Victoria Secret 2010 Part 1 of 3 - Fashion and Modelling as a Career

Fashion and Model as a Career :Victorias Secret Fashion Show 2010 Part 2 of 3

Victorias Secret 2010 Part 3 of 3 and Katy Perry "Teenage Dream Lyrics"

Katy Perry Teenage Dream lyrics

Teenage Dream, Katy Perry topped the HOT100 Billboard charts. The Teenage Dream lyrics by Katy Perry are displayed below, as you can sing along with her performance in this video.

You think I'm pretty
Without any make-up on
You think I'm funny
When I tell the puch line wrong
I know you get me
So I'll let my walls come down, down

Before you met me
I was a wreck
But things were kinda heavy
You brought me to life
Now every February
You'll be my valentine, valentine

Let's go all the way tonight
No regrets, just love
We can dance until we die
You and I
We'll be young forever

You make me
Feel like
I'm living a Teenage Dream
The way you turn me on
I can't sleep
Let's runaway
And don't ever look back
Don't ever look back

My heart stops
When you look at me
Just one touch
Now baby I believe
This is real
So take a chance
And don't ever look back
Don't ever look back

We drove to Cali
And got drunk on the beach
Got a motel and
Built a fort out of sheets
I finally found you
My missing puzzle piece
I'm complete

Let's go all the way tonight

No regrets, just love
We can dance until we die
You and I
We'll be young forever

You make me
Feel like
I'm living a Teenage Dream
The way you turn me on
I can't sleep
Let's runaway
And don't ever look back
Don't ever look back

My heart stops
When you look at me
Just one touch
Now baby I believe
This is real
So take a chance
And don't ever look back
Don't ever look back

I might get your heart racing
In my skin-tight jeans
Be your teenage dream tonight

Let you put your hands on me
In my skin-tight jeans
Be your teenage dream tonight

You make me
Feel like
I'm living a Teenage Dream
The way you turn me on
I can't sleep
Let's runaway
And don't ever look back
Don't ever look back

My heart stops
When you look at me
Just one touch
Now baby I believe
This is real
So take a chance
And don't ever look back
Don't ever look back
=============================

Enjoy!

How to excel in what you do with opportunities and make a successful career?

Love the Opportunity

Somebody said you have to love what you do, but that's not necessarily true. What is true is that you have to love the opportunity, the opportunity to build life, future, health, success and fortune. Knocking on someone's door or making that extra call may not be something you love to do, but you love the opportunity of what might be behind that door or call.

For example, a guy says, "I'm digging ditches. Should I love digging ditches?" The answer is, "No, you don't have to love digging ditches, but if it is your first entry onto the ladder of success, you say, ‘I'm glad somebody gave me the opportunity to dig ditches and I'm going to do it so well; I won't be here long.' "

You can be inspired by having found something, even though you are making mistakes in the beginning and even though it is a little distasteful taking on a new discipline. You don't have to love it; you just have to learn to appreciate where you live, appreciate opportunity and appreciate the person who brought you the good news—that found you.

Appreciate the person who believed in you before you believed in yourself; appreciate the person who said, "Hey, if I can do it, you can do it."

If you will embrace the disciplines associated with the new opportunity, you will soon find your self-confidence starting to grow—that you're changing from a sceptic to a believer. And soon, when you go out person to person, talking to people, you will find it to be the most thrilling opportunity in the world. Every person…. What could it be? Unlimited! Maybe a friend for life. The next person could be an open door to retiring. The next person could be a colleague for years to come. It's big-time stuff. And sometimes, in the beginning, when we are just getting started, we don't always see how big it is.

So, before you are tempted to give up or get discouraged, remember all success is based on long-term commitment, faith, discipline, attitude and a few steppingstones along the way. You might not like the stone you are on right now, but it's sure to be one of the stones that lead to great opportunities in the future. 

[Ref: Interesting Email forwards]

Kerala IT parks at Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi and Kozhikode attracts Oracle,IBM, TCS, Infosys,Wipro etc

Software and hardware systems company Oracle will set up shop in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala according to newspaper report.

