asian educator

July 2011 Rs 30 $ 5

The K 12 Opportunity 48 >>>

WHY IS IT THAT IN THE SECOND HALF OF 20TH CENTURY, WE COULD NOT RECREATE THE MAGIC OF THE EARLY PART OF THE CENTURY CREATED BY RAMANUJAMS, RAMANS, BOSES AND SO ON?

Prof Tony F ChanPresident, HKUST

Anand Sudarshan

Universities in Asia are Rapidly Growing

Prof C N R Rao &Dr G Madhavan Nair on

Stop Funding Institutions Start Funding Students

EDITOR’S NOTE

EditorProf James Joseph

Managing Editor Tom B Mannapurathu

Chief Executive OfficerJettin J Manuel

Executive EditorVarghese Koshy A

Features Editor James Paul

Sr. Sub EditorsCeline GeorgeZiad P S

Reporters Lakshmi NarayananB Sreenath

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Volume 1 Issue 3 | July 2011

Science seems to be losing out to other disciplines, particularly the professional courses, in attracting students. More students in the secondary and the

tertiary education sectors seem to prefer non-science courses. Inadequacies in the policies of the government, its neglect by political parties, social organizations, etc., have accelerated the decline of science education. The widespread impression among students is that unlike professional courses, a career in basic sciences is not lucrative. We have done a detailed study on the subject and met a cross-section of the student-teacher community apart from experts, for our cover story this month. Why has India failed to recreate the magic of the early part of the 20th century created by the likes of Ramanujam, Raman, Boses, etc.? Prof CNR Rao answers thus: “In olden days, science was not as competitive and there were very few practitioners of science. Today, science requires enormous infrastructure and support, something not required earlier. Some of the science is done in large groups elsewhere but we do not have such large groups in many of the areas. Great research is done in the world on what one may call ‘small science’. India has generally ignored ‘small science’ and has concentrated mainly on major scientific agencies.”

Along with Prof CNR Rao, we also present the view of G Madhavan Nair on the subject. He insists on inculcating the art of thinking among children. CV Raman could watch the smooth sky and the sunset and ask to himself how and why (such things happen). How many children are privileged to watch the sunrise and sunset today; they are either watching TV or playing video games or are immersed in school books. We have to encourage them to think, he says.In this issue we also have a special story on XLRI, one of the premium management institutions in India. The story takes you on a journey through the history and present activities at XLRI. Also read an exclusive interview with XLRI Director Fr E Abraham, which throws light on the various aspects of Indian management education.

Anand Sudharsan, the managing director and CEO of ManipalEducation, is a veteran in the higher education sector. He is the right person to comment on the education scenario in the country. His interview is highly informative. Another special story in this issue is about the KG to Class 12 (K-12) education sector. Meena Ganesh, the CEO and MD of Pearson Education Services, is quite eloquent on the subject.

Then, read the rags-to-riches story of Chenraj Jain, a detailed report on IIST, and our regular fair.

Is pure science losing out?

Contact: Phone: 0484 – 4233305, Mob: +91 9656144111, Mail: [email protected]

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CONTENTS

Challenges Before Indian Science EducationWhy is it that in the second half of 20th century, we could not recreate the magic of the early part of the century created by Ramanujams, Ramans, Boses and so on?- Dr. R.A. Mashelkar

On EducationEducation must be accessible and affordable. But affordable does not mean insisting that institutions charge only a certain amount as fees. It should mean providing bank loans, scholarships etc for deserving candidate.

Higher Education Institutions are Poorly Equippedto provide education in science subjects at the required level, commensurate with the present day demands. This is one of the reasons why we do not have institutions which are comparable to the best in the world in this country.

The Problem Starts Right from Schoolingitself where the game is to chase

marks. There was a time when people were interested in teaching students

the fundamentals - whether in science, mathematics, literature or whatever.

Now it is not so.

Cover Story

Anand Sudarshan

Prof C N R Rao Dr G Madhavan Nair

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ASIAN EDUCATOR I July 2011

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CONTENTS

The K 12 OpportunityThe country adds 20 million babies every year, which means, we would need to set up nearly 60,000 new schools every year to provide our children basic education.

On Asian UniversitiesIn view of China’s booming economy and investment in science and technology, Universities in Asia are rapidly growing. Asian Universities are becoming more active in developing inter-university co-operations.

On IIM’s Quality IssueAn innocuous comment by the Honorable Minister Jairam Ramesh, has opened a Pandora’s box. It is not likely to die-down that easily without stinging many individuals and institutions.

Business Schools Role in Bridging Urban - Rural DivideBusiness School should play the role of catalysts in ensuring that there is all round, inclusive growth across India, by sensitising/shaping future leader managers of India.

Columns19 I Dr Sreekumar Nellickappilly

63 I Karthikeyan Iyer

65 I Sajeev Nair

Chenraj JainThe story of a successful edupreneur.

Special Story

Prof Tony F Chan

Prof M J Xavier Fr E Abraham SJ

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NEWS PICS

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UNESCO launches literacy program in Iraq UNESCO has launched a literacy and life skills training programme for

6,000 unemployed youth and women in Iraq. The programme will help 25 local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the Iraqi education ministry to establish community learning centres throughout the country. The grant programme, funded by the Qatar foundation, is part of the Literacy Initiative for Empowerment (LIFE) project in Iraq which aims to achieve the Education for All (EFA) goal of reducing illiteracy by 50 per cent by 2015.

Debate on education’s role in development The need for governments to stay on track to meet internationally agreed education goals are the focus of the 2011 Annual Ministerial Review of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), Geneva, 4-8 July. UNESCO has played a lead role in its planning the high-level event which for the first time is addressing education. In a keynote address on 4 July, Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO pleaded for commitment to education from the highest levels of government and international bodies.

UAEU inks cooperation pact with University of California The UAE University (UAEU) signed two cooperation agreements with the University of California (UC) in Davis, USA, for developing joint educational and research projects. The agreements set the foundations for cooperation for mutual development of basic scientific and technological research and graduation education at the two institutions. According to the MoU, the exchange of students will take place at the graduate level and terms of attendance and course of study be determined individually for each student by the two institutions.

Manpower crunch plagues Hospitality industry India is facing an acute shortage of skilled manpower in the hotel management industry, while demands are increasing rapidly. It is estimated that in the next four years, the industry to have add more than one lac staffs to tackle the demand. But only about a fifth of these numbers are even being trained and it is anticipated that a big slice of them would not join the hotel industry. Meanwhile, hotels expand rapidly; training institutes that supply the manpower are not keeping pace.

Canada’s Inuit leaders unveil education strategy Canadian Inuit leaders have issued a national education strategy that aims to raise graduation rates among young Inuit, only a quarter of whom finish high school. The National Strategy on Inuit Education calls for more Inuktitut language use in schools, and recommends that Inuit parents get more involved in their children’s education.

Engineering, MBA seats go abegging A quarter of the 15 lakh seats in India’s engineering colleges and 40% of the 3.5 lakh seats in MBA institutes are estimated to go abegging this year, as the lure of the two courses wanes. The prevailed chaos in the sector, however, incited both students and parents to think; no longer could they get any return after investing a huge for MBA and Engineering. It was something everyone knew but had not articulated: only a quarter of the country’s graduating engineers were employable.


NEWS PICS

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Japan fourth in digital literacy test Japan finished fourth in a survey by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development on how 15-year-olds use computers and the Internet to learn. South Korea finished first while New Zealand and Australia tied for second. Around 37,000 students from 19 countries and regions participated in the 2009 OECD Program for International Student Assessment, or PISA, including 3,400 first-year students from 109 high schools in Japan. In the test, designed to produce an overall average of 500 points, students were tasked with evaluating information on the Internet, assessing its credibility and navigating Web pages to test their digital reading performance

South Korea education goes for tablet base Adapting to latest technology may seem challenging to some. However, for existing students in South Korea, and for those who’ll join that demographic soon, this will instill right where they begin their formal education – school. In what comes as the latest move in this direction, by 2014, the entire lot of elementary-level educational materials will be digitized, and a year hence, all of South Korea’s school curriculum will be digitized.

Iraq city to build 15 more schoolsIraq is now concentrating on education. Najaf, a city of around 600,000 people south of Baghdad, is to build 15 more schools, according to the National Media Center. Basra University has entered into a joint agreement with the University of Oregon in the USA to develop English language skills, as well as bring petroleum engineering and geology to Basra.

English: A key to development A study into the economic impact of learning English in developing countries has concluded that the language can increase the earning power of individuals by around 25% and that developing economies need access to English if they are to grow and position themselves in the global economy. The British

Council, the UK’s education and cultural relations organisation, which commissioned the report from Euromonitor, a leading research organisation, says that it is the first statistical research into the benefits of English in developing countries.

UK stringents students Visa rule The British economy could lose up to $3.8bn as tougher student visa rules introduced from last month start to take

effect, according to a report commissioned by the minister responsible for the visa changes, Damian Green. An impact assessment report by the Home Office says the new policy will deter bogus students and improve compliance, but the expected 230,000 reduction in the numbers of applicants for the Tier 4 student visa from outside the EU over the next four years will have wider costs. The report estimates that income from fees will be cut by $270m over four years, while up to $3.2bn will be lost because students enrolled at private colleges have lost their right to work part-time and contribute to the economy.



Association of International Educators – widely recognized as the world’s premier meeting, networking, and learning opportunity for leaders and professionals engaged in international education – was held at Vancouver, British Columbia, during May 31-June 3, 2011.

The conference offered wide-ranging opportunities for learning about and discussion of the most crucial topics in international education and exchange today, from the impact of international learning on a globalized world to the latest trends in study abroad and international student and scholar flows, education systems worldwide, and international education policy. It featured hundreds of sessions on a vast array of topics, as well as daily special events, world-renowned speakers, and a large Expo Hall featuring exhibitors from around the globe. Nearly 9,000 international education professionals from around the world attended Conference & Expo in Vancouver, British Columbia.

The momentum for the 100,000 Strong Initiatives was clear as speakers and attendees highlighted the important relationship between the United States and China and discussed innovative ways to leverage funding to send students abroad.The 100,000 Strong Initiative, announced last May by the Obama Administration, proposes to send 100,000 American students to study in China over the next four years by leveraging corporate,

institutional, and other sources of funding. Carola McGiffert, director of the 100,000 Strong Initiative at the US Department of State, noted that the US-China relationship is among the most important in the world, with China playing an ever-increasing role in strategic geo-political affairs.

“This makes the need to prepare American students for a world in which China plays an essential role all the more important,” she said. “Despite our differences, there is an opportunity here for mutual understanding.” Since January, the 100,000 Strong Initiative has raised nearly $7 million in funding from the private sector, with a goal of raising $23 million over the next four years. McGiffert applauded this robust start and challenged educators to continue to leverage funds raised under the purview of the Initiative within their schools and communities.

Information about individual schools seeking funding through the 100,000 Strong Initiative was revealed during a session entitled “The 100,000 Strong Initiative in Practice: Leveraging U.S. Government Support to Expand Chinese Studies Programs.” Dr. Chunsheng Zhang, Vice Provost for international affairs at the University of North Alabama, spoke about how he has leveraged travel funds from the USCET by working with

corporations in the local community, the different schools within the university, and even by holding a BBQ fundraising event which he used to masterfully engage more students and faculty from the campus.

The Annual Conference and Expo of NAFSA

NEWS PICS

New Race to Top stresses Pre-K tests To win a grant in the U.S. Department of Education’s new Race to the Top competition for early-childhood education aid, states will have to develop rating systems for their programs, craft appropriate standards and tests for young children, and set clear expectations for what teachers should know. That’s according to the proposed rules, by the Obama administration that will govern the $500 million competition, which was made possible by the fiscal 2011 budget deal Congress passed in April. U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan was given $700 million in new Race to the Top money, and chose to put most of it into early education, while keeping a $200 million slice to award to runners-up from last year’s competition.

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Can you imagine conquering the world with a pen? May be not! But that’s what Jasmeet Kaur Sidhu did. And that too at a

young age of 23!

This award-winning Canadian journalist of The Huffington Post Canada, Canada’s largest daily, is a writer, social activist and a human rights advocate. She is also engrossed in research and initiatives for a better life for human beings all over the world. Her activities, including writing and public speaking saliently focus on diversity, gender violence, youth engagement, media and pop culture.

Jasmeet was born in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and migrated to Canada with at a very young age. She grew up in Brampton, Ontario. Jasmeet was a social activist even while studying, and at the age of 16 founded the Peel Environmental Youth Alliance (PEYA), an umbrella organisation

working to implement environmental programmes and train environmental leaders.

More than 220 schools in Canada supported her in this project, making it possible to enroll as an international organisation.

Now in its 7th year, PEYA has helped in moulding nature-loving Canadian citizens and also a worldwide movement in protecting environment.

For her various efforts, Jasmeet has been complimented with numerous national and international awards, including being named by the Globe and Mail and the Women’s Executive Network as one of Canada’s 100 Most Powerful Women; Glamour Magazine’s Top-

10 College Women in North America, Canada’s National Top-20 Under-20 Award, the Michele Landsberg Award for media activism. She is also a recent inductee into Canadian Who’s Who, and in June this year, Jasmeet was honored by the Indo-Canada

The World at Her FeetChamber of Commerce as ‘Young Achiever of the Year’.

She was introduced to the newspaper industry while very young; when she was 10-month-old, to be exact! She reached the Canadian shores as an immigrant along with her mother while she was still a baby and her mother had to struggle very hard to bring her up. Her

mum was, perhaps, the only woman amongst newspaper delivery ‘boys’ who roamed the streets in the middle of the night, delivering newspapers at people’s door steps.

As migrants they suffered a lot, eking out a living with great difficulty job and income were their focus. Her mother however made sure that young Jasmeet got a good education. She graduated from the University of Toronto with focus on Peace and Conflict Studies. When she grew up, her mother’s job helped her in cultivating the habit of reading newspapers and carefully analyzing what she had read, and that resulted in Jasmeet developing an ambition to become a journalist. And that’s what she is now.

Jasmeet has strong political and cultural moorings. Having strong notions on media and how it covers visible minorities, she had penned several columns on issues such as gender violence, socio-political scenario, environmental movements, hazards of climatic change etc. She has strong perspective on diversifying the media, youth involvement and how to bring the under developed South Asians in her country onto the mainstream. And for her effort she was featured on the cover of the magazine South Asian Generation Next.

Even while a student at the university, she joined Toronto Star’s community editorial board becoming its youngest member in history. In connection with her activities there, she spend four months in the southern African country of Namibia, where she wrote for the country’s largest newspaper The Namibian, and Toronto Star on the plight of HIV positive women being forcibly sterilized in national hospitals.

Jasmeet is currently a student at Columbia University in New York City where she is completing her Masters.

Jasmeet Kaur, the award-winning Canadian journalist of The Huffington Post Canada, Canada’s largest daily, is a writer, social activist and a human rights advocate.

PERSONALITIES

Jasmeet has strong political and cultural moorings. Having strong notions on media and how it covers visible minorities, she had penned several columns on issues such as gender violence, socio-political scenario etc.

Lakshmi Narayanan


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YOUNG ACHIEVERS

In the era of Information Technology, Social Networking is a common term among all groups of people across the world. It could be seemed as dedicated to the idea of publicizing the private affairs

of an individual. But for Mark Zuckerberg, a 27-year-old US citizen and for his Facebook, it is something extraordinary. Zuckerberg, a drop out from Harvard University, offset his time spent in university by launching the unique concept of social networking, FB, in 2005, and within a short span of time, showed a boom of friendship-seeking users into it. The year 2011, FB account exceed with over 70 crore users. Mark Zuckerberg was assisted by two other fellow Harvard students -- Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes -- to help him grow the site to the next level. In August 2005, the Facebook was officially called Face Book and the domain facebook.com was purchased for a reported $200,000. At this young age, Zuckerberg reigns as the youngest self-made billionaire in the world. As per Forbes magazine’s yearly billionaire list, Zuckerberg is No. 85 on the list. Now FB is the other name of Mark Zuckerberg in web world.

A Facebookian Achievement

Residents of Saraswati Park

Kunal’s Snap Deal

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Kunal Bahl, co-founder and CEO of India’s largest group buying portal SnapDeal.com, is a worthy person in the

web world. His Delhi-based e-commerce portal firm, Snapdeal.com, is the online couponing company that recently raised $12 million and has the lead over Groupon in India in the local ecommerce space. Kunal is an engineer from the University of Pennsylvania and holds a business degree from The Wharton School.

Snap deal is the single handed effort of this young engineer. Snap deal sells gadgets such as i-pods, Blackberry phones and branded fashion retail products at good discounts. It presently works with over one lakh merchants. It is ranked 22nd in terms of traffic on its website. Snap Deal

gets a marketing fee on each deal and has already turned gross profit-positive. “I won’t be surprised if we touch revenue of Rs 500 crore by 2014,” Kunal said.

Snap Deal has adopted a remote village in India and enabled clean drinking water facilities for its people by installing manual pumps, thus becoming a part of nation’s development process. To show their gratitude, the villagers have decided to rename their village to Snapdeal.com Nagar, actually taking the company and Kunal by surprise. This also shows the acceptance of this online commercial portal. Kunal says that his goal has always been to build a socially responsible organization.

Mumbai-born writer Anjali Joseph has bagged two top global literary awards for her critically-acclaimed debut novel

Saraswati Park, the Betty Trask Award and the Desmond Elliot Prize. The Betty Trask Award is given to a debut novel by an author below the age of 35 who reside in a current or former Commonwealth nation. Desmond Elliot Prize is awarded annually to the best first novel.

