How to succeed in a U.S. university classroom and environment.

Every year thousands of students from India go to the United States for higher education. As is often the case in such a large group, the success rate of these students varies. In the 10 years that I have been in the United States, I have had the privilege to serve in teaching-related ­positions in four institutions—Pennsylvania State University; University of Missouri; University of Nebraska at Omaha; and Binghamton University, State University of New York. I have interacted with thousands of students, and observed hundreds of international students navigate their way through the U.S. academic system.

Study Skills

Students who have had success in the past may believe that it will come just as easily in another country. However, different teaching methods, a different language, different academic background, and a different campus culture can affect your ability to be successful.
Most colleges and universities offer free short-term classes to help you be a successful student. Topics may include utilizing your school’s library resources to write a research paper, navigating the Internet, developing good study skills, and practicing effective time management. If English is not your first language, you might help your grades by visiting the university writing center, by taking an ESL course, or by joining an informal English conversation group. There are also excellent study-skills Web sites on the Internet.

My experiences—first as a student and a teaching assistant, and later as lecturer and professor—and interactions with a variety of students have led me to realize that success in the U.S. academic environment requires a systematic approach that starts even before the first day of class.

Follow the 5 + 2 P framework to increase your chances of success.

Plan: The first element refers to developing a coherent and consistent line of action with regard to the field of study. This phase starts early with thinking about how the academic major to be pursued in the United States fits into your academic and professional goals. It continues with thinking about how each course during the program will play a role in your academic life. Foreign students in the United States are allowed to enter the country for a limited time. For this reason, students from other countries, including India, do not have as much room as American students to experiment with the various options that exist in U.S. universities. In such a scenario, students who have thought deeply about their preferred academic field and understand how it will lead them to their goals have a significant edge over other students.

Prepare: Syllabi for almost all courses in U.S. universities are available on the first day of the semester. In some cases, students can also request professors for the syllabus before the start of the semester. The syllabus provides information about what topics will be covered, required and optional books, and the assignments and tests students are expected to complete, often with due dates. This information is very useful in helping students prepare for the course in advance.

Participate: This is an important aspect of the U.S. academic environment. Although the rate and nature of participation varies across majors and colleges, almost all courses require students to show some level of class participation. In addition, most professors expect students to make meaningful contributions that further class discussion.

For participation to be constructive, students can share insights from their work experience or knowledge gained from extracurricular reading related to the course. As Indian students going abroad for higher education generally lack actual experience in the workplace, the reading approach—gaining relevant knowledge through extensive reading—is arguably more viable for them.

Proact: Indian students tend to be reactive, waiting for things to happen when it comes to academic issues. This is the opposite of a proactive approach, which requires students to step out of their comfort zone and take charge of the situation. A very critical aspect of being proactive is networking with peers, professors, alumni and others on campus. Networking can be virtual, through LinkedIn and Facebook, or face-to-face in campus socials and professional events. More opportunities for assistantships, internships and jobs are available to people who are good at networking.

Project: These days, early to bed and early to rise is no longer enough. It’s also important to work hard and advertise. I refer to the willingness to advertise about one’s achievements as project. Just as it is useful to stand out by pursuing unique activities, it is also important to ensure that credit for those activities accrue where it is due.

Students should make it a point to tactfully share information about out-of-class activities with their academic advisers and professors, projecting themselves in a positive light. They should also frequently update their résumés and use them as tools for self-assessment as well as to project their name in a positive manner.

Two other Ps are important for success in an international environment. The first of these isproud. This involves taking pride in one’s country and culture. I have come across several Indian students who criticize their country and culture in international settings, oblivious to the fact that such criticism undermines their own image. Some Indian students leave their country with little intellectual understanding of the events that shaped their country and provide the underpinnings of their culture. I strongly encourage students to invest time and effort in learning about their country and culture, and take pride in its unique heritage.

The second element for success internationally is perspective. We live in times of unprecedented globalization. To compete effectively in such an environment, Indians should develop a global perspective. This involves learning a foreign language, becoming aware of historical and social issues in other countries, and reading about developments around the world. Today, a person in Mumbai or New Delhi is not just competing with those around him, but with his peers in Shanghai, Paris, Rio de Janeiro and New York. Developing a global perspective helps one become a potential manager and leader for companies and organizations competing internationally.

The 5 + 2 P framework presented here is neither comprehensive nor a conclusive guide. They simply reflect my understanding of some of the essential areas that young adults need to focus on as they embark on a new course in life.

In addition, they are tools to enable students to think about what they can do to thrive in an unfamiliar system in which missteps can be costly in terms of time and money, while the right steps can take their career on an upward trajectory.

By VISHAL GUPTA

(from New Delhi is an assistant professor of strategy at the School of Management at Binghamton University, State University of New York.)

tips from admissions officials on how to rise above the crowd.

College acceptance in the United States continues to be extremely competitive.

Here are some tips from admissions officials on how to rise above the crowd.

Over the past few years, American universities and prospective Indian students have developed a growing interest in one another. Top-ranked institutions like University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) have seen Indian undergraduate applications more than double since 2009, and acceptance rates for India nearly triple. The numbers are expected to continue going up, as more of America’s most competitive colleges and universities send recruiters to India with increasing frequency.

More Indians applying. More and more accepted. What’s this mutual affection all about?
“Global diversity,” explains Susan Wilbur, director of undergraduate admissions at UCLA. “For a long time, the University of California schools have focused on recruiting students from California, as our first mission is to serve the people of our state. But we live in an increasingly global community, so we want to provide more and more opportunities for students to interact with people with different perspectives.”

India, in particular, offers a growing number of highly qualified applicants with solid English skills and an interest in studying at American institutions. “India, frankly, has become more of a hot spot for us,” says Rebecca Munsterer, senior associate director of admissions at Dartmouth College. “We increased our visits to India last year, because we recognized both an interest in Dartmouth there, and a lot of talent.”

As the number of applicants increases, putting together an application that rises above the crowded field becomes a bigger challenge. Admissions officers from four top-ranked colleges and universities spoke with SPAN to share advice on how Indian students can develop applications that stand out.

