Britain has released a list of almost 2,000 banking institutions in India whose financial statements will not considered valid for the purpose of issuing students visas

Britain has released a list of almost 2,000 banking institutions in India whose financial statements will not considered valid for the purpose of issuing students visas.“The UK Border Agency maintains a list of financial institutions from which we will not accept financial statements submitted in support of applications under Tier 4 of the points based system,” the home office said.

The 1,940 banks, which include cooperative and rural ones, will not be considered for purpose of granting students’ visas from November 24, the home office said. The list has been subdivided into cooperative banks: scheduled urban cooperative banks, cooperative banks: non-scheduled urban cooperative banks and rural banks.“We will use the list when verifying maintenance funds under Tier 4 of the points-based system.“An applicant will receive no points for maintenance if they submit documents showing that the funds are held in a financial institution on the list,” the home office warned. It said these financial institutions do not satisfactorily verify financial statements submitted by the student visa applicants. “When a bank frequently provides unsatisfactory responses to verification requests, it is proportionate to include it on a list from which we will not accept documents, rather than verifying applications individually,” the home office added.

To help potential students from India, the home office also has issued a list of 85 banks, whose financial statements will be accepted by the UK Border Agency for the purpose of issuing students’ visas. Britain has released a list of almost 2,000 banking institutions in India whose financial statements will not considered valid for the purpose of issuing students visas.

To help potential students from India, the UK Home Office has issued a list of 85 banks, whose financial statements will be accepted by the UK Border Agency for the purpose of issuing students' visas.

The following is the list of 85 banks and financial institutions approved by the UK Home Office:
¦ Bank of Maharashtra
¦ Canara Bank
¦ Central Bank of India
¦ Calyon Bank
¦ Citibank N.A.
¦ Cho Hung Bank
¦ Chinatrust Commercial Bank Ltd.
¦ Indian Bank
¦ Indian Overseas Bank
¦ Industrial Development Bank of India
¦ ING Vysya Bank
¦ J.P. Morgan Chase Bank, National Association
¦ Krung Thai Bank Public Company Limited
¦ Kotak Mahindra Bank Limited
¦ Karnataka Bank
¦ Karur Vysya Bank
¦ Lord Krishna Bank Ltd.
¦ Mashreqbank psc
¦ Mizuho Corporate Bank
¦ Oman International Bank SAOG
¦ Oriental Bank of Commerce
¦ Punjab & Sind Bank
¦ Punjab National Bank
¦ Societe Generale
¦ Sonali Bank
¦ Standard Chartered Bank
¦ State Bank of Mauritius
¦ SBI Commercial and International Bank Ltd.
¦ State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur
¦ State Bank of Hyderabad
¦ State Bank of India
¦ State Bank of Indore
¦ State Bank of Mysore
¦ State Bank of Patiala
¦ State Bank of Saurashtra
¦ State Bank of Travancore
¦ Syndicate Bank
¦ The Bank of Nova Scotia
¦ The Bank of TokyoMitsubishi, Ltd.
¦ Development Bank of Singapore Ltd. (DBS Bank)
¦ The Hongkong & Shanghai Banking Corporation Ltd.
¦ Tamilnad Mercantile Bank Ltd.
¦ The Bank of Rajasthan
¦ The Dhanalakshmi Bank
¦ The Federal Bank Ltd.
¦ The HDFC Bank Ltd.
¦ Jammu & Kashmir Bank
¦ The Nainital Bank
¦ The Sangli Bank
¦ The South Indian Bank
¦ The Ratnakar Bank Ltd.
¦ The Royal Bank of Scotland N.V.
¦ The Lakshmi Vilas Bank
¦ UCO Bank
¦ Union Bank of India
¦ United Bank Of India
¦ Vijaya Bank
¦ Yes Bank

New format for CAT this year

With the CAT exams undergoing a format change this year, MBA aspirants are anxious, to say the least. But experts say starting out with the right section and scanning the questions before attempting the paper could help you crack it.

