Canada India Education Council (CIEC)

India Inc presses panic button on sagging rupee, economy

August 19, 2013August 19, 2013Canada India Education Council (CIEC)

Indian companies gearing up for new ‘normal’ for rupee.

With rupee ending at an all-time low of 63.13 a dollar, chief executive officers (CEOs) of top Indian companies are redrawing their currency risk strategies as a “new normal” for the rupee is fast emerging.

Some of the top companies such as Reliance Industries, Birlas, Essar, Adani group, and the Tatas have huge exposure in foreign currency and any change in the rupee’s value increases their costs of operations in a big way.

“I am disappointed, not surprised, with the way the rupee is falling,” says Rahul Bajaj, chairman of Bajaj Auto and one of corporate India’s vocal voices. “We are paying for the last four years of inaction and absence of reforms. The government has spent a lot of money in loan waivers, NREGA (employment guarantee scheme) and Food Security Bill and all these populist measures have now added to the deficit. We are not opposing pro-poor moves. We are against populist measures. We should be treating the disease and not the symptom. Now is the time to change policies.”

Mahindra & Mahindra chairman Anand Mahindra recently said the rupee is falling without a parachute and capital controls announced by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is just taking India back to the 1980s. The mood in the corporate camp is sombre. This is in spite of leading CEOs’ many suggestions to the Prime Minister during their meeting on July 29 on how to ring-fence the rupee. However, since then, the rupee has been continuing its downward journey.

Other CEOs say the economic slowdown and lack of initiatives by the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government is unprecedented which is taking the country on the road to a complete shutdown. “There are no takers for infrastructure projects, and no growth in order book due to land acquisition problems, environmental clearance and corruption. This is perhaps one of the worst times for Indian companies to do business in India,” said the CEO of an infrastructure company asking not to be named.

RBI has already acted aggressively, tightening liquidity and raising interest rates, banning companies and individuals from spending money abroad in an attempt to stem the ongoing rupee weakening. RBI’s surprise tightening has been stark, but similar to that in early-1998, soon after the Asian crisis. This time, however, CEOs say that none of these measures is helping the rupee stop its slide against the dollar.

Bajaj says the government should change its policies instead of trying to manage the Indian currency. CEOs such as S Gopalakrishnan, executive vice-chairman of Infosys, say it would have been more appropriate to initiate policies that prevent an influx of non-essential imports such as coal and iron ore, and augment forex inflows by encouraging foreign direct investments. For this, a conducive and stable policy regime is needed, they add. Foreign institutional investments should also be liberalised by removing short-term capital gains tax.

According to the CEOs, another worrying factor is that oil prices are going up while the rupee is falling. With Brent crude at around $110 a barrel, its impact on inflation and Indian economy is still not being taking into account.

Under the World Trade Organisation rules, India can always impose a higher import duty on expensive, foreign-made cars and this is the right time to take action. “This was something the Prime Minister was made aware of on June 29. Importing coal into India when Coal India is sitting on massive reserves is a shame, they say. The government should immediately take action to part privatise Coal India so that all those power plants, which have shut down due to lack of coal can be revived,” said a CEO.

For many companies including the Adanis, Lanco and Reliance Power, the falling currency has been a double whammy. Many companies had taken massive loans from abroad without taking a forward cover.

They are also importing raw materials from overseas. With the surprise fall in the rupee, many companies are staring at the prospect of a default. “This is like the replay of the 2008-09 crisis. The only difference is that this time the government is groping in the dark and has no clue how to stop the slide,” said the CEO quoted above.

Analysts say sectors such as chemicals, paper, auto ancillaries, power and steel are the most affected from rupee depreciation. Among these sectors, mid-sized companies with exposure to forex risk but limited expertise or intention to hedge might be the most adversely affected.

CEOs say in the coming days, the government could look at the option of increasing import duty on select commodities, such as electronic goods, to reduce the import bill. The electronic goods import bill was $31.5 billion in FY13 (ended March 2013).

A similar 150 per cent import duty on expensive cars may also be considered. A sharper hike in diesel prices, although politically difficult, would also curb the oil import bill, which stood at $169 billion in FY13.

Students’ use of laptops in class found to lower grades

August 19, 2013August 19, 2013Canada India Education Council (CIEC)

Source: The Globe And Mail

Laptops have replaced pen and paper for many postsecondary students but a Canadian study suggests using computers during lectures could be hurting their grades and lowering their classmates’ marks.

For the study, published earlier this year in the journal Computers & Education, research subjects in two experiments were asked to attend a university-level lecture and then complete a multiple-choice quiz based on what they learned.

In the first experiment, which was designed to gauge how multitasking affects learning, all the participants used laptops to take notes during a lecture on meteorology. But half were also asked to complete a series of unrelated tasks on their computers when they felt they could spare some time. Those tasks – which included online searches for information – were meant to mimic what distracted students might do during class.

In the second experiment, some students were given pencils and paper to take notes during a lecture while others worked on laptops. Researchers wanted to observe if the students taking notes the old-fashioned way would be distracted by having computer screens around them.

Faria Sana, who co-authored the study with fellow doctoral student Tina Weston, said she expected lower test marks for students who were asked to multitask during the experiment, or were seated near other students using laptops. But the distraction effect was stronger than she hypothesized.

“We really tried to make it pretty close to what actually happens in the lectures, we found that lo and behold, the students who multitasked performed much worse on the final test and those who were seated around peers who were multitasking also performed much worse on the final test,” said Sana.

“So you might not be multitasking but if you have a clear view of someone else who is multitasking, your performance is still going to be impaired.”

The students in the first experiment who were asked to multitask averaged 11 per cent lower on their quiz. The students in the second experiment who were surrounded by laptops scored 17 per cent lower.

“We really didn’t think the effects would be this huge,” Sana said. “It can change your grade from a B+ to a B-.”

Sana also noted that the students who participated in the experiments said they didn’t really expect their marks to suffer much from computer use in the classroom.

“At the end we gave a survey to all the students and what we found was that these peers who were seated around multitaskers had no idea they were being distracted, they didn’t think the laptops were causing a distraction but based on the scores of their final test, they actually were,” she said.

Seeing dozens of laptops in a classroom is now common, Sana said, as is spying some students on social networks, playing games or watching movies instead of paying attention.

While Sana and Weston are not calling for a ban on laptop use in classes, they do hope students consider that goofing off on their computers can affect their peers seating around them.

“A lot of students spend quite a big chunk of time in class doing things that are not related to the academic environment or aren’t directly related to the course or the lecture,” Sana said.

“We’re hoping that based on these results, students will take responsibility for their actions.”

How to help kids stay cool about back-to-school worries

August 19, 2013August 19, 2013Canada India Education Council (CIEC)

Source: The Globe And Mail

After 23 years in private practice, children’s anxiety tops the list of concerns that parents approach me with. I’ve heard stories that range from children’s fear of dogs and refusing to stay in their beds alone at night to much more extreme worry.

In August, as students creep closer to accepting the inevitability that school is just around the corner, anticipatory back-to-school fretting kicks in.

Here’s how to identify your child’s anxiety and some strategies you can use to help maintain a sense of calm.

Grade 1: Butterflies

Grade 1 is both exciting and anxiety-provoking. Your child is likely standing tall knowing that he has joined ranks of the older kids. However, he may also be apprehensive about taking on more responsibility and spending recess on a different playground. He may describe his anxiety as “butterflies in my tummy.” He may not have much of an appetite in the days leading up to the start of school, may take a longer time falling asleep at night or become clingy. Rest assured that these feelings and behaviours are normal and it’s a good idea to tell him so. Share that even teachers feel nervous before school begins again. Go for a walk around the exterior of the school and spend some time in the new playground. If he’s especially worried about meeting his new teacher on the first day, call the school during the last week of summer holidays, when teachers are already back in their classrooms, to arrange a brief meeting between them.

Middle school: Jitters

Even though your child has by now developed a comfortable knowledge of the inner workings at her school, she may still experience anxiety as September approaches. She may have heard negative comments about her new teacher or may be uneasy because she won’t know who it will be until the first day of school. Remind her that just because her friend didn’t connect with that teacher, doesn’t mean that she won’t. Maybe share a time when you were biased toward someone before you met and then were pleasantly surprised when you got along really well. Remain positive and encouraging by sharing your confidence that they will work well together and that at the worst, you are always available to help brainstorm solutions to any bumps in the road.

Other than teacher worries, your child may be concerned about her reunion with former classmates, especially if they haven’t spent much time together during summer vacation. Anxiety is often expressed in the form of “what if…..?” questions such as “what if Angela and Samantha won’t let me play with them?” Reassure her that it’s normal to worry about this after being apart from her friends for so long. Suggest a play date so that they can reconnect and if she’s experiencing physical symptoms, let her know that an upset stomach and queasiness will ease once she settles back into the old familiar routine.

High school: Angst

Grade 9 is commonly the most anxiety provoking step up the academic ladder. Major Eighters become Minor Niners and drop to the bottom rung in a much larger pond. Many are stressed about adjusting to a new timetable, teachers, new students and navigating their way around the school without getting lost. Some may worry about increased peer pressure especially in regards to drugs and alcohol. Teens communicate less about their feelings. They may manifest their anxiety by retreating – spending more time on their computers (if that’s possible) or in bed sleeping. They might also become more irritable. If their behaviour appears more surly than usual, rather than taking the bait, approach gently with understanding and compassion. As always, timing is everything with teens so approach with caution in order to elicit the best response. Instead of asking him to turn off the television so that you can chat, which will likely get you nowhere, initiate a conversation while you’re walking the dog or when you’re in the car together. Rather than asking questions that require only a yes or no response such as “Are you feeling nervous?” say something like “I’ve noticed that you’re quieter than usual. I remember how unsettled I felt at the beginning of a new school year. What’s going on for you?”

Recently, my daughter, who too is worried about her transition to Grade 9 next month, shared with me how less frightening the roller coaster rides at Canada’s Wonderland are when you’re actually on them than when you’re watching from the sidelines. “I have no doubt that you’ll feel the same about high school,” I said. She reflected for a moment and responded with “I hate it when you’re right!”

Sara Dimerman is a psychologist, author and mom to two daughters. For more advice, connect at www.helpmesara or on Twitter @helpmesara.

Canada Proposes Changes to Visa Rules to Deal with Bogus Foreign Students

August 19, 2013August 19, 2013Canada India Education Council (CIEC)

Source: Migration Expert Canada

The Canadian government has proposed changes to study permit and visa rules for overseas students to cut down on the number of bogus students entering Canada. The Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) intends to only grant student visa and work permit to those who have enrolled in government-accredited schools.

On August 14, 2012, CIC officials said that Canada may opt to introduce some stringent regulations for international students to curb the number of bogus students entering the country and disappearing thereafter. As Canadian immigration spokesperson Nancy Caron stated, the department has been considering these proposals to ensure that immigrant students are not abusing the study permits and visas.

“The proposed regulatory changes would ensure that study permit holders are genuine students by requiring students to enroll in and actively pursue a course or program of study after arrival in Canada. Institutions that are not designated by provinces and territories would no longer be able to host international students,” said Caron.

Under the proposed changes, the CIC would not grant Canadian student visas and study permits for overseas students who enroll in programs or courses with a period of less than 6 months to complete. The Canadian immigration department is considering providing them temporary visit visas instead, which allow them to come to Canada and apply for a study permit from within the country later.

“Disingenuous study permit holders use their study permit as a primary means to gain full access to the Canadian labour market,” Caron stated, “Strengthening aspects of the program that could be abused by fraudulent schools or non-genuine study permit applicants is vitally important to protect Canada’s reputation abroad.”

The proposed changes came after a national task force released a report urging the government to double the number of international students studying in Canada by 2020 to encourage innovation and exchange. The proposal is still in the consultation phase.

International Student Exchange (ISE) is Going to Work with Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) in Providing Community Service Hour

August 19, 2013August 19, 2013Canada India Education Council (CIEC)

Source: PR Web

The International Student Exchange (ISE), which places almost 3,000 foreign exchange students a year, is partnering up with RMHC to provide community service hours, through the Charity’s cornerstone program – the Ronald McDonald House, Chapter kits and possible fundraising activities.

ISE started a volunteer student program called “Project HELP” back in 2006. The program is designed to increase community service for their foreign exchange students. Each student completes a minimum of five hours. Most students surpass their minimum requirement.

“Project HELP has really taken off the past couple of years,” said Wayne Brewer, CEO of International Student Exchange. “This year we wanted to partner up with a national organization that could provide our students great community service opportunities. The Ronald McDonald House program offers that opportunity.”

RMHC is known throughout the U.S. as one of the most reputable family-centered charities. It will give ISE students the chance to work within their community and nationally. ISE also encourages host families and friends to participate.

Gary Lubrat, Project HELP Co-Chair stated, “We want the students to learn how important it is to give back to their community. After they end their experience in the United States, we want them to continue to help people once they return home. RMHC, and the Ronald McDonald House program will allow them to do that.”

About International Student Exchange:

ISE was founded in 1982. It is a non-profit organization dedicated to bringing people of the world closer together through student exchange and intercultural education.

