32 professional colleges to be shut down soon

HYDERABAD : The education industry in the state seems to be going bust. Unable to attract students and faculty and not being in a position to maintain the required standards, at least 32 engineering and business management colleges have thrown up their hands and called it a day. Accordingly, the state government has given a green signal to these 32 institutions to shut shop and not admit students from the academic year 2012-13.

It is for the first time that so many colleges are folding up in the state, in sharp contrast to the trend a decade ago when engineering colleges, business schools and pharmaceutical colleges sprang up all over the state. The No Objection Certificates (NOCs) to 21 of the colleges to close down were issued in January while the remaining ones were allowed to close down in February.

Among the colleges going out of business are five engineering, nine MBA, 14 MCA, three pharmacy and one 1 PGDM colleges. The list includes the much publicized colleges such as Malla Reddy Institute of Management Sciences, Secuderabad, Rajahmundry Engineering College, Rajahmundry, Narasimha Reddy PG College, Medchal, Asian School of Business, Ranga Reddy, St Francis Institute of Computer Sciences, Qutbullapur and Anantapur Institute of Management & Sciences.

The closure of these colleges is the result of the crisis that set in the technical education field in the state, which was the pioneer in the mass-scale establishment of professional colleges, said sources.

"Even though there is not a single town in the state that does not have an engineering college, very few are known for their quality education. So, students prefer ordinary degree courses over the substandard engineering colleges," sources in the department of technical education told TOI.

According to the sources, 45 per cent of the seats in the engineering colleges are lying vacant, while the vacancies in business management courses are 38 per cent and 45 per cent in MCA. By the next financial year, many more colleges may call it quits, they added.

The lack of qualified faculty, inability of these institutes to maintain the standards set by All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), the apex body that controls the technical, MCA and MBA courses in the country, and the inability of these institutions to pay the salaries fixed by the AICTE have also compounded the issue. "There are colleges which have not paid salaries of the faculty for months," said a lecturer from an engineering college on the outskirts of Hyderabad. Technical education commissioner S Balasubramanyam confirmed to TOI that letters of NOC were issued to 32 colleges for their closure.

Meanwhile, the trend is not unique to Andhra Pradesh alone. The decline of technical education has also set in other states as well, albeit in a small way.

According to D Purandeswari, Union minister of state for human resources development, around 134 business schools across the country are facing closure. Till now, the 134 business management institutions have submitted applications to the AICTE for closure of programmes due to various reasons including poor strength of students.

Last week, Purandeswari informed the Lok Sabha that with 32 such cases, Andhra Pradesh tops the list of colleges shutting shop followed by Rajasthan, where 25 institutions are on the verge of closure. "There are 18 such institutions in Uttar Pradesh, while 14 B-Schools of Maharashtra have requested the AICTE to allow them to down the shutters. The other states are Madhya Pradesh (8), Gujarat (7), Haryana (7), Karnataka (6), Chhattisgarh (5), Punjab (4), Tamil Nadu (2), Himachal Pradesh (1) and Uttarakhand (1)," she said.

Source : TOI

Take project work seriously

Project work gives confidence to face campus interviews, finds Sumit Bhattacharjee

At a recent campus drive in a corporate engineering college conducted by a software major, a student was asked about his project work. Confidently, the student discussed about the project that he had done on VLSI design. The HR executives were shocked. Not by students articulation or the depth of his knowledge. They were surprised to find that two other students had talked about the same project from the same batch.

Well, such situation arises when the project work is taken as a mere ‘ritual' and not dealt with seriously, says the principal of GMR Institute of Technology (GMRIT) C.L.V.R.S.V. Prasad.

Project work is part of the engineering curriculum and the students have to submit a project on one academic topic during the second semester in the final year. “Most of the students take it very lightly, and projects can be bought for a sum. There is a full-fledged industry surviving on this. Pay a sum and acquire a project on any topic and if a student cannot buy it, just do the ‘cut and paste' job from the internet or copy a friend's project. What they do not realise is the importance of it,” says Prof. Prasad.

The basic objective of the project is to make the students apply their academic knowledge in a real life scenario.

“Students should treat projects as an integral part of their academics. It gives them confidence, as the exposure in a project allows them to apply their mind and creativity. A serious approach towards project can take them a long way, not only it helps them during interviews but also during their career,” says V.S.R.K. Prasad, principal of Anil Neerukonda Institute of Technology and Sciences (ANITS).

The principal adds that understanding the application of theoretical knowledge in practice is essential for engineering students. “A chemical engineer would learn about the function of refineries in the theory class. But how exactly the crude oil is refined to get the final outcome can be understood only by doing a project. The application of the chemical process, the temperature and the pressure required, the by products, the use of various valves and the measurements can be understood only through a project,” he adds.

