Reading up about news around the IITJEE 2011, I came across this piece where the ‘Super 30 guy‘ praised the changes being brought about this time…and then makes a curious statement saying he made an appeal to “reduce the number of conceptual and analytical questions” to make coaching institutes less of a deciding factor. I thought the whole point of such questions was to take the emphasis away from mechanical ‘solving numericals’ that used to happen earlier.

Why is such a supposedly prominent educationist (he probably deserves that title by now) saying something so counter-intuitive? Could it be that there’s a disconnect here again between rural and urban India? The private-school-going middle class students want analytical questions, whereas students from rural areas might want more numerical questions as it involves, to put it in a way, less parsing of English language to understand and attempt a question.

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Feel so out of touch with what’s going on in India these days. First, “Who’s this Anna chick, then?” and now I find out from one my Code Warrior juniors that the IIT JEE was conducted last weekend – and I had no idea! To be honest, ever since I’ve come to Singapore I have given up any pretence of trying to stay on top of national news. If you think about it, I need to be following national news for India, UK, and Singapore as all three directly affect me; I just don’t have the patience any more to do so. (There used to be a time when I read two newspapers daily, cover-to-cover.)

It was ever thus: a world divided into those with the mental capacity and attention span required to read and digest the day’s news, and to understand the importance of doing so — and  the perpetual children: the proud morons who say things like “I’m not interested in politics” (despite being mortgaged to the hilt) or ask “why should I care about stuff happening in countries thousands of miles away?” (despite those being the countries that own all the debt).

- War, What Is It Good For? Three Points!

And now, I belong to the latter group. One of them, one of them, gooble gobble gooble gobble.

The UK education system is significantly different. I will try to give a brief overview of how the higher education sector is structured in the UK, the procedures involved in applying to universities, how to choose the university and type of degree best suited for you, things to watch out for, et al. There is a lot of material and guidance available for UK and EU students already, so this article’s focus will be on providing guidance to international, non-EU students considering to join UK universities. Caveat emptor, as with anything – this is not ‘official’ advice, merely my notes on this topic.

Why USA is a more popular education destination than the UK?

If there’s one thing American universities are good at, that thing would be marketing themselves aggressively to overseas students. It’s not that you don’t have good UK universities – you’ll find numerous UK universities among world ranking lists.

Speaking from my experience in India, it is common – at least in major cities – for US universities to go touring school campuses themselves or as a part of a consortium to attract more students. Consequently, a lot more students are ‘aware’ of the procedure involved. UK universities on the other hand often limit their outreach to British Council events and events held via ‘education consultants’. This results in only people who are actively seeking information about UK universities to be the ones who bother to think about applying.

Once misconception regarding studying in the UK is that it’s costlier than studying in the US, primarily because the pound sterling is a costlier currency to convert foreign currency into than the US dollar. While this is true, the costs of a UK degree are a few orders of magnitude less than that of US degrees. Read on to find out why.

The thing that I’m trying to say is that if you’ve taken the decision to study overseas, then you should explore your options beyond ‘just USA’. I can provide some guidance (hopefully!) about UK, but do your own research into other destinations such as Europe, Australia, Singapore, et al. You might find something that interests you.

How are degrees structured in UK universities?

If you weren’t aware already, the United Kingdom is split into four separate countries – England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. Most overseas students – and thus in this article, I – stick to universities based in England (sometimes, Wales) so I’ll primarily discuss those. (Yes, the structure of courses is different.)

• Bachelors degrees, regardless of discipline, are usually three years in duration rather than four years as is the norm in many other countries. The exception is Scotland, where degrees are four years in duration – but ‘high school’ education in Scotland ends a year early, so most university undergrads in Scotland are 17 rather than 18 years of age.
• Direct Masters degrees are integrated courses of four-year duration where you join as undergraduate and get your Masters degree after four years. You have the option to switch to the Bachelors degree pathway or switch from a Bachelors degree pathway to direct Masters, usually till year 2 of your degree. As with Bachelors, Scottish direct Masters degrees are a year longer, i.e., five years in duration than the norm elsewhere in UK.
• Masters degrees (for those who already hold a Bachelors degree) are of one or two-year length, depending on whether you’re joining the ‘research’ or ‘taught’ pathway. I won’t discuss this option because my experience is limited to the undergraduate admission process.

The reason that Scottish students start university a year early – and thus often covering topics most overseas students would have already studied in (high) school / ‘sixth form‘ is, I think, a reason overseas students stick to English universities. That, and the misconception that ‘United Kingdom / Britain’ is the same as ‘England’ (It’s not.).

(‘Pathway’ is a term you’ll often hear me mention often. Basically, this term is used to denote the various permutations that combine to make up the final degree structure that you’ll take up at a university here.)

