Asian Educator

June 2011 Rs 30 $ 5

Engineering Education & Employability 46 >>>

The Plush New Investment AvenueRESEARCH HAS SUGGESTED

IMPORTANT LINKS BETWEEN EDUCATION, VENTURE CREATION AND ENTREPRENEURIAL PERFORMANCE

Rumblings in DUSemesterisation: Emphasis on Form Rather than Substance

EDITOR’S NOTE

EditorProf James Joseph

Managing Editor Tom B Mannapurathu

Chief Executive OfficerJettin J Manuel

Executive EditorVarghese Koshy A

Features Editor James Paul

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Design Kailasnath

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Volume 1 Issue 2 | June 2011

Entrepreneurship is the life-moving force behind any economy. It is basically a mindset. We at Asian Educator believe it is our duty to make the younger generation aware of the opportunities available in our country for new start-ups. Our cover story investigates the correlation between education and entrepreneurship. What restricts our management students from becoming entrepreneurs? Is our education system conducive to creating entrepreneurs? A detailed analysis of all these aspects is included in our story along with the expert opinion of Susanne Maria Kraft, Deputy Director at Centre for Entrepreneurship Development (CED) in Hyderabad, who has rich experience in the field of entrepreneurship. The reader will also find an in-depth interview with Prof Kumar, the chairperson of NS Raghavan Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning, IIM, Bangalore, on the subject.

Employability is a relevant issue in our society. How employable are our engineering graduates? Of the more than 550,000 engineering graduates passing out every year, only 10 to 25 per cent are readily employable and only 25 per cent of graduates working in the IT sector are industry-ready, while it is roughly 15 per cent for back-office jobs. India’s $60-billion outsourcing industry is already spending almost $1 billion a year on readying these graduates picked up from different campuses in the country. Dr Ramachandran Thekkedath, Vice Chancellor of Cochin University, has an interesting and thought-provoking view on the subject.

Investment opportunities in the education sector are soaring as never before. Corporate giants like Tatas, HDFC, Sumsung, etc are eyeing the sector as a safe investment segment, triggering competition. We, therefore, thought it apt to include a story on new investment avenues in the education sector in the country.

Dr Johan Roos is a former strategy researcher and educator at Wharton School in the United States, Norwegian School of Management, IMD in Switzerland and Stockholm School of Economics (SSE). As a Professor of Strategy, Dr Roos has published extensively on strategic alliances, knowledge management and innovative strategy processes. It was our luck that we got to talk to him. There is also Prof Girijavallabhan, former dean and faculty, CUSAT, an expert in nanotechnology, explaining the complexity of nanotechnology in simple terms.

There are rumblings of discontent among teachers and students in Delhi University, India’s premier education hub, over the arbitrary introduction of the semester system in its 77 colleges from this academic year. We have made an attempt at a comprehensive analysis of the issues involved. Then there is the usual fare – Campus Fashion; Columns and the like, adding spice to the content. Keep reading…

On Education, Employability and Entrepreneurship…

Contact: Phone: 0484 – 4233305, Mob: +91 9656144111, Mail: [email protected]

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CONTENTS

ASIAN EDUCATOR I June 2011

Education & EntrepreneurshipEducation has a very important role to create entrepreneurs. Research has suggested important links between education and venture creation and entrepreneurial performance.

Rumblings in DUDU administration does not incorporate any of the real benefits of semesters. Ideally, semesterisation would reduce the importance of year-end exams, and relies more on internal assessment through assignments, presentations and other interactive projects.

Management EducationBusiness schools in the westerns world are likely to move towards a more humanistic approach to management education, where responsibility replaces profit-maximization as the core of enterprising.

Columns18 I Varghese Koshy

21 I Dr Sreekumar Nellickappilly

39 I Dr M V Pylee

63 I Karthikeyan Iyer

65 I Sajeev Nair

Cover Story

Current Affairs

Dr Johan Roos

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CONTENTS


Engineering Education & EmployabilityFour decades ago no one would have ever asked how employable an engineering graduate was, but now such a question becomes inevitable as there are shocking reports which say that not even 25 per cent of our engineering graduates are industry-ready!

The Plush New Investment AvenueOf late corporate India has been queuing up to enter the education segment. Tata Group, Zee, Yash Birla Group, HDFC, Samsung, Educomp, Dell, Smart Technologies, Everonn, Bosch India and Core Projects & Technologies are some of the houses that have evinced interest. The more the merrier seems to be the driving philosophy

HarvardEducation has been central to the American dream, since the time of the nation’s founding. Harvard University is one translation of that dream ranking second in QS World University rankings 2010 with an awesome 99.18 per cent score!

Entrepreneurship Doesn’t Happen at the Time of GraduationThe pressures on any student at that time are very different. Companies are knocking at their doors offering huge salaries, says Professor K Kumar, Chairperson, NS Raghavan Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning (NSRCEL) at the IIMB.

Dr P V RaviThe story of a successful edupreneur.

Susanne Maria KraftWrites on education and Entrepreneurship Development.

Special Story

Investment Opportunities

Campus Focus Prof K Kumar

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NEWS PICS

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UK Harrow School campus in Hong Kong Harrow School is one of UK’s most famous fee-paying schools with a long and impressive list of “old boys”. British wartime leader Winston Churchill, poet Lord Byron, India’s first PM Jawaharlal Nehru, King Hussein of Jordan and even the pop singer James Blunt once wore the school’s famous straw boater hat. Next year Harrow will open a new campus for 1,200 students in Hong Kong, which follows Harrow schools already opened in Bangkok and Beijing.

Pak’s pathetic picture of educationMore than half of all rural children in class five in Pakistan are at least three levels behind their grade in reading English and Urdu texts in schools, according to the Economic Survey of Pakistan 2010-11. “Overall percentage of rural children in class 5 reading a class 2 text in Urdu/Sindhi was 52 per cent while for the English text it was 42 per cent. This meant that more than half of all rural children in class 5 in Pakistan were at least three grade levels behind,” said one of the survey`s main findings on education..

£400m UK aid for India schools squandered Hundreds of millions of pounds in British aid has been squandered on schools in India where standards have fallen. Britain has pumped £388million into the Indian education system over the past eight years, and is due to spend another £117million by 2013. But an investigation has revealed that much of the money has been wasted and that standards of reading, writing and arithmetic have dropped.The spending has been questioned because standards in many Indian state schools – where old-fashioned and rigorous teaching methods are still employed – are often far higher than in Britain.

Number of Australia-bound students fallsWhile the Australian Immigration department is relaxing the visa application norms for foreign students interested in studying abroad, the universities in that country are faced with fresh woes. According to the latest data on enrollment figures of international students coming to study in Australian universities, there has been a major dip in the number of students getting enrolled in the country. And among international students ditching Australian universities for UK varsities, Indian students form the largest chunk.

Saudi opens world’s largest women university Saudi Arabia recently opened a university exclusively for women, is the largest in the world, capable to accommodate 50000 students. Princes Noora binth Abdulrahman University in Riyadh, inaugurated by Saudi Arabian King Abdullah, is expected to reduce the gap between economic productivity of men and women in the country.

IGNOU aid for India-Africa Virtual UniversityPrime Minister Manmohan Singh, who was recently in Addis Ababa, while pledging a help of $5billion for Africa in the next three years announced the setting up of an Indo-Africa Virtual University (IAVU). IGNOU will play a lead role in establishment of this virtual university as it has wide outreach for all level of students in various countries in Africa and it is running various educational programmes in the continent under different schemes. The mission of an India-Africa Virtual University is to create condition that ensures special priority to further Indo-African relation by establishing an educational link.


NEWS PICS

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China’s national digital library network project China will launch a national project to promote the building of a digital library network in the next five years. The project aims to build a nationwide digital library network with the National Digital Library of China at the center, integrating local libraries. The focus of the project will be promoting the construction of an interconnected digital library platform and a group of widely-spread resource libraries that provide multi-media library services for the public. The services will be available in public libraries and through Internet, mobile phones and mobile televisions. Over recent years, the construction of digital libraries has made technological advancements in China, according to Zhou Heping, director, National Library of China.

New Zealand amends student visa normsThe immigration department of New Zealand has announced major changes to the conditions for a student visa that would enable the “best students” to stay on and contribute to the country’ skilled workforce and benefit the economy. The changes to the “Study to Work” visa - that aims to attract students and help them get work and residence - would come into effect from July 25. After changes, students would need to study in the country for at least two years in order to get the “Study to Work” visa.

Earthquake education saves Japanese studentsJapanese educators say an earthquake and tsunami curriculum, along with practical evacuation plans, saved students’ lives in the March earthquake and tsunami. The Japanese Times reported that local educators credited the high survival rate to a disaster prevention education programme instituted a few years ago.

iPads replacing note pads in Asian schools Apple’s iPad and other tablet computers are replacing traditional note pads in some Asian schools and making the lives of thousands of students a whole

lot easier. Soon pupils could be reading on their tablets about a quaint old communication device called “paper”, especially in Asia’s advanced economies where many schools are racing towards a paperless classroom. The slim glass slabs slip easily into a bag and can store thousands of textbooks, making a fat school bag full of heavy books, pens and notepads a thing of the past.

Indo-German Edu summit India last month proposed hosting an Indo-German higher education summit this year to explore issues like mutual recognition of qualification and joint research programmes. The proposal was discussed at length during a

meeting between HRD Minister Kapil Sibal and visiting German Minister of Education and Research Annettee Schavan in New Delhi. The summit proposed to be held this November-December, will also explore possibilities of development of junior faculty, doctoral and post-doctoral programmes. The summit move comes close on the heels of both India and USA also agreeing to host an Indo-US summit this year. Sibal and his German counterpart also discussed a consortia approach of “twinning between universities” of both the countries where two to three Indian universities could partner with two to three German universities for conducing degree-level courses.


The world of martial art is not restricted to men. This has been amply proved by a dynamic and multi-talented young lady.

Thirty nine-year-old Charu Narayanan is a symbol of courage, confidence and absolute feminine power, and has proved her talent in numerous fields. It’s almost unimaginable the way she has kept on adding to her accomplishments. She is a master in Kalaripayat (Kerala martial arts), Kalari marma treatment, yoga, yoga therapy, contemporary dance, acting, counseling etc. Apart from these, Charu has developed her own way of meditation by clubbing yoga, music and Kalari,

a feat that has attracted much favourable response from the

public.

She was never initiated into any of these, as we would have assumed, at a young age. It was at age 26, after having given birth to her second child, in 1996,

that she began learning Kalaripayat under Vinil Das gurukkal (a Kalari trainer). It was never easy at that age, but her determination and grit changed her destiny. The long 12 years of sweating it out at the Kalari training centre not

only helped her in enhancing her determination and confidence, but also helped develop sharp thinking and high concentration, says Charu. That realisation and passion for Kalari was the turning point in

her life. She mastered the northern and southern style of Kalarippayatt.

Iron ButterflyAn accomplished actor and physical trainer, Charu started her career at the theatre in 2004 with Lokadharmi. She has to date portrayed many powerful female characters. She is also the physical trainer in Kalaripayat and yoga for the actors of Mazhavillu and Lokadharmi drama schools.

All these accomplishments notwithstanding Charu

has a special passion for Kalarippayatt. From her eighth year of learning Kalari, she began to study the treatment style of Kalari marma and conquered the entire treatment style and medicinal knowledge. Now she is an expert in this field and her treatment has given hope and a new life to many paralyzed patients. Charu advocates yoga with Kalari marma treatment for better results. She has a treatment centre at her home in Elamakkara in Ernakulam, Kerala. She believes in ‘cure at finger tip’ through Kalari treatments like uzichil, pizhichil etc.

Now in her 13th year in Kalari, Charu is learning the most dangerous of all weapons in Kalari, the Urumi, now made familiar to all by the film by the same name.

Charu was an active hockey player and an athlete while a student and has completed Diploma in Travel and Tourism. She is now pursuing graduation in history as she requires that to complete her research on the topic Influence of Kalaripayat on Kerala folk art and its application in theatre. Charu won a Central Government Junior fellowship for this topic in the year 2009. She is also taking classes in yoga and meditation at many schools in Kerala. She has this to say to one and all: “learn any one of the martial arts for personal security, and health of the mind and the body’.

She has visited many countries including Germany, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia and performed Kalari. And from most of these places she has had offers asking her to settle down there. But Charu was simply not interested, and is wedded to serving the Indian society, something unique, one should say. She is now planning to open a school for Kalari and yoga in Kerala, and is working dexterously towards that end.

It’s unbelievable what this young woman has accomplished in such a short period. But in Charu Narayanan’s dictionary one may not come across the word ‘impossible’.

PERSONALITIES

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Lakshmi Narayanan

It was at age 26, after having given birth to her second child, that she began learning Kalaripayat. It was never easy at that age, but her determination and grit changed her destiny.


YOUNG ACHIEVERS

Bindu Subramaniam, the talented younger daughter of violinist L. Subramaniam, with veritably strong musical genes, has marked her entry into the world of music with an English album,

Surrender. A lawyer by profession, Bindu’s heart has a definite affinity for Western music though her roots are very much embedded in the Indian Carnatic musical tradition.

Surrender blends her love for soft rock, western music, jazz, and Indian classical music. The

album brought out by Times Music has been directed by Kenny Films. Bindu

apparently has a different kind of approach to music, and that could be the reason why she opted for the English language for her maiden effort. “It is the music and language of the new generation, and also I

need to know and feel what I am singing…” says Bindu the young, trendy musician.

Growing up in a family that has accomplished much musically

(her younger brother Ambi is a violinist and elder brother, Dr Narayan, is into Ghazals; and her father and his two brothers, L.

Shankar and L. Vaidayanathan, are much too famous to be introduced

here), it hasn’t been difficult to establish her own identity. Support from

her parents was the most pivotal aspect in this attempt. The album has won the

cheers of campuses, and without doubt it can be said that Bindu holds the promise of being the new age musical talent to look out for.

We ‘Surrender’

Mason’s way to Billions

Biography on Cancer

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It’s a proud moment for India when the Delhi-born Indo-American doctor, Siddhartha Mukherjee’s book on cancer, The Emperor

of All Maladies: a Biography on Cancer, bagged the prestigious 2011 Pulitzer Prize. His work revolves around the history of the diseases and how the war against it has been fought by doctors since time immemorial. The critically-acclaimed book has been described as a “literary thriller with cancer as the protagonist”. It provides an in-depth study into the world of cancer and the various treatments offered to fight it. Siddhartha Mukherjee was awarded the Pulitzer in the non-fiction category.

The accomplished doctor had his initial

education at the University of Oxford, majored in biology from the University of Stanford and graduated from Harvard Medical School. Currently, he is an assistant professor of medicine at Columbia University and a staff cancer physician at the Columbia University Medical Centre. He is an established writer in medicine and has penned articles for The New England Journal of Medicine, The New York Times and The Republic.

Physician, researcher and award-winning science writer, Siddhartha Mukherjee examines cancer with a cellular biologist’s precision, a historian’s perspective, and a biographer’s passion.

No business house in the world, to date, has perhaps gained as much as $500 in 18 months since its start as Andrew Mason’s

Groupon, a social-cum-commercial networking site did. The 30-year- old Mason is a graduate in music and has fair skills in software developing. The Groupon network is spread across 35 countries, including the newly added Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Recognising his talents in software development, Eric Lefkofsky, an entrepreneur, offered him money to develop the idea that he had created. That proposal paved the way for Mason entering the most challenging field of social networking and setting up the site, the Point. The appreciation of that site was astonishing and they realised that shopping networking would be more profitable than a social networking site. He worked on it and Groupon was born, in 2008. It enables site visitors to have easy access to their requirements in a very convenient way. And within a year, Groupon had over a million adherents.

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Cars have always fascinated mankind in the modern era. The facilities that a car provides to human beings are numerous and are being

enjoyed by all sections of the society, especially in the twenty first century in which life has become fast and tedious. But for a car to be comfortable it is necessary to have good roads. And roads in India are not always conducive to enjoying a great drive. They are often the victims of bad engineering technology, a corrupt public works department and also the vagaries of nature. So an automobile manufacturer in India has to be extra careful in providing a car ‘suitable to Indian roads’ and such an advertisement tag on a car is sure to increase a car company’s sales.

So, why not design a car ‘suitable to Indian roads’.

An IIT Bombay lad did just that. It would be the dream of every auto-mechanical engineering student to design a next-generation car. And when General Motors India, the company that manufactures the Chevrolet cars that we see on our roads these days, conducted an open competition to design a car that would suit Indian roads and conditions, John Paul Xavier knew his moment had come.

General Motors India received nearly 1000 entries from the various engineering colleges and institutes across the country and John Paul Xavier’s work won the Design the Next Chevrolet contest aimed at attracting the attention of the country’s young and enterprising automobile engineering and design graduates. In fact, 40 entries had been short-listed and it was John’s design that finally got the unanimous approval of the judges’ panel. The company presented

him a Chevrolet Beat for his efforts.

The objective of this contest was to design a car that would appeal to Indian tastes, preferences and requirements. The contest also kept in mind Indian driving conditions, the environment and safety aspects. The contest was organised by General Motors, India in association with Autocar India.

John Paul, an automobile enthusiast even while in school, had however to take up Electronics & Communication for his B Tech, focusing on robotics. However, his childhood passion never let him stick with robotics and he joined to pursue his Master in Product Design at the Industrial Centre-IIT Bombay.

What John Paul Xavier designed for General Motors is expected to hit the Indian roads in a couple of years and that would perhaps be his proudest moment. However, those who know John would vouch that he would not rest on his laurels and would bring more glory to himself and the country in the coming days.

John who talked to Asian Educator recently explained to us the reason for choosing this particular blend of aesthetic concepts and technical acumen that had gone into his design that won him the prize. He was of the opinion that a product intended for a particular region could only be designed impeccably by a designer from that region. He went on to say that a designer must keep in mind the requirements that are to be met while designing a product in accordance with the atmosphere of a particular region.

John Paul envisages an era, not far from now, when a customer would sit with the designer and specify his needs and a car is built satisfying a customer’s demands, something similar to building a house with the help of an architect these days. May that day be not far off!

