Newly introduced online counseling process for IIT admissions not secure.

Just as the IIMs had to cope with glitches in their online entrance process, the IITs (Indian Institutes of Technology) are also drawing flak for the online admissions introduced this year.

Complaints about the new online counselling process being unsafe were echoed by several IIT faculty members, who told HT the new system was not only non-secured but also prone to misuse.


The controversy has its origins in the online counselling system that has replaced physical counselling sessions that were in practice till last year.

IIT freshers choose their stream and the institute where they want to study during the counselling process.

All eligible IIT students now have to do is to feed their registration number and name on the website to select a course and the institution where they would prefer to study.

The website doesn't ask for a password, and once the choices have been made, the software doesn't allow any alteration.

"A student's registration number is not secret and can be known to several others, including competing students," a computer science professor said.

"Rivals can pick a course for any given student in a manner that suits them," he said.

A senior IIT administrator, on the condition of anonymity, admitted "the online system may not be tamper-proof but no evidence has come up to suggest there has been a misuse".

Several IIT teachers - who cannot officially speak to the media under service rules - argued the "non-secure" nature of the online counselling website makes the process open to misuse.

Online counselling also offers less transparency than face-to-face sessions, some students say.

The first round of the counselling is over but the IITs will host a second round to enable students to pick up any vacant seats that were available only to higher ranked students in the first round.

All general category students who earned a rank in the IIT Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) this year were asked to visit jee.iitm.ac.in/allotcourses to pick their stream and the institution where they want to study.

The options available to them were based on their rank.
Courtesy : HT

14-year-old tops in IIT Delhi region

Fourteen-year-old Sahal Kaushik, who holds the 33rd rank at all-India level in the IIT JEE exam, emerged the Delhi region topper in the entrance examination.

At the press conference to honor the toppers, Sahal, who was too shy to speak on stage, handed the mike over to his mother Ruchi Kaushik. But that was just for a while, off the stage, the boy giggled with his friend and answered media questions quite comfortably.


"He mixes where he wants to. He has participated in competitions at the international level and mixed very well with everyone," says Ruchi. A doctor by profession, Ruchi was her son's first teacher.

"His basic schooling was mostly at home and I looked after his studies," Ruchi said.

"We got him admitted for Class 10 boards at the Vandana International School in Dwarka. He did all his studies for Class 11 and 12 from Narayana Institute," she informed the media persons.

Asked how she felt about her son performing so well at such a young age, Ruchi said, "He was always a very bright child, so it was not a surprise."

The boy also has to his credit two Asian Physics Olympiad medals -- silver for 2009 and bronze for 2010. Sahal was also a member of Asia School Camp at Japan in 2009 and is a scholar of the prestigious Kishore Vaigyanik Protsahan Yojana.

Talking about his interest, Sahal said, "I want to do research."

"I will either go for the integrated M.Sc. at IIT Kanpur or for the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research," he says.

Ruchi supports her son, saying, "He can do what he likes. We have never pressurized our children for anything."

His mother says that Sahal is apart from other children not only in his performance but also in his interests and hobbies. Sahal is interested in reading historical books and listening to old songs. Asked about his favorite singer, Sahal said, "It is hard to say who is my favorite but I like Kishore Kumar."

Sahal also breaks the myth of toppers scoring 90 plus in board exams. This topper scored a modest 76 percent in Class 10 and 73 percent in Class 12 board exams.

"He has a sharp brain, does calculations very fast, but fails to express very well on paper. Perhaps that is why he scored less in CBSE exams," Ruchi said. IANS

Move to scrap IIT-JEE, stress on board marks

The IITs and all other engineering schools may soon pick students based more on board examination marks than on entrance test performances, under testing reforms recommended by a panel of IIT directors.Prof Damodar Acharya, Director IIT Kharagpur who headed the key panel.

The panel, appointed by Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal, has recommended replacing the four-decade-old IIT-Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) and myriad other engineering entrance examinations with a common test, modelled on the US-based scholastic aptitude test (SAT).


The panel has suggested that the IITs accord a 70 per cent weightage to board examination scores in picking students, in its report to Sibal accessed by The Telegraph through top panel sources.

Scores in the common aptitude test that will replace the IIT-JEE will contribute the remaining 30 per cent weightage in determining which candidates are selected, the panel has recommended.

Unlike the current engineering entrance examinations, including the IIT-JEE, the common aptitude test will not have questions on Physics, Chemistry and Math, but will test students’ powers of logical reasoning and communication skills.

If the recommendations are accepted, the IITs will, for the first time, admit students based more on their board examination marks than on their performance in a special entrance test.

The proposed reforms will also be the most wide-reaching changes to India’s undergraduate engineering admission procedure in decades. Over two million students appear for different undergraduate engineering entrance examinations every year. Over 4.5 lakh appeared for Sunday’s IIT-JEE alone.

Officials in the HRD Ministry refused to comment on the report’s contents. But top sources confirmed that Sibal, currently touring New Zealand, has asked his officials to study the report in detail so the ministry can discuss it after he returns on April 15.

