EducationWorld August 10 Archives

Education Notes

Rajasthan Vedanta e-Shiksha MoU The Rajasthan state government signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Vedanta Foundation and Hindustan Zinc under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (Education for All) programme on July 16. Under the terms of the MoU, the foundation and the company will provide e-content to 482 government primaries which will benefit 50,000 children per year. The programme titled Vedanta e-Shiksha @ School will deliver e-content to 482 government schools in Rajsam-andh, Bhilawar, Udaipur and Chittorgarh districts for the government’s computer aided learning and computer education programmes, a government official informed the press. As per the MoU, Vedanta Foundation will provide e-content for the learning of English, science, social studies and maths. It will also train two teachers from each school, and appoint a third party supervising agency to oversee, monitor and assess the implementation and effectiveness of this project. Moreover the foundation will provide teacher training for a minimum period of 36 months. “The objective of this project is to give an opportunity to less privileged and rural children to become acquainted with computers which have become an integral part of education. Apart from improving attendance in schools, the initiative will also reduce primary dropout rates,” says Ravi Krishnan, chief executive of the foundation. Uttar Pradesh Teacher training applicants surge Of 300 graduates who have been selected for primary school teacher training at the District Institute of Educational Training (DIET), 35 have B.Tech degrees, three B.Pharma, two are biotech graduates, while one has a degree to practice dentistry, Ishtiyak Ahmed, principal of DIET, informed media personnel in Kanpur on July 21. According to Ahmed, over 40,000 graduates had applied this year for the 350 seats available at this teacher training institute. “Though the minimum qualification was mere graduation, several applicants with degrees such as B.Tech, B.Pharma and BDS also applied,” he said. “Usually applicants have qualifications such as B.Com and BA and most of them are women. But this time perhaps owing to recessionary conditions in the economy, male and female graduates with high qualifica-tions have applied for the course,” he said adding that overqualified applicants seem to prefer a safe job in a government primary school where starting salaries are Rs.18,000 per month. Delhi IGNOU launches new programme To raise a cadre of trained psychologists to help people cope with disability and its effects, the Delhi-based Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) — billed as the world’s largest distance education varsity with 2.89 million students — has introduced a rehabilitation psychology study progra-mme. This programme will produce experts who understand the psycho-logical conditions of people suffering from disability and mental illness, and will help them and their families regain hope. “This programme helps students understand the psychology of disabled people in a better way, and prescribe effective rehabilitation for them,” Dr. Hemlata, director of IGNOU’s National Centre for Disability Studies, informed newsmen in Delhi on July 21. The new study programme has been designed in collaboration with Vision Institute of Advanced Studies, Delhi, and is approved…

