499 - News on IIT JEE Advanced Dated 4th June 2013

Students find 'Advanced'IIT test challenging The Hindu Scores of bright young aspirants to the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), who made it to the 'Advanced' section of the two-step entrance process, appeared for their test in Bangalore on Sunday. This is the first-ever Joint Entrance ... See all stories on this topic »

IIT aspirants find nothing new in changed pattern Times of India LUCKNOW: As expected, joint engineering examination (JEE)-Advanced didn't spring any surprise for Indian Institute of Technology aspirants. In Lucknow, over 2,500 candidates took JEE Advanced held at seven centres in two shifts on Sunday. Nationally ... See all stories on this topic »

IIT aspirants found maths a challenging IIT entrance exam Times of India The JEE (Advanced) is a gateway for admissions to the coveted Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs). Tejas Mahajan, who appeared for the exam, said, "The maths paper was lengthy, which added to the pressure. I don't know how much I will manage to ... See all stories on this topic »

New marking scheme surprises IIT-JEE aspirants Hindustan Times JEE-Advanced is the second level exam for the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) aspirants. Around 1.27 lakh candidates who cleared JEE-Main were eligible to appear for the exam. Students were surprised to find negative markings introduced for ... See all stories on this topic »

JEE Advanced makes students sweat it out Daily News & Analysis About 1.5 lakh students appeared for the Joint Engineering Examination (JEE) Advanced for admissions to the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), that was held across the country on Sunday. As expected, most students found the examination hard to crack. See all stories on this topic »

JEE Advanced 2013: Answer keys and analysis Indian Colleges The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) will be releasing the answer keys of JEE Advanced exam 2013 soon. The answer key will be available on the official website for IIT Delhi www.jeeadv.iitd.ac.in. All appeared candidates may download the answer ... See all stories on this topic »

JEE math paper toughest The New Indian Express Many students who wrote the exam to gain admission to the premier Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) — which comprised two papers of 180 marks each — were taken aback by the negative marking system in Paper II and the difficulty level in ... See all stories on this topic »

JEE negative marking dispirits aspirants Postnoon Clearing the JEE Advanced exam will give them entry into Bachelors in Engineering, B Tech and architecture courses at the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs), National Institutes of Technology ... See all stories on this topic »

JEE (Advanced) evokes mixed reactions from students and teachers Daily Bhaskar New Delhi: The joint entrance examination-advanced (JEE-Advanced) was held fo rthe first time in the country, on Sunday with 1.5 lakh students vying for 10,000 seats in the prestigious Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs). The examination has been ... See all stories on this topic »

12k take JEE Advanced test in Gujarat Times of India Aspirants taking JEE Advanced can seek admissions to Bachelors in Engineering, BTech and architecture courses at the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), National Institutes of Technology (NITs), Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs ... See all stories on this topic »

Over 1 lakh appear for JEE advanced Deccan Herald The difference between the previous years' and this year's entrance examinations is that earlier, entry to the Indian Institutes of Technology was based on the performance in IIT-JEE examination papers subject to obtaining minimum 60 per cent ... See all stories on this topic »

JEE Advanced: Students find Maths tough The New Indian Express The first ever Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Advanced in its new format for entry into 16 Indian Institutes of Technology and Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad, was held in the city on Sunday. ... first paper,” said Abhijit, who prefers IIT Bombay or ... See all stories on this topic »

Harshveer, Dipti do Sangrur proud Hindustan Times "I used to study for 10 hours daily," said Harshveer, who aspires to do engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT). "Besides my parents, my teachers also guided me," he added. Principal Rakesh Kumar Garg said Harsh had been a student of ... See all stories on this topic »

Why Do Indian Students Take Up Engineering Degrees? Asian Scientist Magazine India's engineers have gained worldwide attention for two reasons. First, graduates from the prestigious Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), many of whom left to the US for higher education from the 1960s onwards and stayed behind, began making a ... See all stories on this topic »

498 - JEE Advanced makes students sweat it out - dna

JEE Advanced makes students sweat it out

Monday, Jun 3, 2013, 13:20 IST | Place: Bangalore | Agency: DNA

DNA Correspondent  

Maths, negative marking stump aspiring engineers.