The minister had announced in February that he was setting up a panel under IIT Kharagpur director Damodar Acharya to study proposed reforms to the IIT-JEE. The panel was appointed in March, with the directors of the IITs in Mumbai, Roorkee and Chennai as the other members.

Although the panel was originally intended to propose reforms only for the IIT-JEE, its recommendations, if accepted, will also mean the end of the All India Engineering Entrance Examination and all state-specific common entrance tests.

The new common aptitude test will help admit students to all undergraduate engineering institutions in India, whether run by the Centre, state governments or private managements.

The recommendations indicate that institutions other than the IITs will also be required to give 70 per cent weightage to board examination marks, but do not specifically say so.

The panel has recommended that the government develop a Comprehensive Weighted Performance Index (CWPI) to calculate a student’s overall score based cumulatively on his performance in the board examinations and in the common aptitude test. The report appears principally based on discussions at a meeting held with other government representatives, including Central Board of Secondary Education chairman Vineet Joshi and select state representatives in Chennai on March 16.

The HRD ministry is already working towards a plan to introduce a common high school curriculum in the sciences and math, cutting across the 35 boards — central and state — that govern Indian school education.

The common curriculum would make easier a comparison between the board examination scores of students from schools affiliated to different central and state government boards, Joshi had told the meeting.

The CWPI proposed by the panel is aimed at normalising any differences that remain between difficulty levels of school-leaving examinations under different boards. (Courtesy : The Telegraph)

The six myths about Engineering you should know

Two incidents drove me to write this article. In the first incident, a woman wished that her son became a “Mechatronics Engineer” (Mechatronics deals with the mechanical and electronics principles applied together). She explained that “Robotics” is the future of the world (guess Steven Spielberg has had some influence over her) and “Mechatronics Engineers” would be in great demand in future. She thought her son could build a robot on graduating.


In the second incident, a student from my school got into an IIT recently. One of my schoolteachers mentioned this and added: “He is a brilliant student who is well-planned. He has started preparations to sit for GMAT after his engineering.” GMAT is an examination to get into management schools (primarily in the U.S. and several other English-speaking nations). My teacher believes that engineering, followed by a management course, is a good option.

In this article, I try to make clear some facts about ‘engineering' — facts which will prove the above (and some other) expectations and beliefs to be far from reality.
Engineers are super-humans

People do not understand the reality of ‘engineering.' For them, engineers are “super-humans” who build rockets, robots, electric vehicles and the like. The reason is that when a person says he works on a satellite project, people jump to the conclusion that he knows every detail of building a satellite. In reality, no engineer can know the entire details of projects. For example, it requires people from various disciplines such as electrical, mechanical, chemical and materials engineering to design an electric car.

Since the common man has the “super-human” view in mind, he generally does not accept or appreciate many of the “real” engineering works. For example, a home inverter might not bring about any awe to the common man as does an electric vehicle (though both might be equally challenging to build), because he often finds a technician setting right the problems in a home inverter. The technician just knows by experience what to do, whereas an engineer knows why it has to be done.
Engineering is more valuable than science

First, I will clarify the difference between ‘science' and ‘engineering' through a simple example. The study of optics of materials will fall under science. Scientists (physicists, in this case) will try to explain the optical properties which different materials possess. If someone tries to use the optical properties to make a microscope or a camera, he will be an engineer. Scientists establish facts which engineers exploit to make things useful to society. History would tell you that scientists did a lot of engineering work in the earlier days (between 1700 and 1900 when a lot of development really happened in science and engineering).

Today, with the vastness of the different fields, science and engineering have separated . Now, scientists rarely take up engineering work. Nevertheless, I would say scientists play a greater role as they have to establish the basic facts for engineers to build upon.

Unfortunately, since the result of engineering is the one that fetches money, people have a craze for engineering. It is disheartening to see a Ph.D. student in science getting a lesser stipend than a Ph.D. student in engineering. It should have been the other way round. Any nation that ignores the role of science cannot survive in the long run.
Management studies goes with engineering

A degree in engineering followed by a degree in Management is the much sought-after combination. Again, a ‘myth' that engineering and management are related is at work. Engineering (with science as the basis) has nothing to do with management (which does not involve science). A lucrative salary is what attracts people to management studies.

Furthermore, most institutes do not introduce engineering in a proper way, leaving students without confidence to pursue higher education.
We need more IITs

There are many IITs coming up, ostensibly to help the nation meet the requirement of engineers. Truly speaking, we have enough of engineers. Design, the work of engineers, requires just a few people.

The dearth is not in the number but in the quality of engineers we produce. It is enough if we are able to improve and maintain the quality of our institutes and retain the people graduating from them by creating ample opportunities for them to work in India with a good salary. It is better to improve and maintain the standards of the NITs, the IITs and other government institutes than creating newer ones and diluting the existing standards.
Foreign MNCs do best R&D engineering

Foreign multinationals that claim to have research and development centres in India do not do real engineering work in the country, as it is natural for any company to have real product development on home soil.

Here again, the salary is what attracts people (thanks to the dollar-rupee conversion). This is a case of brain drain, in which the brains are hired not to work. Though many might not accept, the basic aim of the foreign MNCs is to utilise the cheap labour in the developing countries to run their manufacturing units; product development is not their primary goal.

