IGNOU to introduce short-term Russian course

The India Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) would soon be introducing a short-term Russian language and culture course, an official said.

IGNOU's School of Foreign Languages (SOFL) has collaborated with the Russian Centre of Science and Culture (RCSC) here to introduce the two-month course, the official said.

According to RCSC's deputy director (Culture & Information) Yelena Shtapkina, the Russian language taught in many universities of the world is not up to the Russian standard. As a result, the candidate has to pass an additional test to qualify for a job, she said.

RCSC is ready to facilitate appropriate teaching of Russian language to meet the requirements by providing native teachers to IGNOU under mutually agreed upon terms and conditions.

"Classes would be held twice a week on Fridays and Tuesdays in the campus and it has been made compulsory for all faculty members of SOFL and will also be offered to all faculty members and officers of IGNOU," said SOFL director G. Chaudhuri.

source:http://www.indiaedunews.net/Delhi/IGNOU_to_introduce_short-term_Russian_course_13688/

Semester tussle - DU teachers to hold classes in VC's lawn

Teachers at the Delhi University have decided to protest against the implementation of thesemester system in colleges, not by conducting strikes, but by holding classes outside in the lawns.

Members of the Joint Action body (JAB) ofteachers will on Thursday and Friday, conduct classes in the lawns outside the office of the vice chancellor to draw his attention to the matter of implementing the semesters for undergraduatecourses.

Karen Gabriel, associate professor at St. Stephen's College and a member of JAB said that JAB currently had around 100 members. Out of these, around 20 are expected to take their classes out in the open. 

"The classes will be taught on the two days like any normal day and the students have been told about them. The classes would start at around 8:30am and students will only have to come out in the open and then can walk back to the campus for other classes," she said.

She further added that the administration of theuniversity had never consulted the teachers before the decision to implemented the semester system was taken.

The university has already implemented the semester system for 13 undergraduatescience courses and there are now plans to completely shift all courses to thesemester system mode from the upcoming academic session.

Teachers from several departments such as economics, English, history and philosophy have already expressed their disapproval during their general body meetings at the switch to the semester system.

Teachers have alleged that the content of the courses is being diluted in order to accommodate the new semester system.

source: http://indiaedunews.net/Delhi/Semester_tussle_-_DU_teachers_to_hold_classes_in_VC's_lawn_13669/

Exeter University becomes the first outside Russell Group to charge maximum fees

Exeter has become the first university outside the Russell Group to announce that it will charge the maximum £9,000 fee for a degree from next year, saying it will need the extra income to meet higher expectations from students.

Exeter, which follows Cambridge and Imperial College London in confirming plans to treble fees, also said it would offer fee waivers or bursaries for students from less well-off backgrounds. Ministers have said the maximum fee should only apply in "exceptional circumstances".

David Allen, Exeter's registrar and deputy chief executive, said: "By setting our fees at the £9,000 level we are able to continue to invest in the student experience, and spend a lot more money to bring in more people from less well-off backgrounds.

"We are talking about having more academic staff, improving the staff-student ratio, more contact hours. What we're doing is to try and give the best possible experience to our students."

Exeter is a member of the 1994 group of smaller research-intensive universities, which includes East Anglia, York and Leicester. Its decision will increase pressure on similar universities to opt for maximum fees to maintain their prestige. Some universities in this group are looking at whether to charge varying fees for different degrees.

Universities minister David Willetts said that institutions would only need to charge £6,000 to cover the costs of arts and humanities students, whose courses are cheaper than science or medicine.

He said: "The maximum allowable charge of £9,000 in 2012/13 would actually represent an increase for them of over 40% even after inflation, as against an increase of 20% or so for the other disciplines."

But Exeter said it would have to raise fees simply to maintain the same quality of teaching. Allen said: "Our own calculations show that we would need a fee of at least £7,000 just to stand still.

"I think you have to bear in mind there will be much higher student expectations, they will expect to see more staff, have better facilities, as more of the onus on paying for their education is coming on to them after graduating."

When fee waivers are taken into account, the average tuition fee would be less than £9,000, the university said. The fee announcement does not cover the Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry, which is a partnership between Exeter and Plymouth Universities.

The college lecturers' union, the UCU, said that the average fee needed to replace government funding cuts would be £6,863 for universities offering arts and humanities courses to break even. Sally Hunt, the UCU's general secretary, said: "Our own research shows to replace the money he [the government] has cut, the average fee needs to be almost £7,000. The government urgently needs to look again at the severity of its university funding cuts."

Universities could face a change in the law to stop some of them from charging students £9,000 a year if too many institutions are "clustering their charges at the upper end", the government warned last month.