A John-Designed Chevrolet!General Motors India received nearly 1000 entries from the various engineering colleges and institutes across the country and John Paul Xavier’s work won the Design the Next Chevrolet contest.

Ziad P S

What John Paul Xavier designed for General Motors is expected to hit the Indian roads in a couple of years!

STUDENT PROJECT

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VOICES

We live in an age where human knowledge is increasing exponentially and countries have to make an effort to remain on the frontiers of knowledge and be counted amongst the advanced nations. Manmohan SinghPrime Minister of India

We don’t need Central or State control on universities and colleges. Today the challenge is to deregulate education. Sam Pitroda, Public Information Infrastructure & Innovations adviserto Prime Minister of India

There is hardly any worthwhile research in our IITs. The faculty in the IITs is not world-class. It is the students who are world- class. So, the IITs and IIMs are excellent because of the quality of students, not because of the quality of research or the facultyJairam Ramesh, Environment Minister of India

The idea of liberal arts education in Asia’s context is highly intriguing. The

melding of ways of thinking, of approaches to problems,

governance and life in general from perspectives of East and West may throw up new solutions to the issues that confront society today. Dr Ng Eng HenPrime Minister of Singapore

The saddest thing is that not even a single research institute in India matches the best in the world, or MIT and Cambridge.C N R Rao, Noted scientist and chairman of the Scientific Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of India

Indian students have very good analysis skills, a multicultural vision and are very well equipped to study management. There are, in fact, a large number of management gurus in India.Dr Narendra Jadhav,Member, Planning Commission, Government of India

We have very good institutions in our country but they are isolated, they are called island of excellence but they are not connected with the society. Therefore, if you want to come to the higher level or international level, a lot of money is required.Dr RK Kale, Vice Chancellor, CU of Gujarat


ACCA OFFERS FIRST-CHOICE

QUALIFICATIONS to people around

the world The course, which has a wide

international following with almost 170 countries preferring it, is similar to the CA in India, and

is becoming popular by the day among Indian students. In Kerala,

ACCA has a wider acceptance compared to other parts of India

as it is the preferred course in SAARC countries and West Asia where Keralites usually look for

job opportunities. Asian Educator caught up with Lad at the Infopark

and he talked to us about the various accounting systems, their merits and demerits, acceptance-

level etc.

NEW TRENDS IN EDUCATION

An illustrious educator, Nagin Lad BA MSc MAAT FCCA(Fellow member ACCA), was former Principal Lecturer and course director of ACCA

and CIMA at the University of DE MONTFORT University in the United Kingdom. He is the ACCA examination review board member and leading ACCA faculty in Europe Africa and America. The practising charterd accontant had recently decided to venture out on his own and started an institute, the Nagin Lad Accountancy College Ltd., in Oadby, Leicester, England. An ardent advocate of ACCA, Lad, whose governing principle is ‘Never leave anything to chance’, has always been in the forefront training students across the globe for the course. This Indian-origin British citizen was in India last month coaching ACCA students at Shadwell’S International Business School in Nirmal Infopark, Cochin, Kerala.

AE: Awareness about ACCA is less in India compared to other SAARC countries. Why is that so?Nagin Lad: ACCA is equivalent to the Charted Accountant qualification offered by the ICAI in India. In that sense ACCA is a competitor to CA. The bodies promoting CA, therefore, are against popularising ACCA. You may call this a kind of protectionism. However, ACCA is widely accepted in the United Kingdom, most of Europe, Latin America, Africa, most SAARC nations and the Gulf countries. Those Keralites seeking accounting jobs in the Gulf are now turning to ACCA. In Briton, CA and MBA degrees are not much valued. The British prefer ACCA. India will recognise the importance of ACCA in the near future. Students from all over the world are exploring new avenues and ACCA will find favour with them. In Britain, ACCA is by far the largest accountancy body in terms of number of students, and the second largest in terms of members. It

ACCA

ASIAN EDUCATOR I June 2011 15

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NEW TRENDS IN EDUCATION

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ACCA

emerging stock markets. It is vital that these

skills and values are enhanced around the world to ensure that emerging economies are able to develop effectively.

Asian Educator: What is the difference between CIMA and ACCA?Nagin Lad: The ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) is a global organisation for professional accountants whilst CIMA (Chartered Institute of Management Accountants) is a membership body that offers globally-recognised professional management accounting qualifications. At first glance they look very similar, but there are significant differences.ACCA is orientated towards the technical side of accounting practices and as such, if you would like to become a corporate accountant, auditor, tax accountant, etc, then it would be preferable to get an ACCA qualification. The ACCA syllabus is orientated towards the accountant’s role in professional practice with greater emphasis being placed on financial accounting, audit and tax.Chartered certified accountants can train in public practice (accountancy firms) or in industry. In business, they are more likely to be found compiling financial accounts of the business or advising the company on its tax situation and on ways to invest its profits. CIMA covers the same accounting practices but not at the same depth, instead, it places greater emphasis on management reporting and corporate strategy for the actual business organisation. Traditionally CIMA jobs tend to fall more within the remit of forecasting, budget making, variance analysis and strategy.

AE: What are the qualifications offered by ACCA?Nagin Lad: ACCA offers three qualifications -- a professional qualification entitling members to the designation Chartered Certified Accountant; a technician-level qualification; and a diploma for managers who are non-accountants but who need to acquire operational and strategic finance skills. For each of these qualifications, ACCA combines the benefits of traditional accounting skills with a wide ranging and forward-looking syllabus, which recognises that finance professionals are increasingly required to demonstrate strategic thinking, excellent communication, people skills and fluency with information technology. This was recently confirmed by a poll commissioned by ACCA and undertaken by the independent research firm, MORI, among international business leaders.

is, however, the only body operating on a global basis. The ACCA syllabus has been recognised by the United Nations as providing the basis for a global accountancy qualification. ACCA members therefore enjoy wide professional mobility.

AE: What is the role of ACCA in developing countries?Nagin Lad: ACCA is the largest global body for professional accountants. It is accepted in more than 170 countries; it offers business-relevant, first-choice qualifications to people around the world with ability and ambition who seek a rewarding career in accountancy, finance and management.

Accountancy plays a crucial role in the economies of developing countries. Accountants provide the information required to implement corporate planning processes. Sound accounting and auditing arrangements are not just important for

avoiding crises, they are also essential for reducing opportunities for corruption which inhibits growth. They also enable countries to attract investment and to develop at a faster pace.

A key aspect of a developing domestic accounting infrastructure is the code of financial reporting standards for companies. Adopting international reporting standards attracts both

foreign and domestic investment capital. Other principal aspects of accounting infrastructure include government regulations, and, needless to say, the accountancy profession itself. The accounting infrastructure is part of the entire legal and regulatory system designed to secure property rights, enforce contracts, and provide financial information. This system, sometimes referred to as investor protection, is vital to the development of


“The best thing”, Arundhati Roy once said, “that my mother did for me was letting me go, letting me free”. We all know what Ms

Roy achieved after she came out of her home. Before she became famous she did a number of things that included studying, but more than that she learnt what life was all about; she made an attempt to understand her surroundings and the people around her. This made her react positively and empathize with her fellow human being. And in the process she became a world-renowned author who won the Man Booker Prize, the first by an Indian. Most of us would have realised how protective our parents are towards us, how patronizing our teachers are. Their intentions have always been good, but they don’t often realise that they are trying to copy a script that their parents or teachers wrote for them: hence the present-day insistence on didactic learning or rote learning, and the subsequent scramble for engineering or medical seats. Our parents have always wanted us to succeed and make our future safe. And for them the way forward is always the path they took, the path they understand as the palm of their hand. Most of us would also have realised how difficult it is to think differently. Throughout the history of the human race that is perhaps sixty million years old, there have been a tendency to ostracize anyone who thought differently. Socrates was fed the poisonous hemlock plant after being accused of trying to lead astray the youth of Athens. The story of Galileo is also familiar. The Italian physicist, mathematician, astronomer and philosopher had championed the heliocentric theory put forward by Nicolaus Copernicus, the 15th century Renaissance astronomer even as the state philosophers, clerics and astronomers clung to the geocentric view that the Earth is at the centre of the universe. When he defended his views in his most famous work, Dialog Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, published in 1632, Galileo was tried by

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Varghese KoshyAGAINST THE GRAIN

Set Your Children Free

the Inquisition, found guilty of heresy, forced to renounce his theories, and spent the rest of his life under house arrest. We know how ludicrous the concerns aired by the powers that be then were. Even in the present day, we have great and beautiful minds like Prof Stephen Hawking whose theories on heaven and official beliefs are frowned upon. The authorities, and most of the time even some parents, are afraid of a debate as they fear an imminent defeat, and in the process deny us even the democratic space that any intelligent mind seeks. Fear thus rules the roost: the fear of their children turning out to be failures troubles parents no end; the fear of parental disapproval and the passed-on fear of the future hold us back from charting out our own path or writing our own scripts even though we have any number of Gurus advising us to chart out our own future and through it the future of mankind. Hadn’t it been for those that who thought differently, and did things differently, the world would have remained static and we would still have been in the Stone Age. So it is important for parents to let go their children, and for children to start thinking for themselves. I think here it is more important that parents first free themselves from the shackles of possessiveness that make them believe they own every inch of their children as also their future. Reading Kahlil Gibran, the great Lebanese poet, might do them a lot of good. Gibran wrote: Your children are not your children./They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself./They come through you but not from you, And though they are with you yet they belong not to you./You may give them your love but not your thoughts, For they have their own thoughts./You may house their bodies but not their souls, For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams./You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you./For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

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Children begin by loving their parents; as they grow older they judge them; sometimes they forgive them. -- Oscar Wilde

Varghese Koshy


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Dr P V Ravi EDUPRENEUR

This could perhaps be counted as something out of the ordinary: a

man showing enough zeal and courage, in the year 1982, to set up a fully residential school with the intention of imparting education of international standard that the people in a rural belt like that of Tirupur could afford. The man who ventured out with such a goal in mind was none other than the founder of several educational institutions across Tamil Nadu, Dr P V Ravi.

The above business enterprise actually followed another successful attempt at edupreneurship. That was the Prema Matriculation School, a pre-primary and primary to matriculation school that Dr

Dr P V Ravi is a pioneer in the field of technical & professional education in Tamil Nadu The concept of self-financing institutions in the higher education sector was his brainchild and owing to this initiative in the 1980s, millions of students in Tamil Nadu benefited, having acquired international employment potential.

Ravi and his wife started in 1970. “I was actually working with the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) then. My wife, Prema, was a trained teacher and had been getting offers from abroad at that time. She however, had no interest in going overseas. It was then that I thought of setting up a school for her.”

Dr Ravi hails from a family of teachers and educationists. His father, the late A,Viswanathan, and grandmother were teachers. “We started the school in 1970 with our own savings because those days it was very difficult to get support from financial institutions to run an education institution.”

During the early years of the

school, he did not participate much in its day-to-day activities. “In those years, I was moving from campus to campus, becoming better educated and adding to my qualifications. When I felt that I was fit for the industry, I resigned my job in State Bank of India to join the school.”

Dr Ravi was born in 1945 in Pollachi in south west Tamil Nadu. He had his early education in Pollachi and also attended the NGM College in Pollachi for his pre-degree. He secured his bachelor’s degree in science (physics) from the Madras University, and subsequently an MA in English and a BEd from the Mysore University. He later earned his doctorate in English and Linguistics from the Bharathiar University, Coimbatore.

In 1970, he set up the flagship of Park Group of Institutions, the Prema Matriculation Higher Secondary School. This was followed by several institutions floated between 1982 and 2010. He was the one who introduced the very idea of self-financing in the education sector in Tamil Nadu. In fact, it was not money that had motivated him then to enter the education segment, but a noble intention to impart quality education to the people in his vicinity. “Our fees systems are adjustable and are intended to benefit people in the place. While others demand lakhs of rupees for various courses, we only take thousands,” he said.

Dr Ravi is also a pioneer in the field of Technical & Provisional Education in Tamil Nadu. As was stated above, the concept of self-financing institutions in the higher education sector was his brainchild and owing to this initiative in the 1980s, millions of students in Tamil Nadu benefited, having acquired international employment potential.

In 1982, he presented a proposal before Shri MG Ramachandran, the then chief minister of Tamil Nadu, to start a self-financing polytechnic. He got the approval through the first GO for a self-financing Polytechnic

Ziad P S


20 ASIAN EDUCATOR I June 2011

Dr P V RaviEDUPRENEUR

In 1982, he presented a proposal before Shri MG Ramachandran, the then chief minister of Tamil Nadu, to start a self-financing polytechnic. He got the approval through the first GO for a self-financing Polytechnic and later an Engineering College, in 1982 and 1984, respectively.

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and later an Engineering College, in 1982 and 1984, respectively. n 1982, the Nanjappa Institute of Technology was started and it offered Diploma in Leather and Plastic Engineering. It was the first of its kind in the state. Considering his experience and courage to run a private education institution, the government approached him with a request to start an engineering college in 1984. It was the first AICTE approved self-financing college in Tamil Nadu, and it was also the first privately financed engineering college which offered instrumentation control in degree programme in that State.

Dr Ravi served Bharathiar University as a Syndicate Member and was also a member of the Board of Higher Secondary Examinations, Government of Tamil Nadu. He is also a member of the Indian Society for Technical Education, All India

Management Association, New Delhi and a member of the Indian Institute of Export Management, Kolkata as well as a member of Ancient Astronaut Society, USA. He has also been honoured with several awards for excellent performance as an entrepreneur in the education sector.

Dr Ravi is a Rotarian who joined the club in 1984-85 as Chartered President and is today the District Governor Nominee of Rotary Club International. He is a well known philanthropist and through his good offices various Rotary Clubs provide Fee Waiver Scheme under a Merit-cum-Means Scheme to the tune of Rs 50 lakhs per annum to meritorious students with scarce means.

In an area which is drought- prone, Dr Ravi has helped introduce a wasteland development scheme for villagers to develop about 1250 acres of land into plantations with mass afforestation schemes free of cost and funded by the Wasteland Development Department of the Government of India.

As a part of the Rotary Village Adoption Scheme, three villages have been adopted and provided basic amenities that include pure

and continuous water supply. Dr Ravi has adopted a primary health centre at a cost of Rs. 10 lakhs catering to a village with a population of 25,000. The hospital is wholly owned by the Government of Tamil Nadu.

Park Group plans to open an aeronautical engineering department and has applied for licence to start a flying institute. “We are all set to begin a flight flying training institute and the process is due with the concerned authority. Aircraft have arrived for training. We hope the required sanction would be granted in a month.”

Ravi has also contributed some of the books to the literary world. Rajiv Ghandhi & Mother and Tamil Karpithal’ are books he has written in Tamil. His Tamil translation includes Galeel Gibran Kavithakal and General Knowledge-Volume II. Motivation Problem in Teaching English as Secondary Language is the one of the books he has written in English.

“There are more than 20,000 students pursuing various academic programmes at more than thirteen leading Park Institutions. We get pleasure in providing the nation builders of tomorrow a wealth of knowledge, a set of paying skills and a positive frame of mind as they graduate from our institutions. At Park entities it is always an experience of intellectually-stimulating work, morally-uplifting interaction and professionally-rewarding environment,” Ravi declares. The Ravi and Prema couple is blessed with two children. Anusha, married to Mahesh, CEO, Park Group of Educational Institutions, and TR Karthick ME, the Secretary of Park Group of Educational Institutions, who is perhaps the most eligible bachelor in Tamil Nadu now.

PARK Campus

21ASIAN EDUCATOR I June 2011

Some of my old students, who still retain an interest in philosophy in spite of their busy schedule, have

read my article on Socrates that appeared in the last issue. One of them, Manju, who works for a business consultancy firm in Britain, wonders when I would write about the ever inspiring, electrifying and deeply melancholic solitary thinker, Frederick Nietzsche, who remains hers as well as many of her IIT Madras classmates’ favourite thinker.

Nietzsche’s book Beyond Good and Evil shook and startled many of my students who come from families that have a middle class, conformist moral outlook. The 19th century Europeans too were startled when Nietzsche blamed religion and morality as the major hurdles for human development. He called Christianity a religion for the slaves, depicted Immanuel Kant - one of the outstanding thinkers and moralists of European philosophy and arguably the greatest prophet of modernity - as a ‘moral lunatic’.

Nietzsche argued for further evolution of the human race and complained that while every other species had succeeded in bringing out its higher species, humans had miserably failed to do so. The reason: religious and social morals imposing restrictions on our freedom, on our will to power, with their ethics of good and evil that condemned certain bold and courageous human acts as prohibited, and venerated certain others in spite of them reflecting submissiveness and cowardice. For Nietzsche, this ethics reflects nothing but an inherent propensity of man to conform to the standards set by others.

Born on October 15, 1844 Nietzsche started serious studies in philosophy with Professor Friedrich Wilhelm Ritschl and was influenced by the thoughts of another great German thinker, Arthur Schopenhauer. In 1869, when he was only 24, he joined the University of Basel as Professor of Classical Philology and became the youngest of the tenured

Classics professors in Germany. He left this job in 1879, as several health issues prevented him from continuing with any type of full-time occupation. He wrote and published extensively, but became mentally ill in 1889. His illness aggravated later and by 1899 he became totally impaired, unable to speak and do anything without external help. His sister looked after him till his death in 1900. She tried to learn his philosophy and after his death published them with her own (mis)interpretations, which made Nietzsche the Messiah of the Nazis.

