India lags in investment in research compared to other industrialised nations, corporate sector must do more: Pranab Mukherjee

University administrators must keep in mind that quality is of primary importance in the education sector, former President Pranab Mukherjee said.

The former president Pranab Mukherjee was speaking on the sidelines of the launch of the Indian chapter of UK-based nation-wide higher education rating system – QS I-GAUGE.

University administrators must keep in mind that quality is of primary importance in the education sector, former President Pranab Mukherjee said, highlighting the issue of brain drain of innovative and creative minds from the country and the need for training and educating the youth of the nation. He further said that the corporate sector should take up the responsibility of nurturing these minds by investing in research. The former president was speaking on the sidelines of the launch of the Indian chapter of UK-based nation-wide higher education rating system – QS I-GAUGE on Wednesday.
Mukherjee said that the corporate sector, in particular, must emphasise on research and spending on research. According to the former President, the investment in research in our country is much less compared to any other industrialised nation. He said that until people develop an innovative and creative mind, India cannot be great. And this would not come automatically, but needs to be nurtured for which the responsibility lies with the society itself, former President said.
The former President further said that the youth of the country stand to lose on their valiue in the job market if they are not properly trained and educated. He also warned against the scenario with an abundance of unskilled people in the nation and said that if the sector fails to utilise the huge forces, it will create an explosive situation in the country.
The QS I-GAUGE ratings have been modelled after the QS Stars international rating but adopted to capture the reality of the dynamic Indian higher education sector. The QS I-GAUGE rating will provide a unique 360-degree perspective of Indian institutions for higher learning.
Besides, Pranab Mukherjee, NAAC Chairman Virander Chauhan was also present at the event. They also accorded QS I-GAUGE Diamond, Gold and Silver certificates to many universities. These included Banasthali Vidyapith University, Vellore Institute of Technology, Symbiosis Institute of Business Management, Manav Rachna University and MIT College of Engineering among others.

Source: Financial Express dated 23/03/2018

Source Link: http://www.financialexpress.com/education-2/india-lags-in-investment-in-research-compared-to-other-industrialised-nations-corporate-sector-must-do-more-pranab-mukherjee/1108852/

UGC’s norms lead to thriving ‘pay and publish’ business, HRD ministry to remove all bogus journals

The “publish or perish” criterion in the university system has to led to a very high volume of low quality publications, a problem that lowers India’s image in the international academic domain.

A requirement that scholars get at least two research papers published in a University Grants Commission-approved journal before submitting their doctoral theses, coupled with pressure on university teachers to get their research published regularly in academic periodicals, has produced an unexpected side-effect: It has led to a proliferation of dubious journals.
A study to be published in the March 25 issue of Current Science notes a spurt in the number of predatory and dubious journals offering ‘pay and publish’ services to gullible authors.
For the study titled “A critical analysis of the ‘UGC-approved list of journals’”, a team of six researchers, in association with the human resource development (HRD) ministry, analysed 1,336 academic periodicals randomly selected from a list of 5,699 journals in the so-called university-source component. Their conclusion: “Over 88% of non-indexed journals in the university source component of UGC-approved list could be of low quality.”
While the UGC website lists 32,659 journals, university-source journals (5,699) are those which are recommended by various universities in the country, the paper notes. UGC has admitted that it received several complaints about the inclusion of low-quality journals soon after the release of its approved list of journals on June 2, 2017. The UGC has removed a few journals after an evaluation, the paper said.
The dubious publications were identified by the team of researchers that included Bhushan Patwardhan, a professor at the Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU), a special invitee member on the UGC Standing Committee for Notification of Journals and former vice-chancellor of Symbiosis International University. The other academicians who worked on the analysis were Shubhada Nagarkar (Department of Library and Information Science, SPPU), Shridhar R Gadre (Interdisciplinary School of Scientific Computing, SPPU), Subhash C Lakhotia (Department of Zoology, Banaras Hindu University), Vishwa Mohan Katoch (Rajasthan University of Health Sciences, Jaipur) and David Moher (Centre for Journalology, Clinical Epidemiology Program, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa).
Out of the 1,336 journals studied, 897 were disqualified from the UGC- approved list of journals by the human resource development ministry for providing false information such as an incorrect ISSN (International Standard Serial Number), making false claims about the impact getting published in their pages would have, indexing in dubious databases, poor credentials of editors and non-availability of information such as an address, website details and names of editors. Papers published in the disqualified journals will not be considered valid.
 “It is an alarming situation that such a huge percentage of the journals are bogus. Globally, it hampers the image of our country,” Patwardan said.
The HRD ministry has adopted a very positive approach to dealing with the issue “and has decided to remove all the bogus journals from the UGC list shortly,” Patwardhan said .
The paper also cites two research studies published in Nature and Nature India last year which found that “a large number of predatory journals and associated articles originate in India” after analysing 1,907 articles published in 200 journals.
The UGC regulations, modified in 2013, mandated publication of at least two papers in journals prior to submission of a doctoral thesis. The “publish or perish” criterion also applies to career advancement in the university system.
Reports of unethical practices in publishing of research papers, leading to an increase in the number of predatory, dubious and low-quality journals have been surfacing over the years, which was why the study was initiated,Patwardhan said.