People generally end up doing tasks that are not as challenging as is the work in smaller Indian industries trying to develop products of their own.
A B.E/B.Tech graduate is an “Engineer”

With the vastness of technology, in the present day one cannot call oneself an engineer just on graduating. A B.E./B.Tech. graduate knows just the basics. I would say that post-graduation is a must. Or at least, one needs to work for a few years to understand and build engineering products. A lot of people believe that a B.E. graduate in aerospace would be able to build rockets on graduating. If it were so, there would be rockets flying everywhere!

I would advise people without an engineering background to talk to people who do real engineering work to take decisions before choosing the field for their children. The aim of education is not merely to land a high-paying job. It should empower you to find a suitable work for yourself.
Author : Arun Karuppaswamy

Some useful links for Organic Chemistry Preparation.

Here are a few links you might find useful in aiding you in Organic Chemistry.Contributed by Sbholo (sbholo@sify.com)


http://web.pdx.edu/~wamserc/C334F99/default.htm
http://web.pdx.edu/~wamserc/C335W00/default.htm
http://web.pdx.edu/~wamserc/C336S00/default.htm

PS: You might have noticed I have stopped posting here because I have been very busy. After May, an overhaul of this blog is planned to make it more user friendly.

Brand IIT: the people behind the image

IITs have justly been ranked as the top educational institutions in India and Asia. A little known fact is that more than 80 per cent of their products live and work in India. The next stage is to restructure and reinvent IITs so that they can become world-class centres of research.

A FEW days ago, I went to have my passport renewed. After waiting quite a while in a horribly cramped room, I finally entered the PRO's office and presented my application. He immediately informed me that I had filled in outdated forms and followed the wrong instructions and would have to come back later with the correct forms. I was crestfallen and pleaded that I had downloaded the forms from the Ministry's website and could not afford to take too much time away from my work at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi.

His expression and attitude underwent an immediate transformation. "Sir, please sit down. The website is outdated. It's not our fault. Here are the right forms. We can't afford to waste your time. IITs have done so much for our country." While I was filling in the forms at his desk, he expressed his unhappiness that so many of our students migrate to the United States and do not work for their own country. However, I was out of his office within 15 minutes with all the papers approved.

On my way home, I marvelled at how times have changed. Now brand IIT is recognised all over India and abroad and we can even get preference over others in government offices! However, some myths persist. Everyone believes most of our students go abroad and a majority of them take up management jobs. This is because very few people know the actual output of IITs and the career profiles of our alumni. We are generally known for the difficulty youngsters face in coping with our joint entrance exam (JEE) and the outstanding successes achieved by some of our graduates (B.Tech.) in the U.S.

What most do not know is that B.Tech. graduates constitute less than half the students trained at IITs and that the majority, in fact, are Masters and PhD degree holders. For example, over the years IIT Delhi has trained about 26,000 students of whom only 37 per cent graduated with a B.Tech., 53 per cent at the Masters level, and 10 per cent with PhDs. The profile is similar for all other IITs. It is this stress on postgraduate education that has helped IITs develop their reputation and expertise. It is this aspect that makes them different from other engineering institutions.

In the past few years, IITs have been ranked as the top educational institutions in India and Asia by national and international magazines. However, the only objective ranking of top 500 universities worldwide by research output has been done by Professor Nian Cai Liu and his colleagues at the Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China. In this list, the only institutions to make it from India are the IITs and the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. So what makes us tick and what do our graduates actually do in life?

Detailed scientific studies of the graduates from IITs Bombay and Madras show that about 35 to 40 per cent of them proceed abroad for higher studies, and about a quarter return to work in India. This means that only about a quarter of our graduates settle abroad. The pattern is roughly similar for all IITs. Now, remember that less than half our products are B. Tech. degree holders and that about 60 per cent are Masters and PhDs. All indicators show that the proportion of our postgraduate students going abroad is less than that of those with bachelors' degrees. Therefore, it seems that the total number of our students settling abroad may be less than a fifth of our total production. In other words, more than 80 per cent of our products live and work in India. These studies also show that those who go abroad represent the whole class profile and not just the toppers. This is quite reassuring.

What do our students do after they leave the IITs? Of those who go abroad, a significant number are in management jobs. Some hold top positions in multinational corporations. But what is very creditable is that almost every engineering department in most major U.S. universities seems to have an IIT graduate on its faculty. A look at the almost 200 students honoured by IITs as their distinguished alumni is instructive. Of these, about half work in India and the rest abroad; and technical researchers and professors constitute a little less than half of the total. Of the researchers honoured, 40 per cent work in India. What is interesting is that almost 70 per cent of the managers honoured work in India and most head technical companies. Of the entrepreneurs honoured, a vast majority of them come from the IT sector and live in the U.S.

What is even more interesting is that IIT students occupy the top rungs of R&D or management positions in almost all technical companies in the public and private sector in India. Many even hold senior positions in PWD, the Railways, and the Army. This should not surprise as a Department of Science and Technology sponsored study showed that a majority of those employed in the R&D departments of the top 20 public and private sector companies were Masters or PhD products from IITs. Similarly, a significant proportion of those working as teachers in engineering colleges received their higher degrees from the IITs.

