Gateforum Educational Services PVT LTD

Globally, the education business is
estimated at $2 trillion and growing. In India, since formal education has not
been able to cope with demand, various private players in the non-formal segment
of education have emerged to meet the demand for trained manpower. Hot sectors
such as IT, retail, aviation and real estate have seen the emergence of such
non-formal, private educators.

According to experts, the Indian IT
training market is growing around 46% YoY and is pegged at around Rs 2,135 cr.
The industry has seen a lot of diversification in terms of course structure
after the IT bubble burst. In fact, the animation industry alone is estimated to
be over Rs 500 cr and growing at 40% annually.

“It is very
difficult to estimate the size of the non-formal education sector in India
because the education sector has primarily been addressed by the formal sector.
But the advent of institutes such as NIIT and Aptech has created a resource pool
to meet the demand of trained manpower,” says a senior Ficci official.
Companies such as NIIT and Aptech have already made their foray into diversified
segments related to ITeS. “We see a good growth in our current initiatives
of Aptech Computer Education (IT), Arena (animation), Avalon (aviation) and
N-power (hardware and networking). As and when we get an opportunity, we will
look at other sectors for offering education programmes,” says Pramod
Khera, CEO & MD, Aptech.

With revenues of Rs 795 cr, NIIT has
emerged as a leading player in the global training segment. Last year, nearly
60% of NIIT’s revenues came from its overseas operations. The company has
also diversified its portfolio by offering courses in executive management
education programmes in association with Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs)
and NIIT Institute of Finance Banking & Insurance (IFBI), to develop talent
for the banking industry. “The strong growth in revenue reflects the wide
acceptance of the GNIIT and engineers programmes by students and industry
alike,” explains Vijay K Thadani, CEO, NIIT.

In the retail
segment, biggies such as Bharti and Pantaloon have already collaborated with
various educational institutes to meet the burgeoning demand. Global Retail
School (GRS) has 40 institutions across the country in technical association
with Annamalai University and Bharti Resources (a wholly-owned subsidiary of
Bharti Enterprises). The former is promoted by Cosmo Aviation Training School,
which also runs an air hostess training school called Flying Cats.

The six-month professional certificate course covers topics such as
retail sales and marketing, retail visual merchandising and space planning,
retail buying and merchandise management, retail supply chain management, retail
management and store operations and retail customer relationship management.
“Branding has come up in every segment. It makes a difference. The brand
always works harder to protect the interest of the consumer. The bottomline is
that ‘value for money’ quotient is very high in these courses. We
are focusing on tier-II and tier-III cities where the growth is relatively high
and the next opportunities are expected to come,” says Aditi Srivastava,
CEO, Global Retail School.

Real estate majors such as Ansals are also
looking to invest around Rs 500 crore in the education business in the next five
years. “As a real estate developer, we already fulfill the basic criteria
which is required to set up an educational institute. We already have a legacy
in the education business in form of Chiranjeev Bharti Schools, Ansal Institute
of Technology and Sushant School of Art & Architecture. In the next two
areas we are focussing on retail education in real estate and real estate
management,” says Kunal Banerjee, V-P, marketing, Ansal API.

Ludhiana, August 16: Punjab
Agricultural University, has a history of development through
collaboration with the Ohio State University (OSU), USA. The United
States Agency for International Development (USAID) that supported
these efforts has a worldwide operation in development.

The
annual meeting of Higher Education for Development (HED) and USAID
Synergy in Development was held from August 8 to10 at Washington DC. A
record number of 170 institutes across the globe participated in the
meeting.

Dr
GS Chahal, Dean, PAU College of Agriculture, chaired a session on
‘A Decade of Higher Education Cooperation in Development: What is
meant by Sustainability’. The session reviewed the facilitators
and constraints of sustainability of impact of USAID-sponsored
partnerships in higher education. The PAU-OSU partnership spanning over
more than four decades received special attraction, especially with
respect to unsustainability of agricultural production that emerged
through higher education and development through this collaboration.