Former Vice - Chancellor of JNTU (Kakinada) Allam Appa Rao points out that the area of project work is what that separates the Indian colleges from the ones in the US. “In the US the system is 3+3 (3 theory + 3 practical), whereas in India it is 6 theory and 2 practical. We load our students with theory and neglect the practical or project work. Even the teachers are tuned to complacency in regard to projects. It is through projects that one can engage his or her knowledge and creativity by dealing with real life problems,” says Prof. Appa Rao.

The V-C adds that projects are not only essential, but the students should take up the challenge of accepting projects concerning new areas of technology or build upon futuristic ideas.

Being a little harsh, the former Head of the Department of Computer Science Engineering in Andhra University College of Engineering P.S. Avadhani says, “if you do not take your project seriously, it will be very difficult to get a good job.”

The professor advises the students to think and finalise the project idea by the second semester in the third year. “Always think of doing a project on the latest trends in technology. A computer science student can think of doing a project on .NET, Android based project or HTML based project. Work on realistic application based projects - like how to automate the library or how to generate student ID cards. Students can also think of working on HTML 5. Computer science students can ponder upon system level projects also, as it is on demand by the industry at present,” says Prof. Avadhani.

On how to generate interest among the students on projects, Prof. C.L.V.R.S.V. Prasad says that institutions and teachers should take it up seriously. “The students should be made to do the project within the college under the mentorship of a teacher.”

Source : Hindu

Colleges give attendance for Rs.15K : 100 engineering colleges Found to be involved in attendance scam

Nearly 100 engineering colleges affiliated to JNTU-Hyderabad were found to have been involved in an “attendance scam”. The college managements would tell students that they could not appear for examinations because they were short on attendance. They then collected up to Rs 15,000 from each student to get the him/her exempted from the attendance requirement.

JNTU-Hyderabad had introduced the rule regarding attendance in order to improve standards in engineering education. But some college managements exploited this rule and used it to extort money from students. JNTU will issue show cause notices to principals of the engineering colleges concerned on the issue.

Nearly 2.3 lakh students have registered for the ongoing B.Tech semester exams. Of them, nearly 2,500 students were learnt to have been detained by some colleges despite having sufficient attendance. The modus operandi was to exclude the attendance of students who participated in activities such as technology events, sports meets, national seminars, field trips, education trips etc. Some colleges even marked the students as “absent” when they appeared for the semester exams, mid-term exams, supplementary exams etc., in other colleges, where exam centres were allotted.

Colleges illegally detain students
Though the attendance norms of JNTU-Hyderabad clearly stipulate that students engaged in activities such as sports meets, national seminars, etc., should be marked as “present”, the managements of colleges affiliated to the university ignored this directive with an eye to fleecing the students later.
The attendance scam came to light when some 110 students detained by DRK College of Engineering and Technology, located on the city’s outskirts, recently complained to JNTU officials that the management is forcing them to pay up to Rs 15,000 to get attendance exemption.

JNTU, which inquired into the issue, found that out of 110 students detained, around 60 students have the required attendance and are eligible to appear for the exams. Following this, students and parents from other colleges started approaching JNTU with similar complaints. JNTU has found that nearly 100 of its 300 affiliated colleges have illegally detained students.

When contacted, the JNTU-Hyderabad vice-chancellor, Prof. Rameshwar Rao, said: “This is a serious issue. We are investigating thoroughly into the complaints. We will initiate stringent action against the erring colleges. We have already asked the colleges to send the revised attendance sheets of students. Based on that, we are giving opportunity for eligible students to appear for the exams.”

The Controller of Exams, Dr A. Govardhan, urged students to lodge complaints with the university against colleges that violate attendance norms and force students to pay the additional fee to get exemption. “As per norms, there should be 75 per cent attendance. A 10 per cent concession is given on medical grounds. There is no such provision in the university to get attendance exemption by paying a certain amount. If any college does so, it amounts to cheating. My request to such students is to lodge written complaints against the colleges to enable us to initiate action,” he said.


Source : DC

37 pharmacy colleges in State blacklisted

The Pharmacy Council of India (PCI) is said to have blacklisted 37 colleges in the State for making excess admissions in violation of the PCI norms and with the pretext that the AICTE has permitted them so.

The PCI central council meeting held in New Delhi recently is said to have taken the decision as some colleges have admitted 200 students though the original sanctioned strength is only 60. As per the PCI norms, the maximum strength can go up to 100 if the colleges are more than four years old while it has to be 60 for colleges established in the last four years.

K. Ramdass, general secretary of the A.P. Pharmacy Colleges Association, has said that PCI president B. Suresh will be meeting Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy on May 9 along with the managements of pharmacy colleges to discuss the issue of excess admissions. He is also likely to discuss other issues with regard to pharmacy education in the State.