What is clear is that the IITs have played a major role in the technical life of India — and this has come from their postgraduate programmes. The importance of postgraduate programmes and the availability of generous scholarships are sometimes lost on those not knowing the facts behind the image of IITs. If these institutions had not given this kind of importance to research and postgraduate education, many of our faculty members, who are well known, would have never joined these institutions. Involvement in research keeps the teachers updated and this upgrades the quality of undergraduate education. Finally, if postgraduate science and engineering education was not free along with adequate stipends (not loans), most of our students would not have opted for a research career.

Interdisciplinary outlook needed

The vision behind the establishment of IITs was that they would become centres of world-class research. A dispassionate analysis would show that we have done better than most people think, but are not good enough yet. However, a foundation has been established and we have to build on it. Like all structures, what is above the ground must be different from the foundation in form as well as function. To move forward in the 21st century, IITs will have to become much more interdisciplinary in their research outlook. This will require working with a much wider variety of professionals in the life sciences and social sciences. Leadership in research will require a much greater emphasis on theoretical work, as much of product development will be done in the secretive laboratories of large companies. Young faculty members will have to work in small tightly knit interdisciplinary groups in close interaction with national and international peer groups.

To achieve this objective, there must be a restructuring and reinventing of the IITs with a vision of the future, not the narrow immediate needs of today. And for this, there must be debate and discussion that captures the aspirations and dreams of the young Indian researchers in India and abroad.

(The writer is Professor and Coordinator, Transportation Research and Injury Prevention Programme, at IIT Delhi.)

Systematic Revision

Question: What is the most important memory technique for exam?

Answer: Revision.

As the chart diagram shows below, without revision, we forget 82% within 24 hours.

We remember better at about 10 minutes after the learning finishes. The reason for this strange memory phenomenon is simple: at the moment learning period finishes, the brain has not had enough time to organize and store the last items. It needs a few minutes to store, organize, integrate the last items.

Please note that the memory decreases sharply after initial learning. We remember only 18% after 24 hours.

We forget 82% of all that we learn within 24 hours!!

This is a very important fact for you to remember.

So, you must revise in a systematic way to get the maximum benefit from your hard work.

Star - Delta (Wye) conversion of resistances.

This is something that is not taught in many coaching classes. It is enough to know the formulas or equations required to perform these conversions. Will help a lot in simplifying difficult circuits in Current electricity.

"The Secret of Understanding and Using the Power of Beliefs for Your Success"

To understand the mind, we can divide it into two parts: conscious mind and sub-conscious mind. We use conscious mind when we knowingly think or do something. Some function like working of our heart is not under conscious control. It is the power of the sub-conscious mind that makes our heart beat about 72 times per minute regularly for up to 100 years.

Beliefs and your subconscious mind

Psychologists have found that we can consciously be aware of only 7 + 2 items at a time. But our sub-conscious mind can be aware of a large number of items at a time. For example, at any time, the sub-conscious is aware of many body functions including blood pressure, heart beats, body temperature, chemical balances, blood flow, taking care of emergencies, etc.

The subconscious mind is not under our conscious control. The sub-conscious mind functions on the basis of information stored in it.
This is the basis of mind programming. Mind programming means that if we can put information in a person's subconscious mind, then we can modify that person's behavior.

The main difficulty is the conscious mind, which does not let us put information in the sub-conscious mind. Actually the conscious mind analyses the information, and discards all that it considers false or non-useful. For example, someone who is not confident, says to himself "I am confident". The conscious mind analyses this sentence and decides that this sentence is false. And it does not put this information into the sub-conscious mind.

Power of Beliefs

A belief is an idea that we accept to be true. It can be a fact, a guiding principle, an opinion, or a faith in someone or something. We can have faith in our teacher or doctor, in the value of being honest or good, in the value of exercise for good health, in our ability to succeed, or in the value of reading newspapers, magazines, and books.

A belief can be conscious or subconscious. Conscious beliefs mean that we know that we believe something. Subconscious belief means that we do not even know that we believe something.

An example of subconscious belief is that we accept to be true what we see on the TV, what we hear on the radio, and what we read in the newspapers.

Beliefs are powerful. Here are a few examples that illustrate how beliefs affect performance.

Elephant and rope

When an elephant is a small baby elephant, it is tied with a big strong chain. It tries hard to escape from the chain, but it can not escape. As the elephant grows, the trainers replace the big strong chain by small rope. Surprisingly, the elephant still remains tied to the rope. It probably thinks "There is no point trying ... I know ... I have tried before and failed ... I am tied with the rope ... I can not escape".

How some new world records were created

In the first half of this century, athletes and trainers believed that human body could not run a mile in 4 minutes. Then, in May 1954, one runner ran a mile in less than 4 minutes. In June of the same year, another person did it again. Since then, hundreds of people have run a mile in less than 4 minutes. It shows that the belief in impossibility was in the mind only.

