Open online courses
Futurelearn has launched a unique social online learning experience, delivering free university courses to learners around the world. The first UK-led provider of massive open online courses encourages social learning and is optimised for use on mobile devices. Simon Nelson, CEO of Futurelearn said: “Britain has a unique historic bond with India so it was only natural that the country is first we visited. This will be a uniquely engaging and enjoyable user experience and will provide people with an opportunity to enjoy courses from the best universities in Britain and elsewhere in the world, for free, on their mobile phones, tablet or desktop computers. We hope millions of people across India will join us and share their experience with learners.”
ICOFP invites applications
International College of Financial Planning (ICoFP) invites applications for distance learning programme in MBA financial planning. The programme offers the advantage of classroom- like environment via virtual classrooms and e-learning. The course incorporates curriculum of all modules of CFPCM certification, a global qualification. Course duration is two years. Minimum eligibility is a graduation in any discipline. The programme includes e-learning content with online material with audio-visual support designed for self study, books for all the subjects and 160 hours of interactive online teaching during the tenure. last date to apply is September 30, 2013.
Award conferred
Mexus Education Pvt ltd, an education innovation enterprise, announced that its innovative solution, Iken Design & Technology lab has won the India Didactics Association Awards-2013 for Integration of Holistic Development in Education. The awards which celebrate the highest levels of contribution, excellence and achievement by companies in the field of education and training was recently held in Mumbai. The focus of the event was on primary and vocational training.
E-Commerce Symposium
The JRE School of Management hosted a successful Digital Marketing and E-Commerce Symposium. At the center of discussion were the latest trends in digital advertising, mobile marketing and social media strategies in the wake of current negative growth market conditions. The symposium sought to provide participants with a networking environment as well as give them a chance to learn about global innovations and trends from the experts. With the growth of internet in India, digital marketing has assumed a central role in cost- effective marketing. Having a global reach at a lower cost, digital marketing is proving to be the best bet for entrepreneurs in the ongoing currency crisis. It provides results that can be easily tracked, measured and hence improved.
The panel discussions were on two topics — morning panel discussion was on How Digital Marketing is creating jobs even in the times of Economic Slowdown moderated by Ritesh Singh, former creative director, Starcom and the afternoon panel discussionChallenges in the field of E- Commerce moderated by Umang Kumar, CEO gaadi.com.
Varsities sign moi
A memorandum of intent (MoI) was signed between APG Shimla University (APGSU) and Whitireia Institute of Technology (WIT) of New Zealand. The MoI will provide the starting platform for allowing students to gain credits while studying at APG Shimla University into study programmes at WIT, it will also allow faculty and student exchange programmes as well as new resource exploration opportunity for both the universities.
The MoI will last for 12 months after which it will be converted to a MoU with mutual consent of both the universities. Dr Devendra Pathak, vice-chancellor APGSU and Chris Gosling deputy chief executive represented APGSU and WIT respectively. The students are looking forward to the opportunities that the MoI will provide. Commemorating this signing, students of the university presented a cultural program followed by the guiding and closing speeches by Dr Pathak and APGSU’s registrar Rajan Sehgal. At the signing event, the potential that this MoI, opportunities the students can avail and the advantages that the faculty was discussed at length.
MOU signed
Dr Rajneesh Arora, vice-chancellor, Punjab Technical University (PTU) was in Delhi recently to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Indian Society for Technical Education (ISTE) for training of faculty and students. The MoU was signed by Dr Arora and Dr R Murugesan, president, ISTE. Speaking at the event Dr Rajneesh Arora, vice-chancellor, Punjab Technical University said: “Technology always moves at fast pace. There are so many developments that move out of the labs to the shop shelves within a matter of few years. Hence, it is pertinent that we have these train-the-trainer sessions for the faculty such that they can update themselves and further impart this contemporary knowledge to students. The objective behind inculcating ethical and human values is that we want to churn out engineers that are not just skilled but socially conscientious as well.
Under this set-up, ISTE shall be organising faculty development programmes in different streams of engineering for PTU faculty.
Hiring drop in it sector
Fragile market sentiment and a drop in hiring by the Information Technology (IT) companies has impacted the top to mid-level IT training institutes in India. It has been found that the country’s IT sector is projected to reduce its hiring plans by up to 22 pe recent to 150,000 in the current fiscal year. Industry sources say that an increasing automation of lower-end jobs and low attrition in the industry has contributed to this fall. It might be noted that until three years ago, 80 per cent of hiring was centered on acquiring technical skills, but this has dropped to about 40 percent.
With global uncertainty, automation, and non-linear growth, one-third of students run the risk of remaining unemployed. While most of the IT training institutes are trying to adjust to the falling number of students by diversifying into non-IT related sectors, there are others like Appin Technology labs (ATl) which has stayed in the IT domain by adapting to the changing landscape. “Keep in the mind the decline in jobs and the resultant fall in student registration, we have launched products and services on parallel tracks to soften the blow and at the same time, keep its franchises afloat,” ATl spokesperson Neha Kumar said.
Promotion on social media networking
With yet another financial crisis of 2013 after 2008, the dynamics and the way the corporate world functions has apparently been altered. A critical change is happening in the way the businesses are spending money on shielding reputation by providing a positive online landscape. The new trend that has emerged in recent times suggest that they are moving away from dicey and non-measurable marketing and public-relation strategies in favour of corporate reputation management through online and social media.
The companies have started using their online reputations as an asset to expand the flow of investments, gain customers and fuel market share. In today’s warp-speed world, one wrong move can flood social networking websites like Twitter and Facebook. Corporations have started paying attention to proactive brand reputation management as opposed to enlisting Public Relation firms to deal with criticism and crises.
Online reputation repair and risk management firm aReputation’s (www.areputation.co.uk) spokesperson David Miller pointed out, “India’s top 1,000 corporate houses require end-to-end online reputation management, both as a reinstation to print and television users who also use Internet, as well as a mechanism to reach out to the 100 million-plus Internet users who spend majority of their waking time on the internet, laptops and smartphones.
It manages and helps launch a business’ social media presence by developing brand strategy, creating relevant profiles and posting to and monitoring those profiles on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, etc. “Our USP remains online reputation repair and crisis management. The competition with regard to online reputation is stiff and only those who understand the larger picture tend to leave the rest behind,” Miller said an event that was held recently.