Good show by A.P. students in entrance tests

By R.J. Rajendra Prasad

HYDERABAD, JULY 1. To keep up the record of good performances by students from Andhra Pradesh in the entrance tests conducted by the Indian Institutes of Technology and the JIPMER at Pondicherry, the Chief Minister, Mr. N. Chandrababu Naidu, is planning to address students at a dozen Universities in the State, to make them aware of the opportunities available for career development and to motivate them to do better in the future.

Students from Andhra Pradesh obtained a record 327 seats in the Indian Institutes of Technology this year. Further, they got 10 out of the first 20 ranks in the Karnataka Common Entrance Test and eight out of the 15 seats available for general competition in Pondicherry's prestigious medical college.

Mr. Naidu will make a presentation before the student groups, and then answer questions from them. There will be no political overtones at these meetings, officials said.

As a first step, the A.P. State Council for Higher Education, recently discussed with Mr. Ramiah, pioneer in coaching students for IIT entrance in Hyderabad and whose institute contributed to more than 100 ranks in the IIT entrance this year, on the methodology he employed to motivate students to put forth their best effort.

Also, the State Council has recorded on CD-ROM the lectures delivered by Prof. Jim Roberts and Prof. Jacobo Carrasquel of the Carnigie Mellon University of the United States, on Information Technology at a workshop attended by 32 IT lecturers drawn from various Government and private engineering colleges in the State.

Prof C. Subba Rao, Chairman of the State Council, said a syllabus for the Master of Science in Information Technology (MSIT) programme, is being worked out with help from Professors in institutions such as Carnigie Mellon.

The aim is to select and train high caliber professionals capable of operating in a global market place for IT-enabled service industry. The degree to be given at the end of the course will be co-signed by both the local University and the foreign service provider, such as the Carnigie Mellon or the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The 104 engineering colleges in the State produce about 24,000 graduate engineers a year, while the 158 colleges offering the Master of Computer Applications course turn out 4,800 MCAs.

The 414 colleges offering BCA produce another 16,560 graduates. It is considered feasible to produce atleast 10,000 high quality IT professionals a year in the State, according to Prof. Subba Rao.

Unlike conventional programmes, the proposed MSIT course would admit students every month, based on their fulfilling entry norms, and courses would be offered one after another in a sequential manner. A student would move to the next course after getting an `A' in a course.

``The programme will introduce the concept of self- paced learning, with Professors acting as one-on-one mentors,'' Prof. Subba Rao added.

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