Technical institute to be ranked on number of startups created

All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has announced some amendments in the existing rules for technical education in India. This is likely to rectify the curriculum, faculty roles and research programmes in technical institutes across the country.

RESEARCH FUNDS

Technical institutes affiliated to AICTE will now have to allocate separate budget for research activities. The notification states that, “We as a nation have been performing fairly well in terms of research; however, most of the contribution is from some elite institutions like IITs, NITs, IISc, IISERs whereas there is lot of potential at the bottom of the pyramid. Allocation of research fund will inspire faculty and students from affiliated colleges, autonomous institutes and state universities to contribute towards research and innovation. This will improve employability potential, more job creation and strengthen the startup ecosystem,” said Anil D Sahasrabudhe, chairman, AICTE.

PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT

At the moment, all the institutions are ranked on the basis of their academic performance and students’ achievement. But, with AICTE’s new rules, technical institutes might soon be ranked as per the number of startups created.

Confirming the news, Sahasrabudhe said, “MHRD innovation cell at AICTE has already initiated AARIA ranking, where focus is on innovation, entrepreneurship and startups. In future, institutes will be recognised by the number of innovative products and number of startups setup annually by an institute rather than mere placement records.”

TEACHER TRAINING

To strengthen the industry-academia synchronisation, AICTE has partnered with a number of organisations to provide industrial training to the teachers.

All the teachers appointed will also have to mandatorily undergo eight online modules of MOOCs on SWAYAM portal as per the AICTE teacher training policy, preferably within the first year of their service. “The aim behind such a programme is to create passion in the field of teaching and profession. The offline courses will also be available in National Institutes of Technical Teachers Training and Research (NITTTRs) and few select universities,” added Sahasrabudhe.

Source: The Times of India dated 11 March, 2019

Aspirants with over 80% disability may be able to study medicine

The health ministry will test a candidate’s percentage of disability while using an assistive device, such as a hearing aid, crutches and prosthetic limb, in deciding on their admission to medical colleges.

In a move that could bring relief to thousands of aspiring doctors who are differently abled, the health ministry will test a candidate’s percentage of disability while using an assistive device, such as a hearing aid, crutches and prosthetic limb, in deciding on their admission to medical colleges.

Currently, candidates with more than 80% disability, without use of assistive device, are not eligible to study medicine. The health ministry listed 21 benchmark disabilities last year for admission to medical colleges.

“If the disability percentage is below 80 with the use of an assisted device, a candidate will be eligible to apply to study medicine. It will be applicable to UG and PG courses,” a health ministry official said on condition of anonymity. The Board of Governors-Medical Council of India (BoG-MCI) approve the proposal last month.

“Yes, we are in the process of putting out a revised notification that will expand the eligibility ambit for students with disability,” confirmed Dr VK Paul, chairperson of BoG-MCI.

With 5% seats across government colleges reserved for persons with disability mentioned under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, around 8,000 UG and 10,000 PG seats are reserved for specially abled candidates who pass NEET. From the 2019-20 session, the number of centres authorised to give disability certificates has also been increased from four to 10.

“This will bring clarity and increase the number of eligible candidates with disabilities,” says Dr Satendra Singh, a disability rights activist and associate professor of physiology, Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital, Delhi.

The minimum degree of disability should be 40% to be eligible for availing of reservation to persons with specified disabilities.

Enabling Rules

The 21 benchmark disabilities under the new rule are: blindness, low-vision, leprosy cured persons, hearing impairment (deaf and hard of hearing), locomotor disability, dwarfism, intellectual disability, mental Illness, autism spectrum disorder, cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, chronic neurological conditions, specific learning disabilities, multiple sclerosis, speech and language disability, thalassemia, hemophilia, sickle cell disease, multiple disabilities (including deaf-blindness), acid attack and Parkinson’s disease.