Begin with a good fit
Schools are looking for international students who will succeed even though they are far from home and in unfamiliar surroundings. Therefore, successful applications begin with students who have done their research and know if the school will be a good match for them. How long is the winter? What kind of community surrounds the school—urban, suburban or a quaint college town? Is the university residential or do most students live in apartments off campus? Which academic areas are the strongest and do they align with the applicant’s interests?

Looking For a Harvard Education? Head to Mumbai

For more than a century, Harvard Business School in Boston, Massachusetts has trained students who have reshaped the way business is conducted around the world. In March 2012, the school established a classroom at Taj Lands End Hotel in Mumbai. With a seating capacity of up to 82 students, the amphitheater-style classroom will offer state-of-the-art multimedia facilities and replicate the MBA classrooms in Boston.

The new classroom will house the executive education programs Harvard Business School already runs in India and replace the various temporary spaces the school has used previously.

“India is a key component of Harvard Business School’s global strategy,” says Dean Nitin Nohria. “Our aspiration is to expand our intellectual footprint by working with business, government and academic leaders from across the country, all the while contributing to important discussions about India’s long-term economic growth.”

The school opened its India Research Center in Mumbai in 2005 and has run executive education programs in India for nearly six years. Using the new classroom, Harvard Business School faculty will offer programs and symposia to leaders in business, government and academia on a wide range of subjects such as corporate social responsibility, building a global enterprise, case writing and course development. According to the school’s Web site, “Indian business schools extensively use Harvard Business School cases in the classroom and over the past four years some 100 Indian faculty have participated in the school’s Global Colloquium for Participant Centered Learning, where they learn from HBS faculty how to teach using the case method.”

A classroom at Harvard Business School in Boston, Massachusetts.

At Stanford University, where most students live in dorms all four years, admissions officers look for candidates who would make good roommates. Similarly, at Dartmouth, an Ivy League school set in a remote area in the middle of New Hampshire, applicants need to be able to live in dorms with a diverse group of students. “This can be a real challenge for some high school students who grew up surrounded by people who look, talk, eat and think like them,” says Munsterer.

Applicants can learn more about the schools before applying by meeting recruiters or alumni in India, and asking about the culture, the weather, the support systems in place for international students, academics, lifestyle and extracurricular opportunities. Information on these are also available on university Web sites.

Demonstrate strength in academics and beyond
Competitive American universities expect applicants to have proven academic success—excellent grades in rigorous coursework, high marks on external exams, and strong ACT/SAT and TOEFL results. But beyond these in-class results, admissions reviewers look for evidence of skills outside the classroom that reflect a student’s personal interest and sense of responsibility: leadership, awards and service to the community.

“Our admissions decisions are not based solely on any single criterion but on the whole record,” explains University of Michigan’s international admissions and recruitment coordinator, Cindy Gould. “We use an individualized, comprehensive, holistic, multiple-review process in evaluating each student’s application. And we know that there is great variation among our applicants’ personal circumstances, home communities and high schools—even the curriculum available and the grading practices can vary widely.”

At UCLA, Wilbur suggests that students include additional comments on their applications to explain anything unusual about their educational system. “This can be helpful to admissions reviewers in the U.S.,” she notes, “as each student comes to us with a unique educational history.”

Seek out meaningful recommendations
In the United States, high school students typically participate in extracurricular activities such as athletics, arts, clubs and community service through their schools. Therefore in most cases, teachers see and get to know their students beyond a strictly academic setting.

OWU Students Learn About Gandhi

A group of students and teachers from Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware visited Lady Shri Ram College for Women (LSR) in New Delhi in March for a week-long academic and cultural exchange program to learn about the life and works of Mohandas K. Gandhi. They explored Gandhi from many perspectives, including peace and conflict resolution, and had discussions with LSR students and teachers. They also visited the Gandhi Smriti (earlier known as Birla House), where Gandhi stayed during his Delhi visits and places of worship of various faiths frequented by Gandhi.

Ohio Wesleyan University (OWU).
Photograph courtesy Ohio Wesleyan University.

Screenshot of the Lady Shri Ram College for Women Web site.

“We began our course…with a prayer service on the lawn of LSR…. We were all deeply moved, many to tears, by the beauty of the music, the serenity of the prayers, and the unity of the human spirit reflected in the service,” Rock Jones, president of Ohio Wesleyan University (OWU) wrote in his blog. OWU students also participated in community service at a center for intellectually disabled youth and adults run by Muskaan, a nongovernmental organization.

The visitors and the LSR students discussed the possibility of sharing their talents and resources, including student and faculty exchanges, joint faculty development and short-term courses for students of both colleges.

Two years ago, Ohio Wesleyan University was selected by the Institute for International Education as one of 10 colleges and universities in the United States to participate in an International Academic Partnership Program in India. The program is designed to foster partnerships among institutions of higher education in India and the United States.

However, Munsterer notes, producing a robust teacher recommendation can be a challenge for the international student. “Student relationships with teachers and guidance counselors are different from the United States. International teacher recommendations might simply state that the student is smart and receives an A in class. So it becomes important for these students to show their intellectual curiosity themselves. In the essays, share what you did with math, not just how hard you worked to get the grade, for example.”
Dartmouth is one of the few institutions that also require a peer recommendation. “The prompts are purposely vague,” says Munsterer. “We’re looking for anecdotes about their experiences to help us add a layer about who they are and what they have to offer at Dartmouth.”

Share your personal voice
Although not all American universities require essays for admission, most of the top-ranked schools do. The essay provides an opportunity for the applicant to reveal her or his personal passion, unique experiences, struggles, humor, aspirations. Schools hope the essay will help them discover a student’s personal qualities, those less tangible elements of a student’s application that indicate what the person might gain from and contribute to the campus community if admitted.

In the American education system, students are often encouraged to express their personality in their writing. For students raised in an educational culture that emphasizes studying and scores, this expectation can be a challenge. Applicants should begin their essay-writing process by reflecting on both their achievements and setbacks in academics and extracurricular activities, recommends Gould at Michigan. “Students should complete their own applications,” she adds. “We like the student’s voice to come through and the essays create an opportunity for this.”

