Higher Education in India

All quiet on the MHRD front

The Narendra Modi government at the Centre has completed three years and a couple of months, that is more than half of its term and yet if we venture to count its achievements in the Higher Education sector then we will really have to strain our mind to an extreme to find an example.

The two examples that come immediately to my mind, worth citing, are the National Institutional Ranking Framework the first edition which was launched on 4^th April, 2016 and the Higher Educational Financing Agency which has its roots in the past.

The third venture that the government took up with much fanfare was the drafting of a New Education Policy, though the seeds of it were sown during the previous Congress rule. The Minister of State Jitin Prasad had, during the 62^nd meeting of the Central Advisory Board of Education on 10^th October 2013 welcomed the proposal to have a new “Education Commission” and a new National Testing Agency. The proposals were left to be deliberated and worked out in detail in consultation with all stakeholders.

The MHRD under the Narendra Modi government decided to have a New Education Policy instead of an “Education Commission”. A committee was appointed under T.S.R Subramanian which fretted for six months and then submitted its report to the HRD Minister on May 7, 1016. more

Kerala Guv blocks Bill, averts major clash with Centre and Apex court

A view of Kerala Assembly

NEW DELHI : On Saturday, April 7 Kerala Governor P Sathasivam averted a major head-on clash between the Left Democratic Front (LDF) coalition government of Kerala and the Centre, and at the same time with the apex judiciary. The Governor declined to approve the Kerala Professional Colleges (Regulation and Admission in Medical Colleges) Bill 2018 which sought to legalise admissions made by two private medical colleges, openly defying the MCI and the Supreme Court orders. The Bill sought to regularise 180 MBBS admissions made in 2016-17 by two private medical colleges owned by minority heavy-weights. The admissions, made by Kannur medical college and Karuna Medical College, were declared illegal by the MCI as well as the Apex Court. more

:: TOP STORIES ::

UGC told to make dept-wise roster of faculty posts
NEW DELHI : The government has asked the UGC to make a department-wise roster of faculty posts reserved for SC and ST candidates, instead of having an institution-wise table. more

Madras HC orders Centre, state not to allot PG medical seats
CHENNAI: On April 17 the Madras High Court directed the Director General of Health Services, New Delhi and Tamil Nadu’s state selection committee not to allot PG medical seats to any students. more

Uproar in Hyderabad over Private Universities Bill
HYDERABAD : Osmania University Teachers’ Association and students from many colleges and universities here staged a rowdy protest against the Private Universities Bill tabled in Assembly. more

TN introduces 2 Bills to streamline VCs' appointments
CHENNAI : On July 8 two Bills were introduced in Tamil Nadu Assembly
to specify qualifications for the vice-chancellors of the state universities and to set a time limit for the process of appointment. more

:: KEY STORIES ::

DELHI GOVT TO STOP FUNDING TO 28 DU COLLEGES

punjab private varsities want laissez-faire

re-recognition of distance edu courses opposed
NO FACULTY, FACILITIES IN NEW PVT. MEDICAL COLLEGES
ENGINEERING LOSES LURE AS BOYS TURN TO HUMANITIES

52% IIT ENTRANTS QUALIFIED BY SELF-STUDY : REPORT


AIIMS cardiologist is ICMR chief
NEW DELHI : On April 10 the Union cabinet approved the appointment of Balram Bhargava, a senior AIIMS cardiologist, as the director-general of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). more

SC rejects KEA 10-year rule on med admission
NEW DELHI : On April 4 the Supreme Court declared as invalid the Karnataka government notification necessitating 10-year study in the state as a precondition for admission to postgraduate medical/dental college government quota seats. more

Vineet Joshi leaves CBSE, made NTA DG
NEW DELHI : Manipur cadre 1992 batch IAS officer Vineet Joshi was appointed Director-General of newly created National Testing Agency (NTA) on March 30. His appointment is for five years, a government order said. more

Rakesh Bhatnagar new BHU vice-chancellor
	VARANASI : On March 28 Prof Rakesh Bhatnagar took over as Vice-Chancellor of Banaras Hindu University following a brief puja and said he would work on the lines of Narendra Modi to create a world class academic atmosphere in the institution. more

Govt says NTA to hold JEE, NEET from 2019
NEW DELHI : The National Testing Agency (NTA) will come into operation soon and would initially hold "those entrance examinations," which are currently being conducted by the CBSE, Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Prakash Javadekar told the Lok Sabha on March 26. This, he said, will relieve the CBSE from the burden of holding multiple tests every year. "The NTA will conduct the first set of examinations from 2019 onward," he said more.