Major Education Pact between Australia and India

Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Kapil Sibal said on Thursday that Indian students continued to come to Australia for higher studies and the government had not "prevented them" from doing so, as the two countries signed a major deal on education.

Mr. Sibal told reporters as the education pact between India and Australia was signed that New Delhi wants to take the "relationship forward" with Canberra. 

A joint ministerial statement was signed to expand the education exchange programme, Australian news agency AAP reported on Thursday. 

An India- Australia Education Council comprising experts from both countries will now be set up. The relation between India and Australia had become sour following the fatal stabbing of Nitin Garg on January 2, 2010, in this city. A travel advisory had also been issued to Indian students coming to Australia. 

Mr. Sibbal addressed the conference and laid stress on the fact that India is fully aware of what is happening in Australia and hoped the Australian government would take strong steps to ensure security of Indian students .He admitted also that attacks on Indians have surely declined

However it is recently revealed that international student numbers were down nationally three percent and 12 percent in Victoria. The drop in Indian student numbers in Victorian institutions was 40 percent, from 6303 to 3761

UK’s new tough 'Immigration' point system.

Plans outlining the criteria to  earn enough points to stay permanently in the United Kingdom were revealed by the Government today.

The new points based test for citizenship - an extension of the already successful Australian-style points based system - will give migrants points for building up different attributes and skills. Proposals launched in the new consultation would  reward  for economic contributions, skills and English language proficiency above the level already expected. Points would  be removed and citizenship delayed for those breaking the law or committing anti-social behaviour.
A points based test for citizenship will give the Government more control over the numbers of people permitted to settle here permanently, allowing the bar for settlement to be raised or lowered depending on the needs of the country and the economy.

One of the key principles of the earned citizenship system is building community cohesion, by encouraging community involvement through 'active citizenship'.

Government wants to support integration by encouraging more of  activities in which migrants contribute to the community. That is why a migrant's journey to citizenship will speed up if they conduct voluntary or civic work.

Under the current system those wanting citizenship have to pass a Life in the UK test to demonstrate both their knowledge of the country and their ability to speak English. The Government intends to present further  a new two-stage system. This will focus on practical information about life in the United Kingdom at probationary level, and then a further test at the final level stage with ask issues related to more challenging topics like history and politics.

I t is appreciable  that Government is  playing a role in managing negative impacts on developing countries.

American Education System

Generally children in USA start school at the age of five years which is also known as kindergarten.The second year at school is considered is known as first grade. In America, the word grade has two meanings: (1) the score achieved on an exam or in a course, and (2) a year of education in primary or secondary school.Primary school most commonly consists of fifth grades i.e five yearsof education.

Secondary school

Upon completion of fifth grade (the last year of primary school), American children studying in the American education system enters into secondary school. Secondary school most commonly consists of a total of seven years, referred to as sixth through twelfth grades. The ninth through twelfth grades are most commonly referred to as high school. After completing the twelfth grade, American students are awarded a certificate called the high school diploma. In the American education system, students must have obtained a high school diploma before they are admitted into college or university. Foreign students who would like to attend an American college or university must have completed coursework that is equivalent toeducation programme in an  American high school.

Undergraduate school

Students who would like to attend college or university must attend what is referred to as an undergraduate school. These are schools that offer either a two-year degree (called an associate degree) or a four-year degree (called a bachelors degree) in a particular course of study. That course of study is called the major.Alll students are required to select (or declare) a major by their second year at school. Students who complete an associate degree can continue their education at a four-year school and eventually complete a bachelor degree.

Graduate school

Students who have obtained a bachelor’s degree can continue their education by going through one of two types of degrees. The first is a master’s degree. This is generally a two-year degree in a highly specialized  specific field. Students are sometimes admitted to a master’s degree program only if they have a bachelor’s degree in a closely related field. However, there are few  exceptions like the students want to study a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) degree. Certain courses of study are only available at the graduate school level in America. The most important are of  law, dentistry, and medicine. Students who want to go through degree in one of these fields must first obtain a bachelor’s degree.

SAT-Like Admissions Test will soon be used to get admissions in universities.

The country's minister in charge of higher education has asked 15 universities which will be established in future   to formulate a common admission test akin to the SAT in the United States, according to a government statement.

The common examination would later be put in to the system by 25 other federally supported universities as well, reported the Business Standard, a newspaper.The  higher-education budget is increased by an unprecedented 40 percent, to $3.1-billion, for 2009-10.

Every Indian university currently admits students based on their marks on a high-school-graduation exam and, occasionally, a personal interview. As a result, a student from, say, the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh who applies to the Universities of Delhi and of Bombay must visit both distant cities and be judged by different standards at both institutions and he has to suffer a lot .