As per reports, Oracle and IBM are different IT majors with a favourable decision to set up shop here. With TCS already signing up early September 2010 to set up their biggest training centre at the proposed Technocity campus near Technopark, IT initiative for the state is moving in the right direction. Recently, Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan handed over to TCS the government order allotting them 82 acres of land to set up their training centre which would have facilities to train 15,000 professionals.

If it was Technopark, Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum) which led from the front of being the most sought-after IT destination since it began operations in the late nineties, Kochi (Cochin), the commercial capital of the state, was the second destination which the state government decided to earmark for IT development by opening the Infopark IT campus. And during the present Left government, besides expanding the IT campus at Technopark and Infopark, it also gave the green signal to set up IT Cyber Park in Kozhikode (Calicut), for which work has begun.

Both the Technopark and Infopark campus have a record 40,000 professionals working in more than 200 IT companies.

A major blot in the efforts to promote IT as the major industry after tourism is the deadlock in the talks to resolve the issues between the government and Smart City Dubai, who are contracted to build the proposed Rs.1,500 crore Smart City Kochi IT project, which is hanging fire for more than three years.

UPSC recruitment, RTI, question papers and examination results with official website

Recruitment and examination calendar and schedules, previous year question papers and results for examinations conducted by the organization is given in the UPSC Official Website
Useful links in this website for easy reference:
Citizen's Charter
Composition of Commission
Examination
Recruitment
Previous Years Question Papers
GeneralPublish Post
RTI Related Matters
All India Services
Promotions/ Deputations
National Conference
Annual Reports
What's New
Tenders
Services

Best Wishes. Do write in your valuable comments and tips to be of help to other readers. 

Key to Learning and Education - How it works in our education system?

What is the state of education in our times? What is the need of the time? What is the key to learning? 


The ability to learn is innate in mankind and we learn continuously and effortlessly from surrounding and environment - flawless and speedy learning is the need of this knowledge era.This requires an instituitionalised attempt to facilitate life-long learning by adopting an educational system, which is learning oriented rather than teaching oriented.


The American philosopher, Eric Hoffer wrote succinctly that "the central task of education is to implant a will and facility for learning: to produce not learned but learning people. The truly human soceity is a learning soceity, where grandparents, parents and children are students together".


Dr Knud Illeris book, "How we Learn: Learning and non-learning in school and beyond", is a deliberation on the process of learning in humans from the persepectives of psychology, biology, brain functions and soceity.He talks about how learning leads to permanent capacity change in a human being, which cannot be attributed to biological maturation or ageing.It occurs when an individual interacts with his/her environment and develops mental schemes to capture the experience. Impulses generated from interaction transmit across the billions of brain cells with the help of chemical substances termed as "neuro transmitters". These impulses are then retained in the memory in the form of 'mental schemes' or 'neural traces' that hold the learning from interactions with environment in our brain. A recent discovery in brain research establishes that in a healthy brain, 'reason' cannot fucntion without 'emotion'. That is why the 'state' of mind plays an important role in learning. When one is angry or sad, one may find it difficult to learn.


In this way, an effective learning situation needs a simultaneous activation of three dimensions, viz., 

• content
• incentive
• interaction.

A learning-orinted education system ensures that the interactions are devised and continuously assessed for their ability to engage the learners emotionally in the process of learning and to impart the contents of learning with clarity and authenticity.


Engaging learners in experimentation, experience sharing, projects and similar activites leads to development of relatively clear and permanent neural traces in the brain. Teachers, being higher level learners, are expected to devise the mechanisms of interactions with teh field of learning that engage the learners for quick and appropriate learning thereby helping learners utilise their creativity for innovation. According to Dr.Rathod an educational expert, learning is inherent to humans, but the mdoern world demands for manpower who can learn quickly and coherently about the changing world. Aforesadi insights are useful for establishing the learning system in an education system. 


Focus on 'active learning' irrespective of age, keeps brain fit and healthy. It also saves you from cases of dementia! Happy Learning!

Do you know about Fulbright International Scholarships? Also see the details on United States India Educational Foundation.

