Educational Loan from Banks

Government of India in consultation with Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Indian Banker's Association (IBA) has framed a Comprehensive Educational Loan Scheme to ensure that no deserving student in the Country is deprived of higher education for want of finances. The new scheme covers all type of courses including professional courses in schools and colleges in India and abroad.

The salient features of the scheme are as under:

• The scheme envisages loans up to Rs.7.5 lakh for studies in India and up to Rs. 15 lakh for studies abroad.
• For loans up to Rs. 4 lakh no collateral or margin is required and the interest rate is not to exceed the Prime Lending Rates (PLR).
• For loans above Rs. 4 lakh the interest rate will not exceed PLR plus 1 percent.
• The loans are to be repaid over a period of 5 to 7 years with provision of grace period of one year after completion of studies

Tax Benefit

Repayment of an education loan is deductible under section 80E of the Income Tax Act. The yearly limit for deduction is Rs. 40,000 (for both the principal and the interest). Only loans taken for higher education - fulltime studies in any graduate or post-graduate, professional, and pure and applied science courses - may claim deduction. The deduction will be available for a maximum of eight years starting from the day you start repaying.

Equitable Access to quality higher education has been a concern of the University Grants Commission. To this purpose the Commission, besides encouraging colleges and Universities to provide for liberal financial support to the meritorious but needy students, has also been instrumental in educational loan scheme. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has issued guidelines  in this regard to all commercial banks.

A large number of banks have already launched educational loan schemes. Provided below are links to the respective websites of individual banks offering such facilities. Click on the name of each bank to visit their website

List of Banks Offering Educational Loans 

• Allahabad Bank	• Panjab National Bank
• Andhra Bank	• State Bank of India
• Bank of Baroda	• State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur
• Bank of India	• State Bank of Hyderabad
• Bank of Maharashtra	• State Bank of Indore
• Canara Bank	• State Bank of Mysore
• Central Bank of India	• State Bank of Saurashatra
• Corporation Bank	• State Bank of Travancore
• Dena Bank	• Syndicate Bank
• Indian Bank	• Uco Bank
• Indian Overseas Bank	• Union Bank of India
• Oriental bank of Commerce	• United Bank of India
• Panjab and Sindh Bank	• Vijaya Bank
• Federal Bank Limited

PhD at National Chemical Laboratory, Pune

National Chemical Laboratory (NCL), Pune has invited applications for PhD programme in Science and Engineering, for the August 2012 session.

RESEARCH AREAS :

Advanced Functional Materials
Agricultural Biotechnology
Artificial Intelligence
Biomass for Energy, Fuels, and Chemicals
Bioorganic Chemistry
Biotransformation and Enzymes
Catalysis (Homogeneous and Heterogeneous)
Chaos Theory and Turbulence
Chemical Engineering
CO2 storage and utilization
Coal Gasification and Combustion
Complex Fluids and Polymer Engineering
Crystal Chemistry and Crystallography
Crystallization
Effluent Treatment/Water Recycle and Reuse
Electrochemical Power Sources and Energy Technology
Environmental Biotechnology 
Fuel Cells
Fluid Modeling and Computational Fluid Dynamics
Genomics and Molecular Parasitology
Green Chemistry
Hydrogen Generation
Magnetism and Magnetic Materials
Materials Chemistry/Physics
Materials for Solar Energy
Materials for Biomedical Applications
Mathematical and System Biology
Medicinal Chemistry
Microbial and Mammalian Cell Culture
Microbial Fermentation
Microbial Technology and Microbial Genetics
Micro-fluidics
Mixing and Micro-mixing
Molecular Host-pathogen Interactions
Molecular Marker Technology
Multiphase Flows
Multiphase Reactors
Nanomaterials
Nonlinear Dynamics
Organic Chemistry
Physical Organic Chemistry
Plant Tissue Culture
Polymer Science
Process Design Modeling and Simulation
Process Engineering and Scale-up
Process Intensification
Proteomics
Reaction Engineering
Reactive Separations
Separation Science
Soft Condensed Matter Theory
Solid State NMR of Materials
Structure-function and Crystallography of Biomolecules
Structure-Property-Processing Correlation Studies
Surfaces and Interfaces
Theoretical Chemistry and Computational Science
Tissue Engineering
Utilization of Natural Gas
Wireless Process Sensors and Process Control 

Eligibility Criteria :

* PhD Programme in Science :
(i) Masters degree in Chemical / Physical / Biological and related sciences / technology AND
(ii) A valid research fellowship offer from UGC / CSIR / DBT / ICMR / BINC / DST-INSPIRE or any other research fellowship programme.
Candidates who have qualified only the CSIR/UGC lectureship (LS) category or GATE are not eligible to apply.

