Education News – January 2015

LOUGHBOROUGH UNIVERSITY PARTNERS WITH IITB

* Loughborough University, United Kingdom and Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay aims to develop an academic alliance.
* A memorandum of understanding was signed by Vice Chancellor and President of Loughborough University, Robert Allison and director of Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Devang Khakhar.
* The aim of this alliance is to find solutions to world problems like sustainable buildings, water scarcity, transport and bio-engineering and clean and renewable sources of energy.
* To benefit from the various aspects of research, and help students move freely between the institutes, LU is looking forward to develop placement opportunities, PhD studentships and fellowship schemes.

IISC, BANGALORE RANKED INDIA’S NO.1 UNIVERSITY IN TIMES HIGHER EDUCATION RANKINGS2015
* The Times Higher Education Rankings 2015 has ranked the Indian Institute of Science as number one in the latest rankings from other developing economies and BRICS.
* As per the latest university rankings, IISC Bangalore, Chandigarh’s Punjab University (39), IIT Roorkee (38), IIT Bombay (37) made it to the list.
* IIT Guwahati (98), Aligarh Muslim University (78), IIT Kanpur (74), Jawaharlal Nehru University (71), IIT Delhi (56), IIT Madras (44), and IIT Kharagpur (43) are the other seven universities that made it to the 2015 list, adding to India’s total of 11 institutes this year.
* The yearly tables are based on an extensive range of 13 distinct, rigorous performance measures used to build the definitive THE rankings, encompassing all aspects of the modern university’s core objectives (international outlook, knowledge transfer, research, and teaching).

PARLIAMENT PASSES IIIT BILL
* The Indian Institutes of Information and Technology (IIIT) Bill, 2014, approved by Lok Sabha aims to provide the four IIITs an independent statutory status and intends to declare them as institutes of national significance.
* HRD Minister Smriti Irani assured the house that any decisions on education policy by the government will be within the scope of the constitution.
* This bill is the first education bill approved by the Modi government.
* The four institutes are IIIT Design and Manufacturing, Kancheepuram; IIIT Design and Manufacturing, Jabalpur, IIIT, Gwalior; IIIT Allahabad.

UK GOVERNMENT QUADRUPLES SCHOLARSHIPS FOR INDIAN STUDENTS
* The United Kingdom government has recently announced a four-fold increase in the number of scholarships for Indian students to study in the UK.
* Secretary of State for business, innovation and skills, United Kingdom, Vince Cable declared this at a session on ‘UK and India: Natural Partners for Investment’ conducted by FICCI along with UK Trade & Investment and the British Business Group.
* Mr. Cable said that the United Kingdom government has also decided to set up an alumni fund to encourage Indian students to actively engage in alumni associations.
* This fund would be used to arrange return tickets and bear other expenses of students who wish to participate in alumni activities and strengthen their relationships further with the UK.

UGC INCREASES FELLOWSHIP AND SCHOLARSHIP AMOUNTS
* To support research scholars, the University Grants Commission has raised the basic scholarships and fellowships amount.
* The Senior Research Fellowship’s (SRF) earlier amount of Rs. 18,000 has been hiked up to Rs. 28,000 per month for scholars.
* The Junior Research Fellowship’s (JRF) earlier amount of Rs. 16,000 has been increased to Rs. 25,000 per month.
* The Swami Vivekananda Single Girl Child Scholarships for research in social sciences will be increased from Rs. 8,000 to Rs. 12,400 per month in the first two years and from Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 15,500 per month in the third and fourth year.
* The PG scholarships for GATE in engineering qualified students will be increased from Rs. 8,000 to Rs. 12,400 per year.

 

Volume 4 Issue 7