Heard about Fulbright program? It is a fully-funded scholarship to the course and college of one's choice, in US or in your home country eg.India (see list of regions and countries below). I heard about it only a few years back from a close friend and have seen his classmate who had been to US for this wonderful program, coming out in flying colours!

With the support of Government of India funding beginning July 2008, the fellowship numbers will increase by more than 100 per year. Approximately 14,800 "Fulbrighters," 9,800 from the United States and 5,000 from India, have participated in the Program since its inception fifty eight years ago. Out of these 6,700 U.S. Fulbrighters were funded by the programs under the U.S. Department of Education. See Fulbright Grant Categories in India

What is Fulbright Program? Established in 1946, the Fulbright Program aims to increase mutual understanding between the peoples of the United States and other countries, through the exchange of persons, knowledge, and skills.

THE FULBRIGHT PROGRAM:

• Is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State.
• Is the largest U.S. international exchange program offering opportunities for students, scholars, and professionals to undertake international graduate study, advanced research, university teaching, and teaching in elementary and secondary schools worldwide.
• Was established in 1946 by the U.S. Congress to "enable the government of the United States to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries."
• Awarded approximately six thousand grants in 2008, at a cost of more than $275.4 million, to U.S. students, teachers, professionals, and scholars to study, teach, lecture, and conduct research in more than 155 countries, and to their foreign counterparts to engage in similar activities in the United States.
• Receives its primary source of funding through an annual appropriation from Congress to the Department of State. Participating governments and host institutions in foreign countries, and in the United States, also contribute financially through cost-sharing and indirect support, e.g., through salary supplements, tuition waivers, and university housing.
• The U.S. Student Program grant numbers are subject to the availability of federally appropriated funds. The United States Department of State reserves the right to alter, without notice, participating countries, numbers of awards, terms of agreement, and allowances.

If you are a U.S. citizen, who will have a bachelor’s degree by the beginning date of the grant, but will not have a doctorate degree as of October 19, 2009, and who is Thinking of studying, assistant-teaching English, or conducting research abroad You could be one of more than 1,500 students who receive a Fulbright U.S. Student grant each year to go overseas. The U.S. Student Fulbright Program: Operates in more than 140 countries worldwide. Awards grants in nearly all fields and disciplines, including the sciences, professional fields and Creative and Performing Arts. See more on Institute of International Education - Fulbright Program for US students

If you are a non US citizen, please see the information given towards the end of the article. For Indian students, please see USIEF - United States India Educational Foundation.

It was US Senator J William Fulbright who first suggested that the American government fund student exchange programmes. His programme went on to influence more lives than he could possibly have imagined. His bill, accepted by President Harold Truman, was approved by the US Congress in 1946 with the objective of encouraging mutual understanding between the US and the rest of the world.
 

Since then, the US has funded more than 2,50,000 'Fulbrighters', each passionate about pursuing what they truly believe in.Whether you are a researcher, professional, a teacher or a student, there are innumerable programmes offered by Fulbright Program. The programme is administered by the United States- India Educational Foundation (USIEF) in India. Applications take over a year to be processed.

There is little that the Fulbright scholarship doesn't offer. It covers any form of academia from teaching to study and research. The fields covered too are numerous. There are grants for leadership development in three main sectors: research, lecturing to promote mutual understanding in areas of contemporary relevance to the US and India, and professional training in newly emerging areas of importance to India, such as environmental sciences and agriculture. The USIEF organises Fulbright mentoring workshops for potential applicants. You can get more information from any of their four offices in India, at Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai.

Process: An expert committee runs through eligible applications and invites applicants for an interview with the USIEF National Selection Committee in New Delhi. It's not just a great academic profile that the committee looks for. In the words of Senator Fulbright, "It aims to bring a little more knowledge, a little more reason, and a little more compassion into world affairs." The beneficiaries of this significant decision are today all successful people. But more importantly, it aims for 'complete' individuals.

Eligibility for Indian applicants: The USIEF does not have a fixed idea of who makes an ideal candidate. All they ask for is Indian citizenship and a graduate degree. There is no one single profile of a typical 'Fulbrighter'. Academic merit and leadership potential are the only tangible requirements. In return, their offer is an opportunity to study, teach, or conduct research in either country.Candidates must, however, meet the language requirements necessary for their proposed study, research or teaching assignment.

