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CIE CEO

EducationWorld March 05 | EducationWorld
The UK-based Cambridge International Examinations (CIE) and its parent, the University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate (UCLES), seem determined to re-establish their presence in the Indian subcontinent. The pre-eminent English medium school-leaving examinations board in India right until the mid 1960s, it devolved its mantle upon the Council for Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE which offers the ICSE and ISC exams) and quit Indian shores. Now, with hitherto protectionist India having re-connected with the global economy and a growing number of international schools offering globally benchmarked secondary education having sprung up here, the top brass of CIE and UCLES, described as a “non-teaching department of the University of Cambridge”, has evidently discerned a rising demand for its syllabuses, teacher training and conduct of examinations services. “India has grown demographically and economically during the past two decades and is integrating with the world economy. Moreover there is increased investment in Indian education and a large number of outward looking international schools are being promoted in the subcontinent. CIE, which has been in education for 147 years and has affiliated schools in 158 countries, is in a position to offer Indian schools globally accepted syllabuses and tested best education practices. Following changes in government policies and India being a member signatory of the WTO accords, we believe there are new opportunities for CIE to revive its historic linkage with Indian education,” says Simon Lebus an Eton and Oxford alumnus and former investment banker who is currently the CEO of UCLES. According to CIE CEO Lebus, UCLES and its subsidiaries have 6,158 schools worldwide affiliated with them and 8 million students write the board’s A-level and IGCSE examinations annually. In addition Cambridge ESOL also tests the English proficiency of students through its IELTS (International English Language Testing Service) and other ESOL (English for speakers of other languages) examinations. “Although currently only 50 schools in India are affiliated with CIE, the response to our renewed affiliations drive is enthusiastic. There is great interest in the universally recognised syllabuses and qualifications we offer and we have set ourselves a testing target of affiliating 500 schools by the year 2009,” says the CIE CEO. Under the intensifying pressures of globalisation which are forcing a shift from “knowledge acquisition to skills and competence based education”, CEO Lebus expects CIE’s long experience in school education to pay off in a big way. “A major advantage CIE enjoys is that we are pioneers in the application and utilisation of leading edge information technologies in syllabus design and assessment of examination papers. This is likely to expand the demand for and reach of our services worldwide,” he predicts. Given CIE’s institutional experience of the subcontinent and the enthusiasm with which Lebus and his team comprising his deputy Ann Puntiss and Mark Bartholomew, the Delhi-based chief executive (India) are promoting CIE’s package of services, there’s a good chance that its new bond with Indian education will prove more durable than the old. Dilip Thakore (Bangalore) Also read: CAIE’s Indian history Economics missionary Professor Sunder
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