Two established awards at a same time have doubled Anjali’s happiness. Her book narrates the story of Saraswati Park, a housing complex in a Mumbai suburb and two of its empty-nesters, Mohan and Laxmi Karekar, whose lives are humdrum. The work is about love and loss and noise and how, in spite of everything, life, both lived and imagined, continues in Mumbai, according to publishers HarperCollins India.

Anjali Joseph is a former commissioning editor of Elle magazine India.

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VOICES

Public education in India is a catastrophe – let’s face it, and given that 90% of our graduates are unemployable, corporate India should have been all the more forthcoming with its help.Ratan Tata,Chairman TATA Group

People always fear change. People feared electricity when it was invented, didn’t they? People feared coal, they feared gas-powered engines... There will always be ignorance, and ignorance leads to fear. But with time, people will come to accept their silicon masters. Bill Gates, former Chairman Microsoft

Learning gives creativityCreativity leads to thinkingThinking provides knowledgeKnowledge makes you great.A P J Abdul Kalam, former Precident of India

If money is your hope for independence you will never have it. The only real security that a man will have in this world is a reserve of knowledge, experience, and ability. Henry Ford

The University–Industry collaboration holds immense importance for the Indian education, especially in the university level. We need to amalgamate industrial knowledge with academics so as to create a successful model for education.Dr. G.N. Qazi, V C, Jamia Hamdard University

Indian higher education sector is in a very interesting phase and over the last 4-5 years we are seeing mushrooming of multiple new institutes all across India. The reason behind such a trend is the growing interest of people to take up higher education.Vinod John, Senior Director SunGard Higher Education, India

Foreign universities do not have much to offer as we have world class institutions like JNU, DU, IITs, IIMs. They have world class facilities and they can do something in smaller cities. K.L. Sharma, Vice Chancellor, Jaipur National University

At an amazing speed, modern science and technology have been making continuous progress that is marked by the advancement of information technology and bio-technology.Hu Jintao, Prime Minister of China

We have targeted approach on education and we want to build education community. We don’t believe in just giving money to the education leaders we work with, we put our resources and our expertise in the project and therefore we like to see a change in education together.Dr RK Kale, Vice Chancellor, CU


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Chenraj Jain EDUPRENEUR

Roychand Chenraj Jain is a school dropout, but that didn’t stop him

from becoming one of the most successful edupreneurs in the country. Chenraj Jain is the founder-chairman of the JGI group.

“My family background is very humble; we never had any exposure. In our community education has never been on anyone’s agenda. We could see that education system as a whole was as good as just mugging up and taking examinations. I saw people around me having a mechanical approach. So I chose sports as a medium to

Roychand Chenraj Jain is a school dropout, but that didn’t stop him from becoming one of the most successful edupreneurs in the country. Chenraj Jain is the founder-chairman of JGI group. Headquartered in Bangalore, the JGI Group represents a cluster of 59 vibrant educational establishments. In 20 years, the group has grown big enough to serve over 30,000 students and has 3,120 staff members engaging K-12, undergraduate and postgraduate students across 25 campuses and centres of excellence.

James Paul

prove myself, and while in Class 8 created a situation wherein I could come out of school”, says Chenraj Jain.Headquartered in Bangalore, the JGI Group represents a cluster of 59 vibrant educational establishments. In 20 years, the group has grown big enough to serve over 30,000 students and has 3,120 staff members engaging K-12, undergraduate and postgraduate students across 25 campuses and centres of excellence.

Early yearsStarting his career in business at an early age gave him immense

experience to develop his potential and capabilities as an entrepreneur. “I worked in a Bombay Dyeing showroom in Basavanagudi for six months. In the shop there were salesman with 10-15 years of experience, but they could not breakthrough to customers. My salary was just Rs 50 and the others’ were drawing up to Rs 600. My first sale, convincing a customer, was a delight to me. Later, in my uncle’s textile shop, a person called Devaraj Ranka spotted me. He took me to Dhirubhai Ambani of Reliance Industries. And there I got a much-coveted distributorship,” said Chenraj, as he recollected his early years in a candid talk with Asian Educator.

Optimism, positive thinking and hard work are his success mantras. He set his goals early in life and nothing stopped him thereafter. “I myself was enthusiastic; I used to inject that enthusiasm into others. From young to old, I used to spread the ideas. I have always had a one-point formula: mind-passion-energy-drive-will. I worked 18 hours a day and networked. I felt inferior, I saw many people around me feeling inferior. I made them realise that they weren’t inferior and that they were better than their bosses. I used to invest time, sit down and convince people to start on their own. My mantra was: Sell your idea and make business friends. Create an enterprise for those who aren’t confident.”

He became a distributor at a very young age with a credit of Rs 3 lakhs.

“I sold goods which were lying unsold for two years in just two months. I went across to Tamil Nadu. I had my initial failures. I lost about Rs 1 lakh by selling to the wrong customers. But my agent and Dhirubhai Ambani were impressed with my initiative and spirit. He gave me more business instead of reprimanding me for the ‘failure’.”

Chenraj did a roaring business for ten years. He was responsible


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for 1,300 counters in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. This networking created more dealers for Reliance across South India. He used to handle unsold goods like damaged goods.” Nobody

wanted to touch raw, uncut material. They wanted to sell it at kilogram rate, but I would sell it at the market price. That created

a new wave. I was a trendsetter with all other textile units in the country. I used to spot talented people, convince them to setup their own shop and supply them Reliance products. I also used to put them onto others who would supply them goods. That is how I created my network of 1,000 entrepreneurs without any capital. I preferred 100 small customers to one big customer.”

As an EdupreneurHis community’s backwardness in education prompted him to start education institutions. In 1990 he started the Sri Bhagawan Mahaveer Jain College, the first educational establishment of the JGI Group.

Swami Vivekananda’s books inspired me. He said, knowledge is the future and it is important to make people stand on their own feet. I was feeling bad that my community wasn’t educated enough. This was the inspiration for starting the Jain Institutions. At the heart of the curriculum at Jain’s schools are values imbibed from such greats as Swami Vivekananda, Dhirubhai Ambani and NR Narayana Murthy -- all of whom have shaped my own thinking.

In 1986, I came completely out of my business. Thirty to 40 per cent of my profits went to rural people. I had even adopted 10 students in my shop. I happened to read articles about vocational education in America. I attempted education

in 1990; I’ve never looked back since. My 12 years of experience helped me. By 1993, Jain College got recognized. I used to come out with a lot of innovative, trendsetting activities. I gave them intellectual forums. I adopted the same concepts of networking, motivation and hard work that I had used in my business. My teachers are social entrepreneurs. I never sat in the office. I am always in touch with my students. That brought me more knowledge and insight into the minds of the young and what they want from life. If they wanted fun, you need to give them space. It’s the same as what customers want.

We also started the Bhagawan Mahaveer Jain Hospital at Vasanth Nagar, Bangalore. It has now grown into a super-specialty hospital. If I had 90% failure and 10% success, even that success was like 100% to me.

“Education can help in nation building and this can happen only through human resource, not money. Human resource is wealth. Human potential and capital should remain with us. I help students identify their core abilities not only through a degree but also various value-added

‘I help students identify their core abilities. It is important to allow people to explore and discover their talents. I listen to students’ problems and see how I can bridge the gap. I am a facilitator. We give support and encouragement, not advice’


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programmes and by exposing them to various intellectual and talent forums. It is important to allow people to explore and discover their talents. I listen to their problems and see how I can bridge the gap. I am a facilitator. We give support and encouragement, not advice. I only follow networking; everything else will fall in place. With drive and determination one’s goal and vision will become larger and better. You will also learn. Young people teach me now. My colleagues built my organisation. Being humble and positive are the ingredients that will help one succeed in life. You have to be optimistic and have that passion and objective to achieve the target. Misery starts when you have expectations. You should be detached.”His philosophy to motivate people is simple. “If you are complicated, you have a lot of dos and don’ts and you think you are brilliant; it’s wrong. Nobody is an employee; they are all participants and contributors. Allow them to play multifaceted roles.”

“Don’t lose spirit. Unless you experience something you won’t be able to come up with a better thought process. Be optimistic. Create an environment that is friendly as far as possible. Allow students the freedom of thought and expression. Reduce bureaucracy and facilitate interaction. As a leader, even you should learn. Respect each one’s contribution and give people credit for what they have done.”

People who inspired meIt starts from my house. My father was a very supportive person who gave me independence. He never tied me to any particular situation. My colleagues, corporate team and students support me. Dhirubhai Ambani was a great support. Very good case studies of Mahatma Gandhi, great speakers, thinkers, Indian culture, ethos and

Chenraj Jain EDUPRENEUR

philosophy, and people who have gone against all odds have all had an impact on me.

Concept of EducationEducation is for life. You should synergize your expertise with networking. Businesses without human values will not sustain. They bring temporary happiness for those who want money. But if you want to have sustainable service, you need to give value to what you think and do. Ethics and transparency are very important. No business can fail if you keep changing and improving as per the need. Money isn’t everything. Your people should benefit. Entrepreneurship is a great service to the society. It creates jobs and leads to economic development. “You might have observed that even among Harvard-educated graduates, only 3 per cent have ever really succeeded in life. Management is managing people or society by identifying capabilities and learning while guiding others. Dhirubhai Ambani was a school dropout. All one needs is common sense, presence of mind, a vision and the will to work towards it. I am a school dropout, who has now become the chancellor of a deemed university called Mahaveer Academy of Technology & Sciences, which has 14 institutions under it. Management is about understanding people and allowing them to express themselves by giving them autonomy to reach their targets. You don’t require a doctorate to realise this basic philosophy of life.

Vision for the futureOurs is a multifarious, multifaceted organisation with 150 courses, 14,000 students and 15 institutions. Soon we will be opening our distance education programme all over the country. We have plans to open 100 schools and 100 pre-schools across the country within the next five years and 300 institutions in the next ten years.

Management is about understanding people and allowing them to express

themselves by giving them autonomy to reach their

targets. You don’t require a doctorate to realise this basic

philosophy of life


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Rene Descartes is one of the first European thinkers who captivated many of us when we were in our

under grads. He was fascinating, because we started reading sections from his Discourse on Method and Principles of Philosophy immediately after our classes on Scholastic thought. For many of us who were radical advocates of free thinking (at 17, who is not!), this man with long hair, sharp look and extremely bold statements like “I think, therefore, I exist”, was a hero. For us - of course, we were thoroughly mistaken - Descartes was leading a battle for reason and science against superstitions, beliefs and religion.

Descartes is hailed as the father of modern philosophy, though he was not the only motivating force that created the wave of modernity in Europe after the Middle Ages. He introduced his philosophical insights, which called for doubting everything - including the existence of God - and emphasized a thoroughly rational methodology for philosophical endeavors at a time when Europe was resurrecting itself and rediscovering itself by reinventing its rational basis, which was sidelined by the scholastic churchmen. Descartes was undoubtedly representing the new temperament and spirit has he endeavored himself to reorient the course of philosophical and scientific thinking by proposing a unified science to understand the universe.

What distinguishes the modern from the pre-modern is one of the highly debated issues in contemporary philosophy. Of course, modernity represents a new world view, characterized by

Thinking the Cartesian Way Rene Descartes is not solely responsible for this epochal change in the intellectual history of the west. But his achievements are phenomenal, as there is hardly any philosopher after him who could neglect him or bypass him.

l Dr Sreekumar Nellickappilly

Rene DescartesGREAT PHILOSOPHERS

new ways of relating to the world and understanding it. According to Michele Foucault the difference consists in man’s understanding of truth and knowledge. While for the pre-modern man knowledge involved a transformation of the self, modernity advocated a conception of knowledge where the knower remains unaffected even after he/she gains knowledge. It thus separates ethics from science; conception of good life from knowledge. Foucault refers to this juncture in European history as the “Cartesian moment”.

Rene Descartes is not solely responsible for this epochal change in the intellectual history of the west. But his achievements are phenomenal, as there is hardly any philosopher after him who could neglect him or bypass him. He is arguably the greatest Western philosopher after Aristotle.

Born in Touraine, in France (now renamed as La Haye-Descartes) in 1596, Descartes’ philosophical outlook is reflected in the famous statement “Cogito ergo sum” that appeared in his work Principles of Philosophy, written in the year 1644. On the one hand, this statement is the conclusion of an argument that began with a radical doubt. Descartes proposed to doubt everything that can be doubted and in that process reach a point which is absolutely indubitable. He thus began to doubt all that is handed down from the tradition, the primary source of knowledge in the pre-modern world. He further doubted the sciences and

the senses and ultimately affirmed that here is one thing that cannot be legitimately doubted; the fact that one doubts. Since doubting is a form of thinking, and thinking implies a thinker, Descartes concludes that, “I think, therefore, I exist” (Cogito, ergo sum).

Descartes stipulated the character of genuine knowledge that the modern mind was aspiring to attain; it should be clear and distinct. One important thing he learned was about the limitations of human knowledge; that man can know only very little from the usual sources we depend for getting knowledge. The only exception is mathematical knowledge, where we adopt a definite method for knowledge acquisition; the deductive method that begins with self-evident axioms. Cogoto ergo sum was the result of endeavouring to attain a similar self-evident, indubitable starting point in philosophy, from where Descartes thought her could deduct a unified conception of the universe.

Descartes was a true European thinker. He travelled extensively through Europe and the experiences he gained had influenced him significantly. These travels were part of his attempt to learn directly from the book of nature, ignoring what is handed down by the tradition.

Many contemporary postmodernists consider the Cartesian rationalism as a major philosophical hurdle in the path of genuine philosophizing for them his foundationalism is probably the most powerful metanarrative to be overthrown. As Richard Bernstein once observed, “Descartes is the father of modern philosophy in the Freuduan sense!”

The author can be contacted at [email protected]

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The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) (www.ust.hk) is a top ranked international research university. The Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) Asian

University Rankings 2011 has rated HKUST as the top University in Asia. Established in 1991, the University’s schools of Science, Engineering, Business and Management and

Humanities and Social Science offer a wide array of academic programmes.

Hong Kong beckons

Celine George

HKUST focuses on five areas of frontier research -- nano science and nano technology; biological sciences and

biotechnology; electronics, wireless and information technology; environment and sustainable development; as well as management education and research. The university has nine research institutes, including the Institute for Advanced Study, which strives to become a global premier intellectual hub, centre of research breakthroughs, and incubator of thought leaders. Currently, HKUST has about 6,100 undergraduate students and 3,700 graduate students.

HKUST first opened its doors to students in 1991. The idea of HKUST was conceived by two leaders with clear vision and strong will -- Dr Sze-Yuen Chung and the then governor of Hong Kong, Sir Edward Youde. In the 1980s, both men realised Hong Kong’s urgent need for a university that could propel it towards a knowledge-based economy. Their goal was simple -- create, don’t replicate. By early 1986, a Planning Committee comprising leaders and innovators from academia, government, commerce, industry and the community from Hong Kong and abroad was in place and working towards an opening in 1994. After Sir Edward Youde’s untimely death in 1986, the plans were put into high gear. The committee, under the dynamic leadership of Dr Chung, pushed the date forward to 1991.

From the beginning, this new university attracted

HKUST CAMPUS FOCUS

first-class academics beginning with Prof Chia-Wei Woo, who was the first president of Chinese descent to head a large university in the United States. Prof Woo set the trend for a whole generation of brilliant academics of Chinese descent, who included Prof Jay-Chung Chen, expert in aeronautics and structural dynamics, top experimental physicist Prof Chih-Yung Chien from Johns Hopkins University, Prof Shain-Dow Kung, specialist in biotechnology and Acting Provost at the Maryland Biotechnology Institute of the University of Maryland, and many more. These top scholars in turn attracted other senior academics from North America, Asia and Europe.Ian Macpherson, Hong Kong Secretary for Transport in 1986, was appointed as the Secretary-General to the University Planning Committee and became the first Vice-President for Administration and Business at HKUST in 1990. He oversaw the entire scope of non-academic work in building the new university. By 1991, the university had facilities for 2,000 students. The second phase, completed by the end of 1992, accommodated another 7,000, and provided the full complement of teaching and state-of-the-art research laboratories, classrooms, office space, staff accommodations and additional athletic facilities.

The HKUST campus occupies a 150-acre site of sweeping natural beauty on the Clear Water Bay peninsula in East Kowloon, less than 30-minute drive from Central Hong Kong.

21ASIAN EDUCATOR I July 2011

Asian Universities are becoming more active in

developing inter-university co-operations. HKUST

thrives to enhance joint-collaborations and academic

exchanges with top-notch Asian Universities

Prof Tony F ChanPresident, HKUST

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Prof Tony F Chan is currently President of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. He was previously Assistant Director of the US National Science Foundation

(NSF) in charge of the Mathematical and Physical Sciences Directorate, which is the largest directorate of the NSF. In this position, he guides and manages research funding of almost HK$10 billion a year in astronomy, physics, chemistry, mathematical science, material science, and multidisciplinary activities.

Prof Chan had been in the NSF position since October 2006 upon taking temporary leave from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), where he was Dean of Physical Sciences from July 2001.

Prof Chan’s scientific background is in Mathematics, Computer Science and Engineering. He received his BS and MS degrees in Engineering from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and his PhD in Computer Science from Stanford University. He pursued postdoctoral research at Caltech as Research Fellow, and taught Computer Science at Yale University before joining UCLA as Professor of Mathematics in 1986.

Prof Chan is an active member of many scientific societies, including Fellow of the Society of Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) where he served on the Board of Trustees and the Council. He is also a Member of the American Mathematical Society, and the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE).