Stanford University’s admission officer Theresa Bruketta explains that due to sheer numbers they must turn away many qualified applicants. So the essay offers a real opportunity for a strong and passionate student to make an impression. “To stand out, an applicant must be both competitive but also compelling. This is not something that is easily defined because it is what makes that applicant unique. There is no formula for getting into Stanford. My best advice is for students to do what they love and to do it well. This will not only help them find their true passion and their true voice, it will also be the thing that stands out in our process.”

Student visa advice from a U.S. visa officer.

A View From Behind the Glass

By MONICA L. SHIE
July/August 2012

Student visa advice from a U.S. visa officer.

Over the last decade, nearly one million Indian students were granted visas to study in the United States. Every one of them appeared before an American visa officer for an interview. If you’ve ever applied for a U.S. visa, you too have come face-to-face with one of us. Have you ever wondered who are the visa officers who will approve or deny your visa?

When I was a child, I did not dream of becoming a visa officer. Even as a young adult, first majoring in literature and then taking up teaching, it didn’t occur to me that I would one day sit on a high stool behind a glass window at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi and adjudicate visas. But for the past several months, I have been doing just that—almost 100 interviews a day.

I mention this by way of reminding you that visa officers are people, too. We come from a variety of backgrounds. We once were lawyers, teachers, IT professionals, even fire fighters. But at some point in our lives, we took the Foreign Service written test, passed the day-long oral exam, and, after extensive training, became diplomats. Most of us are on our first or second tours.

We joined the Foreign Service because we are interested in other cultures. Most of us are here because we chose to come to India. We visit the Taj Mahal; we read Chetan Bhagat’s novels; we watch “Delhi Belly;” we love butter chicken. We want to be here, and we enjoy talking with you.

A lot of us studied Hindi, Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu or Bengali for several months before we came to India so that we can conduct interviews with applicants who do not speak English. We might not be fluent or flawless, but we can ask a few basic questions: What is the purpose of your travel? Who do you know in America? How long do you plan to stay? Usually, we can understand the answers; when we don’t, we ask our Indian colleagues to translate.

Every day in New Delhi, eight or nine officers interview hundreds of people seeking visas to the United States. Because we try to serve as many applicants as we can, the interviews are quite short—only two to three minutes. A lot of the information that we need is already there in your application, but we like to hear from you, personally, about your travel plans. Sometimes, visa applicants bring stacks of documents, and they seem disappointed when we don’t look at them. But the idea of a personal interview is to speak with you face-to-face—not to examine documents.

Many visa applicants pay consultants to prepare their applications. Although some consultants might provide helpful information, many do not. Remember that you alone are responsible for the accuracy of the information in your application. False information or fake document packages could result in permanent ineligibility.

If you are a student, you should be prepared to talk about why you chose the university that you plan to attend, and you should be able to explain how you will pay for your studies. It should be easy for us to believe that you will finish the degree at the institution you have selected, and we must be convinced that full-time study is the primary purpose of your travel.

It is best to apply early, but not before you have heard from your first-choice school. (Your visa will be annotated with the name of the school listed on your I-20 form at the time of your interview.) You can apply for a visa up to 120 days before your program is scheduled to begin. However, you may not enter the United States more than 30 days before the report date for your course. If you are applying for graduate work, be sure to apply as early as you can, as administrative processing is sometimes required that might delay the issuance of your visa.

Nearly 104,000 Indians are currently studying in the United States. Like you, they were nervous when they faced the American visa officer behind the glass. The situation, admittedly, does not put one at ease. However, if you know yourself to be a credible, qualified student, then you should have nothing to worry about. Take a deep breath, relax, and remember that the person behind the glass is there to help you. We are regular people, too—just like you.

(Monica L. Shie is a consular officer at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi)

Don't forget

If you are going to USA.....take these with you

चपरासी भी बनना है तो दसवीं तो पास करनी ही होगी

जयपुर। सरकारी विभाग में चपरासी बनने के लिए भले ही ग्रेजुएट व पोस्ट ग्रेजुएट भी आवेदन करते हों, लेकिन जरूरतमंद यह पद पाने में विफल रहते हैं। वह इसलिए क्योंकि उनमें से ज्यादातर पांचवीं या आठवीं तक ही पढ़े होते हैं।

अब राजस्थान सरकार ने चपरासी बनने के लिए भी दसवीं पास को ही नौकरी देने का फैसला किया है। इसके लिए भी प्रतियोगिता होगी।

सरकारी विभागों में अब चतुर्थ श्रेणी पद पर नियुक्ति के लिए न्यूनतम शैक्षणिक योग्यता दसवीं कक्षा पास होना अनिवार्य हो जाएगा। यानी शैक्षणिक योग्यता कनिष्ठ लिपिक (एलडीसी) के बराबर होगी। हालांकि एलडीसी के लिए कम्प्यूटर पाठ्यक्रम भी पिछले 2 वर्ष से अनिवार्य कर दिया गया है।

चतुर्थ श्रेणी कर्मचारी के लिए न्यूनतम शैक्षणिक योग्यता अब तक 5वीं उत्तीर्ण थी। कार्मिक विभाग में इसे बदलने की कवायद अंतिम चरण में चल रही है। 15 अगस्त बाद प्रस्ताव मुख्यमंत्री को भिजवाया जाएगा। कार्मिक विभाग का तर्क है बदलते जमाने में शिक्षा का स्तर ऊंचा होने से समय-समय पर शैक्षणिक योग्यताओं में बदलाव किया जाता रहा है।
राज्य में न्यूनतम मान्यता प्राप्त परीक्षा दसवीं बोर्ड परीक्षा है। पांचवी तक की अंकतालिकाओं को न तो लोग संभाल कर रखते हैं और न ही उनकी कोई वैधता होती है।

