UGC's 'Paramarsh Scheme' gets 100 university proposals

The University Grants Commission (UGC) has received more than 100 proposals from universities for its 'Paramarsh Scheme'.

The University Grants Commission (UGC) is expecting to receive around 100 proposals from the higher education institutions for its 'Paramarsh Scheme'. As a part of the scheme, top institutions will mentor five non-accredited institutes to secure National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) grade.

"The last date for submitting proposals by the mentors is September 2. These will then be examined," a UGC official said here on Monday.

"Once the proposals are accepted by the UGC, the institutes can start the mentoring programme within a month," the official added.

The scheme mandates that the mentor institutions should have secured a NAAC score of 3.26 out of 4. Human Resource Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank', who launched the scheme last month, said it would improve quality and standards of higher education in the country.

The official noted that since securing NAAC accreditation has been made mandatory for the open universities too, the top institutions can also mentor open universities which will be applying for NAAC grade for the first time.

How 'Paramarsh' scheme is useful:

Under the 'Paramarsh' scheme, the leading institutions will provide regular mentoring to help colleges to get accredited by the NAACA.

The mentor institutions can be provided financial assistance of up to Rs 30 lakh. There is also an option of appointing an expert, who can be paid a fellowship amount of Rs 31,000 per month.

The scheme aims to improve the global rankings of Indian higher educational institutions.

"The scheme will lead to enhancement of the mentee institutions' quality and its profile as a result of improved quality of research, teaching and learning methodologies. The mentee institution will also have increased exposure and speedier adaptation to best practices," the official added.

About NAAC

The NAAC is an autonomous body that assesses and accredits higher education institutions in the country.

Source: https://www.indiatoday.in/education-today/news/story/ugc-s-paramarsh-scheme-gets-100-university-proposals-1591812-2019-08-26 (Accessed on August 27, 2019)

Engineering colleges need to reinvent to be relevant

Engineering colleges need to reinvent to be relevant


Read more at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/70839936.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst (Accessed on August 27, 2019)

UGC on a cleansing process in research sector

Bogus journals, substandard PhD theses under the scanner

The University Grants Commission (UGC) is on a cleansing process against bogus journals and substandard PhD theses as the quality of our research sector has been eroding, UGC vice chairman Bhushan Patwardhan has said.

Speaking on the sidelines of a symposium on ‘Research in Ayurveda: Need, scope and future’ organised by AMMOI (Ayurvedic Medicine Manufacturers Organisation of India) here on Sunday, he said the quality of research papers had been eroding in the country, especially over the past 10 years.

“The UGC has appointed a 20-member committee headed by Padmanabhan Balram, former director, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, to review the research papers approved by the UGC in the last 10 years. The committee has been given six months to review the situation. At least we will know where we stand and how much damage has been done to the research sector,” he said.

To check the umpteen dubious journals that publish papers with vested interests, the UGC has published a list of approved journals, Mr. Patwardhan said. We have requested the universities and institutions to consider only papers that appeared in the journals listed by us while deciding on faculty appointments. They have been asked to go by quality, not quantity,” he said.
Credit bank

‘National Academic Credit Bank’ (NAC bank), is another revolutionary step to be taken by the UGC in the higher education sector in near future. “It will make the inter-university degrees a reality in the country. The NAC bank would allow the students to join one university, pursue courses in another university, and earn the degree from yet another one. This student-centric system, already exiting in foreign universities, will bring lots of flexibility to the students,” Mr. Patwardhan said.

Speaking about STRIDE (Scheme for Trans-disciplinary Research in India’s Developing Economy), Mr. Patwardhan said the objective of the system was to improve collaboration among various stakeholders in the research sector for the benefit of society.

Source: https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/kerala/ugc-on-a-cleansing-process-in-research-sector/article29254256.ece (Accessed on August 26, 2019)

UGC to decide on proposals to review PhD theses soon

UGC to decide on proposals to review PhD theses soon


Read more at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/70833071.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst (Accessed on August 26, 2019)

The top Indian colleges and organisations for internships, awarded by AICTE

Online learning platform Internshala together with All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) organized a national event, on Sunday to celebrate Internship Day 2019 .

The initiative was to honor the colleges and organizations with the best boarding culture.

The top three organizations include the Times Internet, Out of the Box Solutions and today's Kalam Foundation, a voluntary organization working to reform education.

According to Internshala, over 15,000 students received boarding opportunities in the last four months.