Based on the materials submitted by ISE and reviewed by the Council on Standards for International Educational Travel (CSIET), an independent national educational organization founded in 1984, ISE has been granted a listing every year. In 2009, ASA International, DM Discoveries, and INTO Ed Ventures were merged with ISE. Indicative of its high level of professionalism and respect within the foreign exchange industry, ISE is designated by the Department of State as an official sponsor of the Exchange Visitor Program.

ISE is headquartered on Long Island, 60 minutes from Manhattan. Forty-four fully staffed Regional Offices are strategically located in the United States. ISE cooperates with over 100 independent foreign agencies in over 45 countries around the world for the recruitment and placement of students in American homes. The company’s information is available at http://www.iseusa.com .

About Ronald McDonald House Charities:

Ronald McDonald House Charities® (RMHC®), a non-profit, 501 (c) (3) corporation, creates, finds and supports programs that directly improve the health and wellbeing of children. Through its global network of local Chapters in 58 countries and regions, its three core programs, the Ronald McDonald House®, Ronald McDonald Family Room® and Ronald McDonald Care Mobile®, and millions of dollars in grants to support children’s programs worldwide, RMHC provides stability and resources to families so they can get and keep their children healthy and happy. All RMHC-operated and supported programs provide access to quality health care and give children and families the time they need together to heal faster and cope better. For more information, visit http://www.rmhc.org, follow RMHC on Twitter (@RMHC) or like RMHC on Facebook (Facebook.com/RMHC Global).

Ronald McDonald House Charities, RMHC, Ronald McDonald House, Ronald McDonald Family Room, and Ronald McDonald Care Mobile are all registered trademarks of McDonald’s Corporation or its affiliates and are used with permission.

University of Alberta eliminates 20 arts programs

August 19, 2013August 19, 2013Canada India Education Council (CIEC)

Source: The Globe and Mail

The University of Alberta has taken the first steps toward closing 20 arts programs, suspending enrolment in a range of academic majors such as languages and music in an effort to cope with substantial budget shortfalls.

The programs were singled out among the faculty of arts for low demand, having had 10 or fewer students enrolled each fall from 2005 to 2012. The decision was circulated in an internal memo to department chairs on Friday, less than two weeks after the U of A offered a voluntary buyout package aimed at trimming its faculty ranks.

The suspended programs are among several money-saving measures hitting home at Alberta’s universities and colleges this fall, after the province cut university funding by 7 per cent in its March budget. Sparsely populated arts and language courses were among the first programs deemed expendable as the U of A tries to refocus funds on flagship disciplines, as has often been the case in other provinces facing funding woes. Similar reviews will likely be repeated in the U of A’s other faculties.

“We’ve all just been sharpened by the budget cuts that were delivered in March, and we’re trying to make sure that our house is in order,” said Heather Zwicker, the U of A’s vice-dean of arts.

All fifty students already enrolled across the 20 majors will be able to finish their programs, and many courses within the programs will still be offered, though some are expected to be axed. And the U of A is not the first Alberta school to contemplate closing programs – in April, Mount Royal University in Calgary announced it would suspend eight programs, including a theatre-arts diploma and a journalism certificate. The day after the provincial budget was revealed, U of A president Indira Samarasekera told The Globe and Mail she planned to use the cuts as a way of “reinvesting our resources in what we do best,” and if that meant closing some programs, “we will undertake to do that.” In a separate June interview, she also cautioned that the cuts would “hurt students in the long term.”

But Laura Beard, chair of the department of modern languages and cultural studies, which houses several of the suspended majors, expects the impact of halting some arts enrolments will be minimal for most students. “We still have 44 majors just within the [bachelor of arts degree], and arts actually offers 12 different degrees,” she said.

Some students are still feeling uneasy. Daniela Munoz, 23, is majoring in Latin American studies, one of the soon-to-be-suspended programs, and worries she may wind up with fewer courses to choose from and be forced to look to other departments for credits.

“I am paying tuition, and I feel like my program being cut is like telling me, well, we don’t value you as a student here,” Ms. Munoz said. “It’s sad, and it’s unfair.”

Alberta’s Advanced Education Minister, Thomas Lukaszuk, supported U of A’s decision. “Some argue that if you eliminate programs and you don’t offer everything to everybody, that somehow speaks to quality, and I disagree with that premise,” he said. “We don’t judge our universities simply by the number of courses they offer.”

HRD minister Pallam Raju launces National Repository of Open Education Resources

August 19, 2013August 19, 2013Canada India Education Council (CIEC)

Source: Times of India

NEW DELHI: The HRD minister M M Pallam Raju launched the National Repository of Open Education Resources (NROER) on Tuesday, on the occasion of the conference on ICT for School Education in New Delhi. Inaugurating the conference, he said that the school education has in the recent times witnessed immense growth.

Also present on the occasion was minister of state for HRD, Shashi Tharoor who said that his ministry is continuously working towards inclusiveness of education. In order to make education inclusive, the use of ICT would be quite beneficial. Although technology may not replace the teacher yet it will make teaching more attractive.

Elaborating on the initiative, Ashok Thakur, secretary for higher education said that ICT initiative is not just about promoting school but teachers as well as students also. He said that at present 400 universities and 20,000 colleges are being connected through ICT highways.

Over 200 delegates from the government, NGOs and the private sector are participating in this two-day conference. The conference brings together a variety of stakeholders- policy leaders, practitioners, researchers, implementation agencies and developers of content to examine the policy in the light of their insights and impressions, identifying gaps in the system and suggesting a roadmap for implementing the policy. It aims to evolve a roadmap for using ICT into schools and help teachers and children make best use of the opportunities that ICTs provide. Based on National Curriculum Framework, the ICT Curriculum for teachers and students intends to provide a holistic introduction to ICT in education. The National Repository is a collaborative platform, which proposes to bring together the best of digital resources for different subjects domains, across different stages of the school system and in different languages.

Some of the issues to be taken by the conference are ICT for education: Exploring the potential; implementing the national policy on ICT for school education in India: Challenges and Issues; Showcasing ICT practices – Going Beyond computer Literacy; showcasing ICT practices – learning from state/ BOOT partners/NGO Experience; e-Governance Mission Mode programme in school education. This Conference is being organized by MHRD and NCERT.

‘Twinning’ courses gain currency as foreign education costs soar

August 19, 2013August 19, 2013Canada India Education Council (CIEC)

Source: Times of India

MUMBAI: A foreign education never really pinched the wealthy. But since the 1990s, a prospering Indian economy also propelled middle-class students’ dreams of earning a degree abroad.

However, the weakening rupee has suddenly made that desire seem beyond reach for many. So a third option is gaining popularity — twinning programmes, which promise an international degree while cutting the dollar bill.

Manipal University’s International Centre for Applied Sciences (ICAS) already has 175 candidates who have sought admission this year. They will pursue two years of engineering education in Mangalore for Rs 8 lakh and then fly out to any of the 70 partner universities — US, Australian, British, German, Canadian or French (where they pay approximately US $40,000/year) — and graduate from there.

With foreign currency getting expensive, universities offering twinning programmes are seeing a surge in student enrolment. In 1994, ICAS was built to accommodate about 200 students; only six students had signed up then. For long, the centre saw a steady rise in students and about 150-odd candidates joined last year. “I feel we will have around 250 students by the end of this year’s admission season,” says ICAS director GMJ Bhat.

Jalandhar-based Lovely Professional University has had a similar experience. Two years ago, 48 students joined its twinning programmes; this year there are 80 of them.

Other universities have the same story to tell. As Bertrand Guillotin, director of the international program office at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, notes, “Education remains the best long-term investment you can make, regardless of currency fluctuations.” But while twinning courses improve accessibility to higher education, they also potentially retain a slice of the £8 billion (US$13 billion) leaving India with foreign education-seeking Indian students.

With that, international universities wanting to attract Indian students are also open to signing partnership agreements with Indian colleges. In an email interview, Roseann O’Reilly Runte, president and vice chancellor of Carleton University, says, “Students benefit from such programs as they represent less time away from home and reduced costs in terms of tuition and residence.”

At the other end, she adds, universities benefit from the close collaboration of faculty members which can also result in productive joint research projects. “Higher education benefits from increased collaboration, good use of resources and the sharing of goals in terms of educational outcomes. At Carleton University and the Centre we are currently working on some twinning arrangements with universities in India and elsewhere in the world,” says Runte.

She, like many other university heads TOI wrote to, is confident that this arrangement is popular and the number of twinning arrangements will grow in time and that they will benefit everyone.

A study conducted by the Association of Indian Universities (AIU) revealed an upswing in the number of foreign education providers in India, from 144 in 2000 to 631 in 2010. Of these, 49 are operating under twinning arrangements, with MBA and hotel management being the most popular courses. But UGC regulations which came in the backdrop of the parliamentary standing committee’s report on foreign education providers noted that only 32 out of 49 twinning arrangements had the required approvals.

That’s probably why experts ask students to be cautious. Philip G Altbach, director, Center for International Higher Education at Boston College, feels that candidates must carefully evaluate the quality of twinning programs to ensure that the courses and other academic experiences are well integrated, which sometimes is not the case.

“If a student is looking mainly for a degree, then a twinning program might work well. If, on the other hand, he or she is looking for a deep academic experience abroad, then a full degree is preferable of course. I worry that many twinning programs are commercially based to earn money for the sponsoring universities rather than providing a fully integrated academic experience,” he says.

Schulich School of Business to launch Hyderabad MBA program

August 16, 2013Canada India Education Council (CIEC)

Canada’s Schulich School of Business, which will soon launch a new MBA program in Hyderabad in collaboration with the GMR Group, has recently been ranked by Britain’s prestigious Economist magazine as having the world’s #1 EMBA program.

The Economist, which has produced an annual ranking of the globe’s top MBA programs for more than a decade, has ranked the Kellogg-Schulich Executive MBA program #1 in the world in its first ever survey of Executive MBA programs.

Based in Toronto, Canada, the Kellogg-Schulich EMBA program finished ahead of EMBA programs offered by a number of the world’s top business schools, including UCLA, Oxford, Chicago and IMD. Schulich offers the EMBA program in partnership with the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in Chicago, USA.

Schulich will open its doors in September to 40 MBA students in Hyderabad, India as part of a new twinning arrangement between the School and GMR School of Business, an educational initiative of GMR Varalakshmi Foundation of the GMR Group, India’s leading infrastructure major. Students will spend Year 1 at the Hyderabad campus and Year 2 at Schulich’s Toronto campus, and Schulich faculty will teach all of the courses in Hyderabad, as well as in Toronto. Schulich also plans to offer an Executive MBA program at the Hyderabad campus beginning as early as 2015.

According to The Economist, the Kellogg-Schulich EMBA was best in the world in a number of categories, including: program quality, facilities, program content and electives, networking and the extent to which the program has helped fulfill pre-EMBA goals.

The Economist is the only major business publication that rates business schools on criteria deemed most important to students and alumni – everything from diversity of career opportunities to earning potential and networking opportunities. The Economist EMBA survey measured two broad categories: the personal development and educational experience of students and alumni and career development. Within these categories, the Economist scored programs using 27 different criteria, including the quality and diversity of students, the quality of the faculty, the percentage of students who receive a promotion after they graduate and the average salary increase graduates can expect. The final scores are based on a mixture of student-reported salaries, student ratings and data provided by the schools.

“We’re proud to have been rated as the world’s best EMBA program,” said Dezsö J. Horváth, Dean of the Schulich School of Business. “We’ve worked very hard since the launch of the program in 2001 to make it a world-class degree that offers truly global career opportunities for executives aspiring to senior leadership roles.” Added Horváth: “We intend to offer that same level of excellence in the Schulich MBA in India program that will commence this September at the newly constructed GMR School of Business.”

Schulich’s ties to India go back more than 20 years. The School has had exchange partner agreements with a number of India’s leading management schools, including the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore, and the Indian School of Business (ISB) in Hyderabad. In 2005, Schulich opened an international satellite centre in Mumbai that: recruits talented students; provides career placement services to Schulich students and alumni seeking career opportunities in India; offers Executive and Leadership Development programming for Indian executives; supports Schulich’s alumni chapter in India; and manages local media relations.

Schulich previously offered the Schulich MBA in India program in partnership with the SP Jain Institute of Management and Research (SPJIMR) in Mumbai. The Schulich MBA in India, which launched in January 2010, was the first MBA program to be delivered in India by a leading international business school. Three cohorts have so far graduated through the program.

About Schulich

Known as Canada’s Global Business School™, the Schulich School of Business in Toronto is ranked among the world’s leading business schools by a number of global surveys, including The Economist, Forbes, Financial Times, Bloomberg Businessweek, Expansión (a Time Warner publication based in Mexico City) and The Aspen Institute (a Washington, DC-based leadership think tank). Schulich’s MBA program is ranked #1 in Canada by The Economist, Forbes, The Aspen Institute and Expansión. The Aspen Institute survey measures which schools are doing the best job of preparing future business leaders for the environmental, social and ethical complexities of modern-day business. Schulich is ranked #2 in the world in the Aspen Institute’s most recent global survey, and #1 in the world in its previous survey. The Kellogg-Schulich EMBA program is ranked #1 in the world by The Economist, #5 in the world by The Wall Street Journal (as part of the Kellogg global network of EMBA partner schools) and #1 in Canada and 27th in the world by the Financial Times of London.

