July 10th, 2007 -- Posted in Story |
Higher education in India is gasping for breath at a time when India is aiming to be an important player in the emerging knowledge economy. With about 300 universities and deemed universities, over 15,000 colleges and hundreds of national and regional research institutes, Indian higher education and research sector is the third largest in the world, in terms of the number of students it caters to.
However, not a single Indian university finds even a mention in a recent international ranking of the top 200 universities of the world, except an IIT Kharagpur ranked at 41, whereas there were three universities each from China, Hong Kong and South Korea and one from Taiwan. On the other hand, it is also true that there is no company or institute in the world that has not benefited by graduates, post-graduates or Ph.D.s from India be it NASA, IBM, Microsoft, Intel, Bell, Sun, Harvard, MIT, Caltech, Cambridge or Oxford, and not all those students are products of our IITs, IIMs, IISc/TIFR or central universities, which cater to barely one per cent of the Indian student population.
This is not to suggest that we should pat our backs for the achievements of our students abroad, but to point out that Indian higher educational institutions have not been able to achieve the same status for themselves as their students seem to achieve elsewhere with their education from here. While many reasons can be cited for this situation, they all boil down to decades of feudally managed, colonially modelled institutions run with inadequate funding and excessive political interference.
Only about 10 per cent of the total student population enters higher education in India, as compared to over 15 per cent in China and 50 per cent in the major industrialized countries. Higher education is largely funded by the state and central governments so far, but the situation is changing fast. Barring a few newly established private universities, the government funds most of the universities, whereas at the college level, the balance is increasingly being reversed.
Name:Naraginti Amareswar reddy
Father Name: N.M.Reddy
Sex: Male
Date of Birth: 10th Fed 1981
Ed Qua: M.Sc., M.Ed., research scholar in the dept. of education, sri venkateswara university, tirupati, india
e-mail ID: amareswaran@yahoo.co.in
July 6th, 2007 -- Posted in Story |
With soaring global energy prices there has never been a better time to ensure you have the most energy efficient heating system in your home. Replacing or upgrading your existing boiler with a modern high efficiency condensing boiler could save you thousands.
Did you know around 60 per cent of the average household’s energy expenditure is on heating and hot water? In the U.S. this equates to around $1,200 – $1,400 a year. Heating costs depend on 2 elements:
1. Energy costs.
2. Energy efficiency of your heating system.
Unfortunately we cannot control the cost of energy, and, as it is a global commodity its price can vary considerably. Therefore, basically we are at the mercy of the unscrupulous energy companies who continually strive to increase their profits by driving up energy prices to us the consumer.
However, you’ll be pleased to hear that we do have some control. Fortunately we can choose what type of heating system we run and, often, what type of fuel we wish to burn. (Obviously it is best to go for the system which runs on the cheapest fuel in your area). What the energy companies ‘omit’ to tell us is that heating systems are continually being improved so that they produce the same amount of heat by burning much lower amounts of fuel.
A new high-efficiency heating system can cut your fuel bills and your central heating system’s pollution output by 50 per cent.
By replacing an older style non-condensing boiler with a new high efficiency condensing boiler with full heating controls you could save an incredible $500 – $700 a year. Just think with what you could afford to buy with all that extra money.
And, what’s more, condensing machinery can be easily fitted to most new and old heating systems – be they furnaces or boilers, gas burning or oil burning.
Is your boiler energy efficient? Put simply: If it’s 10-15 years old then it probably isn’t.
What sort of boiler do you have at the moment?
To differentiate between a condensing boiler and a non-condensing boiler the best way is to look at the flue (exhaust) that sticks out from the outdoor wall adjacent to your boiler, and, the type of waste heat it lets out into the atmosphere.
If the flue is made of plastic and lets out visible steam when the boiler is firing, then congratulations, you are likely to have a condensing boiler already. If the flue is made of metal and no steam is visible, you are likely to have a non-condensing boiler. These older boilers let out much hotter gases that are invisible to the naked eye – and would melt a plastic flue.
Are condensing boilers overcomplicated and unreliable?
In a word, no. The main difference is that condensing boilers have a larger heat exchanger and the condensing process requires a means by which the condensed water can be drained away. But this shouldn’t cause any problems if the boiler is fitted properly by a registered installer.
Over the longer term by replacing or upgrading your heating system your savings will run into thousands so now is the time to act, particularly as global energy prices continue to sky rocket.
Ed W, Energy Saving Expert http://www.easyenergysaving.com
For more great advice on home heating systems, condensing boilers, energy saving, energy saving products, reducing your energy bills and for a complimentary e-course on the subject visit http://www.easyenergysaving.com