Animation is an art of imparting life to virtual characters and images. It is an important essence of entertainment industry and it requires artistic skills and a lot of creativity. It has become the fastest growing section of electronic media. World of animation is interesting as well as exciting too. It requires a lot of hard work, dedication and skills in understanding animation process. It is an art of filling emotions and feelings in virtual characters and requires proper training. Several colleges and institutes provide short term and long term programs which can be chosen depending on eligibility and interest.

Selecting the best animation institute

One need not struggle to find an appropriate animation institute. There are certain things which should be considered while selecting the best institution like its track record should be checked and researched before joining it. Reviews and credentials will also tell a lot about institute and would widen vision about reputation of the organization. Such centers that provide unique features and facilities are recommended. Institutes with the best faculty are always considered apt as they have experienced staff that can guide better than others. Institutions that provide placement assistance are a good option to choose from. One would need to research a lot to select the best one that meets your criteria. These institutes can be searched for online as well and their ratings will also enable in understanding its standards. Websites of top institutes will serve as an easy way to find the best one that meet required needs.

Keep in mind

While hunting for the best institution, location should be used as a major key. Centers around your locality are recommendable. Ones with best alumnus, high prestige, attractive outlook, impressive infrastructure and best repute are good options to choose from. Aims and objectives of an association, method of training, important goals, classes offered, length of studies, performance opportunities, preparation for the market place, animation degree and total cost should be considered while keeping a hand on one. Interviewing people related to animation, talking to friends, family and teachers would also help in making picture of the appropriate animation center clear. Ex-students will also be able to clear all your doubts and provide true and actual information of internal working of an institution.

There are many other ways by which search for in this field can be made easy. Checking out position of these study centers on world scale will also be of great help in determining the best one out of the pool. Check out comments and testimonials of the animation institutes that are appealing and meet requisite needs. Shortlist best ones and evaluate their pros and cons. Finally it would be convenient to choose and join one of the best out of short listed ones.

Article written by Mr. N.C. Bansal, founder and chairperson of RKFMA, journalism college India and animation institute Delhi.

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1. Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIMA): The Government of India in collaboration with Government of Gujarat and Indian Industry as and autonomous Institute in 1961 set up Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIMA). Conceived not only as a business school but also as a management Institute, the Indian Institute of Management, Headband (IIMA) builds on over forty-five years of excellence and leadership in management educations.

EMBA Course Details:
· PGPX: One Year Post-Graduate Program in Management for Executives
· Executives with bachelor’s degree in any discipline and are 27 or above at the start of the program can apply
· The program is open to all executives of nationalities
· The fee for PGPX program is INR 17,52,500 (for a single student with accommodation)
· Admission process includes GMAT, leadership profiling and personal interviews.
· It is a residential program.

2. Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (IIMB): Established in 1973, the Institute has since then built on its base of highly accomplished faculty, world class infrastructure and motivated student body to emerge as one of the premier institutes for management education and research promoting managerial excellence in the country. IIMB strives to achieve excellence through partnerships with industry, and leading academic institutions, the world over. IIMB’s mission is to “build leaders through holistic, transformative and innovative education.”

EMBA Course Details:
· EPGP: Executive Post Graduate Program
· Graduate in any discipline with minimum 7 years of full-time experience
· The fee for the EPGP program is INR 16,75,000 (For single student with accommodation, 17,70,000 for a married student with accommodation)
· GMAT, Achievements, Interview
· It is a residential program.

3. Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow (IIML): Established in 1984, the institute’s mission is to be a global conscious and integrated school of management, towards management development, both in India and abroad.

EMBA Course Details:
· WMP: PGP in Working Managers Program, 3 year program
· Graduate in any discipline with minimum 2 years of full-time experience
· Written test, GD and Interview
· It is a non-residential program

4.Indian Institute of Management, Indore (IIMI): Established in 1996, Indian Institute of Management Indore is the sixth in the prestigious IIM family of management schools. The essence of management, IIM I believe, lies in managing one’s own ambitions and forging ahead consciously. “A strong theoretical foundation is the basis of good corporate practice”

EMBA Course Details:
· EPGP: Executive post graduate Program
· Graduate in any discipline with minimum 5 years of full-time experience
· The fee for the EPGP program is INR 5,50,000
· GMAT, personal Interview, Academic Record
· It is a Residential/non-residential program

5. Indian School of Business (ISB): The Indian School of Business evolved from the need for a world-class business school in Asia. Our founders- some of the best minds from the corporate and academic worlds- visualized the leadership needs of emerging Asian economies. They recognized that the rapidly changing business landscape would require young leaders with an understanding of evolving economies, but also with a global perspective. The ISB is committed to its role in creating such leaders through its innovative programs, outstanding faculty and thought leadership.