Source: Hindustan Times dated 25/03/2018

Source Link: https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/ugc-s-norms-lead-to-thriving-pay-and-publish-business-hrd-ministry-to-remove-all-bogus-journals/story-K3YkthqMjH35Dxl6r7cCOM.html

H-1B visa application to begin from April 2, premium processing stopped

Petitions for H1-B visas, popular among Indian IT professionals, will be accepted from April 2, a federal agency announced on Wednesday.

The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) also announced the suspension of premium processing of all H-1B petitions, which are subject to the annual caps.

The H1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise. The technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year from countries like India and China.

Source: https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/h-1b-visa-application-to-begin-from-april-2-premium-processing-stopped/story-NLw7Irchj1V7UWC4FjoM2L.html

To read more: Hindustan Times dated March 21, 2018

In a historic decision, 60 Higher Educational Institutions granted autonomy by UGC : Shri Prakash Javadekar

In a historic decision today, the University Grants Commission has granted autonomy to sixty Higher Educational Institutions which have maintained high academic standards. This was announced by the Minister of Human Resource Development, Shri Prakash Javadekar at a media briefing in New Delhi today. Shri Javadekar said that the Government is striving to introduce a liberalized regime in the education sector and emphasis is on linking autonomy with quality. 

Giving further details, Shri Prakash Javadekar said that the sixty Higher Educational Institutions which have been granted autonomy includes 52 Universities i.e. 5 central universities, 21 state universities, 24 deemed universities, and 2 private universities. Shri Javadekar explained that these universities will remain within the ambit of  UGC but will have the freedom to start new courses, off campus centers, skill development courses, research parks and any other new academic programs. 

They will also have the freedom to hire foreign faculty, enroll foreign students, give incentive based emoluments to the faculty, enter into academic collaborations and run open distance learning programmes.

Source: http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=177751

To read more: http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=177751

March 21: International Day of Forests

Image Source: https://viralknot.com/slogans-save-trees/ (Accessed on 21/03/2018)

International Day of Forests: 21 March 2018. The United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 21 March the International Day of Forests (IDF) in 2012. The Day celebrates and raises awareness of the importance of all types of forests.

References:

www.greeningtheblue.org/event/international-day-forests (Accessed on 21/03/2018)

For More Information:

International Day of Forests (Accessed on 21/03/2018)

Forest Survey of India (Accessed on 21/03/2018)

Workshop on High Impact Presentation Skills

A half day workshop on” High Impact Presentation Skills” was organized by BKC Knowledge Network and Bai Ratanbai Gharda Memorial Library on 16 March, 2018.

The well attended event sourced together nearly 33 participants from most of the well known premier institutions.

Shiv Khera has aptly said “Leadership is about persuasion, presentation and people skills” and this suits all of us in every walk of life and especially in the academic sector.

As we all might agree, our library profession also encompasses all the three P’s stated above by Shiv Khera. We create presentations for orientation to new students, faculty and various committees. A presentation, in essence, could also be a brochure which says “Know Your Library”. Most of us include more of text (textual matter) and less of images. The success of any presentation depends upon the way information is captured (understood) by the audience. So, you might agree that the presentation should be appealing at all times. Very often, we tend to use the same format, layout, design, colour combination, bullets for strong points and our presentation lasts longer in time rather than in the minds of the people.

This workshop which I attended beautifully focused on the art and science of presentation and changed my whole perspective about it.

Dr. Dhanashree Date (Head - IRC, TCS - Mumbai) was the invited speaker for this workshop. Dr. Date shared her insights about “Presentation”. Few very important points shared by her are as follows:

1. Create a story using the 5 W’s - Why, Where, When, Who, Which
2. Make a mental note of the audience and the space of presentation
3. Do not be too loud while presenting as you might drain out the end of the session
4. Take a break after 10 minutes as watching the same presenter for more than 10 minutes dilutes interest
5. During this break, make your presentation interesting by including relevant images or videos
6. Minimize text, use infographics
7. Acknowledge and give due credit to the resources you have used

The workshop was focussed on Presentation Using Pecha Kucha format.

Pecha Kucha is essentially a presentation (software format ) style in which 20 slides are shown for 20 seconds each. This presentation format was devised by Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham of Klein Dytham Architecture.

Pecha Kucha is a very engaging style. I feel that this style of presenting can also be applied to our regular MS Power Point Presentations and Prezi too.

I was fortunate to be a participant of this workshop. Thanks to SFIT and BKCN!

Sucheta