IIT aspirants discuss the question paper after the exam at National College in Bangalore on Sunday. - A Veeramani/DNA

About 1.5 lakh students appeared for the Joint Engineering Examination (JEE) Advanced for admissions to the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), that was held across the country on Sunday.

As expected, most students found the examination hard to crack.

“Unlike the JEE examination, it was tough this time and there was negative marking for some of the questions and I found that quite unexpected. I found the multiple-objective question answer portion to be the most difficult.

“Students taking the exam in the future should not lose touch with the syllabus and get caught up in vacation time because this exam is a good two months after the boards,” said a city-based student, Sudheendra R, who scored 95.83% in the 12th board exams and secured a score of 240 in the JEE Main.

L Subramanian, a student from Delhi Public School, South, who has scored 91.6% in the 12th boards, said the many mock tests he took before the examination helped him tackle the JEE Advanced.

“I would say that the examination was actually not as difficult as I had expected it to be. In fact, the several mock tests I took were harder than this exam and I had also mentally prepared for negative marking,” he said.

Subramanian, a student of TIME institute, said he is planning to applying to IIT Madras if he clears the exam.

“As we had some time after the boards, I was able to study more and prepare better for this examination, but I found maths question rather hard,” he said.

497 - ‘IITs are incubators of intellectual prowess’ - The Hindu

‘IITs are incubators of intellectual prowess’

HYDERABAD, May 31, 2013

STAFF REPORTER

Veteran IIT professor Madhav Madhira at the panel discussion organised by The Hindu in Hyderabad on Thursday.

Devi Karunasri, a mechanical engineer of the IIT-Madras 2008 batch at the panel discussion organised by The Hindu in Hyderabad on Thursday.

R.Balasubramanian, Science Infrastructure consultant and professor of the G. Narayanamma Institute of Technology at the panel discussion organised by The Hindu in Hyderabad on Thursday.

R.S. Naveen Kishore, of the 2012 batch of IIT-Hyderabad at the panel discussion organised by The Hindu in Hyderabad on Thursday.

Sailesh Akella, an alumus of IIT-Madras at the panel discussion organised by The Hindu in Hyderabad on Thursday.

Sanjay Gadhalay, Business Consultant and IIT alumnus at the panel discussion organised by The Hindu in Hyderabad on Thursday.

T. Muralidharan, IIT alumnus and convenor of the panel discusssion organised by The Hindu in Hyderabad on Thursday.

The panel discussion, organised by The Hindu, comprised IIT alumni who dwelt at length on the various facets of the prestigious institutes

The role of IITs may not be limited to imparting core subject knowledge, or churning out candidates for the most happening jobs in Information Technology and Finance.

With even secretarial posts in the Central government being increasingly occupied by IIT graduates and postgraduates, the prestigious institutes have come to be viewed as incubators of intellectual prowess.

So felt ex-IITians who gathered at The Hindu office on Thursday for a panel discussion ahead of ‘Choice 2013’— the career counselling workshop for IIT and NIT aspirants. The workshop, sponsored by State Bank of India, will be held at Ravindra Bharathi on June 11.

Madhav Madhira, who has over 50 years of teaching experience in various IITs, sought to remind that IITs were initially set up to be research hubs, and not teaching institutions. What had earlier been a ‘by-product’ has become more successful eventually, dousing the institutions in its aura.

For those who pursue a career in the same stream, the knowledge of the subject becomes an added advantage by its relevance in the field, while those who arrive merely for the IIT tag will not go empty-handed either, the panellists sought to assure.