• This article was amended on 2 March 2011. An editing error inserted references to Exeter as outside the top 20 in the Russell Group. This has been corrected.

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2011/mar/02/exeter-university-to-charge-top-fees

(Info) Introduction of Competency based vocational courses at Senior Secondary level 2011

Subject: Introduction of Geospatial Technology, Food Production, Food & Beverage Services, Mass Media Studies and Media Production as Competency based vocational courses at Senior Secondary level.

As you are aware, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), keeping in view the acute shortage of trained professionals and development of employability skills among the students, has been offering a number of courses under vocational Education at Senior Secondary level. In recent years, the CBSE has started collaborating with various industries/ institutions for introducing competency based joint certification courses as per the present needs of society and the relevant industries. In pursuance to this policy of exploring the new domain of knowledge and skills that have bright employment prospects as well as career opportunities, the Board has introduced the following new Vocational courses at senior secondary level.

• Geospatial Technology.
• Food Production (Hospitality and Tourism)
• Food and Beverage Services( Hospitality and Tourism)
• Mass Media Studies and Media Production.

The aforesaid courses were introduced in few selected schools in class XI from the Academic Session 2010-11 on pilot basis. Based on the feedback received from the Pilot schools and on the basis of overwhelming response from the other independent schools, the Board has decided to open it to all affiliated schools in the country and abroad form the academic session 2011-12 for class-XI. The detailed objectives and the salient features of such courses are enclosed at Annexure-I to III. The schools that are interested in introducing those new courses in class-XI from the academic year 2011-12 may fill in the proforma enclosed at Annexure-IV and may forward to “ Sh. S.K. Jena, Asstt. Education Officer (Voc & Edusat), CBSE, Shiksha Sadan,17, Rouse Avenue, New Delhi-110002 on or before 5th March 2011 or Email to cbse.edusat@rediffmail.com copy to skjena.cbse@gmail.com The letter of willingness in Annexure – IV should reach by 5th March 2011 to enable the Board for processing the applications further.

Website: www.cbse.nic.in

Click Here For Full Details

New certification programme mooted

To attract youngsters to work as welders, Asian Welders Federation, an newly formed apex body of welding industry, is working out a new Common Welder Qualification, which would be valid in any of the Asian countries, unlike the different standards and certificates prevailing in various countries.

The draft scheme for the certification was given shape at a meeting of the Federation at Delhi in November last year, which would be finalised at its meeting in Beijing scheduled in May, said M. Rajasekharan, secretary, Indian Welding Society.

Modalities like duration of the training course would be worked after the approval in the meeting by representatives of 13 countries, which are the members of the Federation by July or August. — PTI

source:http://www.hindu.com/edu/2011/01/25/stories/2011012550040100.htm

For better proficiency in foreign languages

Many options are available to study the French, Italian and Japanese languages.

— File Photo 

For correct intonation: Language labs play a major role in helping students get their pronunciation right.

We had in these columns during the past weeks listed 19 universities/ centres that provide good facilities for the study of foreign languages in India. Let us now look at a few more of them.

Alliance Francaise

Web site: www.afindia.org.

Alliance Française has a large network of more than a thousand associations in 136 countries, delivering French language courses to a total of 4,60,000 students. It also aims at cultural interaction among French-speaking peoples. There are 16 Alliances Françaises in India (Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bhopal, Chandigarh, Chennai, Goa, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Karikal, Kolkata, Mahe, Mumbai, New Delhi, Pondicherry, Pune and Trivandrum).

The DELF and DALF examinations certify the students' levels in French. Teaching of the French language at the Alliance Française is progressive. They offer all levels of learning starting from level 1 (A1) to level 6 (C2).

The student is invited to actively participate in the class and to develop his powers of observation, thinking, and communication, and also use the four skills: oral and written comprehension, written and oral production. After every level, he continues his learning in the next higher level if authorised by the teacher. He can also have his skills validated by an internationally recognised diploma: the DELF and the DALF.

Sessions of 160 hours (Levels 1-3), 200 hours (Level 4) or 240 hours (Levels 5 and 6) to attain the objectives of each level.

Address of the Chennai centre: Alliance Française de Madras, No.24, College Road, Chennai 600 006; ph: 044-28279803, Web site: www.madras.afindia.org

Indo-Italian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IICCI) is a non-profit organisation recognised by the Italian government, whose main objective is to promote and enhance trade and economic relations between India and Italy. It conducts classes in the Italian language at its different centres. Web site: www.indiaitaly.com.

Head Office: IICCI - Head Office, Mumbai, Bengal Chemicals Compound

502 Veer Savarkar Marg, Prabhadevi, Mumbai 400025; Ph: 022-24368186, e-mail for language lessons: language@indiaitaly.com.