The PCI and AICTE have been at loggerheads over the authority on pharmacy education in the country. While the PCI claims that it should decide on admissions and administrative aspects of pharmacy education, the AICTE maintains that it has the authority to sanction additional seats in the existing colleges apart from sanctioning new colleges.

Source : HINDU

UK PG degree not recognised in India

A UK postgraduate degree, for which thousands of Indian students aspire for every year, is not recognised in India as a PG degree and candidates holding such degrees may be rejected by the varsities for higher studies like Ph.D.

The stand taken by the Association of Indian Universities (AIU) and the British Council that guides Indian students on UK education too seem to corroborate this view. Recently, an Indian student, Himanshu Vyas, applied for a Ph.D programme in an Indian university after completing his M.Sc. in International Business from Nottingham University Business School, University of Nottingham.

However, his application was rejected on the ground that the postgraduate degree he pursued was of one year duration. Realising the problem, Himanshu wrote to the British Council and he got a reply that recognition of overseas degrees in India is guided by Government of India regulations and AIU was the right authority. Moreover, it made it clear that the British Council does not offer equivalence certificates.

When he checked the AIU website, it clearly indicated that Master Degree programmes which are less than two years in duration of foreign universities will not be accorded equivalence and AIU does not issue Equivalent Certificates in such cases. Interestingly, AIU is the only recognised body in India for granting academic equivalence of degrees and diplomas not only within the country but also to other similar bodies in foreign countries.

The website also indicates that the AIU has signed Memorandum of Understanding Arab Republic of Egypt, Russian Federation, Australia, Germany and Sri Lanka. As per the provisions of the MoU, the degrees awarded by the accredited universities of these concerned countries, for the full time programmes offered on the campus of the country of origin are accepted for admission to higher courses by Indian universities on reciprocal basis.

After spending lakhs of rupees for the course, Himanshu is now worried that his dad's money and precious time have gone down the drain.

Ravilochan Singh, Managing Director of Global Reach, a prominent education consultancy, says thousands of students who go to UK are now worried. He says “AIU needs to be presented with facts so that it can change its equivalence system and accords exception to the one year Masters from UK.”

At the same time, he says British Council needs to lobby for recognition of British Masters degrees of one year duration before it begins claiming the British Degrees are globally recognised.

“The least they can do if they fail to do justice to students is to promote their Masters with a clear statutory disclaimer that their degrees are not eligible for further education in India.”

Source : HINDU

7 Pharma colleges blacklisted

The Pharmacy Council of India has cracked the whip on seven pharmacy colleges in the state for admitting more students than permitted. With this, the one-upmanship between the All India Council for Technical Education and PCI over control of pharmacy colleges has taken a new turn.

The PCI has barred admissions to these colleges from the ensuing academic year 2012-13. The PCI has informed the state government that these colleges have violated the Education Regulation Act, 1999, by admitting more students than they were permitted and has asked the government to initiate action against them. It also asked the government not to include these colleges in Eamcet counselling next year.

The managements of these colleges claim that their intake is as approved by AICTE and that PCI’s diktat is unilateral and unjustified. They have urged the PCI to sort out the problem with AICTE. While PCI gives approval for 60 seats in a pharmacy college, AICTE has approved an intake of up to 200 seats. PCI’s contention is that AICTE has given indiscriminate approval to the increase in student intake without conducting proper inspections to see whether the infrastructure and faculty in the colleges is adequate.
Pharmacy Council of India has made it clear that it will not recognise the degrees awarded to students by colleges that gave admissions in excess of the number approved by PCI.

List of the colleges :
1) Sri Vasavi Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, tadepalligudem,w.g dist
2) Bahadur venkatareddy pharmacy college, barkatpura,Hyderabad
3) S. R. College of Pharmacy, Hasanparthy, Warangal
4) Shadan college of pharmacy,hyderabad
5) Malla reddy institute of pharmaceutical sciences,hyderabad
6) K V Subba reddy college of pharmacy,Kurnool
7) Vignan college of pharmacy visakhapatnam

Source : DC

Produce 1 Murthy in 5 yrs, Guv tells JNTU

Governor and Chancellor of Universities E.S.L. Narasimhan on Monday appealed to JNTU-Hyderabad to produce at least one Narayana Murthy in five years. Speaking at the third convocation of JNTU-Hyderabad, where an honorary doctorate was awarded to Mr Narayana Murthy, the founder of Infosys, the Governor said: “Don’t get carried away by statistics like the number of colleges we have and the number of engineers they produce every year. Producing thousands of engineers every year is not important; what matters is the quality of engineers being produced.

“I request the VC, registrar and your faculty members to take an oath today that we will produce at least one Narayana Murthy in five years. Even if you produce one Narayana Murthy in five years, it will be a great achievement.” Mr Narasimhan showed his disapproval of the government’s policy of giving engineering seats to students even if they score zero mark in the entrance exam. “There should be some minimum qualifying marks. What do you expect such students, who score zero mark, to do in classrooms? Do you want to develop an inferiority complex among such students?” he asked.