The
basic purpose, model and strategic operation of the second phase of
this partnership was presented by Dr David O. Hansen and Dr Chahal. The
duo are co-directors of the project, ‘Punjab Agricultural
University and Food processing: New Linkages with Private
Sector’. The session generated much interest in the audience,
particularly for its relevance on the sustainable impact of such
partnerships.

The
conference appreciated the PAU-OSU model of partnership. It was
especially admired for attracting sustainability through increased
awareness among policy makers, industry, scientific community and even
farmers. The speakers said that these groups were now ready to join
hands for a successful tripartite collaboration of PAU, the industry
and farmers, to turn the agriculture of the state into a business
enterprise.

PUNE:
Close on the heels of the Medical Council of India (MCI) making it clear that it
does not recognise any foreign medical degree, the Maharashtra Directorate of
Medical Education and Research (DMER) has prominently displayed the council’s
note of caution on its website
(www.dmer.org).

While director
W.B. Tayade was unavailable for comment, officials at the directorate said the
public notice was posted after receiving complaints that agents were trying to
lure medical students to foreign universities. “We don’t want any student to
fall prey to this,” said an
official.

The official said
there have been instances where “unknown institutions or agents” have organised
seminars to lure prospective medical students to take admission to foreign
universities.

In June,
Bharatiya Vidyarthi Sena (BVS) members had disrupted a seminar, which was
organised by a local educational foundation here to recruit students for medical
studies in the Philippines.

The
MCI, while issuing a public notice recently, said that it has come to their
notice that that certain entities have issued misleading advertisements for MBBS
admissions in foreign universities.

“It is also mentioned in such
advertisements that recognition of degree by the MCI would be in accordance with
the MCI Act 13 (4B) through screening test,” the notice said, adding that the
MCI has not permitted any foreign university to establish a campus in India for
imparting medical education.

Google Apps Education Edition picked up by five U.S. Universities

Search engine giant Google has said in a release that as many as
five US universities have now taken up their Google Apps Education
Edition.

These universities have now signed up with the company to use their
e-mail and instant messaging services in addition to other applications.

This would widen the reach of Google’s web based applications as they compete with Microsoft powered products and technologies.

Google confirmed in a release that the universities include
University of North Carolina Greensboro, Clemson University, University
of Texas San Antonio, Kennesaw State University and Arkansas State
University.

They are already working with Hebrew University in Jerusalem,
Trinity College in Dublin and Nihon University in Tokyo to provide
their web based services.

Puducherry, Aug. 14 (PTI): Completing
studies without facing a single examination and getting into a desired
career is a distant dream for any student – but students of an
institution here have been enjoying such a practice for years.

The Shri Aurobindo International Centre
for Education here has been, for decades, following the model of
‘voluntary pursuit of knowledge’ and churning out young talents.

The authorities of the Ashram, speaking
to PTI ahead of the 135th birth anniversary of Shri Aurobindo tomorrow,
said the Centre for Education was set up in 1943 to realise the great
philosopher’s vision on education.

The 18 years of learning at the Centre
covers three years in kinder-garten, 12 years of secondary education
and three years of higher education. The final three years of higher
education has been recognised by the Puducherry Territorial
Administration as equivalent to graduation.

In the absence of examination, each
teacher gives individual attention to the students and, upon
assessment, they are promoted, said Manoj Das Gupta, Managing Trustee
of the ashram.

“We believe that it would be irrational
to set a uniform standard of progress for all students. Each individual
is considered a special centre having his own unique rhythms and modes
of progress. Each student’s progress is assessed by standards
appropriate to him.”

“To ensure individual attention, we restrict the strength of students to 400,” said Gupta.

The Centre which does not confer
degrees, has been churning out students who have always successfully
got into their preferred careers, said Matri Prasad, a faculty member.