His philosophy dealt with several concepts like Will to power, Superman, Redemption of Time, Death of God, Eternal Recurrence etc., and he advocated a philosophical vision that made him one of the most captivating thinkers in the history of philosophy. The ‘death of God’ signifies the decline of pre-modern worldviews that venerated the authority of tradition, the Church, and also envisioned universal moral ideals. With the advent of modernity, this authority started losing its strength and with the emergence of materialism and individualism all moral ideals seem to have lost their unquestionable command. Many European thinkers have cautioned about this newly emerging moral vacuum and warned about a moral anarchy. Nietzsche on the other hand saw here opportunities as he believed that the vacuum provided room for the exercise of freedom, a truly limitless freedom

Frederick Nietzsche EDU PHILOSOPHER

The Will to Overpower Nietzsche advocated an

unconditional exercise of one’s will to power - the will to overpower

oneself and all that surround one, and create one in accordance with

some predetermined norm -- by refusing to accept all conventional morality and religious world views,

and finally envisaged creating one’s own morality.

l Dr Sreekumar Nellickappilly

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to create oneself in an apparently meaningless world. In the exercise of this freedom lie the possibilities of a new and more meaningful life, both for the individual and for humanity as such. One has to evolve to the higher domain of existence by denying the status quo, the authority of the tradition and all that have been handed down to us as sacred and fixed and thereby create oneself anew. Nietzsche here advocated an unconditional exercise of one’s will to power - the will to overpower oneself and all that surround one, and create one in accordance with some predetermined norm -- by refusing to accept all conventional morality and religious world views, and finally envisaged creating one’s own morality.

Nietzsche talked about the overman, the next stage of evolution for mankind. He affirms that we have done nothing to overcome man. What is the ape compared to a man, Nietzsche asks, a laughing-stock or a painful embarrassment? And man shall be just that for the overman: a laughingstock or a painful embarrassment, he contends in Thus spoke Zarathustra:“Never yet has there been an overman. Naked I saw both the greatest and the smallest man: they are still all-too-similar to each other. Verily, even the greatest I found all-too-human.”

India’s decision makers should be complemented for the decision to open the country to foreign competition. I can understand that some are concerned about the consequences of international competition but we need to recognise that the business of higher education is a global one


Dr Johan Roos EXPERT INTERVIEW

Asian Educator: What are your observations about the new challenges in the higher education sector world over? Is it helpful to create more entrepreneurs?

Johan Roos: In higher education there is a clear trend in the world towards wanting to cultivate innovation. Everybody everywhere wants higher education in technology, natural science, medicine and management to be redesigned to enable young people to innovate products, services and processes.

I come from the northern part of Europe, which typically scores relatively high in terms of invention, innovation and entrepreneurship, but even there we face a tremendous challenge to adapt and develop our educational system to do more of this. The specific challenges are obviously different in Scandinavia and India, but we have the same overall drive to innovate new ways of thinking and working and this clearly challenge our educational systems.

AE: What are some of the new trends in the education sector across the globe?

JR: Research in all sciences is moving from disciplinary silos to cross-disciplinary flows at even faster speed. Knowledge flows in terms of cross-citations of scientific articles between, for example, medicine, neuroscience and molecular cell biology are exploding. This is also happening within the social sciences where, for instance, economics is deeply connected not only with sociology, political science, law and geography but increasingly also with

“IT’LL TAKE MANY YEARS TO MAKE AN

MBA DEGREE OF GOLD STANDARD FOR

ENTREPRENEURSHIP”

His Swedish company, Moving Minds, advises companies about strategy processes and continued education

for leaders. For two decades Dr Johan Roos was a strategy researcher and educator at Wharton School in the US, Norwegian School of Management, IMD in Switzerland and Stockholm School of Economics (SSE). As a Professor of Strategy, Dr Roos has published extensively on strategic alliances, knowledge management and innovative strategy processes. He was also the managing director of the Swiss-based Imagination Lab Foundation 2000-2006, where he led a cross disciplinary and experimental research effort to innovate how leaders’ teams develop strategy. As a university president 2009-2011 Dr Roos led a major strategic reform of Copenhagen Business School and as Dean of MBA Programmes (2007-2009) he similarly reformed the MBA strategy of SSE. He is a board member of several organisations and the Chair of the Danish government’s committee of the vision of Danish Design 2020. This is what he shared with Asian Educator during a recent interview.

Dr Johan Roos


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neuroscience, psychology and medicine. The tremendous advancement in IT, nano-science and genomics accelerate this trend and the result is a more holistic understanding of nature and the human condition.

Higher education is always behind the latest research but I see a clear trend that education is moving this way too and one consequence is that we will educate for new kinds of professions “in-between” the ones we are familiar with, like management, engineering and medical doctors. Specifically, business schools in the westerns world are likely to move towards a more humanistic approach to management education, where responsibility replaces profit-maximization as the core of enterprising.

AE: Do you think that the present management education is conducive to producing entrepreneurs?

JR: Yes and no. Yes because some people do come out of colleges and universities and become entrepreneurs. No because most management graduates, like MBA students, see lucrative management consulting or banking jobs as far more attractive than the risky business of private entrepreneurship. This is perhaps not so surprising since MBA programmes were designed to train capable administrators, not to cultivate entrepreneurs and the ranking of MBA programmes reflects this tradition. It is only recently that leading business schools have changed the design parameters for MBA programmes this way, but I am afraid it will take many years to make an MBA degree to gold standard for entrepreneurship.

It would be great to see prominent schools in Asia, like ISB, take the leadership here. Like the notion of “reverse innovation” in business I am sure there are lots of untapped potential in India and elsewhere to develop new approaches to entrepreneurship education that can influence the worldwide MBA education.

AE: Foreign universities are planning to open campuses in India. Do you think it as a positive trend?

JR: Absolutely. All evidence says that competition drives innovation and benefits the end-user of products and services. I can understand it was a difficult decision but India’s decision makers should be complemented for this reform to open the country to such competition. I can understand that some are concerned and perhaps even worried about the consequences of international competition but we need to recognise that our industry – the business of higher education – is a global one. The mindset in India, Scandinavia and elsewhere must be that the domestic situation is a special case in the global one, not the other way around. Everybody can improve here.

Until a few months ago I was the Vice-Chancellor of a Danish university and I really struggled with and fought the local mindset and the domestic rules preventing a global mindset. I succeeded only partly. Hopefully, many leaders of educational institutions in India will see this as a positive challenge to make good even better because of the gains for students, faculty, private and public organisations and for the society as a whole.

There are lots of untapped

potential in India and elsewhere

to develop new approaches to

entrepreneurship education that

can influence the worldwide MBA

education.

HARVARD CAMPUS FOCUS

Nestled in the busy Cambridge City, Harvard, named after its first benefactor, John Harvard was founded in 1636

by the Massachusetts legislature .The private, Ivy League, university of higher learning and research which emerged as the central cultural establishment among the Boston elites, will celebrate its 375th anniversary in 2011. Harvard’s history, influence, and wealth have made it undoubtedly one of the most prestigious universities in the world.

The school has grown from nine students with a single master to a leading research university with an enrollment of more than 18,000 degree candidates, including undergraduates and students in 10 principal academic units. An additional 13,000 students are enrolled in one or more courses in the Harvard Extension School. Over 14,000 people work at Harvard, including more than 2,000 faculties. There are also 7,000 faculty appointments in affiliated teaching hospitals.

The university conducts over 8,000 courses from over 100 departments. The academic programmes operate on a semester calendar beginning in early September and ending in mid-May.

Harvard University is made up of 11 principal academic units — ten faculties and the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study.1)Faculty of Arts


and Sciences and its sub-faculty, The School of Engineering and Applied Sciences which together serve The Harvard College, The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The Harvard Division of Continuing Education including the Harvard Summer School and The Harvard Extension School (2) Harvard Business School (3)Graduate School of Design Architecture, U(4) Divinity School (5) Graduate School of Education(6) John F. Kennedy School of Government Public Policy and Administration(7)Harvard Law School(8) The Harvard Medical School (9)The Harvard School of Dental Medicine(10) Harvard School of Public Health and The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study- an interdisciplinary center for scholarship and learning one of the most prominent schools for women in the United States formed by the merger of Radcliffe College, established in 1879 as a sister School of Harvard College, and merged formally with Harvard University in 1999, becoming the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. The Real Colegio Complutense at Harvard (The RCC) was founded in 1990 as a joint cooperative institution to foster intellectual and scientific interaction between Harvard University and Complutense University of Madrid, with the support of HM King Juan Carlos I, HM Queen Sofia of Spain and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

The men and women represent an array of

“Education must come with ethical understanding. It cannot be value-neutral. If we hope to create the best and the brightest, we must understand the best. We need to help our students understand where they want to go, not just how to get there. We must help them to decide and must deepen our humanity as we enrich our minds”. Drew Gilpin Faust, the 28th and the first female President, Harvard University, spoke addressing the student community in November 2010 on the eve of the traditional

annual football match between the Harvard Crimson and the Yale Bulldogs. Education has been central to the American dream since the time of the nation’s founding. Harvard University is one translation of that dream ranking second in QS World

University rankings 2010 with an awesome 99.18 per cent score!

Crimson Keeps Flying High

Celine George

26

ethnic groups, religious traditions, and political persuasions. It is the coming together of extraordinarily talented individuals who share an intense ambition to be leaders in everything they do. They range from pre-teens to octogenarians; in 1997, Mary Fasano became the oldest person ever to earn a Harvard degree when she graduated from the Extension School at the age of 89. Could you imagine walking the halls of a prestigious University, only to see fashion guru Tyra Banks taking a drink from the water fountain at your side? Tyra Banks the former supermodel who has had her heart set on Harvard for quite some time now enrolled herself in the Harvard Business school’s Executive Education program.The volume of cases, research and publications which the school puts out each year is part of

what makes HBS unique. Ideas are exchanged at nearly 20 conferences each year, and at speaking engagements which take place regularly.

Kristen Forecki, HBS Class of 2010, says “I

decided on HBS as there was something about the people that compelled me to decide on the school. They were such fascinating people who had so much to share, learning from each other through incredibly dynamic conversation”

Student life at Harvard Medical School is a celebration of diversity. Every aspect

of an HMS education is designed to encourage collaboration rather than

competition. The innovative curriculum allows students to

focus purely on learning

CAMPUS FOCUS


Student life at Harvard Medical School is a celebration of diversity. Every aspect of an HMS education is designed to encourage collaboration rather than competition. The innovative curriculum allows students to focus purely on learning—in their first two years at HMS, for example, they are awarded no grades beyond a “pass” or a “fail.” This commitment to the intellectual and professional growth of the students is also reflected in the wealth of faculty, academic, research, professional, personal, and social support services that HMS offers. Harvard Medical School has just kicked off its five-year, $20 million Greenhouse Gas Reduction Plan and expects to start realizing savings as soon as the spring.

The Harvard faculty is composed of highly skilled world-class scholars who are passionate and curious individuals who often are continuing their own research or writing while teaching. They come from across the country and all over the world, bringing with them a diverse wealth of knowledge. Among its most famous current faculty members are biologist E. O. Wilson, cognitive scientist Steven Pinker, physicists Lisa Randall and Roy Glauber, chemists Elias Corey, Dudley R. Herschbach and George M. Whitesides, Shakespeare scholar Stephen Greenblatt, writer Louis Menand, critic Helen Vendler, historian Niall Ferguson, economists Amartya Sen, N. Gregory Mankiw, Robert Barro, Stephen A. Marglin, Don M. Wilson III and Martin Feldstein, political philosophers Harvey Mansfield and Michael Sandel, political scientists Robert Putnam, Joseph Nye, and Stanley Hoffmann, scholar/composers Robert Levin and Bernard Rands. Subramanya Swami, former M.P.of the Janata Party from India

Harvard is one of the few remaining colleges in the country to maintain a true need-blind

admissions policy which means that freshmen are accepted on the basis of their scholastic achievements and other talents rather than their ability to pay tuition. There are no athletic scholarships. Financial needs are met through a combination of scholarships, loans, and term-time jobs. The financial aid package may cover up to 100 percent of tuition and expenses, depending on the degree of need. With one of the largest and most influential alumni networks around, Harvard is very well-connected and is backed by an endowment that dwarfs those of other universities in the world.

The 210-acre main campus is centered on the Harvard Yard in Cambridge, approximately 5.5 km northwest of downtown Boston and extends into the surrounding Harvard Square neighborhood. The Harvard Business School and many of the university’s athletic facilities, including Harvard Stadium, are located on a 359-acre campus opposite the Cambridge campus in Allston. The John W. Weeks Bridge is a pedestrian bridge over the Charles River connecting both campuses. The Harvard Medical School, Harvard School of Dental Medicine, and the Harvard School of Public Health are located on a 22-acre campus in the Longwood Medical and Academic Area approximately.3 km southwest of downtown Boston and 5.3 km south of the Cambridge campus. Apart from its major

Drew Gilpin Faust, President, Harvard

HARVARD

The Harvard faculty is composed of highly skilled world-class scholars who are passionate and curious individuals who often are continuing their own research or writing while teaching. They come from across the country and all over the world, bringing with them a diverse wealth of knowledge.

HARVARDCAMPUS FOCUS


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Cambridge/Allston and Longwood campuses, Harvard owns and operates Arnold Arboretum, in the Jamaica Plain area of Boston; the Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, in Washington, D.C.; the Harvard Forest in Petersham, Massachusetts; and the Villa I Tatti research center in Florence and the Harvard Shanghai Center in China.

The Harvard University Library System comprising over 80 individual libraries and over 15 million volumes is the largest academic and the largest private library system in the world, and the third largest library in the country. HOLLIS is the acronym for Harvard Library’s online catalog “Harvard On-Line Library Information System”

Harvard operates several arts, cultural, and scientific museums. The Harvard Art Museums, including The Fogg Museum of Art, has galleries featuring history of Western art from the middle ages to the present. The Busch-Reisinger Museum, formerly the Germanic Museum, covers central and northern European art. The Arthur M. Sackler Museum includes ancient, Asian, Islamic and later Indian art. The Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, specializes in the cultural history and civilizations of the Western Hemisphere. The Harvard Museum of Natural History complex, including: The Harvard University Herbaria, contains the famous Blaschka Glass Flowers exhibit. The Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, designed by Le Corbusier, is home to the University’s film archive and the department of Visual and Environmental Studies

The extracurricular and co-curricular opportunities here are virtually unlimited—including more than 400 official student organizations, whose number and nature are always evolving. The College provides considerable support to student organizations and other activities, and both novices and accomplished practitioners find opportunities to participate and explore. Indeed for many students extra-curricular activities provide an important part of their Harvard education, as well as ways to contribute to the rich community life of the College. .

The Office for the Arts produces a four-day student arts festival each year during the first week of May, which is the culmination of a year’s worth of student arts activity. The school colour crimson, known as Harvard Crimson is symbolic of the University. It is also the name of the Harvard sports teams and the daily newspaper, The Harvard

Crimson. Founded in 1873, it is the oldest continuously published college newspaper in America; and counts among its many editors numerous Pulitzer Prize winners and two U.S. Presidents, John F. Kennedy and Franklin D. Roosevelt.

It was the Harvard-Yale Regatta held annually in June on the Thames River in eastern Connecticut that started the athletic rivalry between the two schools. The Harvard crew is considered to be one of the top teams in the country in rowing. Harvard fields top teams in several other sports like ice hockey squash, and even in Men’s and Women’s Fencing.

Eight U.S. Presidents have graduated from Harvard including Barrack Obama who holds his J.D from the Harvard Law School and seventy five Nobel Laureates, both current and former, have been affiliated with the university as students, faculty, or staff. Fifteen winners of the American literary award, the Pulitzer Prize, have served on the Harvard faculty. Helen Keller, The Kennedy brothers, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt, Henry David Thoreau and T.S. Eliot are a few among the illustrious that were on the rolls. Harvard is also the alma mater of sixty-two living billionaires, the most in the country. Its central place in American elite circles has made it the setting for many novels, plays, films and other cultural works.

28

Education & EntrepreneurshipEducation has a very important role in creating entrepreneurs. Research has suggested important links between education and venture creation, and entrepreneurial performance.

James Paul

30

COVER STORY

She quit Rs 60-lakh job to become an entrepreneur. The decision wasn’t an easy one, for, apart from the money,

she had had to sacrifice a high-flying corporate career. But Jessie Paul decided to take the plunge because of the thrill and adventure it offered. Moreover, she would be the maker of her destiny from now on. Jessie had had fruitful stints at advertising firm Ogilvy & Mather, and software biggies Infosys, iGate and Global before she quit Wipro as chief marketing officer to start her own marketing and advisory company, Paul Writer Strategic Advisory.

Jessie, author of No Money Marketing, grew up in Nazareth, a small town in Tamil Nadu. Her story is indeed interesting, but she had to overcome various obstacles to begin her own concern.

The present atmosphere in our country, however, is not favorable for start-ups. Our education system is not conducive to creating entrepreneurs and our professional students are not willing to take the risk of becoming an entrepreneur. They lack the enthusiasm, or else, are not trained

and motivated to become entrepreneurs.

Entrepreneurship is the life-moving force behind any economy. It is an accepted belief that without entrepreneurial activities the process of

industrialisation and development will not be possible. It includes the promotion for capital formation, creation of immediate large-scale employment, promotion of balanced regional development, effective mobilisation of capital and skill. Professional management and engineering students should therefore take the initiative to start new ventures.

What is entrepreneurship? The term ‘entrepreneurship’ refers to the functions performed by an entrepreneur. It is the process involving various actions to be undertaken by someone in establishing a new enterprise. In fact, what an entrepreneur does is regarded as entrepreneurship. Thus, entrepreneurship can be viewed as a function of: (i) identifying and using the opportunities that exist in the market; (ii) converting ideas into action; (iii) undertaking promotional activities to launch an enterprise; (iv) striving for excellence in his/her field of work; (v) bearing the risk and uncertainties involved, and (vi) harmonising.

Entrepreneurships can be described as a creative and innovative response to the environment and the process of giving birth to a new enterprise. Such response can take place in any field of social endeavour, business, agriculture, education, social work, etc.

Education and entrepreneurship Education has a very important role to create entrepreneurs. Ninety five per cent of entrepreneurs believe education is a critical success factor. It is a key trigger to evoke entrepreneurial inclinations. Ninety eight per cent of the entrepreneurs are graduates; only 16 per cent, however, choose a specific sector as a result of their educational background.

The importance of individual entrepreneurial activity to economic growth and well-being at the national level for both industrialised

Education & Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship Pyramid

*IT, Finance, Insurance and Business services, Construction, Community, Social & Personal Services, Supply Chain, Transport-Storage, Communications etc.