Hold on! There’s another interesting option to discuss – and that’s the ‘sandwich course‘ option that many universities in the UK offer as a course pathway. The sandwich course pathway is called so because between your second year and your final year, you spend a year in placement in industry. You start off with your first two years the same as those on the normal three-year Bachelors degree, then spend your third (chronological) year working for a company related to the course you’re studying. Your university will assist you in looking for these placements, and often have partnership agreements with companies on regular student intake for placement year.

This is an assessed part of your degree, with credits being allotted depending upon your performance on the job. You also get paid for this placement year – anywhere up to 2/3rds to 3/4ths of salary given to graduate employees. So you get to build up your savings and get valuable experience in the industry that adds to your CV when you’re looking for jobs after graduation. This placement year option is different from summer placements; due to the longer period of work, you get to work on multiple stages of projects, get assigned more responsibilities, and in general have more chances to learn. No, I’m not reading this out from university brochures but from the experience of final year students who’ve done placement.

I understand that many of you will be apprehensive of taking up a ‘new’ degree option such as this. That’s perfectly fine – because the pathway is flexible. You have time till starting of your second year to figure out whether you want to opt in for the placement year option or not – and if you’ve already taken sandwich course option when joining university, you can opt out right till the end of second year. Note that exact rules and procedures regarding pathway shift will differ from university-to-university, but what I mentioned is the norm.

How is the higher education sector structured in the UK and how it affects you…

All (legitimate) UK universities are publicly funded (except for the University of Buckingham, but it’s such a minor aberration that we’ll leave that for the while). Universities have complete operational autonomy though and aren’t controlled as such by the government,

Tuition costs for UK students (and to some extent, EU students) is heavily subsidised by the government to a fraction of the ‘real cost’ of the degree. On top of that, most UK/EU students also get need-assessed student loans to cover their tuition and living costs. Effectively, ‘home’ students get an education for practically no immediate expenditure out of their own pocket, but they pay it back to future generations through a ‘graduate tax’ over their working lifetime.

To stray from the topic a bit, the funding model for higher education in the UK is currently undergoing some heated debate especially after the recent general elections here. So far, the funding model has been able to cope up with demand and provided ‘social mobility’ – which means that nobody is disadvantaged by their financial situation to be unable to pursue the degree they want because of the excellent financial support system here. Funding an ever-expanding higher education sector and enabling it to compete with the best in the world is gnawing away at the current model though. There is no doubt that greater funding is needed, but the government cannot afford to pump in more money as it’s facing budget deficits, and the public / student sentiment is strongly against raising fees at all since everyone is so used to the current ‘free lunch’ system. Meanwhile, universities are facing immediate and legitimate financial strain because of funding drying up, and have had to make cutbacks. (You can follow this debate up by searching online.)

…by making financial support hard-to-get for international students

The fact that UK universities are publicly funded has a significant impact on overseas students. Since universities are already stretched out providing financial support to UK/EU students, you won’t full scholarships for undergraduate studies – period. Also, you will be paying the full, unsubsidized cost of the degree.

Here’s where the US seemingly has an advantage – they have state-funded universities where the US government provides financial support; these are often mid-to-low rung but can sometimes be world-class, as the University of California group of universities is. In most state-funded US universities, overseas students will be hard-pressed to get financial support – just like it is here in the UK.

Most top-rung US universities are privately funded institutes which primarily get their funding through endowments from corporations, organizations, alumni et al. Sure, they have fee-paying students, revenue from commercial exploitation of research done – but what allows private US universities the ability to offer significant amount of financial aid (both to home and international students) is this significant corpus that they get from benefactors. Endowments from external sources are practically non-existent in the UK higher education sector.

I’m not saying that you’ll find no scholarship if you apply to UK universities – what I’m saying is that each university has its own fixed amount of scholarship that pays part of your tuition fees and the criteria for getting these scholarships is almost always merit-based. Contrast this with the US, where financial aid is often variable and calculated on a need-based criteria.

The maths involved – working out what finances you need for studying in UK

The previous section might have sounded gloomy, so let’s stop talking in vague terms and put some figures out to compare. Finances are often one of the major deciding factors when overseas students choose to study abroad so it’s useful to discuss this. Tuition fees in UK universities ranges from £8,000-13,000 per year with £4,000-6,000 per year as living costs / expenses (all-inclusive). Living costs / expenses will depend a lot on your personal spending patterns, and how affluent the place where your university is located is. (Living in London is more expensive than other parts of England, for instance.) Universities offer anywhere between £1,000-5,000 as scholarship on a merit-based criteria. (Whether you get this as an ‘entry’ scholarship – right when you join university – or an ‘evaluated’ scholarship – where you’re award this on the basis of your performance in exams, varies.) This scholarship range isn’t necessarily tied to how costly it is to attend a university, i.e., even a ‘cheaper’ university might offer a greater amount in scholarship than a ‘costlier’ university.