In addition, too much tests taken for  high-school-graduation  in India makes it extremely difficult to gauge a student's relative abilities. For that reason, the higher-education minister, Kapil Sibal, has also announced plans to devise a common high-school-graduation test.

I say ‘A Good Bill’, What’s your view?

  The Cabinet on Monday cleared a bill that will enable Foreign Universities to  setup campuses in India. While reporting for the Foreign Universities Bill, issues of shortage of faculty and poaching of academicians are raised by media etc

Already one lakh Indian students go out every year for higher education from India. Most of these students go out of the country to pursue their higher studies because of lack of facilities for quality education in the country. This also costs a huge foreign exchange outgo to the exchequer.

Till the BSNL-MTNL era, the Indian telecom sector had similar apprehensions and it was unimaginable that the level of  telecom services will increase so much when it was transferred to  private sector . The aviation sector also saw similar changes after it was opened to the private sector ending the Indian Airlines, Air India monopoly.

The Indian educational sector is bound to be more prosperous  in the coming  days to come by the step of allowing the foreign universities to setup campuses in the country. It will  attract more aspirants towards this opportunity and will bring in qualitative changes in the educational system of India.

While, many other civil services offer better perks than academics, the real mentors of the country i.e. the academicians rank poorly on this count as well. 

Mr. Kapil Sibal deserves all kudos for pushing through this bill which will bring out all qualitative changes in the educational system of the country.

This policy will attract  students from other countries for pursuing education at lower costs as India has the advantage of lower infrastructure cost.

The educational sector is also a very similar sector which is based on the same two components i.e. quality manpower and infrastructure and India certainly has an edge over many other countries in availability of both these components.

Beware of False Distance Education advertisements

New Delhi is trying to  protect the interest of students choosing Distance Education courses, Universities and institutions across the country.They  have been cautioned for giving misleading advertisements in newspapers, stating that their programmes are recognized by the Distance Education Council (DEC). 

 Professor V.N. Rajasekharan Pillai, Chairman of the Distance Education Council (DEC) and Vice Chancellor of theIndira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), has clearly stated that the DEC has prescribed guidelines for determination of the standards for Distance Education systems in the country. 

It has become mandatory for all Institutions, Centres and Directorates to offer programmes through the distance education mode to get their Degrees, Diplomas and Certificate programmes recognized and approved by the DEC. 

If an institution is already running distance education programmes, it must apply to DEC for recognition of the institution and its programmes. 

It is  the responsibility of the institution to strictly conform  to the norms prescribed by the concerned  authorities for offering professional and technical programmes. 

Further, those Universities which have been approved by DEC for the academic year 2009-10 onwards were also asked to clearly mention the names of the programmes for which approval has been granted to them, in their advertisements. 

The institutions which offer education through distance mode any degree/ diploma/ certificate

 offered to them through distance mode not recognized by DEC, shall not be accepted for employment in Government service. 

The institutions / Universities have been directed to submit their applications to the DEC within a month's time, in the prescribed proforma available on the DEC website, for obtaining recognition for themselves and their programmes. 

ENGLISH FORUM

  Love for ‘English’ language, in its myriad  splendour and glory exists in many hearts, besides natural affinity to one’s own mother tongue. The wide Spectrum of writing in English language by writers rather than their mother tongue is tremendous. From frothy to erudite, the range of English writing encompassing fiction, drama, scholarly treatise, poetry etc, is mind boggling.

            ENGLISH FORUM is an effort to bring lovers of English language without discrimination of any kind on a common platform for  promotion of activities built around the language.        

             Any one interested is invited to TEA at 3:00PM on

                                                                                SUNDAY            

14 March 2010 ‘ENGLISH FORUM’ KAMPUS LANDING 207, SACHET-2, 2^nd FLOOR, NEAR TOMATO RESTAURANT, OPPOSITE GLS COLLEGE, NATIONAL HANDLOOM LANE, OFF C.GROAD,AHMEDABAD-380009 
CONVENOR ‘GOPALKRISHNA-09825026557(CELL PHONE NO.)’

MBA without GMAT in USA!

MBA in USA

MBA from the United States is perceived by many to be the most valuable in terms of career development and salary. It's no secret that an MBA degree can increase your earning power. A recent survey by the Graduate Management Admissions Council (GMAC) reports the potential for an immediate 40 percent increase in annual salary, depending on students' current and future jobs.

