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Conferences are key sites for the development of academic careers; however multiple studies have shown that conferences are exclusionary on the basis of gender and other axes of social disadvantage. This study focuses on India and as such also incorporates caste as an axis of privilege and disadvantage in relation to access to conferences. Conferences in this paper are framed within a broader professional development agenda, which is the way in which conferences are located in Indian higher education policy discourses, and a social exclusion perspective is taken as the analytical lens. The paper is based on data from a large-scale national study of social inequalities in higher education, which included quantitative analysis of administrative records and qualitative analysis of interviews with academics on their participation in conferences and professional development activities. Key findings include that participation in conferences is proportionally lower for women and scheduled caste academics than for men and upper-caste academics, and that access to conferences is embroiled in relational processes of social exclusion which operate in the academy, despite formal policies being in place. The article recommends further scrutiny of policy implementation and replication of this analysis across different country contexts.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify the relevant enablers and barriers related to technical education. It seeks to critically analyze the relationship amongst them so that policy makers can focus on relevant parameters to improve the service quality of technical education. Design/methodology/approach: The present study employs the interpretive structural modeling (ISM) approach to model the crucial parameters of technical education. The parameters discussed are categorized under "enablers" and "barriers". The enablers would help policy makers to improve and develop the curriculum of the technical education and the identifying barriers would help the decision maker to improve upon those variables. Findings: The major findings of this study are to prioritize the strategic parameters in reducing the risks associated with technical education. The model also proposes a hierarchical structure classifying the parameters as drivers and enablers. Research limitations/implications: The study proposes a scientific way to model the enablers and barriers to become a progressive institution in the emerging era of globalization and modernization. This would help to prioritize the issues as the enablers and barriers are hierarchically structured and categorized. Practical implications: The paper maps out a course of action and the adoption of the proposed framework would provide a competitive edge for India over others. Also, the various stakeholders would be satisfied, which would be beneficial for the system as a whole. Originality/value: The application of ISM to the decision making process is the unique feature in the field of technical education in India. The integrated framework of policy related parameters would contribute towards overall growth and development. (Contains 8 tables and 5 figures.)

Technical institutions (TIs) are playing an important role in making India a knowledge hub of this century. There is still great diversity in their relative performance, which is a matter of concern to the education planner. This article employs the method of data envelopment analysis (DEA) to compare the relative efficiency of TIs in India. The identification of the strongest and the weakest parameters of various TIs could be very useful in improving their efficiency and performance. Mathematically, DEA determines the best weights for each input and output for a particular unit under study so as to maximize its relative efficiency. The results are insightful to the educational planner as it identifies priority areas for each technical institute, which can improve the performance. This article also identifies some generic insights from this study. This article is one of the few published studies that evaluate the performance of technical institutes in India. (Contains 1 figure and 2 tables.)

This paper will examine the relativity of contexts produced through diverse mechanisms for interaction by using the example of the picture storytellers of Bengal (Chitrakaras) and their narrative scroll paintings depicting the 9/11 strikes at the World Trade Centre in New York. The Chitrakaras display the scroll along with a narrative constructed from newspaper and television reports and from other popular art forms such as the jatra. The narrative reveals a structure resembling the mythical narrative form mangala kavya that anchors the 9/11 event in a context that is locally intelligible and acceptable. Unlike other forms of mass media this traditional method of storytelling has the receptors actively participating in re-interpreting the event by re-locating it in mythical time. But myths cannot be self-consciously produced, they can only be re-produced or re-enacted. When retold as a myth, the 9/11 story does lose some of the unique features that make it a historic event. What it does acquire is a more universalistic dimension by focusing on human dilemmas and emotions. Thus the universal appeal of the Laden pata, even to those who are not familiar with the narrative tradition within which it is located, can be said to emanate from its ability to re-locate the global event in a local moral context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]