In weight-lifting it was believed that 500 pounds was the limit for the human body. Many could lift 499, but none 500 or more. Then the trainers fooled a Soviet weight lifter Vasily Alexeev: the actual weight was 501.5 pounds but they told it was only 499. Vasily Alexeev lifted the weight. Once the belief was broken, many other weight-lifters were able to lift more than 500 pounds.

The magic of sugar tablets

The magic of sugar tablets (also called the placebo effect) is well known to the medical doctors. In some placebo studies, patients were given sugar tablets that contained no medicine. But they were told that they were getting some powerful medicine. Many people got cured by sugar tablets. They got well just by believing that they were getting some real medicine. This example shows how the mind affects your body.

Students get high marks because of teachers belief

In one study, educational researchers divided students of equal IQ into two groups. Teachers were told that one group had a high IQ and should get high marks. The other had a low IQ and should get low marks. What do you think was the result? The group which teachers expected to get high marks, really got high marks. The other group got low marks

Overcoming the Habit of Postponing Actions (Procrastination)

When do we procrastinate actions?

When do we postpone important things that we know we need to do for our success?

It is when we are not sure of success. It is when we are in doubt. Or, it is when the work is boring or unpleasant.

If you have been postponing something for long, look back to find out what is the reason. Once you know the reason, make a decision to do it now / today / this week, without any further delay. Make a commitment to yourself. Make a promise to yourself to finally do it. That is all it takes

Differential Equations For Dummies

This plain-English guide explores the many applications of this mathematical tool and shows how differential equations can help us understand the world around us. Differential Equations For Dummies is the perfect companion for a college differential equations course and is an ideal supplemental resource for other calculus classes as well as science and engineering courses. It offers step-by-step techniques, practical tips, numerous exercises, and clear, concise examples to help readers improve their differential equation-solving skills and boost their test scores.


Discover how to:

Classify differential equations

Solve with integrating factors

Work with coefficients

Use handy theorems

Download!

Ranchi paan vendor’s sons crack IIT-JEE

Their ranks in the IIT-JEE may not secure them a seat in one of the IITs, but that’s not the most significant part of their story. Born to poor parents, for Vicky (20) and Vivek (19) it’s their grit and determination, coupled with their father’s support, that helped them crack the Joint Entrance Examination. They have made their mother Rita and father Binod Verma, owner of a paan shop at Kutchery Chowk here, proud. The brothers recall how they studied in the flickering light of a lantern, after helping their father in the shop during the day.

Members of the Kahar (OBC) community, Vicky and Vivek have secured 6,649 and 5,160 rank respectively in the all-India merit list. “Our father has a caste certificate. But we do not want to get into an IIT through reservation quota,” says Vivek. In the quota list,Vicky and Vivek are placed at 902 and 832 rank, respectively.“My father was a drop-out. Hence, he wanted us to study and we did not let him down,” says Vicky as he talks about his father, a matriculate. “Our school was 5 km away; we either cycled or walked,” adds Vivek.

They secured more than 85 per cent marks in their class XII examination. “They were very naughty,” says Talat Shamin, their teacher at Guru Nanak School. “But both of them were studious and since they managed their time well, they excelled in all the subjects.”

Though Binod’s income was limited, he always encouraged his sons to study. “He never hesitated to borrow money to buy us books or arrange for a tutor for us,” says Vivek.

Look beyond the IITs

The Telegraph,Careergraph:Specialised government technology colleges provide an education as good as that in the IITs, discovers Smitha Verma

