EDUCATION NEWS – MARCH 2009

Monday, March 02nd 2009
TOEFL Star performer
Creators of the TOEFL Test, Educational Testing Service (ETS) have announced that the new TOEFL star performer programme will be expanded to include test takers since January 2009. Originally it had been specified that only test takers since February 14th would qualify for the star performer programme. The certificate recognizes Indian students with outstanding levels of proficiency achieved in all four communication skills measured by TOEFL; Listening, Speaking, Reading, and Writing. The TOEFL Star performer certificates are available at three levels - gold, silver and bronze. Test takers with a minimum total TOEFL iBT score of 110 and a minimum sectional score of 25 will be awarded the gold certificate.

Tuesday, March 03rd 2009
IIM B placement season gets extended
Day zero at the IIM B campus faced a low turn out of recruiters; a 20-40% drop in salaries has also been noted due to recession.  According to unconfirmed reports, on an average the salaries being offered to freshers is around Rs 6-9 Lakh per annum whereas students with work experience are being offered Rs 10-13 Lakh per annum which is a significant drop from last year's figures. Recruiters from education, KPO, hospitality, retail and phama verticals have visited the IIM B campus. The slowdown has opened up options for start up companies to recruit these graduates. Earlier 40% of the companies who would visit the campus would be from the financial sector, considered to be the most glamorous and lucrative.The placement season seems likely to get extended as more number of companies is expected to visit the campus. IIM A has also entered day six of its placement season and around 200 students have secured offers from the recruiters so far. 

Friday, March 06th 2009
PSUs make a come back at IIM B, A
Going by unconfirmed reports the Indian Institutes of Management seem to be warming to the idea of jobs in Public Sector Undertakings in this placement season. The placement season at many of the IIMs have been dragging on for weeks and these institutes seem to be banking on PSUs to recruit many who haven't had job offers yet. At IIM B students feel that PSUs are a safe bet, many public sector companies are expected to visit the campus next week. A few Companies from other sectors like power, gas and energy are also showing interest. Hospet Steels, Jindal Steel and MSPL (an iron ore mining company) are visiting the IIM B campus. At IIM Ahmedabad, PSUs are said to have taken 41 graduates from the batch of 235 this year. Union Bank of India leads the PSU pack with 18 graduates in its kitty, the next big recruiter being Bank of Baroda, followed by IOCL and BPCL. Further, according to unconfirmed reports the average domestic salary being offered is Rs12.17 Lakh per annum which is drop from last year's Rs17.85 Lakh per annum.

Saturday, March 07th 2009
Global recession hits IIM-C packages
Global recession has hit IIM-C packages and placements this year, slashing pay packets and reducing offers. The recession impacted the company footfall with only 49 visiting in the first phase of placement as against 107 last year. Secondly, compared to 290 offers in 2008, students received 207 this year in both Slot 0 and Slot 1. Out of the 207 offers, 33 were for international locations with assignments in US, UK, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. Prof. Agnihotri of IIM-C said "Getting good companies that will offer good package is definitely difficult in a recession-hit market. The number of good companies turning up is less this year and many international firms affected by the downturn had reduced the number of offers

Monday, March 09th 2009
IIM and IIT alumni to contest Lok Sabha elections
A political outfit which has been floated by the Indian Institute of Technology and the Indian Institute of Management alumni called the Bhartiya Punarnirman Dal (BPD) will be contesting the Lok Sabha elections at 40 seats across the country. The BPD was formed in December 2006. According to a BPD national working committee member, the party has announced eight candidates so far for four seats in Uttar Pradesh, two in Delhi and one each in Andhra Pradesh and Orissa. Growing terrorism and issues of education and jobs are high on the party's agenda. 

Tuesday, March 10th 2009
Foreign MBA students rejected by Bank of America
Dreams of a banking job for many foreign MBA students especially with the Bank of America will not be realized as the Bank has become the first bank in America to withdraw job offers made to international students who will graduate from US Business schools this summer. The reason for this is the government's Troubled Asset Relief Programme - this prevents financial institutions which have received bailout money from applying for H1-B visas if they have recently laid off US workers.