Global, innovative and diverse, Schulich offers business programs year-round at its state-of-the-art complex at York University; at its Miles S. Nadal Management Centre located in the heart of the Toronto’s financial district; and at a new campus in Hyderabad, India. Schulich also operates a number of satellite centres in Beijing and Shanghai, China; Mumbai, India; Seoul, South Korea; Mexico City, Mexico and Sao Paulo, Brazil. Schulich offers undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate business degrees that lead to rewarding careers in the private, public and nonprofit sectors, and has more than 24,000 alumni working in over 90 countries. The School pioneered Canada’s first International MBA (IMBA) and International BBA (iBBA) degrees, as well as North America’s first ever cross-border executive MBA degree, the Kellogg-Schulich Executive MBA. In addition to Schulich’s Master of Finance and Master of Accounting degrees, the School recently launched one of the world’s first Master of Science in Business Analytics degrees. Schulich’s Executive Education Centre provides executive development programs annually to more than 12,000 executives in Canada and abroad.

TOP CANADIAN UNIVERSITIES TO TOUR INDIA

August 16, 2013August 16, 2013Canada India Education Council (CIEC)

by Sparsh Sharma

MUMBAI: Nine elite Canadian universities are coming to India from August 19th to August 31st, 2013 to meet with top Indian students and discuss Canada as a premier destination for higher education. The delegation is led by Robert Finlayson of Carleton University in Ottawa and Michelle Beaton of Ryerson University in Toronto. The tour, organized by the Canadian Higher Education Committee (CHEC), under the aegis of the Council of International Schools (CIS), is in its ninth year and will include stops in Mumbai, New Delhi, Dehradun, Hyderabad and Bangalore.

The tour is of special interest to Standard XI and Standard XII students who exhibit strong academic standing, school guidance counselors and parents. The tour schedule will include a combination of visits to select school and information fairs.

“India is a key undergraduate student market for Canadian universities,” said Robert Finlayson of Carleton University and Tour Director. “Indian students are sought for their academic strength and their rich contribution to student life on Canadian university campuses. Each year we are seeing more Indian students choosing Canada as their first choice for study – as evidenced by the success of this tour. Indian students are drawn to our universities’ common attributes of international reputation for academic excellence, state of the art resources, and safe campuses in welcoming locations,” Finlayson said.

List of participating universities in 2013:

University of British Columbia, Carleton University, Concordia University, Guelph University, McGill University, Queens University, Ryerson University, University of Toronto, York University.

Why Canada?

Canadian universities are engaged internationally as leaders in education through teaching, research and partnerships. Undergraduate education in Canada is a hybrid of US and UK styles offering breadth of program options, flexibility in choice and a degree that is ultimately recognized world-wide.

Indian students choose Canada because a strong education and a positive international experience is the foundation for their exciting and successful futures. The quality, affordability and renowned research opportunities are key factors in this decision. University campuses across Canada offer multicultural environments, beautiful spaces and friendly people. As a leader in business, political diplomacy, arts and culture and technology, Canada’s education system is at the core of its success and its graduates are players on the world stage.

Council of International Schools Backgrounder:

The Council of International Schools (CIS) is a non-profit, international educational organization that facilitates links between institutions of higher education and secondary schools to increase their visibility with school leavers and the school guidance community. The 40+ CIS Canadian higher education member universities’ interests are supported through the efforts of the eight person team of member volunteers that comprise the Canadian Higher Education Committee (CHEC). The Committee’s goal is to facilitate the exchange of information about Canadian higher education between international schools and the CIS Canadian higher education membership through various activities such as recruitment tours, like the 2013 India tour.

HRD minister Pallam Raju launches National Repository of Open Education Resources

August 16, 2013Canada India Education Council (CIEC)

Source: Times of India

Synergy 2013: seats filling fast

August 16, 2013May 13, 2015Canada India Education Council (CIEC)

Registration is now open for our highly successful “Canada-India: A Synergy in Education” event, held since 2007. The Canada India Education Council (CIEC) is proud to host Synergy 2013 on Oct 3 & 4 at the Hilton Garden Inn near the Toronto Airport.

This year’s event will highlight education activities as well as provide networking opportunities for institutions and organizations interested in operating in either or both countries. With a focus on key academic areas of co-operation and on partnerships, Synergy 2013 will provide updates from India regarding the entry for foreign education providers (Bill 57) leading to many possible outcomes for Canadian education providers. Synergy 2013 will serve as a great way to hear about both governments’ programs and policies in education, which have been recognized as a signature priority. An interesting session will be conducted by the National Association of Career Colleges (NACC) who will discuss impending legislation and how it could transform ‘Internationalization’ efforts for private institutions. Synergy 2013 will also feature a round table discussion on the intersection of immigration & education in the Canada-India corridor and feature closing remarks by Hon. Bal Gosal, Minister of State (Sport) and a reception by the co-chairs of the Canada-India Parliamentary Association.
Highlights of this year’s sessions:

Update on Canada India Higher Education cooperation & promotion of Canada as a study destination by Foreign Affairs & Int’l Trade (DFAIT)
Update on the Ontario-Maharashtra-Goa (OMG) program & cross directional push for higher levels of collaboration in Research & Higher Education by Dr. Lalu Mansinha
Updates from Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute and the recently founded IC-IMPACT (announced by PM Stephen Harper in Nov 2012) will also be present and discuss opportunities for collaboration.

Join over a hundred academic experts from both countries as they discuss recent developments and hear illustrious speakers stimulate thought and demonstrate the opportunities of this dynamic and burgeoning education corridor.

For a detailed Agenda, click here. To Register, click here.

The seating capacity at Synergy 2013 is only 120 and registration is once again on a first come basis. CIEC has negotiated a special rate for delegates staying at the hotel, which will also provide complimentary airport transfers.
To take advantage of the discounted hotel rate, you must reserve your room by August 31^st by clicking here.
For delegates arriving from India, CIEC is pleased to provide a 1 night FREE stay at the Hilton Garden Inn.

We look forward to seeing you at this year’s landmark event and in the meanwhile, have yourself a great summer!

Business Model for Education Venture Calls for ‘Empowering Adjuncts’

August 12, 2013August 11, 2013Canada India Education Council (CIEC)

Source: The Chronicle of Higher Education

So much of the innovation in higher education today seems based on structures that treat faculty members as an afterthought, and a low-paid one at that. A fledgling online-education venture called Oplerno, however, aims to do just the opposite.

It’s based on a business model ensuring that 80 to 90 percent of what students pay will go directly to the people teaching the courses.

There are “phenomenal professors making poverty wages” right now, says Oplerno’s founder and chief executive officer, Robert A. Skiff Jr. “That’s a misallocation of capital.”

With Oplerno “we’re trying to recreate the relationship of a small group of people learning from a teacher,” says Mr. Skiff. “But instead of the institution capturing the money, we want the teacher to.”

Oplerno is seeking to attract experienced professionals as well as traditional academics as faculty members. But unlike some other for-profit models, in which faculty members are recruited to teach a standardized curriculum, those who teach for Oplerno will be expected to develop their own courses—and will own the intellectual-property rights to them.

Courses will run for 12 weeks but can start at any point during the year. In a way, it’s the anti-MOOC, with the focus on small classes of 25 to 30, rather than one instructor teaching thousands, and an expectation of more student-faculty engagement. “People have to learn from people,” says Mr. Skiff. “There has to be a relationship between the student and the teacher.”

Oplerno LLC (the name is short for “open learning organization”) isn’t one of those Silicon Valley education darlings. At this point, with just Mr. Skiff and two other employees on the payroll and about $50,000 in start-up funds, it’s barely a molehill on the landscape of higher-education reinvention.

But the company, which Mr. Skiff describes as a “a self-organizing, nonlinear, complex adaptive system,” does present an interesting approach.

In addition to “empowering adjuncts,” Mr. Skiff says he sees Oplerno as creating greater transparency for students. Once faculty members have proposed their courses, they will also provide detailed information about their syllabi, their expectations of students, and their own expertise for teaching it. (Students will be graded on a portfolio of their work.) The Oplerno “marketplace,” where courses will be listed, will also have space for prior students—and outsiders—to comment on courses.

“Students are going to be able to vet the faculty before they take the courses,” says Mr. Skiff.

The transparency extends beyond the students and the faculty. Eventually, says Mr. Skiff, he hopes to partly evaluate courses based on feedback from employers who have hired Oplerno students or alumni.

Professors will set their own prices, but Mr. Skiff says his goal is for most courses to be priced from $500 to $1,500 each. Oplerno will take 10 percent or $100 per class, whichever is greater, so a professor teaching a $1,000 class with 10 students would earn $9,000.

A student “might spend extra money to work with an Oscar-nominated screenwriter”—one of the 17 faculty members who’ve already signed up to teach via Oplerno has those credentials, he says—but maybe pay less for another course. “People can pick or choose based on their needs,” he says.

Mr. Skiff says he would be “really bummed out” and consider Oplerno unsuccessful from a societal standpoint if students had to go deeply into debt to attend.

John H. Todd, an emeritus professor of natural resources at the University of Vermont, and his wife, Nancy Todd, are among those faculty members looking at Oplerno. Ms. Todd has already proposed a course on ecological literacy. Mr. Todd will propose one on his field of expertise, ecological design.

They both know Mr. Skiff from his days as a co-founder of the Vermont Commons School, in the late 1990s (he founded that with his wife, Leah Mital-Skiff, and his father, Robert A. Skiff Sr., a former president of Champlain College), and the Todds are enthusiastic about his new venture. “I know a lot of people who would like to teach, but there isn’t this vehicle” to allow it, says Mr. Todd, who also taught Mr. Skiff at Vermont.

He also appreciates Mr. Skiff’s challenge. “It rather depends on if he can attract people who are highly recognized in their field” to teach, he says.

That’s where some of the self-organizing comes in. Mr. Skiff says that, as faculty members sign on, he hopes they will start to “develop their own networks” to attract others, so that Oplerno can eventually offer certificates, programs, and at some point full degrees. He plans to apply for accreditation this fall from the State of Vermont to award credit for its courses.

Ayaz Ul Haque, managing director at Exalt Capital Partners and an informal adviser to Oplerno as it begins to position itself to raise additional funds, says the ideas behind the company are appealing in the current climate. With the value of higher education “under the microscope,” he says, Oplerno offers a sense of clarity about the “black box” of college costs.

“It’s a model that needs to be proven,” Mr. Haque allows, “but I think most of the risks are on the execution side.” (He met Mr. Skiff through mutual friends from Middlebury College, which they both attended; Mr. Skiff graduated in 1990.)

Mr. Skiff, who is now completing his Ed.D. degree at the University of Vermont (his dissertation is unrelated to this venture), says he appreciates the challenges he faces, not least of which is establishing Oplerno as a legitimate academic enterprise. For that, he says, he’ll eventually hire deans and others: “It does take expertise. But it’s not rocket science.”

Phishing ploy targets McGill accounts

August 12, 2013August 11, 2013Canada India Education Council (CIEC)

MONTREAL: Anyone getting an email from McGill University that sounds a little “phishy” ought to beware.

The university was forced to call in Montreal police after being targeted by identity fraudsters in a recent phishing attack designed to acquire confidential information from staff and students.

Although 36 McGill Minerva accounts were hacked and 14 had deposit information changed to another account, McGill believes that it contacted the banks in time and was successful in recalling all payments, a spokesperson said on Monday.

“No one has suffered any financial loss, we believe,” said the spokesperson.

This is a worldwide problem and universities across the globe, as well as across the country, have been targeted in phishing attacks.

Phishing attacks or scams trick users into revealing confidential information with the aim of gaining illicit access to systems. Most phishing attacks are conducted by emails which mimic legitimate establishments and urge potential victims to enter account numbers and/or passwords. Attempts to log in reveal financial information and account details to the phisher, who then has control of the account.

Concordia University sent out an email in May alerting its community to the fact there were “several email phishing scams” going on.

“We have been the victim of phishing attacks and we’re not alone,” said Chris Mota, director of media relations at Concordia. “As much as we try and remind and warn people, there are always the few exceptions who click on a link coming from Concorida.ca (notice the misspelling) or the Help Centre, or other seemingly reliable sources.”

However, a spokesperson at the Université de Montréal said on Monday that phishing hasn’t been a particular problem there recently. Jenny Desrochers, director of media relations at the Université du Québec à Montréal, said UQAM hadn’t been targeted in as big a way as McGill either, although phishing is always a concern.

“We are always very attentive and vigilant about this phenomenon that targets many large institutions,” Desrochers said.

She said measures have been taken to prevent phishing, primarily through informing students and staff about the existence and the risks of this type of identity fraud.

Phishing attempts can be very convincing despite universities’ and banks’ constant reminders that they would never send an email asking for confidential information, nor ask people to log on to a website to do so.

In a message to all members of the McGill community, Michael Di Grappa, vice principal of administration and finance, said the phishing attack started July 11 and directed users to a website that looked very much like the school’s Minerva page, while asking them to supply their McGill username and password and/or their McGill ID and PIN.

