>Two Indians selected as Yale World Fellows

>Two Indians — Monika Halan and Sonali Kochhar — have been selected for the prestigious Yale World Fellows, which is Yale University’s signature global leadership development initiative.

Monika Halan is editor of Mint Money, India’s second-largest business newspaper, which has an exclusive partnership with the Wall Street Journal. She is a media personality who is well known for her financial expertise. A medical doctor and clinical researcher, Sonali Kochhar is Medical Director, India, Institute for OneWorld Health. She leads efforts to develop safe, affordable, and accessible drugs and vaccines for diseases prevalent in the developing world, including HIV/AIDS. She previously served as the medical director for the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative.

In all 16 talented individuals have been selected for World Fellows for 2011. This year’s World Fellows include an executive at the Johannesburg Stock Exchange; a director at the World Economic Forum; the director of the World Health Organization’s tuberculosis control program in China; a policymaker in Afghanistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs; and the executive director of Greenpeace Brazil.

“We received more than twice as many nominations this year than ever before, evidence of the growing reputation and global awareness of this unique opportunity for leadership development,” said the Program’s Director Michael Cappello, Professor of Pediatrics at the Yale School of Medicine. “The 2011 fellows were carefully selected from an incredibly deep and talented pool of international leaders. We are delighted to welcome them to Yale this fall,” Capppello said.

This year’s cohort brings the total number of Yale World Fellows to 171, representing 77 countries. “I am thrilled and humbled,” said Gavin Sheppard, a 2011 World Fellow and innovative cultural entrepreneur from Canada who uses art and music as tools for youth inclusion, capacity building, safer cities, and economic growth.

From August to December, the 2011 World Fellows will enroll in a specially designed seminar taught by leading Yale faculty; audit any of the 3,000 courses offered at the University; participate in weekly dinners with distinguished guest speakers; receive individualized skill-building training; and meet with US and foreign leaders.

Past World Fellows have met with then-UN secretary general Kofi Annan, World Trade Organization director-general Pascal Lamy, Supreme Court justices Stephen Breyer and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan, and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, among others.

The Yale World Fellows Program has at its core three main goals: to provide advanced training to emerging leaders from diverse disciplines and countries, to link this network of world leaders to each other and to Yale, and to expand and deepen international understanding at Yale.

Source: The Economic Times (Online Edition), April 27, 2011

>Canada promises faster immigration, more student visas

>Just days before Canadian parliamentary elections on May 2, political leaders are wooing Indo-Canadians by promising less waiting time for immigration and more student visas from India. Speaking at a roundtable organized by the Canada- India Foundation (CIF) here, top leaders of the opposition Liberal Party promised a comprehensive relationship with India. They said their party government will take the bilateral ties beyond trade to increase immigration and tourism from India and foster deeper education and research cooperation.

Top Liberal Party leader and Toronto MP Bob Rae reminded Indo-Canadians the role played by his party leader and former prime minister Paul Martin in ushering in G20 to include India and other developing economies for wider consultation on global economic issues. He said Canada should focus on its core competencies in engaging with India and leverage its expertise to continue to push for stronger nuclear ties with India.

Suggesting more visas for Indian students to study in Canada, John McCallum, MP from the Toronto suburb of Markham-Unionville, said Australia was “eating Canada’s lunch” in attracting Indian students and the federal government must usher in friendlier policies on visa and work. Canada currently gets about 3,500 Indian students compared to over 40,000 going to Australia each year.

Rob Oliphant, MP from the Toronto constituency of Don Valley West, said his party had identified Gujarat as a great business destination 20 years ago. He said he was happy that the current Canadian government has recognized the importance of Gujarat by being a partner country at this year’s Vibrant Gujarat Summit. Since Canada still doesn’t have any official presence in Gujarat, he favoured a full consular office in the state.

Oliphant promised that his party government would reduce wait times for the family class immigration category from 11-13 years now to five to six years. He also said his party government would be more careful in addresses sensitive issues like the visit of union minister Kamal Nath here last year which led to protests by Sikh groups for his alleged involvement in the 1984 riots.

Bengali-origin Rana Sarkar, who is contesting for parliament for the first time from the Toronto constituency of Scarborough Rouge River, said that based on past history, his Liberal Party has “the DNA for dealing with India and now there is need for India 2.0 engagement strategy.”

Maria Minna, MP from the Toronto constituency of Beaches-East York, emphasized the need for serious engagement of the Indian diaspora for deepening Canada-India relations. Canada-India Foundation leaders Aditya Jha and Ramesh Chotai, said the Indian diaspora was pleased that the Liberal Party recognizes its role in shaping Canadian policies. Representatives of the Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce, the Ontario Chamber of Commerce, IIT Alumni of Canada and the Canadian Museum of Hindu Civilization also quizzed Canadian politicians about India.

Source: The Economic Times (Online Edition), April 27, 2011

>From next year, new IIMs may have common admission criteria

>Seat selection on the lines of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), common admission criteria and single-location group discussion and personal interviews: these are some key reforms the new bunch of Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) could usher in next year while picking candidates through from one of the toughest B-school admission tests in the world.

At a meeting with the Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD) last week, directors and chairpersons of the six new IIMs proposed common admission criteria where sectional cut-offs in the Common Admission Test (CAT) and other weightages will be equal among them.

IIMs at Rohtak, Trichy and Raipur already had such criteria for the 2011-13 batch. Other IIMs at Ranchi, Udaipur and Kashipur will join this system next year. On the anvil is also an IIT-like system of seat selection.

Source: The Times of India, April 27, 2011