Expected Questions in Education & Latest Developments Part 1 (Part - 2)

4th World Summit on Accreditation (WOSA-2018) : World Summit on Accreditation (WOSA-2018) was inaugurated by Union Minister for Human Resource Development (HRD) in New Delhi. WOSA-2018 was organized by National Board of Accreditation (NBA) w⟋main focus (theme) on “Challenges & Opportunities in Outcome Based Accreditation” .

Expected Questions on Higher Education December 2018 - NTA NET Paper 1 (Part 1 of 3)

WOSA-2018 was organized by National Board of Accreditation (NBA) w⟋main focus (theme) on “Challenges & Opportunities in Outcome Based Accreditation” .

WOSA 2018

  • WOSA 2018 provided opportunity for academia & industry to explore avenues for future partnerships & to create environment for open dialogue to facilitate mobility of students & professionals worldwide to gain international experience.
  • WOSA is biennial Summit organized by NBA, which provides platform to stakeholders to share their knowledge & information on accreditation.

Sub-Themes of WOSA 2018:

  • Achieving excellence thru learning outcomes
  • Role of industry in technical education
  • Ranking & rating of higher education institutions - Do they have Role in Quality Improvement
  • Linking govt. funding w⟋quality
  • Use of ICT in accreditation in large jurisdictions

NBA Has Organized 3 Summits in Past

  • 2012 (theme: Achieving Excellence thru Accreditation)
  • 2014 (International Recognition of Education Qualifications)
  • 2016 (Quality Assurance thru Outcome Based Accreditation)

Continuation of Capacity Development Scheme for the Period 2017 - 18 to 2019 - 20

CCEA approved continuation of Capacity Development Scheme for period 2017 - 18 to 2019 - 20.

It is ongoing Central Sector Scheme of Ministry of Statistics & Program Implementation (MoSPI) .

Objective of Capacity Development Scheme - to augment infrastructural, technical as well as manpower resources for making available credible & timely official statistics for policy makers & public at large.

Capacity Development Scheme Consist 2 Sub-Schemes:

Economic Census:

  • It includes listing of all non-agricultural establishments is undertaken periodically, which forms basis for conducting detailed socio-economic surveys.
  • Last Economic Census was conducted during January 2013 to April 2014.
  • Govt. is now aiming to conduct this census once every 3 years in future.

Support for Statistical Strengthening (SSS) :

It seeks to strengthen State & sub-State level statistical systems & infrastructure to facilitate development of robust national system.

National Scholarship Portal App

Union Ministry for Minority Affairs has launched country՚s 1st National Scholarship Portal Mobile App (NSP Mobile App) to provide smooth, accessible & hassle-free scholarship system for students from poor & weaker sections.

Benefits of NSP Mobile App

  • Students will get all information regarding various scholarships on this mobile app
  • They will be able to apply for scholarships sitting in their home.
  • Students can upload necessary documents & can check status of their application, scholarship disbursement etc.
  • Students from far-flung, hilly areas & North East will be mostly benefitted from this app.
  • Students would get scholarships directly in their bank accounts under Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) .

NSP Mobile App

  • Transparent & hassle-free scholarship system has helped in this endeavor by going online.
  • Ministry of Minority Affairs has worked w⟋commitment to “3E- Education, Employment & Empowerment” & “3T-Teacher, Tiffin, Toilet” .

IIT-PAL- Helping Stud. Prepare for JEE Advanced Exam Extended & Made Available by SWAYAM Portal

  • IIT will mentor at least 5 engineering colleges located in its vicinity, in order to improve quality & standard of engineering education in country.
  • IIT - PAL designed to help students in preparing for JEE Advanced Exam would be further extended, & would be made available along w⟋handholding support thru SWAYAM portal.
  • Decisions Taken by IIT Council on Improving Technical Education:
  • IITs will organize annual Tech-Fest demonstrating various innovations & technologies developed by them, at any suitable venue w⟋participation from CEOs from leading public⟋pvt. sector organizations.
  • Issue of vacant seats in M. Tech. programmes in IITs due to student joining Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) after being admitted will be addressed in meeting w⟋CMDs of major PSUs to be held under chairmanship of Minister of Human Resource Development.
  • Committee comprising of Directors of IIT Delhi, IIT Hyderabad & IIT Tirupati is constituted to recommend standards & norms for construction of campuses & infrastructure projects in IITs.
  • Service matters of non-faculty staff in IITs will be decided by respective Board of Governors of IITs subject to their conformity w⟋instructions issued by GoI from time to time.

