Among the 67 colleges is also Gian Sagar Medical College (GSMC), the medical institute whose recognition had been stalled when former MCI Director Ketan Desai had been charged for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs.2 crore from GSMC.

The newly constituted Board of Governors (BoG) granted permission to GSMC on Wednesday for renewing the 100 seats that the college offers for medical education.

Ketan Desai, along with associate Jitender Pal Singh as well as a representative of GSMC had been arrested in April soon after the case of corruption had been reported.

The Union Health Ministry had then set up a committee to gauge whether GSMC fulfilled the criteria for being granted the permission to run classes as a medical institute. The investigations have led to the ministry giving a clean chit to GSMC as well as 66 other institutes.

The Board of Governors was to decide the fate of around 81 medical colleges that were awaiting approval from the MCI to run classes for medical courses. From the 81 colleges, 145 colleges were not granted recognition as they did not fulfill the eligibility criteria for a medical college.

These 14 colleges had also included some government run medical institutes as well.

Ranjit Roy Chowdhury, a member of the Board of Governors said that the task for investigating and deciding the fate of the 81 medical institutes had been an enormous one.

Members of top institutions such as the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Jawaharlal Institute for Postgraduate Medical Education and Research as well as the armed forces had been hired to look into the status of the medical institutes.

Aradhna K Mahna, managing director of Manya Education, the Indian partners of the Princeton Review, said, "Our GRE numbers have been soaring over the past few years and more students are keen to take this test. The reason behind this format change is to avoid the fiasco of 2007. Our major concern is how well students take this change that is being applied to GRE currently."

The revised test will eliminate questions on antonyms and analogies. Students can expect the test to be more challenging as it will focus on reasoning and the real-life scenario as opposed to memorization. Besides, the new test will be lengthened and graded on a scale of 130 to 170. Short-answer questions and objective type questions will be the trend in the revised examination.

Aradhna said, "Students are now going to face a problem whether to prepare on the basis of the old format since study material on the new format is not available. We are expecting a heavy rush of students to book exam dates in 2011, just before the new GRE changes are offered."

DU beat, an independent paper founded in 2007 by some DU students features news and events happening in the varsity campus. The paper is free of cost and is available in 15 colleges of Delhi University. The paper provides opportunities to all those who are interested in writing. Popular columnist `Sex Amma' gives information to all those who are suffering from love life tensions.

DU 90.4 FM is yet another source of providing information and for all those who are interested in becoming radio jockeys, DU's own radio station is a good option to start with. The community station located near in north campus of DU can be heard within a radius of 10 kilometers. The station plays programmes on education as well as songs and phone in counseling. Students are also given a chance to show their talent as a radio jockey.

The varsity is all set to get it own news channel named Delhi University Television Network (DUTN). The channel will start as an internet based TV network and will be available in 10 colleges of North Campus.

g the trial of a case to determine whether these institutions can continue to offer degrees.
Allowing these 44 deemed universities to expand--by incorporating fresh institutions under their ambit--will hurt the interests of students, the ministry argued at the HC on Friday, sources told HT. The  court is expected to deliver its order on the case on Tuesday.

"If the blacklisted deemed varsities are allowed to expand, it could amplify the number of students who would face problems if and when the institutions are derecognised," a source said, adding this was ministry's argument before the HC.

HRD Minister Kapil Sibal had ordered a probe into the functioning of deemed universities last year. The probe panel found 44 of 130 deemed universities unfit for the tag and recommended these institutions be stripped of their deemed status immediately.

The panel also found another 44 unfit for the tag but had potential to improve, and suggested that this lot be given three years to reach required standards. The remaining varsities were found fit for the tag.

But these universities that the HRD ministry wants to de-recognise immediately are admitting students this year because of the SC decision.

The Madras HC case involves a Tamil Nadu-based deemed university that wants to incorporate a new medical college. If this is allowed, students will receive degrees from this blacklisted university.

This, however, is subject to approval from the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) and IIT council, IIT directors have said.

At present, IIT JEE is held only for admissions to the 15 IITs; Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad; and the Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University.

The suggestion was made today at a meeting held between the IIT directors and the additional MHRD secretary at IIT Kharagpur to discuss the examination reforms proposed by a panel of IIT directors.

"We are aware of the fact that if IITs conduct second-tier test, other institutes could make similar demands. So, we suggested that a few other engineering institutes could also be allowed to accept JEE for admissions. In this manner we would be able to meet the aspirations of both, the IITs and other engineering institutes. This however, would need the MHRD's and IIT council's approval," an IIT director told Business Standard on condition of anonymity.

Source: Business-standard By Kalpana Pathak IITs may let other engineering institutes accept JEE scores

The apex court had excluded the creamy layer from benefiting under the 27% quota and said unfilled seats would be go back to the general category. The government had also assured the court that general category seats would not shrink as the institutions would create more seats to absorb the reservation requirement.