EMBA Course Details:
· Master of Business Administration
· Graduate in any discipline with minimum 5 years of full-time experience
· The fee for the MBA program is INR 15,00,000
· GMAT score, GD, personal Interview
· Residential

Executive MBA programs are now more popular than full time MBA programs. It is delivered in a number of ways, including modular and part-time.

This is Sudheer Vattikuti and I am a post graduate in Computer Science and Information Technology(CSIT). Myself along with my fellow techies have started a website, which consists abundant information for the young aspirants regarding technical, management education and career opportunities in various fields. Feel free to visit my website http://youngbrigades.com.

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Now, we see the condition in middle class educational institutions. There is no quality of education in the so-called average educational institutions. The teaching environment and the faculty is not upto the mark. The standard of graduate & postgraduate level is so poor that some institutions are even selling their transcripts & degrees. The government is taking action against these institutions in private sector. The University of the Punjab and Higher Education Commission have set a standard for the operation of these institutions and award affiliations & charters to only those private institutions who qualify the required criteria. Everyday, we see the sign boards of a school or college removed by the concerned authorities but again we see a new entrant in the education sector with a very poor standard of teaching environment and faculty. The tuition culture is also a black spot on our prevailing educational environment in private institutions. Many daytime colleges & schools are converted into tuition centers in the evening. There are some private institutions that have not been awarded charter by Higher Education Commission or affiliation with Punjab University but they are miss-leading or rather cheating the students by putting false statements on their signboards and brochures.

The curriculum offered in most of the educational institutes does not fit in the requirements of the job. Due attention is not given to the professional programs to enable a student to face competitive & professional requirements of the job opportunities in the market. Education does not merely mean academic qualification. What we have to do is to mobilize our people and build up the character of our future generations. In this world of global competition, success of a business is dependent upon the quality of management, which comes through the quality of education.

The basic role of the educational institutions in the private sector is to educate, train and develop the young generation for the successful leadership roles in the practical realms of life. It is not just the degree from a college, which ensures the highest standards of excellence & growth. The basic purpose of training programs should not be to transmit knowledge from books but to impart learning & training to effect changes in behaviours & skills.

The point to note here is whether our educational institutions in private sector are providing an opportunity to explore human capabilities which are not addressed in main stream education and are they willing to modify their curriculums to meet the demands of global competition in the job market. Due to high merit and limited seats in government institutions, the majority of the students join private educational institutions. So the demand of the day is that private institutions should provide quality education at affordable price to fulfill their social responsibility. Disintegrated nations can be transformed into uncanny force by bringing revolutionary changes in their stagnant thinking. We want our younger generation to be flexible, creative and assertive enough to make out dreams true about a progressive, liberal and strong Pakistan.

Education without purpose & direction is a mere waste of time & resources that results in unemployment & frustration. The educational institutions in the private sector should feel their responsibility to provide quality education at affordable price. All of us do not have equal talents, but all of use should have an equal opportunity to develop out talents to have a competitive edge in the global market.

The government has its own role to play which includes monitoring the activities of the educational institutions in the private sector, encouraging those institutions which are playing a positive role in providing quality education at affordable price and taking action against those who are a black spot in the field of education.

Khalid Nasr is a retired Major from Pakistan Army. He completed his MBA from IBA, Karachi University. Presently, head of Business Administration department in a University at Lahore. Khalid Nasr is member of Hamdard Thinker’s Forum and Eilaaf Club in Lahore.

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One of the central goals defined by the Government of Mozambique in its long-term development strategy is “poverty reduction through labour-intensive economic growth”. The highest priority is assigned to reduce poverty in rural areas, where 90 percent of poor Mozambicans live, and also in urban zones. The Government recognizes also that, for this development strategy on poverty eradication to succeed, expansion and improvement in the education system are critically important elements in both long-term and short-term perspectives.

In the long term, universal access to education of acceptable quality is essential for the development
of Mozambique´s human resources, and the economic growth will depend to a significant extend on the education and training of the labour force. It is very important to develop a critical mass of well trained and highly qualified workforce which in turn will improve the overall literacy, intellectual development, training capacity and technical skills in various areas of the country’s economic and industrial development.

In the short term, increased access and improved quality in basic education are powerful mechanisms for wealth redistribution and the promotion of social equity. This policy is consistent with the provisions of the new Constitution of Mozambique adopted on 16 November 2004, in its articles 113 and 114 which deal respectively with education and higher education. Around the year 1990, the Government of Mozambique decided to change its social, economic and political orientation system from the centrally-planned system inherited from the communist era and adopted a western-style of free market system. At the same time, it was also decided to adopt fundamental changes in the education programmes. Since drastic changes and wide ranging effects were resulting from the adoption of the new economic and political orientation, it was necessary to provide new guidelines and rules governing the management of institutions of higher education.

