AICTE's new norms bring admission worries

New norms: You have to score more now to study engineering.

Will the number of admissions to engineering courses in Karnataka come down this year? This is the common question haunting both the State government as well as the managements of private engineering colleges.

The cause of this apprehension is the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) decision to increase the minimum marks required in the qualifying examination for admission to the engineering degree courses.

As per the new norm, students seeking admission to engineering courses under the general category across the country need to score at least 50 per cent marks in their second year pre-university or Class XII examination, instead of 45 per cent.

Students belonging to the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities will have to secure at least 45 per cent marks instead of 40 per cent.

The statistics available with the Higher Education Department in Karnataka show that nearly 10,000 students, who secured marks between 40-50 per cent marks in the qualifying exam held in 2010, had become eligible to join engineering courses.

According to the statistics, 1,947 students, who had scored less than 50 per cent and more than 45 per cent marks in the qualifying exams in 2010, were allotted ranks as they had become eligible to seek admission to engineering courses based on the minimum marks prescribed then. Of these, 269 had joined various engineering courses in private colleges.

Similarly, 7,802 students belonging to Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities, and Other Backward Classes, who had scored more than 40 per cent and less than 45 per cent marks in the qualifying marks in 2010, had become eligible to join engineering courses. Of these 1,890 had joined engineering courses.

The new norms are likely to make at least 10,000-15,000 students ineligible to seek admission to engineering courses in the State this year. As a result, more number of engineering seats are likely to remain vacant.

About 17,000 engineering seats remained vacant in 2010. In some colleges, the number of vacant seats was in the range of 250 to 278.

Director of Technical Education H. U. Talawar said that the State government has written to the AICTE that the decision to increase the minimum marks for eligibility is unilateral, without taking into consideration the local needs. He said that the students hailing from rural areas will lose an opportunity to join engineering courses.

The State has no option but to follow the AICTE norms as it applies to all engineering colleges across the country, said Mr. Talawar, while pointing out that many new engineering colleges, those situated in north Karnataka region, and those not ranked high among the colleges, would find it difficult to get students.

M. K. Panduranga Setty of Karnataka Unaided Private Engineering Colleges Association said that the revised eligibility norms will increase the number of vacancies in many colleges.

“It is certain that the number of admissions to engineering courses will reduce further. We hope that the increase in the intake into engineering courses under lateral entry scheme for those with a diploma and Bachelor of Science degree will attract some students,” said Mr. Setty.

The new AICTE norms may see increase in the number of admissions to regular undergraduate courses in the science stream and other equivalent courses, and many engineering colleges around Bangalore city too may witness more vacant seats, Mr. Setty pointed out.

He, however, felt that the increase in minimum marks is a good move as it is aimed at improving the quality of engineering graduates. “In fact, I feel that the minimum eligible marks should be 60 per cent in the interest of maintaining the quality of engineering graduates,” he added.

Ramesh R., a teacher in a private engineering college, pointed out that some students who had joined engineering courses by securing only 40-0 per cent marks in the qualifying exams, had done fairly well later and completed the degree in first class.

“What is the point in keeping a large number of engineering seats vacant? The quality of education in rural areas required to be improved so that more number of students succeed in the qualifying exam by scoring more than 50 per cent marks,” he said, adding that some private engineering colleges may opt for reducing their total intake.

Sudhakar Manjunath, a final-year engineering student, said that there was no harm in increasing the minimum marks. “I am unable to understand why AICTE is giving permission to new engineering colleges or permitting opening of new courses or enhancing the number of seats in the existing colleges if the AICTE is concerned with quality of engineering education.”

This year's pre-university examination results and completion of the admission process to engineering courses will decide the next course of action by the engineering college managements and the State government.

SOURCE:http://www.hindu.com/edu/2011/03/08/stories/2011030850070200.htm

Jamia to study 'minority institution' status for implementation

New Delhi: Jamia Millia Islamia said on Wednesday it will study the judgment by the National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions (NCMEI) granting it "minority institution" status and work out the modalities of its implementation. 

"The judgment does not in any way change the essential character of Jamia. The university has always had a commitment to national goals of social justice and secular ideals. It will continue to uphold these in the future too," university vice chancellor Najeeb Jung said.

The NCMEI on Tuesday granted "minority institution" status to Jamia Millia Islamia, giving it the right to reserve up to 50 percent of seats for Muslims.