Compare this with the costs involved in studying at a US university, which is around $35,000-50,000 per year (tuition and living expenses combined). Every applicant’s case is unique and the scholarship amount that you get will vary – but it’s rare in the current financial climate to get full scholarship. Even universities have acknowledged saying that their endowment funds have been affected by the recession. (Stanford is just one example, you can search up more.)

What is usually the case when you apply to a US university though is they offer you a need-assessed scholarship to pay part of the expenses, with the applicant paying the rest. You can look up the average amount awarded in financial aid by each university on collegeboard.com (if the data has been released), but this is usually $10,000-20,000, per year.

When you consider that a UK degree is of a three-year duration compared to four-years in the US, you might find that the overall financial cost of studying in the UK (over the duration of study) less than that of studying the US even after scholarships (in US) have been factored in. Moreover, if you’re on the ‘placement year’ course pathway (in UK), you get to build up savings too in that particular year.

A word of caution: do not make finances the sole criteria when deciding which university or even which country to choose to go study. This is the question of your education – this is something that you will carry with you for the rest of your life. So don’t hunt for the cheapest bargain and jump on to that university’s ship. The point that I’m trying to make is when you are investing a significant amount of money into your education abroad, it might make more sense to study at a top-rung UK institute in your discipline rather than a mid-rung/low-rung US institute. Most people don’t even come to this ‘evaluation’ stage.

Applying to a UK university

So, you’ve decided to apply to a UK university. The process of going about this is quite streamlined. Every university in the UK handles applications through a centralized system called UCAS (Universities and Colleges Admissions Service). You do not need to pay each university individually for applying to them. You pay a one-time fee to UCAS (£15 or thereabouts) and with that apply to up to five universities. In a way, it’s like the Common Application except that the application is strictly generic with no ‘supplements’ asked for by individual universities.  The UCAS website has all relevant information, but here’s a gist anyway.

• Application deadline is around 30th June on the year you want to join (intake is only done in autumn) but do check this up and see what the exact date is.
• You will need to supply details of any national academic exams you’ve taken in your country. Compulsory. If you are still awaiting any such academic results, submit your application anyway and then fax your results over as soon as they’re announced.
• You will need to supply either TOEFL or IELTS score. Compulsory. Contrary to popular belief, TOEFL is almost universally accepted by all UK universities. There are no ‘penalties’ for supplying TOEFL scores instead of IELTS.
• Statement of purpose, which is an essay explaining why you chose to apply for that particular degree and your motivation in seeking to study abroad. Compulsory. This has to be a generic essay applicable to all universities that you’re applying to, not tailored individually to each university. Don’t mention the universities that you’re applying to.
• Other academic results. SATs, SAT Subject Tests, other standardised exams that you’ve taken.
• Recommendations from school teachers, mentors, employers etc, depending upon your circumstances.

You will need to send authorized copies of academic transcripts by post once you’ve submitted your application online. Decisions are taken on a rolling basis, i.e., as and when applications come in so you don’t have to wait for a fixed date. Usually, it takes two-three weeks for decisions to start trickling in. There can be three possible outcomes:

• Unconditional offer – Accepted
• Conditional offer – Usually given to applicants who are still awaiting exam results. This means that you will get accepted if you meet certain criteria when your academic results are announced. (“At least x% in y subject”, etc.)
• Rejection (hopefully not!)

Once results are in, you need to pick the university you want to go to through the online UCAS system. Once you’ve made your firm choice, the university will initiate the process of sending visa paperwork to you.

(Note that Oxford and Cambridge have own, separate admission procedures and degree structure; I’ve skipped those two and focussed on the rest of the universities that use UCAS. Applying to Oxford and Cambridge is a lot more convoluted for overseas students anyway because of their entry criteria and degree structure.)