The struggle continues: “a luta continua” !

The economic and political changes were progressively introduced with success through legislative and regulatory reforms. However, it has not been very easy to evenly change rules of social and cultural behaviour. In particular, vulnerable younger generations are the most affected by the rapid changes in society, while the reference model and values they expect from elder people in the modern Mozambican society seem to be shifting very fast. And in some instances, there seem to be no model at all. The new wave of economic liberalism in Mozambique, better defined by the popular concept of “deixa andar”, literally meaning “laisser-faire”, was mistakenly adopted as the guiding principle in the areas of social, cultural and education development.

The “laisser-faire” principle is better understood by economists and entrepreneurs in a system of open market and free entrepreneurship, under which the Government’s intervention is reduced to exercising minimum regulatory agency. The recent considerable economic growth realized by the Government of Mozambique (10% of successive growth index over four years) is attributed mainly to this free market policy. This principle should be carefully differentiated from “laisser-aller” which, in French language, rather means lack of discipline in academic, economic, social and cultural environments.
Reforming higher education institutions represents a real challenge, both at the institutional and pedagogic levels, not only in Mozambique, but elsewhere and in particular in African countries faced with the problem of “acculturation”. The youth seeking knowledge opportunities in national universities, polytechnics and higher institutes, where students are somehow left on their own, having no longer any need to be under permanent supervision of their parents or teachers, are disoriented. Since reforms in higher education institutions take longer than in any other institutional environment, it is necessary indeed to adopt adequate transitional measures to respond to urgent need of the young generations.

This essay reviews current trends and the recent historical background of higher education institutions of Mozambique. It argues against the adoption of the classical model of higher education from European and other western systems. In its final analysis, it finds that there is need to include ethical and deontology (social, cultural and moral education) components as priority sectors within the curriculum in higher education institutions, with a view to instill in the students and lecturers positive African values in general, and in particular, national Mozambican models. It is rejecting the neo-liberal thinking, which proposes that students in higher education institutions should be allowed to enjoy unlimited academic, social and intellectual uncontrolled independence, in conformity with western classical education and cultural orientation. It advocates for critical thinking and brainstorming on key issues towards the development of positive cultural and ethical models in higher education institutions which could be used to promote knowledge development and poverty eradication in the country’s rural areas and urban zones affected by unemployment, pandemics and economic precariousness.

The colonial legacy and its cultural impact on higher education in Mozambique.

Many experts have described the Mozambican mother of higher education as an institution for colonialists and “assimilados” . The first institution of higher education in Mozambique was established by the Portuguese government in 1962, soon after the start of the African wars of independence. It was called the General University Studies of Mozambique (Estudos Gerais Universitários de Moçambique EGUM). In 1968, it was renamed Lourenço Marques University. The university catered for the sons and daughters of Portuguese colonialists. Although the Portuguese government preached non-racism and advocated the assimilation of its African subjects to the Portuguese way of life, the notorious deficiencies of the colonial education system established under the Portuguese rule ensured that very few Africans would ever succeed in reaching university level. However, many educated African were led to adopt the colonial lifestyle.

In spite of Portugal’s attempts to expand African educational opportunities in the late 1960s and early 1970s, only about 40 black Mozambican students – less than 2 per cent of the student body -had entered the University of Lourenço Marques by the time of independence in 1975. The state and the university continued to depend heavily on the Portuguese and their descendants. Even the academic curriculum was defined according to the needs and policies defined long ago by the colonial power.
Soon after Independence in June 1975, the Government of Mozambique, from the FRELIMO party, adopted a Marxist-Leninist orientation and a centrally planned economy. The educational system was nationalized, and the university was renamed after Dr. Eduardo Mondlane, the first president of FRELIMO.

Many cadres trained in Portugal and other European and American universities came also with their own educational and cultural background. Apart from the Eduardo Mondlane University, new public and private universities and institutes were established. These include the Pedagogic University, the ISRI, the Catholic University, ISPU, ISCTEM and ISUTC. Most of these institutions adopted a curriculum clearly modeled on the classical European model. There is still need to integrate African traditional values in the course profiles offered and research programmes developed by these institutions.

The traditional role of a university is to enlighten and serve as a reference within the society: “illuminatio et salus populi”. Today, Mozambique is one of the most culturally and racially diversified society of Africa. This diversity should be considered as a cultural treasure for the nation. It has become however apparent that it’s more a “Babel Tower case”, as no unified Mozambican values appear to develop from this wide variety. With the creation of new public and private universities and new faculties, it would become easier to increase a critical mass of university lecturers and academic professionals, who would in their turn, influence the society, creating and instilling national positive values and ethical principles of conduct in the younger generations. According to many lecturers and students contacted at UEM, Universidade Pedagogica UP and UDM, the impact of higher education on the development of positive academic, scientific, social and cultural values in Mozambique is yet to be felt.