“Upon discovery, the Information Security Office disabled access to all 36 affected user accounts and Human Resources are in the process of notifying all individuals affected,” Di Grappa said.

Students and staff are reminded to be on the lookout for a phishing email — one that targets McGill users and appears to be coming from McGill — that asks for any personal information. McGill is providing tips on phishing at: http://kb.mcgill.ca/it/phishing. Anyone who believes they have been a victim of phishing can contact: [email protected].

U of A offers voluntary buyout packages to professors to meet funding shortfall

August 12, 2013August 11, 2013Canada India Education Council (CIEC)

Source: Edmonton Journal

EDMONTON: On short notice, the University of Alberta is quickly taking steps to reduce the number of professors through voluntary buyouts, with some professors expected to leave as early as December.

The university, which submitted its proposed budget to the province last week, received “informal messages” that it needs to move more quickly to balance the books, acting provost Martin Ferguson-Pell said in an interview.

That meant crunching a three-year plan to balance the budget into two years and cutting $56 million in the next two years, said Ferguson-Pell.

While he could not say how many of the 4,500 academic staff he expects will leave, Ferguson-Pell said about 75 per cent of the $56 million to be cut is devoted to salaries. “That gives an idea of what we are removing in terms of compensation.”

“This is not something we do lightly, we have a lot invested in our academic staff. But there is not much choice,” he added.

“We don’t have any sense of how many people will be interested, so we put it out for discussion.”

Most would leave in June 2014, but some could leave as early as this December, he added. It will require reviewing course offerings and classes for the fall of 2014.

Under the offer, professors have a month to consider the offer and will know by the end of September if they are accepted for the buyout, a maximum of one year’s salary. Each case will be decided by the deans in consultation with administration, he added.

“Students will have concerns about class sizes and program availability but we can’t say anything about that until the numbers come forward,” said Ferguson-Pell.

The U of A is also about to review the high school averages needed to gain acceptance in too high demand faculties.

It’s possible those averages will be increased, especially in engineering and science, to keep within enrolment targets, said Ferguson-Pell.

Kevin Kane, president of the academic staff association, said the association is “receptive” to the idea of voluntary buyouts as another tool to deal with the 7.2 per cent reduction in provincial funding announced this fall to all universities and colleges.

But there’s a lot of concern that high profile, mid-career people and promising younger professors will take the package which is offered to everyone, not just to those near retirement, he added.

“We could lose some very important people,” said Kane, who also worries that research teams could be broken up.

The more academic staff who take the buyout, “it may ease the budget crisis, but you could see our programs negatively affected,” he warned.

The staff association is also disappointed the university administration acted “unilaterally” in announcing the buyouts. Under the collective agreement, this step should have been put to a vote among the academic staff, he added.

“We’re sympathetic, but we think they should follow proper process.”

The U of A’s hand was forced by the province which has “unrealistic expectations” about how fast the university can move to cope with such major budget cuts, Kane added.

Political science professor Ian Urquhart said the university has switched direction again in its desperate effort to trim budgets. Previously it was looking for program cuts to save money and now it is cutting academic staff.

“It’s hard to have confidence when university leadership lurches from one half-baked approach to another,” said Urquhart, adding that people are frustrated.

Also, the administration should provide taxpayers and faculty with many more budget details so it is clear to the public and professors which faculties are being cut more, he said. So far, both are kept in the dark, he said.

Urquhart put in a request under the Freedom of Information Act to get those details of faculty cuts. In response, he recently received 87 pages with all the specific budget numbers brushed out.

“We need more transparency,” he said. “I expect the government to keep us in the dark but I expect more form the U of A leadership. The university is no better than the province in providing information,” he said.

Thomas Lukaszuk, minister of Advanced Education, said Tuesday he received the U of A’s proposed budget last week but has not yet read it. He expects to respond in a couple of weeks.

Lukaszuk also said he did not ask the U of A to accelerate its cuts from the proposed three-year plan they announced earlier this spring.

But he noted that the $60 million deficit the university planned to carry over was larger than the $47 million the university lost when the operating grants were cut.

The U of A has already cut $28 million from its 2013-14 budget.

In addition to the $47 million cut in provincial funding, the U of A had a structural deficit of $12 million, partly due to falling investment revenues.

Last week, the staff association declined to reopen the two-year collective agreement to consider salary rollbacks. The agreement provides for a 1.65 per cent increase this year and next.

MacEwan University has no plans to offer buyouts to its academic staff, spokesman David Beharry confirmed.

Ambitious plan aims to boost Western University’s profile at home and abroad

August 12, 2013August 19, 2013Canada India Education Council (CIEC)

Source: London Free Press

Four years after a pledge from the top to make Western University one of the world’s best, faculty, staff, and students have a plan to make that happen.

The focus on going global, though, won’t stop the school from strengthening its connections to London, says the university’s vice-provost.

“We want to raise our profile, we want to continue to offer the best education in Canada and be the destination for the best students and best faculty and best staff,” says Alan Weedon, the school’s vice-provost of faculty, planning and staff.

“If you don’t do these things then you start to lose ground.”

But, Weedon adds, “we recognize we need to focus on our relationship with London, with Southwestern Ontario, and the rest of Ontario and Canada.”

Going Global: Achieving Excellence on the World Stage, is the title of the university’s new draft strategic plan now under review by faculty, staff and students until the end of September.

The ambitious plan outlines several main goals for Western:

— Become a world-class research centre, with a higher international profile

— Better engage the community, including alumni and London

— Build on reputation for excellence in education

— Find new funding sources to help pay for improvements, expansion

The plan appears to be a roadmap for Western president Amit Chakma’s early dreams for the school.

In his first interview after being named president in 2008, Chakma vowed to make Western one of the world’s top 100 post-secondary institutions.

He called on faculty and students to work with other disciplines to tackle complex challenges and added “the key for interation recognition is to have impact.”

Those goals are present throughout the new plan.

“What the strategic plan does, is help everyone on this campus in their day-to day work focus on the things that will get us to where we would like to be,” Weedon said.

“Western is an extraordinary university, but we tend to hide our light under a bushel and we need to get the word out nationally and internationally that we’re here. I don’t think we’re being recognized for what we are.”

The same could be said for the university’s relationship with London, Weedon says. Western has many connections with the city that simply aren’t known or celebrated enough, he says.

Western’s link to the city seemed to be growing stronger in 2011, when plans to build a downtown campus were announced.

But politicians balked at the price tag — at least $70.8 million.

“The fact that one didn’t progress, wasn’t because we weren’t interested. It turned out to be not politically viable in the city,” Weedon says.

Asked if Western has given up on expanding its downtown presence, he says: “Certainly not.”

“We are partnering with the city in a number of areas. We continue to be open to that.”

Expanding Western research, attracting more students, faculty, creating programs and raising the profile, won’t come cheap. And the strategic plan outlines ways the university can raise money.

“We need to look at all our funding sources and, if possible, multiply our funding sources because we can’t rely on government and tuition,” Weedon says.

GOING GLOBAL

What: draft strategic plan for Western University

When: Comments by faculty, staff, students due Sept. 20.

Next: Plan goes to school’s senate and board of governors in November

GOALS

1. Create world-class research and scholarship by:

— Expanding interdisciplinary research

— Creating 50 new research chairs

— Increasing quality/quantity of research funding applications

— Focusing on research with impact

— Telling the world what Western does

— Hiring the best people

2. Educate students to succeed and lead by:

— Expanding graduate enrolment, in part with new graduate programs

— Establishing new professional master’s degree programs

— Minimizing financial, structural barriers to interdisciplinary study

— Engaging more undergraduates in research

— Offering more ways, such as online courses, to learn

— Increasing internships

3. Better engage alumni, international community, London region

4. Find new funding sources

ABOUT WESTERN

— One of Ontario’s largest universities

— 28,000+ students, including undergraduate and graduate

— 220,000+ alumni and former students

Are College Students Buying Required Textbooks? 75% in US Say No

August 12, 2013August 11, 2013Canada India Education Council (CIEC)

Source: Publishing Perspectives

This summer, E-textbook publisher Bookboon.com conducted a survey of college students in the United States, the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, and Denmark. In total, nearly 10,000 students completed a questionnaire found in the Bookboon student newsletter and on Facebook, consisting of eleven questions regarding the use of textbooks. And the results can’t be good news for traditional textbook publishers.

In the United States, over 75% of students decide not to buy the textbooks their classes require, in large part because students find textbooks too expensive and are discouraged by the simple fact that quite often, only a few chapters from the books are needed for study.

On average, US students spend $655 per year on required textbooks. But according to the survey, more than nine out of ten students find textbooks too expensive, resulting in the 76.6% of US students who make the decision not to purchase the required books. (In the UK, the numbers are even more startling, with 83.3% of students not always buying required textbooks.)

So instead, according to the survey, students are constantly on the lookout for cheaper options, including copying the needed chapters, finding online alternatives, or, in the case of 60% of those surveyed, buying their textbooks second hand. Indeed, only 25% of students buy their textbooks new, despite the recommendation of their professors to purchase the latest editions. (The remaining 16% of students find other alternatives, including borrowing or renting the required textbooks.)

Given this, it may not be surprising to learn that 58% of college students in the US prefer digital textbooks: students find them easier to carry, to read from, and believe they are cheaper. But on the other hand, the survey results were very different in Europe. Bookboon’s COO Thomas Buus Madsen wrote, “American students are at least a couple of years ahead of their European counterparts. In countries such as German, the UK, and the Netherlands, only 30-40% of the students prefer digital textbooks. Most European students stick to paper. This is partly because eReaders and e-textbooks are less available. Additionally, publishers, professors and universities in Europe are less active in promoting and adopting the use of e-textbooks compared to the USA.”

Of course to put the $655 yearly price tag for textbooks into perspective, consider this: a 2011 study done by the Student Health Service of the University of Pennsylvania showed that students in the US also spend roughly $900 a year on alcohol. Perhaps, in part, to drown out their sorrow at spending $655 on textbooks.

Read the entire survey here.

Canadians help to improve the lives of abandoned children in India

August 12, 2013August 11, 2013Canada India Education Council (CIEC)

Source: Connect – Canada in India

Since 2008, the East Meets West Orphans Foundation (EMW) of Canada has been helping to provide medical treatment and education for orphans and abandoned and destitute children in Kolkata through an agency agreement with the Indian Society for Sponsorship and Adoption (ISSA). Spearheaded by its president, Order of British Columbia-recipient, Mohini Singh, and ten other board members, EMW is supported by Canadians from all walks of life.

A registered charity through the Government of Canada, EMW has provided over 90 children with education, essential medical care and surgical procedures; many of whom have been adopted by families in India, Canada and other countries. In 2012, EMW sponsored the “Bara Anduliya Crèche” daycare centre for underprivileged children from three to six years of age, which helped provide more than 30 young children with food, early education and medical care.

Examples of EMW’s support are ISSA’s homes Nava Jeevan (for children upto two years of age) and Nava Diganta (for children between the ages of two and 14) which provide specialized medical care and cater to development and education needs of children abandoned at an early age. Such support has recently helped provide surgery and medical care for two infants Subarna (born with a cleft palate and dislocation of both hips) and Ram (suffering from high respiratory distress, malnourishment and developed sepsis).

Through efforts such as a fundraiser organized together with the Deepak Binning Foundation, contributions by the Calgary Foundation and support from individuals such as Kelowna philanthropist Thomas Budd, EMW raised over $30,000 in 2012 and increased awareness among hundreds of Canadians to the plight of millions of impoverished children across the globe.

At the Deepak Binning Dinner fundraiser to be held on 26 October 2013, together with the Deepak Binning Foundation, EMW will also raise money for cancer research and support institutions such as the Cancer Centre and the University of British Columbia in the Okanagan. With an India theme, featuring Indian music, food and attire, the event is held each year to honour the memory of Deepak, a young Indo-Canadian victim of cancer. The organization says, “It is important to help people in our new home, Canada and our native country, India.”

Meet Mohini Singh: With a long and distinguished career as a radio and television journalist, Mohini Singh is a staunch advocate of women and children’s rights both in Canada and around the globe. She has supported issues as diverse as helping victims of spousal abuse, literacy, and the plight of orphans in India. She continues to struggle to overcome challenges such as multiple sclerosis, but that hasn’t hindered her efforts. Ms. Singh was awarded the Order of British Columbia in 2008, the highest civilian award by the Province of British Columbia. She went on to be awarded the Sarah Donalda-Treadgold Memorial Award Woman of the Year for Kelowna in 2009 and the Queen Elizabeth II diamond jubilee medal in 2012. She also became the first Indo-Canadian woman to be elected to the Kelowna City Council in 2011. Inspired by Mahatma Gandhi’s quote “You must be the change you want to see in the world,” Ms. Singh’s efforts and initiatives led to the creation of the East Meets West Orphans Foundation in 2008.

Sharing her thoughts in a conversation with us, Ms. Singh said, “Everyone has the power to make a difference, no matter how big or small it is. When you take the first step others will follow and that will lead to change. My hope is to help people get back on their feet and lead fulfilling lives whether it is in Canada or in India. Together we can make a difference. I know what we are doing through EMW may be very small when you compare it to other organizations, but my hope is that in the long run we will make a huge difference. ISSA is an amazing organization and we are honoured to partner with them. For the future we are looking at another education project in Punjab for orphaned girls.”