Italian language courses at Mumbai:

Level I: Beginners Level, morning classes for two hours, three days a week. Duration: two months

Level II: Intermediate level, morning classes for two hours, two days a week. Duration: two months. Similar programmes are available at other centres. There is a third level (advanced) also. Contact details:

Bangalore: Ph: 080-26620318, e-mail: anup.tg@indiaitaly.com

Chennai: Ph: 044-28242399; e-mail:r.cardoza@indiaitaly.

com

Goa: Ph: 0832-2438946; e-mail: c.iuzzolini@indiaitaly.com

Kolkata: Ph: 033-32944677; e-mail:iicci.cal@indiaitaly.

com

The key objectives of the three levels are as follows:

First level, beginner: Understand and use familiar everyday expressions and very basic phrases. Introduce themselves and others. Ask and answer questions on personal details. Interact in a simple way, provided the other person talks slowly and clearly.

Second level, intermediate: Understand sentences and frequently used expressions related to areas of most immediate relevance (eg. very basic personal and family information, shopping, local geography, employment). Communicate on simple and routine tasks requiring direct exchange of information. Describe in simple terms aspects of their background, immediate environment and matters in areas of immediate need.

Third level, advanced: Understand the main points of clear standard input on familiar matters regularly encountered at work, school, leisure, etc. Deal with usual situations likely to arise while travelling in an area where the language is spoken. Produce simple connected text on topics that are familiar or that are of personal interest. Describe experiences and events and briefly give reasons and explanations for opinions and plans.

Students are examined at the end of each level. After the completion of the entire course, the Italian Embassy will award a Diploma.

Indo-Japan Chamber Of Commerce & Industry, No.21, K.B. Dasan Road, Teynampet, Chennai 600 018; Ph: 044-24352010, e-mail: indo-japan@ijcci.com; Web : www.ijcci.com. This promotes educational, cultural and commercial activities between Japan and India.

The Chamber conducts Japanese Language Classes throughout the year to prepare students for the different levels of the Japan Foundation's Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT). Further, there are need-based conversation classes, both short-term and long-term, for the benefit of corporate houses. Special Japanese Language Classes are also conducted for students of professional colleges on request.

Distance education programmes are being conducted for the benefit of outstation students, even for appearing in JLPT. The course, among other things, effectively enables students to acquire basic skills in Japanese conversation. Interested candidates have the option to join a four-month advanced intensive Japanese conversation program, with four contact classes on Sundays.

JLPT lays stress on knowledge of Japanese including vocabulary, grammar, and competence in practical communication. These are measured through tests in language knowledge (vocabulary / grammar), reading and listening. The JLPT is offered in five levels (N1, N2, N3, N4, and N5). The easiest level is N5 and the most difficult level is N1. Levels N4 and N5 measure the level of understanding of basic Japanese mainly learned in the class. N1 and N2 measure the level of understanding of Japanese used in a broad range of scenes in actual everyday life. N3 is a bridging level between N1/N2 and N4/N5.

N5: Ability to read and understand typical expressions and sentences written in hiragana, katakana, and basic kanji / listen and comprehend conversations on topics in daily life, and to grasp information from short conversations spoken slowly.

N4: Abilities in N5 at some more depth.

N3: Ability to understand Japanese used in everyday situations / read slightly difficult writings encountered in everyday situations / listen and comprehend coherent conversations spoken at near-natural speed

N2: Ability to read and comprehend materials written clearly on a variety of topics, such as articles and commentaries in newspapers and magazines as well as simple critiques, and comprehend their contents / comprehend orally presented materials such as news reports, spoken at nearly natural speed.

N1: Ability to read and comprehend writings with logical complexity and/or abstract writings on a variety of topics, such as newspaper editorials / comprehend orally presented materials such as coherent conversations, news reports, and lectures, spoken at natural speed

The Japan Foundation, 5-A, Ring Road, Lajpat Nagar-IV, New Delhi 110 024 Web: www.jfindia.org.in, is an organization for international cultural exchange. It promotes Japanese language education, through various activities including teacher training.

The Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, School of Languages, Golpark, Kolkata – 700029; Ph: 0332464 1303; e-mail: rmic@vsnl.com,

Web site: www.sriramakrishna.org

Junior courses of one year each, in French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Latin, Ancient Greek, and Persian

Senior Certificate courses of one year each, in French, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Latin, and Persian

Advanced Certificate courses of one year each in Chinese, Japanese, French and Spanish.

Senior and Advanced Certificate courses, each of one year, in German.

Communicative Certificate courses, each of six months, in Chinese, French, German, Korean, Russian and Spanish.

source: http://www.hindu.com/edu/2011/01/25/stories/2011012550100200.htm