Unnat Bharat Abhiyan 2.0

Higher Education Institutions of Human Resource Development Ministry under its flagship program - Unnat Bharat Abhiyan (UBA) 2.0 will participate in Gram Sabhas.

IIT Delhi is designated to function as National Coordinating Institute for this program. It is organizing 5 Gram Sabhas in its adopted village Panchayats.

688 institutions are selected on Challenge Mode (426 technical & 262 non- technical) which are reputed Higher Educational Institutes (both public & private) of country, which have adopted 3555 villages for their development thru UBA.

Unnat Bharat Abhiyan 2.0

Aim: To create virtuous cycle b⟋w society & inclusive academic system by providing knowledge & practices for emerging professions & to upgrade capabilities of both public & pvt. sectors in responding to development needs of rural India.

Major Areas of Intervention for Unnat Bharat Abhiyan 2.0

2 major domains:

  • Human development
  • Material (economic) development

National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme 2018

  • Central Govt. launched National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme 2018 (NAPS) for youths.
  • NAPS is national scheme for providing skill training to ITI students⟋Freshers⟋MES Pass-outs⟋PMKVY candidates.
  • Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship is implementing this Skill India initiative.
  • Tagline for NAPS Scheme is “Kaushal Bharat - Kushal Bharat” .
  • All ITI Pass outs⟋Dual Mode Trainee of ITI⟋PMKVY⟋MES⟋Freshers candidates can make registration online
  • All interested apprentices who want to get skill development training can fill online application form for Apprenticeship Scheme at apprenticeship. gov. in.

Details of Financial Incentives

  • 1st time govt. will provide incentives to employers to actively participate in apprenticeship training.
  • Govt. will share 25% of total stipend w⟋employers up to ₹ 1500⟋month per apprentice.
  • Govt. will share training cost w⟋Basic Training Providers up to max. limit of ₹ 7500 for 500 hours⟋3 months per apprentice.
  • Scheme has target to provide training & placements to 50 lakh youth across country till 2019 - 20.

Visvesvaraya PhD Scheme

  • Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology has initiated “Visvesvaraya PhD Scheme for Electronics & Information Technology (IT) “.
  • Scheme is expected to encourage working professionals & non-PhD faculty members to pursue PhD.
  • Objectives of Visvesvaraya PhD Scheme: Enhance number of PhDs in Electronics System Design & Manufacturing (ESDM) & IT⟋IT Enabled Services (IT⟋ITES) sectors in country & to give thrust to Research & Development, create innovative ecosystem & enhance India՚s competitiveness in these knowledge intensive sectors.
  • Scheme provides 25% more fellowship amount than most of other PhD Schemes.
  • Scheme supports 200 Young Faculty Research Fellowships in areas of ESDM & IT⟋ITES w⟋objective to retain & attract bright young faculty members in these sectors.
  • Research by PhD candidates is being done in various emerging technologies areas in domain of Electronics & IT⟋ITES such as Internet of Things, Cyber Security, VLSI Design, Wireless Communications, Cloud computing, Photovoltaic, Artificial Intelligence, Big Data etc.

Autonomy to 62 Universities Granted on the Basis of (NAAC) Ratings

UGC approved proposal to grant full autonomy to 62 higher educational institutions which have maintained high standards of excellence under Autonomous Colleges Regulation.

These 62 higher educational institutions include 5 central universities, 21 state universities, 26 private universities & 10 other colleges.

Greater Freedom

Institutions having different scores as:

  • Category I - 3.5
  • Category II - 3.26 to 3.5
  • Category III - another remaining

Advantages of Autonomy Given to 62 Universities

  • Complete autonomy will allow these higher educational institutions to start new courses, new departments, new programmes, skill courses, off campuses, research parks, appoint foreign faculty, take foreign students, offer variable incentive packages, & introduce online distance learning.
  • They can get into academic collaboration w⟋top 500 universities of world.
  • They can decide their admission procedure, fee structure & curriculum, among others.
  • They will not have to come to UGC again & again for seeking permission as they maintained quality & achieved benchmark of 3.26 & above NAAC (National Accreditation and Assessment Council) ranking.

Continuation & Revision of “Post Matric Scholarship for OBC Students”

CCEA approved continuation & revision of Centrally Sponsored Scheme of “Post Matric Scholarship for Other Backward Classes Students for studying in India” (PMS-OBC) for years 2017 - 18,2018 - 19 & 2019 - 20.