This is why they may have to qualify in the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) or International English Language Testing System (IELTS), or submit a report completed by a language expert or instructor to verify their language skills. The GRE and GMAT score required depends on the course you apply for.

Having it in you is just the beginning. Convincing the panel of interviewers that you are deserving of the scholarship is the hardest part. That's the last hurdle that stands between a deserving candidate and a fully-funded scholarship to the course and college of one's choice.

For detailed information on eligibility, awards available, and the application components, please review the links on this website.

Official websites on Fulbright scholarships

1. Official website of US Department of State , Bureau of Educational and Cultural affairs
2. Fulbright.state.gov - Regions and Countries list
   
3. Institute of International Education - Fulbright Program for US students
4. Overview timeline and Tips for completing the Application
5.  FAQ
6. USIEF - United States India Educational Foundation
   
7. Fulbright Grant Categories in India

So, if you want to be a Fulbright scholar, you must start the process right away or atleast be informed in advance.Deadlines vary for each of the programs.

Hope this information is helpful. Do write in your comments and share your experience to benefit other readers too. 

Interim relief to the deemed varsities in India from Supreme Court and State governments

Read the original story here: http://career.sneham.in-deemed-university-status

For the deemed universities in Karnataka, which was black listed by union HRD ministry for its deemed university status, the state government had come forward to state that these instituitions have a reputation and history and it would consider on a case to case basis provision of autonomous status.

What is still not clear to the common public is what Supreme Court also stated to: "Maintain status quo in the matter.Before taking a final decision, the SC will scrutinise bot the reports - one by UGC(University Grants Commission) review committee and the second by Tandon committee, setup by the HRD ministry, that blacklisted them - and give each of them a chance to put their side of view".Further hearing is set to March 8,2010. For reputed instituitons like Christ University and Jain instituitions, it was a big blow to be listed with other blacklisted universities, even after duly performing all regulatory obligations.

The promise to take both points of view into consideration by the Supreme court, will be a breather for tehuniversities and students alike.

Program manager vs Project manager in an organisation? Roles, Responsibilities and Opportunities

Projects are typically governed by a simple management structure. The project manager is responsible for day-to-day direction and a business sponsor is accountable for ensuring that the deliverables align with business strategy. Project Manager deals with planning, organizing, directing, and controlling of company resources for a relatively short-term objective. Project manager is concerned with the dynamic allocation, utilization, and direction of resources (both human and technical), with time, in relation to both individual efforts and product delivery schedule, and with costs, relating to both the acquisition and consumption of funding.It would be safe to say that without the direction project management provides, work would have to proceed via a series of negotiations, and it would not align with the goals,or needs of the enterprise.

Programs require a more complex governing structure because they involve fundamental business change and expenditures with significant bottom-line impact. In fact, in some instances their outcomes determine whether the business units or enterprise itself will survive as a viable entity. As per the IBM site definition, Program Manager role deals with five major aspects of program management:

1. Governance: Defining roles and responsibilities, and providing oversight.Unlike most projects, programs usually have a steering committee or other group that represents diverse interests and provides executive-level oversight. As the program evolves, this governing body ensures that it continues to align with the enterprise's strategic direction and makes decisions that may eventually filter up to the board of directors. Defining the role and decision-making powers of the steering committee is a significant part of the program governance effort and should be done with an eye toward facilitating rapid decisions and promoting a clear, unified direction.
2. Management: Planning and administering both projects and the overall program. So, what is program management in comparison to project management? Is it really the same management activities? If you think of management activities strictly as those we defined for project management, then the answer to the second question is "No," or maybe "Partly." At the project level, managers do still perform these activities, but the program manager/director addresses a different set of program goals or needs, which requires a different "bag of tricks" as well as a different view of what is happening and what needs to get done. And at the top of the hierarchy, the executive leaders who set goals and oversee the program certainly do not perform the same detailed activities as project managers.
   