The order could change the secular character of the central university as it will not have to provide a quota for OBCs and Dalits. 

Jamia currently has 22.5 reservation for SCs/STs, 25 percent for students from the Jamia school and 3 percent for the physically handicapped.

The NCMEI judgment put to end the almost five-year-long case on a petition filed by the Jamia Students Union, the Jamia Old Boys Association and the Jamia Teachers Association in 2006 contending the university was a minority institution and not obliged to implement any other quota following the government decision to implement 27 percent reservation for other backward classes (OBSs) in the university.

The Confederation of Muslim Education Institutions of India was an intervening party while the vice chancellor of the university, the human resource development ministry and minority affairs ministry were the respondents.

source:http://indiaedunews.net/Delhi/Jamia_to_study_'minority_institution'_status_for_implementation_13584/

Obama’s Budget Proposes a Significant Increase for Schools

President Obama proposed a 2012 Department of Education budget on Monday that would, if approved, significantly increase federal spending for public schools, and maintain the maximum Pell grant — the cornerstone financial-aid program — at $5,550 per college student.

Whether it will be possible to keep that Pell maximum remains uncertain, however, given that House Republicans have proposed cutting the maximum by about $845, or 15 percent, in their proposal to extend the current budget.

The administration’s education proposal asks for $77.4 billion. That includes $48.8 billion for the portion of the education budget that does not include Pell grants, or an increase of about 4 percent above the 2010 budget. Congress has not yet enacted the 2011 budget.

Among education programs that the administration was protecting was Race to the Top, the competitive grant program that the administration has made its centerpiece initiative. Last year the administration used the Race to the Top to channel $4 billion in economic stimulus money to New York and other states that had proposed bold school improvement plans.

The 2012 budget proposal includes $900 million for Race to the Top, which the administration says would be awarded this time not to states but to school districts. That would make it possible, for instance, to channel money to Houston or other districts in Texas that wanted to compete in the Race to the Top initiative but could not because their state declined to participate.

Some House Republicans are skeptical of the program, however, and — like other line items in the education budget — it could face trims or elimination as Congress works on its own budget and the administration’s.

The Republicans also propose to cut $1.1 billion from the Head Start program, which, according to estimates by theNational Head Start Association, would eliminate services for more than 200,000 children and the jobs of more than 50,000 Head Start employees.

Reacting to the administration’s budget, Representative John Kline, the Minnesota Republican who is chairman of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, indicated a reluctance to invest more in education.

“Over the last 45 years we have increased our investment in education, but the return on that investment has failed to improve student achievement,” Mr. Kline said. “Throwing more money at our nation’s broken education system ignores reality and does a disservice to students and taxpayers.”

The administration’s education proposal also includes $600 million for School Turnaround Grants, another favorite of the president and of Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. This would be a $54 million increase above 2010 levels. The turnaround effort, which the administration hopes will finance makeovers of thousands of the country’s worst schools, was also financed with billions in economic stimulus money.

The vast program known as Title I, which channels money to school districts to help them educate disadvantaged children, would receive $14.8 billion, an increase of $300 million over 2010.

Last year, the president said that, to remain competitive, the nation must increase the number of college graduates. But forced to make deep cuts in many areas of government, the president now proposes to eliminate some provisions of the Pell program, which has doubled in size over five years, and serves nine million low-income students. The administration’s budget would end Pell grants for summer students and end interest subsidies on graduate students’ loans.

“We’re making some tough choices to protect the Pell grant,” Justin Hamilton, a department spokesman, said Monday in an e-mail statement. “We’re cutting where we can so that we can invest where we must.”

Congress passed the legislation providing an extra $36 billion over 10 years for the Pell program, and increasing the maximum grant to $5,550 only last year. But with the new Congress’s emphasis on cost-cutting, Pell grants became a prime focal point for cost-cutting. Beyond the 15 percent cut in this fall’s Pell grants, the House Republicans’ proposal would, over 10 years, cut $56 billion from the program.

Mr. Kline said the Democrats had expanded Pells beyond what taxpayers can afford and put the program on the path to bankruptcy.

But education groups warned that cutting the Pell program would put college out of reach for many low-income students.

“With millions of Americans struggling to make ends meet, cutting Pell grants would pull the rug right out from under students and families who are counting on these crucial grants to help pay for college this fall,” said Lauren Asher of the Project on Student Debt.

source:http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/15/us/15education.html?_r=1&ref=education