BUSINESS WEEK TOP USA MBAs RANKING:
	School name	Country

1	University of Pennsylvania  Wharton	US
2	Northwestern University  Kellogg	US
3	Harvard University	US
4	Massachusetts Institute of Technology  Sloan	US
5	Duke University  Fuqua	US
6	Columbia University	US
7	Cornell University  Johnson	US
8	University of Virginia  Darden	US
9	Stanford University	US
10	University of California (Los Angeles)  Anderson	US
11	New York University  Stern	US
12	Carnegie Mellon University	US
13	University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill)  Kenan-Flagler	US
14	Dartmouth College  Tuck	US
15	University of Texas (Austin)	US
16	University of California (Berkeley)  Haas	US
17	Xavier University  Williams COB	US
18	Indiana University (Bloomington)	US
19	University of Rochester  Simon	US
20	Washington University  Olin	US
21	University of Southern California  Marshall	US
22	Purdue University  Krannert	US
23	Georgetown University  McDonough	US
24	University of Maryland (College Park)  Smith	US
25	Emory University  Goizueta	US
26	Michigan State University  Broad	US
27	Georgia Institute of Technology  Dupree	US
28	College of William and Mary	US
29	Arizona State University (Main Campus)	US
30	Boston University	US
31	Ohio State University  Fisher	US
32	Pennsylvania State University  Smeal	US
33	Babson College  Olin	US
34	University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign)	US
35	University of Wisconsin (Madison)	US
36	University of Pittsburgh  Katz	US
37	University of Notre Dame	US
38	University of Iowa	US
39	Rice University  Jones	US
40	University of Georgia  Terry	US
41	University of Florida	US
42	University of California (Irvine)	US
43	Southern Methodist University  Cox	US
44	Thunderbird School of Global Management  Thunderbird	US
45	University of California (Davis)	US
46	American University  Kogod	US
47	University of Washington	US
48	Boston College  Carroll	US
49	University of Tennessee (Knoxville)	US
50	Brigham Young University  Marriott	US
51	University of South Carolina  Moore	US
52	University of Miami	US
53	Clark Atlanta University	US
54	Syracuse University	US
55	Rutgers University (New Brunswick and Newark)	US
56	Texas A&M University (College Station)  Mays	US
57	Tulane University  Freeman	US
58	University at Buffalo (SUNY)	US
59	George Washington University	US
60	University of Arizona  Eller	US
61	Case Western Reserve University  Weatherhead	US

How to join MBA college in USA without GMAT?

Almost 80% of the USA universities require GMAT for entry into MBA program. 20% USA universities accept students without GMAT scores in MBA program. The student is advised to research each institution and acquire an understanding of their entrance requirements.

MBA Programs With No GMAT Requirements
For those not eyeing for an MBA in top Business school, there are well known programs that do not require GMAT scores. For example, National University does not require any test scores at all for any baccalaureate degree holders with a 2.5 GPA or better. Test scores will be helpful for those with a lower GPA. University of Phoenix simply requires a 2.5 GPA with no test requirements for any of their graduate programs. Monroe College in New York requires 3.0 GPA in the Bachelor’s degree. Liberty University in Virginia requires 2.5 GPA and admits students with low level of English skills in their ESL program. Stevens-Henager College, Globe University, Eastern Washington University, Western International University and Stratford University are few of the institutions that do not require GMAT as the pre requisite for admissions into their MBA program.

Students who are considering MBA programs that do not require a standardized test should look carefully at each program's accreditation, academic rigor, and reputation. In general, there should be a minimum undergraduate GPA requirement to make up for the lack of a test requirement. Also, students who do not perform well on tests in general should note that graduate programs always require at least a 3.0 GPA for graduation. Anything below would be grounds for academic probation or dismissal.

Work Experience for GMAT

Some top Business Schools in USA accept students with work experience without GMAT Score for their Executive MBA (EMBA). To be eligible for EMBA program, one should have 5+ years of work experience. You will also have better chance to get admission into MBA program if your company is sponsoring you. Further, adult learners with regular jobs and busy lives – feel that their hard-earned money would be better spent on tuition and living expenses, and their valuable time on studying, work or family. GMAT score requirements are lower in the Business schools for their part time MBA programs.

Online MBA Degree with No GMAT Required: Program Overviews
The question arises in the mind- which schools offer online MBA degree programs and do not require GMAT for Admission? There are some schools, however, that do not require the GMAT for admission. In some cases, MBA programs that do not require the GMAT, administer entrance exams of their own. Below are 5 schools that offer online programs without GMAT.