3. Financial management: Implementation of specific fiscal practices and controls.The financial aspect of a program includes the need to conform to internal (and sometimes external) policies and/or regulations for significant expenditures. It also includes development and use of program-specific procedures for making and reporting expenditures.Overall costs for programs are typically significantly greater than those for projects.Early in the program, you should plan and conduct a checkpoint review of the financial management apparatus and identify needs and requirements that are specific to the program. Implementing the program's financial practices may require nothing more than educating people about how to apply them. However, in some instances you may need to tailor and adopt policies, create new cost centers and/or a chart of accounts, and outline financial procedures and assign decision authority unique to the specific program
   
4. Infrastructure: The program office, technology, and other factors in the work environment supporting the program effort. Infrastructure is a useful term to describe collections of roles, tools, and practices that organizations assemble and integrate in order to provide services and support for software development.Infrastructure and facilties management provides and enables all the project teams, involved in the program to be productive. A program infrastructure also includes both hardware -- for desktop and network devices for storage and communication -- and software, including desktop software and shared platforms with development tools, modeling software, planning tools, communication tools (email, Internet browser, virtual meeting /collaboration programs, telecommunications programs), and software for document retention and reproduction. An individual project, especially a pioneering effort, may introduce new tools or hardware partly in order to understand their capabilities and limitations. The project manager may become involved in technical support or infrastructure functions, to acquire, install, and/or "tune" the hardware and software. Typically, this will involve a small number of installations for a small number of IT staff. Periodic changes and/or additions to the development environment will affect larger numbers of IT staff, but these are typically defined and managed as separate projects.Program technical activities, in contrast, usually include large numbers of staff from a variety of sources (internal and external) and various technology backgrounds. As managers identify and staff component projects in the program, they must also specify, acquire, and install technology environments and tools for each project, which collectively form the program's technical infrastructure. This effort might encompass creating a new, remote development site or integrating two companies' technologies following a merger, for example.
   
5. Planning: Activities that take place at multiple levels, with different goals. The program plan is not a traditional plan.
   For program planning, most managers will typically use a bottom-up approach that identifies and executes planning iterations for the program's individual component projects. First, each project manager constructs a plan that estimates and allocates resources required to deliver the project's products or results, using the same techniques and practices they would employ in planning a standalone project.
   Then, in the next planning iteration, managers identify connections and dependencies among the program's projects, and refine and rework their project plans to integrate them with others. Often this integration effort requires adjustments to the products planned for each project, the numbers and types of resources required, and -- naturally -- the schedule. The managers' ability to continuously manage and adjust to inter-project dependencies is a significant determinant of program success. This ability is also a major differentiator between the requirements of project planning and program planning

Once the individual project plans are integrated, it is time to initiate the program planning effort. What exactly is a program plan? American Heritage Dictionary defines a plan as "A scheme, program, or method worked out beforehand for the accomplishment of an objective: a plan of attack." But when we look at how we develop and use program plans, we discover that they do not fit neatly into this definition.

First of all, in contrast to the planning for the program's projects, the program plan typically is not developed through a series of iterations. Instead, the planning effort involves conducting a series of reviews of the individual project plans, and then creating a digest of their contents. During this process, conflicts between projects may become apparent and require resolution. A goal of the digest effort is to produce a concise, usable view of all program work, timeframes, and required results. A program plan describing 10,000 activities, for example, would not have these qualities.

You don't use the program plan to direct work and allocate resources. That is the purpose of the individual project plans. It may be helpful to think of the program plan as a seismograph that seeks to detect and measure the potential impact of any trembling in the ground underneath the program effort. As component projects proceed and individual project plans record completion percentages, expenditure of resources, and interim (or final) dates for work activities, the program plan integrates these measures and shows their collective impact. This enables managers to assess the program's progress against plan and detect potential problems. For example, if a client asks for additional functionality in a component that one project is building, that may delay the component's delivery to other projects and slow them down as well.

In short, the program plan's integrated representation of significant planned activities and results of individual projects, provides managers with a window into the cumulative work effort, direction and progress of the program. Managers use it to verify that the program is moving in the right direction to meet business goals, identify where unplanned changes may be occurring and assess their potential impact, and to model and test the impact of possible adjustments and corrections.

