The syllabi of these courses have been specially designed jointly by the ICAI and Bharathiar University keeping in view the current challenging professional scenario as a result of rampantly changing global situation.

The MoU will cover B.Com and M.Com for the benefit of members and students of ICAI.

The MoU will offer a university degree to the students & members of Chartered Accountancy (CA) course on qualifying five non-exempted papers of specialized subjects, not covered in the CA Course and provides due exemption in ten papers studied in the CA course, thus avoiding duplication .

To help students undertake these courses, the ICAI and Bharathiar University would organize personal contact programmes from time to time.

Taking cue from the fee hike implemented by the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) in April this year, three more private business schools have followed suit.

Delhi-based International Management Institute (IMI), Management Development Institute (MDI) in Gurgaon and Amity Business School in Noida have hiked the fees for their post-graduate programmes in management.

The schools also plan to include workshops to educate students on the toughness required to face and lead in dangerous situations. Martial arts will also be taught in B-schools.

Suresh Ghai, director, K J Somaiya Institute of Management Studies and Research, said: "We will have a training programme and a workshop for students to train them on how to cope in difficult times. We are planning to approach the municipal corporation's disaster management cell for the same and are also looking at paramilitary forces for physical training."

This kind of training, say B-schools, has never been imparted to students. The B-schools are also seeking help from the Mumbai Police to train students. Martial arts and military techniques will also will form part of the training.

The university has established 650 examination centres which include 36 overseas centres and 15 centres in jail for jail inmates.

Examination intimation slips (hall tickets) have been issued to 2,73,890 eligible students who had applied for appearing in the term-end examination.

The detailed hall ticket status is also available on IGNOU website www.ignou.ac.in.

Students may also download the hall tickets from the university website and appear in the examination. Examination centres have been instructed to allow students to appear in examination, even if they do not possess the examination intimation slips, but their names exist in the list of examinees for that centre.

The one week seminar focused on Indian business practices, features of the industrial structure, economic policies being implemented at the national level, understanding of cultural issues and the nuances of doing business in India. It included a series of interactive sessions with leaders from business and industry and visits to selected organisations to facilitate participants in gaining a practical understanding and appreciation of Indian business practices, CSR initiatives and sensitivity to cultural issues in the changing global context.  

The participants attending the seminar were executive management students with wide ranging work experience in diverse fields. The group size was 17, representing different nationalities and cultures. Prof. Ajay Singh, Chairman, MDP said, "The executive MBA students form MIP are from diversified fields and nationalities and the heterogeneous mix of the programme in India has been well received by them. We were happy to see their inclination to the culture and business in India."  

The seminar included a session on Socio- Cultural Environment in India, Macroeconomic Environment and Economic Trends in Contemporary India, Telecom Sector: India's Growth Story & Future Challenges and Development of Financial Markets in India. There was a panel discussion on The Indian Markets and HRM Trends in India- Focus on IT Sector.  

Apart from the mandatory test, students also have to undergo the selection process of the institute concerned.

A candidate can choose only one city and the centre and its address will be printed on the admit card, said a communication from Symbiosis.

Entrance tests will be conducted at Kochi, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Visakhapatanam.

The last date for registration is November 25.

The results will be announced on January 10, 2009.

Students could register online at www.snaptest.org.

The fee is Rs.1,000. They can make the payment by cash (through Axis Bank), demand draft or online using a credit card.

The SNAP web site has the facility for the online purchase of prospectus and application forms for some institutes under Symbiosis International University, which will continue till January 9, 2009.

Thereafter the candidates should have to contact the institute directly.

A FIITJEE spokesperson said that the institute helped students realise their dreams and work in that direction. This all India-level assessment exam will help them know their chances in the IITs through Rank Potential Index and Success Potential Index .

The institute will award top performers with medals, cash prizes, fee waivers for FIITJEE programmes and hostel fee concessions. The first prize winner will be awarded Rs 100,000 to 250,000 with 100% fee waiver. While the second prize winner will get Rs 60,000 to Rs 200,000 with 90% fee waiver. Rs 40,000 to Rs 150,000 will be given to the third prize winner with 75% fee waiver. Besides additional prizes, including tution fee waivers and hostel waivers will be given to top 500 performers. The schools of toppers and their teachers will also be awarded.

The exam will be conducted at FIITJEE centers in Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida, Faridabad, Amritsar, Bangalore, Bhilai, Bhopal, Bokaro, Chandigarh, Chennai, Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Patna, Ranchi, Shaktinagar , Vizag, Asansol, Bhagalpur, Bhatinda, Bhubneshwar, Dhanbad, Durgapur, Gorakhpur, Hisar, Kakinada, Kanpur, Karimnagar, Ludhiana, Muzzafarpur, Nagpur, Nellore, Neyveli, Patiala, Pune, Raipur, and Thiruvanthapuram

The first four programmes conducted by IIML were huge successes with the 49 officers of the first programme, 60 of the second and 59 of the third getting good job offers. The fourth General management Programme is running at IIM Lucknow's Noida Campus with 59 Defence Officers out of which 7 candidates are Lady Officers.

In the 5th programme, after applying the selection criteria, 65 officers (44 Army, 11 Air-force and 10 Navy) including 21 lady officers have been selected for the programme.

"We at IIML will provide our participants with the latest management skills and techniques, which are the primary requirement of the corporate sector. The idea is to familiarize the officers with the requisite analytical tools and techniques; and develop a holistic perspective and global mindset to understand issues of an enterprise and provide the defence officers with a second career choice after retirement" says Prof Prakash Singh and Prof Arunabha Mukhopadhyay, Programme Coordinators.

Apart from college principals, the course postgraduate diploma in higher education management (PGDHEM) aims at imparting knowledge to senior training or academic staff in the levels of managers, assistant/deputy/joint managers, general/sales/marketing/retail managers, social workers/activists and senior lecturers or professors.

IGNOU think tank is mulling over a certificate, diploma or masters programmes in HEM.

The initiative of knowledge module series in HEM is linked with the demand made by stakeholders and data gathered from the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC). IGNOU's pro-vice-chancellor Lata Pillai is the in-charge of the programme.

Course coordinator Vibha Joshi informed, "Compared with academic programmes parallel to courses offered by conventional higher education institutions and also replication of courses offered by directorates of correspondence education of universities IGNOU can boast of offering unconventional, job-oriented programmes in different disciplines."

IGNOU will also launch a management programme specially tailored for corporate honchos and institute heads.

With the launch of a postgraduate diploma programme in `higher education management' for the corporate heads scheduled for January next year, the university has taken a step ahead of its existing trend of training only upcoming managers.

The programme has many firsts to its credit.

Apart from being the only one of its kind, it proposes to use the modern day technology like mobile phones and the internet for imparting teaching and conducting examination.