31

COVER STORY

and developing countries is well established. Research has suggested important links between education and venture creation and entrepreneurial performance. To the extent that education can provide both a greater supply of entrepreneurs and higher levels of entrepreneurial performance, appropriate investments are justified.

The concept of entrepreneurship education is much wider than just “training on how to start a business”. Entrepreneurship is firstly a mindset. As attitudes take shape already at an early age, education can greatly contribute to fostering entrepreneurial mindsets, starting from primary school to the University level.

The growth of entrepreneurship education and the associated research regarding the impact of such education present several important policy questions. Although the findings regarding the link between entrepreneurial education and entrepreneurial activity are not definitive, there is significant research suggesting this linkage.

“Education is very important for an entrepreneur. But we can’t say that it is necessary. Our education system needs to improve to create more entrepreneurs. More and more students opt to start own businesses not only for mere profit but also as a social commitment. The society should encourage such young talents to become successful entrepreneurs,” said Prof K Kumar, Chairperson, NS Raghavan Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning, IIM, Bangalore. Recently, four Wipro employees left their high-flying jobs in Bangalore to start their own dairy milk company to prove their social commitment. These four had worked with Wipro for almost 15 years and were drawing huge salaries. But their determination to stand on their own as well as support rural employment saw the birth of Akshayakalpa Farms and Foods Ltd.

The main purpose of this company is to prevent the migration of rural population to cities. The milk dairy is to be set up at a cost of Rs 15 crores on 24 acres, and 300

marginal farmers will be selected within a 15-sq km radius of Kodihalli village to supply milk to the dairy.

Courses in entrepreneurshipCourses in entrepreneurship are the core activity of entrepreneurship education in India. Over 100 different departments of universities offer such courses. For Instance, NMIMS conducts a two-year fulltime programme on family business management. Most of the courses cover the legal and managerial aspects of entrepreneurship. But the motivational aspect taught at NMIMS is equally important as it creates aspiration and improves confidence levels. This programme has equipped students with skills, knowledge, and a mind-set to run their family businesses. ISB in Hyderabad, affiliated to non-profit organisation Wadhwani Foundation (committed to promoting entrepreneurship), offers entrepreneurial and incubation assistance. ISB has knowledgeable instructors equipped with business experience.

In India, many entrepreneurship centres have been founded to coordinate the broad array of activities, programmes and resources within educational institutions. For example, the NS Raghavan Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning in IIM Bangalore (NSRCEL—IIMB) carries out international collaboration projects. The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) Project with the London Business School, the Ewing Marion Kaufmann Foundation, and Babson College has been a major project for the last three years. In the case

Education & Entrepreneurship

Idea driven

Independence

ChallengeDream desire

Family background

Market opportunity

“It is clear. Indian techies will increasingly look at e-option! The eco-system is taking shape. My advice to entrepreneurs is to get into the ‘network’ and benefit from the huge advantage”


of IIM Calcutta, activities on innovation and entrepreneurship are more practical and driven by students, along with faculty advisors. The IIMC’s entrepreneurship cell holds one of the biggest business plan contest in Asia, i2I—ideas to implementation with Yale University’s Yale Entrepreneurial Society (YES).

These partnerships are also happening in technical as well as business schools. The notable names include Technology Business Incubation Unit Delhi, SIDBI Innovation and Incubation Centre in IIT Kanpur, and Society for Innovation and Development (SID) at India Institute of Science Bangalore, one of the oldest centres in India. In fact SID-IISc’s notable achievement is a project called SuTRA -- Sustainable Transformation of Rural Areas -- which uses non-edible oil from Neem trees as a substitute for fuel generation. Many ideas are focused on solving the problems of rural poverty. Innovation is getting compassionate too.

Cultural barriersEntrepreneurship can develop only in a society in which cultural norms permit variability in the choice of paths of life. Unfortunately, the Indian culture consists of a network of benefits that in many ways run counter to entrepreneurship (Leo Paul

Dana, 2000). For example, Indians believe that being passive and content with status quo is healthier for the inner soul than striving to improve one’s situation. We believe that peace of mind can be achieved from spiritual calm rather than materialism. We are more sensitive to emotional affinity in the workplace than to work and productivity.

And even today, people think that taking up a job is much better than taking the risk of starting a venture. A job could assure one a comfortable existence. Some prefer job experience before starting a venture, but this often doesn’t happen because a lot of commitment and courage would be required to leave a job, and as time passes by, the risk-taking capacity goes down.

Hurdles Starting a business is costly in terms of the time required and the cost involved. While it takes just five days to start a business in the US and just two days in Australia, in India it takes as long as 89 days. What really hurts is that even in neighbours Pakistan, Nepal, and Bangladesh, it takes just 24, 21, and 35 days, respectively, to do so. The reason for such delay is bureaucratic -- too many rules and regulations, and too much paperwork. On an average, it would cost an entrepreneur nearly half of his/her total income (49.5 per cent of the gross national income per capita) to set up a business, which is 100 times more than what is needed to set up a business in the US. Here again, poorer cousins Bhutan, Pakistan and Sri Lanka fare better.

“To find a suitable place to open an office in India is a difficult task for a new entrepreneur. He/she has to pay a huge deposit as security to take an office on lease. Security deposit remains dead money. Government should come forward to help young entrepreneurs in such situations,” said Prof Kumar of NSRCEL, IIM, Bangalore.

Improve confidence levelA survey by Entrepreneurship Development Institute, India (EDII) shows that young people are afraid to start their own businesses because they are not confident, capable and lack required knowledge. Many people will have the opportunity to change jobs or become an entrepreneur if they are properly trained. Students in India are not satisfied with the “hands-on” support of their universities in the founding process.

Entrepreneurship is basically a mindset As attitudes take shape already at an early age, school education can greatly contribute to fostering entrepreneurial mindsets, starting from primary school to the university level.

COVER STORY Education & Entrepreneurship


33

Entrepreneurship education in the higher education system should, therefore, satisfy the need for entrepreneurship by selecting, motivating, training and supporting aspiring students. Unfortunately, our present system just concentrates on related courses. Moreover, the so-called entrepreneurship courses are similar to the general business courses and general business management education has no significant influence on entrepreneurial propensity.

The findings of a survey on business owners in India suggest that management education is not an important driver of entrepreneurial attitudes (Gupta 1992). There is a demand for education programmes specifically designed to expand students’ knowledge and experience in entrepreneurship. The contents and teaching methods have to be differentiated between entrepreneurship and traditional business courses.

Besides offering courses in entrepreneurship, some educational institutions also organise entrepreneurship-related activities. But these activities are not much different from each other and are not supportive of their educational programmes. For example, almost every IIM has its own incubator, but they are mainly designed for outside entrepreneurs.

Mentoring, nurturing entrepreneursKaram Lakshman, programme manager, iAccelerator, IIM Ahmedabad believes that entrepreneurship education seeks to provide students with the knowledge, skills and motivation required to encourage entrepreneurial success and lay down the conditions and solutions to the challenges that one might foresee in a venture. “Business is the backbone of a country’s economy and entrepreneurship is a tremendous force that has a huge impact on facilitating growth, recovery and societal progress. It results in innovation, employment generation and social empowerment. In India, entrepreneurship education is gradually picking up. That said, it needs to scale up further to make everyone involved -- promoter, investor, parents, employees, etc -- more aware about the different aspects,” he says.

Prof S Sadagopan, director, IIT Bangalore feels that knowledge and wealth creation are equally important. He is of the belief that B-schools must encourage entrepreneurship. “We promote both, a formal as well as

an informal programme. Within 10 years of existence, we have incubated four successful companies. Currently, we are incubating five companies. More than 20 of our alumni are pursuing new ventures currently,” he says.

On the future of entrepreneurship education, Sadagopan says: “It is clear. Indian techies will increasingly look at e-option! The eco-system is taking shape. My advice to entrepreneurs is to get into the ‘network’ and benefit from the huge advantage.”

Key NKC recommendations 1.Demystify perceptions of risk and failure by facilitating dissemination of best practices; document unsuccessful ideas. 2. Financiers need to be more proactive in assessing business opportunities generated by entrepreneurs. 3. Angel investors, VCs and PE funds need incentives for greater involvement in knowledge-intensive sectors. 4. Encourage synergies between Education, Innovation and Entrepreneurship. 5. Grow the pool of skilled people. 6. Improve the ease of doing business.

Suggestions to enhance entrepreneurship1.Implement Single Window System meaningfully. 2. Introduce a Single Composite Application Form and a ‘Single Unique Company Number’ (for company, tax and social security registrations). 3. Make tax payments quarterly; create specialised commercial courts; introduce Limited Liability Partnerships (LLPs); create ‘one-stop shops’ to provide information needed to start an entrepreneurial activity.

On average, it would cost an entrepreneur nearly half of his/her total income (49.5% of the gross national income per capita) to set up a business, which is 100 times more than what is needed to set up a business in the US.



Entrepreneurship doesn’t happen at the time of graduation. The pressures on any student at that

time are very different. Companies are knocking at their doors offering huge salaries, says Professor K Kumar, Chairperson, NS Raghavan Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning (NSRCEL) at the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB). Here, in a one-to-one with Asian Educator, the renowned educationist explains the various aspects of entrepreneurship in the country. Excerpts:

AE: You have been watching the entrepreneurship activities in our country for long. What restricts our management students from becoming entrepreneurs?Prof Kumar: We have to consider two things in this respect. One is the way in which management education develops and the overall state of our economy. The second is the profile of the management students. Traditionally, management education focuses on developing managers for large corporates. Till the mid 90s, entrepreneurial opportunities were not as widespread as it is today. Even the technology available was not entrepreneur-friendly. Peoples’ purchasing power was also not so high. So, most of the entrepreneurial attempts in those days were based on local business. It was completely need based. In the late 90s, because of gradual globalisation, a lot of opportunities arose and the corporate sector also started growing rapidly. As industries grew, the demand for trained management professionals also increased. For the management students then, the jobs on offer were much more attractive compared to the risky part of entrepreneurship. Students who were getting admitted into business schools were fresh. They didn’t have the in-depth life exposure to start a business.

K Kumar is a Professor of Entrepreneurship and Chairperson of NSRCEL at IIM Bangalore. Prof Kumar served as a Visiting Professor of Corporate Strategy and Policy at IIMB before becoming a Professor of Entrepreneurship at NSRCEL. As chairperson of NSRCEL, Kumar is responsible for directing its research, teaching and training activities, besides running the business incubation centre. Kumar’s research interests are in areas of entrepreneurial strategies and high growth entrepreneurship in emerging economies. Many of his articles have appeared in South Asian Journal of Management, IIMB Management Review and Asian Case Research Journal. Prof Kumar was most recently nominated as the ICCR Short Term Chair Visiting Professor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the Athens University of Economics and Business. Prof Kumar joined IIMB after serving 16 years in the industry, having held positions as CEO, president and management consultant in reputed organisations.


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EXPERT INTERVIEW

Entrepreneurship was not much attractive compared to the lucrative jobs they were being offered.

AE: Do you think that our education system is capable of producing entrepreneurs?Prof Kumar: Yes. For all successful entrepreneurs, inspiration and execution are important. The management curriculum does help an entrepreneur to do very well in the execution phase. It does give them the necessary inspiration. Entrepreneurship education gives them insight into various problems faced by the industry. This will help them to do well in their own endeavors and also help them in solving problems.

AE: Do you think that our management students are still reluctant to take risks?Prof Kumar: Taking risk is not the major issue here. We have done a study to find out what our alumni were doing after their studies. Almost close to 50 per cent of our alumni, after 10 years of their graduation, are running their own company. So, we can safely infer that entrepreneurship doesn’t happen just after graduation. The pressures at that time on student are very different. Companies are knocking at their doors with huge salaries. A practical decision for them at that time would naturally be taking up a job. By that they also stand to gain immense experience. That experience helps them understand the industry better.

AE: How receptive is the industry towards new ideas? Is there any dearth of funds? Do new entrepreneurs have to struggle locating adequate funds?Prof Kumar: We don’t have a very well organised system regarding funding. New ideas should be encouraged. It needs time to catch up with new ideas. Government polices are fairly improving in favour of new entrepreneurs coming up with new ideas. There are lots of schemes to encourage entrepreneurs. But infrastructure has to improve

considerably. One of the biggest problems facing entrepreneurs is the non-availability of basic facilities. If someone has to take a place in Bangalore to start a business, he has to pay 10 months rent as deposit. It is ridiculous. In the beginning, a normal entrepreneur will have only very limited capital and that capital, in such a scenario, will end up in the bank account of the landlord as dead money. There are lots of areas where capital is being diverted from the core business area because of the lack of infrastructure. The government should help new entrepreneurs in such gray areas.

AE: Can you elaborate on the concept of incubators ?Prof Kumar: Incubators provide basic facilities like place, telephone, power, etc. Some incubators also have provisions for funding. Business Incubation is a process by which the Incubator guides and mentors an Incubatee to unfold his/her business idea to the implementation stage. The NSRCEL has a clearly defined incubation process which helps entrepreneurs to realise their ideas. The objective of the NSRCEL is to produce successful companies that will have the potential to create jobs, revitalise neighbourhoods, commercialise new technologies, and strengthen economies. Generally at the NSRCEL no Idea is rejected. When a person or a team submit an idea, the NSRCEL team evaluates the idea and if the idea is yet not ready for a take-off, sits down with the group and helps them to refine the idea. Soon after a series of review meetings, one is able to redefine the idea to commence work on its implementation.

AE: What are your suggestions to improve entrepreneurship skills?Prof Kumar: We need to educate people about the facilities available at present. Give them the exposure. Tell them there are opportunities available. Academic institutions have a great role to play in this regard.

‘Entrepreneurship is Not Attractive Compared to the

Lucrative Jobs on Offer’The management curriculum does help an entrepreneur to do very well in the execution phase. It does give them the necessary inspiration. Entrepreneurship

education gives them insight into various problems faced by the industry.

Prof K Kumar

The pressures at that time on students are very different. Companies are knocking at their doors with huge salaries. A practical decision for them at that time would naturally be taking up a job.

Our Special Correspondent


Susanne Maria Kraft

Entrepreneurship is a cornerstone to value creation; it not only benefits the entrepreneurs themselves but also the

society at large. But what does a person need to become a successful entrepreneur? Is it just the “hard skills” related to different ‘functional arms’ of a company – These expertise can be found in abundance in the market place! Then what is it?

Entrepreneurs sure require the knowledge in the different business practices of a company, to take the company from the infancy stage to the vision they have for the company, but such knowledge alone is not sufficient to build a successful company. Running an own business comes along with unprecedented risk, a high amount of responsibility towards the different stakeholders and Goliath challenges in the day-to-day business. Entrepreneurs clearly need the ability to see the “big picture” of things and to think outside the box if they want to be successful. Furthermore, they require strong will and commitment to become a successful entrepreneur, as most entrepreneurial ventures fail in the first three years.

When it comes to education in Entrepreneurship Development the interesting question is: How can we prepare prospective entrepreneurs for all those challenges? What kind of education will provide them with the competences they need in order to start their own business?

Susanne Maria Kraft is a Deputy Director at Centre for Entrepreneurship Development (CED) in Hyderabad, India. It is an undertaking of ALEAP and a centre of excellence involved in entrepreneurship training. Her main duty with CED is the training of trainers as well as the monitoring and evaluation of the trainings.

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Hard skills such as given below are crucial:

• Preparing a business plan• Financial Management• Policies and schemes• Market survey• Project report

Equally crucial are the soft skills. The professional discussions during past years have led to quite a good outline on what the required soft skills for prospective entrepreneurs are like, i.e.

a) Creative problem solving skillsb) Communication skillsc) Reflective skillsd) Learning aptitude

Every educator knows that comparatively the hard skills are the easy part in education. The more difficult part and the real challenge in educating prospective entrepreneurs is to provide them with the soft skills. In order to do so, it is essential that entrepreneurship training is conducted with the use of various teaching and training methods.

Unfortunately a lot of trainings are still conducted like lectures. Though each educational process needs a certain theoretical input and therefore the lecture method is quite important, a lecture is not more than talking to or talking at the group -- it is simply addressing a passive audience. If lecture is the sole method in a training process then it is usually not very effective. Studies have shown that humans retain only 20 per cent of what they hear, which means 80 per cent of information is lost in a training conducted solely as a lecture. The same studies show that on the contrary, humans remember 90 per cent of what they practised. Thus practical exercise and experience is essential in a

training process for it to be effective.In order to impart the soft skills mentioned earlier, the soft skills need to be connected with the various training methods

a) Creative problem solving skills: Every entrepreneur will meet problems that require creative solutions. Problems will occur while preparing for the start up, during the start up phase and even when a business is going well, problems will occur and will need a solution.Enhancing the problem-solving skills of the participants can only be done if the educational process provides them with problems which they can solve in controlled condition. The method of case study will be most applicable, but also methods like discussions or role-plays will help to enhance this skill.

b) Communication skills: Entrepreneurs must communicate with different stakeholders in many different environments and it is crucial that these

Education and Entrepreneurship Development – a ChallengeUnfortunately a lot of trainings are still conducted like lectures. Though each educational process needs a certain theoretical input and therefore the lecture method is quite important, a lecture is not more than talking to or talking at the group -- it is simply addressing a passive audience

Susanne Maria Kraft ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Every entrepreneur will meet problems that require creative solutions. Problems will occur while preparing for the start up, during the start up phase and even when a business is going well, problems will occur and will need a solution.


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communication processes succeed in order for the business to succeed. A misunderstanding with a customer might lead him to the competitor. A misunderstanding with a government official can cause bad problems. Miscommunication with employees can rob them of their motivation and cause them to deliver low quality work or even join other companies. During the communication

trainings I’ve conducted I often experience that “communication” is misunderstood as merely talking to people. However, it is much more, and for entrepreneurs especially it is of the highest importance to understand the basics of communication and learn how to communicate effectively.

