LIRC@SFIT

Thursday, 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

AICTE nod to special body for edu rankings

The Union Human Resource Development (HRD) ministry is considering setting up a specialised body, India Rankings Society, to rank Indian education institutions and help them improve in areas where they are found lagging.

The All India Council of Technical Education approved this in a meeting on Wednesday.

In 2015, the HRD ministry launched the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) to address the need for an authentic ranking mechanism for educational institutions.

In the absence of a specialized body, the National Board of Accreditation (NBA) was given the task. “Although the NBA has done a commendable job, it was assigned this task in addition to its already defined job of accreditation. Secondly, it is envisaged that the specialized rankings society will also guide institutions to perform better on the parameters on which they are found lagging,”a senior HRD official said on condition of anonymity.

The plan is to have universities, engineering, medical, pharmacy, and law colleges, and business schools ranked by the new body.

Significantly, the Modi government has focused extensively on improving the global ranking of Indian institutions. In its first term it launched an Institutions of Eminence programme aimed at increasing the number of Indian educational institutions in global rankings.

“The AICTE in its meeting today has given its in-principle nod to the proposal to set up the India Ranking Society,” said Anil D Sahasrabudhe, chairman of the AICTE.

In 2017, the HRD ministry set up the National Testing Agency as a premier, specialist, autonomous and self-sustained testing organization to conduct entrance examinations in higher educational institutions.

According to the HRD official cited above, the ministry may follow the IIM model in setting up the national rankings body.

In another decision, AICTE said it would not allow the opening of more pharmacy colleges in the next two years.

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

Students’ grades to decide teachers’ increments: State’s study draws flak

TEACHERS SAID THAT IT IS UNFAIR TO LINK THEIR PERFORMANCE WITH THE RESULTS OF STUDENTS

MUMBAI: A recently-proposed pilot study by the government to check the feasibility of linking salary increments and promotions of teachers to the academic performance of students has been criticised by educationists.

In a letter issued by the education department on August 19, officials across various districts in the state have been asked to conduct the pilot on 25 teachers in the first phase. The move aims to understand if their performance can be assessed after looking at the learning outcomes of their students for three years.

“Designated officers have to study the feasibility of the move with 25 teachers in their respective districts and submit a report about the same by August 30,” reads the letter.

Teachers slammed the move and said that it is unfair to link their performance with the results of students. “While teachers do take efforts to ensure that their class gets the best possible result, scoring well depends on various other factors like the student’s geographical location and his/her family environment, among others. The performance of teachers should be judged on their sincerity towards teaching, use of innovation and the effort put into training students rather than looking only at learning outcomes,” said Uday Nare, teacher at Hansraj Morarji Public School in Andheri who has recently written to the department against the proposal.

Vandana Krishna, secretary, school education and sports department, could not be reached for a comment despite several calls and messages. An official from the department, however, said that the proposal is only at an initial stage and its implementation would depend on what comes out in the pilot.

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