यह होंगे लाभ
- लोगों में पढ़ने के प्रति ललक बढ़ेगी। विद्यार्थियों की ड्रॉप आउट दर में भी कमी होगी।
- सूचना का अधिकार, सेवा के प्रदान की गारंटी, सुनवाई का अधिकार जैसे कानून लागू होने से सरकारी विभागों के काम को जानने-समझने वाले चपरासी जरूरत बन गए हैं।
- सरकारी विभागों को अपेक्षाकृत अधिक योग्य लोग मिल सकेंगे।
- दसवीं कक्षा तक पढ़े-लिखे और पांचवीं, आठवीं तक पढ़े-लिखे लोगों में सामाजिक भेद प्रकट हो सकेगा। अभी तो सभी बराबर हैं।

चपरासी के पदों की कुल संख्या में से 25 प्रतिशत को क्लर्क की पदोन्नति दी जाती है। उन्हीं लोगों को लाभ मिल पाता है, जो दसवीं कक्षा पास हों। इसके अभाव में लोग चपरासी पद पर भर्ती होकर वहीं से सेवानिवृत्त हो जाते हैं। उन्हें पदोन्नति के लिए बेहतर अवसर देने के लिए यह कवायद की जा रही है। समाज में हो रहे बदलावों को ध्यान में रखते हुए ऎसा करना जरूरी हो गया है।
-सुदर्शन सेठी, प्रमुख कार्मिक सचिव।

280 पदों के आए थे पौने दो लाख आवेदन
सचिवालय सेवा के तहत दो वर्ष पहले चपरासियों के करीब 280 पदों पर आवेदन मांगे थे। पांचवीं कक्षा पास करने की योग्यता के चलते पौने दो लाख आवेदन आ गए। अब तक डेढ़ लाख आवेदन पत्रों की छंटनी हो पाई है। यह भर्ती कर पाना ही मुश्किल हो चला है। इनमें से आधे आवेदक ही 10वीं पास हैं। भविष्य की भर्तियों में आवेदकों की संख्या को सीमित रखने के लिए यह कवायद की गई।

UPSC Geologist’s Exam, 2011 Written Part Result Announced

The result of the written part of the Geologist’s Examination, 2011 has been announced. The written test was held by the UPSC in December, 2011. The candidature of these candidates is provisional subject to their being found eligible in all respects. The candidates would be required to produce the original certificates in support of their claims relating to age, educational qualifications, community, physical disability etc. at the time of the Personality Test. They are, therefore, advised to keep the said certificates ready.

In accordance with the Rules of examination all these candidates are required to fill up the Detailed Application Form (D.A.F.) which is available on the Commission’s Website http://www.upsc.gov.in. All the qualified candidates are required to fill up the DAF and submit the same ON LINE. The DAF will be available on the website of the Commission till 10.08.2012. Important instructions regarding filling up of the DAF and submitting the same ONLINE to the Commission are also available on the website. The candidates who have been declared successful have to first get themselves registered on the relevant page of the website before filling up the ONLINE Detailed Application Form. The qualified candidates are further advised to refer to the Rules of the Geologist’s Examination, 2011 published in the Gazette of India, dated 20.08.2011, which is also available on the website of the Commission.

After submitting the DAF duly filled in ONLINE, the candidates are required to take out a print out of the finally submitted DAF separately and will have to send the printed copy of the DAF duly signed (by the candidate) alongwith all relevant documents to the Under Secretary (Geologist’s), Union Public Service Commission, Dholpur House, Shahjahan Road, New Delhi-110069, so as to reach the Commission’s Office latest by 16.08.2012. The envelope containing the print out of the DAF submitted ONLINE should be superscribed “DAF for Geologist’s Examination, 2011.” It can also be delivered at UPSC by hand till 16.08.2012 (5.00 P.M.).

Interview of candidates who have qualified for the Personality Test are likely to be commenced in the last week of August, 2012. The exact date of interview will, however, be intimated to the candidates through Interview letter & e-mail. Roll Number wise Interview Schedule will also be made available on Commission’s Website in due course. The candidates are also advised to check their e-mail for further information.

No request for change in the date and time of the Personality Test intimated to the candidates will be entertained under any circumstances.

The mark-sheets of candidates who have not qualified, will be put on the Commission’s Website within 15 days from the date of publication of the final result (after conducting Personality Test) and will remain available on the Website for a period of 60 days.

The result is available on PIB website i.e. www.pib.nic.in and on the U.P.S.C.’s Website http://www.upsc.gov.in.

The candidates can access the marks-sheets after keying in their Roll Numbers and date of birth. The printed/hard copies of the marks-sheet would, however, be issued by UPSC to candidates based on specific request accompanied by a self addressed stamped envelope. Candidates desirous of obtaining printed/hard copies of the marks sheets should make the request within thirty days of the display of the marks on the Commission’s Website, beyond which such requests would not be entertained.

Union Public Service Commission have a Facilitation Counter at its campus. Candidate may obtain any information/clarification regarding their examination/result on working days between 10.00 A.M. to 5.00 P.M. in person or over telephone Nos.(011)-23385271/23381125/23098543 from this counter.