How to choose the right universities to apply to

You will need do your research on which universities are best suited for the course that you want to do. Here are some pointers:

• University ranking league tables: UK newspapers publish league tables for university rankings each year. The two main ones that you’d want to check are The Times Good University Guide and The Guardian University Guide. These provide overall and subject-wise league tables ranked according to various criteria. It’s important to check subject-wise rankings, because a university that is ranked highly overall might not have a good department in the particular subject you want to study. Other league tables to check are Sunday Times University Guide and the Complete University Guide. Use these as a starting point but don’t base your decision solely on league table rankings.
• Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) and Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) scores: RAE and QAA assessments are reviews carried out of universities periodically. RAE is assesses the standard of research being carried out (assessed department-wise) while QAA measures academic standards. University league tables often factor in these assessment scores, but you can have a look at the reports yourself too. These are important, officially done assessments so do give some thought to what the figures are for the department in the university you’re looking to join.
• Unistats: Run by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (which is the body that oversees allocation of funds to universities), this site gives data on, among others, student satisfaction surveys. Again, student surveys are factored into league tables but you might want to see the source reports on your own.
• British Council: You will find a British Council library / office in most major cities of Commonwealth countries. You’ll find prospectuses from all universities there that you can go through. (Many universities will post these to you for free thouugh, if you ask them for it or once you apply via UCAS.) For advice on application and visa procedures, you can also attend seminars conducted by the British Council. Check on their website to see if there’s one near you. Even if you don’t attend ‘Education UK’ seminars, once you’ve accepted a university offer do go to the British Council seminars on visa procedures – the British Council / High Commission team is really helpful in answering any doubts you have (and believe me, you’ll have many).

Once you’ve shortlisted some universities, explore their official website to see the courses, facilities, and support options they have on offer.

Avoid going to ‘education consultants’ for advice on where to apply. It might sound lucrative because education consultants don’t charge you anything at all; the reason is that if you join a university recommended by them AND whom they have a partnership with, they get paid commission by the university. (I’m not saying that all universities do this, but many do.) So if you go to an education consultant to figure out where to apply, they’ll try to egg you on to make a choice that is more financially rewarding for themselves. Make your own decision instead.

(US universities don’t pay commission, so you’ll find that the same education consultants will charge you exorbitantly to make applications on your behalf. Here’s a good article on concerns being caused by unscrupulous education agents / admission consultants.)

Getting your visa

So you’ve taken the decision to go to a UK university. You don’t have to worry much about your visa now! Unlike the US visa process, UK’s current visa system is a lot more streamlined and easier for applicants. The best place to get updated information on visa requirements is the UK Border Agency (UKBA) website so don’t go by just what I’ve written here. In a nutshell though, you need to provide your original academic transcripts that you used while applying (these will be returned to you, don’t worry), acceptance letter from your university (‘sponsor’), and financial evidence that to show that you can cover tuition fees for first year + living cost for nine months. You don’t need to provide projections of finances available for future years.

Under the new Tier 4 Point-Based Immigration System, you get assigned points for fulfilling the given criteria, and if these conditions are met you’re granted a study visa; there is no subjectivity in the visa decision process. No need to give interviews (although I think this relaxation is only for applicants from Commonwealth countries; you should check the UKBA site for more information.) You’ll get your visa within a week or two if you satisfy the point-based criteria. Really, visa is the least worrisome stage of going to study in the UK now.

A special note on computer engineering / computer science degrees

As far as I know, no UK institute offers degrees in ‘Software Engineering’ or ‘Computer Engineering’ in the exactly the same sense that US universities do. What you have instead is BSc Computing Science – which is closer in content to IT degrees in other countries. Some do offer BSc Software Engineering, which is like the BSc Computing Science degree in scope but with more theoretical focus than practical. BSc/MSc degrees from computing departments should be accredited by the British Computer Society (BCS).

The equivalent of ‘Computer Engineering’ in content in the UK would be BEng/MEng ‘Computer Systems Engineering (CSE)’ or ‘Electronics and Computer Engineering (ECE)’ (as it’s called in my university). These courses are run by the department/school of electronic engineering in universities here, but the thing is that departments in UK universities tend to be large, encompassing many different pathways each with their own research facilities and modules.

So don’t be confused by the fact that it falls under the electronic engineering department; the degree pathway ‘CSE / ECE’ has the mix of hardware and software modules that ‘computer engineering’ degrees have, and beyond year 1 you have great flexibility in choosing modules that allow you to focus mainly on software-related areas, or if you so want, microprocessors, analog electronics, telecommunications, etc. BEng/MEng degrees should be accredited by the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET). If you opt for the placement year pathway, then that year counts towards the work experience that you need in case you want to get Chartered Engineer (CEng) status that is overseen by the IET.

Final words

I hope this guide informs you of one other choice you have at your disposal once you’ve taken the decision to study abroad – but by all means go ahead and explore others! (Maybe some day I’ll write something on application processes for other countries too.) The intention of this article was to provide guidance, and clear some common misconceptions that potential applicants might have. Whichever university you choose (in whichever country), never base your decision on one single factor – and especially don’t get stuck up at finances and ranking tables. When you’re applying to the top universities in your field of study in any country, it matters more what you do with the opportunity that you’re given and the rich, varied experiences that you have.