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Editorial

Resuscitate family planning programme

Incredibly, but entirely in keeping with the national habit of ignoring mountainous problems while focusing on political trivia, the United Nations World Population Day (July 11) came and went almost totally ignored in the worlds second most populous (1.18 billion) and demo-graphically fastest growing country. According to projections made by the Washington-based Population Reference Bureau, in the year 2050 the population of this country will have surged to an alarming 1.63 billion.Instead of focusing on universalisation of adult literacy and primary-secondary education, official policy in the early years after independence was to offer cash incentives to citizens undergoing voluntary sterilisation, and imposing disincentives on citizens breaching family planning norms. But given widespread adult illiteracy (35 percent currently), high infant mortality and the financial insecurity of the general populace (which prompts the procreation of children to work and support the elderly), in the countrys most illiterate states — Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand — officially sponsored family planning programmes have proved lamentable failures. Moreover panic-driven forcible sterilisation of millions of minority and poor citizens by rogue elements within the Congress party during the Emergency (1975-76) when the Constitution and civil rights were suspended, not only created a huge electoral backlash which forced the Congress party out of office in 1977, but also made family planning a taboo term in the Indian political lexicon. Yet despite quadruplication of the nations population during the past 60 years stretching resources and socio-economic infrastructure to breaking point, Indias shabby intelligentsia has readily embraced the trendy proposition that Indias young population — 550 million below age 34 — is a demographic dividend. According to this proposition, with Western nations suffering negative birth rates and rapidly ageing population profiles, Indias youth will inevitably emerge as the manufacturers and service providers of the world. However this prophecy will be fulfilled only if this countrys youth population is sufficiently healthy and well educated. On both these counts theres little cause for optimism. With malnutrition, hunger, disease and poverty stalking the nations child population even as public expenditure on health aggregates a mere 0.9 percent of GDP, and 53 percent of the nations children dropping out of school before completing primary education, the prospect of harvesting the demographic dividend is dim. Quite clearly furtherance of the national interest demands the resuscitation of the countrys moribund family planning programme to proactively restrict procreation, especially within the countrys socio-economically most backward states. Simultaneously theres urgent need to redraw national priorities and double outlays (and outcomes) for education and public health immediately. While education is the proven best contraceptive, a two-pronged strategy which combines sustained family planning propaganda with larger outlays for education and health, is necessary to reduce the heavy pressure of numbers which is negating the impact of Indias impressive 8 percent plus annual rates of GDP growth. Time to review set positions on Kashmir The Kashmir valleys long hot summer marked by the desperate stone-pelting war declared by youth following the collapse of governance in the…

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Education News

West Bengal: Zero tolerance message

The eagerly awaited — and feared — verdict of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) against La Martiniere for Boys School, Kolkata (estb. 1836) in the Rouvanjit Rawla corporal punishment case, which resulted in this 13-year-old class VIII student of the school allegedly committing suicide at home on February 12, was delivered on July 20. The communication delivered a guilty verdict against the 171-year-old school and its principal Sunirmal Chakravarthy. They (i.e. the principal and headmaster of the middle school, L.G. Gunion) not only used corporal punishment on the late Rouvanjit Rawla themselves, they also condoned the use of corporal punish-ment by other teachers. As such they are collectively responsible for creating an atmosphere of fear and trauma in the school, said the commission, recomm-ending — it has no judicial powers — that both Chakravarthy and Gunion be removed. Since then the commissions recommendation has been endorsed by the Union ministry of women and child development.Thus far the schools governing council, which includes several grey eminences of Kolkata including the Rev. Ashok Biswas, Bishop of Calcutta as chairman, hasnt complied with NCPCRs recommendation. Last month (June) this private minority institution had defended the principal and said his action had nothing to do with the boys suicide which was attributed to depression arising out of family discord. According to Chakravarthy, the governing council is scheduled to meet any day now to discuss the NCPCR verdict. I will abide with the councils decision, he says. While delivering its verdict NCPCR asked the state government to establish child rights cells in all schools and ensure implementation of the Right to Education Act, 2009 which mandates abolition of corporal punishment in schools. With the La Martiniere for Boys management sticking to its stand that the imposition of mild corporal punishment to Rouvanjit on February 8 was not the proximate cause of his suicide four days later and standing by Chakravarthy, the only positive outcome of this tragedy, which made national headlines in June when Ajay Rawla stumbled upon some diary entries made by his son Rouvanjit expressing anguish about corporal punishment and humiliation in school, is that West Bengals CPM (Communist Party-Marxist) Left Front government has acted with unusual alacrity to implement NCPCRs July 20 recommendations. On July 27, the school education depart-ment announced the setting up of a state-level Commission for Protection of Child Rights to enforce a total ban on corporal punishment in all schools in the state. Teachers resorting to corporal punishment in schools can no longer go scot free. This commission will be legally empowered to impose directives that will be binding on all schools. To be fair to all, the commission will have representation from all sections of society. There will be teachers, parents, lawyers, doctors, psychiatrists, and representatives from minorities as well as the government. The body will deal with any complaint related to corporal punishment, mental torture or stress inflicted on children in schools, says Partha Dey, minister of education in the Left Front…