About the East Meets West Orphans Foundation: With a mission statement of, “improving the lives of abandoned children by providing healthcare, education and necessary medical treatment for children living in orphanages in developing nations,” the foundation is administered by its board of directors – Vern Nielsen, Caryl McCabe, Kam Boparai,Scott Matthies,Mohini Singh, Andy Virk, Medha Prabhu,Laurence East, Harjeet Sangha, Gwen Zilm and Sharon Shepherd.

About the Indian Society for Sponsorship and Adoption (ISSA): Headed by its Founder Secretary Mrs. Saroj Sood, ISSA is a non-profit child welfare organisation established on 16th December 1975 with a committment “to help abandoned and destitute children in whichever manner conducive to their welfare; either through permanent rehabilitation or sponsorship in the form of education, medical treatment etc.”

Business school scholarships offered for LGBTQ community service

August 12, 2013August 11, 2013Canada India Education Council (CIEC)

Source: The Globe and Mail

Building on an established relationship with those who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) – and others who are their advocates – HSBC Bank Canada has established new scholarships at four Canadian business schools worth $80,000 and potential employment over the next four years. The announcement comes on the eve of the Vancouver Pride Parade on Monday.

“Our business model is all about different perspectives and diversity,” says Mike Webb, senior vice-president and head of human resources for the Vancouver-based bank, and also executive sponsor of its internal Pride Network.

For businesses, it is also about the bottom line. “If you look at the incredible economic impact that the LGBT community has in Canada and elsewhere, it is amazing the economic opportunity that is there,” Mr. Webb says. “If you neglect it, ignore it, you are losing out on a phenomenal opportunity.”

The scholarships will be offered to four students a year over four years at each of the following schools: Rotman School of Business at the University of Toronto; Schulich School of Business at York University in Toronto; Simon Fraser University’s Beedie School of Business in Vancouver, and Sauder School of Business at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.

The award recognizes academically strong students (gay or straight) who demonstrate leadership and community service through participation in LGBTQ organizations or initiatives on campus. Each winner receives $5,000, consideration for summer internships and, after graduation, potential acceptance into management trainee programs at HSBC.

Rotman’s winner for 2013 is Vincent Ho, 20, an undergraduate accounting student who holds a cumulative grade point average of 3.99 out of 4 entering third year in September.

He is the incoming president of the Rotman Commerce Pride Alliance, one of the few LGBTQ-focused student groups at an undergraduate business program in Canada. The group provides a networking venue for students to link to LGBTQ professionals and works with “ally” students to bring awareness and education about LGBTQ diversity and other issues. With host support from KPMG, his organization runs an annual live case competition. He also volunteers for various LQBTQ initiatives on and off campus.

A summer intern at KPMG, Mr. Ho says the HSBC scholarships send an important message to students and business.

“It signals to students that big companies like HSBC want to recognize LGBTQ talent and show they are interested in having these sorts of employees on their teams because they do bring enormous diversity,” he says. “Through that, you are able to better understand your customer and how the business works.”

Haskayne woos new faculty

While a lecturer at Harvard Law School this year, James Coleman saw a posting for a tenure-track job at the University of Calgary that seemed right up his alley: a joint appointment in the faculties of business and law on energy and environmental issues.

His friends thought so, too, sending e-mails of encouragement. “‘They seem to be looking to hire you,’” recalls Prof. Coleman. “Once I started here, I had a lot of people who thought, ‘I got James that job!’”

The Minneapolis-born scholar is one of 10 new faculty members and three new directors recently hired by Calgary’s Haskayne School of Business in its biggest recruitment drive in a decade, according to school officials.

“We are expanding our research capacity by almost 20 per cent,” says Loren Falkenberg, associate dean of research at Haskayne, with nine of the 10 new faculty hires in the research-oriented professorial stream. The new faculty come from eight different countries, though all pursued graduate studies in Canada or the United States.

With 79 full-time faculty, the school now aims to boost its research standing after a period of budget restraint and the loss of professors due to retirement and departures.

For Prof. Coleman, Calgary made sense as a destination because of his research interest in the business and legal aspects of energy and environmental issues. “Regulatory risk is such a big issue for oil and gas companies and for the companies where our students will go work,” he says.

He is based at the law school, but will teach at the business school as well.

As in any decision that involves leaving one’s home country, non-academic issues proved crucial as well. A Westerner at heart, Prof. Coleman is an avid hockey player and looks to join some men’s leagues in Calgary.

Along with new faculty, Haskayne has added three new administrative directors.

Kim Neutens, becomes director of the Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, after a 10-year stint as director of MBA program services at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto. Jenny Krahn, a Haskayne undergraduate business graduate, has been named director of the Canadian Centre for Advanced Leadership. Hugh Evans, formerly vice-dean and director of corporate education at Henley Business School in Britain, has been tapped as director of executive education.

Seneca and UOIT sign new articulation agreement

August 12, 2013August 11, 2013Canada India Education Council (CIEC)

TORONTO: A new partnership between Seneca College and the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) will allow qualified Seneca students to seamlessly pursue a range of degree programs at UOIT without having to repeat relevant courses.

Students from select diploma programs can apply the credits they earned at Seneca towards 14 different UOIT programs including honours undergraduate degrees in Arts, Commerce, Information Technology, Health Sciences and Science. Career options include adult education, criminology, legal studies, networking, information technology security, game development, nuclear power, biological science and nursing.

“We are happy to partner with Seneca to increase the number of diploma-to-degree pathways for students,” said UOIT President Tim McTiernan. “This articulation further supports UOIT’s commitment to providing unparalleled access to education through multiple pathways to degree completion. We look forward to ongoing collaboration between our two institutions and creating a consistent, flexible and seamless system for our students.”

“This new partnership with UOIT provides qualified Seneca students with more pathways to earn two postsecondary credentials in less time,” said Seneca President David Agnew. “Seneca is the Ontario leader in providing pathways to university and this further demonstrates our commitment to student success by providing new and enriching opportunities.”

Seneca and UOIT are both committed to providing students with career-oriented programs and more diploma-to-degree pathways; this new partnership is a natural match.

About UOIT

The University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) advances the discovery and application of knowledge through a technology-enriched learning environment and innovative programs responsive to the needs of students, and the evolving 21st-century workplace. With more than 9,200 undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in 70 programs delivered by exceptional faculty, UOIT promotes social engagement, fosters critical thinking and integrates outcomes-based learning experiences inside and outside the classroom. UOIT’s commitment to accelerating economic growth and social innovation is realized through research collaborations with leading organizations such as Ontario Power Generation, The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) and the Durham Regional Police Service. UOIT will mark its 10th anniversary on September 4, 2013. To find out more, visit uoit.ca.

About Seneca College

With campuses across the Greater Toronto Area, Seneca offers degrees, diplomas and certificates renowned for their quality and respected by employers. Combining the highest academic standards with practical, hands-on learning, expert teaching faculty and the latest technology ensures Seneca graduates are career-ready, visit senecacollege.ca.

Ask not where the jobs are, but what you want to do

August 1, 2013August 1, 2013Canada India Education Council (CIEC)

Source: The Globe & Mail

Every year, when I welcome a new class to campus, I hear about the decision-making process students have undertaken to enroll in their programs. Some cite the advice of parents or a friend, others refer to teachers, but many times students are clearly unsure of why they have chosen their program. Parents are most often sought out for advice, yet they are often ill-equipped to talk about the full range of postsecondary options.

Recently, I was talking about degree options for students in our colleges and the parent said to me, “Well, those aren’t real degrees.” In fact, the applied-learning focus of the degrees in the colleges is just as real as any BA awarded at a traditional university. I would argue these degrees are even more real because of their concrete connections to industry as well as the field work, internships and co-ops that are linked to these credentials. Many parents are simply working under pre-conceived assumptions about colleges being a lesser-than option when compared to the universities. Indeed, while colleges do offer access programming, we also offer intensive degree programs on par with many undergraduate degrees.

So how can we help students and parents think differently? More importantly, how do we ensure students are receiving and using the right information to make right career decisions? It first begins with strong assessment of their talents, who they are and what they are interested in pursuing. To me this means that we need to better equip students earlier with solid information around the whole range of career options that align to their strengths. In my own institution, we have developed some new online tools and pro-active career advising to support students with this process to ensure they have a more complete picture of themselves and their goals.

Additionally, our education system specifically needs to provide better information to students and parents about career planning. This includes improved career development options for secondary-school students and changing the dominant paradigm in parents’ minds about the value of applied learning available in postsecondary schools and promoting the importance of adaptability for students. This also includes more work-integrated learning opportunities and courses in creative thinking, entrepreneurship and innovation.

It is also about developing a new social contract between students, employers and society related to careers, education and training. We have to change our notions about the skills associated with the future world of work. It is not about simply “skills training.” It also has to be about training for the right skills that are needed now and in the future. This means highlighting the importance of continuing to learn and equipping students to be flexible and resilient. This will allow new graduates to respond to changing conditions, especially in a connected, hyper-competitive global economy.

I would argue in fact that our economy benefits from a differentiated and strongly linked postsecondary system. We need students graduating with history degrees, philosophy degrees and applied–focused degrees that also build in work-integrated learning opportunities and creative thinking approaches.

However our postsecondary system needs more tools to effectively show students what success looks like. It is not about just picking a program because someone told them this is where the jobs shortages are occurring. More often than not in my experience, the students who combine passion, a strong understanding of their strengths and a well-informed support network of parents and friends are motivated to succeed and cross the stage at convocation.

Need for foreign exchange student host families

August 1, 2013August 11, 2013Canada India Education Council (CIEC)

Source: News Channel 10

AMARILLO: The new school year is approaching fast but dozens of high school students still don’t know where they’ll be living come the start of the semester.

We’re talking about foreign exchange students. One area coordinator says she still has 100 students that need host families.

Lindy Wakefield has traveled to 45 different countries, and because of those travels she has dozens of friends all over the world.

As a coordinator for an international student exchange program, she wants to help others make those connections.

“We have students in Norway, Spain, Germany, Asia and South America still looking for homes,” Wakefield said.

Texas has more exchange students per capita than any other state, but Wakefield wants to share the panhandle generosity with more international students.

“I can go 120 miles outside of Amarillo, and right now I’ve been focusing on Amarillo and Canyon, but I’m really really hoping, and I can expand at any time, to actively, aggressively expand it next year,” she said.

Wakefield’s organization, the Center of Cultural Interchange is just one of several exchange programs active in the panhandle.

Right now 16-year-old Augusto from Brazil is staying in Amarillo for the summer through a Lions Club program.

“I love the U.S.,” he said.

Augusto’s host mom, Paula Davis, has invited five different students into her home over past years. All experiences she says are shaping her boys into open-minded, well-rounded young adults.

“It helps them understand that people across the world have a lot of similarities,” she said. “Just because we have different backgrounds or different races or different cultures doesn’t make us so different.”

Davis and her boys keep in touch with former students they’ve hosted. So does Wakefield who says an e-mail from a German student she knew in high school highlights how influential exchange programs can be.

“It was the most magical year of my life. It made me fall in love with the U.S. and always made me defend the U.S. when anyone went to criticize it, no matter where I was,” she read. “Thanks for having other exchange students have such an experience.”

India’s newest state has more people than Canada and more Microsoft IT employees than anywhere but Redmond

August 1, 2013August 12, 2013Canada India Education Council (CIEC)

Source: Quartz

The creation of India’s newest state, Telangana, marks the end of a decades-long quest for self-governance in the country’s south, and was greeted with celebration on the streets of Hyderabad, the state’s new capital city.

But the ruling Congress party’s vote to approve the state’s creation Tuesday night may also usher in an era of uncertainty for dozens of multinational companies with major operations in Hyderabad.

If it was a stand-alone country, Telangana, with a population estimated at 36 million people, would be more populous than Canada, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan or Australia. At 44,300 square miles, Telangana will be about the same size as the US state of Kentucky.

Most importantly for global business, Telangana will share Hyderabad, the south Indian information technology metropolis, with Andhra Pradesh, the state is it separating from, for the next ten years. After that, the city will go to Telangana, whose leaders may have scant business experience, particularly with global corporations.

The city houses the information technology operations of some of the world’s biggest companies, including the largest Microsoft IT center outside of its Redmond, Wash. headquarters. Microsoft’s website calls the Hyderabad center the “backbone” of the company’s IT operations and says it handles IT for more than 1.3 million devices and 194,000 end-users in over 108 countries as well as managing Microsoft’s global data centers and corporate network.

Thousands of employees from other multinational companies including Accenture, Bank of America, Dell, Novartis, JP Morgan, Google, and Facebook also work in Hyderabad’s sprawling business parks.

The Times of India reported that Wednesday “Brand Hyderabad is set to shine once more and brighter at that,” with the Telangana decision made. But Telangana’s independence movement has been tainted by violence, and Tuesday night’s announcement does not seem to have put an end to that. Businesses, schools, and public transportation were shut Wednesday as rock-throwing protestors vented their anger over the decision to give Hyderabad to the new state.