Details of Post Matric Scholarship for OBC Students for Studying in India

  • Revised scheme will cover more OBC students & will ensure effective implementation & monitoring of scheme & achieve de-duplication.
  • Aim is to provide financial assistance to OBC students studying at post-matriculation or post-secondary stage to enable them to complete their education.
  • PMS-OBC is flagship scheme of Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment
  • It is in operation since 1998 - 99.
  • It enables approx. 40 lakh OBC students to pursue higher study after class X per year.

SWAYAM: Online Professional Dvt. Programme for Higher Education Faculty

  • Major & unique initiative of online professional development of 1.5 million higher education faculty using MOOCs platform SWAYAM has been launched.
  • In 1st phase of initiative, 75 discipline-specific National Resource Centres (NRC) are identified.
  • Centres under Ministry՚s Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya National Mission on Teachers & Teaching located in Central Universities, IITs, NITs, State Universities, UGC՚s Human Resource Development Centres, National Institutes for Technical Teachers Training, IIITs, Open Universities & other institutions are notified as NRCs.
  • Initiative will benefit faculty, as it would be highly flexible & can be done at one՚s own pace & time.
  • Training materials under initiative will be uploaded & made available thru SWAYAM platform to all teachers w⟋effect from 1st October every year.

SWAYAM

  • SWAYAM is programme initiated by Union Govt. to achieve 3 cardinal principles of education policy - access, equity & quality.
  • Objective of initiative is to take best teaching learning resources to all, including most disadvantaged.

Continuation of Schemes of Pre-Matric, Post Matric and Merit-Cum-Means Based Scholarship Schemes

CCEA approved continuation of following schemes: Pre-Matric Scholarship Scheme, Post Matric Scholarship Scheme, Merit-cum-Means based Scholarship Scheme.

Scholarship Schemes
  • Although 30% of scholarships are earmarked for girl students, more than 35% of total scholarships are disbursed to them.
  • These Schemes shall be implemented thru National Scholarship Portal (NSP) & scholarships are disbursed thru Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) mode.
  • Scholarship is awarded to students who have secured not less than 50% marks in previous final examination.
  • Students should be studying in Govt. Schools⟋Institutes or recognized private schools⟋institutes.
  • Objective of Pre-Matric Scholarship Scheme: to encourage parents from minority communities to send their school going children (from Class I to X) to school, lighten their financial burden on school education & sustain their efforts to support their children to complete school education.
  • Objective of Post-Matric Scholarship Scheme: to provide financial assistance to poor & meritorious minority students w⟋better opportunities for higher education, increase their rate of attainment in higher education & enhance their employability in organized sector.
  • Objective of Merit-Cum-Means Based Scholarship Scheme: To provide financial assistance to poor & meritorious minority to pursue professional & technical courses at under Graduate & post Graduate levels.
  • For all 3 Scholarship Schemes, State⟋Community-wise target⟋allocation shall be applicable as per Census 2011.
  • Around 70 lakh scholarships are likely to be disbursed to students belonging to 6 notified Minority Communities viz. Muslim, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain & Parsi who are from economically weaker sections of society.

Medical College, Salempur at Deoria, Uttar Pradesh

  • CCEA approved proposal for establishment of new medical college at Deoria. This college would be built at cost of ₹ 250 cr. under Phase-II of Centrally Sponsored Scheme.
  • Under scheme, criteria for one medical in every 3 Parliamentary Constituencies & one Govt. medical college in each State was adopted.
  • College was recommended by state govt. of UP & would be up-gradation of District Hospital, Deoria.
  • District Hospital, Deoria is suitable as it has sufficient number of beds & other facilities including availability of land as per MCI norms for establishment of medical college of all possible locations in identified Block.

National Digital Library of India Dedicated to the Nation under NMEICT

National Digital Library of India (NDLI) was launched on National Reading Day, on 19th June, 2018.

NDLI is project of MHRD under aegis of National Mission on Education thru Information & Communication Technology (NMEICT) . It is developed by IIT Kharagpur.

Objective: to make quality digital educational resources available to all citizens of country to empower, inspire & encourage learning.

National Digital Library of India

  • NDL is single window platform that collects & collates metadata from premier learning institutions in India & abroad, as well as other relevant sources.
  • It was launched in pilot form in May 2016.
  • NDLI can be accessed through ndl. iitkgp. ac. in
  • Users would be able to access digital library anytime & anywhere absolutely free of cost.
  • Library is has mobile app, which can be accessed by both iPhone & Android users. App is downloaded over 6.70 lakh times.
  • App is available in 3 languages - English, Hindi & Bengali.