It is however necessary to acknowledge the importance of newly introduced community-based education programmes in some institutions. For instance the emphasis on community and service has guided curriculum development at the Catholic University; its course in agronomy (Cuamba) concentrates on peasant and family farming systems and leans heavily on research and outreach within local farming communities. The CU course in medicine (developed in collaboration with the University of Maastricht) which concentrates on teaching medicine, was particularly deemed appropriate for the rural and urban poor populations of Mozambique, as it is more based on problem-solving and focuses much more on traditional issues.

New Reforms in higher education institutions with a more participative approach

Mozambique is one of few countries in Africa where a new generation of leadership has stepped forward to articulate a vision for their institutions, inspiring confidence among those involved in higher education development and the modernization of their universities. In a series of case studies sponsored and published by the Partnership for Higher Education in Africa , it was confirmed that African universities covered by the studies have widely varying contexts and traditions. They are engaged in broad reform, examining and revising their planning processes, introducing new techniques of financial management, adopting new technologies, reshaping course structures and pedagogy, and more important, reforming practices of governance based in particular on their own contexts and traditions.

Important institutional reforms concerning the strategic planning experiences of the Eduardo Mondlane University (UEM) were initiated and implemented so far. Two strategic planning cycles were developed, the first in 1990 and the second one in 1996 / 97. The second one was meant to adapting to the impacts of newly adopted multi-party democracy, market competition, and globalization. Whereas the first reform cycle was the result of high level officials at the University, the second one was generated using a participatory methodology deemed to be more effective in involving the university staff in the process.

It is important to listen to everyone, and to be seen as listening. We are also convinced that various components of the population in Mozambique should be involved in the next phases of the process with a view to define what kind of education orientation the population would wish to have for their children.
There is important progress but yet limited academic impact on the development of the society
Considerable progress has been so far made in post-independence Mozambique. After the initial problems caused by the long years of civil war and then the long efforts necessitated by the adjustment to a market-driven economy and a multi-party democratic political order, Mozambique is now considered to have a higher education system that offers a wide variety of course options and extensive research opportunities. However, a major weakness highlighted by many observers is that all the institutions remain basically concentrated in the capital city of Maputo and its neighboring provinces. It is argued that they serve only a limited fraction of the Mozambican population, and are destined to train the elite of prominent people in government and in the professions, industry and commerce. It is also alleged that the majority of the students who succeed in entering public and private institutions of higher education are from relatively rich families.

It is finally emphasized that nearly 80 per cent of university students in Mozambique use Portuguese as their principal means of communication, thus strengthening the perception of establishing, reproducing and consolidating a hereditary elite, with model values copied on western societies. In response to this challenge, it was suggested that the government should encourage the emergence of new and non-traditional HEIs closer to the local communities, able to respond more rapidly and flexibly to the demands and expectations of the public and private sectors for a high quality trained workforce, while addressing both regional and socioeconomic imbalances in the country.

In our final analysis, we find that the impact of higher education institutions on the development and dissemination of traditional African social and cultural values would be very limited for a long period. As long as the access and feed-back from all levels of the society and regions will be left out of the core interaction with the highly educated elite and higher education institutions mainly concentrated in Maputo, the role of universities in promoting African positive values, a culture of academic ethics and deontology in the entire national society will be very limited.

The process of “Nation building” needs to rely on a strong academic support. One of the Government’s main constitutional commitments is to promote the development of the national culture and identity (article 115 of the 2004 Constitution). It is clear that many institutions, for instance the television, are actively promoting cultural diversity through various means. Institutions of higher education should be seen doing more, in particular starting with the students themselves and the academic community members, who are expected to be the light of the society. Such actions would include the integration of courses on ethics and deontology, and develop a wide-ranging variety of education models that reprove negative behavior and promote positive values. Our recommendation is that the Government should for example instruct public universities and other higher education institutions, to appoint “Ethics and Deontology Committees” at the level of their University Councils and within all autonomous faculties.

Bibliography

-Fry, Peter and Utui, Rogéro (1999), The Strategic Planning Experience at Eduardo Mondlane University, ADEA Working Paper on Higher Education, ADEA, Association for the Development of Education in Africa, Paris.

-Mouzinho, Mário ; Fry, Peter ; Levey, Lisbeth and Chilundo, Arlindo (2001), Higher Education in Mozambique: A Case study, The Partnership for Higher Education in Africa, New York University, New York

The author, is a lecturer and an International Consultant on Trade and Investment, Director of InterConsult Mozambique and is the Representative of Emerging Market Focus (Pty) in Mozambique. Coments on this article are encouraged.

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