Feel free to ask me questions in comments below on anything that I might have missed out or not clarified enough!

The University of Surrey is heading a group of institutions to forge new academic partnerships with Indian universities. HRD Minister Kapil Sibal was here the university on 15th January to ink the deal. Surrey isn’t the only university in this partnership – as other major universities such as University of London, University of Southampton, University of Kent, and University of Sussex would be participating in this partnership too; with University of Surrey as the coordinating institute.

What this does is that it lays down the groundwork for agreements with possibly even more Indian institution. During a lunch I had this semester with Vice Chancellor Christopher Snowden, he spoke in detail about his vision of creating ties with institutions of higher learning globally. Surrey already does world-class research in electronics, space exploration, health and medicine etc – so the idea is that we share our expertise in the fields we are strong in, and in return strengthen our research in fields the partner institution is good in. This is part of an overall plan to push the university higher in overall ranking within the next ten years.

University of Surrey already has existing partnerships with many universities worldwide, but this is a breakthrough from the Indian perspective as this agreement with IISER Pune is the first agreement with an Indian institution. What this allows is the ability for exchange programmes for students and academics to be set up, and research to be conducted in conjunction with partner institutes. Surrey already does study exchanges and research collaboration with its partner institutions; heck, even I’m probably going on an exchange in my second year.

What this does is that it lays down the groundwork for partnerships with an even greater number of universities in India. If I’m not wrong, the recently made partnership is a first of sorts for any because it allows for study exchanges.

PS – The University of Surrey Students’ Union is running a campaign to raise £3000 for Haiti earthquake relief. If you haven’t thought about donating to Haiti relief yet, this is your chance to join in!

Once upon a time there was a kid who was studying in an Uttarakhand college. Unfortunately, despite the fairy tale beginning to this blog post, his life did not follow typical fairy tale trajectory. The guy I am talking about is Aman Kachroo, whose death due to ragging sparked off a chain of events which has culminated in two students being expelled this week from Delhi University’s Kirori Mal College. What that one tragic incident in a small college did was blow to smithereens the excuse that ragging helps in bonding with seniors.

Even I agree and support fruitful interaction with seniors. As long as it is harmless, it is okay. I’m sure that most college seniors who’re ragging don’t go in with the mindset to kill or grievously injure someone. I hope everyone has that much humanity left in them. The problem starts when, intoxicated with the feeling of being in power, a college student(s) who is doing the ragging forgets the point where his actions have crossed a line. Specifically picking up Aman Kachroo’s case, this is what I remember reading in a newspaper report. He was asked to give an introduction in shudh Hindi – now this itself is innocuous, harmless and may I say, a popular form of ragging. I wouldn’t call this ragging per se; it’s the sort of interaction that I’m sure everyone is OK with. Now, Aman’s family had been living in Tanzania for a considerable amount of time and the kid didn’t know much of Hindi. One thing lead to another and in the end he died due to injuries inflicted upon him. I do not know whether this is true or not, but that’s what a newspaper report said.

Post this, the Supreme Court issued directives that ragging in all its forms must be stopped forthwith. Protests have been raised that this is too harsh a measure, that benign forms of interaction should be allowed. Try to understand this issue from the court’s point of view. Can you provide an empirical, unambiguous definition of what ‘safe’ or ‘benign’ ragging is? How do define some action as ‘going too far’? This is further complicated by the fact that ‘damage’ could be both physical and mental. You can have a shot at this – and you’ll realize that this is extremely difficult to do. You could say, in a sense, that ragging extremes are a bit similar to road rage. Both arise from a need to show-off who is in a position of power. And it brings a sea change in a person who otherwise might be quite sociable in any other setting. Typical Dr Jekyll turning into Mr Hyde scenario.

Between the two extremes which the court had at hand – of allowing ragging to go on with the possibility of further such incidents happening and of a total ban – the court decided to choose the latter. I support that decision even though I admit the consequence will be that harmless fresher-senior bonding will be impacted badly. Besides, even if a definition of ‘extreme’ ragging could be reached it would be punitive measure instead of a preventive measure. Won’t do a shitload of good to someone who’s dead or injured. Probably, putting in preventive measures was also on of the points the court considered when passing this directive.

Coming to the controversial decision taken by Kirori Mal College in expelling the accused students. Frankly, they had no choice. Court orders are quite firm that action needs to be taken in case any such incident is reported. In case action isn’t taken, the complainant could have taken college authorities to court over this issue. Maybe the sentence was a bit harsh; the college principal admits he was trying to set an example but he was well within his rights to do so.