It is the dream of all engineering aspirants to get admission to the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) but very few actually make the cut. If you fail to clear the exam, take heart; there is no need to get into just any engineering college. A bouquet of technology institutes offer courses that are in much demand. The starting salaries might not be as high as those IITians get, but with a bachelor of technology (BTech) degree from these institutes, you’ll be set on a career path to rival that of any IITian. Abhijit Mukherjee, senior professor, S.N. Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences, Calcutta, agrees. Mukherjee, who was a professor at IIT Kanpur for years, believes that for a large number of students from the urban middle class, life after school is all about getting into the IITs. “But they — as well as their parents — are simply not aware that institutes such as the Indian School of Mines University (ISMU) in Dhanbad are as good as the IITs. Besides, in recent times, they have introduced a lot of fresh job-oriented courses,” he says. “I wish parents would take an informed decision while choosing educational institutes.” Choices galore Just like the ISMU, a handful of other institutes offer coveted BTech degrees in subjects as varied as mining and petroleum engineering, leather technology, plastics technology, dairy technology and aerospace engineering. Institutes such as the Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIIT) in Allahabad, Gwalior and Hyderabad also offer courses in such popular subjects as information technology, computer science, and electronics and communications engineering. “Students presume that only the IITs have the best infrastructure,” says S. Sugumar, chief manager (technical), Central Leather Research Institute (CLRI), Chennai. “Also, the high salary offered to IIT graduates during campus recruitment makes students presume that there is nothing beyond the IITs,” he adds. But the institutes that offer specialised courses have state-of-the-art infrastructure and fully equipped laboratories to train students in their respective disciplines. Institution speak Take the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (Niper), Chandigarh. It offers postgraduate degrees in pharmaceutical sciences to students with a science background. Besides the master of technology (MTech) and master of pharmacology (MPharm) courses, Niper also offers an MBA in pharmacology and a PhD in various disciplines. “Students at Niper are recruited by the pharmaceutical industry, intellectual property rights firms and consultancy agencies,” says P. Ramarao, director, Niper. “There is a need to look at alternatives beyond the IITs,” says Uma Shankar Tiwary of IIIT, Allahabad, which offers a BTech degree in information technology and electronics and communications engineering. According to him, it is the lack of technical higher education institutions in India that leave students with little choice. Some institutions have realised the need to expand beyond their specialised disciplines. ISMU was set up in 1926 on the pattern of the Royal School of Mines, London, to teach mining engineering and applied geology to students and thus provide manpower to the minerals industry. “Our institution has now become a full-fledged university offering courses in mechanical, environmental, computer and industrial engineering, apart from integrated MSc and management programmes,” says Kampan Mukherjee, dean, academics, ISMU. “Very few youngsters are aware that there is a huge demand for skilled professionals in the booming space industry,” says B.N. Suresh, director of the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST), Thiruvananthapuram. “To address the talent crunch at the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro), the IIST was set up in 2007,” he adds. Mukherjee laments that because of sheer ignorance even brilliant students ignore these institutes and opt for private institutes. “Some of the private institutes are really shady, with poor infrastructure and only a handful of permanent faculty members. Most of the government-run technology institutes, on the other hand, have a proven track record. Moreover, many of the old institutes like the ISMU have been revamped recently,” he adds. Admissions to these institutions are based on various parameters like the joint entrance examination, interview and group discussion (for management programmes). While the ISMU and IIST recruit students through the IIT joint entrance examination (IIT-JEE), institutions such as Niper and Cental Institute of Plastics Engineering and Technology (Cipet) conduct their own entrance exams. CLRI admits students through an entrance examination conducted by Anna University and admission to the IIITs is through the All India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE). Placement & perks Alkesh Patel, a 27-year-old postgraduate in intelligence systems from IIIT, Allahabad, works as a product manager for the news and entertainment portal rediff.com. “My work involves automating processes, aggregating news and studying the latest development in my sector,” says Patel, who feels that the high stress level is the only disadvantage of his job. According to him, an MTech graduate can earn up to Rs 10 lakh per annum at entry level while a mid-level position commands Rs 12 lakh to Rs 15 lakh per annum and a senior person can aim for Rs 25 lakh per annum. Students opting for undergraduate mining courses find employment at Indian and foreign companies and the average salary ranges between Rs 7 lakh and Rs 8 lakh per annum. “The salary that a postgraduate from Niper earns at the beginning of his career ranges from Rs 2 lakh per annum to Rs 12.5 lakh per annum,” says Ramarao. CLRI graduates are paid on a par with those in the IT industry and the salary ranges between Rs 3 lakh and Rs 7 lakh. “Leading leather and chemical companies like Clariant, TFL (German manufacturing company) and BASF (German chemical firm) recruit our students,” says Chandra Shekhar, head, education training department, CLRI. Students can even diversify and join allied industries. “I have partially deviated from my career path but nevertheless I am involved with my subject from a global perspective,” says Viswanad Bhomi, a senior business analyst at E-Value Serve, a knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) firm in Gurgaon, who joined the firm after completing PhD in pharmacology from Niper. LEARNING HUBS National Dairy Research Institute The main campus is in Karnal, Haryana, with two regional centres in Bangalore and Kalyani, West Bengal www.ndri.res.in Central Leather Research Institute, Chennai Founded in 1948, CLRI is a central hub in the leather sector with work area spanning academic programmes to testing, research and designing leather products www.clri.org Indian School of Mines University, Dhanbad This institution of international acclaim offers a host of programmes such as BTech, MTech, MSc Tech, MBA, MPhil and PhD www.ismdhanbad.ac.in Central Institute of Plastics Engineering and Technology, Chennai Established in 1968, Cipet offers doctoral, postgraduate, graduate, and diploma programmes in plastics technology www.cipet.gov.in Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology, Thiruvananthapuram IIST offers BTech courses in avionics and aerospace engineering and physical sciences. It offers MTech in softcomputing, RF and microwave communications, and applied and adaptive optics www.iist.ac.in

Class 12 marks may become critical for IIT admission

Times of India:Marks scored in the Class XII board examinations are likely to become a key determining factor in addition to the performance in the nerve-wracking Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) for admission into the prestigious Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) by 2011

In a couple of months, a pan-IIT committee constituted by the union human resources development (HRD) ministry to suggest reforms to the JEE is expected to submit its report recommending ways and means to factor in the marks scored by students in higher secondary examinations while preparing the IIT merit list. A meeting of all IIT directors and JEE representatives held in Chennai over the weekend discussed the proposed changes.

The proposal comes amidst widespread concern among top academicians over the current IIT admission system which is entirely dependant on JEE scores and ignores academic performances in board exams. The inherent weakness of such a system is that the IITs have been able to largely attract only students who have been "conditioned for the JEE" by high profile coaching centres in Kota and Hyderabad. Such students who lack "raw intelligence", as described by IIT Madras director M S Ananth in the past, are sometimes at sea after entering the campus.