BSE Institute Ltd. and Ryerson University Announce BSEI-Ryerson Digital Media Zone

August 1, 2013August 1, 2013Canada India Education Council (CIEC)

Source: Foreign Affairs, Trade, and Development Canada

MUMBAI, MAHARASHTRA: Today a groundbreaking MOU was signed between BSE Institute Ltd. (BIL), Ryerson University and Ryerson Futures Inc. (RFI) from Toronto, Canada. The document outlines a partnership to create BSEI-Ryerson Digital Media Zone, a new India-based incubator for entrepreneurs to fast-track their startups and connect with mentors, customers, and investors. The collaboration between BIL, Ryerson and RFI lays the groundwork to help young entrepreneurs expand into both the Indian and Canadian markets and also touches on a broad spectrum of areas in the domain of entrepreneurship development and professional development education.

The signing ceremony was organized on July 29, 2103 at the BSE. Several dignitaries from the finance industry, academia and media were present to witness the launch.

BSE Institute’s CEO & MD, Mr. Ambarish Datta said, “Entrepreneurship and innovation are critical for the growth of any economy, as has been evidenced in the USA, Germany, Israel, and many other countries around the world. Youth unemployment and underemployment is prevalent in India and needs to be addressed on a war footing. Setting up of new enterprises can contribute in a major way to address this issue. Apart from creating wealth and boosting the economy, new businesses also create significantly larger number of jobs than established ones. Hence we need to ensure that there are many new enterprises and they get the required support to succeed.

The BIL-Ryerson Incubation Center (BRIC) will offer startups expert guidance and mentoring to refine their concept, help them get their business up and running and also connect them with investors for securing capital.”

Mr. Sheldon Levy, President and Vice-Chancellor of Ryerson University, added: “This initiative is an important first step towards creating a new bridge between Canada and India that provides young entrepreneurs unprecedented international opportunities. As Canada’s university leader in entrepreneurship, we’re excited to contribute to this venture that will support innovation and prosperity in both countries.”

“The signing of today’s MOU enables us to forge networks of angel investors across Canada and India,” added Matt Saunders, President and Managing Director of Ryerson Futures Inc. “These initiatives will help increase the odds of success for early-stage start-ups while giving them access to new markets. We are proud to share our expertise towards this partnership that will strengthen India’s startup ecosystem and provide a boost for both countries’ economies.”

The BIL-Ryerson Incubation Center will be built on the lines of the Digital Media Zone, a unique model developed at Ryerson University that has attracted international attention. The Digital Media Zone at Ryerson University (DMZ) is one of Canada’s largest incubators and multidisciplinary co-working spaces for young entrepreneurs. Infused with the energy and resources of downtown Toronto, this hub of digital media innovation, collaboration, and commercialization is home to both startups and industry solution-providers. The DMZ leads the way in experiential learning and business success by creating a unique ecosystem of education and entrepreneurship. Emerging leaders’ fast-track their product launches and grow their companies in this supportive community by connecting with mentors, customers, and each other. Since opening in April 2010, the DMZ has stimulated Canada’s digital economy by incubating and accelerating 92 startups and launching 142 projects.

The first initiative through the partnership between BIL, Ryerson University, and RFI will be the launch of ‘The Next Big Idea’ competition. The competition seeks to discover India’s most innovative companies who are looking to use a presence in Ontario, Canada as a vehicle to expand into North America. The winner will receive the opportunity to incubate their company for three weeks in the Digital Media Zone at Ryerson University (DMZ), including flights and hotels. Using the DMZ as a landing pad, the entrepreneurs will receive mentorship, business development advice, and gain valuable international experience. The competition opens August 12 and closes August 30, 2013.

96 GTU Students reached Canada to study at Laurentian University for 6 weeks

August 1, 2013August 11, 2013Canada India Education Council (CIEC)

Written by Bhativa Shukla

Gujarat Technological University (GTU), established by the Government of Gujarat in India caters to the fields of engineering, pharmacy, and business studies (MBA programs), Computer Applications (MCA), and Architecture in Gujarat.

96 of the university’s students have reached Canada to study at Laurentian University for 6 weeks under the “International Experience Program.” International Experience Program (IEP) is specially designed by GTU under its “Centre for Global Business Studies” and “Centre for Technology Education, Public Policy and Universities of the 21^st Century.” IEP has been designed to increase global connectivity among higher education institutions. It also gives an opportunity for the students to experience International Education.

51 students reached on 14^th June 2013 and rest of 45 students reached on 16^th June 2013 at LU. 21 students are from the pre-final year of Bachelor of Pharmacy and 75 students are from the pre-final year of Computer engineering /IT/ CSE/MCA.

The Pharmacy students are studying Pharmacology III and Pharmaceutical Chemistry-X (Medicinal Chemistry). The Computer Science students of are covering Web Data Management and Wireless Communication & Mobile Programming at Laurentian University. An orientation and a reception were organized to welcome students and to brief them about the facilities at the campus. Dr. Vasu Appanna, Dean of the Faculty of Science and Engineering encouraged students to work hard, learn, and also to have fun by participating in various recreational and cultural activities on Thursday, 20^th June, 2013. Students explored the city in a tour organized by Ms. Rachel Trudeau, Business Officer in the Dean’s office. They visited different places in Sudbury like Dynamic Earth, downtown, and New Sudbury Centre.

GTU Students at LU are impressed with the educational experience and innovative teaching techniques. They are finding the teaching environment very friendly and interactive. They will be studying for 6 weeks at Laurentian University and credits will be given by GTU.

The program was initiated in 2011, when 34 MBA students went to the University of Alberta, Canada. During the summer of 2012, 111 students had been to the Laurentian University, Canada for studies under IEP. GTU also offers such programs with Universities in the US and Germany.

GTU also has a co-supervision of doctoral research work under which 114 professors from Europe, the US, and Canada work with professors and doctoral students of GTU.

From November 2010 to July 2013, many leading academicians from Canada have visited India and have met students, professors, deans, and officers at GTU.

Read the Report.

With AICTE nod, corporate houses set to start engineering colleges

August 1, 2013August 1, 2013Canada India Education Council (CIEC)

Source: The Indian Express via India Newswatch

NEW DELHI: For the first time, the All India Council for Technical Education has decided to allow private corporate groups to start degree colleges in the 2013-14 academic year.

It has received applications from four corporate groups so far — Madras Cements from Tamil Nadu, Bharat Forge from Maharashtra, TechMahindra (Satyam Computers taken over by Mahindra & Mahindra) from Andhra Pradesh, and a company from Jharkhand.

“A total of four companies have applied in the first year. A decision will have to be taken soon,” confirmed AICTE chairman S S Mantha. “We want industries to participate in the process of delivering quality education. We genuinely feel that the industry should participate more than they are doing now. An initiative like this is a step in that direction. It will facilitate introduction of best practices of the industry,” he said.

So far, the industry was only involved in organising lectures and specific projects at AICTE-approved technical colleges. The AICTE’s decision to allow a private limited or public limited company or industry, with a turnover of Rs 100 crore each year for the past three years, to start an under-graduate, post-graduate or diploma institute, is aimed at addressing the corporate sector’s complaints that students graduating from technical institutes are not industry-ready or employable.

When contacted, A V Dharmakrishnan, chief executive officer, Madras Cements, said: “Madras Cements currently has schools across its factories in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. We also have a polytechnic institute from where we recruit. The only missing link is an engineering institute. We need a lot of manpower and we felt that this is the right time to start an engineering college as we already have the expertise. The construction of the college building has started and AICTE officials have inspected the site. We are expecting approval soon.”

The college, which will be named Ramco Institute of Technology, will offer programmes in core engineering disciplines like mechanical, civil, electrical, electronics and communication, and computer science, he said.

The AICTE will allow a company to start any branch of a discipline that suits its requirement. The institutes could offer technical disciplines like engineering and technology, pharmacy, architecture and town planning, applied arts and crafts and hotel management and catering technology (HMCT).

A senior academic from the IIT system said that while the response has not been huge, it is a good start. “More industries should definitely be part of the higher education system,” said the academic.

Community colleges equipping learners

August 1, 2013August 1, 2013Canada India Education Council (CIEC)

Source: The Times of India via India Newswatch

NEW DELHI: In February, the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), announced the launch of around 200 community colleges from the 2013 academic session.

Community Colleges (CC) have been in India for some time now. However, these colleges have not yet emerged as an alternative system to the traditional universities. Taking cognizance of this, the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), along with the All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), has announced the launch of 200 CC across the country under the National Vocational Education Qualifications Framework (NVEQF) programme. The pilot CCs aim at improving employable skills of learners, providing them opportunities for flexible quality learning at low cost, multiple exit-entry and community based lifelong learning.

Elaborates BK Bhadri, assistant education advisor, MHRD, “These colleges would function from existing colleges/polytechnics, which have been identified by the state/union territories. Combining skills with general education, they will offer modular credit-based programmes relevant to the local employment market with active industry involvement in terms of design, development and delivery of the curriculum including hands-on practical training. While the general education component will conform to university norms, the vocational component will conform to the NVEQF.”

Pardeep Sahni, nodal officer, Community College Unit of Ignou, adds: “The NVEQF scheme has 10 levels. Levels 1-4 are up to class XII, 5-7 complement the graduation programme, levels 8 and 9 are those of the Master’s level and level 10 is equivalent to the doctoral level. A common curriculum has been fixed and the focus of each year is on skill component as well as general education. Within each year the hours for skill development as well general education have been allocated. With each level, the component of skill/vocational education increases and that of general education decreases.”

Colleges will consult industry through the Sector Skill Council (SSC), constituted by National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), for development of curriculum and evaluation of skills. However, till SSCs prescriptions are available, the pilot CCs will develop their curriculum on the lines of the model curriculum in 12 sectors developed by AICTE in consultation with the relevant industry. Speaking of the student profile that these colleges will attract, Bhadri says, “The colleges will cover all age and qualification groups, i.e., persons with no formal academic qualification, school drop-outs, high school and diploma-holders, etc.

However, at the pilot stage it may focus on students who have completed class XII, i.e., levels 5-7 of the NVEQF.” In order to ensure the sustainability of the scheme, a committee comprising nine education ministers, headed by Archana Chitnis, minister of school education, Madhya Pradesh, visited the US to study the community college model.

Speaking on the findings of the committee, Bhadri says, “The team observed that the CC system has been working well in the US for the last 50 years. However, all its features cannot be imported to India due to the socio- economic and socio-cultural differences that the two countries have in spite of several similarities.” The committee, accordingly, emphasized that the pilot CC should meet the contemporary needs of the community/ society and the nation at large.

Some of the important recommendations of the committee include the award of certificate, diplomas, advanced diplomas and associate degrees, the dovetailing of the courses with the levels of the NVEQF to facilitate mobility between general and vocational education by bridging the credit gap, and adequate laboratory/ workshop facilities in colleges.

Avinav Sharma

July 25, 2013July 31, 2013Canada India Education Council (CIEC)

Disha Contributor

Avinav Sharma is the Country Head – Canada at Kangaroo Studies Private Ltd., India, guiding students along their educational pursuits in Canada. With a background in B.Tech Electronics & Communication Engineering, he brings a unique perspective to his editorial commentary.

Contributions

Sparsh Sharma

July 25, 2013July 31, 2013Canada India Education Council (CIEC)

Disha Contributor

Sparsh is a full-time MBA student at School of Business and Social Sciences, Aarhus University, Denmark. An engineer who loves writing, he has an extensive experience in journalism and has also worked as a copy editor in two of the leading Indian English dailies in Mumbai, India. He is a blogger and freelance journalist.

Contributions

‘ACCESSIBLE ARCTIC’ IN MUMBAI

July 18, 2013July 22, 2013Canada India Education Council (CIEC)

Source: Zee News

MUMBAI: The Arctic is much more than polar bears, icebergs or auroras. Spectacular photos of Arctic region of Canada are now being showcased in India, a country that has been recently granted observer status at the Arctic Council.

A five-day exhibition “Accessible Arctic” curated jointly by the Canadian Museum of Nature and the Canadian Geographic (CG) begins today at High Street Phoenix here.

The show has been organised by the Consulate General of Canada which aims to provide locals an insight into the extreme and distant Arctic.

“The timing of this exhibit marks India’s newly granted observer status at the Arctic Council recognising, among other things, India’s demonstrated Arctic interests and expertise. Canada as Chair of the Arctic Council welcomes India to this important global body,” Richard Bale, Consul General for Canada to Mumbai, said in a statement.

Photographs range from flowers to fields of grazing caribou to icebergs and polar bears.

The images have been captured over a period of eighty years and the exhibition itself has travelled to places like London, Belgium, Stockholm, Port of Spain, Riga (Latvia), Warsaw, Sydney, Berlin, Bucharest, Wellington, Santo Domingo, Washington and Seoul among others.

A picture from the November-December 1997 shows the late summer colours of fireweed and yellow barley flare in valleys north of Canada’s Dawson City.

Diverse flora and fauna make the area a favourite for hikers and the mountains also contain rich gold and uranium.