We can discount the chaos of filling the seats created for OBCs under the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admissions) Act, 2007, in 2008-09 as teething problem despite the admission process getting extended till October. However, the data for the next two academic years gives an impression that the quantum of 27% may have been far in excess of what was needed to meet the demographic demand.

In 2009-10, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) transferred 83 of the 413 seats reserved for OBCs to the general category. Of the 10,183 OBC seats in Delhi University, there were no takers for nearly 2,300 seats.

This year too, DU is witnessing a similar story. University officials are fearing that nearly 6,000 seats may get transferred to general category for want of suitable candidates from backward classes, despite the cut-off being 10 marks less than the last general category candidate taking admission in the institution.

The general category may not be complaining. But the increased number of seats will definitely put pressure on the already stretched faculty, library facilities and allied educational resources available with the institution.

dhananjay.mahapatra@timesgroup.com

Source: Times Of India By Dhananjay Mahapatra Time to review 27% OBC quota in education?

home care, interview and communication skills, computers, animation, web designing, fashion designing, retail management, herbal plantations, general knowledge, law and herbal plantation.
The students will be charged Rs 500 per month as fees.

"Similar colleges would be opened in Karala (near Rohini), Bawana (near Narela) and Jahangirpuri but this will be done in phases," said Kiran Bedi, general secretary of Navjyoti India Foundation and a retired IPS officer. On Sunday, she visited the nearby Khedla village to create awareness about the facility.

Bedi said, "I will go from village to village and motivate people to join the college and take advantage of this 'B-School for marginalised'. In addition to employment, many can also look forward to joining mainstream courses run by regular colleges. Next Sunday, I will visit another Abhey Pur village."

Spread over 3 acres in Naya Gaon village, the college was inaugurated by IGNOU vice chancellor Professor Raj Shekhran Pillai on Saturday.

The college has tied up with the British Council for English language training, Vedanta Foundation for computers and placements; and with Ozone Pharma for herbal plants training. "We will organise a placement mela and also post the names of the participants on the website for employment," Bedi said.

Students will receive IGNOU certificates on completion of the course.

The initiative reflects the significance of the law -- the Centre does not have similar commissioners for the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, mid-day meal or other major education programmes it runs.

The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act -- passed by both Houses of Parliament last year and implemented from April 1 this year -- provides legal guarantee of schooling for all children between six and 14. The UPA rates the act as one of its biggest achievements.

The SC-appointed commissioners on the right to food are tasked with submitting regular feedback to the apex court on the implementation of food-related schemes across the country. This feedback is often critical of the Centre and of state governments.

Source: Hindustan Times By Charu Sudan Kasturi Watchdogs to monitor education law in states

An educational institution is bound to refund admission fee of a student if he/she opts out before a course has started and the vacant seat goes to another candidate, the national consumer court has ruled.

The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission directed the College of Science and Technology, Vishakhapatnam under Andhra University to refund the fee charged from a student, Janjanam Jagedeesh, who withdrew from M.Sc. in Animal Biotechnology course in 2004. It said the institute could retain Rs. 1,000 towards processing fee from the Rs.80,915 Jagedeesh deposited.

"Institute was unfair in retaining the entire fee, even after the student withdrew from their college," the commission said in its July 6 order.

The order assumes significance in view of the practice followed by most schools and colleges, of not refunding admission fee even if a student withdraws before classes commence.

The Commission ordered that Jagedeesh's money be refunded along with an interest of six per cent per annum within two months, failing which "the petitioners (college and university) will pay interest at the rate of 10 per cent per annum from the date of complaint till its payment".

In its defence, the college and university cited a Supreme Court ruling, which said a university, did not render any service and therefore, students could not claim to be a consumer. But the National Commission rejected the argument, saying the SC order was in the context of conduct of examination only.

satya.prakash@hindustantimes.com

The cut-off for the OBC category according to the first cut-off list for the B.A. Programme was 75 per cent.

Sunil Kumar, who has been helping OBC students with admissions, said: "In the second list the cut-off dropped to 74 per cent. But in the third list, the cut-off went up to 75 per cent while in the fourth list the cut-off was announced as 77.5 per cent."

"How can colleges increase their cut-offs if they have to fill their seats? We brought the matter to the notice of the college, following which the college issued a notice claiming that there was a mistake in the notified fourth list cut-off percentage of the B.A. Programme," he added.

According to the notice which was issued on Wednesday, there was a "typographical error" in the fourth-list cut-off which had been notified for OBC admissions to the B.A. Programme. Instead of 77.5 per cent which had been previously notified, the college announced that the actual cut-off was 74.5 per cent for the Arts stream.

Source: The Hindu By Urvashi Sarkar Ramjas admissions under fire