His current research interests include mathematical image processing and computer vision, Very Large-Scale Integration (VLSI) physical design and computational brain mapping. He has published over 200 refereed papers and is one of the most cited mathematicians.

This is what he shared with Asian Educator during a recent interview:

Asian Educator: How did HKUST develop into the monolithic education provider that it is now?

Prof Tony Chan: HKUST’s rapid rise can be attributed to our positioning as a focused elite research university, our emphasis on excellence in faculty and students as well as on scholarship, and our international outlook. To ensure continued success, we have put in even greater effort in recruiting excellent faculty and students, and we encourage entrepreneurship. HKUST will leverage on China’s rapid economic growth and investment in science and technology. At the same time, we will maintain our international outlook and connections in all areas: from our students-to-faculty-to-research, and to global cooperation. We will continue to provide quality and all-round higher education for our own young people to enhance economic development and social advancement. With determination, right positioning and support, HKUST believes one can achieve global excellence in a relatively short time; this applies to education as well as to other areas in life.

AE: Could you please explain the strategic initiative taken by you and your team to make HKUST Asia’s No. 1 university. Prof Tony Chan: While we are delighted that HKUST has topped the Asian university rankings, HKUST’s primary mission is to provide high quality education and research. HKUST encourages an all-rounded ‘T’-shaped education with breadth and depth, demonstrated by flexible major and minor (dual degree programmes, double majors, majors and minors); and our signature Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) that offers undergraduates one-on-one research opportunities with top-notch professors. In maintaining an edge in research productivity,

‘IN VIEW OF CHINA’S BOOMING ECONOMY AND INVESTMENT IN SCIENCE

AND TECHNOLOGY, UNIVERSITIES IN ASIA ARE

RAPIDLY GROWING’

Prof Tony F Chan EXPERT TALK


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HKUST proactively recruits new faculty, acquires state-of-the-art research equipment, increases funding support for research, especially focusing

on research themes with the five ‘O’s: NanO; BiO; InfO; EnvirO and CEO. Our faculty and students have continuously made notable academic and societal contributions in terms of research breakthrough.

Recruiting and retaining top quality faculty is critical to our success. HKUST recruits its faculty internationally,

with a vast majority from leading universities in North America and Europe. In maintaining our ability to attract top talents, we offer globally competitive compensation, including endowed professorships and research start-up funds.

HKUST places strong emphasis on internationalisation. We have a notable international mix of faculty and students. More than 80% of HKUST’s faculty have degrees from top overseas universities, while 16% of HKUST’s undergraduate students are non-locals -- equally divided between mainland China and other

countries. We continue to expand our strategic partnerships with top global universities, like the most rewarding partnership with Kellogg School of Management of Northwestern University and Stern School of Business of New York University.

The university has a firm foothold on mainland China, in particular the Pearl River Delta region; examples include the Industry, Education and Research (IER) buildings in Shenzhen, the medical research centre established in collaboration with the Peking University at the Shenzhen Hospital, and the HKUST Fok Ying Tung Graduate School in Nansha. We have also established the Advanced Manufacturing Institute in Zhejiang. By leveraging on China’s booming economy and investment in science and technology, we will strengthen our collaborations

with the mainland partners.

AE: According to you what are HKUST’s USPs

Prof Tony Chan: HKUST has made a distinction by being a focused research university with a global reputation of excelling in science, technology and business, complemented by humanities and social science. Alongside its academic strengths, HKUST is dedicated to educating well-rounded students to acquire a strong entrepreneurial spirit, global outlook and innovative thinking

– the necessary foundation and skills for the dynamic world.

In maintaining our reputation as an elite international university, HKUST maintains close ties with global thought leaders from world-class institutions and establish wide-ranging connections with the Chinese mainland. Being one of the most international universities among universities in Greater China, HKUST has successfully attracted a notable profile of foreign faculty members and students.

Prof Tony F ChanEXPERT TALK

HKUST has made a distinction by being a focused research

university with a global reputation of excelling in science, technology and

business, complemented by humanities and social science


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As a home for catalytic interaction among foremost scientists and scholars, the Institute for Advanced Study of HKUST aims to become a global premier knowledge hub, centre of research, and an incubator of top scientific leaders.

Lastly, given its spectacular physical setting beside the sea, HKUST provides faculty members and students an environment that is conducive to the pursuit of intellectual and academic excellence.

AE: How friendly is the HKUST campus, faculty and environment to international students?

Prof Tony Chan: In fostering an integrated and holistic campus, we have coined the concept of ‘1-HKUST’ that provides a framework for HKUST’s collective aspirations, synergistic strengths, and collaborative orientation. Under this theme, students from different disciplines are encouraged to co-operate and learn from each other.

To further enhance ‘1-HKUST’, our students actively engage in diverse campus-wide activities. The President’s 1-HKUST Student Life Award facilitates better integration among different student groups, both local and non-local. Examples of winning projects include ‘UST Great Minds’ that allows students to learn from faculty members who are invited to share their passions and ‘HKUST Talent Contest’ where students from different nationalities join hands in showcasing their collaborated talents.

To encourage international students to get involved in the new campus, abundant student groups are present to provide social support, such as NAUTY (eNjoy the pleAsUres of diversiTY) which is made up of undergraduate students from a variety of cultural and social backgrounds and the International Students Association.

Each year, HKUST organises orientation talks, workshops and tours around Hong Kong for international students and provides useful information about their programmes of study. The university gives them guidance to plan their active student lives, and gives them useful advice to help them adapt to life in Hong Kong and at HKUST.

As an international university, HKUST recruits faculty members from all over the world. All courses are taught in English.

AE: World over, employability of graduates is a major concern. How do you at HKUST reconcile

to this problem? Prof Tony Chan: HKUST is not a vocational training institute. Instead, we aim at grooming all-round global leaders. We encourage students to acquire and excel in skills which will prepare them for the ever-changing world through our four distinguished schools in science, technology, business, and humanities and social science, echoing with the concept of ‘1-HKUST’ to provide an all-embracing education.

We nurture entrepreneurial spirit with HKUST’s Entrepreneurial Program and strive to contribute to the economic and social development of Hong Kong. In assisting faculty, staff and students in the establishment of technology-based start-up companies, the programme has incubated successful businesses such as Radica, which is a market-leading e-solutions provider, and Perception Digital, which transferred its listing to the Main board on Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

Employment surveys conducted by HKUST’s Career Center in recent years indicate highly satisfactory employment status of graduates. Close to 99% graduates in 2010 secured job offer, started their own businesses or pursued further studies.

Despite the impact of the global financial tsunami, Kellogg-HKUST EMBA alumni have achieved the highest average salary three years after graduation, reaching US$392,076 per annum.

AE: As President of HKUST how do you envisage the future of the university and the prospects of China as leading players in education?

In terms of international and Mainland strategy, we intend to fully leverage on China’s proactive investment in education, in science and technology in particular


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Prof Tony Chan: HKUST will continue to recruit and retain top quality faculty and students. We target a sufficiently diverse international mix of faculty and students in order to continue to ensure HKUST’s positioning as a globally diverse university.

In preparation for the 4-year undergraduate educational programme, HKUST will establish a crossover model that magnifies the combined strengths of schools and disciplines to prepare our students for the real world of intersecting disciplines through implementing both in-class and out-of-class learning.

In terms of international and Mainland strategy, we intend to fully leverage on China’s proactive investment in education, in science and technology in particular. We will also foster and extend a number of strategic partnerships and collaborative initiatives in each major geographical position.

To capitalise on our research vitality, we will establish a multi-pronged approach to reinforce multi-disciplinary research excellence and to further extend our research base beyond Hong Kong through formation of international and regional partnerships and alliances.

We are aware that Mainland China has many emerging talents and they are becoming more determined to build world–class universities. However, the road to achieve academic excellence is a long journey. With our success achieved

Prof Tony F ChanEXPERT TALK

in a short two decades, HKUST can serve as a reference for many young universities from the Mainland.

AE: How do you appraise the prospects of Asian countries developing as an education hub?

Prof Tony Chan: In view of China’s booming economy and investment in science and technology, universities in Asia are rapidly growing and their international recognition ever rising, as confirmed by the fact that 20% of the top 50 universities in Asia are less than 50 years old. The rise of the Asian economy also implies increased opportunities in Asia. Tying in the impact of globalisation, there is a dynamic international flow of talents across the globe. All these factors would attract foreign faculty members and students to station in Asia to take advantage of the prosperous environment.

Riding on the trend of internationalisation, Asian universities are becoming more active in developing inter-university co-operations. HKUST thrives to enhance joint-collaborations and academic exchanges with top-notch Asian universities. HKUST recently announced a joint PhD degree with the college of engineering at Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH). In addition, HKUST also established a joint PhD program with the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), one of the top research universities in Korea.

AE: Are our universities supportive of our industry? If not, how can we make them so?

Prof Tony Chan: As a higher education institution situated in Hong Kong, HKUST’s mission is to

advance learning and knowledge through teaching and research and to assist in the economic and social development of Hong Kong. We extend our intellectual strengths to the government, industry and society by strengthening our knowledge transfer efforts to further our impact regionally and globally.

In fostering effective knowledge transfer, HKUST has developed a strong culture in partnering with different industries.

We extend our intellectual strengths to the government, industry and society by strengthening our knowledge transfer efforts to further our impact regionally and globally

COVER STORY


Dr. R.A. Mashelkar

The Nobel Laureate Richard Feynman had famously said, ‘the difficulty with science is often not with the new ideas, but in escaping the old ones. A certain amount of irreverence is essential for creative

pursuit in science.’ The first grand challenge before Indian science is that of building

some irreverence. Our students are too reverent. Our existing hierarchical structures kill irreverence. Promoting irreverence means building the questioning attitude. It means education systems that do not have the rigid unimaginative curricula, it means replacing ‘learning by rote’ by ‘learning by doing’ and to do away with the

examination systems with single correct answers.

The Grand Challenges of Indian Science

More often than not, in our systems, paper becomes more important than people. Bureaucracy overrides meritocracy.

Risk taking innovators are shot. Decision making time cycles are longer than the product life cycles. Therefore, the second grand challenge is that of creating an ‘innovation ecosystem’, in which questioning attitudes and healthy irreverence can grow.

The third grand challenge is of creating truly innovative scientists, who see what everyone else sees but think of what no one else thinks. The 2005 Nobel Prize winners for medicine, Warren and Marshall, for instance, were such innovators. Everyone had thought that the cause of gastritis inflammation and stomach ulceration is excessive acid secretion due to irregularities in diet and lifestyle. Warren & Marshall postulated that the causative agent was, a bacterium called Heliobacter pylori. They were ridiculed but they stuck to their guns. They saw what the others did not see. And they were proved right. The fourth grand challenge is the ability to pose, rather than merely solve, big problems. For

Dr. R.A. Mashelkar, FRS

example, James Watson felt sure that it was going to be possible to discover the molecular nature of the gene and worked hard at it — even to such an extent that he was fired from the Rockefeller Fellowship that he had. Einstein, when he was 15 years old, asked himself what would the world look like if [he] were moving with the velocity of light. This big question led finally to his special theory of relativity.

The fifth grand challenge is to create new mechanisms by which out of the box thinking will be triggered in Indian science. In the early nineties, when I was the Director of the National Chemical Laboratory, we tried to promote this by creating a small “kite flying fund”, where an out of the box idea with even a one in one thousand chance of success of would be supported. Bold thinking was applauded and failure was not punished. The result was remarkable ‘free thinking’ that gave us a quite a few breakthroughs. When I moved to Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) as Director-General in mid nineties, we created a “New Idea Fund” with a similar objective. Here, over time, it turned out

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COVER STORY

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28 ASIAN EDUCATOR I July 2011

that it was not the lack of funds, but it was lack of great ideas that was the bottleneck!

But great ideas did come to Indian scientists in the distant past. In 2003, Jayant Narlikar wrote a book The Scientific Edge. He listed the top 10 achievements of Indian science and technology in the 20th century. There are five before 1950 and five after 1950. Interestingly, the five before 1950 are all individual efforts, namely, the works by Ramanujam (the products of his mathematical genius are still researched on), Meghnad Saha (his ionization equation played a vital role in stellar astrophysics), S.N. Bose (his work on particle statistics was path breaking), C.V. Raman (his Raman effect discovery led to the one and only Nobel prize that an Indian scientist doing work in India has won) and G.N. Ramachandran (he was the father of molecular biophysics).

After 1950, Narlikar lists the other five achievements, namely the green revolution, space research, nuclear energy, superconductivity and

transformation of CSIR in the nineties. In these, except for the superconductivity research, in which the likes of C.N.R. Rao made pioneering contributions, the rest are all government funded “organised science and technology”.

Why is it that in the second half of 20th century, we could not recreate the magic of the early part of the century created by Ramanujams, Ramans, Boses and so on?

The potential Ramans and Ramanujams are there even today somewhere. We need to find them early enough and nurture them. For this, we need to recognise that there is no intellectual democracy; elitism in science is inevitable and needs to be promoted.

In the year 2005, the Nobel prize for physics was shared by Glauber, Hall and Hansch, a controversy erupted since many Indian scientists felt that it

should have been shared by E.C.G. Sudarshan, a scientist of Indian origin. In the year 2009, we did better. A scientist of Indian origin, Venky Ramakrishnan shared the chemistry Nobel prize with Steitz and Yonath. The fact that Venky was born in India was a cause for great Indian celebration. Next, will we have a Nobel prize for an Indian working in India?

Why not? It certainly can happen. The government has created new institutions such as Indian Institute of Science, Education and Research. It has created schemes such as Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research (INSPIRE), for drawing and retaining millions of young bright children into science. There are clear signs of reversal of brain drain. Infosys has taken a giant step forward by creating mini Indian Nobel prizes worth half a crore rupees each for different scientific disciplines. If we can leverage all this by promoting that irreverence in Indian science, creating new organisational values, creating tolerance for risk taking and failure, then Indian science will certainly make that ‘much awaited’ difference. Nobel prizes will then follow inevitably.

Dr. R.A. Mashelkar, FRS, is chairman, National Innovation Foundation & president, Global Research Alliance. We are re-producing the article which was published earlier with the permission of Dr. R A Mashelkar.

Why is it that in the second half of 20th century, we could not recreate the magic of the early part of the century created by Ramanujams, Ramans, Boses and so on? The potential Ramans and Ramanujams are there even today somewhere. We need to find them early enough and nurture them

Challenges Before Indian Science Education

AE Team

Science seems to be losing out to other disciplines in attracting students. The recent trend

observed in secondary and tertiary education sectors is toward non science courses. Inadequacies in the policies of the government, negligence of its importance, etc., have accelerated the decline. The widespread impression among students is that unlike professional courses, a career in basic science is not lucrative. The decline in the standard of science education in our country must be urgently addressed. Academicians and politicians should

evolve some constructive strategies to raise the standards of learning in state universities and colleges.

There has been a lot of debate in various forums regarding the decline in the standard of science education in India and the remedial measures needed to avert the serious situation it could lead to. Newer central institutions like IITs, ISERs, and IIITs etc have come up in answer to the decline in the standard of education in state universities and colleges. Still nobody has addressed the real problem and the fall in standards may continue in the future too.

Asian Educator met two eminent men of Indian science, Padma Vibhushan G Madhavan Nair, former chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation and secretary to the Department of Space, and Professor CNR Rao, Linus Pauling Research Professor & Honorary President of Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bangalore, to find out why our students were hesitant to take up pure science and why our institutions lagged behind when it came to scientific research. The answers were interesting.

Read on…

ASIAN EDUCATOR I July 2011 29

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Prof C N R Rao

Professor Chintamani Nagesa Ramachandra Rao, or Professor CNR Rao as he is generally known is a giant figure in Indian sciences. The founder of Jawaharlal

Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research [JNCASR] in Bangalore has also been a chairman of science advisory council to the Prime Minister for several years. He has nearly 50 doctorates besides 1,500 research papers and is an author of more than 40 books.

He has been a visiting professor at famous universities, including Purdue, Oxford and Cambridge. Currently, the National Research Professor and Linus Pauling Research Professor, he is also the director of International Centre for Materials Science (ICMS). He is the only overseas scientific icon to deliver an address at the Convocation of the Fellowship of Royal Society in London in June 2010. He speaks to Asian Educator on challenges before Indian science education.Excerpts:

AE: We often hear pronouncements like - Indian science education on a standstill mode; India lacks

a dedicated science force; technology growing but its base, science, crawling, etc being made. Is there any substance in such remarks?

Dr CNR Rao: The education sector in India has not received the necessary support all these years. It is only recently that higher education is receiving somewhat meaningful funding. Most of our higher education institutions are poorly equipped to provide education in science subjects at the required level, commensurate with the present day demands. This is one of the reasons why we do not have institutions which are comparable to the best in the world in this country. It is also true that even within the existing conditions, we could have performed better. This may be a debatable point. However, I would certainly say that efforts should be made to improve our institutions by appropriate support and also by making the necessary structural changes and administrative reforms. It is also necessary to change the nature of the curricula and examination system. I do not want to go into details of the education system here, as there are many other aspects of this sector, including recognition of talent, method of recruiting faculty, etc., which need to be paid close attention. Unless all these are attended to in a hurry, I do not see how India can be a leader in the world in the next 20-30 years. It is only thorough a high percentage of well educated people that a country can progress. This is particularly true of science and


Prof C N R Rao COVER STORY

technology where we need adequate manpower to handle pressing issues. We have been increasing funding for research in science to some extent, but we are short of good people in many areas. In most of the important areas of science and technology, we find only half a dozen experts or so, and this is not sufficient.

