Breaking myths of higher education

Workshop conducted by CIE dispels popular notion that international education is only for those who want to go abroad. Gauri Rane reports. With international boards making inroads in to school education, the last decade has seen a massive shift of focus towards school education. Keeping this in mind, Members of International Schools’ Association, MISA had invited, William Bickerdike, CIE regional manager for South Asia and Madhav Welling, pro-vice chancellor, Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies to guide teachers and principals of the member schools on higher education opportunities within India. The workshop focused on dispelling the popular misconception that international education is suitable only for those who wish to pursue higher education abroad. Parents are right in their concern of how will their wards benefit by studying at a school offering—IB (International Baccalaureate), IGCSE (International General Certificate of Secondary Education) or CIE (Cambridge International Examinations) curriculum. “Students and parents are confused on taking admission in higher education institutions in India,” said Welling. Apprehensive parents ask questions that can range from whether the institution is UGC, AICTE, PCI, COA recognised to whether it is alright to get a qualification from private universities. “The number of programmes and institutions has grown manifold making it difficult to keep track, in turn becoming a challenge for teachers to guide students,” said the pro-vice chancellor. Teachers and academic counsellors often have to deal with infinite questions posed by parents. Even parents of students studying in the Indian education curriculum like SSC and HSC board are confused. Many a times parents approach teachers saying they have read something about National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) or National Board of Accreditation (NBA) but are not aware of the importance of these accreditation. Welling gave a breakdown of which are the governing authorities of higher education system in India; what are the programmes that students can take and, what is the eligibility for them to get admission in higher education institutions in India.“NAAC is an authority that gives institutional recognition whereas NBA gives programme recognition, while AIU decides on the equivalence of level of education of students coming from European institutes to pursue higher education in India,” he informed. Students of international curriculum can take any programme from history, archeology and heritage management to pharmacy, mass media, marine engineering, IT etc; However, Welling cautioned, “Students need to get eligibility certificate from the university for the ‘programme’ they wish to pursue.” Source: Education News