Photos by Whitehorse, Yukon Ken Quong for the CG January-February 2007 edition titled “Flight Path” shows swans in flight. The most common of the three species of swans found in Canada, tundra swans fly the winter to California and return to the Arctic in May.

Another photograph in the exhibition is a 1999 photo of a womens’ sprint race at the almost 1.9 million square kilometers, Nunavut the largest territory in Canada. The territory came into being on April 1, 1999 and impromptu ceremonies sprang up at settlements throughout the territory to celebrate the new creation.

In 1970, dog teams were most common transportation means in the Arctic. Speed, strength and endurance were necessary characteristics of the dogs. Today, most dog sledding is done for recreational purposes. A picture of one such dogsled features in the showcase.

Another photograph shows the world’s largest land omnivore, an adult polar bear surveying the horizon. Studied equally by scientists and Inuit hunters, the bears are under increasing pressure as the Arctic warms.

There are also photos of navigational markers, food caches and cultural symbols. Stone markers have long been in use in the Arctic, where natural landmarks are scarce. In recent years, workers in northern parks have had to dismantle inuksuit created by campers and hikers so that the actual markers for trails and food caches would remain clear.

“Accessible Arctic” is the first project to be showcased under “World Wednesday”, the latest property of High Street Phoenix, which aims to showcase various cultures of the world.

After July 7, the exhibit is scheduled to also travel to three other locations including the Tata Institute of Social Sciences in Mumbai.

Foreign service strike slowing down visa applications

July 18, 2013August 1, 2013Canada India Education Council (CIEC)

Source: CBC

The job action by Canada’s foreign service officers is causing a slowdown in visa applications, which could result in big costs to the economy.

The federal government and the union representing diplomats and immigration officers abroad have been locked in a contract negotiation battle for months. As part of escalating job action measures, diplomats at key visa application centres — including Beijing, Delhi, Sao Paolo and Mexico City — have withdrawn their services.

“The applications are just piling up,” said Tim Edwards, head of the the Professional Association of Foreign Service Officers. The number of visas issued from offices in major centres abroad dropped 60 to 65 per cent in June, he said, and overall, the issuance rate is down 25 per cent.

Across the board, the backlog is growing five per cent per week, and in the bigger centres, it’s 10 to 20 per cent per week, said Edwards. At more than half of the 51 foreign visa application centres, the processing times are exceeding the immigration department’s 14-day target.

Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney’s office says all visa offices remain open and are providing services and that the department is “closely monitoring the situation.”

Kenney was asked about the visa situation on Tuesday while making an announcement about passports.

“In the last federal budget, the government dedicated an additional $22 million a year to improving visa processing, so while we are seeing some short-term slowdowns as a result of the strike, we hope to see mid- to long-term recovery because of the investments that we are making,” he said.

The slowdown has the tourism and education sectors worried. People who need a visa to come to Canada, including tourists from big markets such as China, Mexico and India, are being warned to apply as far in advance as possible and to apply online to cut down wait times.

Kenney’s office said every visa office has core staff that have been deemed “essential” and are not participating in the job action, and there are other staff who are not part of the union because they are “locally engaged” hires.

But those staff members don’t have the authority to approve or decline a visa application, according to the union, and adding that staff, in some cases retirees who are being sent abroad, is not making up the shortfall caused by striking workers.

Summer is the peak season for travel, and the Tourism Industry Association of Canada is warning of huge losses because of the labour dispute. The group’s president, David Goldstein, said in a statement last week that travellers are abandoning their plans to visit Canada because they were told about visa delays and that the visa system is “being held hostage.”

“No matter what side of this labour dispute you find yourself on, there is clearly one loser — the Canadian tourism industry that stands to lose over a quarter of a billion dollars of business this year,” he said.

Goldstein pegged the potential price tag at $280 million for 2013, but said the cost to Canada’s reputation will be much higher, “as there are plenty of other more accessible countries happy to welcome their business.”

Students worried about visas

The education sector is also taking a hit because the visa slowdown is affecting international students who are preparing to come to Canada.

“The crunch is coming for September admissions, they will need their visas by early to mid-August,” said Paul Brennan, vice-president of international partnerships at the Association of Canadian Community Colleges. “We’re quite worried that unless this is resolved or special measures are taken students will not get their visas in time.”

International students are a growing economic contributor and it’s a sector that the federal government and education community have been working hard to promote. The efforts are paying off, as the number of students from India alone, just studying at colleges, not universities, has jumped from 1,500 to 8,000 over the last four years.

The ACCC has an estimate that international education is worth $8.1 billion to the Canadian economy per year.

Foreign service officers are involved in the marketing efforts and are great allies, Brennan said, but they’ve scaled back on that work because of their job action. He’s worried progress made in recent years will suffer a setback if the dispute drags on much longer.

Brazil is set to send 1,200 students to Canada on government scholarships in the coming year and a lot of them are anxious about getting their visa on time, Brennan said. If the delays persist, they may end up abandoning Canada and going to the U.S. or elsewhere, he said.

‘Fair’ offer on the table

Even if the government takes measures to speed up the visas, he’s worried word-of-mouth about the slowdown will cause lasting damage to Canada’s reputation as an education destination.

The union says the service withdrawals are a direct result of the government’s refusal to engage meaningfully with its employees and to put a fair offer on the table.

The union is advocating for “equal pay for equal work,” asking for salary increases to keep foreign service officers on par with other public servants who do comparable work.

But Treasury Board, the department responsible for contract negotiations, says the government has put forward a fair offer, one that is “fair to employees and fair for taxpayers,” according to a spokesman for Treasury Board President Tony Clement.

“It is unfortunate that the union is attempting to take their labour demands out on Canadians,” press secretary Matthew Conway said. “The foreign service is a well-paid and highly sought after posting. In addition to salaries that often go into six figures, foreign services workers enjoy generous benefits worth tens of thousands of dollars per individual.”

The union disputes the government’s claims about the benefits, and Edwards said if the government was really being fair, it would be willing to discuss the wage gap issue.

The last time the two sides sat down was June 5, and the government presented the exact same offer as it did 20 months ago, said Edwards. There are no new talks scheduled.

Now, five-year visas available for students

July 18, 2013July 22, 2013Canada India Education Council (CIEC)

Source: The Hindu

A total of 50 students from IIM-B are going to France on student exchange programmes

Home to some of the world’s best management and engineering institutes, France’s reputation as a favoured destination for Indian students looking to pursue postgraduate and doctoral programmes received a fillip with its recent announcement to offer long-stay visas of five years.

On Monday, several students including the ones chosen for the lucrative scholarship offered by the French government participated in a pre departure session. This year, 13 students from Karnataka have bagged the scholarships to fund their higher education in France. Of these, eight students from the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, are heading to France for a student exchange programme.

The pre-departure session for students travelling to France to join the fall academic session was inaugurated by Eric Lavertu, Consul-General of France in Bangalore.

Doubts relating to visa application process, health insurance, food, cultural aspects and accommodation in France were addressed by experts. An exclusive Q&A session by Vincent Caumontant, Deputy Consul, on visa formalities brought more clarity to the process which has also been simplified for students keeping the documentation process to the bare minimum.

With the recent announcement by the Ambassador of France to India, Francois Richier, making students pursuing their masters or doctoral research eligible for a five-year business/tourist visa, coming as a comforting sign to students who wish to study abroad, Campus France is already seeing more applications trickling in, says Madhuri Welling, education adviser, Campus France de Bangalore.

She added that in addition to the long-stay option, education in France is cheaper as compared to the US at a time when the rupee is depreciating.

“Also, France offers many courses in English and students do not need to mandatorily learn French to study there,” she said.

Students from India prefer to study management at INSEAD and HEC-Paris and engineering at institutes such as École Centrale Paris, Institut National des Sciences Appliqués (INSA) de Lyon and Télécom ParisTech. “Of all the engineering streams in French universities, it is aeronautical engineering which is most preferred by students,” shared Ms. Welling.

Synergy 2013: Seats filling quickly

July 18, 2013March 27, 2020Canada India Education Council (CIEC)

Registrations are now open for our highly successful “Canada-India: A Synergy in Education” event, held since 2007. The Canada India Education Council (CIEC) is proud to host Synergy 2013 on Oct 3 & 4 at the Hilton Garden Inn near Toronto Airport.

Highlights of this year’s sessions:

Update on Canada India Higher Education cooperation & promotion of Canada as a study destination by Foreign Affairs & Int’l Trade (DFAIT)
Update on the Ontario-Maharashtra-Goa (OMG) program & cross directional push for higher levels of collaboration in Research & Higher Education by Dr. Lalu Mansinha
Updates from Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute and we are particularly delighted that the recently founded IC-IMPACT (announced by PM Stephen Harper in Nov 2012) will also be present and discuss opportunities for collaboration.

Join hundreds of academic experts from both countries as they discuss recent developments and hear illustrious speakers stimulate thought and demonstrate the opportunities of this dynamic and burgeoning education corridor. For a detailed Agenda, please visit: http://canadaindiaeducation.com/synergy-2013/ To Register, click here.

The seating capacity at Synergy 2013 is only 120 and registration is once again on a first come basis. CIEC has negotiated a special rate for delegates staying at the hotel, which will also provide complimentary airport transfers. To take advantage of the discounted hotel rate, you must reserve your room by August 31^st by clicking here. For delegates arriving from India, CIEC is pleased to provide a 1 night FREE stay at the Hilton Garden Inn.

CIEC is a membership founded, bi-national, independent, event-driven organization established to operate exclusively in the ‘Canada India education corridor’, enhance ties and create opportunities for academic institutions and learners from both countries.

We look forward to seeing you at this year’s landmark event and in the meanwhile, have yourself a great summer!

Canada makes immigration more difficult

July 17, 2013July 22, 2013Canada India Education Council (CIEC)

Source: GulfNews.com

At the centre of the rule changes is a new definition of the phrase “dependant child.”

DUBAI: If you plan to move to Canada after January 1 and have children who are 19 or older, they will have to make separate and independent applications.

And new rules coming into effect then will also make it more difficult for older children who plan to study full time to move to Canada.

It’s estimated by officials in Ottawa that the new rule changes will cut an estimated 7,000 applicants from moving to Canada.

At the centre of the rule changes is a new definition of the phrase “dependant child”. At present, those under 22 are considered to be dependant children and qualify to automatically move with parents if the parents’ application for permanent residency is granted.

Under the new rules, those past their 19th birthday will have to make a separate application — opening a new immigration application file with permanent residency being granted or denied on the merits of the application. With education and work experience being a critical part of the points test for permission to emigrate, the new rule will make it virtually impossible for those new files to be approved — at last until third-level education and work experience build up the needed points.

“These rule changes are going to make it a lot harder for parents who have older children to move here,” Dev Patel, an immigration consultant and paralegal based in Mississauga, Ontario, told Gulf News. “This rule change was announced about a month ago and I am already seeing a spike in files and people wanting to come to Canada are worried. I think that it’s important to spread the news that if you plan to move to Canada, the earlier the better. I know that Dubai and the UAE is often used as a stepping stone for many people from the sub-continent who want to come to Canada. I have several files on my desk right now and two families in Dubai will have to make separate files for their older children if they don’t follow through on the current paperwork.”

The rule changes were detailed in a seven-page report post on the Citizenship and Immigration Canada web site.

“The earlier in life immigrants arrive, the more their educational experience will resemble that of their Canadian-born counterparts and the easier it will be to learn an official language and adapt to Canadian cultural traits and social norms,” a says.

Under the current immigration rules, a child is considered a dependant if they are under 22 and single, but there are exceptions if the person is over 22 and still rely on direct financial support from their parents or legal guardian — and are full-time students.

According to the latest statistics from Ottawa, 64,757 of all sponsored children to Canada were under 19 in 2012 — making up nearly 90 per cent of the total. There were 7,237 applicants as dependant children over 19 in the same year.

Part of the reasoning given in the briefing paper outlining the rule changes says that Canada’s economy remains fragile and needs to be protected.

Age at emigration frequently determines where a person receives his or her education. With the difficulties in determining a foreign credential’s value in Canada and evidence that the return on Canadian education is much higher, the report says. “I think the lesson for all now is that it is becoming harder and harder to immigrate to Canada,” Patel said. “This government has brought in new criteria, raised fees, changed rules and is generally making it more difficult to move to Canada. The reality is that Canada needs new immigrants to continue to grow.”

The dependant children’s age cut-offs in the United States is 21 and, in Australia, 25.

Our medical schools must not become shills for big pharma

July 17, 2013July 22, 2013Canada India Education Council (CIEC)

Source: The Globe and Mail

Most Canadians might be surprised to learn that medical students in Canada are routinely taught by faculty who have financial ties, and work in partnership, with drug companies. Conflict of interest (COI) policies at medical schools are important to ensure that students get an unbiased education based on the best available clinical evidence, free of industry-sponsored, commercially-driven information. After all, these students go on to become our doctors and we want the best doctors education can provide.

So, do medical schools in Canada lack appropriate conflict of interest policies or are they simply not following them?

In a study published in PloS One, we examined the COI policies at all 17 medical schools across the country. Our findings reveal a glaring problem, and something that should concern all of us. The majority of medical schools (12 of 17) have generally weak or non-existent COI policies, and four schools had policies that were moderately restrictive. Only one medical school – Western University – had stringent COI rules.