Summary: We have seen that programs require capabilities and resources that are not generally required in the project management space, and which correlate directly with the program's success.In general, program efforts have a larger scale and impact than most project efforts. The outcome of a program effort can have a significant impact upon business and product viability.

Program efforts, with their large staffs, typically develop greater momentum than standalone projects. This momentum helps programs accomplish major amounts of work (a good thing), but it can also make programs resistant to changes in direction. Lack of vision, changes in vision, and poor direction can lead a program to consume enormous amounts of money in relatively short time periods without providing real value or useful results.
Fortunately, applying sound techniques and practices specific to program management can enhance an effort's chances of success and reduce risk. For enterprise-scale work efforts, these practices can enable an organization to pursue its business strategy and remain competitive.

Salary and Compensation for Program Management as a career: Compensation for program managers varies, but in many cases, they receive a salary as well as a cash incentive for completing the project on time. This is a job where experience definitely allows an individual to command a higher salary. Sometimes, a program manager is promoted from within, but it is common for top management to look outside for new program managers with a specific skill set. Good engineers do not always make good program managers since they are too focused on the details of the project, not on the bigger picture!

Salary and Compensation for Program Management as a career:
Normally, companies require program managers to have a minimum of a Bachelor’s degree. Rather than an engineering or technical degree, many companies are now looking for people with degrees in business management or even more specifically, program management. Often, a program manager will hold a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) or other high-level degree.Needless to say, hands on domain and technical knowledge, only helps you make effective decisions.

Academic qualifications and experience for a Program Manager: A good program manager must be extremely well organized, with the ability to multi-task and meet deadlines. He or she must be diplomatic, an effective negotiator and work well with others. The ability to lead is crucial, since the job is more about leadership than actually managing. A program manager must also work well under pressure.

Career Prospectives for Program Manager role: Certainly, the next decade will see an increase in the number of program managers required to staff an ever-growing number of high tech companies. This is a field that offers an excellent opportunity for future growth as well. You could gain work experience as program managers for individual product or service lines.If very ambitious, you could go on further to become high level system or business line program managers who control mutliple programs.You could also inturn working with the executive board for strategical program charter.

Playing a program manager role gives you value addition to get a new dimension and experience, which would be very useful when you start a business of your own. And that will be one of the important criteria when you to takeup a new role. 

Inputs and references from IBM "The Program Management Method", OGC:"Managing Successful Programmes", Deborah Kezsbom, et al.Dynamic Project Management.

Colleges and Universities in India - Deemed and otherwise, the story!

TOI reports that the HRD ministry has decided to de-recognize as many as 44 "deemed universities", spelling uncertainty for nearly two lakh students who are enrolled with them. The ministry's decision amounts to an acknowlegement of irregularties in conferring the "deemed" tag to these institutions under the first UPA government in which Arjun Singh was the HRD minister.

Six instituitions in Karnataka to be stripped of deemed-iniversity status

1. Christ University,Bangalore
2. Jain Univeristy, Bangalore
3. Sri Devaraja Urs Academy of Higher education and research, Kolar
4. Yenepoya University, Mangalore
5. BLDE university, Bijapur
6. Sri Siddhartha Academy of Higher education, Tumkur

Out of 44, 16 are in Tamilnadu, especially in Chennai, Thanjavur, Coimbatore, Salem, Puducherry, Kanyakumari, Kancheepuram etc. Few of them which will loose the deemed-university tag along with their constituent colleges are listed below:

• Vinayaka Mission's Research foundation, Salem Tamilnadu (Specifically listed are 14 constituent colleges of Vinayaka Mission)
• Meenakshi Academy of Research and Higher Education, chennai(Specifically listed are 5 constituent colleges under them)
• Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences, chennai(Specifically listed are 6 constituent colleges under them)
• Bharath Institute of Higher Education and Research, Chennai(Specifically listed are 6 constituent colleges under them)
• Academy of Maritime Education and Research , chennai
• Dr.MGR Educational and Research Institute , chennai
• St.Peter's Institute of Higher Education and Research, Chennai
• Chettinad Academy of Research an Education, Kancheepuram
• Noorul Islam Centre or Higher Education, Kanyakumari
• Kalasalingam Academy of Research and Education, Virudhunagar, Tamilnadu
• Vel Tech Rangarajan Dr.Sgunthala R&D Institute of science and Technology, chennai
• Sri Balaji Vidhyapeeth, Puducherry
• Ponnayan Ramajayam Institute of Science and Technology, Thanjavur
• Karpagam Academy of Higher Education, Coimbatore
• Periyar Maniamma Institute of Science and Technology(PMIST), Thanjavur
• Rajiv Gandhi National Institute of Youth Development(RGNIYD), Sri Perumbudur (Government Sponsored Deemed University)
• Vignan's foundation for science, Technology and Research, Guntur

The 44 "deemed" universities, including one promoted by I&B minister of state S Jagathrakshakan, three government-sponsored ones, and some in the NCR, such as Manav Rachna, Shobit and Santosh, are spread across the country. These deemed universities were found deficient on many grounds -- ranging from lack of infrastructure to lack of evidence of expertise in disciplines they claim to specialize in. 

The big step was taken as reported by TOI, after clearance from the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and is also an indictment of the manner in which the "deemed" status was doled out during the tenure of the last HRD minister, Arjun Singh. Although the list includes many that were given deemed status during Murli Manohar Joshi's time, the list of those red-pencilled indicates how during Arjun Singh's tenure, the "deemed" status was virtually up for grabs.

The HRD ministry emphasized that the affected students would be taken care of. The ministry's task force has recomended that institutions not found fit for deemed university status "revert to status quo ante as an affiliated college of the state university of jurisdiction so that students would be able to complete their ongoing courses and obtain degree from the affiliating university." Similarly, medical and dental colleges not found suitable can affiliate to state university or state medical university.

In case, the institution is unable to obtain affiliation, efforts would be made to facilitate the migration/re-enrolment of the affected students in other institutions. Doctoral students will have to re-register in affiliating universities and those in distance education should either go to IGNOU or state open universities. While these safeguards have been recommended, the students are nonetheless likely to go through a phase of uncertainty as they move from one university to another.

In an affidavit filed in the Supreme Court in the Viplav Sharma vs Union of India case, the HRD ministry said the review committee found only 38 institutes fit to have the deemed university status. Another 44 were found "deficient" in some aspects which need to be rectified over the next three years. With Supreme Court likely to approve HRD's action, it is unlikely that government will have to face any litigation.

These 44 deemed universities have 1,19,363 students at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels. In addition, there are 2,124 students pursuing research at MPhil and PhD levels and another estimated 74,808 students pursuing distance education programmes. As many as 41 of the 44 deemed universities have several constitutent institutions under them, which would further swell the number of affected students. 


It is also insightful to note the letter from UGC Joint Secretary to all directors/vice chancellors of deemed universities. ugc notices .The HRD ministry's review committee found following glaring omissions in case of 44 deemed universities:

• Undesirable management structure where families rather than professional academics controlled the functioning
• Several institutions had violated the principles and guidelines prescribing excellence in teaching and research and were engaged in introduction of thoughtless programmes
• Little evidence of noticeable efforts in case of emerging areas of knowledge
• Little evidence of commitment towards research
• Institutions increased their intake capacity disproportionately
• Undergraduate and post-graduate courses were fragmented with concocted nomenclatures
• Higher fee structure than prescribed

Moral of the story: Do your research and analyse risks, before you get into a job, or pay and join for any pro grammes in any of the universities or colleges in India.Study and earn your merit to get into a reputed and established college with proper affiliations.

How to be a good manager? Top tips and methods which makes you a great and effective manager.

Establish regular team and one-on-one discussions: In my opinion and experience, this is one of the most powerful tools of a manager, whether you handling senior managers in your team or a virtual teammate or a fresher - to build trust worthy teams. As a manager you can understand, support and enable the team member through this and give a secure feeling to him/her, that you are available and have the understanding of his/her situation. You create a motivating atmosphere and can leverage the rapport through this meeting, to effectively plan actions, lead, control and help the team grow. Even in agile teams, I have experienced that this is the key for effective resource management. You aim to achieve the following:

• support vital social and essential qualities for team members - status, certainty, autonomy, relatedness, and fairness.
• set and track clear performance expectations and key result area
• clear understanding of situation, attitude and perspective to help and support

Know your job well and be hands on, for effective decision making: This will command respect among your team members and colleagues which inturn help you make inspiring decisions.