Read more at:
https://www.businessinsider.in/the-top-indian-colleges-and-organisations-for-internships-awarded-by-aicte/articleshow/70834885.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst (Accessed on August 26, 2019

Varsities, colleges asked to ready fitness plan for students

Varsities, colleges asked to ready fitness plan for students ..


Read more at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/70822789.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst (Accessed on August 26, 2019)

IIT Bombay Sets New Trend For Convocations: Students Go Traditional With White Kurta Pyjamas Ceremonial Robes

Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay students decided to go traditional during their convocation by ditching the ceremonial black robe along with headgears and wearing white kurta pyjamas on Saturday (10 August), Livemint reports.

The University Grants Commission (UGC) told vice-chancellors of all universities to adopt “ceremonial robes made out of handloom fabrics which would not only give a sense of pride of being Indian but also be more comfortable in hot and humid weather”.

Infosys chairman and co-founder Nandan Nilekani and an alumni of the institute was conferred an honorary doctoral degree by the institute. Minister of Human Resource Development Ramesh Pokhriyal was the chief guest of the 57 convocation .

2,603 students, 385 PhDs, and two joint PhDs of IIT-B/National University of Singapore and one Cotutelle PhD (Joint Supervision) agreement with the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivieres in Canada were awarded by the minister.

Source: https://swarajyamag.com/insta/iit-bombay-sets-new-trend-for-convocations-students-go-traditional-with-white-kurta-pyjamas-ceremonial-robes (Accessed on August 26, 2019)

Microsoft joins Google, Intel for data protection consortium

Microsoft joins Google, Intel for data protection consortium 

Read more at:
//economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/70789920.cms?from=mdr&utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

Google ditches dessert names, announces Android Q will be officially called Android 10

On Thursday Google announced that new Android version or Android Q will be officially known as Android 10. Yes, for Android Q Google changes its naming strategy and this comes as a surprise for most people. In addition, Google has also changed the look of the Android logo.

Read the full article at:

https://www.indiatoday.in/technology/android-os/story/google-ditches-dessert-names-announces-android-q-will-be-officially-called-android-10-1590651-2019-08-23 (Accessed on August 23, 2019)

More than 700 German research institutions strike open-access deal with Springer Nature

BERLIN—A consortium of more than 700 German research institutions and libraries today announced an agreement with publisher Springer Nature to make it simpler for authors to publish their papers open access. The agreement is the largest national open-access deal to date, but it doesn’t allow authors to publish open access in Nature or its sister journals.

The consortium, called Project DEAL, has negotiated for more than 3 years with major publishers to reach “publish and read” agreements. Such agreements give member institutions full access to a publisher’s online content and make papers that their researchers publish freely available worldwide. Charges are based not on subscriptions, but on a fee per published paper.

Read the full article at:

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/08/more-700-german-research-institutions-strike-open-access-deal-springer-nature (Accessed on August 23, 2019)

How much research output from India gets social media attention?

Abstract

Scholarly articles are now increasingly being mentioned and discussed in social media platforms, sometime seven as pre- or post-print version uploads. Measures of social media mentions and coverage are now emerging as an alternative indicator of impact of scholarly articles. This article aims to explore how much scholarly research output from India is covered in different social media platforms and how similar or different it is from the world average. It also analyses the disciplinewise variations in coverage and altmetric attention for Indian research output, including a comparison with the world average. Results obtained show interesting patterns. Only 28.5% of the total research output from India is covered in social media platforms, which is about 18% less than the world average. ResearchGate and Mendeley are the most popular social media platforms in India for scholarly article coverage. In terms of discipline-wise variation, medical sciences and biological sciences have relatively higher coverage across different platforms compared to disciplines like information science and engineering.

Read the full text paper at:
https://www.currentscience.ac.in/php/forthcoming/pdf/GA34374.pdf (Accessed on August 23, 2019) 

Digital Health Technology can revolutionise healthcare in India: Report

· Around 76% of healthcare professionals in the country already use digital health records in their practice: Future Health Index 2019

· India meets the 15-country average when it comes to the usage of artificial intelligence within healthcare at 46%

New Delhi: India is leading in the adoption of digital health technology with 76% of healthcare professionals in the country already using digital health records (DHRs) in their practice, according to a 15-country Future Health Index (FHI) 2019 report by Royal Philips, a global leader in health technology.

Interestingly, India meets the 15-country average when it comes to the usage of artificial intelligence (AI) within healthcare at 46%.