Private colleges, too, came in for criticism. Higher education had become unaffordable for the common man with college managements collecting huge fees, the governor said. He said: “The time has come to fix a maximum ceiling on the fee being collected by colleges. No college should be allowed to collect above the ceiling. The managements should realise that they have come forward to open colleges to provide education. They should not treat education as a business to make profits and mint money.”

Mr Narasimhan also came down heavily on private college managements for threatening to close down colleges whenever the state government failed to pay scholarship and fee reimbursements. “Why have you opened the colleges? Is it only to make money? Is it correct to threaten closure of colleges and throw students out on the streets?” he questioned. Earlier, Mr Narayana Murthy, who delivered the convocation address, said even though India had the highest number of billionaires in Asia, a large number of people were still languishing in deep poverty, illiteracy, ill-health and malnutrition.

Mr Murthy said: “We have created a political system with incentives for most of our politicians to keep our people poor, illiterate. We have consistently been among lowly-ranked nations in the human development index. Not surprisingly, we rank high in corruption.”

Source : DC

IT courses find favour again

Information technology (IT) and computer science engineering (CSE) streams in engineering colleges are back in focus after a gap of four years. With IT companies hiring the maximum number of engineering graduates this year during campus placements, the demand for IT and CSE courses in top engineering colleges has shot up drastically. Parents have begun searching for IT and CSE seats for their wards in top engineering colleges even before Eamcet is conducted.

Thanks to this trend, engineering colleges are demanding huge premiums ranging between Rs 10 lakh to Rs 20 lakh for seats in the management quota, while the government prescribed fee is Rs 95,000 per annum. The B.Tech seats in IT and CSE streams, which were most sought-after during 2001-2008, have found few takers since 2009. For the past four years, the colleges have been struggling to fill these seats due to reduced job opportunities, mainly since 2009, on account of recession and global slowdown in the IT sector. The poor response forced several colleges to apply to the AICTE seeking permission for closure of IT and CSE branches.

However, the situation has turned around for IT and CSE streams once again since the placement season which began in September 2011 and ended in March this year. “About 90 per cent of the jobs have been offered by IT companies alone during the recently concluded placement season. The major recruiters were Infosys, Cognizant and Wipro, while all other sectors contributed only 10 per cent of the jobs,” said Dr Rajeshwar Reddy, chairman of Anurag Group of Colleges.

The IT firms have also announced robust recruitment plans for the ensuing placement season. “The positive job outlook in the IT sector has contributed to an increased demand for IT and CSE seats. However, this is not the case in all colleges,” pointed out P. Ravi Kumar, an education counsellor. “Only those colleges, which figure in the top-50 list are getting enquiries since the recruiters give utmost priority to the standards being maintained by the colleges in imparting engineering education.

Source : DC

State varsities fail to comply with RTI

HYDERABAD: Educational institutions in the state have turned out to be one of the biggest violators of the Right to Information Act. About 11 educational institutions, mainly universities, have failed to furnish the mandatory information as part of section 4 (1) (b) of the RTI act to the Information Commission. Every state government body is supposed to provide their complete details to the commission, which then uploads it on their website. This information includes details such as the functions and budget allocation of the organization, role, designation and remuneration details of all the employees, important documents held by the department among others.

The erring institutions are JNTU, Anantapur, Jawaharlal Nehru Architecture and Fine Arts University, Hyderabad, Yogi Vemana University, Kadapa, Satavahana University, Karimnagar, Vikramasimha University, Nellore, Krishna University, Machilipatnam, Mahatma Gandhi University, Nalgonda, Palmuru University, Mahbubnagar, Rayalseema University, Kurnool, B R Ambedkar Open University, Srikakulam and AP Hindi academy. These institutions have also failed to provide the details in their own website, as per the state information commission's annual report for the year 2011.

Surprisingly, the officials of these universities displayed poor knowledge of the Act. "We do regularly send data to the council for higher education and not the information commission," said V Sankar of JNTU-Anantapur when quizzed on the issue.

He later admitted that they were not aware of this particular section of the RTI Act. "If the information commission asks us, then we will work on it," he said. S Khaleel-ur-Rehman, registrar of Jawaharlal Nehru Architecture and Fine Arts University (JNAFAU) said, "If the commission wants us to send any particular information then we can just be briefed about the format and we would oblige."

The information commission has decided to summon the university representatives soon. Jannat Hussain, chief information commissioner of the state, said, "Since they have not been complying with the Act, we will now force them to do so. We will summon them soon and give a time limit to get their act right. Even after several years of the Act, how can they be not aware of it?", Hussain said.

Source : TOI