"We hope to devise a methodology to compute a normalised class XII cut-off eligibility score for each educational board (CBSE, ICSE, and State Boards). If it is approved, only students who have scored this cut-off mark would become eligible to appear for the JEE and consecutively for admission," IIT Madras deputy director V G Idichandy, who is heading the committee, said on Monday. The present eligibility norm of an aggregate score of 60% in Class XII determined by the IIT standing council, as opposed to 85% recommended by a JEE review committee four years ago, is considered too low a benchmark.

"We are collecting data on Class XII results of the past four to five years from different boards in all states to base our recommendation on. Much will depend on how we compute an acceptable method to normalise the marks scored in different boards. You have nearly 40 boards of education in India," Professor Idichandy said.

However, the more difficult part will be to convince authorities of all the boards to declare Class XII results within a specified timeframe every academic year.

"This will be crucial for us as we have to base the JEE on the Class XII results. I personally think that this is where a common school board, at least at the level of higher secondary education, which has been proposed by the HRD minister Kapil Sibal, will be of help in determining any all-India merit list," he contended.

Idichandy acknowledged that the JEE cannot be abolished "but we want to give as much importance as possible, for the performance of students at the school level" in the IIT admissions.

Click Board should not be neglected ! for more details!

IIT medical school with US partner

Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur is set to throw open its doors to medical students by 2011.

The institute signed a memoran- dum of understanding with the University of California, San Diego, today on sharing technical expertise and other resources for a medical school and hospital to come up on its campus.

The country’s oldest IIT will also be the first tech school to offer bachelors, masters, doctoral and post-doctoral degrees in medicine and surgery. Director Damodar Acharya said the project would kick off with a 350-bed hospital, which should be ready by 2011.

The school will come up following the Medical Council of India’s clearance. “We can announce its intake capacity after we get the MCI clearance,” said an official.

Both the medical school and the hospital will draw on technical expertise from California University. The collaboration will include faculty, student and resident exchange programmes and jointly supervised clinical trials.

“Most people give up biology when they opt to study engineering and those who want to become doctors drop math. But there can’t be progress in medicine without technology. Our aim is to bridge the gap,” said Acharya.

The US varsity will assist the IIT in formulating the curriculum for the undergraduate and postgraduate courses so it meets the accreditation requirements in both India and America. “We will now have to draw up the road map and execute the project in a time-bound manner,” said Tom McAfee, its dean of clinical affairs.

Initial estimates suggest the project will require an investment in excess of Rs 200 crore. “We want to use the public-private partnership model and have had talks with various players in the healthcare industry,” Acharya said.

The IIT had earlier planned a medical research centre and laid its foundation stone amid fanfare in 2007, but the project remained a non-starter. Following the death of third-year student Rohit Kumar this March and allegations of negligence at the institute’s crumbling BC Roy Hospital, the authorities promised an overhaul of the facilities.

“The project will be a boon not only for the students but also for the region, where healthcare facilities are primitive,” said a third-year student.

IIT- A Dream of Thousands!

One warm day in May 1984, Venky Harinarayan sat down to take the entrance exam IIT-JEE to the school of his dreams.Although he had ranked first in his high school class and had studied for nearly a year to prepare for this test, as soon as he opened his exam book, he began to sweat.All the years as a curve-busting computer whiz kid seemed to lead up to this moment.He only needed to score 50 out of 100 points to guarantee his admission. But suddenly this seemingly lax criterion appeared all but impossible.

His eyes sifted through a litany of seemingly impregnable questions –about Bernoulli’s principle, Doppler’s effect, Lorentz`s forces, ionic equilibrium and combinatronics-things that would never appear on SAT in a million years.Nothing in his life had prepared him for this.

“It was extremely stressful. I just looked at the thing and not even a single question made sense to me. I thought,’ Boy, I’m going to flunk this thing,” recalls Venky.

But like every other fear-wracked student taking the exam across India, Venky knew his future rested on this grueling 3-part mental torture course better known as IIT-JEE !!

He knew he had to beat out tens of thousands of eager high school students.

Despite feeling at a complete loss, he managed to navigate his way through the arcane. And six hours later, he had nailed the spot I the arguably most competitive, influential undergraduate school in the world, the Indian Institute of Technology. Not only did Venky pass the exam, he placed an astounding 40th in the country. With this ranking, he got a coveted spot as a computer science major at the IIT campus in Madras.

Flash forward to the summer of 1998 when Amazon.com had purchased an e-commerce software company named Junglee for $180 million.

That day, Venky Harinarayan, along with four other Junglee co-founders (also IIT Graduates), became an overnight multi-millionaire!!!

The Indian Institutes of Technology are a group of seven autonomous engineering and technology oriented institutes of higher education established and declared as Institutes of National Importance by the Government of India.

IITians have achieved success in a variety of professions, resulting in the establishment of the widely recognized Brand IIT.

“ IIT and Microsoft do have a lot in common, an optimism about the future, a belief that fundamental science will let us solve some of the toughest problems that mankind faces, a belief that we can provide better tools than ever before and that we’ve really just scratched the surface.” ,states Bill Gates, the co-founder and chairman of Microsoft.

