HIGHER EDUCATION
Private sector has a role to play
Harender Raj Gautam
The human resources needed for the development of our country cannot be produced without higher education. India has the third largest higher education system in the world after the United States and China, and we churn out around 2.5 million graduates every year.

Improving the quality of education is a major challenge

High school students perform better with seven-hour sleep
WASHINGTON: Sixteen-eighteen-year olds perform better academically when they shave about two hours off from nine hours of sleep recommended for them by federal guidelines, a new study has claimed. The new study by Eric Eide and Mark Showalter from Brigham Young University is the first in a series of studies where they examine sleep and its impact on our health and education.

Campus Notes
Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar
Science congress held
THE scarcity of proficient science and mathematics teachers and poor education techniques at the school level have resulted in declining trend of the students' interest in taking up science as their career option. Science is still being taught as a very difficult and dry subject, while the poor planning of teaching material, labs and stress of preparation of entrance tests make the things worst, said Dr S.S. Gill, Vice-Chancellor, Baba Farid University of Health Sciences, Faridkot, during the three-day 15th Punjab Science Congress that concluded at Dashmesh Auditorium of the university recently.

n Seminar on emerging trends of law
n Online admission forms
n Carrom tournament

• Admission Deadline

HIGHER EDUCATION
Private sector has a role to play
Harender Raj Gautam

The human resources needed for the development of our country cannot be produced without higher education. India has the third largest higher education system in the world after the United States and China, and we churn out around 2.5 million graduates every year. India’s public spending on education continues to be abysmally low at just 0.6 per cent of the GDP in contrast with 1 per cent in the US and 0.9 per cent of the GDP in the UK. Similarly, spending on research and development (R&D) is also 0.9 per cent of the GDP, which is very low in comparison to developed countries.

In India, it is a daunting task to accelerate the pace of higher education as Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) is only 12.4 per cent. In comparison, in developed nations it ranges from 44 to 86 per cent. Among developed countries, Finland has the highest GER of 86 per cent. Some of the major countries like the US (82 per cent) and Russia (75 per cent) have also a higher reach of higher education to the majority of eligible students. This is the major difference between developed countries and developing ones, which makes a huge difference in the ability to create a critical mass of students in higher education to further create national wealth. If we want to accelerate the pace of growth in our country and create a niche with cutting edge technologies, we have to increase the numbers in higher education exponentially.

In India, the public spending per student is as low as $1162 (approx. Rs 58,000), whereas the corresponding amount is $10,616 in the US and $10,060 in the UK. In the 11th Five-Year Plan (2007-12), education has been the main focus and consequently, allocation for education has been stepped up from around 7.7 per cent of budgetary support in the 10th Plan to over 19 per cent. It is going to be a more than five-fold increase in spending on education. But, by these efforts, the government will reach only 15 per cent GER by the end of the 11th Five-Year Plan. India requires more than 27,000 additional institutions of higher learning to meet the ambitious target of GER of 30 per cent by the year 2020. The figure of 27,000 institutions includes 14,000 colleges of general higher education, 12,775 additional technical and professional institutions and 269 additional universities. The Centre and states cannot achieve this alone with their meagre resources at hand. Therefore, there is need for private participation to bring investment in the education sector to create the requisite infrastructure for such a gigantic task.

In government institutions of higher education, 80 per cent of funding comes from the Central and state governments. In these institutions, tuition fee contribution remains very low. In India, percentage of tuition fee in the total expenditure on higher education was 19 per cent in 2007, while in the US it was 36 per cent. In comparison to developed countries, 75 per cent of these institutions are charging very low fee which is less than Rs 50,000 per student per annum. In case of technical education, however, the tuition fees may range from 1.5 to 4 lakh per student per annum. On the contrary, in the West, student fees contribute very less to the total income of a private institution. In Yale, this contribution is only 19 per cent as against 95 per cent in Indian private higher education institutions, like Manipal University.

About three decades back, states like Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh showed courage by opening up the higher education sector, particularly technical and medical education, to the private sector. These two states became the largest suppliers of skilled software and hardware engineers. Trained human resources have changed the economy of Hyderabad and Bangalore which are now respected all over the world as centres of the new knowledge economy. Of course, now other states are also following suit. Himachal Pradesh has made strides in this direction by opening 14 universities in the private sector. The emphasis on higher education has resulted in 18 per cent GER in the state which is a matter of pride for this hill state. Research and development is a key area of technology development and here the role of industry is important. Presently, the industry is contributing 25 per cent of expanses in R&D which should also be increased.

Improving the quality of education is the major challenge, particularly when the participation of private sector in education sector is on the rise. The adviser to the Prime Minister has stated that at least 90 per cent of Indian universities are providing below par education. These institutions have been established with the laws enacted in the state legislatives and, therefore, there should be statutory regulatory authorities in the state to continuously monitor the functioning, quality and affordability of the fees of these institutions. As the Central government is allowing foreign universities to open their campuses in India, there is going to be a tough competition and consequently, the quality of education is likely to improve. Private institutions will have to ensure quality to retain the best faculty and to remain in the competition. Thus, our country needs the participation of private entrepreneurs and industry to give a desired push to higher education.

The writer is Senior Scientist at Dr Y. S. Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan

High school students perform better with seven-hour sleep

WASHINGTON: Sixteen-eighteen-year olds perform better academically when they shave about two hours off from nine hours of sleep recommended for them by federal guidelines, a new study has claimed. The new study by Eric Eide and Mark Showalter from Brigham Young University is the first in a series of studies where they examine sleep and its impact on our health and education.