Extreme ragging incidents remain under-reported. College authorities will be strict for a few weeks to make sure the court order is implemented; indeed, most freshers are already reporting that hardly any ragging it taking place. Eventually though, colleges will relax monitoring and that is the time when further ‘incidents’ might happen. So the need is also to sensitize seniors to be aware of what the limits are. Also, the need for interactions with seniors is definitely there. Otherwise it will be hard for newcomers to find their way around a place. College authorities themselves should take the initiative to hold sessions where such interactions can take place where anything ‘sensible’ is allowed. You could have counsellors around to ensure that things don’t get out of hand, and in case any fresher wants to back out of any bit then s/he can do so.

Even if a single potential death or serious injury is prevented by the Supreme Court’s order, I think it is worth it.

News coming in today that Kapil Sibal’s plan for introducing medicine and law as courses in IITs has been set to motion. Each ‘old’ IIT is taking on different areas to introduce new courses in. Greater autonomy is being given to IITs along with more funding. IIT Kharagpur is mulling setting up a super-specialty hospital, which probably because a student died there this year because he did not get medical attention on time. Anyway, whatever be the reason, I do think that theoretically it’s a great idea to introduce liberal arts courses in technical colleges in India. I’m speaking not just about IITs but colleges in general should have a more holistic approach to education.

I wonder how many of you are aware of the fact that even institutes best known for science and technology such as Massachusetts Institute of Technology have degrees in English literature, philosophy, music, mass communication, etc. In most colleges / universities abroad the trend is that even in so-called ‘technical’ colleges you will find liberal arts / law / medicine courses. You can migrate from one course to other, take on additional modules in areas you’re interested in. You could join in an engineering course and migrate to an arts course if you want to. Or you could do a double degree – majoring in, say, some branch of engineering and minor in business. You get an incredible amount of flexibility. Thinking that “If colleges try to do too many things at one time, they’ll fail” is fallacious because as these institutions of higher learning have shown us, they definitely haven’t failed. The reason why this ‘branching out’ is needed because in real life, you will need skills in these ‘soft’ areas, not just technical skills. And if you can pick up these skills in college itself, then great!

The problem that I foresee happening in India is that the implementation will get screwed. Not by the government or the institutions – I’m sure they’ll put in their optimum efforts – but probably by the prospective students. Already existing double degree programmes / integrated degree programmes are treated as pariahs when it comes to ranking hierarchy amongst students. It’s weird, because ideally one would think that students would like to get skills in multiple areas. I couldn’t quite find the link to that article right now, but I read on one of the news sites that this year many seats were left vacant in the new IITs because students simply didn’t want to join them. Maybe the same thing will happen with the new arts / medicine / law courses, as has happened with existing technical double degree programmes.

A core problem many students face is that they aren’t aware of what exactly the field they want to join entails or even what they want to do. In this vacuum of information on career advice, most just choose to go with ‘what gets the highest package’ rather than what they could be potentially interested in. I said earlier that providing career counselling to students on a wider scale is probably the way ahead and I still think that’s a good idea. Also, if Indian varsities bring in the kind of flexibility that is available abroad of migrating from course-to-course or at least allowing to take up minors in other areas, then I think that will help a lot in solving the kind of frustration that a student might have if s/he thinks after joining college that that course is not right for them. Besides, skills in multiple areas have practical use in someone’s career.

Hope this initiative gets an enthusiastic response!

Union HRD minister Kapil Sibal recently stated that the government is thinking of doing away with the class 10th Board exams and making them ‘optional’, with just one Board exam in class 12th. In fact, Kapil Sibal also wants to do away with class 12th exams. Makes me wonder whether he’s doing all this just for publicity, now that people bother listening to him as the HRD minister instead of minister for science and technology. Frankly, I don’t think that’s a really good idea. I’m sorry if you’re someone studying in class 10th and below but listen kid, you really need that exam.

Sure, the Board exams do generate a bit of tension among students. That’s just how life is. Life throws challenges at you and you are supposed to learn to surmount those challenges. There isn’t a magic wand to wish away and make some challenge in life ‘optional’. A nationwide standardized exam helps everyone find out where they stand vis a vis a student in some other corner of the country or your classmate standing right next to you.

Let’s assume for a moment that this hare-brained scheme goes ahead and the class Xth Board exams are actually abolished. What exactly is that going to achieve in ‘reducing tension’? Absolutely nothing at all! In class 12th, students are thinking of what career they want to take up, what college they want to join, preparing for entrance exams for engineering / medical / law / others…and in that mix you want to say that giving the Board exams for the first time in your life is going to reduce tension?! I don’t think so. Doing away with in class 10th is simply postponing fate. As a student who’s passed out of school, I myself know that yes Board exams can make you nervous, but I was less jittery about it in class 12th because I’d already attempted a similar exam two years earlier. Having to sit for Board exams for the first time in your life in class XIIth is going to put an incredible amount of pressure on students when they have other things on their minds.

