Yale to groom faculty with IIT, IIM

Ahead of US President Barack Obama's India visit, Yale University will soon ink an agreement with Indian institutes to launch the Yale India Leadership programme to groom academic leadership.

Yale to groom faculty with IIT, IIM



Sources told The Indian Express that the university will sign an MoU with IIT Kanpur and IIM Kozhikode on October 28 to set up two Centers of Excellence in Academic Leadership (CEEAL) — one at IIT Kanpur's Extension Centre in Noida and the other on IIM Kozhikode campus — and launch a series of collaborative exchange programmes in academic leadership.

The MoU will be signed by president of Yale University Richard Levin, Director of IIT Kanpur S G Dhande and IIM Kozhikode Director Debasis Chatterjee and will come into effect from January 1, 2011.



According to the proposed agreement, each institute will appoint two members to a Joint Management Committee to supervise the collaborative efforts. The committee will meet "as and when necessary to review progress in implementation of activities, define new areas and programmes of collaboration and other aspects of the MoU, like funding issues".



Yale, the IIT and the IIM will share scientific, academic and technical information and academic materials related to academic leadership, collaborate to identify opportunities for exchanges and cooperation and conduct joint workshops, seminars, courses and conferences on academic leadership and management.

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"The centres will serve to groom excellent academic leadership in view of the expansion in the education sector in India. The idea is to posit it as a top-notch academic centre, which will have international academics flying down to help develop and conduct programmes for Indian academia," said an official.



The proposed agreement is significant in view of the urgent need to address the issues of quality of faculty as well as the fact that finding a good vice-chancellor is no longer an easy task. So, officials said, there is a pressing need to groom faculty and academic leadership to take on bigger roles.

Source: Indian Express

Online CAT: Do's and Don'ts

The most pressing question on the minds of students appearing for the examination is ‘How do I tackle the Online CAT?’




The most obvious aspect of the 'Online CAT' that concerns students is the emphasis on the word 'Online' rather than the the word CAT. Well, the answer is to keep things simple and not to worry about the 'Online' format, instead concentrate on the 'content' of the paper.

CAT is more a test of elimination than a test of selection. The successful candidates often attribute their success to their approach -- a poised and calm mind, avoid errors and do not fall into the traps that the exam often surprises you with. This article will address the common errors that students make in the run-up to CAT.

Some of the common errors are as follows:



Error#1: Preparing only for select topics

One of the serious flaws in the approach over the years has been to narrow down the syllabus and prepare only for select topics based on questions that have appeared in the past few years of CAT. CAT has been an extremely unpredictable examination and is known to spring a surprise every year. There is a high probability that topics or areas that have not had much of a weightage in recent years might make a comeback. Therefore it is in the best interest of students to prepare for all topics.

Error#2: Speculating on the composition of the paper

CAT is known to ask questions from a wide assortment of test areas and therefore there is no point speculating as to what might happen this year. The IIMs have hinted that there will be 'around' 60 Qs across three sections: Verbal, Quantitative and Logic & Data Interpretation in CAT2010.

Error#3: Overdose of mocks

Most students believe that the best way to prepare is to take as many mocks as possible. Repeated mock tests only highlight the same weaknesses and if students are not analysing their mistakes and rectifying them, then there will not be any major improvement in their performance. Therefore, a thorough analysis of every mock test will yield far better results than taking a large number of such tests.



Error#4: Missing out on items to be carried to the examination centre

This year, students should carry their Admit Card, the CAT Voucher, a Valid Photo identity (any among Driver's License, Passport, PAN Card, Voter ID, College ID, Employee Identification Card or a notarised affidavit with photo, signature, date of birth and residential address) and a valid document as proof in case the student belongs to the SC/ST categories.

Error#5: Blind guessing

It is has been observed in 'experimental' conditions that blind guessing almost always leads to a negative/low score, therefore avoid blind-guessing and marking answers indiscriminately. However, if you are able to eliminate two/three choices (out of the four or five) on proper reasoning, then, it is not advisable to leave out the question even if you do not know how to solve it.



Error#6: Unequal distribution of time across sections

The IIMs calls only those students who manage to clear the cut-offs in each section of CAT and also the overall cut-off. To meet this objective it is imperative that you spend equal amounts of time across all three sections to give yourself enough opportunity to clear the cut-off in every section.

Error#7: Not having a buffer time

This year the exam will be for 135 minutes and a good time allocation strategy would be 40 minutes across three sections with 15 minutes of buffer time. The buffer is required to cushion against bad performance in any one section or to tackle a section that is exceptionally difficult, or one where the student is not confident of clearing the cut-offs.



Error#8: Targeting a specific number of Qs to clear cut-offs

Targeting a pre-set number of questions to clear the cut-offs is not a great strategy, as the cut-offs are a function of the difficulty level of the section and the paper. Hence, one can decide to attempt a certain number of questions during the exam but not before.

(The author, Sai Kumar, is director of TIME Mumbai, a coaching centre for MBA aspirants)

Source: Business Standard

Govt clears pay hike for professors at IITs, IIMs

Yielding to the year-long demand of IIT faculty members, the Centre has decided to offer experienced and senior faculty members a Higher Administrative Grade (HAG) Pay of Rs 67,000-Rs 79,000 — the highest government pay scale accorded at the Additional Secretary level since the Sixth Pay Commission came into effect.





The move is good news particularly for professors.

In its earlier order, dated August 18, 2009, the HRD Ministry had said that those appointed as professors must have a PhD with first class or equivalent with a very good academic record and a minimum of 10 years of experience with an academic grade pay of Rs 10,500 per month.

Forty per cent of these every year, the ministry order had said, would be eligible to move to Academic Grade Pay (AGP) of Rs 12,000 per month after six years of regular service in AGP of Rs 10500 per month subject to performance evaluation based on research publications, PhD supervision, teaching and consultancy services, etc.



Now, in a new order dated September 15, 2010, the Ministry has said that instead of movement up to AGP of Rs 12,000 per month, 40 per cent of the professors would move to HAG.

"It has now been decided in consultation with the Department of Expenditure to extend the HAG scale of Rs 67,000-Rs 79,000 without any Grade Pay in place of AGP of Rs 12,000 per month. The AGP of Rs 12,000 per month does not exist anymore," the HRD notification states.



The IIT teachers, during their agitation last year, had sought a HAG pay or higher for senior faculty. "We are glad this has been notified. This was one of our key demands, which has been much delayed by the Ministry," Prof M Thenmozhi, president, All India IIT faculty Federation, said.



Recently, members of the IIT faculty federation had also met HRD Minister Kapil Sibal, demanding HAG and its implementation from 2006 with retrospective effect.

They also wanted it to be extended to larger sections of faculty and not only to 40 per cent of the professors.



The new pay-scale will apply to professors at IITs, Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore, Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), National Institute of Industrial Engineering (NITIE), Mumbai and Indian Institutes of Science Education & Research (IISERs).

Source: Indian Express