Civil Services (Prelim) Exam, 2012 Result Announced

The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has announced the result of the Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination, 2012 held on 20.5.2012. The candidature of these candidates is provisional. In accordance with the Rules of the Examination, all these candidates have to apply again in the Detailed Application Form (DAF), which would be available on the website of the Union Public Service Commission www.upsc.gov.in. (see the sidelink UPSC) All the qualified candidates are advised to fill up the DAF and submit the same ONLINE for admission to the Civil Services (Main) Examination, 2012 to be held from 05.10.2012. The DAF will be available on the website of the Commission from 1st August, 2012 till 11.59 PM on 21/08/2012. Important instructions regarding filling up of the DAF and submitting the same ONLINE to the Commission would also be available on the website. The candidates who have been declared successful have to first get themselves registered on the relevant page of the website before filling up the ONLINE Detailed Application Form. The qualified candidates are further advised to refer to the Rules of the Civil Services Examination, 2012 published in the gazette of India (Extraordinary) of Department of Personnel and Training notification dated 04.2.2012, which is also available on the website of the Commission. After submitting the DAF duly filled in ONLINE, the candidates are required to take out a print out of the finally submitted DAF separately and will have to send the printed copy of the DAF duly signed by the candidates alongwith all relevant documents including the prescribed fees, wherever applicable as enclosures addressed to the Under Secretary [CS(M)], Union Public Service Commission, Dholpur House, Shahjahan Road, New Delhi-110069, so as to reach the Commission's Office latest by 27/08/2012. The envelope containing the print out of the DAF submitted ONLINE should besuperscribed “Application for Civil Services (Main) Examination, 2012”. It can also be delivered at Union Public Service Commission counter by hand till 27/08/2012 (5.00 P.M). It may be noted that mere submission of application form does not, ipso facto, confer on any right for admission to the Main Examination. The admission certificate alongwith the time table of the Main Examination will be issued to the eligible candidates 2-3 weeks before the commencement of the examination. Changes, if any, in the postal address after submission of the DAF may be communicated to the Commission at once. The Union Public Service Commission have a Facilitation Counter near the Examination Hall Building in its Campus. Candidates may obtain any information/clarification regarding their result of the above mentioned examination on all working days between 10.00 AM to 5.00 PM, in person or on Tel. No. 011-23385271, 011-23098543 or 011-23381125 from this Facilitation Counter. Candidates can also obtain information regarding their result by accessing Union Public Service Commission Website www.upsc.gov.in. The result of Roll Nos.253465 has been withheld.

IIT : Only for Top 20 percentile

IIT Bombay on Wednesday approved, in principle, the 20 percentile formula for the IIT JEE 2013 which was announced by the IIT Council on June 27.
After wide-ranging discussions on different aspects, the senate, however, made a recommendation that the number of students selected


for the advanced exam should be around five times the number of IIT seats.
The council had proposed that 1.5 lakh students be screened for the advanced exam. The IIT Bombay senate suggested that around 50,000 students should be filtered for the advanced exam.

"There was a lot of debate on why 1.5 lakh students be screened for the advanced exam. Now that NITs are not part of the advanced exam, we suggested that the number should be less, essentially five times the number of seats, which comes around 50,000," said Prof Narasimhan, president of All India IIT Faculty Federation.

Faced with protest from the faculty on the proposal in which weightage was given to board exam marks, the Joint Admission Board of IIT had proposed a compromise formula in which only the top 20 percentile of board candidates could be eligible for IIT exam next year. The proposal was later accepted by the council.

But the proposal had to be approved by the senates of older IITs too. IIT Madras was the first to accept the new pattern. IIT Kanpur is meeting on July 28 to discuss it.

The new pattern will have two segments —

-JEE(main)

and JEE (advanced).

The JEE (main) will be a screening exam and will filter the top 1.5 lakh candidates for the JEE (advanced).

The JEE (advanced), which will be conducted by the IITs, will be held four-five weeks after the JEE(main).

Time to get admission in IIMs

(See IIMLINK at the rightside for details)

This is the time at apply for IIM

Kozhikode, India, 22 July 2012 – Indian Institutes of Management today announced the dates for the Common Admission Test 2012 (CAT 2012). Prometric, trusted provider of market-leading test development and test delivery solutions, is IIMs’ partner in developing and delivering CAT 2012.

The number of testing days this year has been increased to 21 days within the window from 11 October to 6 November 2012. The CAT vouchers will be available at selected Axis Bank branches from 30 July to 17 September 2012 and the registration window will be open from 30 July to 19 September 2012.

Similar to the previous year, the CAT 2012 will have only two sections. The first section will focus on Quantitative Ability & Data Interpretation; the second on Verbal Ability & Logical Reasoning. These two sections will be implemented sequentially with separate time limits. The examination will be for 140 minutes. Candidates will have 70 minutes to answer 30 questions within each section which will have an on-screen countdown timer. Once the time ends for the first section, they will move to the second section and will no longer be able to go back.

A 15-minute tutorial will be provided before the start of the test, and candidates are advised to go through that carefully before starting the main examination. The total duration will be two hours and 35 minutes including the tutorial. A practice test to provide candidates with a feel of the timed sections, as well as navigation and functionality of the actual test is available on the CAT website www.catiim.in . Candidates are advised to go though it carefully to familiarise themselves with the screens, layout, and navigation.

“There are no significant changes to the CAT this year,” said Professor SSS Kumar, CAT 2012 Convenor. “Over the past 3 years, IIMs and Prometric have been reviewing and improving the processes to provide a smooth experience for candidates. This year, our focus remains on conducting the test in a fair and secure manner.”

“Based on candidates’ registration patterns from previous years, we have allowed for a longer registration window this year,” said Soumitra Roy, Managing Director, Prometric India. “Candidates are advised to register early to get their preferred choice of location, date and time.”

For more details on CAT 2012, including videos on the registration and scheduling process, as well as test day procedures, please refer to www.catiim.in .

Indian Institutes of Management

The Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) were established by the Government of India, starting from the early 1960s as national school of excellence in Management Sciences. Over the years, the IIMs have evolved into global institutions that impart high quality management programmes that stress on innovation, ethical leadership, and cutting edge management research. The Economist labelled IIMs as the “toughest” b-school in the world to get into. Currently there are 13 IIMs named as IIMs Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Calcutta, Indore, Kashipur, Kozhikode, Lucknow, Raipur, Ranchi, Rohtak, Shillong, Tiruchirappalli and Udaipur. The entry to these national building institutes is realized through the Common Admission Test, popularly called CAT. It was, and continues to be, a source of pride for the faculty involved with its conception and delivery year after year, and is possibly the exam that accounts for the highest number of eyeballs and scrutiny of general public and media alike. (See IIMLINK at the rightside for details)

राज्यों में भेदभाव करवाएगी आईआईटी प्रवेश परीक्षा

Jobs through UPSC

द्वि वर्षीय पशुपालन डिप्लोमा

JOIN Indian Navy

IIT spot gets tougher for CBSE, ISCE students

NEW DELHI:

Students from the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and select boards may face a tougher battle in seeking admission to the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) in 2013 than students from other boards.

A cap that will allow only the top 20% students from each board to be eligible for IIT admission tests would hurt aspirants from tougher boards, experts have argued. Students from the CBSE, Council for the Indian School Certificate Examination (CISCE), and state boards of West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh may be worst hit. Many of them – who don’t make it to the top 20% — would be as qualified as some of the top 20% students from easier boards but will not be eligible for admission to the IITs.