AE: We Indians don’t seem to have taken off from the days of Dr CV Raman, SN Bose. Would you agree? If so why? If not, kindly throw some light. Or, if I may rephrase the question, why is it that in the second half of the 20th century, India failed to recreate the magic of the early part of the century created by the Ramanujams, Ramans, Boses, etc?

Dr Rao: I do not want to talk about CV Raman and the older generation of great scientists. I must also mention that we have a tendency to talk about only people who are no longer with us. We should talk about some of the work going on in the country today as well. I do not want to go back to the old days to describe

the problems of today. In the olden days, science was not as competitive and there were a few practitioners of science. Today, science requires enormous infrastructure and support (which was not required earlier). Some of the science is done in large groups elsewhere and we do not have such

Higher Education Institutions are Poorly Equipped to Provide Education in Science Subjects

The education sector in India has not received the necessary support all these years. It is only recently that higher education is receiving somewhat meaningful funding. Most of our higher education institutions are poorly equipped to provide education in science subjects at the required level, commensurate with the present day demands. This is one of the reasons why we do not have institutions which are comparable to the best in the world in this country


It is also necessary to change the nature of the curricula and examination system. I do not want to go into details of the education system here, as there are many other aspects of this sector, including recognition of talent, method of recruiting faculty, etc., which need to be paid close attention. Unless all these are attended to in a hurry, I do not see how India can be a leader in the world in the next 20-30 years.

COVER STORY Prof C N R Rao

large groups in many of the areas. Great research is done in the world on what one may call small science. India has generally ignored small science and has concentrated on major scientific agencies. In this process, good scientists working in educational institutions and elsewhere have been ignored. It is not because of the absence of talent alone that we do not have big names coming from India, it is because of various environmental and other factors and also the lack of proper support

and due recognition to the right kind of science in our value system.

AE: Our country does not seem to have made much progress in scientific research. Our institutions and big companies seem to be reluctant about R&D. How then can India become a world power, which it aspires to?

Dr Rao: All these days, our industries did not need much R&D. Our industries have now realised the need for R&D to be competitive. I believe the situation will change in the near future. I do not see

how modern industry can survive and compete in the world of today without proper R&D support.

AE: How would you compare China’s development in science and R&D with that of India?

Dr Rao: In comparing China with India, we must recognise that China has invested much more in science. It is not only in terms of money and building institutions, but also in people. They have a very large scientific manpower compared to India. They also have a very large number of institutions doing science. It is because of this that the quantity of research coming from China has increased enormously in the last few years, and China will soon overtake United States in terms of quantity of research. However, in quality, China will have difficulty in competing with countries like USA. It is here that India has a chance. We should concentrate on high quality research even though quantity may not be as much. This will help us in a big way.

AE: Is funding a problem as far as research is concerned given the fact that many institutions have not been utilising funds earmarked for research?

Dr Rao: I do not know which of the institutions are not utilising funds earmarked for research. I do not know whether this is true of scientific agencies as well as of educational institutions. In most of our institutions, there is just barely enough money to manage research and education. It is possible that in many institutions, the bureaucracy does not allow scientists to spend the money that is available. Even in the government, I find that due to our bureaucratic practices, scientific audit system etc., it is extremely difficult to get money on time and spend it as required. As far the number of good institutions are concerned, we have quite a few new institutions which have been initiated (some of them such as the eight new IITs very hurriedly, in fact). We should make sure that


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they become good institutions in the near future.

AE: We have only a very few number of good institutions like the IISc and IISER. Why is that not much effort is being put in to add on?

Dr Rao: I am very happy to say that the IISERs are doing extremely well. They are likely to contribute to Indian science in a very big way in the near future.

AE: How can we create a culture of innovation and scientific creativity in our institutions?

Dr Rao: The culture of creativity in institutions is not something one can wish for. It can happen only by creating the right environment for innovation where creative abilities of individuals are encouraged at all levels. This is one of the weaknesses of India where climate for innovation is not conducive. We should also not forget that creativity is not something that we can teach in a class room. It is a quality that some individuals have. We have to recognise such people and create an atmosphere where young people become creative.

AE: Indian schools/colleges have been following somewhat the same curricula since years. Why do you think it is so? Shouldn’t there be a drastic up-gradation of school/college curricula?

Dr Rao: As far as curricula are concerned, it is high time we made the necessary changes and brought in flexibility at all levels so that students can take different packages (of courses), to allow biologists to take enough physics and mathematics and medical doctors to study enough science and so on. We have to keep a constant vigil on curricula and make necessary periodic (continuous) changes to keep abreast of what is new and happening in the various areas of science and technology.

AE: Our students are reluctant to take up pure science at the under-graduation level. What are the major challenges before Indian science education?

Dr Rao: Our students have been dissuaded from taking science or any other subject that they may personally love because of the pressure from parents and society at large. For some reason, it has become fashionable in our society for young people to take up engineering, medicine, management and such subjects at the undergraduate level. Young people who take up science at the undergraduate level apparently become social outcastes in some places. Our future requires bright people in all fields, not only in science but also in humanities and fine arts. I do hope that our young people will be allowed to take

up areas of their choice and do well in those areas.

AE: Sir, what is your opinion on Innovation Science Universities?

Dr Rao: I do not know what innovation science universities or world-class universities mean. Those are just names that people use. I do not see how you can create an innovation university or a world-class university. One becomes world class by the kind of work one does. A university becomes innovative because of innovations (brought in) by the people in it. One should not therefore declare a university as world-class or innovative. This is not the best way to classify universities.

AE: What would be your advice to Indian students?

Dr Rao: My advice to all students would be to persevere in any area that they choose and keep working at it. Perseverance and doggedness are the main qualities required for success. Of course, it is useful to have a little bit of intelligence or whatever one may call it, but it is important not to give up. I hope that India will have a young community which is obsessed with doing something useful and something great.

Quantity of research coming from China has increased enormously in the last few years, and China will soon overtake United States in terms of quantity of research. However, in quality, China will have difficulty in competing with countries like USA. It is here that India has a chance. We should concentrate on high quality research even though quantity may not be as much


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AE: Of late there is a growing opinion that we have quantity but not quality in the graduates that we produce. Is that right?

GMN: I fully agree. There are a lot of institutions in the country producing large number of graduates – science/engineering/medicine – but quality has suffered. Many colleges do not have proper teaching staff and this reflects on the quality. Most institutions manage with retired hands or part time teachers or fresh graduates with no experience of any kind in teaching; so quality suffers.

Most of the time institutions focus on getting high marks. Many universities give 95 to 100 per cent marks. Where are we going? When I was with ISRO, we tried to go by academic marks. But with almost everyone with 100 per cent marks, we could do little. Therefore we were forced to introduce an entrance test. From there we had to short list candidates.

AE: Why is this so?

GMN: The root cause of the problem (quality) starts right from schooling itself where the game is to chase marks. There was a time when people were interested in teaching students the fundamentals - whether in science, mathematics, literature or whatever. Now it is not so. Most schools do not have lab facilities; that directly affect s the

The problem starts right from schooling‘I think in the last 20 years, most of the scientific institutions have been drawing a blank in so far as talent is concerned. They are not able to get the right quality people. This is because talent is flowing towards multinational companies’.

In an exclusive interview, Padma Vibhushan G Madhavan Nair, former chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation and secretary to the Department of Space, Government of India, says colleges and institutions in India are mass-producing graduates with very little skill quotient. Quite often called Geo-synchronous Madhavan Nair for the textbook launches of key satellites, the senior scientist says there is a drastic need for a course-correction in two critical areas: education system and wage structure between public and private sectors. Excerpts:

development of the child. If you do not wet your hands you cannot learn, and this, if you don’t do at an early stage, it will be difficult for students.

So the net result is that students study job oriented subjects with attractions mostly being in IT, biotechnology, medical and engineering. So an entrance test becomes important. And all the studies are concentrated on how you can score better in entrance. The net result is that the fundamentals are not strong. Without fundamental knowledge one cannot evolve as a good practitioner of science. This is the basic illness of science and the society.

Asian Educator: Is there a remedy?

GMN: Certainly; school education has to be oriented towards teaching basics and exposing the talent in different fields, not just gaining good marks. Children should be encouraged to do more and more practicals.

AE: Students are oriented towards books and exams, so the creative spark is often missing. Sometimes they are not creative at all. Is this also not a challenge?

GMN: Basically, unless students do something with their hands, they cannot cultivate talent. You have to make them do things ... whatever it may be. You know I was shocked to find out that some Engineering students didn’t even know how to change bulbs. The whole system has to change. In the US, by the time a student comes out of school or plus two, he is enabled to take up a job. He has the practical skills to take up a job. But here, can a plus two student take up a job? So, we have to change our curriculum.

COVER STORY Dr G Madhavan Nair


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EXPERT INTERVIEWDr G Madhavan Nair

Industries that are making huge profits should set aside a certain portion of their profit for scientific research and set up facilities for research

AE: Because of this talent crunch, are India’s scientific institutions facing problems?

GMN: I think in the last 20 years, most of the scientific institutions have been drawing a blank in so far as talent is concerned. They are not able to get the right quality people. This is because talent is flowing towards multinational companies. Many multinational companies pay only one fifth of what they pay outside (India). But even this is high according to Indian standards. Because of this, graduates opt for a job with MNCs. So the best of engineering students - chemical, mechanical or even civil - go to the IT sector because money is there. But if you have a large dam project or a highway construction, nobody comes there because there is a disparity in the wage structure.

AE: How do you address this?

GMN: What happens is, if I want to hire an aerodynamic engineer with government norms, the maximum I can pay is Rs 30,000, but the industry will give Rs 50,000. So where will he go? The answer is obvious. This disparity has to be controlled. Well, it cannot be done through a regulation, but has to come through action by players in the field. I am not against giving respectable salary; however, there should be a level playing field.

AE: If we recall development of science and scientific institutions in India, space programme and atomic energy are at the top. Why is that so?

GMN: The Space department has a fantastic setup. Here the prime minister is in charge. Then we have the space commission. The chairman of the space commission would sit there. The commission is fully empowered to take decisions. That worked beautifully and we were able to meet targets, … you can see the performance. Whereas, in other research labs, the control is through a ministry and the IAS structure etc. This process delays matters… the saddest part is .. scientists themselves become worse than the bureaucrats. They will start asking questions that are worse than that by bureaucrats.

AE: When we look at India’s scientific development .. before 1950.. there was a huge talent pool.. Ramanujam, Bose, Sir CV Raman and others, with some going on to win the Nobel Prize. But after 1950… no Nobel prizes. What are the reasons?

GMN: This is because you are not encouraging thinking process in the children. They are all spoon-fed. They are not allowed to freely look at the surrounding, nature and things. CV Raman could watch the smooth sky and the sunset and

ask to himself how and why. How many children are privileged to watch the sunrise and sunset today? They are either watching TV or playing video games or are immersed in school books. We have to encourage them to think. Then there is something else too. Scientific research has become expensive. See.. those days they used simple instruments. Today, we require sophisticated instruments - to look at the space we need instruments that cost billions. Of course, the government has increased funding since last year, but still that’s not enough. Industries that are making huge profits should set aside a certain portion of their profit for research and also set up facilities for research. They should encourage scientific research. In developed countries, private sector participation is huge.

AE: But is India open to private sector participation?

GMN: Yes, in fact in the last two years, the government has tried to give tax deduction to firms participating in key sectors.

AE: What kind of participation is seen in space programme?

GMN: It is open, but I don’t see much participation, except for IISC, which was set up by the Tatas, which again is now funded completely by the government.

AE: But if these are the paths we continue to take, won’t we be heading for a serious talent and resource crunch?

GMN: Yes. Unless there is a course correction, that way I think our Union Education Minister had said that so called recognition of syllabi has to be rationalized. Also, he has given incentives for teachers who improve the quality of education. But at the same time, when you look at higher education, the best of the students go to the industries.


Anand Sudarshan

Anand Sudarshan heads Manipal Education, a pioneering global education entity, which is a member of MEMG (Manipal Education &Medical Group), with its headquarters in Bangalore.

The group, with almost six decades of steadfast focus in the field of Education, provides a range of education services in several countries. It currently has over 220,000 students and over 400,000 alumni in its four universities (flagship Manipal University & Sikkim Manipal University out of India, American University of Antigua in the Caribbean, and Manipal International University in Malaysia). Anand Sudarshan is a founder of EDGE (an education sector forum and think-tank) and the Vice-Chairman of its Vision Group. He is also a member of CII’s (Confederation of Indian Industry) National Group on Education. Over the last two decades, Anand has remained passionately committed to education.

Manipal Education works closely with industries across a number of sectors, in innovative ways. ICICI-Manipal Academy for Banking is one such pioneering initiative that has changed the nature of collaboration with the corporate world. Manipal Education has also focused on the large need for skills development in India and the emerging markets by forging a joint venture with City & Guilds of UK. The resultant entity, IndiaSkills, made a significant mark in vocational education in India within a year of its founding. MeritTrac (perhaps Asia’s largest independent testing & assessment entity), and iRize (an employment exchange that connects prospective employers, students and the government) are two of Manipal Education’s thrust towards providing value-added services in the education sector. EduNxt is its award-winning technology architecture that powers supplemental education delivery to over 200,000 students, through online and mobile communication platforms. Excerpt from his interview:

Asian Educator: India’s higher education sector is growing/changing like anything. What are

the positive elements, challenges and growth potential you perceive on account of this?

Anand Sudarshan: The positive side of it is very clearly the student. We have a very large youth population and the youth today is smart, well informed, and most importantly success driven. The young have the desire to succeed and want to explore different careers – for example Journalism, Travel and Tourism, Design, Visual Design, etc. Now they do different things. That is very exciting. The role of an education institution is to make sure that its graduates become life-long learners and succeed in life and thus contribute to the society. From that perceptive, choice is an exciting thing. You have the opportunity to educate the willing. The other big positive is our economic growth.

AE: Do you share the view of Sam Pitroda that only liberalisation can bring about a qualitative change to our education system?

Anand Sudarshan: I completely agree with him. His views are forward looking. He talks about the need for reform, which is extremely high. The National Knowledge Commission (NKC) also advocates reforms. It says organisations should become responsible entities and that regulations should change. However, the challenge would be in the execution part. Liberalisation will change the education sector qualitatively; quantitatively, it will change the sector through the very perspective that it brings in -- be it the number of students studying or the spread of sheer


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Anand Sudarshan EXPERT INTERVIEW

diversity of offerings. Today education, at least university education, stops after graduation or post graduation. To me education is life long process. Universities have a role to play in developing not only the 17-25 age groups, but also people working in organisations. That ability to play a role will be one of the biggest advantage that liberalisation brings in.

AE: You mentioned about regulatory authority. Did you mean to say that a regulatory authority is not necessary?

Anand Sudarshan: The regulatory system in India today is set up on principles that existed 40-50 years ago. They were designed after assessing India of that day and for an era where scarcity really mattered. Those policies played a key role at that time. But today’s India is very different from what it was 50 years ago. Education is about building tomorrow. It is an investment for tomorrow. If you are investing for tomorrow, should you be banking on a foundation that is 40-50 years old?

AE: How do you perceive the growth of our higher education sector in the next 3-5 years?

Anand Sudarshan: The sector is moving very fast, but there are challenges. One challenge that already spoke to you about is the regulatory complexity, the unnecessary regulatory complexity, the fact that the regulatory system is founded on fairly old principles. There are other challenges as well. For example the challenge posed by the dearth of good teachers. We have been paying our teachers very little. So the bright minds with an inclination to teach have been going to the US to pursue a career, others have settled for a job with Indian corporates. I believe that there many in corporate organisations, who

given a chance, would certainly come back to the teaching profession. In the next five years I visualise a new framework and infrastructure getting created. Technology will play a key role. The next five years is going to be very exciting.

AE: We do not have many good institutions to accommodate our massive young population. Do you have some innovative ideas to overcome this problem? Is distance education programme an answer/alternative?

Anand Sudarshan: It certainly is. It is not only an alternative for bachelors education for young people, but also for those who are working and are unable to attend regular campus education. It is also a boon for people from remote areas, those who can’t travel for long distance to attend colleges, etc. I think distant education will serve a wide variety of people.

AE: Do you think distance education is going to become a fully developed system of learning?

Anand Sudarshan: It is. Distance education is

‘Stop funding institutions start funding students’Education must be accessible and affordable. But affordable does not mean insisting that institutions charge only a certain amount as fees. It should mean providing bank loans, scholarships etc for deserving candidate. Stop funding institutions except for research purposes; start funding students. Student is the appreciating asset of a country and of the future.

To me education is life long process. Universities have a role to play in developing not only the 17-25 age groups, but also people working in organisations. That ability to play a role will be one of the biggest advantage that liberalisation brings in


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evolving. I think the Indira Gandhi National Open University is going to do a terrific job. Then there is the Sikkim Manipal University. There are lots of innovations coming up in distant education and that is going to continue. Certainly distant education should focus a lot more on quality. Students graduating from our distant education programmes are directly tied to employment opportunities.

AE: How will technology contribute our education system in an innovative way? Since you have a technological background you may have interesting solutions.

Anand Sudarshan: Let me give an example from EduNxt -- our own full-fledged learning support

system. One section of EduNxt supports distant education. We have 16,000 students registered in our EduNxt programme currently enrolled on

this platform which not only provides online support, but is also beginning to provide support through mobiles; that is, providing content in digital form online as well as on mobile. It makes the whole learning experience very enriching. These students learn from each other as well.

In the case of students in campuses, EduNxt supplements classroom education with access to information through library and books. Thus a student gets into a continuous learning kind of mode.