360 degree and prompt constructive feedbacks: Regular feedbacks from your individual team members and from your team discussions act as a mirror and this experience and learning will serve to make a good manager great! This is true, however experienced a manager you are!


Expect Ingratitude:A manager is the one who serves his team and leads the circle of influence to excel.Do it as your duty to help and be available to your team members and to get the best of them.If someone say thank you, appreciate it gracefully.If someone doesnot realise it and do crib or harm you or your team, the policy of expecting ingratitude by default will help you detached and in good stead to take correct decisions.


Effective listening skills: Know when to talk and when to listen. This basic art of communication helps you in control, motivate and inspire people which gives you results and approachable. Some team members will be very emotional, some very straightforward and precise - each one looks for something


Agree on team norms and enable self organising team members: Any game can be played with multiple team members, only with a set of agreed rules and an understanding of results.So, brainstorm and create a team charter, before you start working together.Equal opportunity, treating teammembers fairly etc will be part of this and will be instituitionalises through the regular feedback sessions!


Be strategic: Management is the fine art of leading and guiding, not ordering and commanding.


Know the tradeoffs in recruiting right people for the job: Recruiting a rigt person for the role and assigning suitable responsibilities, makes your job well done.As a rookie manager, once I got the opportunity to form a core telecom engineering team and then I was cautioned by a colleague to recruit keeping in mind the final ratings - he said so, inorder to have a happy team for the long term. However, I decided to go ahead and recruit a team of experts and created a high performing team, well aware of the tradeoff.In the short term, needed to put ina lot of effort to handle pay and rewards related issues, but can tell you proudly that it was a better choice in the long term.


Challenge your team members positively to attain higher targets, out of their comfort zone: This will help them, bring Do this in a consultative fashion, wherever possible.


Performance management - Praise in public and reprimand in private: Give prompt and constructive feedback with sincerity and on a matured fashion- this will help them grow.Also doing this with simple commonsense, will keep the teammember in knowing of their performance and avoid issues on annual appraisal cycle.


Enable and work on effective delegation: I am a strong believer of Pareto' 80-20 rule. Be aware of this and Focus your energies on the key result areas.Effective delegation after enabling the right people, will help them grow and secure by giving them individual growth space and freedom.Be responsible for the job to track results to closure - If a wrong person on the job, you need to micro manage to ensure results and hence the secret lies in delegating to the right person - who is passionate, has the required skills, accountability, ethical and do prompt reporting of foreseen risks.Other people will keep wondering how you manage to achieve so many things at a time and help your team and team members grow!


Value add to yourself and team: Learn to make effective and ethical decisions, as if it is your own business - without being hands on, many great managers turned to good and then to worthless - as I have observed in work with international and multicultural teams. If required, its good once in a while to switch jobs or takeup tasks just out of line management and focus on valued added experiences.This will keep you get diverse experiences and help you job worthy!


Be Passionate and Creative: Often think for yourself, your team and this will help you achieve more. this is the key to effective planning, tracking and leading with a vision.


Work-life balance and fitness - Be happy, energetic and relaxed: Unless you are, you cannot make your teammembers happy. And believe me, the leaders or managers mood is highly contagious! Take your time off to have effective work-life balance.Be calm, cool and collected. Be fit and relaxed when you come to work.Donot count working hours but results - Trust and allow teammembers to plan their leaves with accountability for their assignments in hand.


Be humorous and create a fun environment: This is contagious.Teammembers should look forward to come to work everyday morning! Achieve this by making each of them secure, encourage humour in uniform by organize fun activities, recruiting the right mix of people, promptly celebrating team achievements, birthdays, team outing etc.


Hope these experiences and insights will beof help to you.Do share in your opinions and experiences.