The IIT Council — the highest decision-making body of the IITs — last week decided on new admission criteria from 2013, including the eligibility cap, arguing that students across all states are equally meritorious.

Though there is no evidence suggesting any difference in innate merit between students based on their board or background, students from some boards perform better than others in common tests, two independent studies have shown.

This makes it harder for a student to squeeze into the top 20% in a tougher board, IIT-Kanpur dean Dheeraj Sanghi said. “You simply cannot compare different boards. Their performance levels vary widely,” he said.

In 2009, Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore scientists PS Anil Kumar and Dibakar Chatterjee compared the performance of students from India’s 29 boards over 10 years in a common examination.

The selection test for the Kishore Vaigyanik Protsahan Yojana (KVPY) is conducted by the department of science and technology each year to select the brightest high school science students, who are awarded a fellowship to pursue studies in the sciences.

Their results showed that the average score of students from the CBSE, CISCE, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh in the KVPY test — a common examination unlike the class 12 boards — in physics, chemistry and mathematics far exceeded those of aspirants from other boards.

The results were published in November 2009 in Current Science, India’s top science journal.

“Our work clearly showed that students from different boards have different performance standards,” Chatterjee said.

An independent study by Wipro and Educational Initiatives, a non-profit group started by alumni of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, published in December 2011 also concluded that CBSE and CISCE students have higher performance levels.

दिल्ली में एडमिशन

The new IIT exam pattern: Factfile

Rakesh Mathur

The Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) Council on Wednesday struck a compromise with the human resource development ministry on the new pattern of entrance examinations. Here are its salient features:

* There will be two exams, the joint entrance examination (JEE) "main" followed by the JEE "advanced".

* These combine the All India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE) and the IIT-JEE, with the "main" exam being equivalent to AIEEE, and "advanced" being equivalent to the IIT-JEE.

* There will be a "suitable" time gap between the two exams, though it was not clarified how much.

* Only top 150,000 candidates (including all categories) from the JEE "main" will be qualified to appear in the JEE "advanced" examination.

* Admission to IITs will be based on the rank in the "advanced" exam.

* However, only students who come in among the top 20 percent scorers in their respective board will be considered eligible for the IITs.

* The "advanced" exam will be held by the IITs, just like the IIT- JEE. It will be conducted by a Joint Admission Board (JAB) and Joint Implementation Committee of the IITs, the same which so far conducted the JEE.

* The JEE "main" will be conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education ( CBSE), and it will coordinate with the IITs. It will be implemented from 2013.

* Admission to the National Institutes of Technology (NITs) and Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs) will be based on the "main" exam score. A final decision on methodology of admission is pending. A meeting of representatives from the NITs is scheduled for July 4.

* Admission to several deemed universities will also be on the basis of scores in the "main" exam, which earlier took students on basis of AIEEE scores. A minimum percentage criteria will be fixed for these too.

No weightage for marks: IIT Admission Board

Board top 20 percentile eligible,

IITs to conduct JEE Advanced

Faced with stiff opposition from IITs, the IIT Council on Wednesday withdrew its controversial May 28 decision to hold a common entrance exam for all centrally funded technical institutes. The council instead approved a new compromise formula for admission that will come into effect in 2013 and use board exam marks strictly as cut-off, as demanded by IIT senates.

The May 28 announcement introduced a new common entrance exam format for admission to IITs, NITs, IIITs from 2013. This new exam was to have two components — JEE Main (for screening) and JEE Advanced (for the final IIT merit list) with 50 per cent weight age to Class 12 scores at the screening stage. The proposal met with stiff opposition from IITs, with the senates of IIT-Delhi and Kanpur announcing a boycott.

According to Wednesday’s announcement, Class 12 marks will be used only as cut-off to screen students for eligibility for admission to IITs. Aspirants will have to be in the top 20 percentile of their boards to be eligible.

The IIT merit list will be decided by JEE Advanced, a test that will be conducted and managed by the IITs alone, and which will be held on a separate date from JEE Main. JEE Main or the common entrance exam, an objective test, will serve to screen the top 1.5 lakh students who will appear for JEE Advanced.

The new format will mean that a student will have to perform reasonably well in Class 12 to finally make it to an IIT. Going by 2012 board results data, a CBSE student would need at least 78 per cent to be in the top 20 percentile; one of the UP board 65-66 per cent; and one of the Tamil Nadu board around 78 per cent.

A tentative chronology suggests that while board exams will be held in February-March 2013, JEE Main will be scheduled in early April and JEE Advanced — for 1.5 lakh students — in mid-May. Soon after board results are out in mid-June, IITs will tally their JEE Advanced merit list and the percentile position of these students and declare their final results.

Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal told The Indian Express that the council’s decision was a “very important step in the right direction”.

“I thank the council and appreciate the fact that they have taken this decision... There is still a long way to go though, and I am sure all stakeholders will work together,” he said. “While the IIT Council may not have achieved all four objectives through its decision, hopefully the system and stakeholders will work to do so over the next 3-4 years.”

Sibal skipped the council meeting. Prof M N Sharma, chairman of the board of governors of IIT Madras, chaired the meeting.

NITs and IIIT councils will meet next week to decide on their admission format in the light of today’s decision. It is expected that these institutes will admit students on the basis of board marks and JEE Main scores, thus making JEE Advanced strictly an IIT admission test, Higher Education Secretary Ashok Thakur said.

All-India IIT Faculty Federation president Prof K Narsimhan said he was “quite pleased” with the outcome of the council meeting, which he said was “consistent” with the Joint Admission Board resolution passed last week, and with the concerns of IIT senates and the faculty federation.

Sources in the IIT-Kanpur senate, the first to boycott the May 28 formula, also termed the council decision as a move in the “right direction”, and largely “in line with what senates had said”.

The IIT-Delhi Alumni Association, which is meeting on Thursday, welcomed the decision to give IITs complete control over JEE Advanced, but at the same time expressed reservations about the top 20 percentile formula. The association termed it as “pro-rich” and “detrimental to the interests of students from rural India”.