Therefore the methods like student practice, role plays or discussion connected with continuous constructive feedback from the trainer, are key methods for an entrepreneurial training.

c) Reflective skills: When becoming an entrepreneur, reflective skills are of most importance. Especially in the start-up phase it is crucial to have the skill to reflect on processes and strategies in order to improve them. Thus methods like case study, discussions, role plays, question and answer are important methods to be used during training.

d) Learning aptitude: Life-long-learning has become a central part of every professional life in the past years. It is even more essential for prospective entrepreneurs. Life in the 21st century is dictated by continuous changes – in the markets as well as in technical development. In order to keep up with the challenges coming with these changes, the success of a business depends on the ability of lifelong learning and continuously gathering information. Thus it is essential for every prospective entrepreneur not only to have the knowledge in the respective fields of his or her business but also to possess the skill to gather reliable information and to acquire new or update the existing knowledge. Therefore the training for entrepreneurs must enable them to learn by themselves. Group work, projects or simulations have therefore to be an integral part of each

entrepreneurship training programme.

As educators we have a great responsibility, especially when it comes to training the prospective entrepreneurs. Our participants rely on us to provide them with the knowledge and the skills to enable them to start their own business and fruitfully create a good livelihood – for themselves as well as for their employees. Thus we must not be satisfied with an information loss of 80 per cent. It is our duty to provide the participants with as much skill and as much information as we can. Even if it is a bit more work for us to prepare for an interactive training by implementing various methods, ultimately it is our duty. And in the end, there stands one more fact: the satisfaction of our own work growing with the success of our students.

Entrepreneurs clearly need the ability to see the “big picture” of things and to think outside the box if they want to be

successful. Furthermore, they require strong will and commitment to become

a successful entrepreneur, as most entrepreneurial ventures fail in the first

three years.When it comes to education in

Entrepreneurship Development the interesting question is: How can we prepare prospective entrepreneurs

for all those challenges? What kind of education will provide them with the

competences they need in order to start their own business?

Susanne Maria KraftENTREPRENEURSHIP


The world’s first collegiate business school was established in 1883 in the University of Pennsylvania, USA. It was

the brainchild of a Philadelphia entrepreneur, Joseph Wharton, who wrote to the president of the university to create a school to prepare youngsters to assume control of the complex economy that was unfolding in the second half of the 19th century. He also created a handsome endowment for this purpose. The original name of the school was Wharton School of Finance and Commerce. The term management had not yet become part of an academic discipline. Wharton awarded its first 5 graduates the degree of Bachelor of Finance in 1884.One of them was a Japanese, Shiro, who later became a member of Finance in Japanese parliament. Another, Robert Adams, became the U.S Ambassador to Brazil. In 1887 Miles Tucker, Wharton’s first African-American student, earned his bachelor’s degree. By 1904 Wharton had become a popular institution. Between 1904 and 1915, Wharton expanded its offerings, creating new disciplines in Finance, Accounting, Insurance, Marketing, Business Law and Industrial Management. Simultaneously there was considerable expansion of the faculty.

Pennsylvania’s example was soon followed by Harvard and the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration was born. It was Harvard that established the now famous degree of Master of Business Administration (MBA). It celebrated its centenary in 2008. I was fortunate to be a student, a Fulbright Scholar, at Harvard (1953) and later a visiting professor at Wharton (1964).

Between 1897 and 1917 the number of business schools in United States grew from one to 30, but nowhere else in the world was there a business school.

One might say that the origin of business education was the result of the second industrial revolution in the latter part of the 19th century which created hundreds of big industrial units in different parts of the US that required a large number of professionals to man the thousands of managerial positions created by them.

Although Western Europe and England had the industrial revolution

Management Education Through the Ages

first, neither of them had followed it up with a managerial revolution. That happened in the US. The business schools established in the late 19th century and the first half of the 20th century contributed immensely towards that development.

Following the examples of Wharton and Harvard, all the leading universities in the US set up business schools and quite a number of them became famous attracting students even from abroad. Among them were Columbia, Yale, Stanford, North Eastern, Missouri State, Colorado, George Town, Washington and MIT, to mention a few.

The importance and emphasis given to research in management was a significant development. Wharton was a leader in this respect closely followed by Harvard. Publications were a logical consequence and journals such as Harvard Business Review became world famous and were widely cited as authorities by students, teachers and businessmen. Professors of leading business schools also wrote books on different aspects of management. By 1940, Wharton had a fulltime faculty of 165, but during the Second World War the number dwindled to 39.

By the end of World War II, America’s manufacturing sector had grown manifold and the economy became the largest in the world. The most striking development of the 1950s was the early growth of diversified conglomerate corporations. To manage these industrial giants a large number of personnel with systematic business education was required. Wharton and other business schools could meet this challenge. And a large number of new business schools came to be established. By the end of 1960s, there were over a thousand business schools in America.

By now Western Europe had felt the need for business education and higher educational institutions in these countries sought US help to establish them. England, France, Italy, Holland, the Scandinavian countries, Switzerland and Germany began

Dr M V Pylee GUEST COLUMN


The importance and emphasis

given to research in management

was a significant development. Wharton was

a leader in this respect closely

followed by Harvard.

setting up business schools and they began to grow fast. Leading American and European business schools began to collaborate and networking became a common feature of business education leading to the entire world becoming a stage for MBA students!

In the eighties part time MBA programmes became widespread not only in business but also in allied disciplines such as MBA Life Sciences, MBA Human Resource Management, MBA Technology Management, MBA Strategic Management and many others.

Russia introduced business education in the early 70s. Moscow University started its first business management course in 1971, but had to struggle hard to develop competent faculty and business literature for use in the classroom and library. They freely translated books from the English language without acknowledging the original source saying they were not a party to the International Copyright Law! Following the Russian example, East European countries also started management education in the 70s.

By the eighties the Open University system of learning had been fairly well established giving a great boost to the spread of business education all over the world. The introduction of entrepreneurship training was a new innovation in the 70s. PhD programmes too had become popular in business schools.

American business schools established collaborative ventures in different Asian countries during the 60s and 70s and countries such as India, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Thailand, Philippines and Japan were the most prominent in this category.

Recognising the increasing global focus on business education, Wharton created the world’s first MBA programme in International Management. It was the first to blend MBA with an academically rigorous Master’s degree programme in Language and International Studies combining management education with intensive

exposure to a foreign country’s culture, politics, economy and language.

By the late 80s, new pioneering business educational programmes for executive had begun to surface in many parts of America and Europe. For example, the Aresty Institute today serves more than 10,000 executives a year with a mix of 200 plus programmes from open enrolment courses to the Advanced Management

programmes to customised programmes created to address a company’s specific needs.

Some of the leading American and European business schools established boards and representative offices in Europe and Asia in the 80s and 90s, an innovative move to establish partnership with leading business schools in Asia,Canada,South America and Australia and facilitate the faculty to travel abroad to meet with business leaders and other colleagues.

Introduction of integrated programmes which combine Management with Engineering, Medicine, Technology, Law, Architecture and several other disciplines has become a popular feature in the last two decades.

In 1999, Wharton professor and Deputy Dean Janice Bellace was named the president of Singapore Management University, the first such appointments anywhere to establish a most modern undergraduate business curriculum and a research centre to further SMU’s position as a premier Asian centre for discovery and dissemination of knowledge in business disciplines.

In 2001, a historic alliance with INSEAD (Paris) was created to develop and deliver management education in developing top quality business faculty and executives across four dedicated campuses -- Wharton’s US campuses in Philadelphia and San Francisco and those of INSEAD in Fontainebleau (France) and Singapore.

In 2005, the Indian School of Business opened in Hyderabad (India) created through a collaboration of business leaders, Wharton and Kellogg School of Management.

With over 2000 schools, departments and institutes of management, let us hope India will also play a global role of leadership in management education. w

The government will be spending close to $100 billion on education in the 12th Plan period. This will be in addition to around $20 billion investment

on Information Technology (IT). However, the rate of development in the education sector still needs attention. There is huge opportunity for

private investment in this sector. There is opportunity for locals as well as the Diaspora. – Kapil Sibal

The Plush New Investment Avenue

ASIAN EDUCATOR I June 2011 41

James Paul

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SPECIAL STORY

The education sector in India will witness a heavy flow of funds in the near future with major corporate and private equity

companies planning to invest huge amounts in this segment. Only recently corporate giants such as

Tata Group, Zee, Yash Birla Group and HDFC publicly evinced interest in this burgeoning space.

The Tata Group is planning a major entry. Its e-learning-focused group company, Tata Interactive Systems (TIS), may soon unveil a strategy for setting up pre-schools across the country. Though the initial plan is to set up pre-schools, the long-term vision of the group is to have K-12 schools (catering to students from kindergarten to grade 12) in Tier

1 cities. The group may invest close to Rs 1,000 crores in what will be its first major commercial venture in the education space. Most Tata companies look at education from a corporate-social-responsibility point of view.

According to estimates, the kindergarten to grade 12 (K-12) market in India accounts for a substantial share of the total education market. The estimated worth of this segment is Rs 20 billion and is expected to grow at 14 per cent per annum.

The e-learning market in India, though a niche category includes digital content in private schools, ICT programme of the government for government schools and the online education market. Several companies including Educomp, Dell and Smart Technologies have ventured into the business by providing content as well as smart solutions.

Effectively, the unlisted TIS is taking the cue from rival e-learning firms such as Educomp, Everonn and Core Projects & Technologies, which have charted a similar diversification strategy. Essar Group’s Aegis Ltd is eyeing to set up its second management institute in Kolkata. Discussions in this regard were on with State IT Minister Debesh Das for allotment of land in Rajarhat (The present position is not known as the incumbent State government has had to resign following its

Of late corporate India has been queuing up to enter the education segment.

Tata Group, Zee, Yash Birla Group, HDFC, Samsung, Educomp, Dell, Smart Technologies,

Everonn, Bosch India and Core Projects & Technologies are some of the houses that have evinced interest. The more

the merrier seems to be the driving philosophy

Invest Opportunities

defeat in the State polls held in April this year). Aegis currently has one such institute offering 11-month diploma courses in Integrated Customer Experience Service Management in Coimbatore.

It is widely known that the education sector has been experiencing hectic activity involving private equity and venture funds, perceiving it as the hottest sector to chip in their funds. Helix Investments has invested $10 million in Learning Mate Solutions, a provider of e-learning education solutions. Learning Mate provides various services like Content Development, LMS (Learning Management System) and VLE (Virtual Learning Environment) products. It was demerged from

Educomp way back in 2003 and currently employs 200 people.

For Helix Investments, this is its second investment in an education company. In August 2007, the firm invested $12 million in Mahesh Tutorials, a Mumbai-based test prep company.

The country’s largest housing finance company, HDFC, has said there is a surge of private equity interest in education sector into which it is planning a foray. Keki Mistry, vice-chairman and chief executive officer of HDFC, said that the private equity investment in education touched $190 million in 2010, an increase of more than eight times of $22 million in 2005.

According to Mistry, investments in the kindergarten to grade 12 segment would grow from $20 billion at present to $33 billion by next year. HDFC is planning a foray into this fastest-growing segment. Mistry has called on the powers that be to allow greater foreign investment in this sector.

Kishor A ChaukarMD, Tata Industries

Rs 6000bnExpected Consumerspending on education by

2025

90 %of Consumer spending on education is for K12 and higher educationsector


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SPECIAL STORYInvest Opportunities

Durables and appliances brand Samsung India too has forayed into this business with the introduction of its interactive e-boards for classrooms. The company is targeting 20,000 educational institutions all over India to deploy its ‘smart solution.’ Samsung said it expected a revenue of $100 million to come from the IT and mobility business during 2011 (January-December period). At present, the vertical earns revenue of $38 million.

Recently, TutorVista, another education company, raised $19 million in its third round of funding from Pearson and existing investors Lightspeed Venture Partners and Manipal Education and Medical Group. TutorVista provides online tuitions to students in markets such as the United States and Britain, besides India, while it also provides curriculum support and technology solutions to schools in India.

Other companies funded by private equity companies include Hurix Systems Pvt Ltd which is backed by Helion Venture Partners Llc., and Brainvisa Technologies Pvt Ltd backed by Sequoia Capital India Advisors Pvt Ltd.

Government initiativesThe government invests three per cent of its GDP on education while consumers spend more than $40 billion on private educational institutions and services. There has also been four per cent hike in budgetary allocation for the next fiscal at Rs 52,057 crores to take forward ambitious programmes like universalisation of secondary education and for increasing the enrolment ratio in higher education.

The Union budget also brought in cheers for the Scheduled Cast (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) students with the announcement of introduction of a scholarship scheme for them at the pre-metric level.

India will need 1,000 more universities and 45,000 more colleges in the next 10 years to cater to an estimated 40 million students by 2020, according to Human Resource Development (HRD) minister Kapil Sibal.

India’s education sector needs investments worth $150 billion in the next 10 years, Sibal said. He was making the inaugural speech at the ninth Pravasi Bhartiya Divas held at the Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi on January 9 this year. He also invited “collaboration” from the Indian Diaspora to strengthen the sector. He said the government would increase investment from the estimated $70 billion during the current Plan period to $100 billion in the 12th Five Year Plan. “We will be

spending close to $100 billion on education in the 12th Plan period. This would be in addition to around $20 billion investment on Information Technology (IT),” he added.

“However, the rate of development in the education sector still needs attention,” he said adding: “There is huge opportunity for private investment in this sector. There is opportunity for locals as well as the Diaspora.”

Present positionThe education sector in the country is divided into various segments which includes vocational training, corporate training, e-learning, distant learning, knowledge management etc. The e-learning market is growing rapidly in India as well as other parts of the globe. The e-learning market in the US alone is worth $1 billion a year and is growing at an annual rate of 40 per cent. The demand for cheaper education in the US and the European markets has opened a whole lot of e-learning and other outsourcing opportunities for Indian players.

The sector is also hoping for a major relaxation in FDI norms which would in turn boost the domestic demand as it was recently conveyed by Kapil Sibal, HRD Minister. The government is planning to liberalise the education policies and also allow foreign universities to open their campuses in India.

The IT minister, in the meanwhile, said the Centre had asked State governments to set up an Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT). While 50 per cent of the funds required for the project would be provided by the Centre, the States would have to foot in 35 per cent, and the remaining 15 per cent is expected to come from the industrial sector.

As part of the efforts to ramp up its private sector operations in India, the ADB is now looking to extend financing support to new areas such as education, agri-business and microfinance.

The education sector in India can be divided into formal and non-formal segments. The formal

Keki MistryVice-Chairman &

CEO, HDFC

Investments in the kindergarten to grade 12 segment would grow from $20 billion at present to $33 billion by next year. HDFC is planning a foray into this fast growing segment.


44

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SPECIAL STORY Invest Opportunities

segment refers to K-12 and higher education. Although this segment constitutes more than 80 per cent of the market size, the opportunities to invest in this sector remain limited due to strict regulations that prevent the participants from distributing profits. The non-formal space is relatively small in size, but the low levels of regulations allow the participants to distribute profits.

There have been close to 60 deals worth more than $640 million since 2006 in this sector. Out of these deals, there have been 21 deals amounting to $250 million in the first half of 2010 alone. The increased interest shown by Private Equities and Venture Capitals in the education sector is because of the possibilities for high levels of profit and freedom in pricing services. In addition to this, stable cash flows unrelated to business cycles and low penetration of organised participants makes this an attractive market.

22.8m euro Bosch funding for IndiaAnnouncing a 22.8 million euros for higher education

funding in India, Bosch, a leading supplier of technology and services that has a strong presence in the country

at numerous locations in diverse industry segments, recently announced that it was setting up a ‘Robert Bosch Centre for Research in Cyber Physical Systems’, at the Indian Institute of Science at Bangalore.

This would be a first-of-its-kind research centre and would promote applied research in the chosen domains of cyber physical systems, mobility solutions and renewable energy, the company said in a statement.

The centre would create an ecosystem of research and working environment for future engineers, and support the entire industry through contract research projects, it said. Internationally renowned Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft would support the ten-year development project. Cyber-physical systems would help to save energy in buildings, for instance, Bosch said. “The house of the future will know what current energy prices are and the local weather is like, and optimise its energy consumption according to the needs of its occupants”, it said.

Bosch is creating a campus for IT design, cyber-physical systems, mobility solutions and renewable energy in collaboration with IISc.

“With our funding for higher education in India, we are creating a perfect research and working environment for future IT specialists,” said Vijay Ratnaparkhe, managing director of Bosch Engineering and Business Solutions in India.

Under the InterCampus programme globally, Bosch is investing a total of 50 million euros to provide support for universities and research projects in Germany, China, India and the US. Of this, 22.8 million euros, and therefore the lion’s share of the total budget, is going to India.

The Bosch Group is one of the world’s biggest private industrial corporations. Headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany, the Bosch Group has some 283,500 employees worldwide, and generated annual sales revenue of 47.3 billion euros in 2010. There are about 350 subsidiary and regional companies around the world.

With our funding for higher education in India, we are creating a perfect research and working environment for future IT specialists

Vijay Ratnaparkhe, MD, Bosch India


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Kerala is gearing up for a huge leap in the education sector with an estimated investment of more than Rs 300 crore

with public-private participation. Six new universities that include Fisheries University, Kerala Veterinary & Animal Science University, Medical University, Thrissur, Central University of Kerala, have started functioning in the State.

The Union Ministry of Human Resource Development has identified nearly 325 acres of land at Puthur village in Thrissur district to set up one of the country's 14 innovation universities. This will be highly motivating for the education initiatives in the State.

These varsities will presumably be oases of knowledge generation and pulsars of quality learning, churning out “solutions of global validity” to a problem-ridden world. The draft Bill has pointed out that the establishment of the 14 universities is expected to set benchmarks for excellence for other institutions of higher learning through “path-breaking research and promoting synergies between teaching and research.”

Each university will stand for humanism, tolerance, reason and adventure of ideas and search for truth. It is expected to attempt to provide a path for humankind free from deprivation and seek to understand and appreciate nature and its laws for the well-being of the people.

Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies (KUFOS), the first of its kind in India, was inaugurated by Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan on 20 February 2011. B Madhusoodana Kurup has taken charge as the first vice chancellor of the new university. The Fisheries College will accommodate 200 students for its graduation and post graduation courses. Fifteen per cent of the seats will be reserved for the students directly connected with the fisheries sector. The university will introduce seven more new courses.

The Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (KVASU) located in the hilly terrain

of Pookot in Wayanad district, was established in December 2010 as a full-fledged university. It offers education, research and extension services in the field of veterinary and animal sciences. The KVASU comprises two veterinary colleges – College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences at Mannuthy and Pookode; one College of Dairy Science and Technology at Mannuthy; and Research Stations, Veterinary Hospitals and Farms in different parts of Kerala.

The Kerala University of Health Sciences was established in 2010 for ensuring proper and systematic instruction, teaching, training and research in modern medicine, homoeopathy and Indian systems of medicine including ayurveda, siddha, yoga, naturopathy, unani and allied sciences. It also has the intention of unifying the various academic programmes in medical and allied subjects in Kerala. The university is situated located on a 75-acre plot on the Government Medical College, Thrissur campus. Dr. K. Mohandas is the vice-chancellor. The university is mandated to affiliate all colleges and institutions in Kerala that impart professional education in health care. So far 205 professional colleges have been affiliated to this university.

The Central University of Kerala is one of the 15 new central universities established under "The Central Universities Act, 2009, 2009)", and is situated in Kasaragod, and has state-wide jurisdiction. The CUK will provide instructional and research facilities in all suitable and relevant branches of learning. Special provisions shall be made for integrated courses in humanities, social sciences, science & technology in CUK’s academic programmes.

Apart from these initiatives, the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) has also started functioning in the State. Its campus in Malappuram is one of the five off-campus centers across the country, which the Central Human Resource Development Project Ministry had decided to set up across India. The campus is situated near by Perinthalmanna just 22 km from Malappuram.

Kerala Investments Galore

An estimated public-private investment of more than Rs 300 crore is expected in the State.

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KUFOS

KVASU

KUHAS

CUKAMUIIST

IISER

300cr

New universities

Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies

Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University

Kerala University of Health Sciences

worth investments in education sector


Our Special Correspondent

Engg Edu & Employability

Varghese Koshy

SPECIAL STORY

FOUR DECADES AGO NO ONE WOULD HAVE EVER

ASKED HOW EMPLOYABLE AN ENGINEERING GRADUATE WAS, BUT NOW SUCH A QUESTION

BECOMES INEVITABLE AS THERE ARE SHOCKING

REPORTS WHICH SAY THAT NOT EVEN 25 PER CENT OF

OUR ENGINEERING GRADUATES

ARE INDUSTRY-READY!


A degree in engineering remains the first choice for millions of Indian students who

aspire to make it big in life. Forty years ago that was the case, and it remains so even today. However, four decades ago no one would have ever asked how employable an engineering graduate was, but now such a question becomes inevitable as there are shocking reports which say that not even 25 per cent of our engineering graduates are industry-ready! And that thousands of engineering graduates have been queuing up for even clerical jobs.

We need to find answers for three questions here: 1. How employable are our engineering graduates? 2. How many of our engineering graduates have the confidence and skill to become entrepreneurs? 3. Why do many of them opt even for clerical-kind of jobs?

What is employability? Employability does not mean not having enough jobs. It means engineering graduates not being able to fit into the jobs they have been recruited for. The firms that employ them often have to spend much money and time to make them fit into their jobs.

According to a study conducted by NAASSCOM, the premier trade

SPECIAL STORY

body and the chamber of commerce of the IT software and services industry in India some time ago, some of the world’s most respected companies like Accenture, Convergys, Dell, Google, HP, IBM, ICICI, ITC, UTI Bank, Centurian Bank, Microsoft , Satyam, Tesco, Verizon etc are in need of industry-ready candidates. It says we should equip our students to meet the expectation of the industry, and that necessary changes should be made in the curriculum and teaching methodology. Apart from imparting technological knowledge input, the engineering colleges will have to focus on nurturing employability skills in order to empower the talent pools. Naturally the teaching community will have to take up the role of a trainer’s job apart from teaching. The syllabus has to be designed to enhance the employability skills of individual candidates and help them to get placed in Multi National Companies.

Of the more than 550,000 engineering graduates passing out every year, only 10 to 25 per cent are readily employable, and only 25 per cent of graduates working in IT are industry-ready, while it is roughly 15 per cent for back-office jobs. India’s $60-billion outsourcing industry is already spending almost $1 billion a year on readying these graduates, picked up

from different campuses.

Any industry that requires people would always be looking for job seekers who can straightaway fit in. Hence, their keenness to employ experienced hands! Is that a crime? Not when we consider the fact that for an employer it is always important to restrict spending in order to break-even or may be make a profit. After all, he/she is there to make money, and profit is not a dirty word here. If not, why should they be there in the first place?

As there is a general consensus on the fact that Indian engineering graduates as a rule lack employability skills, here it would be relevant to ask, “How do we go about making amends, how can we better equip our engineering graduates to get jobs, or rather, fit into jobs they get and advance from there?

SolutionsThere could be two solutions: one as suggested by various people and organisations that have studied this issue, and the other, something that would require a change in the system, outlook and thinking, as mooted by Dr Ramachandran Thekkedath, the Vice Chancellor of Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT). He, in fact, advocates a debate on the issue as it requires a thorough attitudinal change and has political and social ramifications.


Schematic of engineering education and society linkage

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SPECIAL STORY

The first, introducing soft skills in the engineering curriculum, would seem easy at the outset, but has very many hurdles that would have to be crossed.

David Peter, the principal of the CUSAT engineering college, says that graduate engineers taking up self-sustainable jobs like that of clerks in the government sector does not mean that there are not enough jobs available for engineering graduates? Far from it, he says. All those who pass out do get jobs, and in fact there are not enough mechanical engineers to fill up vacancies in the present scenario, he adds. Moreover, a degree in engineering is supposed to equip a student to become an entrepreneur her/himself. But have our colleges been successful in churning out engineers capable of doing that. How many of our engineering graduates have the confidence and skill to become entrepreneurs? Hardly any!Then coming to the question of introducing soft skills in colleges, David Peters is of the opinion that that would involve setting up additional infrastructure and employing faculty to deal with the subject, which in effect would mean additional financial burden to colleges.

This can partially be solved by the industry cooperating with the colleges in financing such endeavours. After all, they do spend a lot of money in making these kids industry-ready; why not then take the initiative by funding such schemes in colleges which in effect would save them a lot of time spent on training them at the workplace. Then, there is also a tendency among students in engineering colleges that have such classes to ignore such ‘additional burden’. Many such students believe they are much above all these ‘nonsense’.

However, can we afford to be complacent here, is the moot question!

Soft skills is a sociological term relating to a person’s EQ (Emotional Intelligence Quotient), the cluster of personality traits, social graces, communication, language, personal habits, friendliness, and optimism

that characterise relationships with other people. Soft skills complement hard skills (part of a person’s IQ), which are the occupational requirements of a job and many other activities. A person’s soft skill EQ is an important part of their individual contribution to the success of an organisation. For this reason, soft skills are increasingly sought out by employers in addition to standard qualifications. Also known as Interpersonal Skills, or people skills, they include proficiencies such as communication skills, conflict resolution and negotiation, personal effectiveness, creative problem solving, strategic thinking, team building, influencing skills and selling skills, to name a few.

What are Soft Skills?

COMMUNICATIVE SKILLS Ability to deliver idea clearly, effectively and with confidence either orally or in writing. Ability to practice active listening skills and respond. Ability to present clearly and confidently to the audience.

CRITICAL THINKING & PROBLEM-SOLVING SKILLS Ability to identify and analyze problems in difficult situation and make justifiable evaluation Ability to expand and improve thinking skills such as explanation, analysis and evaluate discussion Ability to find ideas and look for alternative solutions Ability to build a good rapport, interact and work effectively with others.

TEAM WORK Ability to understand and play the role of a leader Ability to recognize and respect others attitude, behavior and beliefs.

‘LIFE-LONG LEARNING’ & INFORMATION MANAGEMENT SKILLS Ability to find and manage relevant information from various sources Ability to receive new ideas performs autonomy learning.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP SKILL Ability of identifying job opportunities.

‘ETHICS, MORAL & PROFESSIONALISM Ability to understand the economy crisis, environment and social cultural aspects professionally Ability to take decisions related to ethics.

LEADERSHIP SKILLS Ability to lead a project and knowledge of the theories of leadership.



49

Now we come to the second solution, the one mooted by the CUSAT Vice Chancellor. He, as a reader would have already imagined, has a very revolutionary suggestion. Something that would have to be tasted, chewed and then swallowed.

Graduate engineers taking up clerical jobs in the government sector doesn’t quite surprise him, though, according to Dr Ramachandran Thekkedath, it’s not a good trend. There could be many reasons for that, he says. One is historical and can be explained away as a phenomenon directly connected to Keralites’ quest for job security. Many would-be-engineers would have opted for an engineering education aiming to get jobs in the government engineering sectors. Once they fail to achieve that they opt for the next best option: that is getting any kind of job in the government sector.

In one way it is a blessing, says Dr Ramachandran, who added that nearly 40 per cent of the 50 clerks CUSAT appointed about six months ago were BTech graduates. “How else would I get work related to technology done in the university”? There are many areas in the clerical section where qualified engineers would come in handy. “However, my problem is that they don’t stick. As and when better opportunities arise they tend to move on.” Greener pastures have always lured mankind, and it would continue to do so.

“A degree in engineering like most other degrees in the undergraduate stream has become a basic degree”, Dr Ramachandran says. And technically qualified people are needed to operate many functions in any firm: moreover, BTech graduates can smoothen e-governance functions of the government, he adds. There are many such qualified engineers taking up even bank jobs, attractive salary and job security being the main reasons.

Anyway, why does a student take a degree in English literature? What job is he/she expected to fit into,” Dr Ramachandran further asks.

SPECIAL STORY

Then comes the questions of employability and entrepreneurship. Why are our graduate engineers lacking in employability skills? A degree in engineering is supposed to equip a student to become an entrepreneur her/himself. But have our colleges been successful in churning out engineers capable of doing that. How many of our engineering graduates have the confidence and skill to become entrepreneurs? Hardly any! Why so?

This, according to Dr Ramachandran, who was in the United States for 15 years prior to joining Sri Chithira Thirunal Institute, Thiruvananthapuram, has a lot to do with our education system in general. Our universities do not equip students for the life ahead. They remain mama’s boys or Appa’s girls as long as they are studying, and most even after that. An average Indian cannot imagine his children drudging out in a hotel or supermarket to make money to pay for their college education. The CUSAT VC who has worked and has been an entrepreneur himself while in the US, says even Bill Gates’ son could be found working in McDonald’s while studying. Most American students support themselves while they acquire a university degree.

According to him, the criteria for employability are a combination of self-confidence and skill-set: the confidence to face a problem and the skill to climb out of a difficult situation. Students in the US who are independent from the

Dr Ramachandran ThekkedathVice Chancellor, CUSAT Dr Ramachandran Thekkedath, an eminent scientist and technocrat who was born at Palakkad, Kerala in 1959 as the son of late Sankara Narayanan Namboothiri and Unnikkali Antharjanam of Thekkedath Mana. He attained B Sc in Physics from St Thomas College Thrissur and joined for M Sc in Physics at CUSAT. He attained his PhD also from CUSAT in Physic specialising in laser technology. From 1987 to 1997 he worked in Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences & Technology (SCTIMST), Trivandrum as a scientist along with Dr MS Valiathan, the world famous cardiac surgeon whom he considers

his mentor. Dr Ramachandran also has a number of patents to his credit, including the system and method for measuring fluid properties. He worked in the United States for 15 year both as a post doctoral fellow as well as an entrepreneur and greatly admires the American system of education which helps students free themselves from fear and become independent and freedom-loving. At the time of becoming the vice chancellor of CUSAT in January 2010, he was involved in bio-medical research and development. He is the executive committee member of the project, Nanotech India 2011. He was also a member of the committee for Indo-China co-operation. Recently he is designated as Regional Chairperson of AICTE.

“Students who pass professional courses should undergo vigorous training. We need more finishing

schools for this purpose. Soft skills, including communication skills and leadership qualities, should improve. We are conducting personality development classes for our students. The students who pass out from SCMS fit very well into the industry. They can straightaway be absorbed into the industry. We have a 100 per cent placement record to date. Those students who are not able to learn English in 20 years, how can one expect them to learn it in two years? Finishing schools can do a lot in this field. If our students get proper training in finishing schools, their employability will be 100 per cent. The attitude of students is also very important. Most of them only need a degree certificate. In such cases we can’t do anything to improve their soft skills” - Dr GPC Nair, Chairman, SCMS, Cochin.

day they pass out from their schools are a confident lot. And as such their productivity is three times that of students from other parts of the world. An average American values his freedom more than anything else,



>

SPECIAL STORY

and prefers to work on her/his own. It is Middle America that sustains that country and Middle America is sustained by the small entrepreneur. They more often than not have the opportunity, and in case they don’t, they create it, hence they have no fear. Here shedding one’s fear seems to be the lone criterion.

This is what the great Indian philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti too spoke about: getting rid of one’s fear. But unfortunately we in India have

failed to understand the teachings of one of our greatest philosophers on education. And as is always the case, those in the West have embraced his principles while we here keep trying to find holes in his thinking and way of life.

Question of attitudeSince students in the US earn to support their education, they know the value of money and would not tolerate a bad teacher. Thus teachers are made accountable by the student as well as the university. “It is my money that I am spending on this teacher. So he/she has to be good.” This is the thinking that guides them through life.

Students in the United States have the opportunity and the freedom to select their schools/universities. They have the opportunity to “shadow” a school and find out if that institution matches his/her needs. If he/she doesn’t find a school/university suitable, she/he moves

on and finds an institution that matches her/his requirements, as well as comfort. Being comfortable is the leit motif. Matching is the key word here.

In the West, even during an interview for a job or anything similar, the employer is there only to find out whether the one who seeks a particular job matches his/her needs. They don’t dumb a candidate saying he/she is not qualified enough for them, but that “you don’t match our requirements”. Personal chemistry too obviously plays a part in such selections, and the process would be quite subjective as well.

The obvious answer here then is a change in our attitude to education. Not an easy task given the political and social dynamics involved in the process. It requires a complete overhaul of the system, a near

“The issue of providing soft skills is the talking point nowadays. In the early years, it was not a matter to the industry as they chose only those who were able to do their job in some

particular area. The companies should come to the institution seeking the kind of qualifications they want in a student. Even though there are problems related to communication skills, we must realise that nearly 35 per cent of the employees working in Nasa in the US are from India. Similar is the case with Microsoft. We can only

provide training in basics skills that students would need and it is up to them to enhance those skills” - Dr PV Ravi, Chairman, Park College of Engineering and Technology, Coimbatore.

“Students are being provided training as

per the industries’ requirement from the third year in our institution. This means, students who are passing out would be fit for the industry” - K Murugaiah, Chief Executive Officer, Karpagam University, Coimbatore.

“Apart from academic qualification, a student needs to be

trained in soft skills such as communication to meet the challenges in the industry. We understand the requirements and we are preparing all our students by training them in those skills along with the regular courses” - CKV Nambiar, Secretary, CMS Education and Charitable Trust, Coimbatore.

formidable task given the fact that ours is a society that refuses to change and looks down upon revolutionary concepts. We still adhere to social structures that are centuries old and are only willing to make changes that are mostly peripheral and cosmetic in nature. If we were to moot adopting the US concepts there is going to acrimonious debates and the man who proposes it could even be dumped a CIA spy or something worst. However, an initiative in that direction would be a welcome beginning. “Take the good things from them, reject those that may not be palatable,” says Dr Ramachandran.

Yes, do accept the good; reject what ever are not appetizing. We do need to look forward; and get on the road ahead.

With Lakshmi Narayanan, Ziad P S



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TECH TRENDSNano

Imagine the world in your palms... Not possible one might think. But it is possible with science having developed as it has now. And

it is nanotechnology that had made the concept possible. This science of the miniature is in fact a wide collection of a variety of disciplines covering biology, medicine, physics, chemistry, electronics, photonics, computers, the manufacturing sector and several others. Nano, according to Professor Dr VPN Namboodiri of CUSAT, is a centuries old discipline, which has of late been receiving attention in the application of robotics, photonics and energy-saving measures. This expensive science has also captured the imagination of scientists involved in medical research.

What is nanotechnology: The basic theory behind

nanotechnology is that everything on earth is made up of atoms, which are the smallest invisible particles. The property of anything is determined by the arrangement of the atoms in it. Thus, if atoms in a piece of coal are rearranged, we can get diamond. In nanotechnology the atoms of a product is rearranged

by technology in order to get a new product which will be different in nature and characteristics from the mother product. When a product is reduced to nano dimension (10-9metre = 1 nanometre) it shows drastic changes in physical, chemical, magnetic, optical, mechanical and electrical properties. This promises exiting applications in bioscience, medical science, environment, electronics, cosmetics, security and a variety of other fields.

Why nano? As nano tech is an ultramodern science, its application is immense and mind-boggling. “Twenty first century would be the nanotech century,” says Professor Dr Girijavallabhan, former dean, International School of Photonics, CUSAT. He says nanotechnology will revolutionise areas of medicine, aerospace, engineering, photonics, robotics, the industrial and technological fields, etc. Nano-biotechnology can produce tiny medical equipment, sensors and military weapons whereas nano-physics and nano-chemistry are useful in medical and diagnostic fields.

Nanotechnology is not a subject; it’s a specialisation in science. Only postgraduate level courses are available for nanotechnology the world over. This interdisciplinary specialisation combines physics, chemistry, bio- informatics, biotechnology, etc.

Major Indian Institutions providing specialisation in nanotechnology: Jawaharlal Nehru Center for Advanced Scientific Research, Bangalore; Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore; National

Physical Laboratory, Delhi; Solid State Physics Laboratory, Delhi; National Chemical Laboratory, Pune; Central Scientific

Instruments Organization, Chandigarh; Defense Materials Store Research & Development Organisations, Kanpur,

and IITs at Kanpur, Chennai, Guwahati, Delhi and Mumbai.

