Education Headlines - 31st December, 2010

Delhi Technological University Reserves 14 Seats For Single Girl Child

Delhi Technological University (DTU), formerly the Delhi College of Engineering, has decided to join the bandwagon of colleges who reserve a seat for single girl child in an effort to curb female foeticide. It currently offers 14 B Tech programmes and from 2011, it will reserve one seat in each undergraduate engineering programme. Admission to these 14 seats will be merit-based for women students. DTU will also launch a new B Tech programme in Maths and Computing with 60 seats from the next session.

Source: 29th December, 2010, Hindustan Times

New AICTE Norms Lead To 50% Increase In Number Of Seats Available In Technical Institutes

The number of available seats in technical institutes will increase sharply by as much as 50 per cent, as the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) unveils its new norms for setting up technical, management and architecture institutes across India. Number of seats in each class has been raised from 40 to 60; all institutions who have completed more than one batch are now eligible to get two courses and programmes; and ceiling of not permitting increase in intake after 540 has been removed. However, it may hurt faculty-student ration and the quality of education offered by the institutes.

Source: 31st December, 2010, India Today

NIIT Crowned The Top IT Training Company For 18th Consecutive Year

NIIT, the largest IT trainer in Asia, has won the prestigious award of ‘Top IT Training Company Award 2010', given by India's leading IT publication - Dataquest. NIIT has won this award for the 18th consecutive year - ever since the category has been introduced in the awards. NIIT has received this award for its talent development initiatives across the world last year.

Source: 29th December, 2010, Business Standard

Bank Of India Will Provide Education Loan Up To Rs 4 Lakh Without Security

In an NRI meet in Phagwara, the Deputy General Manager of Bank of India (BoI) Mr. Pardumman Singh Rawat announced that the bank will now provide education loan up to 4 lakh rupees to students without any security. The bank will also establish four Nodal Hub Centres at Ludhiana, Amritsar, Patiala, and Jalandhar to accelerate the loan process for students seeking education loans.

Source: 30th December, 2010, Punjab Newsline

Karnataka Opposes Pan-India CET; Will Hold State CET Next Year Too

Karnataka Govt. has opposed the proposal of a single entrance test for admission to undergraduate medical and dental programmes across India in the interest of the students of the state. Hence, it will go ahead with the state CET in the next academic year too, for which the dates have already been announced. However, the government is ready to conduct CET in association with the Consortium of Medical, Engineering and Dental Colleges of Karnataka (COMED-K) for admission to private medical and engineering programmes, in case COMED-K agrees for it.

Source: 28th December, 2010, DNA India

2010 Has Been An Eventful Year For Education In India

2010 has been quite an eventful year for the education sector in India. Right to Education (RTE) Bill was finally implemented; Medical Council of India (MCI) was scrapped; UGC, AICTE, and NCTE will be replaced by a single National Commission for Higher Education and Research (NCHER); and all universities are brought under the ambit of the Right to Information Act.

Source: 31st December, 2010, Deccan Herald