JEE rules changed: Class 12 results to count for first time

The joint council of the Indian Institutes of Technology ( IITs) and National Institutes of Technology (NITs) have decided to change the procedure for selecting candidates for engineering colleges from 2013.

Under the proposed new format for Joint Entrance Examination (JEE), students will be selected both on the basis of their entrance test as well as their class 12 board examination results.

PTI

The Education Ministry proposes to implement the new format from 2013 onwards, a ranking list will be prepared based on Class XII results and the main test.

For admission to all the centrally funded institutes, there would be 40 percentage weightage for performance in Class XII (after normalisation of marks), 30 percent weightage to performance in main and 30 percent in the advanced test.

In case of IITs, there would be a filtering process involved. The board results and the main test will be given 50 percent weightage each. Only the top 50,000 students will be selected for the advance test after taking into account their
performance in the board results and the main result.

It was also decided, that a single entrance examination test will be held for admission into central government’s engineering institutes such as IITs, NIT and Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs) from the next year.

But students are not quite happy with the new procedure. In an interview to NDTV, an IIT aspirant said, “This is absolutely wrong. How can you select IIT students on the basis of Board results? The pattern and level of Board exams is entirely different.”

HRD Minister Kapil Sibal said, “IIT, NIT and IIIT council decide to have joint entrance test for engineering colleges. IIT had resisted to have a joint test with other institutions. Which is why a two tier system has been evolved.” Ahead of today’s meet between IIT’s and NIT’s in which the decision was taken,  Sibal on Sunday met the IIT faculty federation and is understood to have sought to resolve differences arising out of the government’s move to hold a single entrance test for undergraduate technical courses.

“The merit only in advanced examination will be considered for admission” to the IITs, Sibal said.  At the same time, he added, the IIT council has agreed to move to the other system by 2015

Most of the IIT senates and faculty federation are opposing admission to the undergraduate engineering programmes under the new format which will replace IIT-JEE and AIEEE.

The IIT council had met on 12 May during which it is believed to have insisted that the proposed single entrance test may be used as the screening test for admissions to the undergraduate program.

IIT coaching vs classrooms: Sibal has to improve schooling first

The new common entrance test for national technical institutions such as IITs, NITs and IIITs, will at least partially bring back the importance of class room education and render a big blow to the mega buck IIT coaching-industry that has grown exponentially over the years.

At the same time, the emphasis on the marks of class 12 exams might lead to a new rat-race that might benefit private capital and endanger the aspirations of poor and rural kids.

For millions of children in the country, IITs and NITs carry a hallowed premium because they are the only options for public funded world-class higher education. Since the admission to these institutions are based only on objective type entrance tests, a large number of school children, often with the connivance of school managements, abandon class room education and end up in coaching classes.

The coaching classes, synonymous with some institutions in Andhra Pradesh, Rajastan and Bihar with high hit-rates as well as a national network, put the kids through a gruelling drill spanning two-three years to crack the test.

The focus at these institutions is not on academics or learning the subject well, but on correctly answering as many questions as possible. They train the kids in a process, not necessarily on what that process is based on.

The new common entrance test for national technical institutions such as IITs, NITs and IIITs, will at least partially bring back the importance of class room education. AFP

The Joint Entrance Examination, better known as JEE, is the toughest engineering entrance test in the country. The test is so competitive that a candidate correctly answering even 35% of the questions in 2012 have found entry into the rank list, although it doesn’t necessarily guarantee admission. The five old IITs have consistently topped the engineering institutions in the country and together form the citadel that at least half a million competitive teenagers fantasise about every year.

Of late, experts have expressed serious concerns over the plunging quality of the students of IITs, which have benchmarked or rather branded excellence of Indian technical education across the world. Former Infosys chairman NR Narayanamurthy said last year that “they (the candidates) somehow get through the JEE but their performance in IITs, at jobs or when they come for higher education in institutes in the US is not as good as it used to be.”

Speaking at the Pan-IIT summit in New York in October 2011, he also said that except for the top 20 percent who crack the tough IIT exam and can stand among the best anywhere in the world, the quality of the remaining 80 percent of students leaves much to be desired.

He singularly blamed the coaching classes for the debacle. “Thanks to the coaching classes today, the quality of students entering IITs has gone lower and lower.”

Murthy should know because Infosys hires a large number of students from IITs.

Today, many schools have outsourced their classrooms to private IIT training franchisees, that too at a huge premium leading to the creation of two classes of students in the same school – those who can afford the exclusive IIT-training classes within the school itself and the others who stay back in regular classrooms. Needless to say, most of the privileged zones within the schools are air-conditioned and plush while the rest are cattle-class.

The private classes are mostly run by the faculty of the franchisees and not the school teachers. This system pushes trained and qualified school teachers, who are non-JEE compliant, into teaching the second-class students. Students of this upper class parallel system may score well in JEE, but their CBSE/board (class 12) marks take a beating.

However archaic the curriculum may be, class XII education is the foundation on which the future academics of children depend. Even with all its drawbacks, it sets the baseline for knowledge on the subjects the children choose to pursue. Compromising on them often compromises the quality of excellence in higher education. It could be one of the reasons why our IITs produce fewer PhDs, as highlighted by Murthy.

The new JEE is in fact an attempt to arrest the coaching-industry driven slide towards cracking entrance tests as well as to reduce the multiple tests that the children need to take. The new system will give equal weightage for class 12 marks and will also integrate exams for IITs, NITs and IIITs into a single enterprise.

For the IITs, the admission will give equal weightage to the class 12 marks and the JEE. However, the students will have to take two JEE – first the preliminary and then the advanced JEE.

In simple words, students who take the JEE will be initially evaluated with 50 percent weightage for class 12 and 50 percent for the entrance exam. A fixed number of students (say, five times the admissible number) will be selected through this process and will be asked to write an advanced JEE. The candidates who top this test will find admission to the IITs. While the preliminary JEE will be objective, the nature of the advanced JEE is yet to be decided.