In other words, the bulk of our doctors-in-training in Canada are receiving health information that is potentially biased and misleading.

Here’s a telling example: Between 2002 and 2006, the University of Toronto held a pain-management course for medical and other health science professional students that was partly funded by grants from Purdue Pharma LP, the maker of OxyContin. As part of the course, a chronic pain-management book – funded and copyrighted by Purdue Pharma – was distributed to the students free of charge by a lecturer who worked in partnership with Purdue Pharma and was external to University of Toronto. The wording in the book exaggerated both the benefits and the approved uses for these medications, based on the current evidence at that time. Despite recognition of these concerns by the university after a student complained, those who attended the sessions were never informed of the bias or the problematic content of the lectures and book (which was used in a related course up to 2010).

The most poorly regulated areas noted in our study include curriculum selection, receiving free drug samples, visits from pharmaceutical sales representatives and taking part in speaking engagements on behalf of pharmaceutical companies.

Bottom line: Unrestrictive policies allow industry to influence medical residents’ education about appropriate, effective and safe medicines, as well as prescribing choices.

Free drug samples have been found to increase the likelihood that medical residents will choose to provide medications to patients that cost more than equally effective prescription treatments, or other non-pharmaceutical options. Frequent visits by drug sales representatives are associated with influencing prescribing practices, resulting in more frequent prescribing and poorer prescribing quality.

The biggest concern, however, is the lack of education provided to medical students about the pervasiveness and effects of COI relationships with drug companies. Without such guidance, medical students, who will become prescribing physicians, graduate without being fully equipped to deal with either potential conflicts of interest in medical practice, or the influence of industry promotion on clinical judgement.

Our findings mean that industry has the ability to influence the resources provided and information that is taught to medical students. Without effective, stringent policies to regulate industry’s interactions with medical students and faculty, drug companies are granted the ability to be present in medical schools and play notably influential roles in the clinical training of medical students.

If we want the best doctors in Canada, our medical schools need to revise and improve their policies to regulate conflicts of interest between medical faculty, residents and the pharmaceutical industry. These policies should address the medical curriculum and the ways in which relationships with pharmaceutical firms may affect the attitudes and information that is taught to medical students.

Medical students should be educated by medical faculty using the best available clinical evidence that is unbiased by industry so that when medical students graduate, they are able to provide their patients with the best, most effective, and safest treatments possible.

Academy Canada Prepares rural classrooms

July 17, 2013July 22, 2013Canada India Education Council (CIEC)

Source: The Telegram

Private college taking over adult basic education programs

Academy Canada director James Loder’s summer got a lot busier with the announcement this week it will expand to 11 new communities in Newfoundland and Labrador to deliver adult basic education.

“I was on holidays. I was expecting the announcement to come in one week, so I decided I would take the week before off,” he said. “It was Monday morning at 10 a.m., I was lounging around in my shorts on my deck.”

As reported earlier this week, independent career college Academy Canada will move beyond its existing campuses in St. John’s and Corner Brook and begin offering adult basic education in Baie Verte, Bonavista, Deer Lake, Happy Valley-Goose Bay, the Labrador coast (Nain and Hopedale), Labrador West, Northwest River, Placentia, Seal Cove/C.B.S. and St. Anthony. Work is already being done to get their new locations ready, said Loder.

“We’re going into new communities and we’ll be acquiring new space,” he said.

“We’ve got a number of them that have already been secured, and some of the campuses we already have physically set up with desks and chairs ready to go. In other areas, we’ve got the contracts in place and we’re just getting ready to set them up, and there’s others where we’re in the final negotiating stage with the landlord. But we have somewhere planned for all the locations.”

Some of the locations include spaces previously used by the College of the North Atlantic, said Loder. All of the locations need to be ready for when classes start Sept. 6.

He’s excited about the expansion, which he calls the “next natural step” for the company.

“It’s really good news for us. Our school has been around for almost 30 years. It’ll be 30 years next year,” he said. “We’ve delivered programs in St. John’s and Corner Brook, and we have done some community-based training. We did a project in Roddickton, and we’ve done some courses in Sheshatshiu and Natuashish before, but we’ve never had a permanent presence in Newfoundland. So this allows us to expand and help support and build rural Newfoundland in a way we’ve wanted to do (for) a long time.”

The amount of hiring needed to be done won’t be known until final enrolments are in, but he expects at least 30 instructors will be needed.

What can India learn from the Canadian education system?

July 17, 2013July 18, 2013Canada India Education Council (CIEC)

Source: Times of India

The Canadian education system tries to be as equitable as possible towards students with disabilities. Many Canadian jurisdictions have policies that govern the inclusion of students with disabilities within the classroom. But in order to achieve this inclusivity, it is also required that parents, students, teachers, administrators and other community members continuously collaborate to address the needs of students with disabilities. For instance, while attending elementary and high school, a meeting was held for me at the start of the school year in which my parents, the teacher, an occupational therapist, a physiotherapist and I would discuss the curriculum for the upcoming year and the resources (ex. technology, special desk and chair, etc.) that I would need. This ensured that I was able to meet the academic goals set out in each grade’s curriculum.

The Canadian education system also makes an attempt to assist and accommodate students with disabilities in various ways. For example, in elementary and high school, I was given aSpecial Education Assistant (SEA) who would take my notes and scribe for me. At the high school, I attended, the elevator was specifically designated for students with disabilities; administrators made sure that the elevator was accessible at all times by distributing the elevator key only to students with disabilities. Some of my high school teachers also made an attempt to include me in the activities by adapting them to my needs. To illustrate, in my gym classes, if we were playing basketball, my teacher would have one round of wheelchair basketball as our school’s gym had extra wheelchairs for this purpose.

A number of Canadian post-secondary institutions have centres for students with disabilities that provide them with the necessary and reasonable accommodations. Examples of services offered by centres for students with disabilities are in-class note takers (who are student volunteers or hirees), scribes for exams, extra time for exams and textbooks in alternative formats (ex. Braille or large print). The accommodations are determined by a Learning Specialist/Disability advisor and are based on the student’s disability and needs. At SFU, I meet with my Learning Specialist at the start of each semester to discuss the course outlines and accommodations that I will need for that semester.

Occasionally professors may also accommodate the student on their own. For instance, because professors are aware that I require a scribe and extra time, if there is an in-class activity, they will sometimes allow me to take it home, type it up and email it to them. (Otherwise, the centre for students with disabilities arranges for a scribe if enough notice is given.)

Even though the Canadian education system aims to accommodate students with diverse needs, it must be noted that students cannot be accommodated in all programs. To demonstrate, a student like me who has limited hand coordination cannot expect to be accommodated in a pharmacy class where accuracy and precision are essential and tested. Students must also have the ability to learn.

After watching the ‘SatyamevJayate’ episode on people with disabilities, it is clear that the Indian education system faces a challenge when it comes to providing these types of services to students with disabilities. However, people living in countries like Canada fail to realize that this is not the case in all countries. You will be surprised at how many Canadians I come across who believe that people with disabilities are unable to attend school. This is due to the knowledge void that exists within our society regarding the education of individuals with disabilities, which I now hope to fill by sharing my knowledge and experiences.

CII delegation on US, Canada tour

July 17, 2013July 16, 2013Canada India Education Council (CIEC)

Source: Times of India

MUMBAI: A CII CEO’s delegation led by S Gopalakrishnan, President, CII and Co-Founder & Executive Co-Chairman, Infosys Limited is visiting the US and Canada from July 15-18.

As part of CII’s ongoing efforts to provide a fillip to economic relations between India and North America, the CII team arrives close on the heels of the US visits of Government of India officials, Anand Sharma, Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, who was also accompanied by a CII delegation, as well as P Chidambaram, Union minister of finance.

While in Canada, the CII delegation is expected to meet with Canadian CEOs and partner organizations, Canadian Council of Chief Executives (CCCE) and the Canada-India Business Council (CIBC) to develop a comprehensive strategy to boost bilateral engagement. The India-Canada bilateral economic relationship remains largely untapped with bilateral trade in merchandize at a mere CAD 5 billion. On the investment front, Indian investments in Canada have seen unprecedented growth as compared to Canadian investments in India. Growing from barely CAD 211 million in 2006, Indian FDI in Canada stood at CAD 4.4 billion in 2011 — nearly seven and a half times greater than Canadian FDI in India in that year, which was less than CAD 600 million.

While the US-India bilateral partnership has grown exponentially in the past few decades, the global economic turbulence that the world is witnessing has had an impact on the economic relationship. While trade in goods and services between the US and India seems to be clocking a healthy rate of growth and are set to cross the $100 billion mark, investments continue to be an area of concern with the US now slipping to fifth position in terms of FDI inflow into India. On the contrary, Indian investments in the US are on the rise, and FDI from India is seen as one of fastest growing sources of investment into the United States.

The CII delegation will be engaging with its partners, the Administration and members on Capitol Hill in the US to find ways and means to place bilateral ec onomic relations between the US and India on a new growth trajectory.

CII feels that there is a tremendous potential for engagement in new areas such as clean and renewable energy, clean technologies and energy conservation and energy efficiency; higher education and skills development; research, development and innovation in agriculture, especially in post-harvest and cold chain technologies and food safety and standards; high technology; health services and innovations in medical technologies among others.

On the trade front, professional, scientific, and technical services, finance/insurance services, and the information services sectors remains a very critical component of the bilateral trade basket.

Unfortunately, recent developments in the effort to reform the US immigration system are likely to throw up challenges to the Indian services companies in the United States. CII feels that both sides will need to take concerted action to minimize disruption in this sector. This is important not just for Indian companies, but also for US companies to maintain their competitiveness in the global market.

Some other issues of concern for both US and India such as GAAR and retrospective taxation, IPR protection, conclusion of the Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT), among others are also expected to come up for discussion during the visit.

Socio-academic integration a must for students’ success

July 16, 2013July 22, 2013Canada India Education Council (CIEC)

Written by Diwakar Sharma

Academicians and economists have different views on the education sector as a business entity. Those who are involved in the specialized area of student recruitment clearly understand that education institutions have to adopt a new model. As importance is given to internationalization of education by relaxing student visa regulation, as service providers all academic institutions must redesign academic programs as per the need of the job market. When we look at the mushrooming of private academic institutions operating under affiliation with different Indian universities, a total disconnect between education and job market is foreseen. Rising unemployment in India and an increasing number of graduates with degrees in hand but bare minimum soft skills makes it difficult for the industry to provide employment. It is the responsibility of the student recruiter to provide basic information to aspiring prospective students who want to gain admission in Canadian Universities and Community Colleges.

Education in Canada is structured and regularly monitored by the Ministry of Education and partners from the industry. The education providers constantly make changes in course curriculum as per the demand from industry experts. With updated course curriculum, Canadian Colleges and Universities provide not only the hard skills but the soft skills which make it easier for the candidate to secure a job within six months of graduation. Applicants from India should be briefed about the difference in education standards and they should be well-prepared to cope with the academic pressure in Canada.

It has been noted the majority of Asian students struggle in first semester as they are not aware of policies regarding academic misconduct and many get involved with plagiarism. A proper understanding of APA and MLA style of writing should be given to the students who intend to enroll in Universities and Colleges. Many students assume that they can take on jobs while studying without understanding that employment is not always easy to get. A proper budget should be allocated for room and board and personal expenses so that students don’t have to indulge in antisocial activities. Canada is a friendly country and hosting international students is a matter of pride but this is not sustainable with the unemployment or underemployment rates of permanent, Canadian residents. In the past, legislation prevented international students from seeking employment; with new amendments, visiting students have been given more access to the job market.

While international students contribute to the Canadian economy by paying fees and rent or buying commodities for daily use, people are concerned international students are taking jobs away from local residents. With few jobs available, this puts direct pressure on Canadian society and economy. Various employers provide work opportunities to students as they tend to save money by paying beneath minimum wages to jobseekers willing to take cash-paid jobs. Government resources take a direct hit when people apply for Employment Insurance or try to get welfare because they cannot find gainful employment.

Adaptation and integration are core Canadian values, ensuring the country continues to welcome growing numbers of international students. Student recruiters and education providers do not want to see drastic changes in the student visa process which might yield negative results. If we look at the trends in the UK, it is clear the pressure from local residents pushed the government to impose restrictions on international students and work permit seekers. At the moment, Canada is following a system comparable to the Australian system.

When we examine comparisons across students from China and India, we can see a shift in the policy and planning done by the Chinese parents. It is observed that more students are choosing Canada as a destination and many of them are attending high schools primarily in Ontario, British Columbia, and Quebec. Gaining university or college admission is easier coming from a Canadian high school because of the structure and partnerships between schools. Pathway programs help international students by providing them a direct access to admissions in prestigious universities. High school students are also exempt from IELTS and, once they complete their high school diploma in Canada, they are fully equipped with the necessary tools required for success in universities. Indian students should be briefed about the pathway programs and high schools so that they could take advantage of an early start in Canada.

Diwakar Sharma is the Senior International Recruitment Officer (South East Asia & Middle East) for TAE International Institute. He is also a member of TESL-Ontario, AMIC-Singapore, and PRSI India.