Auburn University: Auburn University, in Auburn, Alabama, offers an online MBA program for doctors that does not require admissions testing. The Physicians Executive MBA at Auburn University was developed for experienced medical professionals who want to increase their skills and specializations; the online program takes longer than the on-campus program. Over 1,100 students have graduated from Auburn University's online MBA program.

Oklahoma State University:Oklahoma State University, in Stillwater, OK, offers an online MBA for dentists that requires the Dental Admission Test, but not the GMAT. The dental MBA program is a 36-credit program designed to help dentists better manage their offices and finances. The program benefits dentists who need to work full-time while taking classes.

Northeastern University: Northeastern University, in Boston, Massachusetts, does not require the GMAT, but the program does require students to have several years of business work experience before applying. Northeastern University's executive MBA program is a part-time program that can be completed entirely online. Students can specialize in a number of areas, including finance, general management, health care management, high technology management, innovation entrepreneurship and international management, among other areas

Colorado State University: Located in Fort Collins, CO, Colorado State University grants GMAT waivers for students with at least eight years of career experience and a minimum 3.0 GPA during the last half of their undergraduate college program. In the Colorado State University online MBA program, the on-campus classes are taped and mailed to students the next morning, allowing them to experience the course as if they were in the classroom. Students receive the full lecture, PowerPoint slides and class discussion and students can complete the class in anywhere from 21 months to 5 years.

No GMAT? No Problem, Harvard Says (Source: Business Week)

Harvard Business School (Harvard Full-Time MBA Profile) announced that it will no longer require MBA applicants to submit GMAT scores. Starting with the applications for admission to the Class of 2012, HBS will allow applicants to submit either GMAT scores or GRE scores. The news makes Harvard the latest in a series of top tier business schools to make the change. In 2006, both Stanford (Stanford Full-Time MBA Profile) and MIT’s Sloan School of Management (Sloan Full-Time MBA Profile) permitted the GRE for applicants to their MBA programs. The policy, while common among Executive MBA programs, is still the exception at top-ranked full-time MBA programs, although it’s unclear just how much longer that will be case now that Harvard has made the change. Harvard’s acceptance of the GRE is a big win for the Educational Testing Service, which administers that test. About 18 months ago, ETS took aim at the lucrative business school market dominated by the GMAT, launching a marketing campaign suggesting that switching to the GRE would result in more applications. The GMAT, which generates about $80 million a year for the Graduate Management Admission Council, is used by more than 4,000 graduate management programs worldwide. Deirdre Leopold, managing director of admissions and financial aid at HBS, said the GRE was allowed to make the application process easier for applicants considering graduate programs other than the MBA. Since many HBS applicants are also considering graduate programs besides the MBA, there is now no need for them to take the GMAT if they have already taken the GRE. We believe that both the GMAT and the GRE meet our expectations of what a standardized test can tell us about a candidate's ability to thrive in our MBA program. From the test-takers perspective, one big advantage the GRE has over the GMAT is price: the GRE costs just $150, versus $250 for the GMAT. But applicants haven't exactly been clamoring for a lower-cost alternative to the GMAT. From the schools perspective, the GMAT has a lot of research backing up its claim that it's a good predictor of success in a graduate management program, whereas the GRE is in uncharted territory. So will more schools opt for a GMAT-optional approach? ETS is predicting the floodgates will open now that Harvard has taken the plunge. David Payne, an ETS vice president, says the Harvard news, along with a new "no cognitive evaluation" section of the GRE that will be available in July (it measures teamwork, ethics, persistence, and creativity) will convince many other business schools to accept the GRE. Payne notes that over 220 business schools accept the GRE for MBA applications already, including 5 of the 10 top internationally ranked programs. About 25 new programs signed on in the last month alone, he said. Here's his take on the impact of the Harvard news: I think that number [220] will go through the roof over the summer and into the fall. Harvard is going to help us reach that tipping point. Other schools will say, 'If it's good enough for Harvard then it's good enough for our institution.'

You do not worry if you have scored less GMAT scores. Irrespective of your scores or whether you take these tests, you can still seek admissions in not only Kampus Landing partner universities but many other USA universities. But, unfortunately majority students do not know of these universities which accommodate students without TOEFL/GRE/GMAT and others.

MBA Admissions without GMAT in New York, USA I MBA Admissions without GMAT in Texas, USA I MBA Admissions without GMAT in Mississippi, USA I MBA Admissions without GMAT in Ohio, USA I MBA Admissions without GMAT in Alabama, USA I MBA Admissions without GMAT in Virginia, USA I MBA Admissions without GMAT in Arkansas, USA I MBA Admissions without GMAT in Connecticut, USA I MBA Admissions without GMAT in Wisconsin, USA