Five-year integrated courses are relevant for the first set of students, as they will get a better opportunity to explore and hone their skills in the core subjects, said Devi Karunasri, a young mechanical engineer from IIT-Madras.

Students who have enrolled for the four-year B.Tech can later shift to the five-year integrated course, but it is not possible the other way round.

Old versus new

On the choice between old and new IITs, there was the near-unanimous view that each had its own benefits. In terms of infrastructure and facilities, old IITs score over the new ones by huge margins, but the quality of faculty remains the same.

While emphasis has shifted from teaching to research in older institutions, the newer ones are more enthusiastic about pedagogy. R.S. Naveen Kishore, a 2012 graduate from the new IIT-Hyderabad, agrees that there were a few problems for the first batch, but his juniors had better facilities such as computer labs and drawing halls.

These hitches are to be resolved once the new and technologically-advanced campus comes up by 2014. Students in the old IITs, meanwhile, may have to make do with older equipment.

To a Facebook query on NITs in the North East, students were advised to keep them as last option, as their development would take more time. IIT Guwahati, however, has attractive offers for faculty, and hence may be considered, the panellists said.

Faculty shortage

The shortage of faculty is certainly an issue to reckon with, as a class of 120-140 students would be dealt with by a single faculty member in the first year. Sailesh Akella from IIT Madras said only one class is fortunate to listen directly to the lecturer, even as two other classes would just hear him through video streaming. However, at a few IITs, tutorials are being held after each lecture, which enhances the learning experience. After the first two years, the classes will be completely split stream-wise, with about 40 to 60 students per batch.

Curriculum

All IITs teach basic courses such as Mathematics, Physics, English and drawing during the first year, and a little of engineering and allied courses during the second. The core part of the chosen stream will be taught only in third year, to be taken to advanced level in the final year.

Choice of streams

On students blindly choosing streams based on their ranks, Sanjay Gadhalay, an IITian from the 80s felt the very system of ranking streams based on market preferences is flawed. Students should be allowed to choose the stream after completing two or three years of study, he felt.

Student suicides

The panel also discussed student suicides in IITs due to the pressure to perform.

According to Prof. Madhira, one has to work hard to fail in IIT, as there is relative grading. However, placements are the most compelling phase when students slip into depression.

“There are those who excel in allied activities and some who do good in academics. Those left out of both are usually the ones prone to depression,” Sailesh observed.

T. Muralidharan, an IITian from Youth Employability Services Centre (YESC) — the co-organisers of the panel discussion — moderated the discussion, while Prof. R. Balasubramanian from G. Narayanamma Institute of Technology and Science, engineer-turned-entrepreneur Srinivas Chakravarthi, and infrastructure consultant Chakrapani were the other IITians who participated.

496 - Only 3,000 from state make the cut for IIT test - TOI

Only 3,000 from state make the cut for IIT test

M Ramya, TNN May 8, 2013, 04.32AM IST

CHENNAI: The state boasts of a good school network and several outstanding institutions, but few students qualified for the first JEE (Advanced), Tamil Nadu accounting for only 10% of the successful candidates from the southern states.

A mere 2,643 students from Chennai and 555 students from other parts of the state were among 30,000 students from the southern region who qualified for the test to gain admission to the IITs.

Around 1.5 lakh candidates took the JEE (Main) - the results of which were announced on Tuesday - from across the country and are eligible for the JEE (Advanced).

Scores in the JEE (Main) will be used to determine admission to centrally-funded technical institutions including the National Institutes of Technology, IIITs and some deemed universities.

Students from the southern region, which consists of parts of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, were second only to those from the western region, including Maharashtra, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh.

The Mumbai region beats the south in sheer numbers, with more than 33,000 students qualifying for JEE (Advanced). More than 24,000 candidates from the Delhi region made the cut.

Though engineering is a craze, most students in the state do not appear to have what it takes, especially when it comes to the application of concepts, to ace the JEE (Main), teachers say.