* PhD Programme in Engineering :
(1) For applicants with Bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering / Technology / related discipline :
(i) Minimum of 55% marks or 5.5 CGPA or equivalent at the Bachelor's degree level (50%  marks or 5.0 CGPA for SC/ST/PH candidates).
(ii) A valid GATE score above the qualifying score for that subject OR a valid research fellowship offer from CSIR / UGC / DBT / ICMR / BINC / DST-INSPIRE or any other research fellowship programme.
(iii) Age on August 15, 2012 should be less than 28 yrs (relaxable upto 5 years in case of candidates belonging to Scheduled Caste / Scheduled Tribe, women, physically handicapped and OBC applicants).

(2) For applicants with Master's degree in Chemical Engineering / Technology / related discipline :
(i) Minimum of 55% marks or 5.5 CGPA or equivalent at the Master's degree level (50%  marks or 5.0 CGPA for SC/ST/PH candidates)
(ii) A valid research fellowship offer from CSIR / UGC / DBT / ICMR / BINC / DST-INSPIRE or any other research fellowship programme.

Application :
Online application can be submitted at : http://acsir-phd.csio.res.in

Important dates :
* Last date for submitting applications online : May 18, 2012
* Publication of the list of candidates called for Screening test / Interview : On or before May 31, 2012
* Dates of Interview at CSIR-NCL : 13th & 14th June, 2012
* Counseling : June 15, 2012
* Last date for joining at CSIR-NCL : July 14, 2012
* Last date for registration for course work : July 21, 2012

For further details, logon to : http://www.ncl-india.org/PhDAdmission/Phd_admission_webpage.htm

Functioning of Private Universities

State Private Universities are established by Acts of the concerned State legislatures. At present these are regulated by the UGC as per provisions contained in the UGC (Establishment and Maintenance of Standards in Private Universities), Regulations, 2003. These private universities are inspected by the UGC with the help of concerned Statutory Council(s). Out of the 111 State Private Universities, the UGC Expert Committees have already visited 53, Dr. D. Purandeswari, Minister of State for Human Resource Development said in written reply to a question in Lok Sabha.

The University Grants Commission (UGC) has reported that it conducts periodical review of universities in the country. A detailed review of each university is conducted before it is included in Section 2(f) and 12B. A comprehensive review of 124 deemed to be universities was conducted in the year 2009 with the help of Expert Committees, she said.

Quality enhancement and improvement in standards of higher education is an ongoing process. Government has taken several measures in this regard. These measures include introduction of the semester system, regular updating of curricula and Choice Based Credit System (CBCS) etc. The UGC has issued Regulations on “Minimum Qualifications for Appointment of Teachers and other Academic Staff in Universities and Colleges and Measures for the Maintenance of Standards in Higher Education, 2010” for improving the standards of teaching in Indian Universities.

In order to improve quality of teachers and teaching, National Eligibility Test (NET) and State Level Eligibility Test (SLET) have been made compulsory requirements, with the only exception being those who have completed Ph.D in accordance with UGC (Minimum Standards and Procedure for Award of M.Phil/Ph.D Degree), Regulations 2009.

National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), an autonomous body established by the UGC, accredits universities and colleges on various parameters of quality. The National Board of Accreditation (NBA) accredits programmes offered by the technical institutions. The UGC has launched several schemes to improve the standards of education in Universities and Colleges. Under these schemes, financial assistance is provided to eligible universities and colleges for creation and upgradation of infrastructural facilities, including Libraries, Laboratories and Hostels and for strengthening of teaching and research.

In order to attract best talents in the teaching profession, the Government has notified new pay structure for the University teachers w.e.f. 01.01.2006. The UGC has issued the “Establishment of and Maintenance of Standards in Private Universities Regulations” 2003 and the “Institutions Deemed to be Universities Regulations” 2010 for regulating the functioning of private universities and deemed to be universities in the country.

The Ministry has undertaken legislative initiatives including The National Accreditation Regulatory Authority for Higher Educational Institutions Bill, 2010, which provides for making accreditation mandatory in order to ensure independent credible quality assurance mechanism for higher educational institutions in the country.

- Report from Mathrubhumi.com