Commenting on the launch, Rohit Sathe, President – Philips Healthcare, Indian Subcontinent said, "Philips’ Future Health Index 2019 report confirms that digital health technology is a pivotal pillar in delivering value-based care across the healthcare continuum in India. Tools including telehealth and adaptive intelligence solutions can help lower the barriers between hospitals and patients, thereby improving access to care and enhancing overall patient satisfaction, particularity in tier II & III cities in India. We hope that the insights from this report will assist key stakeholders in designing and implementing robust and sustainable health systems in the country."

According to the findings, 80% of healthcare professionals in India have shared patient information with other professionals inside their health facility, which is equal to the number of healthcare professionals who share patient information electronically across the 15-country average

Individuals in India are likely not worried that AI will substitute the human aspects of their healthcare experience, as only one in five (19%) associate AI with less human interaction compared to one-in-three (31%) individuals living within the 15-country average.

The study found that when Indian healthcare professionals are supported by digital technology, their experience improves. For instance, a majority of Indian healthcare professionals who use DHRs in their practice report that DHRs have a positive impact on quality of care (90%), healthcare professional satisfaction (89%), and patient outcomes (70%) when compared to the 15-country average of 69%, 64% and 59% respectively. 64% of Indian healthcare professionals agree that patients having access to their own health data (including test results, prescriptions, scans etc.) has positively impacted their patients’ experience.

The report also found that about two-thirds (67%) of Indians feel comfortable or neutral about seeking medical advice from their doctor through a health application on their phone, suggesting a high willingness and openness to further adopt telehealth and unlock its benefits.

About half (49%) of Indians say they know nothing at all about the benefits of digital health technology or mobile health apps in healthcare. Providing education and information around the benefits of these technologies will be key in taking Indians along this technological healthcare journey.

The report reflects independent research, commissioned by Philips in 15 countries, in which India was included.

Source: https://www.livemint.com/ (Accessed on August 23, 2019)

Patent filings rise as Indian IT cos look to raise their game

Patent filings rise as Indian IT cos look to raise their game

Read more at:
//economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/70780094.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst (Accessed on August 23, 2019)

UGC targets 30% enrollment in higher education by 2020 from present’s 25.4%

The number of students enrolled in higher education system has gone up to about 3.66 crore in 2017-18. The GER rose to 25.4 per cent in 2017-18, while the aim is to increase it to 30 per cent by 2020

Read the full article at:

https://indianexpress.com/article/education/ugc-targets-30-enrollment-in-higher-education-by-2020-from-presents-25-4-5926972/ (Accessed on August 23, 2019)

UGC asks nine universities in state to implement EWS quota

UGC asks nine universities in state to implement EWS quota 

Read more at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/70784181.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst (Accessed on August 23, 2019)

NTA releases UGC NET December 2019, June 2020 schedule

UGC NET 2020 exam date: The application process for the December session will begin from September 9 to October 9. Candidates can apply on the official website — www.nta.ac.in or ntanet.nic.in.

Read the full article at:

https://indianexpress.com/article/jobs/nta-releases-ugc-net-december-2019-june-2020-sessions-schedule-ntanet-nic-in-5926199/ (Accessed on August 23, 2019)

After engineering, no new pharmacy colleges until ’22

After banning new engineering colleges, the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has placed a two-year ban on new pharmacy colleges, until 2022. This is because the AICTE as well as the Pharmacy Council of India (PCI), a statutory body under the Central government which regulates pharmacy education and practices, believe that many colleges performed poorly at academics and there were not enough jobs for pharmacy graduates to justify the boom in the number of colleges.

The decision to not allow more pharmacy colleges was taken at a meeting held in Delhi on Wednesday, barely a month after the PCI proposed a five-year freeze on colleges offering diploma and degree courses. In January this year, the AICTE decided to not permit new engineering colleges from the academic year 2020-21.

According to AICTE, the intake capacity of pharmacy institutes across India has gone up by 49.5% in the last three years, and this year alone, the capacity increased by 28.1%. From 1,809 diploma and graduate pharmacy institutes that existed in the country 2017-18, the number grew to 3,276 in 2019-20.

“Just like the engineering sector witnessed a sudden expansion a few years ago, the pharmacy sector seems to be witnessing a similar trend for the past three years. However, the passing percentage, as well as the number of students finding jobs after graduation, has not looked good,” said Anil D Sahasrabudhe, chairman, AICTE. He added that the council will first focus on bringing quality into the existing institutes and improving existing facilities before allowing new colleges.

For the current academic year, AICTE had received around 900 applications for starting new pharmacy colleges, of which 565 applications are from Uttar Pradesh (UP). The second-highest number of applications came from Maharashtra, which had around 480 pharmacy institutes offering diploma, undergraduate and post-graduate courses in 2018-19. For the current academic year, 81 new institutes have been approved to start admissions.

