Barnes & Noble Inc introduced a new 'Nook' to compete against Amazon.com Inc's Kindle Fire, entering the lower-end tablet war with a device that has more memory and speed but also costs $50 more.
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Friday, November 11, 2011
Guide Lines For The Good PHD..
Have you bought or earned your PhD?
A PhD programme gives you a chance to push the frontiers of human knowledge. Unfortunately, this prestigious degree has fallen prey to commercialism.
Going by some of the recent newspaper advertisements for some universities, a PhD should be the easiest degree to earn in India. No screening tests and interviews, no coursework, and no rigorous assessment of research work. Just a Master’s degree in hand and a pre-determined waiting period will lead you to a doctorate!
Demand for PhD degrees has gone up after University Grant Commission (UGC) accepted PhD as a substitute for National Eligibility Test (NET); there are now more opportunities for doctorates to get employed in higher educational institutions. It’s no surprise then that a number of universities started offering PhD programmes by distance mode much before UGC could set guidelines for them.
“It’s now an open secret that anyone can virtually buy a PhD degree. You just need to pay two to three lakhs to the right person. In some universities, registration, coursework, thesis and viva voce are all effectively managed,” says Dr. Sushil Upadhyay, Assistant Professor at Uttarakhand Sanskrit University.
There are many universities which do not have adequate infrastructure and faculty for even postgraduate-level teaching, but have been offering programmes like PhD and DSc. Mazhar Husnain, a research scholar at Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University, says most of these universities target students who fail to get a place in premier institutions.
What is a good PhD?
A good PhD programme demands rigorous coursework in addition to working on the thesis. JNU-Delhi, for example, requires the research scholar to undertake five to seven assignments on an average, including a seminar/ research paper. The Centre for Development Studies - Thiruvananthapuram, a social science research institution that has a tradition of interdisciplinary research, requires 18-24 assignments to be completed over two years. Coursework helps anchor a researcher in the subject area and aids his growth.
The thesis can be of varying quality across institutions. And nowhere in the country refereed publications are essential for the award of the degree. Such a requirement would go a long way in obviating the problem of researchers submitting low quality work.
Norms for PhD
PhD is the highest degree in the education system which gives you a chance to push the boundaries of human knowledge. According to UGC Regulations (2010) on minimum qualifications for appointment of teachers and other academic staff in universities, NET/ SLET/ SET shall remain the minimum eligibility condition for recruitment of assistant professors in universities. However, candidates, who have been awarded a PhD in accordance with UGC norms, shall be exempted from the requirement of NET/ SLET/ SET. Besides, a PhD continues to be a qualification for all appointments of professors and associate professors through direct recruitment in universities.
Taking advantage of the freedom that the UGC allows them to set the criteria for selecting supervisors for PhD programmes, some universities have, unfortunately, allowed lax supervision, leading to decline in the quality of PhD. UGC requires admission into PhD programme to be based strictly on the results of entrance/screening test and interview along with a six-month full-time and compulsory pre-PhD coursework. Thus, a direct admission into PhD will not be in line with UGC rules. The thesis produced by a research scholar should also be evaluated by at least two experts, out of which at least one should be from outside the State. After this regulation was introduced, most of the State universities started conducting entrance test for doctorate programmes and making some changes in the way they used to conduct such programmes.
Hundreds line up for DU placements
Its placement time in Delhi University and the zeal among students needs no explanation. The number of candidates registered in the central placement cell has also increased.
The placement season has kicked off in all individual colleges across Delhi University. This year, the packages are expected to rise steadily. The placements began on 8th November for the final year and post graduate students. The event saw a large student turn –out this year, in comparison to the previous year.
Reports from the Times of India suggests that about 21,000 students have registered in the central placement cell this year, the number including students from the School of Open Learning and Non Collegiate Board for Women’s Education. However, of these, 18,000 students are from regular colleges. Due to such a large number, most of the companies turned back, collecting resumes from students. “Day one was a good experience, though some companies asked for resumes instead of recruiting students because of the heavy rush,” said Gurpreet Singh Tuteja, deputy dean, Students’ Welfare.
On the first day, Vice Chancellor Dinesh Singh gave the students a pep talk before the companies began their recruitment drives. The four companies that were lined up for day one were Aakash Institute, Jaipur Rugs, Naukri.Com and Teach For India. At the end of the first day, a job portal hired 22 candidates for their sales and marketing division, while 3 other companies, one being an NGO have gone back with resumes. At the end of the day, 22 students- 18 girls and 4 boys found their dream jobs, while the others had to wait longer for their turn.
Adding to the anxiety, for the first time an international company has confirmed its presence in the placement in the next round, scheduled for 29th January 2012. A Japanese organization – ‘Uniqlo’ will hire students and send them on training, after which they will be placed globally.
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Leave your iPad at home, travel with an Indian tablet
The UbiSlate 7 touch screen tablet includes a 2GB memory card and has a battery life of three hours. Read more: …
Still picking the sand out of iPad's last beach holiday adventure?
A sibling of the world's cheapest tablet computer -- the Aakash, launched in India last month -- promises a cheaper, worry-free and therefore travel-friendly alternative for mobile computing.
The tablet's "proudly made in India" and the base version (meant for students) was launched on October 5. It was christened the Aakash tablet, after the Hindi word for sky.
London-based DataWind, a leading provider of wireless web access, will make a commercial variant of the Aakash available in India by the end of November.
The varient will have a less romantic shelf name of UbiSlate 7. It's currently available for pre-order atwww.aakashdatawind.com.
UbiSlate 7 costs US$60, or a maximum retail price of Rs 2,999, including all taxes and a 12-month warranty.
Dubbed the computer version of the Tata Nano car, the 7-inch touch screen tablet promises a high definition video processor, Wi-Fi Internet and two full-sized USB ports.
The UbiSlate 7 offers the same features as the Aakash tablet: Web browsing, multimedia games and also doubles up as an e-book reader and instant messenger through Nimbuzz Webchat, a popular free call and messaging app.
The only difference is that UbiSlate 7 will have a cellular mode for web access on-the-go, with Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) and General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) enabled.
Future products will include a mobile phone version of the device and a larger 10-inch screen.
"This is not only a concept that applies to India, but has ignited the imagination of governments around the world. The Aakash is proudly made in India, and is destined to revolutionize computing and Internet access for the world," says Suneet Singh Tuli, CEO, DataWind.
Impressed? Now let's see if it doubles as a Frisbee.
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