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Education News

They said it in July

“Once this Act (Right to Education Act) is enforced, any child will have to be allowed into school and share the classroom with your child… another child could beat up your child, smoke on the campus, misbehave with a girl or a teacher, and the school will have to watch helplessly.” Experts from a circular issued by Bethany High School, Bangalore to parents informing them about the RTE Act, which mandates all private unaided schools to reserve 25 percent of class I capacity for underprivileged children from the neighbourhood (July 26) “I am delighted in a way because the rains are causing difficulties for the Commonwealth Games. Basically, I will be very unhappy if the Games are successful because then they will start bringing Asian Games, Olympics and all others.” Former Union sports minister Mani Shankar Aiyar on the many controversies plaguing the forthcoming Commonwealth Games scheduled to be held in Delhi in October (July 27) “We have a large army of youth. But this demographic dividend can be encashed only if this large army is well prepared to handle posts, positions and workstations — in offices, on shop-floors and on sites across the nation and indeed the globe.” Harish Manwani, chairman Hindustan Unilever Ltd, in his address at the companys annual general meeting on July 27 “Cities must be restored to being cycle and above all, pedestrian-friendly with emphasis on the poorer quarters rather than on the mindless and extravagantly wasteful beautification of Lutyens Delhi where pavements are repaired and replaced twice a year.” B.G. Verghese, well-known columnist on how to cope with the crippling urban snarls, fast spreading from metros to medium and small towns (Indian Express, July 28) “A missionary approach and the involvement of farmers are neccessary to attain 10 percent growth rate in the agriculture sector. This is no dream. China attained 10 percent growth rate in the initial stages, prior to its focus on industrial development.” Dr. Mohan Dharia, president of Pune-based Vanarai Trust on how India can step up its agricultural growth rate (The Hindu, July 30)

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Education Briefs

Pearson-VRV online bookstore

The Delhi-based Pearson Education India — a subsidiary of Pearson Education, UK, a global leader in integrated education publishing — launched its first ‘Online Bookstore with retail partner, VRVBookshop in Mumbai on July 28. The online bookstore will offer the complete catalogue of all Pearson Education Indias books, including books published under the Addison Wesley, Longman, Prentice Hall, QUE, SAMS, Wharton School Publishing and Peachpit imprints. It will also offer free shipping of all Pearson Education books anywhere in India.Books remain one of the most purchased items online. With the online bookstore we are trying to make Pearson books available to buyers in the remotest corners of India, said Sangeeta Mehra, chief operating officer of VRVBookshop, speaking on the occasion. Vivek Govil, chief executive of Pearson Education India also expressed optimism about the prospects of the partnership. With Pearsons large and ever growing catalogues, the portal will make even hard-to-find books accessible to students and faculty 24/7, anywhere in India, he promised. Pearson Education India is Indias foremost publisher in the school segment (K-12), with book lists in English language teaching, the humanities, sciences and mathematics, from primary to senior secondary classes. Ahlcon-Malta University workshop The Delhi-based Ahlcon International School (AIS, estb.2002) in association with the University of Malta organised a workshop on ‘Action Centred Leadership at the AIS campus in Mayur Vihar, Delhi on July 16. Conducted by Ian Thompson, managing director of Procentus Consulting Ltd and associate professor at John Adairs Academy, Malta, the workshop was attended by principals of more than 30 higher secondary schools of the Delhi and NCR Region. Ms. Marsim Cassar, second secretary of the Malta high commission, Delhi, and Megha Srivastav, marketing officer (India) of the University of Malta, also attended the workshop convened under the Train the Trainer programme of Malta University supported by Genesis Events India Pvt. Ltd. According to Ashok Pandey, principal of AIS, several workshops in collaboration with the University of Malta are on the schools agenda. IISMs sports management programmes The Mumbai-based International Institute of Sports Management (IISM) — a subsidiary of Eduhub Education Pvt. Ltd — has launched Indias first-ever undergraduate and postgrad diploma programmes in sports management in association with Mumbais well-known Jai Hind College. The first batch will commence classes on August 16 for which the admissions commenced earlier this year on June 16. With the worlds largest youth population and one of the fastest growing economies, India has witnessed galloping growth of the sports industry over the past few years. Global events, new infrastructure, and large fan followings for diverse sports makes India a major sports nation. With major sporting corporates flocking to India, career opportunities are going abegging in this field because theres a huge shortage of trained professionals, says Nilesh Kulkarni, a former India test cricketer and executive director of Eduhub Education. BSE launches new K-12 curriculum The Mumbai-based Birla Shloka Edutech Ltd (BSE, estb.1992) — a Yash Birla Group enterprise — has developed an innovative and creative K-12 curriculum designed to…