Many students currently studying in class 10th have said to me that they don’t get why they’re supposed to study this or that topic for their Board exams when it has nothing to do with what they want to do later in life. Look, the Board exams are not here to teach you skills that you need in your career – that’s what you go to college for. School (and the Board exams) are there to teach about things like getting your point across to someone you don’t know precisely and concisely, learning to analyse things and assigning importance to them (you’re gravely mistaken if you assign equal importance to all topics), learning to make study notes, learning to manage a schedule, et al. This is what education up to class 10th is about.

Class Xth Board exams also help you to choose streams to take up in the +2 leg of your schooling. During that year you realize “OK, so I’m interested [and / or] good at X subject but subject Y doesn’t interest me, so this is what I can consider taking as my stream.” Without a standard exam, it becomes difficult for students to find that out too. Each and every school’s exams and standards are pretty arbitrary and unique up to class 8 when they have a free reign. Without a standard syllabus even students won’t be able to find out whether they’re actually interested in a subject. Yes, I know about national curriculum guidelines for lower classes to but that’s just pure bollocks; no school really bothers following the national curriculum until the ‘spectre’ of Board exams comes up.

Am I trying to say that the current system is perfect and there’s nothing we need to do to make life even that tiny bit easier for those about to give Board exams? Of course not. There are a lot of educationists in this country who are genuinely working on making things better so let’s not be cynical about everything. CBSE is not out to ‘get you’. They are genuinely trying to change things but are often restricted by what can be practically implemented across every school under them. Look, I’ve been through that phase myself and I know how it feels. The major worry, at the end of the day, is along the lines of “I hope I get the marks I’m expecting”. Every year when the Board results are declared there’s lots of anguish about ‘top’ students getting lower marks than expected in some subject or the other (usual ‘culprit’ being English). Here are some ideas that I have:

1. CBSE releases the marking scheme used to check papers a few months after Board results are declared to give students attempting the exam next year an idea of what they’re expected to write in the paper. How about releasing the marking scheme immediately after the Board exams? Students will be evaluate their own performance better and set realistic expectations about what marks they’ll be getting. Believe me, this goes a long way in reducing post-exam stress – when you really know how well you have done.
2. As of now, only re-tallying of scores is allowed. Allow re-checking of papers but put a high price on it. By high, I mean something say Rs 1000-2000. This will help defray the cost of finding the darn paper again, hiring a higher level examiner, and also prevent frivolous rechecking applications.
3. Well OK, who am I kidding. Even if the price for rechecking is kept at Rs 5000 per paper I’m sure anxious parents will flood CBSE with frivolous rechecking requests. So here’s the deal – have a good grievance redressing system in place. ICSE has a system where in case a student has a good track record in school and gets really bad marks (I’m not talking of 5-10 marks here – there have been cases where students got a mere 6 in some subjects in Boards) then they allow you to appeal that, and get it rechecked. Maybe something similar can be done by CBSE. Put stringent rules on what exactly is defined as a ‘good school track record’ and how much deviation from it would allow for an appeal, and then put in some rechecking mechanism. I don’t have any ‘scientific’ study to support this but I have a feeling that the most anxiety is within the top 1/8th or so candidates (defined in CBSE marking as A-grade). Such a system would go a long way in reducing tension.
4. Counselling sessions for parents to be held by schools. Parents are often more stressed out than students and heap on their worries on their children. Again, not every school will have resources to do this – certainly not schools in smaller cities. But the point is that most ‘over-anxious’ parents happen to be from metro towns and while they might consist of a small fraction of the number of parents with candidates appearing for the exam, it is still a large number. Schools in big cities should take the initiative in this regard and hold a few counselling sessions for parents in a year. I’m not talking about PTA meetings. Get the school top faculty, professional education counsellors and then have a seminar on dispelling doubts, teaching them to handle stress, etc. This will help reduce instances of students being pushed to the edge / being compelled to call helplines. (Helplines are good though. If you’re a student or parent feeling stressed out then go ahead and call CBSE helpline.)

So what exactly is my point of writing all this? Exercising my right to free speech is fine but what do I get out of this? “Wow, a blog post has been written. Big deal.” The point here is that change is brought about by discussion. Spread the word. Discuss with your friends, parents, relatives, teachers about what can be done better. Don’t stay with a chalta hai attitude. Bounce some ideas around. Refer them to this article if you want. Start a riot in the comments section. Whatever you do, primary goal is start a discussion which finally brings about change. It doesn’t matter if this article reaches out to only one person or you can reach out to only one person (especially if that one person is a parent or a teacher) – if it somehow makes something better for someone somewhere, this article would have achieved it’s objective.