Comment from RB:

Southern Region ( Tamilnadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh) : 30,000 

Western Region (Maharastra, MP, Gujarat etc.) : 33,000)

Nothern Region : 24,000

Are the rest from the Eastern Region?

Will be interesting to see how many finally qualify for IIT admissions from each State/Region

Of the 30,000 from Southern Region, only 3298 are from Tamilnadu. And of the 3298, 2643 are from Chennai city indicating clearly the coaching effect!. In Tamilnadu Board Examination, students from the towns such as Coimbatore, Namakalm Salem, Rasipuram etc. are supposed to be the top rankers, a large number getting over 90% but only 555 have qualified for JEE Advanced from the rest of Tamilnadu. This clearly show how these students get such high marks - through rote learning. These high rankers then get admitted to the state professional institutions since the admissions are based only on marks. We can imagine the kind of professionals they would turn out to be.

495 - Government sets up agency to streamline entrance exams - LiveMint

Government sets up agency to streamline entrance exams

The govt announced the setting up of a National Testing Agency to streamline all high-profile competitions

Prashant K. Nanda 

First Published: Sat, Jun 01 2013. 12 03 AM IST

NTA will be a professional body that will use external test delivery agencies to conduct competitions, according to an HRD ministry official who spoke on condition of anonymity. Photo: Hindustan Times

New Delhi: After successfully completing the first common engineering entrance exam for all central government-funded technical colleges, the government on Friday announced the setting up of a National Testing Agency (NTA) to streamline all such high-profile competitions.

These include the Common Management Aptitude Test (CMAT) and the National Eligibility Test (NET).

The new agency will handle such tests instead of regulators such as the University Grants Commission (UGC), the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), and institutions such as the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs).

“The rationale for setting up the NTA lies in ensuring that multiplicity of entrance examination leading to stress on the students is addressed in a comprehensive manner by formulating a uniform entrance examination for admissions in different branches of higher learning,” the human resource development (HRD) ministry said in a statement.

The ministry also set up a seven-member task force led by Sanjay Dhande, the former director of IIT-Kanpur that will have representatives from CBSE, UGC, AICTE, the National Council of Education, Research and Training (NCERT) and the HRD ministry.

“Among the three wings of education—teaching, learning and evaluation—the third one is the worse off. The effort is to professionalize that and build expertise in this domain,” said Dhande.

“The new agency will be a body like ETS (Educational Testing Service) of the US,” Dhande said.

ETS conducts examinations such as Graduation Record Examination (GRE) and the Test of English as a Foreign Language (Toefl). Evaluation is about building expertise in areas such as psychometry, statistics and domain knowledge and NTA will engage with that, he said.

NTA will be a professional body that will use external test delivery agencies to conduct competitions, according to an HRD ministry official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The official said the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE), NET, the Central Teacher Eligibility Test (CTET) and similar other entrance exams can be conducted by private entities under the supervision of the NTA.

While CMAT is an entrance exam for graduate courses run by B-schools under the AICTE, GATE is an entrance test for postgraduate courses and doctoral programmes in the IITs and the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. GATE is also used by some public sector undertakings (PSUs) to select entry-level candidates.

NET is conducted for determining the eligibility of candidates for junior research fellowships and lectureships at various Indian universities and colleges. Currently GATE is conducted by the IITs, NET by UGC, CMAT by AICTE and CTET by CBSE. More than five million students sit for these tests every year.

The HRD ministry said that the task force will prepare a blueprint for “creating a special purpose vehicle” to take the NTA forward. The ministry expects NTA to start conducting tests in 2014.

The ministry said the plan was discussed with state education ministers in the first week of April.

Besides education regulators and institutes, the ministry has already interacted with a few private testing agencies that can be roped in as test delivery partners.

“We have attended at least two rounds of dialogue and they are open to the idea of partnering private players,” said the head of a testing firm requesting anonymity.