For other institutions such as NITs and IIITs, it will be a 40/30/30 formula. Means 40 percent for class XII , 30 percent for JEE and another 30 percent for advanced JEE.

Besides compelling students to focus on subject matter, the new system will also reduce the entrance burden on the kids. Now they write two very competitive tests – JEE and AIEEE, for admission into IITs and NITs. Next year onwards, they got to write only one JEE.

The main opposition to the new formula has come from coaching institutions such as the “Super 30” in Bihar, which has set a global example for training poor, rural students in cracking the JEE.

Anand Kumar, the founder of the centre with a near 100 percent success rate, said the new format will put rural students at a great disadvantage. He said that the new system will force the students to undergo three types of coaching – one for the preliminary, another for advanced-JEE and the third for class 12 itself. While his argument is based only on the contestable indispensability of coaching, he is right on the quality of schooling. According to him, rural areas do not have good quality schools that will ensure that they get good marks in class 12.

Perhaps, the new exam will be the beginning of a tectonic shift in the purpose and quality of school education in India. The premium on school leaving marks will lead to a huge demand for good schooling. If Kapil Sibal is indeed sincere in improving the quality of education this is the time to work at it.

He needs to instantly look at improving the quality of school education, which will require massive government investment and reforms. Otherwise, as happened in higher and technical education in the recent past, private sector will find a more lucrative market in school education and will push millions of poor and rural kids out of the system.

The detractors might even allege that the new JEE is a ploy to make school education more attractive to private investment, which will definitely sound the death knell for poor and rural students.

It’s only the deeds of Kapil Sibal and his team that will be able to answer these allegations. They should ensure that while they seek to improve one part of the system, there is intimate attention paid to the complex changes that it might lead to because social transformations are not easy and there are no short cuts.

अब IIT, NIT, IIIT के लिए होगी साझा प्रवेश परीक्षा

-बढ़ गया 12वीं के नंबरों का महत्व
-अच्छा इंजीनियर बनना है तो बारहवीं में भी लाने होंगे अच्छे नंबर

नई दिल्ली : आईआईटी, एनआईटी, आईआईआईटी जैसे संस्थाओं में इंजीनियरिंग संकाय में दाखिला प्राप्त करने की चाहत रखने वाले छात्रों को अब 2013 से नये प्रारूप के तहत परीक्षा देनी होगी जिसमें 12वीं कक्षा में परिणाम को भी तवज्जो दी जायेगी। मानव संसाधन विकास मंत्री कपिल सिब्बल ने आज आईआईटी, एनआईटी और आईआईआईटी की संयुक्त परिषद की बैठक के बाद इसकी घोषणा की। सिब्बल ने स्वीकार किया कि आईआईटी की ओर से इस विषय पर विरोध किया गया था।

गौरतलब है कि आईआईटी सेनेट और विशेषतौर पर शिक्षक संघ ने नये प्रारूप का विरोध किया था। बहरहाल सिब्बल ने कहा कि आईआईटी और अन्य केंद्रीय संस्थाओं में छात्रों के चयन की प्रक्रिया अलग अलग होगी हालांकि सभी को नये प्रारूप के तहत परीक्षा देनी होगी। नयी व्यवस्था आईआईटी-जेईई और एआईईईई का स्थान लेगी। छात्रों को पहले मुख्य परीक्षा में बैठना होगा, इसके बाद इसी दिन एडवांस टेस्ट लिया जायेगा।

सभी केंद्रीय वित्त पोषित संस्थाओं में दाखिले के लिए छात्रों के 12वीं कक्षा के परिणात को 40 प्रतिशत तवज्जो दी जायेगी।
जबकि मुख्य परीक्षा में प्रदर्शन को 30 प्रतिशत और एडवांड टेस्ट में प्रदर्शन को 30 प्रतिशत तवज्जो दी जायेगी।

आईआईटी के मामले में दाखिले के संबंध में अलग छंटनी प्रक्रिया अपनायी जायेगी। 12वीं बोर्ड परीक्षा परिणाम और मुख्य परीक्षा में प्रदर्शन को 50.50 प्रतिशत तवज्जो दी जायेगी। बोर्ड परीक्षा और मुख्य परीक्षा में प्रदर्शन को ध्यान में रखने के बाद केवल शीर्ष 50 हजार छात्रों को एडवांड टेस्ट के लिए चुना जायेगा। सिब्बल ने कहा, आईआईटी में एडवांड परीक्षा में प्रदर्शन के आधार पर मेधा सूची तैयार की जायेगी। बहरहाल, उन्होंने कहा कि आईआईटी परिषद ने इस दूसरी व्यवस्था को 2015 से अपनाने को सहमति व्यक्त की है।

नये प्रारूप के तहत जेईई मुख्य परीक्षा में बहु विकल्पों पर आधारित प्रश्न पूछे जायेंगे जबकि जेईई एडवांस की प्रकृति और रूपरेखा आईआईटी की संयुक्त नामांकन बोर्ड तय करेगी। इंजीनियरिंग की साझा प्रवेश परीक्षा का नया प्रारूप सीबीएसई और सीएफटीआई मिलकर तैयार करेगी।

जेईई एडवांड के संबंध में आईआईटी का संयुक्त नामांकन बोर्ड के हाथ में प्रश्नपत्र तैयार करने, मूल्यांकन और मेधा सूची तैयार करने आदि का सम्पूर्ण नियंत्रण होगा। जबकि सीबीएसई परीक्षा का संचालन करने में प्रशासनिक सहयोग प्रदान करेगी। जेईई मुख्य परीक्षा के संदर्भ में विस्तारित संयुक्त नामांकन बोर्ड में एनआईटी, राज्य सरकार के प्रतिनिधियों आदि को शामिल किया जायेगा।

मंत्रालय के अधिकारी ने बताया कि पांच जून को राज्यों के शिक्षा मंत्रियों की बैठक में साझा राष्ट्रीय परीक्षा की प्रक्रिया पर चर्चा की जायेगी। राज्यों को इस व्यवस्था में शामिल होने और 12वीं कक्षा के परिणाम के प्रारूप तय करने की छूट होगी। (एजेंसी)

12th : How they got good marks