While pharmacy institutes are confident about attracting more students to their colleges, experts are concerned over the rate at which these institutes are cropping up. “These colleges, especially the ones in rural parts, are witnessing growing seat vacancies year after year. The situation is worrisome because jobs in the sector are not growing at the same rate as the colleges and very soon, these institutes might face a situation like engineering colleges did a few years ago,” said another official from AICTE.

Source: Hindustan Times (Mumbai) dated August 23, 2019

In a Back-to-School Reading Goldmine, Millions of Books Have Just Been Released for Free Online

Get ready for your to-read list to reach even more ridiculous lengths.

Love to read? Then go ahead and buy as many books as you like. Experts from scholars to poets to tidying sensation Marie Kondo all insist that owning more books than you could possibly ever read says great things about your mind. The only constraints are the size of your bookshelf and your wallet. 

Except maybe that last one is as much of a constraint as you think.

Thanks to some hard work by the New York Public Library, there's a new way to get more titles for your to-read list for way less cash. 

It's not just the classics that are out of copyright. 

Everyone knows that some very old books are no longer under copyright and therefore available for free. That means you can get the likes of Shakespeare and Jane Eyre for little to nothing (depending on whether you're a sucker for a fancy cover). But according to a super helpful recent Vice article, most of us misunderstand exactly how many titles are actually in the public domain. 

"Prior to 1964, books had a 28-year copyright term. Extending it required authors or publishers to send in a separate form, and lots of people didn't end up doing that," reports Vice's Matthew Gault. 

Because of this administrative quirk, huge numbers of newer titles published during these years are actually available for free. The trouble, up to now, was that this information was stashed away in a hard-to-access Library of Congress database. But thanks to the heroes at the New York Public Library that's recently changed. 

"In a massive undertaking, the NYPL converted the registration and copyright information into an XML format. Now, the old copyrights are searchable and we know when, and if, they were renewed. Around 80 percent of all the books published from 1923 to 1964 are in the public domain, and lots of people had no idea until now," Gault continues. 

How to get more free books

That's awesome news for bibliophiles, but how exactly do you take advantage of this awesome development? A massive blog post from the NYPL has all the technical details of the project for those looking for an extremely deep dive, but as Gault explains, the basic process is that existing online resources like Project Gutenberg are using the NYPL's cleaned up data to update their offerings. Which is why the number of books on these sites has recently been exploding. 

To take advantage of the bonanza of newly available books, simply visit sites like Project Gutenberg, the Hathi Trust, or Standard Ebooks and get browsing. You can even check out Secretly Public Domain for some suggested highlights from the newly released books. But these aren't the only ways to access this goldmine of newly liberated knowledge. 

"Many libraries offer digital and audio books, for free, as a benefit of membership. Reading a classic or a new release can be a simple as getting a library card and downloading an app," Gault adds. 

So go ahead and expand your 'to read' list to even more massive proportions. Aren't libraries awesome?

Source: https://www.inc.com/jessica-stillman/new-york-public-library-download-free-books-copyright.html (Accessed on August 22, 2019)

Marathi: Lakh Molacha Robot

Source: Maharashtra Times (Mumbai) dated August 22, 2019

Amazon opens biggest campus in Hyderabad

Inc. today opened its largest campus building globally in the city of Hyderabad as it prepares for a furious expansion and battle with nemesis Walmart Inc. in one of the world’s fastest-growing retail markets. The Seattle-headquartered company is making an ambitious push in India, the last major retail frontier still primarily reliant on smallscale neighbourhood and mom-and-pop stores. “E-commerce is so small in India relative to the total consumption, less than 3%,” said Amit Agarwal, Amazon’s country manager for India.AFP■ The campus in Hyderabad was built over three years and can accommodate up to 15,000 workers.

The largely untapped country is critical to the global domination plans of both Amazon and Walmart, the latter of which spent $16 billion last year to buy India’s biggest startup, retailer Flipkart.


Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has so far pledged $5.5 billion for its India operations.

Built in Hyderabad over three years, the new campus is Amazon’s first owned building outside of the US, spans 1.8 million square feet of office space and will accommodate 15,000 workers. “The largest buildings in Seattle house about 5,000 employees,” remarked John Schoettler, vicepresident of Amazon’s global real estate and facilities. He said the campus was Amazon’s largest in the world but has plenty more room to grow.

“This facility will build services globally,” Agarwal added.

Source: Hindustan Times (Mumbai) dated August 22, 2019