1. Event Management
2. Advertising
3. Law
4. Journalism
5. Civil Services
6. Banking
7. Aviation
8. Sales
9. Public Relations
10. Marketing

Also, in case you’ve been following the VoiceTAP posts, then could you please leave your responses to the poll below. It won’t take long and the feedback would be valuable. Thanks!

Seats available at VIT after first round of counselling

Some people have already had their counselling for admissions done, like those who qualified for VIT 1st round of counselling. These would have been the top 5000 students, so in case you have been called for second phase of counselling you should be aware of the number of seats left in each branch after the first phase.

Those who got their DCE CEE results today should be aware that if your rank is lower than 1000-1100, getting in will be well nigh impossible (and this is including ‘less’ in demand streams). Rank cutoffs for NSIT are usually higher because students who want to focus on computers / IT / electronics generally opt for NSIT.

Another option which opened up last year is IIIT Delhi (note the extra ‘i’). Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology, Delhi belongs to the IIIT universities ‘series’ and functions independent of DCE / NSIT / DU. It’s functioning out of the premises of NSIT Delhi at the moment while its own campus is being built and teaches only CS / IT courses. No, it does NOT fall under IP University. Read this FAQ about IIIT Delhi for more details. IIIT Delhi conducts its own entrance examination – unique in its own sense because topics covered are English, maths, and logical reasoning. You need 80% and above in PCM Class XIIth Boards or an AIEEE rank of 10,000 or higher. Download IIIT Delhi 2009 admissions prospectus here – it contains the admission brochure, information about the entrance test, and sample question paper. IIT Delhi is mentoring IIIT Delhi (a lot of IIT-D faculty currently teaches at IIIT-D), but a lot of new professors are joining this year as full-time faculty. Unlike other Indian colleges IIIT doesn’t do a foundation course in the first year, instead choosing to dive straight into CS / IT subjects. (Unfortunately the application period for IIIT-D has closed.)

photo credit: .Zickie.Staying on the CS / IT topic, it’s true that there is a lot of demand for this. Going through the comments on my blog I find that many want to get into this. Now I know that many of your are genuinely passionate about IT, but in case you’re one of those folks who hasn’t really decided which branch to take up then this is time for some introspection. Are you choosing branches just because of what relatives are saying is a ‘hot’ career? The fact is, that in any field you join you have the prospect of an amazing career – if you’re ready to work hard and go that extra mile.

Read this short article titled Is IT The Right Choice For You by IIIT-D professors. This is precisely the time to give some thought to what you want to do. It’s not just about what you’ll be doing for the next four years. Assuming that you stay within the engineering domain, this is what you’ll be doing for the next 40-50 years of your life. Still confused? Read this India Today special feature on various branches of engineering.

Wishing everyone all the best for college admissions!

More advice (including an audio discussion) is available at A Guide to Admissions in Engineering Colleges in India.

Update – Also read this AIEEE Counselling Guide by Naman.

The first post over there is a mammoth one I did on A Guide to Admissions in Engineering Colleges in India. It’s a compilation of the best links that you can get on admission to engineering colleges with even more reading material in the form of student blogs, forums, essays by IIT professors, etc. Do check it out!

Kudos to Sarthak and Akshay – the guys behind Softloads – for finding out the link to this tool: the AIEEE rank analysis tool. This thing is just superb. Go to that page and enter your category (general / SC / ST / OBC etc), college / institute you want admission in, and the course / branch you want admission in. Their system seems to be working a bit slowly because of the load they must be facing from so many visitors, so be patient for a while. It will show you the opening and closing ranks for admission to NITs (or other institutes) – both all India rank and home state rank (for that particular state) for your category.

Hopefully, this should clear most of the queries that you may have about admissions through AIEEE. And do remember to drop by and say thanks at Softloads once their site is up!

PS – Naman (who’s studying at NIT Bhopal) has pointed out this bit of information in the comments section:

I would like to add a point to the post that the tool provides information of allotment through the 1st counseling. According to the tool, for IT @ NIT Bhopal(All India quota) closing rank was 7,157.

But due to vacancies in other branches a lot of internal sliding usually takes place(on basis of AIEEE ranks) and I managed to get IT at a rank of 14,191.

Note to all posting comments along the lines of “What branch will I get”: What do you think the bloody link is for? Click on it, go to that page, and find out. Stop bugging me with “What branch will I get with this rank” comments. I will NOT answer comments like these. If you’ve anything else to add to the discussion then please feel free to do so.

PS – Check out A Guide to Admissions in Engineering Colleges in India.