Summary of Initiatives Taken by the Govt. To Strengthen Education Sector in Last 4 Years

  • 33 new initiatives are taken by Govt. in last 4 years to strengthen education system.
  • Objective is to integrate all existing digitized & digital contents across educational & cultural institutions⟋bodies to provide single-window access to diff. groups of users ranging across entire population.
  • Most important schemes are:
  • SWAYAM PRABHA Click here for more information
  • Imprint India
  • All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE)
  • Digital Infrastructure for Knowledge Sharing (DIKSHA)
  • National Digital Library (NDL)
  • Rashtriya Avishkar Abhiyan
  • Uchchtar Aavishkar Abhiyaan
  • SHAGUN Portal
  • Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan Click here for more information
  • Mid-Day Meal Scheme Click here for more information
  • Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan Click here for more information
  • School GIS Click here for more information
  • Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (Rusa)
  • National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT)

Other Initiatives

  • Right of Children to Free & Compulsory Education (Amendment) Bill, 2017 is tabled in Parliament, & as per proposed Amendment, states will hold examination of students in class 5 & 8.
  • 14 lakh unqualified D. El. Ed teachers are doing course on “Swayam” platform & 1styear exam was successfully conducted.
  • NIRF - National Institutional Ranking Framework has completed.
  • SWAYAM portal is launched w⟋1,032 Courses by best faculty.
  • SMART INDIA HACKATHON initiative involves open invitation to college students to provide solutions to common problems.
  • Research & Innovation initiatives are launched w⟋IMPRINT - I & II.
  • Budget for quality education is increased 3 fold under RUSA - Rashtriya Uchhatar Shiksha Abhiyan.
  • GIAN - Global Initiative for Academic Network is aimed at internationalization of education.
  • Higher Education Financing Agency- HEFA is implemented under initiative of “Revitalising Infrastructure & Systems in Education” (RISE) by 2022.
  • On autonomy of Higher Education Institutions, IIM Bill is passed, while Graded Autonomy is granted to more than 60 universities.
  • Education budget will increase by 20% in each year under Samagra Shiksha.
  • UGC (Open & Distance Learning) Regulations, 2017 are notified in June, 2017 keeping in view urgent need of appropriate regulations for monitoring of higher education thru open & distance mode.

Revitalizing Infrastructure and Systems in Higher Education (RISE) by 2022

  • CCEA approved expanding scope of Higher Education Financing Agency (HEFA) by tasking it to mobilize ₹ 1,00, 000 cr. for Revitalizing Infrastructure & Systems in Education (RISE) by 2022.
  • Proposal called for enhancing capital base of HEFA to ₹ 10,000 cr. from present 2000 cr.
  • Funding would be used expand facility to all institutions, especially to ones that were set up after 2014, central universities that have very little internal resources & school education⟋health education infrastructure like AIIMS, Kendriya Vidyalayas.
  • CCEA has approved 5 windows for financing under HEFA & modalities of repaying Principal portion of fund:
  • Technical Institutions more than 10 years old
  • Technical Institutions started b⟋w 2008 & 2014
  • Central Universities started prior to 2014
  • Newly established Institutions started after 2014
  • Other educational institutions & grant-in-aid institutions of Ministry of Health
  • Move would enable addressing needs of all educational institutions w⟋differing financial capacity in inclusive manner.

Institution of Eminence Status Granted to IIT Delhi, IIT Bombay, BITS Pilani

Govt. granted Institutions of Eminence (IoEs) status to 6 institutions including 3 from Public Sector & 3 from Private Sector.

Decision was taken on basis of recommendations given by Empowered Expert Committee (EEC) .

List of selected Institutions:

Private Sector

  • Jio Institute (Reliance Foundation) , Pune under Green Field Category
  • Birla Institute of Technology & Sciences, Pilani, Rajasthan
  • Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, Karnataka

Public Sector

  • Indian Institute of Science (IISc) , Bangalore, Karnataka
  • Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) , Delhi
  • Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) , Bombay
  • This decision grants full autonomy to institutes to help institutions grow rapidly & scale up their operations w⟋more skills & quality improvement so that they become World Class Institutions in field of education.
  • Aim is to bring selected higher educational institutions in world՚s top 500 in next 10 years & eventually in top 100.
  • Objective is to provide world-class teaching & research facilities to Indian students within country & enhance general level of education of country.

Examrace Team at Aug 24, 2021