In the case of a person working in a corporate office who is pursuing an MBA through an online mode, we, subject to permission from the corporate entity, can provide him/her EduNxt content through the Internet or the employee portal of the organisation. So the learning part of it gets integrated with what the student is doing. Here, technology can be seen playing a complementary as well as supplementary role. It cannot replace teaching, but will complement teaching in a very constructive way.

AE: How is Manipal going to contribute to our education sector? Can we expect something unique from leaders like you?

Anand Sudarshan: Manipal has been here for nearly 60 years now. Innovation has been one of our strong points and it will continue to be so. It has brought innovation through Manipal University in India and abroad. EduNxt is another big investment we have made. That is the biggest investment by a private company in this sector. We are working closely with corporate to create a link between prospective employees and prospective employers in a way that the engagement starts much before an interview. We will continue to remain accountable for the quality of the students who graduate from here. If you are accountable for the quality, results will follow.

AE: Do you think the present government polices are favourable to investors in the education sector?

Anand Sudarshan: I don’t think governmental polices are favourable. And that is because of the complexity of the regulatory system. I think a lot more needs to be done. For example, Medical Council of India, the regulatory system, insists that one should have 25 acres of land to start a medical college. Where is the need for 25 acres for a medical college? May be 20-10 is good enough in these times. Those days we used to construct only four-storied apartment blocks. Today there are 40-storied buildings. They must understand that land area does not expand. So we have to become more efficient. The present regulatory system does not allow efficient mechanisms to function.

Make education more accessible and affordable. But affordable does not mean insisting that institutions charge only a certain amount as fees. It should mean providing bank loans, scholarships etc for deserving candidate. Stop funding institutions except for research purposes; start funding students. Student is the appreciating asset of a country and of the future.

I believe that there are many in corporate organisations, who given a chance, would certainly come back to the teaching profession. In the next five years I visualise a new framework and infrastructure getting created. Technology will play a key role. The next five years is going to be very exciting


It’s not very easy getting to the place they call Valiamala (big hill) in Thiruvananthapuram district. Perched on top of Valiamala is the

IIST, India’s first institution dedicated to study and research on space science.

IIST is located at a remote corner of Mother Earth and has a serene and languid air about it. A pleasant place on the whole, one can emphatically say; a place that students who congregate to study and do research on space science would love. The climb up isn’t very smooth and one would have to negotiate a tortuous path to the top where most buildings of IIST are located. There are also some buildings on the shadow of the hill. For long India’s eminent space techies have dreamt of setting up a study centre for moulding and preparing young minds in accordance with

the nation’s requirements. This unique dream took shape in 2007, when the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST) was officially inaugurated by the very hand of its artificer, Dr G Madhavan Nair, the former chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), on September 14.

It was registered as a Society under the Travancore-Cochin Literary, Scientific and Charitable Societies Registration Act, 1955. The IIST had, prior to this, on April 26, 2007, started functioning as an autonomous body under the Department of Space, Government of India, with the approval of the Union Cabinet.

IIST is, perhaps, the only institute in Asia and first in the world to offer a variety of disciples

“It is the uniqueness of IIST. Students will not get such chances anywhere else, not even in the nation’s top IITs – the facility to be a part of research and development activities of ISRO’s live projects,” says Brijpal, a B Tech avionics final year student from Ujjain, who is just back in campus after having completed a training programme at the Space Application Centre, Ahmadabad

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IIST UNIQUE INSTITUTION


IIST is, perhaps, the only institute in Asia and first in the world to

offer a variety of disciples related to space science and technology,

ranging from undergraduate

to doctoral programmes

related to space science and technology, ranging from undergraduate to doctoral programmes. Here a group of outstanding techies from diverse scientific and technical background are devoted to putting in their best to hone the skills of youngsters to meet future challenges of space science and technology in the country.

“In fact, it is a breeding ground for young minds who wish to serve the nation,” said the Director of IIST, Dr Dasgupta, the dedicated director-cum-lecturer who works six days a week, though officially it’s a 5-day week in IIST. He can be seen clarifying doubts and even giving lectures when students gather in his cabin seeking his interpretation of various subjects in which he has an in depth knowledge. The reference books in his cabin prove his passion for his profession.

The IIST was conceived as a feeder institution for Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), which normally recruits its manpower through a common test and interview conducted throughout the country. However, the recruited techies, though well versed in their respective subjects, would not directly fit into the ISRO scheme of things and required to undergo training in space technology. “The ISRO requires experienced hands from diverse field and the recruitment process would continue in that stream. But the venture with IIST could save us the time spend for training techies on space technology,” says Dr Dasgupta.

Unique internship programmesAt IIST, students have access to state-of-the-art laboratory and research facilities in all areas of Aerospace Engineering. Students also gain experience by carrying out experiments and taking part in some of the research and development activities at different ISRO centres through internship programmes. In addition to this, they will have opportunities to engage in projects with faculty at the IIST or scientist/engineer at the Department of Space-affiliated institutions.

The facility to access the activities of ISRO makes

IIST a unique institution, and this is one factor that distinguishes it from other technical schools in the country. The IIST reckons that this process would also help students in building confidence. “What exception it has as compared to other engineering colleges in the country is the training the students receive in various ISRO centres. Our students get the chance to work on important and advanced projects which will in ingrain confidence in them,” says Prof Kuruvila Joseph, Head, Chemistry Department, IIST.

“It is the uniqueness of IIST. Students will not get such chances anywhere else, not even in the nation’s top IITs – the facility to be a part of research and development activities of ISRO’s live projects,” says Brijpal, a B Tech avionics final year student from Ujjain, who is just back in campus after having completed a training programme at the Space Application Centre, Ahmadabad.

Besides the training platform in ISRO, the institute also facilitates training in California Institute of Technology (CALTEC), an academic home of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, to those students who show brilliance in there academics.

“Where else will you get a CALTEC certificate in nine months?” asks the Director. “There is a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between IIST and CALTEC of the USA. As per the MoU, our students can study at CALTEC. This year we sent five brilliant students to CALTEC for further studies and they are likely to be back this month-end after having undergone training,” Dr Dasgupta added.

In-disciplinary departments are another uniqueness of the courses offered here. Students get a chance to touch all the subjects related to space technology. That enables them to have a general knowledge in every field. Dr Dasgupta also emphasized IIST’s commitment to becoming a world class educational and research institution contributing significantly to India’s space endeavours.

At IIST, courses are classified into three categories -- Avionics, Aerospace Engineering and Physical Sciences, focusing on space science and technology for B Tech graduation

UNIQUE INSTITUTION IIST


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Besides the training platform in ISRO, the institute also facilitates training in California Institute of Technology (CALTEC), an academic home of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, to those students who show brilliance in there academics

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apart from M Tech and the Doctoral programmes. Here it must be understood that these courses are not out of the generic purview of engineering. In fact, these are a combination of generic and space technical engineering.

“The undergraduate and graduate syllabuses are scheduled to satisfy all the requirements of general engineering spectrum demands while focusing on space technology, which means the aspirants are also equipped to meet the challenges of diverse industries,” says the Director.

The institution has the unique mandate of encouraging and equipping brilliant youngsters from all parts of the country to take up a career as Scientist/Engineer in ISRO. On account of this sacrosanct intention, the IIST bears all expenses including tuition fee, hostel/mess fee and even the grants on books of every student who gets admission here. In other words, students who attain a minimum of 6.5% CGPA (Cumulative Grade Point Average) in their entrance test will enjoy a free-of-cost study throughout their academic career here against a bond with the IIST. As per the bond, students who pass out with high grade shall work in ISRO for five years.

Entrance test of its ownIn the first phase, IIST recruited students through IIT-JEE entrance test, which is considered one of the toughest exams at the undergraduate level in the country. In fact, those who take IIT-JEE are IIT aspirants and most were sceptical about IIST. And the bond factor was an additional dampener. So in order to keep the sceptics out, IIST started conducting an entrance test of its own called ‘ISAT’.

“The response to ISAT was astounding. Nearly 1,20,000 applications were received from across the country this academic year. Even though the number of seats in an academic year is only 150, around 80,000 aspirants took the test, said Prof Kuruvila.

“Only dedicated students with the conviction to serve the nation can cop up with this institution and its norms. We take special care to clarify IIST’s objectives, terms and conditions, and the importance these are given while imparting education, to students as well as their parents during the counseling,” said Dr Dasgupta, who expressed confidence that there would be very few who wouldn’t want to be with ISRO after their education at the IIST.

Meanwhile, the first batch of IIST is due to pass out this year and the students seemed to have made up their mind about serving ISRO. “We are all excited about being co-opted to the country’s

proud space research organisation as techies. We are also well aware how important we are for the country,” said Tejaswaite who is from Uttar Pradesh. She is a first batch B Tech Physical Science student and acknowledges the standard of teaching and the quality of the faculty.

Reshma, another first batch student, who is from

Thiruvananthapuram, is thrilled about being absorbed by ISRO. “It was my childhood dream to be a part of the research team in ISRO and serve the country. The training in both ISRO and IIST has prepared us in such a way that we will be devoted to the nation.”

Brain drain!India is one among the top pedagogical nations on the globe. Our country has produced several scholars in space science and technology. But we have witnessed several of them leaving the country seeking greener pastures. Only a few have cared to stand by the nation that spent millions on their education. Today, 35 per cent of those employed in NASA are Indians. So this billion rupee question still haunts the IIST and ISRO: will these young techies stand by their nation after fulfilling their statutory obligation or will they also choose the same path that their predecessors took?

“The chances (of students leaving the country) are low,” said Dr Dasgupta. “We are now providing them better opportunity here. We provide them the kind of training that will enable them to be analytical in their career, either with ISRO or any other industry,” he adds.

Dr APJ Abdul Kalam is the Chancellor of IIST. Dr K Radhakrishnan is the present Chairman. Dr BN Suresh is the Founder Director.


Fr E Abraham, SJ, PhD, Director of XLRI, Jamshedpur was himself a student of this prestigious institution and took a Postgraduate

Diploma in Personnel Management & Industrial Relations from here. He then went on to get a PhD (HRD) from the Gujarat University, Ahmedabad. There are many among the faculty here who love the institution so much that they tend to come back. Fr Abraham is so very proud of the fact that he has a long association of 27 years with the institute.

In a freewheeling chat with Asian Educator, the visionary Father talked about XLRI as well as the entire education system in the country, which according to him needs a through overhaul. That there weren’t many good colleges or schools in India was something he seemed very certain about. Educational institutions should be given autonomy, only then will they be able to flourish. Close student-teacher interaction and assessment is important for any student to thrive. How can a person (teacher) sitting somewhere else judge a student just by reading what he/she writes in a certain answer sheet on a certain day, Fr Abraham asks. Only someone who knows her/him well will be able to do that in a way that benefits the student.

The XLRI as a management institution is pretty different from other such institutions of the same

genre in many ways. It, for example, lays great stress on its students learning ethics and being

responsible to the society at large. The close-knit community life in

its campus is also something that makes it different and

endearing.

Read on ….

Play the role of catalysts in ensuring that there is all round, inclusive growth

Bridging Urban - Rural Divide

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Fr E Abraham, XLRI

across India, by sensitising/shaping future leader managers of India

AE: What would you describe as Social Responsibility, especially for a professional manager?

Fr E Abraham: Social Responsibility encompasses a whole spectrum of activities that a corporation and its personnel can engage in towards elevating the lives of its primary and secondary stakeholders. One can’t always expect the government to step in and address all the shortcomings/gaps in the economy and society, especially at the micro-level. Thus, organisations and their personnel and all individuals who are well placed in life have a moral responsibility to contribute towards mitigating the problems in one’s immediate surroundings or far away to the extent possible.

AE: Could you explain one of XLRI’s key areas of interest, “turning rural dreams into reality.”

Fr Abraham: Rural India has not benefited in an equitable manner from India’s high GDP growth. In rural India many basic needs still remain unfulfilled. Whilst the Central and State governments strive to elevate the socio-economic standards of rural India, there have been a lot of leakages and sub-optimal on ground implementation issues. Bridging the gap between urban and rural India is of imperative necessity and business schools have to play the role of catalysts in ensuring that there is all round, inclusive growth across India, by sensitising/shaping future leader managers of India.

AE: Do you think the 3-day Village Exposure Programme that your students undertake would suffice for them to understand rural India, its needs, aspirations, given the fact that most of the students seeking admission to XLRI would be from urban background and with urban aspirations?

Fr Abraham: No, it is not enough. The village exposure visit is a very elementary

effort towards sensitisation of students who come from a predominantly urban background and have limited appreciation of the problems and challenges of rural India. At this stage, our village exposure programmes are only intended to initiate the students’ sensitisation process. However, in due course we hope to take the process further and undertake projects whereby the students can contribute towards finding better solutions to solve the day-to-day challenges of villages located in and around the campus.

AE: Are there seats reserved for rural students?

Fr Abraham: XLRI has earmarked 10% of seats for students who come from a socially backward background based on certain pre-determined criteria. Rural students will also be covered under this affirmative action policy.

AE: Can you explain what the Sustainability Strategy of XLRI is?

Fr Abraham: XLRI has been engaged in pursuing aspects of sustainability in an informal manner over the years. In fact, over the years conscious efforts have been made to retain and enhance the forest cover within the XLRI campus. However, in the months and years to come XLRI hopes to formalise systems and processes and embed sustainable practices across most of its activities and include all stakeholders while it embarks on its sustainability journey.

AE: Can you explain the Teaching Innovation Programme at XLRI?

Fr Abraham: It has been recognised that without a strong pool of managerial talent India will struggle to maintain its growth and to strengthen the social and environmental conditions that are critical to a robust business environment over the long term.

Businesses also report that too many of today’s MBA graduates are not prepared to

XLRI ‘s Unique Programmes

Full Time Residential Programmes

HRM - Two-year • postgraduate programme in Human Resources Management BM - Two-year • postgraduate programme in Business ManagementFPM - Four-year • Fellow Programme in ManagementGMP- One-year General • Management Programme for the working executives

Part Time Programmes for Working Executives

Exec-PGP - Three-year • Executive Postgraduate Programme for working executives in Dubai and SingaporeExec FPM – Executive • Fellow Programme in Management

Satellite Based Part Time programme for Working Executives

PGCBM - Postgraduate • Certificate in Business Management (12-months)PGCHRM - Postgraduate • Certificate in Human Resources Management (12 months)PGCLSCM - Postgraduate • Certificate in Sales and Marketing Management (12 months)PGCCSMM - • Postgraduate Certificate in Sales and Marketing Management (12 months)

EXPERT TALK


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consider how decisions they make on the job will affect India’s environment or its local communities. Recognising that the next generation of business managers will be the linchpin to success, the Teaching Innovation Program – India (TIP-India) was created to tackle this challenge. TIP-India was an initiative of Aspen Institute of USA with active participation from top Indian management institutions viz. XLRI Jamshedpur, IIM Calcutta, IIM Indore, IIM Bangalore, SP Jain Institute, Goa Institute of Management, etc.

The programme was designed to:Develop new teaching materials that • meet the standards of the top MBA programmes and businesses in India Share TIP materials and expand the • capacity of faculty and corporate trainers to teach sustainability

XLRI hosted the third TIP-India meeting in association with Aspen Institute, USA. Faculty representatives from top Indian B-Schools like IIM Calcutta, Goa Institute of Management, SP Jain Institute, XLRI Jamshedpur,

and business representatives from Tata Tinplate, USAID and CII participated in the conference.

AE: MBA graduates are not prepared to consider how decisions they make on the job will affect India’s environment or its local communities. But, is this a problem that generates from the graduates point of view/or the business houses? Are not business houses more interested

in profit rather than protection of India’s environment or the local communities?

Fr Abraham: Across the world, including in India, most organisations in their quest for

profit-maximisation have often overlooked the short and long-term damage to the environment and the silent stakeholders. However, in the last few years many forward-thinking organisations have embarked on a triple-bottom line approach wherein due importance is being given towards embedding sustainable practices across various aspects including economic performance, environmental issues and social dimension (viz labour practices, human rights, society and product responsibility). Yet, a lot more needs to be done and organisations across industry sectors have to keep pushing forward in embedding sustainable practices across their respective industry and organisational value-chains.

AE: Your insistence on Ethics in syllabus – can you elaborate. Will it make a difference in the Indian contest in the sense that our business houses wouldn’t mind their managers going to jail (the 2-G Spectrum scandal being the case in point) if they can get things done.

Fr Abraham: An MBA student with a conscience would think twice before undertaking a wrong business practice. If he/she does go to jail, the corporation’s reputation will suffer and so would its business interests. However, undertaking short-cuts or unethical practices to gain market-share or increase profitability is fundamentally wrong irrespective of whether one gets caught or not. Our primary intent in making “Business Ethics and Corporate Citizenship” a core course (compulsory) for all students is to shape responsible business leaders for tomorrow.

Fr E Abraham, XLRIEXPERT TALK

It has been recognised that

without a strong pool of managerial

talent India will struggle to maintain its growth and

to strengthen the social and environmental conditions

that are critical to a robust business environment over

the long term


45

Why teach Ethics? “… May be because we don’t want our

students ending up in Tihar jail!”

The idea here is to impart the concepts of Responsible Management for Sustainable Growth.

“Why is that philosophy students are not joining XLRI? About 70 per cent of our students are from the engineering stream.”

These are typical comments/responses I heard at the XLRI campus. There definitely was concern in abundance at the campus about top corporate honchos landing up in Tihar in connection with the 2G Spectrum allocation scam.