GANGTOK, Aug 14: The state government has once again laid greater emphasis on education and tourism.
According to official reports, the proposal for the printing of a
departmental textbook for the academic session 2007-2008 was put
forward at a recent cabinet meeting of the state government here. The
textbooks are to be provided free of cost to students of pre-primary to
Class V and at a 50 per cent subsidy to students of Class VI to Class
XII. The total estimated cost is Rs over Rs 1 crore. Another
grant-in-aid amounting to Rs 76.5 lakhs will also be made to
non-government schools. At the meeting, officials also discussed means
to improve tourism in the state.
A proposal for the development of a Community Park at Bhojey and a
Water Garden at Hee-Pul under Integrated Development of Tourism in West
Sikkim was put forward. The total cost of the project is estimated at
over Rs 4 crore.
As per the report, a proposal for the transfer of funds amounting to Rs
2.63 crores from the department of social justice empowerment and
welfare to the rural management and development department was also
considered at the meeting.
The Cabinet also chalked out strategy for introduction of an airport at Pakyong.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Education Department has proposed a
community-led monitoring system where local self-help groups, in
association with school managements, teachers, students, administrative
functionaries and parents, objectively evaluate the standard of
education in individual schools.

The monitoring conducted with the aid of approved check-lists and questionnaires will serve as a benchmark for schools.

Another important objective will be to examine whether the
community-led audit can be used to constitute an accreditation system
for schools similar to that for colleges. The accreditation system will
be simple enough to be administered by the community and will be
designed to capture community perceptions on quality in an objective
manner.

According to the department, there is an urgent need for a total
revamp of the education system in order to ensure better education for
financially backward students. The existing curriculum, teaching and
learning practices, and academic monitoring and supervision have
remained static and are hence unable to meet the challenges of the
changing times, according to the department.

Some of the administrative and academic supervision mechanisms,
which have become ‘mere routine exercises,’ will be
upgraded to include purposeful and dynamic monitoring of the academic
functioning of the schools, the officials said.

The initiative aims at cultivating healthy competition among the schools with activity-based multimedia teaching.

It
will work with a New Delhi-based NGO to close digital divide

CHENNAI: The Intel Foundation on Monday announced a donation of
$60,000 (Rs.25 lakh) towards women’s education and empowerment.

The sum, being granted to mark the 60th year of independence, will
fund a project which Intel will execute in partnership with the Digital
Empowerment Foundation, a New Delhi-based non-governmental
organisation, which is working towards bridging the “digital
divide” in India.

Frank Jones, president of Intel India, told The Hindu on
phone that three Community Information Resource Centres would be set up
near Dhanaulti (Uttarakhand), Ranchi (Jharkhand) and Kuppam (Andhra
Pradesh). “These centres will facilitate women’s education
and empowerment. They will be provided soft skills training, and
guidance in various aspects such as getting a commercial concern
going.”

The fund will be used over two years and, depending on future needs, Intel may provide more.

The centres will focus on developing skills and learning abilities
among women and children by training them in English language, computer
literacy and subject-based learning with digital tools. “By
focussing on the woman of a house, we are equipping an entire
family,” Mr. Jones said. Computer-awareness at the grass roots,
he said, would reflect in the overall development. Intel also proposes
to organise the ‘Asia academic forum’ this October to
showcase research undertaken in universities and grassroots
organisations of different countries.

Information poverty

When contacted, Osama Manzar, Founder Director, Digital Empowerment
Foundation, said the project would address the high “information
poverty” that ailed India. “It is not enough if we give
computers to villagers. We need to see what impact information,
communication and technology have in terms of job creation for rural
youth, eradication of poverty and promotion of entrepreneurship.”

Speaking on how Intel and the Digital Empowerment Foundation
intended to take the project forward, Mr. Manzar said they would work
in three key areas: providing education to children, empowering women
with access to information and conversion of this knowledge into
products and services. “The biggest barrier is not the absence of
technology but the content available. There is no relevant information
for the poor man,” he said.

The NGO also proposes to develop local area portals, the first of
which will be launched this September. “We are working on a
website on Dausa [Rajasthan]. Every village and Parliamentary and
Assembly constituency should have a website.”