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Cover Story

Improving learning outcomes in preschool education: Lina Ashar

– Lina Ashar, founder-chairperson of Kangaroo Kids Education Ltd, a trans-national organisation with pre-schools and K-12 institutions in 18 cities across India, Dubai and the Maldives. “You are not here merely to make a living. You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget that errand.” — Former US President Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924). Improving learning outcomes depends on what you perceive as the end goal of learning — your definition of success and what you see as the purpose of the birth-death cycle. As a teacher, my hope is that the definition of success for our children is attainment of happiness by reaching ones emotional, physical, spiritual and mental peaks. Attaining this goal requires a paradigm shift in our education system — moving the focus from grades and skills to greater emphasis on the development of positive attitudes in children. I always advise teachers to stimulate the hearts of our children as much as their minds and spirits. There is no shortage of case histories of individuals who have succeeded in spite of not having done academically well in school. My belief is this is the outcome of the positive attitudes of successful individuals. There’s a new wave of understanding on the importance of positive attitudes, especially the power of belief, based on signal transduction science. This science now acknowledges that the fate and behaviour of an organism is directly linked to its perception of the environment. While positive attitudes impact behaviour favourably, negative thoughts have an equally powerful damaging effect. When we recognise how positive and negative attitudes control our biology, we can use this knowledge in education to help children build lives filled with health and happiness. Signal transduction science recognises that the subconscious mind is million times more powerful than the conscious. If the aspirations of the conscious mind conflict with those of the subconscious, it is the subconscious which will win. So if children repeatedly receive signals that they are worthless, these messages will get programmed into their subconscious, and will undermine their best conscious efforts to think positive and succeed in adulthood. For example, if our subconscious believes we dont ‘deserve success, love or happiness, it will sabotage conscious efforts to attain these goals. As an adult you need to find a way to reprogramme your subconscious mind to generate positive thoughts and attitudes. The significance of this information is huge for parents and educators who want to be responsible caregivers. Energy psychology indicates that the quality of life is based upon perception. In humans, the behaviour, beliefs, and attitudes a child observes in her parents become hard-wired as syntactic pathways in the subconscious mind. Once programmed into the subconscious, they control our biology for the rest of our lives, unless we can work out a way to reprogramme them. For instance, all human beings are…