It is here that XLRI, India’s premier business school, scores over other B-schools in the country: its insistence on teaching students ethics and social responsibility. Business ethics gained prominence among major Indian corporations and academic institutions during the 1980s and 90s. It was during this period that we began hearing about commitment to non-economic values, ethics codes and social responsibility charters. Governments depend on laws and regulations to streamline business behaviour in “beneficial directions”. But it is ethics which unconditionally regulates areas and details of behaviour that lie beyond governmental control.

XLRITaking the road less travelled…

For XLRI, this ethical journey began way back in 1947. In January that year, the American General Manager of TISCO, Neil Haley, with the backing of Sir Jehangir Ghandy, one-time director of Tata Steel, invited two Calcutta Jesuits, Fr Cecil Leeming and Fr Robert Drugman, to Jamshedpur and requested them to start a school for the children of TISCO officers. The Loyola School was thus set up at the Chhotanagpur Regiment Club. Several American Jesuits joined Loyola thereafter, the more prominent among them being Fr Fasy, Fr Dineen, Fr Quinn Enright, James Keogh and Anderson Bakewell.

India of the late 1940s was a vibrant nation, waiting to take off. Goodwill abounded and the “fragrance of fresh independence” and presence of a Fabian Socialist at the country’s helm “injected India’s work environment with an infectious enthusiasm”. Nehru saw industries and infrastructure as the new temples of modern India, “and righteousness, ethics and equality were the bricks and mortar with which they were to be built”. Labour welfare was a priority on every agenda – political, entrepreneurial, and academic. And in industrial enterprises like TISCO, the policy had complete support from all quarters, especially, the management.

It is in this background that XLRI was conceived. In 1949, Fr Quinn Enright, SJ, visualised XLRI “as an institute that would partner an independent India in its journey for development with a vision of


XLRIEDU SUPER BRANDS

‘renewing the face of the earth’. With the help of the then general manager of TISCO, NJ Haley, he put together a core committee comprising Michael John (union leader), MD Madan, Dr Sukhatme, GV Apte, as well as the then Assistant Labour Commissioner, and started operating from the Boulevard Hotel in Bistupur. The committee not only oversaw the operations of the fledgling institute, but also taught—Labour Laws, Wages, Collective Bargaining, Trade Unionism, Parliamentary Procedures and Public Speaking. Workers and executives from local industries attended classes in the evening after a full day’s work. In 1956, the classes shifted to a room in the Loyola School, and a two-year day programme commenced here leading to a postgraduate diploma in Industrial Relations. XLRI had now been recognised by the Central and the State Governments in India. The first batch of XLRI graduated from its premises in Loyola School in 1958, followed by another in 1959 – XLRI had come into its own.

A home of its own

Fr Enright left XLRI to go back to America in 1959, handing over the reins to Fr EH McGrath, who now had the unenviable task of constructing a building and campus for the institute. In the initial phase, the present Administrative Building housed classrooms on the ground floor while the first floor housed the library, the boys’ hostel, Fathers’ residence and chapel. The boys’ hostel and library building came next. Fr RW Norman, SJ and SC Sarkar were important players in the construction at XLRI and the institute formally moved into its present premises in 1962.

Incidentally, the present library is named after the great visionary Sir Jehangir Ghandy.

Recognition…Soon, the increasing demand by Indian industry for professionally-trained managers led to the establishment of a two-year management programme at the institute. Initially offered as an evening programme catering to the needs of junior executives employed in the Jamshedpur industrial complex, this was soon recast as a 3-year programme. In 1969, Management Development Programmes – intensive short-term programmes (5-6 days) -- were also offered in different functional areas of management for middle and senior level executives. They have grown from a mere few programmes a year then to 90 in number now, with candidates coming even from Sri Lanka, Kuwait, Nepal and Bangalesh.

In 1970, the Government of India officially recognised XLRI’s 2-year full time and 3-year part-time postgraduate diplomas in Business Management, Personnel Management, and Industrial Relations equating them on par with an MBA degree or equivalent diploma from a recognised institution.

The period 1962 to 1989 saw a steady stream of new programmes being introduced. XLRI is grateful to Fr. William N Tome, Fr JM Kennedy, Fr TA Mathias, SJ, Fr RW Norman, SJ, Fr EH McGrath, SJ and Fr Romuald D’Souza, SJ who initiated this development.

Now, besides Jamshedpur, XLRI also has branches in Dubai and Singapore where the institute offers part-time MBA course for working executives. XLRI has 18 academic tie-ups with foreign universities and management schools in

1997:• One year full time Programme in General Management 2000: • Three-year Executive Postgraduate Programme in Business Management (India and Dubai)2002: • 14-month Postgraduate Certificate in Business Management programme (Satellite-based live classrooms across the country) 2004:• 14-month Postgraduate Certificate in Human Resources Management (Satellite-based live classrooms across the country)2005:• 14-month Postgraduate Certificate (PGC) in Financial Management; PGC in Software Management and PGC in Logistics and Supply Chain Management (Satellite-based live classrooms across the country)2006: • Three-year Executive Postgraduate Programme in Business Management (Singapore) International Student Exchange Programme (ISEP)2007:• One-year Postgraduate Programme (PGP) in Management and Insurance (with ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company); 12-month Postgraduate Certificate (PGC) in Retail Management (Satellite-based live classrooms across the country); 12-month Postgraduate Certificate (PGC) in Sales & Marketing Management.

46 ASIAN EDUCATOR I July 2011

XLRI EDU SUPER BRANDS

the US, Europe, Australia and South-East Asia. The institute is at present working on consolidating its global presence.

The best in AsiaMaintaining a high standard is often more difficult than setting them. The greatest test of excellence for an institution could be its ability to sustain and better itself. XLRI has done that and more. So, it’s no wonder that it is often described as the Best Institute in Asia for its personnel management and industrial relations programmes.

Campus lifeThe richness of life at XLRI is something most B-schools would be envious of. The culture that has evolved over half a century of its existence is a mad 320 kmph adrenaline rush of case studies, group discussions, fairs, examinations and mythical sports meets.

XLRI’s uniqueness springs from its closely-knit student community where everyone knows everyone else. Team work is stressed, and in fact, the environment of bitter rivalry among students that prevails in B-schools has been removed through conscious efforts by the institute, and an atmosphere of collaboration and cooperation has been carefully nurtured, making an XLer an excellent team player. In addition to this, as I mentioned earlier, XLRI lays great emphasis on ethics and imbibing in its students a sense of social responsibility.

For an XLer there is something happening at the centre all the time. There are

conferences, seminars, guest lectures and workshops. However, life is not all about academics. There is the marketing extravaganza – Maxi Fair; the management fest, Ensemble, and the back-breaking tussle that is the XL-IIMC sports meet. A student, irrespective of which stream she/he is in, always finds opportunities to explore every interest. Innovation, they say, is religion in XLRI and a little initiative can take one anywhere.

The lush green 40-acre Jamshedpur campus that’s just 20-minute drive away from the Railway Station would be every student’s dream. It’s an altogether different world; a serene and languid abode encircling a beehive of activity. One would never imagine that more than 500 people are staying at this place which is so quiet and tranquil. Trees, lush gardens and aesthetically-designed buildings add to XLRI’s luster.

I had come here from Kochi in the second week of June. And I could see newly admitted students moving around hither and thither in the campus; some had loads of new books on them; there were others happy to be just around. It was as if the very air in the campus oozed enthusiasm. Classes for the new batch would begin on the morrow (June 15). There was great expectation and optimism in the air, as life was about to begin anew for these kids. One would always wish them luck and hope the country would gain much as this bunch passes out and spreads the message of Responsible Management for Sustainable Growth. May their tribe increase.

“We started building the XLRI classrooms while still operating from Loyola in 1959. Thanks to the generosity of TISCO, we not only were given a generous allocation of land in a prime area of Jamshedpur but also received great help from Mr Archer and Mr Sathpathy of the TownDivision of TISCO. Mr Rumi Master, Town Architect and Planner, was a major source of assistance along with the Parks and gardens Division that helped us with the landscaping and trees” - Fr McGrathw

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SPECIAL STORY

Investment in the education sector is not only considered a social obligation, but also a way to cash

in through the services provides to the needy by imparting quality education. Many business houses in the country have been, of late, foraying into the sector which has remained a dry area as far as investment is concerned. However, it’s a very competitive sector and business houses have realised that only by imparting quality education can they make honourable returns from their investments.

It is a universal truth that parents seek the best of education for their children. They seek schools/colleges that can understand and bring out the best in

Invest Opportunities

The country adds 20 million babies every year, which means, we would need to set up nearly 60,000 new schools every year to provide our children basic education

their children. They also want children to be brought up with good discipline, good manners etc. So, schools in effect should become a breeding ground for moulding venerable citizens who will serve their society and country well.

A lot of investments would be required to build such schools. In our country the government is the prime agency responsible for providing basic education. But its resources are limited and hence we find the education sector in the country lagging behind many developing nations. The realisation that only liberalisation can save the sector, has almost forced the government to open up the sector to private players.

However, there are many challenges

that private players who enter the sector face. Firstly, the competition is stiff, and parents demand much more from them as they pay more for education. Secondly, their responsibility is huge. It’s never easy bringing up a child from kindergarten to Class 12. It is also important to see that every child achieves the goal that its parents, the teachers and the school itself has set for it.

Great opportunity All said and done, opportunities are enormous for investors in this sector. India has a population over 1.21 billion. The country adds 20 million babies every year, which means, we would need to set up nearly 60,000


l Ziad P S

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SPECIAL STORYInvest Opportunities

new schools every year to provide our children basic education. This sector is by far the largest capitalized space in India, with government spending of $30 billion in 2006, representing 3.7% of GDP, and a large network of one million schools and 18,000 higher education institutes.

In its latest Five Year Plan, the government has allocated a six-fold increase in spending on education, yet this figure remains highly disproportionate to its target population: India’s population of 572 million (2008) within the 0-24 years age group is the highest in the world and is expected to increase to 600 million by 2012.

As a result, despite having one of

the world’s largest education supply infrastructures, India is currently unable to meet the demand for education at almost all levels. Only 219 million children (37%) are enrolled in schools and 11 million students attend colleges; only 34% of Indian schools provide an education beyond the primary level, meaning that the majority of Indian citizens receive only six years’ formal education; 40% of pupils drop out of education each year, across all age groups, including primary school.

The K12 sector – Kindergarten to 12th grade – caters to students in the 3-19 age group, with 219 million children enrolled across the country out of the 361 million who are eligible. All K-12

institutions must be affiliated to an education board – either Central, such as the Indian Council of Secondary Education (ICSE) and the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), or State; some schools have begun seeking affiliations with international boards such as IGCSE (International General Certificate of Secondary Education) and IB (International Baccalaureate from Geneva).

The market is dominated by the public sector, which represents 80% of the 1.25 million schools; of the 950,000 public schools, only 8% accommodate children with special needs within regular classes. The public sector also dominates

the primary and middle school sub-segments, whereas 59% of secondary schools are in the private sector. On an average, private schools enroll more students (1,200 per school) than public schools and account for 40% of the total number of students enrolled in K-12.

The size of the K-12 industry is expected to increase from $24.5 billion in 2008 to $50 billion in 2015. India has the largest population globally (and growing) in the K-12 age group. 39% of children of K-12 age are not currently enrolled in school, meaning 142 million eligible children in India do not receive an education. At the higher secondary level (grades 9-12) this figure rises to 68%.

Therefore, there is a preference for the private sector, fuelled by a growing awareness of the importance of a quality education and an increasing ability and willingness to pay for it. According to the National Council of Education Research & Training (NCERT), between 20,000 and 25,000 quality schools are needed. A number of states allocate land for schools at subsidized rates. There is also a growing demand for Public-Private-Participation (PPP) to manage public schools.

It is in this scenario that Asian Educator spoke to Meena Ganesh, the CEO and MD of Pearson Education Services, an education provider who manages innovative and successful brands like TutorVista and Edurite.


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Meena Ganesh, the CEO and MD of Pearson Education Services, an education provider who manages innovative and successful brands like TutorVista and Edurite. TutorVista through its global business provides supplemental education services for international markets using its proprietary technology platform and the services of teachers from India. Pearson is the world’s largest education company providing professional certification, curriculum materials, multimedia learning tools and testing programmes to over 100 million people worldwide. The solutions offered by Pearson Education Services include ICT-based solutions to enhance the teaching-learning process, test prep coaching and tuitions and self-study digital content in the domestic education sector in India. These solutions come from the 11-year-old group brand Edurite. Under her leadership, the company has made a successful foray into the school management space and emerged as the fastest growing school chain in India.

She shares her views on investment in the K-12 (Kintergarden-12th standard) sector with our readers:

AE: Studies points to massive scope for investment in K-12 sector (around Rs 92,000 crores). What is your take on

this?

Meena Ganesh: The K-12 sector is exhibiting a lot of promise and I am sure it would be safe to say that this is the right time to invest in this sector. While most parents in Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities realise the importance of sending their children to schools, the main challenge lies in educating the rural parent who is generally unaware of the benefits of education. Limited or no access to these parents makes the challenge all the more daunting. Another big factor is the inability of families below poverty line to afford school education.

An intervention from the government, in terms of setting up government-assisted schools, etc., in these parts of the country would, therefore, go a long way in reaching out to these potential students. Perhaps the 40% dependency on private institutions would also decrease, making way for the emergence of revered and respected government institutions. Multiple schools need to be set up and inter school activities heightened. This will bring about a spirit of competition, thus fuelling an improvement in the quality of education.

As Pearson Education Services, we too have a stake in the K-12 sector. In addition to running a number of schools in the country, 25 to be precise, we also provide services and solutions

Meena Ganesh


that cater to the various needs of the different players in this segment. Our immediate plan is to raise our stake in this sector by increasing the number of our schools to 100 in the next 3 years.

AE: What do you think about the K-12 education in India? Is it up to the mark?

Meena Ganesh: Like I mentioned before, this sector has a lot of potential and there is always room for more investments as well as improvements. The challenge right now is to determine and utilise these opportunities. Government intervention would be welcome but that doesn’t mean private players should back off. What we need right now is a public-private-participation (PPP) because while the government has access, the private players can add a lot of value through their expertise and infrastructure.

AE: A report shows that 39 per cent of eligible students in our country do not actually enroll; in high school classes this phenomenon is as high as 68 per cent. Why do you think it so?

Meena Ganesh: The main reason for this would be a lack of awareness. Schools, in other words the K-12 sector, are very important because they comprise primary education, which is the base of everything else. The answer is to reach out to the rural population and make the benefits of education known to both the parents and the children, and find innovative ways of attracting them to schools. Education at the base level needs to be made available to even the poor and the

Right time to invest in the sectorThe K-12 sector is exhibiting a lot of promise and I am sure it would be safe to say that this is the right time to invest in this sector.

downtrodden. This can’t be achieved unless the government and the private players work hand in hand. More than anything else, stress needs to be laid on improving quality. It is reassuring to see the interest corporate and many new players are showing in the K-12 sector. That is what the sector needs at the moment.

AE: Do you think our private sector is doing enough to make amendments?

Meena Ganesh: The participation of private players will go a long way in improving our school system. While they are doing a lot, encouragement from the government in terms of lenient policies, etc., would also act as a catalyst in ensuring quicker and further improvements.

AE: Reports points to a 14 per cent growth rate in the K-12 sector annually. In tier 1, 2, 3 cities this may be true, but what about rural and semi-urban areas?

SPECIAL STORYInvest Opportunities

The K-12 sector, is very important because they comprise primary education, which is the base of everything else. The answer is to reach out to the rural population and make the benefits of education known to both the parents and the children, and find innovative ways of attracting them to schools


Meena Ganesh: K-12 education in rural areas of our country is definitely not up to the mark. While we are all aware of the existence of schools in these areas, there is no systematic way of monitoring them. The absence of basic infrastructure and in some cases, even teachers, is quite disheartening. The need to increase awareness of education has never been greater.

AE: Do you think the government polices are helpful for the new entrepreneurs in K-12 sector?

Meena Ganesh: I think the time is ripe for a change in regulations and policies. A simplification in the affiliation norms would make this sector more open to new entrepreneurs

and investors. It would go a long way in encouraging and welcoming

private players as well.

AE: Please elaborate your future plans in the K-12

sector?

Meena Ganesh: As Pearson Schools, we are rapidly

expanding

SPECIAL STORY Invest Opportunities

both in India as well as abroad. Our expansion plans include setting up of new schools in addition to taking over schools that are already in operation but have not been able to scale up. To cite an example, we took over the management

of an international school in one of the metros which had a large debt burden. There was also a negative image amongst the parents due to its poor strength. Just three years of working with us has brought about IB authorisation and IB world status for them. There has been 1% increase in school collections and 38% increase in student strength as well.

As part of the school management services, we provide teacher training sessions and equip classrooms with ICT (Information and Communication Technology) and other elements of the K-12 programme, in addition to top class infrastructural facilities. We also invest in upgrading/improving/supplementing the existing infrastructure. We are involved in recruitment and skill enhancement of all teachers. Our aim is to provide the best of academic standards, qualified and trained teaching staff, technology-based content delivery, and a high-quality fun-learning environment that is innovative, challenging and enterprising.

We believe that literary, social and cultural aspects and discipline are irreplaceable in students’ life, which is why these are blended into their academic lives. We believe in creating future-ready global citizens who take on challenges confidently.

I think the time is ripe for a change in regulations and policies. A simplification in the affiliation norms would make this sector more open to new entrepreneurs and investors. It would go a long way in encouraging and welcoming private players as well

An innocuous comment by the

Honorable Minister Jairam Ramesh, has opened a Pandora’s box. It is not likely to die-down that easily without stinging many Individuals and Institutions. The very fact that the comment has attracted a nationwide debate on the faculty quality in the so called Institutes of excellence is a testimony to

the seriousness of the issue and the need for immediate remedial action.