Tuesday, March 10th 2009
IIM B concludes placements
After almost a week into the final placements at the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIM B), the institute announced the conclusion of its placements. According to unconfirmed reports IIM B was successful in placing the full student strength of 249. 97 companies are said to have participated in the final placements with 39 of them being new companies from various sectors.

Wednesday, March 11th 2009
IIM L to hike its fee
The Indian Institute of Management Lucknow has announced a decision to raise its fees for the two-year PGP programme. Officials at the institute stated that the decision to hike fees will be discussed and strategised in a meeting of the board of governors in the third week of March. IIM- L currently charges Rs 5 Lakh for the two year progarmme. Mr. Devi Singh who took charge as the Director of the institute for a second time expressed concern over the meltdown affecting the placements this year. According to unconfirmed reports, 72 companies are said to have visited the campus for a batch of 267 students.

Wednesday, March 11th 2009
IIM C and B conclude placements
In its final placement report for the recently concluded placements on March 7th 2009 at IIM-C, the statistics revealed that 40% of the batch of 265 students opted for Finance portfolios while 21% of the batch opted for profiles in consulting. The average pay package saw a dip from last year's figures. The average domestic salary was seen at Rs 12.7 Lakh. The entire batch of 265 students has been placed as per the placement report. IIM B which concluded its placements after nine days saw 100% placements for its batch of 249 students. According to unconfirmed reports, a total of 97 companies visited the campus. 25% of the batch is said to have accepted positions in consulting, 29% of the batch has opted for Finance portfolios while Marketing lapped up 16%.

Tuesday, March 24th 2009
IGNOU to launch online study guide 
The Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) has launched an IGNOU Online Study Guide (IOSG) for students enrolled with IGNOU. The study guide will help make the programmes a two-way learning activity. Each of the courses on an IGNOU grid wiki will be managed by a course management group. Students who want active guidance on the learning and class related activities can access the education wiki.

Wednesday, March 25th 2009
UGC to make student transfers easy in Universities
The University Grants Commission (UGC) has accepted the 'A.Gnanam' committee report for academic and administrative reforms. The reforms include the introduction of semester system, examination reforms, an inter- institution credit and transfer of students. The Chairperson of UGC Mr. Sukhdeo Thorat has already directed all Vice-Chancellors of central, state and deemed universities to implement these recommendations. The UGC will support the implementation of reforms with grants. The Universities will now be expected to adopt Choice Based Credit System (CBCS) which will enable inter-institution transfer of students after the completion of a semester.

Monday, March 30th 2009
IIM A hikes its fees
The Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad(IIM A) has increased its fees for the two year PGP programme from its previously fixed fee of 11.5 Lakhs to 12.5 lakhs from the next academic year. IIM A had increased its fee only last year. The reason cited for this increase in its annual fees is the rising cost of teaching With the increase, the institute has more than doubled its fee in the past one year. IIM C and B had increased its annual fees in February.

Tuesday, March 31st 2009
Law students from India can now intern in UK firms
A ruling by the Employment Appellate Tribunal which will be significant for all Indian law students since it will allow them to do their internships in UK legal firms. According to the ruling a refusal by a firm to consider applications by non-European Economic Area (EEA) nationals amounted to "indirect racial discrimination". The ruling came about due t a case filed by an Indian student Ashokvardhan Purohit , who accused Osborne Clarke Services, a top UK law firm, of discrimination for automatically rejecting his application for solicitor training on account of his nationality.

Tuesday, March 31st 2009
AICTE agrees to one year MBA programmes
The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has decided to amend its act which earlier did not recognize a one year MBA programme. This act was drawn up in 1987. Till date, all one year courses offered by B Schools were considered unrecognized. Schools like the Indian School of Business (ISB) and Great Lakes School of Business in Chennai which offers a one-year full-time postgraduate programme in management were not recognized by AICTE because of the 1987 act. The institutes have now applied to the AICTE for recognition.