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Cover Story

Regulation in pre-school education: Dr. Vrinda Datta

Early childhood education (ECE) programmes in India range from formal pre-primary education offered in pre-schools, to informal and home-based activities. ECE programmes are run by private individuals, NGOs, corporates and franchisees.At present, early childhood education in India is in a state of flux. The recently enacted Right to Education Act guarantees free and compulsory education to children in the age group 6-14 years, completely ignoring children in the pre-school age group. Moreover, there are no regulatory barriers for entry into this field and there is full freedom for promoters to design and develop learning programmes. Conse-quently the growth of pre-schools across the country has not been even, nor has ECE shown appropriate results in terms of access, efficiency and effectiveness. Research clearly demonstrates that children exposed to poor quality ECE environments are likely to experience troubled social and emotional development, and are likely to be less prepared for formal school education. Given the unregulated growth of pre-schools across the country and variations in quality of curriculums, it is imperative that a quality assurance system is introduced to ensure that all pre-school learning programmes conform with minimum standards. Regulation is an important prerequisite of promoting and safeguarding quality in early childhood education. When basic curriculum standards and norms are devised and applied, families and communities have greater confidence in the quality of education provided and are better equipped to make informed choices. Regulation also helps educators improve their professionalism. One form of regulation used by many countries is the licensing system. In licensing, minimum standards of safety, hygiene, infrastructure, and academics are prescribed by government. However for the licensing system to work effectively, large government machinery is required to conduct inspection visits, assess and renew licenses. Experience of countries using this system shows that its not a very effective means of regulation. Therefore a better way of regulating quality in pre-school education is through the accreditation process, which is essentially an endorsement of quality awarded by a peer group. Its a process that involves self assessment and peer evaluation with peers generally being representatives of a professional network. Moreover, one of the critical factors which makes a significant difference to the quality of pre-school programmes is professional teachers. In the Indian context training of pre-school teachers is of questionable quality. The duration, content and assessment of training programmes are so varied that there are huge differences in teacher performance. Therefore it is also essential that we define the core competencies of a pre-school teacher and develop training modules accordingly. The recent tendency of organisations to develop customised teacher training programmes for each pre-school is myopic and will not create a national pool of talented early childhood education professionals. It is time these issues of regulation and professional development are addressed as the number of ECE providers is growing rapidly. For sometime now networks such as Association for Early Childhood Education and Development, and Forum for Creche and Child Care Services have tried to evolve minimum standards for early childhood education programmes…

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Career Focus

Your Counselor Replies

Im interested in a career in automobile design, after completing class XII (science) in 2012. Please advise.Shailesh Rane, Pune You should do well enough in your Plus Two exam to qualify for admission into the bachelor of product design programme offered by NID, Ahmedabad (www.nid.edu) or Symbiosis Institute of Design (www.symbiosis design.ac.in) or MAEERs Institute of Design, Pune (www.mitidiedu.in). Alternatively you could acquire an engineering degree and then enrol in a postgraduate programme in auto-mobile design at NID or IIT-Bombay. Im currently reading for an M.Tech degree programme in spatial infor-mation technology after completing my MCA in 2009. Will the M.Tech qualification better my career prospects? Siddharth Raghavan, Chennai Spatial technologies include any form of technology that refers to place, space and location. Specifically, they are technologies that organise and collect data by referencing the information collected to a point on the earths surface using latitude and longitude calculations. Spatial techn-ologists develop software and systems to enhance the ability of individuals, business, government and industry to utilise location and mobile systems better in their daily tasks, manage land information systems, produce maps and digital databases. Your earlier MCA degree and the current programme will position you well for placement. You could find employ-ment within the IT software industry. Enquire from the placement office of your college/ university what former students are doing, and network with them and your professors to explore openings and emerging opportunities. Please suggest reputed institutes abroad offering courses in fashion marketing. Arundhati Sen, Kolkata The top schools in the US for fashion marketing programmes are the New York-based Fashion Institute of Technology and Parsons Institute. American universities give you the flexibility to do this course while pursuing a four-year bachelors degree. Therefore if you are keen and have the funds to finance a four-year degree programme in the US, you can specialise in fashion marketing in your final year. Alternatively, complete your bachelors degree programme in India and opt for a Masters programme in fashion marketing abroad. Im in class XII (science) and want to qualify as an actuary. Do I need to do an MBA to qualify as an actuary? Deepak Rao, Bangalore Not at all. but it might be a good idea to enrol for a bachelors degree in statistics and simultaneously sign up for an actuarial course with the Institute of Actuaries of India (www. actuariesindia.org). A few universities offer B.Sc programmes in actuarial science. You certainly dont need to do an MBA to become an actuary. Which universities offer the integrated five-year MBA in biotechnology degree programme? Dilip Chatterjee, Kolkata A five-year integrated M.Sc (biotechnology) programme is offered by several universities including University of Pune. As regards an integrated five-year MBA in biotech-nology, I dont believe theres any such study programme. Ideally, you could do a B.Sc in biotechnology or any biological science followed by an MBA (biotechnology). After completing my bachelors degree in physiotherapy, I want to do a postgraduate programme (other than Masters in physiotherapy) in a subject allied to…