We have taken solace in the fact that IIMs and IITs are the most sought after Institutions in this country. However, we have failed to benchmark ourselves with the best in the world. The net result is this raging debate as to whether the faculty-members are world class or the students are world class. It is good that a debate of this nature has made the Institutions do some introspection and develop strategies to combat this onslaught.

Are we getting the best students or are we getting the best-coached students?While it is easy to point fingers at the poor quality of teachers, there is no running away from the fact that the students’ quality too could be suspect. The moot question therefore is whether we are getting the best students or are we getting the best-coached students? Today the coaching Institutes make more money and are more powerful than the IITs and IIMs. The coaching Institutes thrive on the demand supply gap for quality education in this country. Since it is a make or break situation for students they are ready to pay any amount to get coached for entry into these prestigious Institutions. They in turn teach short-cuts and quick-fix methods to crack the entrance examinations. A person of above average intelligence (which is available in plenty in India) can be coached for 95+ percentile score, if he/she takes the entrance test multiple times. However, even the brightest of the student cannot make it easily without taking adequate coaching. Hence it is a fact that we do have students in the system that do not deserve a seat and we also miss out on a number of bright ones who should have made it to the IIMs.

It is true that the students who make it to IIMs are aggressive and better motivated. At the same time, they look for short-cuts and easy methods to get the laurels; thanks to the hangover from the coaching institutions. The amount of money spent by these prestigious Institutions on checking plagiarism, copying in exams, controlling proxy attendance etc. is on the rise. The erosion of morals and values among the youth could also be a reason for this malaise.

The 80-20 rule applies in every walk of life; IIMs are no exception to the rule. May be 20% of the students account for all the successes we see around the world. We need a serious study on the remaining 80% of the students. We need to understand as to why they crash out in the early stages of their career. Is it wrong selection, or wrong training at the institute that is responsible for their poor performance?

80% of the IIM faculty are world class teachersWe need to make a similar analysis with regard to IIM faculty members too. When it comes to teachers, the ratio gets reversed, with 80% of the IIM faculty being world class. The students cannot become world class unless the faculty imparts world class education. We Indians are generally good in knowledge dissemination. The IIM faculty tend to read the latest cases from the Harvard and impart excellent American education that helps the students find jobs in Multinational corporations around the world. If a faculty can get a good rating from IIM students, he/she can teach anywhere in the world. It is not that the students are so demanding, but the fact is that they are exposed to better teachers and the benchmarks set are very high.

Since IIIMs put greater emphasis on student ratings, gradually the teaching quality has gone

GUEST COLUMNMJ Xavier, Director, IIM, Ranchi

Are

An Insider’s Perspective


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up in IIMs. For example, IIMA has a tradition of publishing faculty ratings in the hostel notice boards. In every IIM the senior students pass on information about faculty quality to the junior students which have a direct bearing on the enrollment in the elective courses offered by the faculty members. This has led to the creation of a large pool of excellent teachers in IIMs. Are IIM Faculty good researchers?In the western context, if a faculty member fails to publish (however good a teacher he/she may be), will be called a brain-dead person. They operate in a `publish or perish’ environment. Institutes of higher learning in India have failed to put that kind of emphasis on research and publications. Unfortunately the global rankings are based on the net knowledge created by the Institutions. To the best of my knowledge, no weightage is given to student feed-back on teachers in any of the ranking surveys. It is no wonder that we have been gradually sliding down in the global rankings and China, Singapore and Hong Kong have been steadily climbing up the ladder. We do see a fundamental flaw in the metrics used to measure the performance of the faculty in India.

Despite all these limitations, our faculty have been doing research and publishing in journals in India and abroad. But the number of such active researchers is far too few. Currently the IIMs have started incentivizing research by announcing cash awards for publications in reputed journal. But not many have taken advantage of the same. But there is hope. There is a gradual increase in the number of papers published by IIM faculty.

What should be the focus of Research in India?Unlike IITs, IIMs have a choice; while engineering and scientific research has to be aligned with global research trends, management research has the option to move in very different directions primarily because management education is at its cross-roads even in the west. The recent global financial crisis has exposed the short-sighted and greedy approach followed by the management graduates. Several authors in the west itself have been criticizing management education for its excessive focus on competition and profit

orientation. This is where I see a great opportunity for IIMs in India. We can work on an alternate management curriculum that the west can adopt.

Basically the subjects taught in the MBA programs world over can be divided into hard and soft subjects. Hard subjects teach the rigorous analytical approaches that are used for problem solving or opportunity analysis. There is no harm in adopting them as such. The soft subjects that teach human skills, social sensitivity and sustainability have to be culture specific. Unfortunately, we have done the least to customize the soft elements to suit the Indian Environment. On the contrary, the Japanese and the Chinese have done this adaptation of the western concepts to suit their culture and managed to re-export their concepts. We too happily teach concepts like guanxy, Kaizen, Seiri, Seiton, Muda, Muri etc.

Now it is the turn of India to introduce Indian Management to the rest of the world. We can get concepts from Arthshasthra, Mahabharatha, Panchatantra or Thirukural and package them for the western consumption. SK Chakraborty (Former IIMC Professor) has produced considerable amount of work on value based management. Outside of IIM system, there are several researchers who have done pioneering work on Indian management. The Indian way of management is long-term oriented, holistic and it takes care of its stakeholders. I have set up a center for Indian management at IIM Rnachi for recovery of perennial wisdom from our epics and puranas.

Also it is high-time that we show-case our successes to the rest of the world and get Western students to study Indian cases, be it, Infosys, Big Bazzar, Maruti, Tata Ace or some other Indian success stories. We need to encourage students and faculty to write case studies. I have made it compulsory for every PGDM student in IIM Ranchi to write case study as thesis work.

ConclusionIn sum, the comment made by the Honorable Minister Mr. Jairam Ramesh is a wakeup call to all the Institutions in India. There is no harm in accepting the reality rather than trying to defend ourselves. Institutions did not focus on research all these days due to various reasons. It is high time we start creating knowledge and become net knowledge exporters. Currently all our text books are from the west, our concepts are borrowed from the west and our study methods are also borrowed from the west. The time is now ripe for us to produce the Harvards and Stanfords (Alternately, recreate Nalandas and Thakshilas) in India.


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FOCUS

The Institute of Business Management & Technology (IBMT)

located in the sylvan surroundings of Bangalore, is one of South India’s fastest rising B-Schools. Conceived as an innovation-mediated knowledge centre of excellence, IBMT is focused on the new economy. It believes that the integration of global systems is now creating an intelligent space where empowered individuals will be required to work as intellipreneurs (intelligent entrepreneurs) to generate wealth in the society. IBMT has realised that in order to grasp the intricacies of new businesses in the digital economy, the future managers must develop capabilities to integrate multiple skills, evolving knowledge systems and emergent technologies. Following an inter-disciplinary approach that integrates technology and business, the programmes of study at IBMT have been designed with a clear focus on knowledge models.

We now live in a world that is increasingly defined by globalisation and Internet. Technology of transport and communication is accelerating the trans-border flow of data, goods, services and people. Collapse of time and space is sharpening the process of rapid integration of world societies creating increased possibilities for interaction among people across borders. Convergence of technologies such as satellites, computers, television, telecommunications, genetics & biotechnology, etc is changing the way we live. The most profound impact has been felt on business organisations and processes marked by increasing

IBMT

IBMT: Different, in Words and Deeds The Institute of Business Management & Technology (IBMT) located in the sylvan surroundings of Bangalore, is one of South India’s fastest rising B-Schools. Conceived as an innovation-mediated knowledge centre of excellenceOur Staff Reporter

complexity. But business and the target are constantly modifying each other and co-evolving. Therefore, the linear path is no longer feasible to achieve targets. In order to comprehend the emerging complexity and select intelligent pathways, one requires not only the knowledge of technology but also new cognitive skills to manage complex organisations.

However, classroom education alone is inadequate to capture the depth of experiences concerning cultural and historical diversity. IBMT education aims to develop future managers with holistic perception through unity of thought, vision and action to operate in the emerging complex business environment.

The Institute is therefore dedicated to nurture creative contributors with enhanced creative and technological skills to contribute to the creation, application and extension of knowledge for the benefit of the society.

The Institute has a rigorous quality assurance mechanism and quality of courses is maintained through continuous review and enhancement. The IBMT staff, involved in the latest research to develop new theories and to understand ever-changing world, regularly updates its courses.In order to ensure quality, all programmes are subject to an approval process by the Board of Studies. Approval involves the assessment of a programme to ensure that it meets the institutional and industry-standards for a programme at that level and delivery mechanism adhere to international standards. As a matter of policy, all programmes offered by the Institute are reviewed on a regular basis in order to take account of recent developments in the field and to improve its structure.

Dr Anil Rawat is the director of the IBMT and head of the National Initiative on e-Commerce. A Ph D in International Studies from Jawaharlal Nehru

University, New Delhi he has also studied macro-economics at the Temple University Japan Campus. He received training in Management of Technology through Canadian Consortium of Management Schools, CENTRIM, the University of Brighton, and SPRU, the University of Sussex, UK. (World Bank supported programme).

He combines a long academic career with industrial consulting experience. He has worked with the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, International Science Policy Foundation, International Management Institute and All India Management Association. He is the Founder


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Director of the Institute of Finance and International Management, Bangalore. While working for his Ph D, Dr Rawat spent several years in Japan: for a period at the University of Tokyo and subsequently as Senior Fellow on Japan Foundation Fellowship. He is fluent in Japanese.

He was awarded Rajasthan State Merit Scholarship for Higher Studies, Japan Foundation Professional Fellowship, UNESCO Fellowship for Future Studies and Motorola Fellowship for Global Management. He is also a recipient of the Karnataka Kala Samskruti Vedike Award for Excellence in Education, Indira Priyadarshini Award for Social Service and Bharat Ratna Rajiv Gandhi Award for Institution Building.

Dr Rawat has been a Visiting Faculty at the Fore School of Management, Resource Faculty at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. He has also been associated with the International Association of Management of Technology and coordinates a Track on

Technology and Sustainable Development. He has participated in programmes of UN University, UNDP, UNIDO, UNESCO etc. Areas of his interest are Innovation Management, Future Studies, and Environmental Management & Sustainable Technologies, Human Rights and NGO activities. Currently, Dr Rawat is leading a project on Sustainable Development.

Recently, he shared his views on technological advantages of modern management education with Asian Educator. Excerpts:

AE: How does your institution distinguish itself from other

management institutions?

Dr Rawat: There are many features. To begin with, the name Institute of Business Management & Technology, itself. It blends business management with technology and was the first of its kind to start way back in 1999. At that time everyone was focusing on IT, e-commerce etc. We were the first to blend management and technology. Now after the 10 years, there are hundreds of institutions with similar names.

In 2002, Narayana Murthi,

the then chairman of Infosys, announced that engineering student did not have necessary skills and that 75% of engineering graduate was unemployable. Then in 2004, he said he didn’t want to employ candidates who were mere engineers, but wanted engineers with management

qualifications. We were the only institution which had technical background for management education. So, we wrote a letter to him, saying that we were the institute providing these skills.

In 2004, Infosys selected 30

of our 40 students. At that time, we were featured by Western World Business Review. Then we realised how valuable our methods were. We then kept on building and innovating.

The second factor that

distinguishes us from others is that we focus on delivery mechanisms. We realised that the traditional curriculum, weather of MBA or PGDMA, was becoming outdated primarily because industries were

IBMT

We have integrated the entire campus; we call it i-campus. The new network that is coming up can integrate our library with other network of

libraries and our students stand to benefit as they can download materials they want

Our students are industry ready before they leave the campus


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FOCUSIBMT

progressing far more rapidly than modified syllabus. So we began to introduce an additional syllabus along with the main syllabus. Initially, we called it the dual degree programme, now we called it integrated MBA, something that’s industry-oriented. As a result, in 2007, we were among top five in Bangalore; in 2008 we were third, and in 2009 we were among the top two and it remains so even now.

So even as everybody talks about globalisation, international exposure etc., we are the only institution in India which is a member of the largest network of business schools in the world, comprising 16,510, where our students go on a free exchange basis. All other institutes have collaborations but they have to pay. This is very innovative and valuable for students and institutes too benefit.

AE: How have you benefitted from technology?

Dr Rawat: We have integrated the entire campus; we call it i-campus. The new network that is coming up can integrate our library with other network of libraries and our students stand to benefit as they can download materials they want. We are also putting a classroom technology in place which will enable lectures to be recorded helping students to access them from anywhere. So students away at industry-interaction wouldn’t have to fear missing classes. It’s basically like topping of the learning process. That is what we have achieved from technology.

AE: You said about industry-interaction. Do you have any tie up with industries? How does industry-interaction take place?

Dr Rawat: You know the location here; we are right in the middle of a corridor, which connects ITPL on the one side and the electronic city on the other. Then there are nearly 450 IT companies within two kilometers. And there is good interaction between our students and these industries which is beneficial to both. Some of the executives in their spare time take classes at our institute. Full time lecturers are not easily available, but there are many who can take part-time classes, which sometimes have to be held at odd hours in order to suit their timings. But since all our students live in the campus it has never been a problem.

AE: Industry has a common complaint that students coming out of management institutes are not industry-ready, do you agree with that?

Dr Rawat: As I told you, we took care of this in 2000-2007, by introducing additional courses like student development programme (first semester), employability enhancement programme (2nd semester),

managerial knowledge or managerial experience programme (3rd semester) and finishing schools (4th semester). This means students are industry-ready before they leave the campus.

Asian Educator: We were told you are going to start an institute in Kozhikode (Kerala). What are the courses you are going to introduce there?

Dr Rawat: In Kozhikode we are planning to introduce some innovative, Kerala-centric courses -- MBA and Sustainable Eco-tourism, and Management on Wellness and Ayurveda. We are developing the second course in association with the Kottakkal Arya Vaidya Sala. To begin with there will a general MBA course which we will monitor from Bangalore. In the next phase

we expect to put this new plan into operation as many formalities have to be gone through.

We are also trying to tie up with IGNOU which is a very innovative university with many special programmes. The idea of collaboration is to develop local knowledge and make it popular and useful for society. IGNOU has a programme that is supported by community colleges and various institutions and is specific to a particular area.

In Kozhikode we are planning to introduce some innovative, Kerala-centric courses - MBA and Sustainable Eco-tourism, and Management on Wellness and Ayurveda. We are developing the second course in association with the Kottakkal Arya Vaidya Sala


FOCUS Rajagiri Vidyapeetam

ASIAN EDUCATOR I June 2011

The thirst and elation has remained the same from Ulysses of Greek epics to the present day seafarer as the seas are simultaneously ways of transport, sources of raw material,

energy, food, water reservoirs, in addition to being the world’s climate engine and a place for leisure. Oceans and seas play an essential part in our economic, social and cultural life. But, the general public has limited awareness and appreciation of the influence of the maritime sector and its role as an essential element in terms of social and economic development, and as a potential source of excellent

employment and career opportunity.

More than 50,000 merchant ships, registered in over 150 nations and manned by over a million seafarers of nearly every nationality, transport every kind of cargo internationally. Several thousand oil rigs and support-and-supply offshore vessels are engaged in the exploration and drilling for oil and gas in almost every corner of the globe. Nearly four million commercial fishing vessels ply the seas at any given moment. And a myriad of recreational ships including several hundred large and mega cruise ships, offer the most diversified

leisure and tourism services to an expanding market.

An Ocean of Opportunities Sailing Ahead With KMSME, CUSAT

“For always roaming with a hungry heartMuch have I seen and known; cities of men

And manners, climates, councils, governments, Myself not least, but honoured of them all”

Celine George

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The Merchant Navy requires managerial skills in both finance and logistic to administer, and comprises a large spectrum of technology -- from the basic infrastructure of materials and energy to the most advanced and sophisticated control and communication systems, equipment and procedures. It employs a large number of personnel regardless of the applicant’s place of residence, language or age, in a very wide range of positions and fields. Each and everyone presents different possibilities and diverse potential earnings. Some of them don´t require any previous training or experience, other ones are very particular and demanding.

The Kunjali Marakkar School of Marine Engineering (KMSME) under the Cochin University of Science and Technology was started with the precise idea of creating eminent and qualified seafarers who can rise to the demands of the ever-growing shipping industry. The sole marine engineering training institute, which is under the direct control of a government

university, the school was upgraded to an independent marine engineering department in July 2007 and operates out of a demarcated 5.5 acre area within CUSAT campus. The department functions under the aegis of the Directorate General of Shipping, Govt. of India, Mumbai. Located in the heart of Cochin University of Science and Technology campus, KMSME started its first batch of its 4-year B Tech Marine Engineering programme in 2003. Admission is through a common admission test conducted by CUSAT every year. The school has to its credit a well defined curriculum, established admission procedures, experienced management and faculty, good infrastructural facilities and strong financial position.

The B Tech course consists of an equal mix of theory and practical sessions. Being part of CUSAT, the presence of various departments

which have their own strong research wings enable the cadets to acquire profound knowledge in every topic they wish. All students undergo the four basic modular courses before the completion of the course. The newly commissioned ship-in-campus and overhauling shop built at a cost of 5.6 crores, enable the students to have hands-on-experience in running and maintenance of machineries of the engine room. They get training in line tracing; get familiarised with the onboard machinery, starting and running of the main machinery and parallel operation of generators. Students are also given proper physical training, including sports activities and training in swimming, to make them face the challenges of the seas. KMSME has a highly experienced faculty headed by KA Simon, former chief engineer, The Shipping Corporation of India Ltd and ex- president of the Institute of Marine Engineers (India).The faculty members are senior marine engineers who have had rich exposure to various marine fields like maritime administration, classification society, port administration, ship repairs, ship superintdency etc.