Future: Anticipating huge gains in the field of nanotech in the future, countries like the USA, the UK, Japan, China, Germany and France have invested a lot of money and have also focused many programmes at the national level. The Indian government has started a scheme, S&T Initiatives in Nanotechnology, with a starting capital of Rs. 100 crores for five years. An expert nanotechnologist can start with a monthly salary of Rs 25,000 to Rs 30,000. The further looks even brighter as salaries and perks could be manifold. Let’s await a nano-world that one can accommodate in one’s palms.

Nano Shrinks the WorldThe basic theory behind nanotechnology is that everything on earth is made up of atoms, which are the smallest invisible particles. The property of anything is determined by the arrangement of the atoms in it. Thus, if atoms in a piece of coal are rearranged, we can get diamond.

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Lakshmi Narayanan

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52

TECH TRENDS Nano

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A normal human eye can see objects of the size of the order of a tenth of a millimeter. To see

smaller things like a plant cell we need a conventional microscope. However there exist a variety of natural as well as manmade structures at much smaller dimensions. Scientists have developed many instruments like the electron microscope to make such things visible to human observations. Substances having nanoscale (usually in the 1-100 nanometer size range; 1 nanometer is 10-9 meter) dimensions are found to exhibit several interesting properties. Many chemical and physical techniques are used to engineer substances at such small dimensions. Most materials exhibit remarkable size dependent properties and these can be exploited for useful scientific and technical applications. This possibility has given rise to a comparatively new branch of knowledge called nanoscience and nanotechnology.

We know matter is made up of atom or molecules. In their bulk form all materials show characteristic values for their physical properties like the electrical conductivity, refractive index or optical absorption wavelength. It is possible to synthesize nanoparticles of substances having dimensions of several nanometers with few hundred atoms or molecules. Such nanoparticles

are found to exhibit entirely different electrical, optical and spectral properties. A good example in this context is the Carbon-60 molecule. In this case 60 carbon atoms arrange themselves in the form of a stable spherical ball, or Bucky ball (in honour of Mr. Buck Minster Fuller who first designed such structures). Such carbon structures are generally called the Fullerenes and are important in nanotechnology researchCarbon also has the ability to form tubular structures with few nanometers in diameter and fairly large length (several cm). There is single walled nanotube structure as well as multi-walled nanotubes. They exhibit very unique electrical

and mechanical properties and are very efficient thermal conductors.

Any assembling or fabrication of components smaller than micro-level dimensions can be considered as falling within the realms of nanotechnology. In recent times techniques have been developed to assemble, arrange, manipulate or control materials at atomic level. Hence it is now possible to build systems and structures of nanoscale dimensions and these are found to exhibit certain unique characteristics and behaviour. As a result nanotechnology is also being called ‘molecular scale engineering’ or ‘molecular system building’ or ‘molecular machine systems’. At such small dimensions the quantum properties of the building blocks become prominent and the systems resulting from nanoscale engineering behave in a fashion totally different from the familiar bulk properties shown by the components. Many tools and techniques required for the advancement of nanotechnology have already been developed. Most important among them are the scanning tunneling microscope and the atomic force microscope. Both help us to virtually ‘see’ the arrangement and positions of atoms and molecules in materials.

When the electrons and holes in a

semiconductor material are confined in a small region of a few nanometers, the ‘quantum size effect’ comes into play and such small regions constitute what are called ‘quantum dots’. Quantum dots have unique optical properties and they can be made to absorb and emit light at certain prescribed regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. Quantum dots have been used as single electron transistors which can become useful in the construction of quantum computers. They have also found applications in the fabrications of light emitting diodes, lasers and solar cells. Another important application of quantum dots is in the field of biology where they are being used as fluorescent tracers with highly specific emission wavelengths. Studies are being conducted in which quantum dots can be used for the destruction of harmful cancer cells.

In a very thin layered crystal structure the electrons and holes are able to move freely in two dimensions but are highly restricted along the third dimension. Such layered crystal lattices have been fabricated using methods of molecular beam epitaxy and chemical vapour deposition. These are called ‘quantum well’ structures and they are finding a large number of applications in many areas of technology. They have been used in molecular electronic circuits and for constructing computer hard discs with huge memory capacities. Quantum well lasers possess many desired features and they have very good applications in optical

communication which form the backbone of the modern internet and World Wide Web.

With molecular fabrication technique, it is possible to assemble nano machines and nano motors which can be assigned to perform many functions at molecular level. One concept that has gained much acceptance is the development of efficient drug delivery system in the field of medicine. Such nano machines can be used to perform microsurgery of malignant cells in human body and they can deliver specific drugs precisely to the target without affecting healthy tissues. Thus the possibilities offered by nanotechnology are immense; at the same time scientists have warned that these techniques must be used with caution.

Dr C P Girijavallbhan

Nano - The Inside Story


Rumblings in DUSemesterisation: Emphasis on Form Rather

than Substance

Manas Roshan & Neha Chathurvedi

DU

54

CURRENT AFFAIRS

DU administration does not incorporate any of the real benefits of semesters. Ideally, semesterisation would reduce the importance of year-end exams, and relies more on internal assessment through

assignments, presentations and other interactive projects. In DU, however, the performance of the student would still rely on

examinations now conducted biannually, giving students, who come from different backgrounds, no time to adjust to the course.

There is also this unpleasant business of intimidation, coercive action against teachers, and dissent in general. There is complete trust

deficit between teachers and the powers that be. The High Court’s order in 2010, disallowing any kind of protests didn’t help matters

either. There is a feeling that the democratic atmosphere in the university is being vitiated.

other democratic channels within the university had failed to consider the teachers’ grievances, a few college teachers unsuccessfully tried to seek intervention from the judiciary. The points raised by the teachers are often misunderstood as a refusal to change on account of their ‘laziness or static mind frame’. A closer look reveals very significant flaws in the proposed system.

The university presently follows an annual system for most of its undergraduate courses, spread over three years, with a single annual examination at the end of each and simple major-minor subject divisions. Critics have focused on important issues the like rote-learning that such a system encourages; old unrevised syllabi; and a lack of subject options for students. The new system would involve, at the surface, splitting the course into shorter semesters making them, hopefully, more concise, flexible and effective.

Good semester systems in foreign universities, with smaller classrooms and close assessment by individual teachers of their own courses and students, do have several advantages. But the lack

The entry of Kapil Sibal into the Union Cabinet as the Minister for Human Resource Development (HRD) in 2009

brought with it the promise of reform in the country’s stagnating educational institutions. But in reality what we have been witnessing is a series of half measures adopted by a ministry that has decided to reduce serious issues of pedagogical reforms to illusory and potentially damaging changes. Leaving aside other major and connected issues like the plan to overhaul CBSE assessment and marking patterns, or the National Commission for Higher Education and Research Bill, the proposed semester system for all Indian universities alone can be taken as an example of such hurried and half-baked measures.

The debate over the implementation of the semester system in the University of Delhi (DU), India’s premier university, began two years ago and reached the boiling point in the past two months when the DU administration decided to adopt the system for all its undergraduate courses and colleges across the board. The new system will be in effect from July 2011. After all

Rumblings in DU


55

of personnel and other resources would make it impossible to follow such patterns here.

Also, the DU administration’s ‘vision’ does not incorporate any of the real benefits of semesters. Ideally, semesterisation reduces the importance of year-end exams, relying more on internal assessment through assignments, presentations and other interactive projects. In DU, ironically, performance of the student would still rely on examinations that would now be conducted biannually, giving students, who come from different backgrounds, no time to adjust to the course.

According to Associate Professor Rina Ramdev of Sri Venkateswara College, Delhi University South Campus, semester system in other countries does not mean having exams twice a year; its logic is entirely different from that of the DU at the moment, which is simply to divide the annual studies and examination into two. Instead of having a fixed number of papers as we have now -- nine in the case of most BA Honours courses and up to 15 or so for courses like B Com Honours -- universities in the United States offer students about 70 to 80 courses. Of course, all are not offered in each semester; however, a substantial number is.

“So in case we go ahead with the system, a very large number of courses will have to be created

in order to have a meaningful major-minor structure,” says Prof Rina Ramdev. “The major-minor structure is not absolutely inflexible or rigid, but that is the way it is being introduced in DU right now, nor is it entirely unstructured, which is the way the Vice Chancellor, Prof Dinesh Singh has been talking about it for the future,” she adds.

Those are issues related to academics. There is also this unpleasant business of intimidation, coercive action against teachers, and dissent in general. There is complete trust deficit between teachers and the powers that be. The High Court’s order in 2010, disallowing any kind of protests didn’t help matters either. There is a feeling that the democratic atmosphere in the university is being vitiated.

The University administration must understand that the opposition is not to semester system as such. But against the lack of debate and wider issue of applicability of the system in a massive institution like the DU. The university has 77 federated but non-autonomous colleges with more than a hundred thousand students in the undergraduate programme following decentralised teaching with a uniform syllabus and centralised examinations with anonymous evaluation, in its protégé.

There are students here at the Delhi University

In case we go ahead with the system, a very large number of courses will have to be created in order to have a meaningful major-minor structure, says Prof Rina Ramdev.


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who are from colleges that follow the semester system for undergraduate courses, like those from Xavier’s in Kolkata. But then, that is an autonomous institution and enjoys all the relative comforts. How the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) with its small classrooms and independence from the exam system, implemented the semester system successfully, should also be looked into.

Pratap Bhanu Mehata in November 2009 wrote in the Indian Express on the proposed reforms: “It has become largely a calendar reform. And the result may be that we have a course structure that is neither fish nor fowl. Ideally, a semester system allows you to achieve the following

objectives. It can facilitate the creation of a credit system, and hence allow more choice and flexibility. In institutions where the semester system has real pedagogical bite, it is premised upon one important fact: that the teachers teaching particular classes evaluate their own students. Delhi University’s reform does not achieve either of these objectives.

“When reforms try and average across great variation, the result is often odd: it inhibits the good from getting better, fuels anxiety at the lower end. Most of these reforms are being mandated by the UGC. So the source of reforms is consistent with the logic of bureaucratic centralisation; hence the emphasis of form over substance.”

Saumyajit Bhattacharya, who teaches Economics in a Delhi University college, says: “The resistance to “semesterisation” has not only been widespread but has involved some of the best minds in the university. The teachers were and remain eager for a debate (on the issue) but the authorities have shut the door on any consultative process. The university authorities have shown complete disdain towards the representations of the teachers, made empty placatory statements and imposed their unilateral decisions through manipulation, coercive means, blatant violation of rules and the inappropriate use of “emergency power” of the vice chancellor (VC).

Bhattacharya goes on add: “It is not a resistance against semester systems at large. The teachers did not resist introduction of semesters in postgraduate courses and not even in some technical undergraduate courses taught in a few colleges (in DU), which have been running in semester mode for many years. There are hardly any sectional vested interests in this opposition; it is the pedagogical issues which are at the heart of the current resistance.

CURRENT AFFAIRS

In institutions where the semester

system has real pedagogical bite, it

is premised upon one important

fact: that the teachers teaching particular classes

evaluate their own students. Delhi

University’s reform does not achieve

either of these objectives.


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FOCUSRajagiri Vidyapeetam

There aren’t many educational institutions in the country with a set goal of transferring the society gradually through education. And among the few with such great intentions, the Rajagiri Vidyapeetam stands out because of the goodwill it has generated through yeoman service. There aren’t many

educational institutions in the country with a set

goal of transferring the society gradually through education. And among the few with such great intentions, the Rajagiri Vidyapeetam stands out because of the goodwill it has generated through yeoman service.

It has managed to maintain the values which have inspired it from day one. It is not an easy task to run an education institution, preserving set goals throughout. The Rajagiri Vidyapeetam has had a glorious past and now a clear vision of its future.

Fr Jose Alex CMI

For Carmelites of Mary Immaculate (CMI), a Christian mission, which is the artificer of the Vidhyapeetam, service is devotion. Beyond monetary gains, CMI’s intention is the comprehensive and integrated development of individuals to effectively function as social beings, imbued with righteousness and courage of conviction. CMI is a well known for

its pioneering work in the field of education. Highly qualified and experienced in various fields of education, the CMI of Sacred Heart Province, Ernakulam established Rajagiri Vidhyapeetam in 1955. Late Rev Fr Francis Sales CMI was the founder of the institution. He was a great visionary. SH College, Thevara and Rajagiri are the

monuments of his hard work and dedication. He sought freedom in the field of education and started institutions with his own unique perspectives on the subject.

Rev Fr Dr Antony Kariyil CMI, Director, Rajagiri

School of Engineering and Technology, took his Bachelor’s Degree in Philosophy from JDV Pune and in Theology from Dharmaram College, Bangalore. After completing his post graduation and PhD in

Sociology from Pune University, he began his teaching career as a Lecturer at Sacred Heart College, Thevara in 1974, and then he joined Christ College, Bangalore in 1978. Subsequently he served as the Principal of Christ College from 1989 to 1997, and as the Principal of Rajagiri College of Social Sciences from 1997 to 2002.

Rev Dr Kariyil served as the Vicar Provincial & Secretary for Social Apostolate, Sacred Heart Province, Kalamassery from 1999 to 2002. In the year 2011, Rev Dr Kariyil became the Director of RSET, a prestigious institution in south India. Asian Educator talked to Rev Dr Kariyil about the institution he is heading and its future plans.

Q: How did Rajagiri, the well known institution, develop into the monolithic education provider that it is now?Ans: Because of their commitment and efficiency, CMI fathers were able to bring great reputation for Rajagiri School, which was the first institution established by them in Ernakulum. Thereafter, an institution for social science was also started, which was followed by an MBA institution and the Engineering collage.

All these institutions under the Rajagiri group could maintain a very high standard. The general public has great confidence in the ability of the CMI fathers to organise and run educational institutions. This has prompted very good students to come to Rajagiri and this in turn has aided the growth of the institution into a first rate educational monolithic.

Q: Can you tell us about the initiative taken by the CMI in the education sector; does it have any set goals?Ans: From the initial > 59

The general public has great confidence in the ability of the CMI fathers to organise and run educational institutions. This has prompted very good students to come to Rajagiri


The insightful leadership of the CMI has helped Rajagiri to expand in new directions and to keep up with the changing demands of the global education scenario. “Our future plan is to have an autonomous status for the institution and finally turn it into a university,” says Rev Fr Antony Kariyil CMI, Director, Rajagiri School of Engineering and Technology.

New ground has been broken through international partnerships, developing new areas of study and research, relentlessly mobilising human and material resources to modernise or enhance facilities and skills to maintain a level of excellence. His foresight has helped Rajagiri remain ever the achiever.

CMI runs a vast network of 448 institutions across the country offering academic programmes that range from pre-primary to post-doctoral level. The wide range of educational institutions under Rajagiri Vidhyapeetam includes

over 200 schools, 14 university-affiliated colleges, one engineering college, 12 technical institutes, one university, one medical college, three B Ed colleges, five special schools, 18 non-formal educational institutions and 17 cultural centres spreads all over India and beyond.

Core institutions of Rajagiri Vidhyapeetam in South India

Rajagiri College of Social ScienceRajagiri Collage of Social Science (RCSS) is the mother institution of Rajagiri

Vidhyapeetam. It was the prime institution in Kerala to start a 2-year Master’s programme in Social Work. RCSS, affiliated to Kerala University, gained the status of an independent college in 1980, and is now recognised

as a centre for Doctoral Research in Social Work, Sociology and Allied Social Sciences under the Mahatma Gandhi University.

Collaboration with foreign universities under Rajagiri International Exchange Programme (RIEP), the college facilitates international academic tie-ups for teachers, students and practising social workers from foreign universities, which enables the student community to interact with them. RIEP collaborates with major universities around the world like Institute of St Francis Xavier University (Canada), Boston University (USA), University of Illinois (USA), Katholieke University of Nijmegen (Holland), Michigan State University (USA) and Tel Aviv University (Israel).

Rajagiri School of Engineering and Technology It is the new venture under

Rajagiri Vidhyapeetam and was established in 2001. RSET is a premier professional college striving for holistic excellence in education to mould young, vibrant engineers. It is affiliated to Mahatma Gandhi University and approved by All India Council for Technical Education and NAAC. It offers B Tech and M Tech in Applied Electronics and Instrumentation, Computer Science, Electronics, VLSI Design and Embedded System and Signal Processing.

With its international-level infrastructure and morality-oriented teaching system it has become one among the top new-generation engineering collages in a short span of time. Its placement tie-ups with companies like TCS, HCL, PATNI, UST Global, Synbex, Accenture, Arbitron, etc., ensures 90 per cent placement security its to students.

Rajagiri Centre for Business StudiesRCBS, situated in Kakkanad, provides value-based business management training. The academic curriculum of this institution is scheduled to meet industrial challenges as it provides expert faculties both from national and international pool and offers courses

FOCUS Rajagiri Vidyapeetam


59

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residential school, the CMI fathers diversified into social science management, engineering and medical education. In all these areas the institutions started by them were very reputed ones.

Q: How employable are the students passing out from Rajagiri? It is true that they get jobs even through campus recruitment. But how well do they fit into an organisational structure once they get a job? Ans: As far as Rajagiri engineering collage is concerned, all the reputed software organisations in the country like TCS, Infosys, Wipro, US Technology and lot of other companies have continuously been coming to the institution for campus interviews. This is proof of the confidence the companies have in the ability of the students passing out from Rajagiri.We can confidently say that the students passing out of Rajagiri fit into an organisational structure in the most desirable manner.Q: Is there any placement offers and placement tie-ups with firms for the students?Ans: Various companies have been coming to Rajagiri collage for the last five years for campus

like MBA, MHRM, PGDM, IMP etc. Placement assurance is its major plus point.

Rajagiri School of Computer ScienceIn 2001 Rajagiri Vidhyapeetam introduced PG course in Computer Application (MCA) in RSCS, the first of its kind

Kerala. The school is committed to bringing out world class professionals in the development and use of software for different applications. The training objectives and curriculum here are benchmarked to the best of institutions. The campuses of Rajagiri

Vidhyapeetam are located at two major spots in Cochin -- Kakkanad and Kalamassery. The Kalamassery Hill Campus includes Rajagiri School of Computer Science, Rajagiri School of Information and Library Science, and Rajagiri School of

Social Works. The Kakkanad Valley Campus houses the departments of Business Administration, Human Resource Management, Rajagiri Business School, Rajagiri Centre for Business Studies and Rajagiri International School of Education and Research.

recruitment. It is proof of their confidence in the institution.