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Sports Education

Great leaders inspire leadership

On playing fields and sports arenas, the quality of leadership is as critical to success as it is in politics, business and education. Great captains and leaders can inspire, motivate and galvanise average players and athletes into performing like champions and winners. The role and duties of leader have to be discharged at some time by everyone — whether a businessman, professional or parent. Although theres much truth in the army adage that everyone cant be a general, its useful to assess and test your leadership style and capabilities — just in case. First, its important to determine your natural leadership style. Are you authoritarian, hands-on, or laissez-faire? Each of these styles may work for different types of people in different contexts, because there isnt any ‘right leadership style. However, there certainly are wrong styles. For example, winning teams and champions arent moulded by leaders who lead by creating fear and intimidation, or through divide et impera (divide and rule) tactics. On the other hand, good leaders though assertive, are cooperative, caring, communicative, helpful, dedicated, cool under pressure, responsible, energetic, and all-round good role models. In my opinion, based on over 40 years experience as a NBA player, coach and author, good leaders need six essential qualities — vision; ability to sell the vision; ability to build teams; learn continuously; change according to circumstances; and ability to nurture future leaders. The vision thing. All leaders need the ability to visualise. For example, as a director of the school sports teams, you need to be able to picture your team at the end of the season. What do you want them to have accomplished? How do you want them to feel about themselves and others? How do you want others to view your coaches and teams? Your vision serves to guide your actions and help accomplish your goals and objectives. Selling your vision. From the very first meeting with your coaches — when they are excited and full of enthusiasm about the future — you should be selling them the future you envision for your programme so that they assume its ownership. The best way to sell your vision is to always speak in positive terms, using words like we and our, and exhibiting reinforcing behaviour, by being a walking, talking embodiment of your programme and vision. Building teams. Great teams and champions dont fall out of the sky or spring up from the ground. Successful leaders are team builders, able to get disparate individuals to work towards common goals. In todays me-first sports world, respecting and supporting individual goals while getting coaches, players, parents and other members of the sports community to work together towards overall programmes or goals is one of the biggest challenges sports directors face. Continuous learning. Even great leaders with vision and impressive communication skills are often accused of not understanding players. Therefore, good leaders make special efforts to keep learning about their players and team members. A popular basketball coach used to visit the prisons…