The long and glorious track record of the university has had a favourable impact on the placements at the school with all the candidates getting prestigious placements on graduation. Way back in 2007, Credit Analysis & Research Limited (CARE) assigned a ‘CARE Grade 2’grading to the ‘four-year B Tech (Marine Engineering)’ course offered by KM School of Marine Engineering (KMSME) indicating that the ability of the institute to meet the course requirements is ‘Very Good’. Judging by its present day performance, more laurels are sure to follow.

The Kunjali Marakkar School of Marine Engineering (KMSME) under the Cochin University of Science and Technology was started with the precise idea of creating eminent and qualified seafarers who can rise to the demands of the ever-growing shipping industry

FOCUSKMSME, CUSAT


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DESTINATION KERALA ASIET

ASIET: Deeply Rooted in Technical Competence, Moral Excellence

ASITE was set up with a mission to build a strong centre of excellence in Engineering and Technology targeting global standards. The idea was to provide

a good environment for individuals to transform into technologically superior, socially committed, spiritually elevated and nationally responsible citizens.

At this tech institution postulated on Sankaradarsana

(perceptions of Sankara) and morality-based teaching, everything seems to be different; but that is what Adi Sankara Institute of Engineering and Technology (ASIET), Kalady provides its pupils. ASIET is a budding example of socially committed tech education deeply

rooted in technical as well as moral excellence. The institute is committed to serving the nation and humanity by bestowing quality education well grounded in the principles of engineering and technology and by providing an ambience that is conducive to the growth of professional education, industrial and social upliftment.

ASIET was set up in 2001 with 108 students. Now in its 10th year of establishment, it has over 1,854 students pursuing six B Tech and one M Tech courses. The B Tech specialization includes Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Electronics and Communication Engineering, Computer Science and Engineering, IT, Applied Electronics and Instrumentation, Mechanical Engineering, and the M Tech is offered in Computer Science. This is the first new generation engineering college

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to get the prestigious international standards certification for the quality of its system of technical education. ASIET’s result never goes beyond 87% and also in the year 2010 ASIET got five university ranks, which add feathers to its crown of excellence in education.

ASIET was set up with a mission to build a strong centre of excellence in Engineering and Technology targeting global standards. The idea was to provide a good environment for individuals to transform into technologically superior, socially committed, spiritually elevated and nationally responsible citizens. As a result of this focus, the institute has industrial tie-ups with Infosys, Sriram groups, TCS etc. Differing from other technical institutions, ASIET provides jobs and placement-oriented soft skill training in communication, group discussion etc. Students’

performance is monitored and analyzed in each section.

The socially and culturally embedded teaching system provides an option for students to build up a character which is blended with nature and social commitment through the activities of effective nature club, blood donation camps, rehabilitation camps etc. All these might be new experience to a technical campus. Even though busy with the tight schedule of teaching and learning, teachers

and students here find time for these activities, which help positively in character building and academic excellence. “The management provides strong support for all these activities,” says Dr SG Iyer, Principal and the Electronics wizard of ASIET.


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DESTINATION KERALAFISAT

FISAT: One of the largest technical campuses in South India One of the largest technical campuses in South India, FISAT at Angamali, Kerala provides students an option to learn technology in the company of nature.

Green trees and meandering paths, 40-acre wide land, a

pollution-free, nature-friendly atmosphere away from the din and buzzle of the city! Of course, this is a kind of place that city dwellers might only dream of.

One of the largest technical campuses in South India, the Federal Institute of Science and Technology (FISAT) at Angamali, Kerala provides students an option to learn technology in the company of nature. Apart from any other technical institutes in India, FISAT has its own unique identity.

FISAT is the outcome of a corporate effort by the employees of Federal Bank: a dream project of Federal Bank Officers Association Educational Society, (FBOAES) consisting of nearly 2,500 members India wide. Their ultimate aim is quality-oriented technical education for the upcoming techies, who can contribute their best to the society as well as the nation. Such an educational foundation from a trade union is the first of its kind in India. Thus it has unity, concordance and harmony within and out of the institution and management. As its core is based on unity, the students here also have sense of belonging.

FBOAES established this prestigious technical campus in the year 2002 at Hormis Nagar,

SO

UNIQUE

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the birth place of late KP Hormis, the founder of Federal Bank. FISAT is affiliated to MG University and approved by the AICTE. It ranks top in academic excellence in MG University.

With its motto, ‘Focus on Excellence’, FISAT has been envisaged and developed to become a centre of excellence in professional-technical and management education. It offers quality education in B Tech with specialization in Electronics and Communication Engineering, Computer Science and Engineering, Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Electronics and Instrumentation Engineering and Mechanical Engineering; M Tech in Communication Engineering and Computer Science & Information Systems, MBA and MCA.

Though in its infancy, FISAT has a number of credits to its account. It was

selected, in 2009 and 2010, for the national award for the Best Student Branch of the Computer Society of India. After the final phase of the centralized allotment of engineering seats for 2010-2011 academic year by the Entrance Commissioner, Government of Kerala, this ISO 9001-2008 certified campus emerged as the most preferred engineering college in the self-financing sector in Kerala and aspires to be among the best engineering colleges in the country.

The management of FISAT has a nonconformist outlook towards education. The managing committee of FBOAES consists of members with good academic excellence and proven managerial ability. Their administrative excellence provides education facilities to all qualified students by breaking the barrier of finance and other infrastructure facilities.

“We will not deny education to students who have excellent academic credentials and caliber. We have 10% of additional seats in all B Tech courses in which we admit students who have an excellent educational background but whose annual income is below Rs 2.5 lakhs. We provide them 100% fees concession. Also, we provide fee concession to other needy students. Educational loans are also granted by FISAT. All because, for us education is very important,” says PV Mathew, Chairman, Governing Body.


Thats the opportunity fibre optic technology field is providing for a student at 10th or plus II level.Tens of Thousands of openings are cropping up in India and abroad in fibre optics field.This is because all equipments used in telecommunications like telephone, television and internet which are currently connected through 3 seperate copper cables to each office & house, would soon be connected through just one fibre optic cable to every house & office.The broadband available on the fibre optic cable is what is making this possible, along with more clarity, channels & speed.

A a result govt of india and all telecommunication companies are spending thousands of crores of rupees to connect every house all over India on fibre optic cable.But the limiting factor is the unavail-ability of fibre optic technician.Fibre optic cable which is only hair thin in size can be cut and con-nected only with the help of computerised equipments like the splicing machine & OTDR.Only those who have been properly tarined on such equipments alone would be able to effect the connecting of fibre optic cable.there lies the job opportunities opening up in tens of thousands all over India and abroad for fibre optic technicians.For further details contact our course counsellors.

SMS : DIRECTNIFE to 56070

Minimum Qualification 10th/ 12th

E-mail:[email protected] Website:www.nifeindia.com

NIFCDivision of NIFE

NIFE’s placementcell is operational at all major cities & Gulf, but placement is not guaranteed.

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ALL OVER INDIA AND ABROADAt Start Salaries ranging from `.8000/- to `.15000/- in India

and at `.25000/- to `.50000/- abroad

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ANDHERI WEST: Ground Floor, Rose Royale, Near Shiv Sena Shakha, Off Caesar's Road, Amboli, Andheri west, Mumbai-400058, Ph : 022-26785407, 26785473, 26795844

KALYAN : Ist Floor, Shree Apartments, Above PrajapatiBeauty Centre, Ahilyabai Chowk, Kalyan West.Ph : 9324718154, 0251 - 2205052, 2205062

MEHDIPATTANAM: SagarTowers, MerajHotel, XRoad, ShivSupermarket.Ph: 9052677877, 040-30471502DILSUKHNAGAR: IIndFloor, Above Positive Homeopathy, Khadim’s Footwear Lane.Ph: 40-65744636, 9866916417KILPAUK : No. 10, Vasu Street, Corner House, Chennai-10 Ph : 9381114288, 044 - 32464622, 32214288

THAMBARAM : No. 38A, 1st Floor, Rajaji Salai, Opp. PF Office, Next to Henkala Hotel, sWest Thambaram, Chennai 45.Ph : 9840951048, 9442555062TRICHY : No. 3, IInd Floor, Periyaswami Tower, Chatram Bus Stand. Ph : 9442254162

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Karthikeyan IyerINNOVATOR

Today’s enterprises are increasingly dependent on innovation, not just to fuel growth but also to differentiate and survive in highly competitive environments. Enterprises feel the need for a structured

process to manage the inherent complexity of innovation. A widely used approach is the idea management funnel - wide to start with and getting progressively narrower, controlled by a stage gate process. At each stage gate, decision makers select the ideas to be taken forward and identify the ones to be kept on hold or discarded.

Studies have estimated that only one out of 3000 raw ideas (unwritten) or 300 submitted ideas makes it to eventual success. Generating such a large number of ideas is a steep ask! More importantly, every idea that loses out in the race to the top leaves in its wake, a dampened morale and some disillusionment with the “system”. With few successes and many failures, slowly but surely, a huge inertia builds up – a combination of fear of failure, cynicism, lack of interest and lack of direction. It becomes more and more difficult to inspire the next generation of ideas. Enterprises then try to inject artificial doses of enthusiasm to kick start the idea generation process – idea boxes, competitions, conferences, training and awareness sessions, creativity camps etc. These temporary pills lose their uniqueness quotient and effectiveness very quickly, only serving to accentuate the problem further. Clearly, our current linear idea management processes are neither productive nor sustainable!

How to build effective and sustainable idea management systems, while dealing with the inherent complexity and unpredictable nature of ideas and innovation? A fundamental question crops up – are there structured ways in which complex systems can survive and thrive? Here we can take inspiration from living systems – cells, organisms, ecosystems, organizations, societies etc. Some of the principles and characteristics of Living Systems are listed below.

Building Highly Effective Idea Management Systems with Living System Principles – Part I

Karthikeyan Iyer (Karthik) is a Founder Director of Crafitti Consulting, an innovation research

and consulting firm working with a wide variety of enterprises in multiple domains on complex

innovation challenges and opportunities in business and technology contexts.

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All the above principles provide interesting and relevant pointers to the future of idea and innovation management systems and processes. Let’s explore one of the principles in detail.

Waste = FoodWe all know this fundamental recycling principle in biological and ecological systems – one organism’s waste is another organism’s food. Recycling conserves both energy and materials. The following fundamental changes are required to build recycling into our current idea management processes and systems:

1. Create the recycling process channel: Every discarded idea carries within it the energy and effort invested in the idea, a lot of information, knowledge and learning and many times partially working concepts and prototypes. Entrepreneurs continue to carry and propagate the experiences (both positive and negative) of “having tried and failed”. Every idea that is filtered out must mandatorily go through a recycling process to utilize the embedded materials and energy.

Store complete or partially working concepts in a • working concepts repository, Decompose the remainder to get essential elements • – unsolved problems and opportunities, key learningStore and tag the knowledge for easy future access• Build a cadre of mentors out of “those who failed”. • This removes the stigma and fear of failure and helps retain and utilize the intangible wisdom of experience.

2. Create a continuous long term context: Waste can only be re-used if there is a continuing use.

Problems and opportunities of strategic interest • enjoy long term support and interest. They offer a continuous context for ideas to be recycled.Idea Management, therefore, should not start • with ideas, but with key strategic problems and opportunities.

3. Identify and synchronize with the enterprise rhythm: Every enterprise works to a specific rhythm, where its capabilities and resources are put to optimum use. This is similar to body clocks of organisms or decomposition cycles of materials. An R&D firm may work on 2 year rhythms. Software services firms may work on 6 month rhythms.

Ideas whose development cycles are out of • sync with natural enterprise rhythms tend to be unsustainable.Working with natural rhythms ensures timely flow • of funds and resources and cuts down on all kinds of delays.

As we can see above, idea management systems can greatly benefit from the infusion of living system principles. More living system principles will be discussed in future articles.


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We discussed attitude last month. And as you may be aware, our attitude is very much linked to what/how we think.

Friends of Sabeer Bhatia (the former owner of hotmail.com) say that even when he had nothing they used to be amused at Sabeer’s ability to think big. No doubt he made it big more by his attitude than anything else. In spite of his poor financial background and with many adversities, Abraham Lincoln’s attitude was always rich and right. Look at Henry Ford; in his first year in automobile business, this man went bankrupt and two years later his second company also failed, but he did not give up. However, his third made it big. It’s the right attitude that helped Henry Ford achieve global success.

As one’s thoughts are responsible for producing words and actions, having control over one’s thoughts is the most important thing. Thoughts are produced by the most powerful computer in the world, one’s brain. Just like any other computer one’s brain also works on the principle called GIGO, i.e., Garbage In – Garbage Out. We are all concerned about feeding our body three to four times every day. Also, we are very careful about what we put into our body. Just imagine what would happen if one feeds one’s body with rotten meat, a week-old vegetables or spoiled eggs. We know the outcome. How much are we concerned about feeding the brain? Do we ever think about what goes into our brain? Are we checking the quality of the feed?

In fact, most of the feed for our brain is rotten. Nothing but garbage! What you see, what you read, what you listen to and who you listen to are the major feeds for your brain. We all start a day with a cup of tea and a newspaper. Unfortunately 70 to 80% of all news in a newspaper (especially vernacular daily) is nothing but negative. Most of the space is occupied by reports of suicides, rape, accidents, character assassination, political gossips, rumours and so on. Some newspapers sensationalise stories without checking facts and figures. When you read such kind of news, please understand that you are feeding your brain garbage or rather you are spoiling your brain.

Sajeev Nair MENTOR

It’s Important Who You Associate With? We are always hesitant to appreciate others; we don’t generally clap when others succeed. We need to change this. Practise appreciating and encouraging others.


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So, don’t blame your brain for producing negative and perverted thoughts. Hence, it’s important to have control over the inputs to the brain.

Who do you listen to? Who is your advisor? When you want to take a decision, who do you consult? There are people who are ready to give you free advice on any topic. However, understand that their advices are based on their perceptions, which may not have any relevance to your life. One of my friends in my village, an uneducated farmer, got excited on his sister getting admission for BDS. However, he thought of checking it up with the only advocate in the village, whom the villagers considered the source of all knowledge. The advocate immediately advised him, “Dentistry is fine, however the number of dentists have gone up so high that it has reached a saturation point. Today, what is growing is crime: there are any number of looting, murders, etc taking place! Hence it will be better for her to become an advocate.” My friend got confused.

When you want to try something new in your life, when you want to start a new venture, never get in front of this ‘I know all’ people. They will confuse you. Only successful people can tell you how to become successful. Someone who has failed three times in engineering entrance exam won’t be able to tell how to get admission for an engineering course. Hence the most important factor, which decides your attitude, is the association you have. Dissociate from those who always discourage you and try to pull you down. Associate with people who see the good things in you, who encourage you, who appreciate you on your small and big accomplishments.

I have seen a common attitudinal issue; we are always hesitant to appreciate others, we don’t generally clap when others succeed. We need to change this. Practise appreciating and encouraging others. You are what you are depends on what you read, what you listen to, whom are you associated with. Dale Carnegie in his best selling book ‘How to Win Friends and Influence People’ says, “You tell me who your friends are, I will tell you who you are.”

In short your attitude and the way you think are well within your control. You can choose to be a smart, energetic, enthusiastic, successful and happy person by reading the right things, listening to positive things and by associating with the right kind of people, who encourage others and appreciate others’ success.

Sajeev Nair is a successful first generation entrepreneur, internationally renowned life-coach, author and philanthropist. You can connect with him on www.sajeevnair.com or www.facebook.com/iamsajeev

CAMPUS TRENDS

Now the campus buddies have focused on accessories rather than garments, which already hit the campus shores .Bags, are an

inevitable entity in campus. Besides, they are present everywhere in campus with every single teen; thus became a matter of trend and fashion.

Teens used to have a pride and elegant looking bags with them like the top models on the catwalk. The bags are no longer considered by designers as a mere accessory that can be included or may be ignored. It has become a fundamental element of a teen’s look very drastically. Its mission is not limited to practicality; it is chic and complements a teen’s personality and style.

Trends of this monsoon, vary from, highly practical huge bags to tiny eccentric pouches for every wear. Every teen, irrespective of girl or guy, fashion will be able to find something that suits their style and taste. Shape is not a criteria. No fixed shaped for bags now. Shapeless, bulky bags are hitting the campus.

Wide, comfortable bags in all colors beige, white, black, metallic, gold, violet, orange, green, blue, etc. will be extremely popular this season. They are targeted mostly for everyday wears. It also suitable for hangouts and shopping, so comfortable and roomy.

Medium-sized handbags- These bags combine comfort, elegance, grace and practicality. Simple worked leather bags to stonned, and handcrafted ones are available now. Campus prefers simple look always.

There are a lot of tiny and medium sized pauches of ordinary design of very exclusive and sophisticated style.Pauches are widely presented in all campus.

Materials used for all type of bags vary from reptile leather, silky fabrics, jute, even metallic also available. Instead of using, straps, bags models are available with chains.The fashion saga keep on ROCKING…… w

BOLD, BEATIFUL

BAGISTA….


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practitioners of science

nonscience courses

radhakrishnan ph

sivabaskar ph

decline of science education

anish antony ph

padivattom cochin