Source: Hindustan Times dated 11 March, 2019

URL: https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/aspirants-with-over-80-disability-may-be-able-to-study-medicine/story-b6QRGIYmPMOiqnMPoAzQYP.html  (Accessed on 11 March, 2019)

Clinical trials to digitising supply chain: Students’ smart push to biz

BRIGHT MINDS AT WORK Submit tech-based solutions at Matunga management college’s event

MUMBAI: From tracking products in a supply chain to screening candidates for clinical trials accurately, college students across Mumbai have come up with technology-driven ideas to improve businesses.

The solutions were submitted at the recently held Smart India Hackathon at Prin LN Welingkar Institute of Management Development and Research (WIMDR), Matunga recently. Participants said they learnt a great deal about developing solutions in such a short span.

A team of students from Shah & Anchor Kutchhi Engineering College, Chembur, developed a computer programme that can speed up the process for testing medicines before their launch.

The programme uses an algorithm to match the people who are willing to volunteer for a clinical trial. It analyses factors such as a volunteer’s medical history, type of trial, number of trials and their success rate.

“People are reluctant to participate in clinical trials because of the side-effects. Our goal was to increase participation and generate better results from laboratosaid Viraj Modi, one of the students.

Teams from WIMDR and Don Bosco Institute of Technology (DBIT), Kurla, worked towards digitising supply chain managesystem. They suggested using barcodes and QR codes on products to track them by manufacturers, retailers and suppliers.

“Recently, a company wanted to recall products from a particuries,” lar batch after detecting a defect in them. But there was no mechanism to trace the products from the defective batch,” said Roshan James, a student from DBIT.

“The current system of returnment ing expired products by retailers to companies is manual and slow,” said Vipul Bhole, a student from WIMDR.

Another team from WIMDR proposed enhancement of customer experience at large retail shops. It suggested 3D hologram promotion of various products at the stores. The team also proposed installing a touch screen to provide information about various products.

Source: Hindustan Times dated 11 March, 2019

Congratulations Silicon Tribe (SFIT Team) for winning SIH 2019!

Project and Research Help for Faculty and Students of Engineering

VISIT

https://sfitlibrary.blogspot.com/p/project-and-research-help-for.html

Shodhganga: a reservoir of Indian Theses @ INFLIBNET

Research: The word itself implies RE-SEARCH i.e. rebuild, refine and enhance.
Search if it is guided in a proper direction yields fruitful results. As said earlier, to build upon, we need a strong foundation of the already existing literature.

Here's to the first dip in literature - the building blocks

1) Shodhganga

The Shodhganga@INFLIBNET Centre provides a platform for research students to deposit their Ph.D. theses and make it available to the entire scholarly community in open access. The repository has the ability to capture, index, store, disseminate and preserve ETDs submitted by the researcher.

Information Source: http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/handle/10603/118553 (Accessed on 7 March, 2019)

EU, India to step up cooperation in research and innovation

India and the European Union will step up cooperation in research and innovation, according to a statement.

On areas for future cooperation, health research and bio-economy will remain high on the agenda, it said.

Jean-Eric Paquet, Director-General of Research and Innovation, European Commission, co-chaired the 12th EU-India Joint Steering Committee meeting on science and technology along with Ashutosh Sharma, Secretary of DST, here according to an official statement.

India and the EU will step up cooperation in research and innovation, Paquet said here.

To build upon the robust cooperation of the past 20 years, the EU and India intend to renew the India-EU Science and Technology Agreement for another five years, the statement said.

It was also agreed to explore new areas of cooperation to fill the knowledge gap on climate change, on renewable energy in line with Mission Innovation aiming at reducing CO2 through concentrated efforts on energy.

On artificial intelligence, importance of ethical standards was stressed, the statement said.

The EU and India acknowledged their excellent cooperation which was recently boosted by the launch of seven India-EU projects on purification of water and waste water treatment, two on vaccines and one on polar sciences, it said.

Source: https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/science/eu-india-to-step-up-cooperation-in-research-and-innovation/article26447711.ece (Accessed on 7 March, 2019)