab work.

Environmental Education

The ICSE has made it compulsory to include environmental education as one of the subjects. CBSE does not ask for the same.

Other than examinations and syllabus, the two boards are engaged in a number of education related activities. Research and development is the secondary initiative taken by CISCE. CBSE also has been engaged in similar exercises, including the research on creating better learning environments.

From the academic year 2009-2010, ICSE board has decided to revise and re-structure class X syllabus. Except mathematics, whose syllabus was revised earlier in 2007-2008, all other subjects will be reviewed and necessary changes will be done in the syllabus.

The ICSE management has given clear indication that these changes will help students prepare in a better way for various engineering and medical entrance examinations. It’s a common public perception that CBSE syllabus is much more well structured when it comes to preparation of various entrance examinations. It seems that ICSE wants to change this perception by introducing drastic changes in its syllabus.

Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi has decided to cut down its faculty strength by 10%. Interestingly, the student intake has increased this year after the implementation of OBC reservation quota. Previously, the student-teacher ratio in IIT-D was 9:1, and after the cut down in faculty strength it will become 10:1.

Before the cut down, the sanctioned faculty strength was 556, which will be reduced to 506 after the layoffs. When asked about the reason, the officials told that it is a collective decision of the institutes management.