Q: What is your concept of a good engineer? What are your teaching methods? Do you teach your students soft skills that are essential for employability?Ans: A good engineer should have very sound theoretical knowledge and should be able to apply them in a practical situation with imagination and creativity. The emphasis is given to practical application while theory subjects are taught and lots of programmes are conducted in the campus to develop the soft skills of the students.

Q: How different is your

management education sector from that of an ordinary college given the fact that there are many colleges in the country catering to management education?Ans: The management education provided at Rajagiri is reputed as one of the best available in Kerala.

Q: What are your future plans in the education sector? Ans: Our future plan is to have an autonomous status for the institution and finally turn it into a university.

Q: In the American system of education, a student has the final say in the choice of institution, teachers, etc.

For them even education is an instance of the value-for-money concept. Would you advocate something similar coming up in India?Ans: We also advocate a system where students have a definite choice of the institution, teachers, etc…We conduct assessment of teachers by the students regularly and the results are passed on to the teachers and are conducted for their career improvement.

Dr Joseph I Injodey


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DESTINATION KOVAI GIM

Guruvayurappan Institute of Management is one of the unique institutions in Tamil Nadu that

specialises only in business management We are here not for creating employment; this is not an employment

exchange. Our aim is to groom students as good managerial assets by imparting new ideas and methodologies in management education to add value to the MBA degree and make our students

employable. – Dr Varghese Mathew, Director, GIM

The Guruvayurappan Institute of Management (GIM) is one of the

unique institutions in Tamil Nadu that specialises only in business management. What really motivated the management to fully concentrate on business management is the environment of hyper-competitiveness in the global business arena, which demands aspiring managers who can cope with the new business

culture, style and hitherto unknown business paradigms.

This necessitates moulding the future corporate executives intellectually and fine-tuning them to the emerging business scenario. The Guruvayurappan Institute of Management is an institution that is committed to attaining this end by creating MBA +: the ‘PLUS’ here stands for the extra business acumen it brings about in students through well-developed, time-tested, unique methods of training, the PLUS making all the difference, that is.

“We strive to inculcate quality managerial talents in the young men and women who enroll here; we prepare them for the dynamic global business environment, create proactive business acumen in them and develop them into socially responsible global citizens,’’ said Dr Varghese Mathew, Director, GIM.

Dr Varghese Mathew

GIM is striving to become one among the top management institutions in the country by imparting high quality management education and training through dedicated faculty and the best possible infrastructure.

“We are here not for creating employment; this is not an employment exchange. Our aim is to groom students as good managerial assets by imparting new ideas and methodologies in management education to add value to the MBA degree and make our students employable,’’ he added.

GIM is an exclusive management centre that aims to develop core competence and corporate decision-making skills in its students through value based education. It is a pioneering institution offering MBA programme

affiliated to the Bharathiar University, Coimbatore that is approved by the AICTE, Government of India. GIM is also one of the NBA accredited colleges in the Coimbatore.

Bharathiar University has recognised GIM as a Centre for Management Research leading to M Phil and PhD degrees. The Institute was founded by Sree Guruvayurappan Educational and Charitable

Trust in the year 1995. GIM’s governing council comprises eminent academicians and leading industrialists with Professor Dr MV Pylee, former vice-chancellor of CUSAT, as the chairman.

“We are very conscious about our students and we strive to generate positive ideas and practices that will help the creation of a new dynamic society,” Dr Mathew said.


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DESTINATION KOVAICMS

CMS: Challenge Meets Success The achievements of CMS College of Science & Commerce for the past 23 years stand testimony to the vigour and restless refashioning, which are characteristic features of the Trust.

History often records only the deeds, the outward acts largely, but every

act springs from an ideal which is often left unrecorded. The CMS Group of Institutions is an exemption to this general attitude. In the motto of the CMS Group of institutions -‘Challenge Meets Success’- is enshrined the radical idealism and inventiveness of a group of ‘expatriate’ Malayalees of Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu and their continuous struggle to overcome the challenges that came in their way.

The CMS Educational and Charitable Trust, established in 1988, was the progeny of the Coimbatore Malayali Samajam which represented and still represents the vast majority of the Malayalees of Coimbatore. At the initial stages, the Trust had nothing substantial to build on except a moderate capital and plenty of self confidence. But it had a clear vision which saw education not only as a vehicle for progressing in a multi-lingual and multi-cultural situation but also as a crucial instrument for survival in the knowledge society of the future. Hence in the very year of its inception, the Trust started CMS College of Science & Commerce. There was something strikingly modern in the very name given to the college. Instead of naming the institution ‘College of Arts

SO

UNIQUE

and Science’, as was the usual practice then, the Trust named it ‘College of Science & Commerce’. Perhaps it was for the first time that a college is named ‘College of Science & Commerce’. This drastically different approach to modern education was a significant pointer that the Trust was willing to traverse roads less travelled. Moreover, the Trust clearly foresaw that if our country has to progress into the twenty-first century, we need science and commerce more than anything else.

The achievements of CMS College of Science & Commerce for the past 23 years stand testimony to the vigour and restless refashioning, which are characteristic features of the Trust. From an institution that offered just 3 UG courses, the college has grown into one that

offers 17 UG courses and 14 PG courses. In 1988, the college had less than 50 students in make-shift classrooms at Ganapathy, Coimbatore. By the year 2007 it had more than 3,500 students in an expansive 36-acre campus with a state-of-the-art infrastructure at Chinnavedampatti, a suburb of Coimbatore. Further, the college has become an autonomous institution, accredited at the ‘A’ level by NAAC and with ISO 9001: 2000 certification.

To rest on laurels won may be a temptation for lesser souls but not for people with passionate convictions and workaholic temperament. By 2007 it became apparent that the CMS College of Science & Commerce

had reached its peak. With students’ strength equaling that of a university, diversification became a necessity to circumvent the stagnation that befalls many institutions of higher learning at some time or other. It was here that the sagacity of the Chairman of the Trust, MP Gopalakrishnan and the Secretary of the Trust CKV Nambiar came into play. Both had the foresight to consider higher education not as a luxury but as something essential for national, social and economic development.


62

“The devotion and endeavor to ensure excellence in education is what we believe in, and that has been instrumental in our growth path to a university.” That was K Murugaiah, Chief Executive Officer and the Advisor of Karpagam University, speaking to Asian Educator.Karpagam University in Coimbatore got its recognition in 2008 from the Ministry of Human Resource Development and UGC. Earlier, the institution was known as Karpagam Arts & Science College, and was established in 1995 under the patronship of Karpagam Charity

Trust, incepted by the renowned Karpagam Industries.The university is conducting various courses under the banner of Karpagam Institutes. It is committed to extending world-class education through the multi-disciplines it offers -- Arts, Science, Commerce,

Karpagam University Dedicated to Serving the Society

Karpagam University draws its inspiration from the magnetic personality of its Chairman and Managing Trustee,

Dr R Vasanthakumar, who has transcended his role as a prominent industrialist to be a philanthropist dedicated to the

cause of education.

K Murugaiah

Dr R Vasanthakumar

DESTINATION KOVAI Karpagam

Management, Humanities and Engineering.The institution draws its inspiration from the magnetic personality of its Chairman and Managing Trustee, Dr R Vasanthakumar, who has transcended his role as a prominent industrialist to be a philanthropist dedicated to the noble

cause of education. Murugaiah said the mission of the university was “to be an education institution that instills originality in the learning minds, and imparts strength and efficiency to its students by giving quality education, motivation and creative skills in accordance with what the industry

demands.”In order to bring perfection in its entirety into education as evinced by the chairman, the management is dedicated to imparting selective knowledge for the purpose of rendering unique products to serve and lead the society. The university has inked an MoU with Infosys for Campus Connect to enrich learning and it has also tied up with Cisco Academy for training and international

certification. It is enriched with the finest faculty and guest faculties selected from both national and international pools. It also hosts co-curricular programmes such as industrial visits, in-plant training and training programmes by professional agencies. Karpagam Institutes comprise Karpagam College of Engineering, Karpagam Institute of Technology, Karpagam Polytechnic College, Karpagam Teacher Training Institute, Karpagam College of Education, Karpagam College of Pharmacy and Karpagam Nursing College.


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63

Karthikeyan IyerINNOVATOR

In a cut throat world of competition, ideas can be easily copied and replicated. Entrepreneurs know this and are therefore aware of the need to protect their Intellectual property (IP) in the form of

patents. Patents are granted to inventions that are novel, non-obvious (inventive) and useful. However, only a very small percentage of patents (generously not more than 5 per cent) are actually commercially viable. While some of this non-viability may be attributed to the innate complexity in commercialising technology, mostly the non-viability stems from the fact that they are not strong enough i.e. they are easy to work around/ circumvent or it is difficult to detect infringement. It is especially important for entrepreneurs to note that just getting a patent is not sufficient, since they do not have the financial muscle or the luxury of a portfolio of patents to start with. One has to get a strong patent. Strengthening the idea/invention up front is the best guarantee for a strong patent.

Typically, inventors look at patent databases after inventing, mainly to check if similar ideas have been protected in prior art and to assess if their idea is patentable. Often, even this task (of searching for prior art) is outsourced since patent documents are perceived to be too complex to read.

This is quite unfortunate. Patent databases are probably the most comprehensive source of advanced technical knowledge on the planet, mandatorily made available for public access and mostly available for free. These databases are invaluable assets for inventors “while they are inventing”, to strengthen their inventions. In most cases, some prior art will exist (someone else out there would have thought of something similar). Often, this someone else would be a competitor. This situation may call for a design-around or invent-around effort, that is, come up with inventive ideas to circumvent a patent (invention). Similarly, an inventor can design-around and strengthen his own invention, making it difficult for others to circumvent it.

These sorts of activities require specialised frameworks such as the Theory of Inventive Problem Solving (TRIZ). TRIZ provides powerful abstraction mechanisms such as system contradictions and inventive principles, function-attribute and substance-field models, system laws of evolution and ideal final result. Structured abstraction enables inventors to utilise knowledge encapsulated in similar inventions across multiple domains. TRIZ also suggests mechanisms to rank inventions based on their strength

IP Imperative for Entrepreneurs

which can be used as a parameter for patent valuation.

Of course, the value of a patent is not just a function of its functional strength. Other parameters such as derived or perceived customer value, the length and breadth of the opportunity window and linkage between organisational IP and business strategies also contribute in equal measure to the valuation of a patent. Entrepreneurs can therefore, use a multi-dimensional multi-perspective valuation methodology as an input to patent strategy and invention design (as opposed to later in the cycle).

Strong inventions automatically lead to strong patents, strong defense (IP protection against potential infringement suits), strong differentiation (not easy to circumvent and create similar products or services), strong commercialisation opportunities (strong patents enjoy significantly higher valuation) and strong growth opportunities (new opportunities to use the protected technology across domains, opportunities to expand the product portfolio).

He writes a blog at www.karthikeyaniyer.in and can be reached at [email protected].

It is important for entrepreneurs to note that just getting a patent is not sufficient. One has to get

a strong patent. Strengthening the idea/invention up front is the best guarantee for a strong patent

Karthikeyan Iyer (Karthik) is a Founder Director of Crafitti Consulting, an innovation research

and consulting firm working with a wide variety of enterprises in multiple domains on complex

innovation challenges and opportunities in business and technology contexts.


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As I mentioned in the previous issue we will be discussing about some important skills, which are essential for one to be

employable. As we always say, “Your attitude decides your altitude.” I believe the most essential skill one needs to have is attitude. I am sure some of you may be thinking, is attitude a skill. I believe so. Anything is a skill as long as one can impart and improve it by practice and training.

One of my friends, Mohan, told me a very interesting story. Mohan had a friend by the name Tom who had a very negative attitude towards life. He was an expert in finding negative aspects of anything. If one showed him a white surface, he would detect a microscopic black dot on it. Tom would never see a glass half full; he would always see that glass as half empty. His main hobby was gossiping. He loved finding fault with anything and everything in the world. He believed that luck was the single most factor that made a person successful. He blamed his destiny for all his failures in life. Mohan tried many times to make Tom think and talk positive, but failed all the time. Then one day my friend decided to make him at least talk something positive. Mohan had an amazing pet dog that had the rare ability to walk on water. This dog had already become a wonder among people. My friend took Tom for a drive and the dog was also with them. They went to a lakeside and decided to catch a duck. He took his gun and shot a duck that was swimming in the lake. The duck died. He asked the dog to fetch the duck from the water and the dog started walking on the water towards the duck. He looked at Tom thinking that he must have been amazed about the dog. But Tom had no expression on his face. The dog came back picking the duck walking on the water. With a lot of excitement Mohan asked Tom, “Didn’t you see something amazing?” Tom, with no emotion or expression at all on his face replied, “How is that your dog doesn’t know swimming?”

It is quite a commonly asked question why somebody is so negative towards everything in life. The unfortunate fact is that we all are most of the time negative. This is an attitude. The most meaningful quote in the world may be,

Sajeev Nair MENTOR

“Your attitude decides your altitude”. The attitude of an employee decides the altitude the organisation he/she is working in reaches. The attitude of the players decides the altitude a team attains. The attitude of the people in a State decides the altitude that State would achieve. The attitude of the citizen decides the altitude of the country. It is not the politician or the economist who decides the growth of a State or country; it is the attitude of its people. Noted author William James has written, “The greatest revolution of our generation is the discovery that human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives.”

Why is that in a given situation, two persons think in two different ways. We all know that old story, where an American company sends two sales managers to an African country to market their footwear. After reaching the country while one person sends a message stating that, “No one wears footwear here, hence I am coming back”, the other person sends a message stating, “No one wears footwear here, and hence there is a tremendous market; send the first consignment urgently.” The company is the same, products are the same, the market is the same, what was different? People, their attitudes! A lot of people ask me this question, “I have always wanted to think positive, but somehow or the other most of my thoughts are negative”.

Can we change our attitude? Can we do something by which we always think and act positively? The good news is that we can. By changing the way one thinks, one can change everything. One’s thoughts lead to one’s words and actions. Any action repeated becomes a habit. One’s habit leads to one’s character. That is why we always say, ‘You are what you think you are.’

Sajeev Nair is a successful first generation entrepreneur, internationally renowned life-coach, author and philanthropist. You can connect with him on www.sajeevnair.com or www.facebook.com/iamsajeev

Attitude is Also a SkillThe most meaningful quote in the world may be, “Your attitude decides your altitude”. The attitude of an employee decides the altitude the organisation he/she is working in reaches. The attitude of the players decides the altitude a team attains.

By changing the way one thinks, one can change everything. One’s thoughts lead to one’s words and actions. Any action repeated becomes a habit. One’s habit leads to one’s character.


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CAMPUS FASHION

Eyeing the Bold and Beautiful look

Fashion waves that hit our shores with cyclic regularity have become a passion for modern youth. And the vibrant philosophy of fashion extends from our campuses to ramps to media to the silver screen, and even beyond. The young are keen to appear fashionable and are always on the look out for avenues to project themselves as fashion-conscious dandies who closely follow (may I say ape) the icons of the trendy world.

So what do we have?

Asian Educator took a sneak peek at several college campuses around the country to see what the latest (can something ever be the latest; aren’t the most modern as fleeting as the hour handle of a chronometer) trends that have been dominating these abodes of youth. Here we learned something new, which is that one style does not fit all. Every campus has its own style, tradition and dress code. Those keen on style love to profile themselves as different and often opt for exclusive top designer threads to off-the-rack sale items and even their very own creations.

Lens revolution…It is not just clothes, footwear and the usual

paraphernalia that the fashionable young are obsessed with.

These days

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there is a tendency to make even the eyes pretty and hot-looking. Our survey has revealed that contact lenses are getting popular by the day. Eye-wear affects the looks, and can make one look more nerdy or studious than desired. Nearly 59 per cent of the young in our campuses are using eye lenses to mark a change in the colour of the iris, something that makes them different in look at the first sight. The eye conveys our emotions in the best possible way. Amethyst, blue, turquoise, gray, honey, brown, pure hazel, true sapphire etc… are the leading colours among lenses.

The most commonly used type of eyeliner is the pencil form. The pencil is popular because it is easy to apply. Liquid eyeliners are supposed to provide a bolder look. Eyeliner pens and eyeliner crayons offer best-of-both-worlds products. They both are supposed to give one a more dramatic look.

With the arrival of multicolour eyeliners, fashion trends have moved far beyond the basic black. However, black is considered too strong or harsh for many skin tones. Charcoal or brown provides a softer look and is considered appropriate for most daytime cosmetic wear, especially for girls having fair skin and/or blonde hair. Purple, green and even red eyeliners give a striking evening look. Or at least that is what they say… The silver or white eyeliner, generally used at night, also gives a glossy look and is thought of as different!

Long, temporary eyelashes that are available in boutiques also bring about an attractive change to one’s eyes. Eyelashes are considered the most significant feature of beautiful and more expressive eyes. Who wouldn’t want to be considered beautiful and expressive? So artificial eyelashes have gained immense popularity among the fashion-conscious and the boutique owners

laugh all the way to the bank. Coloured and glossy eyeshades are also an inevitable

part of the teenage eye makeup. The choice of eyeshades is based on the

colour of the eye lenses and dress one wears. Brown eyes become more stunning

when they go with green and purple shades.

Eyebrows which provide shape to the eyes are equally important. Long, thin and

curved eyebrows are trendy. Teens spend a good time in shaping their eyebrows

and beauty parlours catering to such needs are much in demand.

Eyes are the centerpiece of the face and they make one shimmer

and shine. Fashion also lies in eyes...and may be even begins with the eyes. So be it…

It is not just clothes, footwear and the usual paraphernalia that the

fashionable young are obsessed with. These days there is a tendency to make

even the eyes pretty and hot-looking.

Dilu K Thomas

Asian Educator

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