“We’re not talking about sleep deprivation,” Eide, the study author said.

“The data simply says that seven hours is optimal at that age,” he said.

Surprisingly, the current federal guidelines are based on studies where teens were simply told to keep sleeping until they felt satisfied.

“If you used that same approach for a guideline on how much people should eat, you would put them in a well-stocked pantry and just watch how much they ate until they felt satisfied,” Mark Showalter said.

“Somehow that doesn’t seem right,” he said.

In the new study, the BYU researchers tried to connect sleep to a measure of performance or productivity. Analysing data from a representative sample of 1,724 primary and secondary school students across the country, they found a strong relationship between the amount of sleep youths got and how they fared on standardized tests.

“We don’t look at it just from a ‘your kid might be sleeping too much’ perspective,” Eide said.

“From the other end, if a kid is only getting 5.5 hours of sleep a night because he’s overscheduled, he would perform better if he got 90 minutes more each night,” he said.

The size of the effect on test scores depends on a number of factors, but an 80-minute shift toward the optimum is comparable to the child’s parents completing about one more year of schooling.

“Most of our students at BYU, especially those that took early-morning seminary classes in high school, are going to realise that nine hours of sleep isn’t what the top students do,” Showalter added.

The study has been published in the Eastern Economics Journal. — ANI

Campus Notes
Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar
Science congress held

THE scarcity of proficient science and mathematics teachers and poor education techniques at the school level have resulted in declining trend of the students' interest in taking up science as their career option. Science is still being taught as a very difficult and dry subject, while the poor planning of teaching material, labs and stress of preparation of entrance tests make the things worst, said Dr S.S. Gill, Vice-Chancellor, Baba Farid University of Health Sciences, Faridkot, during the three-day 15th Punjab Science Congress that concluded at Dashmesh Auditorium of the university recently. More than 500 scientists and researchers participated in the science congress which was organised by Guru Nanak Dev University in collaboration with the Punjab Academy of Sciences, Patiala. Renowned scientist Prof. Yashpal, who was honoured with the Life Time Achievement Award for his contribution to the field of science, emphasised that innovative scientific ways must be used to achieve Vision 2020 and Vision 2025, which recommended eradication of poverty, providing good education, water and hygiene for all citizens. Meanwhile, a book on the life of Vice-Chancellor, Prof. A.S. Brar, entitled Profound Pursuits, was also released by Prof. Yashpal on the occasion to mark the 65th birth Anniversary of Prof. Brar.

Seminar on emerging trends of law

Some provisions of law meant for the welfare of society are now being misused, said Justice Sabina, Judge, Punjab and Haryana High Court, in her lecture during a seminar organised by the Department of Law at Guru Nanak Dev Bhawan Auditorium here. The seminar "Emerging Trends of Law and Social Justice" was sponsored by the Indian Council for Social Science Research, Chandigarh. Justice Sabina, who was the chief guest on the occasion, said: "The Judges being the custodians of the Constitution should make sure while pronouncing judgement to keep the sanctity of the sensitive provisions of law like Section 304-B, Section 498-A Indian Penal Code 1860, which basically focus on the overall welfare of society." While addressing the gathering of over 100 participants from all over India, Justice Sabina also threw light on the role of media, euthanasia, mercy killing and honour killing. Professor Ashwani K. Bansal in his keynote address said mere pronouncements would not mean that justice had been done, but the proper follow-up of their implementation also commanded equal importance.

Online admission forms

Guru Nanak Dev University has announced to accept the online submission of admission forms and fees from private candidates for postgraduate courses for the session 2011-12. According to Prof. R.K. Mahajan, Professor In charge, (Examinations), the admission forms and requisite fee will be accepted till February 15, including three days of grace period. Students can submit their admission forms and fees at the university website www.gnduadmissions.org. Meanwhile, the university will hold the examinations of the second semester of postgraduate courses for private candidates from May 7.

Carrom tournament

The Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences won both the men's and women's titles during the Guru Nanak Dev University Inter-Departmental Men and Women Carrom Tournament held on the university campus recently. In the men's section, the Pharmaceutical Science Department and the Commerce and Business Management Department grabbed four points each, yet the pharmaceutical team was declared first on the tiebreaker basis. The Food and Technology Department bagged the third position in these competitions with two points. Similarly, in the women's section, the Pharmaceutical Department bagged first place with six points, the Department of Food Sciences and Technology remained at the second position with four points, while the Computer Science and Engineering Department stood third with two points. Professor P.K. Shejpal, Dean, Students' Welfare, presided over the valedictory function and gave away trophies to the winners.

— Contributed by G.S. Paul

Admission Deadline
Civil Services

Union Public Service Commission, Dholpur House, Shahjahan Road, New Delhi 110069
www.upsc.gov.in / www.upsconline.nic.in

Engineering

IT

Management

Indian Institute of Management, Prabandh Nagar, Off Sitapur Road, Lucknow - 226 013, Uttar Pradesh
www.iiml.ac.in / www.relianceworld.in

General Management Programme for Executives (GMPE) (1 Year, Part Time)

Recruitment

Scholarship

Sciences – Biological

Sciences – General

Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore 560012, Karnataka
www.iisc.ernet.in/ug

Travel & Transportation

Board of Examinations for Seafarers Trust, 403/404, Great Eastern Galleria, Plot 20, Sector – 4, Nerut (W), Navi Mumbai – 400076, MH
www.seafarers.edu.in

Common Entrance Test for GP Rating Course (July 2012 Entry)

University