   

First Published: Sat, Jun 01 2013. 12 03 AM IST

494 - Goa gets central nod to set up its first IIT

Goa gets central nod to set up its first IIT June 1, 2013 TEAM HERALD teamherald@herald-goa.com PANJIM: The central government has approved a scheme for setting up the state’s first Indian Institute of Technology on public-private partnership basis at Farmagudi, Union Human Resources Development Minister Dr M M Pallam Raju said, on Friday.  The Union minister also announced 50 percent reservation of seats for Goans at the National Institute of Technology, Goa, which is to be set up at Cuncolim.   Dr Raju, who is in Goa to attend the pan-IIM conference on ‘Emerging issues in management today’, met Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar over setting up of the IIT and to identify land for setting up the NIT permanent unit.  Speaking to media persons after his meeting with the CM, Dr Raju said that land for the purpose would be made available free of cost by the state government, the IIT would be established at a capital cost of Rs 100 to Rs 150 crore to be contributed in the ratio of 85:15 by the Centre and the industry partner respectively. “The Goa government has already identified land at the Farmagudi engineering complex and is in the process of finalizing the private partners,” the Union minister said.  Parrikar also said the government is in the process of drafting tenders for inviting bidders. He said that by December 2013, the construction work of the institution building would commence.  “The IIT is being set up as per the central government scheme, wherein Goa is one amongst 20 states identified for the purpose,” he said.  Setting up IIT would boost the career prospects of students, who have to otherwise move outside Goa, especially Mumbai and Bangalore to pursue their education.  Speaking about NIT Goa, Parrikar said that an area of 300 acres, spanning from Cuncolim to Balli, has been identified by the state to set up permanent infrastructure for the NIT, which presently functions from the Goa Engineering College premises at Farmagudi. “The work for the NIT would also begin from December, this year,” he said.  The NIT, set up in Goa under the central government's 11th five year plan, has started out by offering computer science and engineering, electronics and communication engineering and electrical and electronics engineering, with an intake of 30 students for each stream. The chief minister had in the past said that the permanent land for NIT Goa would be provided only if the Union government assures 50 percent reservation to locals. At present Goa shares the 50 per cent reservation with Daman and Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Lakshadweep.

493 - 25,000 will not give second IIT JEE exam - Hindustan Times

25,000 will not give second IIT JEE exam

Bhavya Dore , Hindustan Times  Mumbai, June 01, 2013

First Published: 01:21 IST(1/6/2013) | Last Updated: 01:27 IST(1/6/2013)

Despite being eligible and clearing the first stage exam for entry into the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), thousands of students will not be following through on the IIT dream and don’t plan to write the second stage exam on Sunday.

Of the 1.52 lakh candidates who cleared the JEE-Main and are eligible for JEE-Advanced, more than 25,000 have not registered and will not be appearing for the exam for various reasons. The last date for candidates who cleared JEE-Main to register for JEE-Advanced was May 13.

This is the first year that students have to clear a two-part exam for entry into the IITs.

“Many candidates filled the forms as Other Backward Class (OBC) candidates but they fall in categories that are on the OBC list in their own states and not in the central list, so they will not be eligible,” said HC Gupta, JEE-Advanced 2013 chairperson.

“The other reason is that this time, Gujarat has declared it will admit candidates only through the JEE-Main, without their own common entrance test. So students who are eligible but only interested in studying in a college in Gujarat have also not registered.”

Gupta estimated there were around 20,000 OBC candidates who hadn’t registered because of the confusion about the OBC eligibility.

General candidates had to get a score of 113 or more out of 360 to qualify for the Advanced exam, for OBCs the cut-off was 70, for scheduled castes, 50 and scheduled tribes, 45.

Once they clear the JEE-Advanced, candidates will be admitted to the IITs, provided they are within the first 20 percentile of students in their respective board.

The score will also be used to determine entry into the National Institutes of Technology and other centrally-funded engineering institutes.