IIT is a dream of thousand of students out there, but to turn this dream into reality calls for rigorous preparation and strong determination.

The determination and focus of the student is something that only he can take care of but as far as the right preparation is concerned, there is always professional help which a student can go for.This is the reason that coaching classes in India are gaining such a great momentum and every IIT aspirant considers taking professional coaching classes a necessity. Miracles happen. You just need to have the right attitude and preparation to make it happen! To get a step closer to realizing your dreams of getting into IIT click just don't think any more just go for it.

'IITians don't rule the world'

"Happy Independence Day"

Here's an Indian whose has proved that the sky is not the limit!

Dr Amitabha Ghoshwas the only Asian on

NASA's Mars Pathfinder mission. At present, he is a member of the Mars Odyssey Mission and the Mars Exploration Rover Mission.

During the Mars Pathfinder Mission, he conducted chemical analysis of rocks and soil on the landing site. The simple and unassuming 34-year-old planetary geologist has won several accolades, which include the NASA Mars Pathfinder Achievement Award in 1997 and the NASA Mars Exploration Rover Achievement Award in 2004.

In Mumbai for the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, he spoke to CorrespondentManu A B about his work at NASA and his vision for India.

Could you tell us about the Mars mission?

One of the spacecraft (Spirit) sent as part of the Mars Rover mission has completed one year while the other (Opportunity) will do so on January 24. The Rovers have carried out detailed scientific studies of the Red Planet. We have got some incredible results.

We have found clouds, frost, spectacular sand dunes and even evidence of water on Mars.

What is it being the only Indian in the Mars mission?

I have never thought about being 'the only Indian' in the mission. You only think that it is very exciting to be at the frontier (of space exploration).

What are your views on space research activities in India?

The Indian space research programme is one of the best in the world. But our activities are mostly book-based. I am not undermining it in any way but we can do better. India can collaborate with NASA on scientific projects.

We are a force to contend with but that doesn't mean we can't do better. We should not be satisfied with what we have achieved. The dream of a better tomorrow should drive us to greater heights. You cannot afford to be complacent in any field.

How can we develop our science and technology sector?

It should be treated as a business. There should be more private participation. We must have an external review to evaluate the system and make changes as science and technology can take the country forward.

We must check brain drain. About 80,000 students migrate to the US for further studies, and settle there. They find the facilities much better abroad. We need to reverse brain drain by enhancing and upgrading institutes in India.

Tell us about your journey from India to NASA.

It has been an intriguing experience. I was keen on geologic research data interpretation and solar system formation. During my geological research days in India, I had slept in railway stations while traveling to various places.

After my post graduation in applied geology from IIT Kharagpur, I wrote a letter to a professor at NASA expressing a desire to work at the space agency.

I made certain suggestions; in fact, it was a critical letter. In India, you can never imagine criticising your professor.

My suggestions were approved, while I got an opportunity to work at NASA.

I think one requires luck and to put in sincere effort to achieve one's goals. Being in the right place at the right time is also important.

What is the state of space research in India?

I don't want to make controversial statements. All I can say is India is not at the frontier of space research. We have made commendable progress but there is a long way to go. We can do much better. I would be glad to be of help in any way. Investment in research is investment in imagination. It is a matter of national pride and internal recognition. We need to allocate more funds to enhance research and development work.

Do you see more Indians taking up subjects like space research?

Definitely, provided two essential requirements are satisfied. People and resources must come together to create solutions.

In India, no training is imparted on the practical aspects, even if it is something as simple as solving traffic problems in cities. When it comes to theoretical education, Indians are in a good position but lag behind in coming up with innovative solutions.

Merely learning from books is not going to solve any problem of this country. The 'thinking process' is very essential. Indians need to think out of the box to rise further in any field.

We need good educational institutes like IITs and IIMs, but IITians don't rule the world. You must remember that Microsoft co-founder (Bill Gates) does not have a college degree.

Youngsters must look around for role models and see what it is that they are doing right. Individuals must make use of their inherent strengths to succeed.

What is your vision for India?

I feel there India has a great future. We have world-class companies. Today, companies like Infosys can be compared with world leaders like Oracle. Like the Information Technology revolution, we can have a science or space revolution. We have the potential to bring about revolutions in other sectors as well.

Can India have something like NASA?

(Mumbai South MP) Milind Deora also asked the same question. It is good that young MPs are thinking along these lines. The answer is: Yes, India can. All it requires is the right kind of investment, infrastructure, people and support from the government. I told Deora that if need be, I can submit a proposal to help get the process started.

I think "He made an important point when he said.Bill doed not have an degree for himself..and a lot comes from within , the inside strength rather than just the book education which Indians are exposed so much to, rather than the practical aspects of it. It makes sense to say that invest more on imagination and infrastructure. And being an IIT Aspirant I feel pity on the title of this passage. Dr. Amitabh just meant that for being successful u doesn’t need to be iitian and hear it is put as a heading just to get the attention. He wants to mean that its your determination that counts to bring success . To me that some people hate the iitians being successful and talk of every mouth. Is this the right attitude??. "