Source: Times of India
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policy
Kasturirangan Heads Panel on National Education Policy
Source: The Statesman
The Prakash Javadekar-led HRD ministry has chosen experts and educationists from wide-ranging backgrounds to be part of the panel that is expected to recast India’s education policy.
Survey Shows Effects of Policy Changes on Demographics of Prospective Immigrants
Source: Toronto Star via Academica
A new study from World Education Services has revealed some demographic effects of changes to Canada’s immigration policies. The results of a survey completed by approximately 3,200 prospective immigrants show that 95% of respondents were between the ages of 25 and 44, up from 84% before 2013. 59% of respondents said that their highest level of education was a bachelor’s degree, up from 34% in 2012, when Canada introduced the mandatory educational credential assessment process. 42% had a master’s degree, up from 18%, while the number of prospective immigrants with a PhD dropped from 5% in 2012 to 3%. 47% of respondents said they intended to settle in Ontario, 22% said Alberta, 12% said British Columbia, and 4% said Nova Scotia.
Quebec Ministers Lisée and Zakaïb back from mission to India
Source: Quebec Ministry of International Relations via Indian Economic Business News
Jean-François Lisée, Minister of International Relations, La Francophonie and External Trade, and Élaine Zakaïb, Minister for Industrial Policy and the Banque de développement économique du Québec, are enthusiastic about the potential for expanding economic, political, educational and cultural relations with the emerging Asian giant. They led a delegation of representatives of about 15 Québec companies and institutions. In Delhi, Jean- François Lisée met with Shashi Tharoor, former United Nations Under-Secretary General for Communications and Public Information and current Indian Minister of State for Human Resource Development, with a view to expanding collaboration and discussing the numerous existing agreements between Québec and India in the field of higher education. He also met with Valayar Ravi, Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs, who confirmed that the Québec-India social security agreement currently on the drawing board may be ready for signing this coming spring. In Mumbai, Bhopal and Delhi, the Québec participants met with national and regional players involved in the deployment of various segments of this ambitious project. All told, the Québec representatives took part in over 50 bilateral business meetings. In Gujarat, Minister Zakaïb toured the facilities of the Indian Farmers Fertiliser Co-operative Limited (IFFCO), one of the world’s leading agricultural co-ops. Élaine Zakaïb also met with IFFCO executives at the organization’s headquarters in Delhi.
Consolidation continues in India’s coaching industry
Source: Mint via PwC – EdLive
The change in education policy makes it imperative for smaller companies to tie up with bigger organizations. The consolidation in India’s fragmented and unregulated test preparation industry continues with small local entities getting acquired by bigger ones.
The latest is the listed coaching company MT Educare Ltd. acquiring a majority stake in Lakshya, a chain that prepares aspirants for admission to the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs). The trend has picked up largely because of three reasons—a change in education policy, the modification of exam formats and efforts by leading test-prep companies to expand their portfolio. For smaller companies it is a question of survival as a merger or partnership with a bigger entity allows them to be competitive in a changing environment. In the last three years, the common admission test (CAT) conducted by the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) has gone online. The civil service exams have become more like CAT by adopting an aptitude test. In May, the government decided to give 40% weight age to school board marks in engineering college admissions. The implementation of a single, online entrance system for selection into all engineering colleges including IITs has made it difficult for smaller coaching centers without the capability of delivering national-level tests. Adding to this is the stress on English language capability in both CAT and the civil service exams and the growth of a blended tutoring format that combines elements of the classroom with distance education.
According to a Crisil Research report, from 40,187 crore INR in 2010-11 the tutorial business is expected to grow to 75,629 crore INR by 2014-15. Sensing that the business was set to expand, Educomp Solutions Ltd. acquired Vidyamandir classes in 2010 and Triumphant Institute of Management Education Pvt. Ltd. (TIME) took a majority stake in Veta, an English language training chain in south India. The acquisition made Educomp a complete education company catering to students from school to higher education and finally the job market. For TIME, the acquisition was aimed at making its MBA coaching more robust.