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People

Serial edupreneur

A heavyweight — and undoubtedly welcome — advertiser on several national 24×7 English language news channels, the Noida-based Sharda University (SU, estb.2009) is riding high on the professional education boom. One of the new genre private universities empowered by state government legislation, SU is the brain child of Pradeep Kumar Gupta (44), a first generation edupreneur from Agra, Uttar Pradesh.Driven by self-belief and the passion to make high-quality professional education available to the short-changed youth of Uttar Pradesh (pop.180 million), Gupta — a science graduate of Agra University — began his career as a small-scale manufacturer of scientific instruments (for lab use) in 1980. In the course of business I visited numerous privately-promoted professional educa-tion institutions in the south, where I came across large contingents of north Indian students. This prompted me to think about setting up professional education colleges in Uttar Pradesh, says Gupta. In pursuit of this dream, in 1995, Gupta constituted the Sharda Education Trust (SET), which promoted the Hindustan College of Science & Technology in Agra in 1996 and the Hindustan Institute of Management & Computer Studies in the same city in 1997. Thereafter, one institute of professional education was promoted every year — Anand Engineering College (1998), Babu Mohanlal Arya Samarak Engineering College (1999), and the Anand College of Pharmacy (2000). In 2005, SET diversified its operations into medical education, and also set up an administrative office in the new township of Greater Noida. In 2009 when the number of students in SET institutions crossed 20,000, Gupta petitioned the Mayawati-led BSP government to enact the Sharda University Act, 2009, which has conferred full curriculum planning and degree-awarding powers to a new eponymous university which offers degree programmes in engineering, business management, medicine, dentistry and clinical research on its 62.3 acre campus in Greater Noida. After setting up several colleges of professional education which are grouped under the Sharda Group of Institutions, securing academic auto-nomy was the natural next step as the affiliating universities didnt leave us much room to innovate and excel. Therefore it was always my ambition to establish an autonomous university, says Gupta, who is keen to build SU into a model institution incorporating best global practices. An active member and former president of the Delhi-based Education Promotion Society for India, who believes that greater private sector involvement in tertiary education is a necessary pre-condition of national development, Gupta laments rigid entry barriers which are discouraging private sector investment in higher education. Most government colleges are experiencing falling enrolment despite heavy subsidisation of tuition fees. They are too set in their ways to change. Therefore greater private sector involvement is vitally necessary to meet the rising demand for quality higher education, says Gupta. Autar Nehru (Delhi)

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International News

Britain: Globalisation hurting primary education

Globalisation has driven governments to give higher education a greater share of education spending in a search for skilled labour — cutting primary educations share as a result. That is the thesis set out in a paper by Thushyanthan Baskaran, an economist at the University of Heidelberg, and Zohal Hessami, a lecturer at the University of Konstanzs department of economics.The paper, presented to a Royal Economic Society conference in draft form ahead of its publication, bases its argument on the theory that globalisation has widened the gap between the economic returns from low-skilled and high-skilled labour. The authors looked at data on the make-up of education spending in 121 countries, including the UK and US, between 1992 and 2006. In the paper, titled Globalisation, Redistribution and Public Education, they write: Globalisation affects the composition of education expenditure in developing and industrialised countries in the same way: it reduces the share of spending for primary education and increases the share of spending for more advanced types of education. Supporters of student tuition fees in the UK have argued that reducing inequality is better achieved by targeting state education spending on young children, rather than subsidising higher education. We argue that expenditure for lower education has redistributive effects by improving educational outcomes for children from disadvantaged backgrounds, whereas expenditure for higher education increases the future earnings of students from more affluent socio-economic backgrounds, Dr. Baskaran told Times Higher Education. The economists offer pointers for further study, suggesting it might be interesting to explore whether total expenditure for different education programmes has been affected by globalisation. They also suggest that the interactions between globalisation and private education expenditure should be analysed. (Excerpted and adapted from Times Higher Education)

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International News

Europe: New varsities ranking initiative under fire

A major European union-funded project attempting to overcome the problems of validity and rigour in university rankings has fallen at the first hurdle, according to a paper published in end June. The European Commission has launched two new ranking projects, U-Map and U-Multirank, aimed at reflecting the diversity of universities.The paper, drawn up for the League of European Research Universities by Geoffrey Boulton, senior honorary professorial fellow in the School of Science and Engineering at the University of Edinburgh, says that both initiatives have serious defects. University Rankings: Diversity, Excellence and the European Initiative concludes that the two projects, which map out the activities carried out by universities and rank them by their performance in those areas rather than via a single monotonic table, fail to tackle the problems they were created to solve. Nevertheless, Boultons study welcomes the attempt to create U-Map as a description of diversity and supports the development of U-Multirank as a means of exploring its potential to mitigate the problems of other systems. Rankings have become the antithesis of the university ideal, he warns. Its about measuring a brand, like Gucci or Chanel. It almost paints universities as a fashion accessory. Criticising the trend for ranking institutions as nonsensical and crude, he says: We dont have a very clear view of what ranking is for and what it tells us. If I started producing a paper in which my objectives were unclear and my proxies varied from the spurious to the highly hypothetical, then my paper simply wouldnt be accepted. The Times Higher Education World University Rankings also come under fire for including a survey of academic reputation. Such approaches are most likely to reinforce existing, conventional stereotypes, the paper says. (Excerpted and adapted from Times Higher Education)

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International News

China: Gaokao stress epidemic

School-leaving examination stress and the scramble to make it into the countrys much-too-few excellent colleges is not a peculiarly Indian phenomenon. For millions of Chinese teenagers awaiting the outcome of their final high school exams, known as the gaokao (literally high-test) for university entrance, written in June, papers are as tough and stakes as high. Gaokao results are the only criterion for admission; there are no interviews, and ‘questions can be bafflingly obtuse. For instance the essay portion of Beijings exam this year invited students to reflect and ruminate on the expression: Looking at the stars, with your feet on the ground.This exam test covers everything the students have studied since kindergarten. They last two days and at the end of them a students whole future is decided. Many Chinese find it all unbearably stressful. Every year there are reports of exam-time suicides, leading to June being termed the ‘black month by Chinas youth. Competition is fierce, as nearly 10 million students will be battling for an estimated 6.6 million university places. Chinas economic boom means that more people are able to pay for higher education and get ahead, while the majority of poorer and uneducated adolescent Chinese fill the countrys retail and service industries. Getting into a good college such as the countrys equivalents of Oxbridge, Beijings Tsinghua, or Peking University, can lead to jobs with western corporations or to elite civil service positions. The ones who miss out will find spots in provincial universities or enrol in one of Chinas less selective private institutions. But around 40 percent will fail. Chloe Xu, who studies at Guilin No. 7 high school, admits the exams are incredibly stressful. I have been studying from the moment I wake up to past midnight, she says. But, asked if she thinks the system is unfair, she replies that the exams allow everyone an equal opportunity as people without money or connections can still get places. But corruption is a long-standing problem and the media often reports instances of bribery and cheating. The questions are somewhat different from the average Plus Two exam. Some are politically tinged, for example, about whether US politics is dominated by money. Others are cryptic. In Nanjing this year students were given the essay title, ‘Recovering childhood. Its a topic that might seem poignantly ironic for stressed teenagers. (Excerpted and adapted from The Guardian)

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International News

Australia: Student recruiters losing interest

International recruiters in china are fed up with the Australian governments attitude to immigration and are directing students to the US and UK instead, according to an Australian agent, John Findley. According to Findley, Australia is becoming less popular because of its exchange rate, high tuition fees, less attractive commissions for agents and the greater ease of securing visas to the US and UK. All agents (in China) are fed up with our current governments attitude to migration, he said to The Australian.This comment demonstrates the extent to which perceptions of government visa policy among students and agents can affect universities attractiveness. Yet despite Findleys suggestion that the UK is among the nations taking Australias place in the overseas market, many in Britain are worried that changes to the Tier 4 visa system may also put off students. Findley, whom The Australian describes as an education and migration expert who represents a range of providers, believes the US F-1 and British Tier 4 student visas are regarded as easier to obtain than Australias 573 student visa. Australia is seen as second rate in the global education stakes. It gets the student business because the students see a pathway to migration, he says. In his interview with the daily, Findley says that all agency sales staff he had met at the recent Beijing International Expo were trying to get into their companys US department. The best recruiters are deserting Australia. All agencies, including (Australias biggest education broker) IDP, promote the US on their websites. These days, most make the US their headline offering; many are relegating Australia to third, or fourth behind New Zealand. Australia (used to be) the headline, he says. However, an IDP spokesman denies that the broker promotes the US ahead of Australia as a preferred higher education destination. Australia is the main part of our business and will remain so. By offering the US as a destination, as well as Australia, we reach a far larger pool of students interested in international education, says an IDP spokesman. (Excerpted and adapted from Times Higher Education)

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