The Common Admission Test (CAT) — the gateway to pursuing MBA from the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) among other prestigious institutions — will be held from October 22 to November 18 this year. Nearly 2,05,000 students have registered this time against the 3,000 IIM seats. This marginally exceeds last year’s registrations of 2,04,000.

In the new exam pattern, the CAT paper will have only two sections instead of three. Till last year, the paper was divided into Quantitative Ability, Verbal Ability, and Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning. From this year, the first section will focus on Quantitative Ability and Data Interpretation and the second on Verbal Ability and Logical Reasoning. These two sections will now have to be tackled sequentially with separate time limits unlike earlier when students could divide their time between the sections as per their priority.

There are different sections; one student may be strong in Quantitative Ability and weak in Verbal Ability. Till last time, he had the liberty to decide which section he wanted to spend more time on, says Ulhas Vairagkar, director of T.I.M.E.

The total time for the exam has been increased from 135 minutes to 140 minutes, and 70 minutes each have been fixed for the two sections. Now you have to be good at both the sections. Even if you are good at one section and complete it before time, you cannot carry it forward. That is one thing which can have an impact on a student’s performance, Mr Vairagkar said. According to Mr Vairagkar, time management will be the most important factor for students this time.This year, the maximum number of candidates scheduled to take the exam are from New Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Pune.

No CET for PG Medical Students

Its official now: the Common Entrance Test (CET) for post-graduate medical students will not start from this session. In a meeting on Tuesday, the Union health ministry decided that it would not be “feasible” to conduct the CET for post-graduate medical students from 2012 and decided to go ahead with the CET for under-graduates only from this year. Earlier, the government had decided to conduct the CET for both undergraduates and post graduate medical students from this session (2012).

The All India CET for PG got into limbo with the Medical Council of India (MCI) yet to convince an agency to conduct the exam for them. Earlier, the MCI had approached the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) for holding the exam which expressed its inability due to lack of manpower.

Now NEET, not Eamcet for medical admissions

Students of BiPC (Biology, Physics and Chemistry) in the state will now have to switch over to CBSE syllabus with the NTR University of Health Sciences announcing on September 25 that the state will participate in the National Eligibility and Entrance Test (NEET) for admissions to MBBS, scheduled to be held in 2012.
Students rue the fact that they would have to unlearn some lessons from the state syllabus. Officials of NTR Health University had announced on Sunday that the state will not conduct Eamcet for the medical stream from the coming academic year.

The state’s decision to participate in NEET came at a time when Telugu medium students sought to know the stand of the Medical Council of India (MCI) on providing question papers in regional languages. While over 15,000 to 20,000 students from the state write Eamcet medical stream in Telugu, it is not clear whether the national authorities will conduct NEET in regional languages. Another issue is the schedule of the national test.

MCI has also decided that AIIMS and JIPMER will be held along with NEET. “MCI has decided not to conduct AFMC, meant for admissions to armed forces medical colleges. We are not sure whether NEET is enough for admissions to AF colleges,” said a senior lecturer.

Students in the state are worried that their preparation which is mainly for Eamcet will not be enough to get through the national level test. “Most students from AP aim at getting a seat in medical colleges within the state and bank mostly on Eamcet. Since MCI has not specified the syllabus for NEET so far we are worried that students who have been writing the national level entrance tests will score more than us who have studied for Eamcet,” said S Anuradha, a second year student from a corporate college in the city.

74,688 Engineering Seats in Convener-Quota Remain vacant

After the successive rounds of EAMCET counselling, 74,688 engineering seats have remained vacant under the convener’s quota across the state.While big engineering colleges have managed to fill up the existing seats in various streams, colleges established in the last five years are the worst-hit. A similar number of seats under the management quota have found no takers.

 The date set for completion of the admission procedure is October 24 and students opting for the management quota have to do so before October 15. Given the short time span, private engineering college managements are in a fix.

“The deadline is short and whatever planning we do has to be for the next year,” said KVK Rao, general secretary of the Consortium of Engineering and Professional College Management Associations.

 Due to the ongoing strike, some students missed the deadline of September 25 and could not report on time for fresh allotments in the final phase of counselling.

“The rules do not permit the students to exercise their options after the deadline has passed.

 Unfortunately, these students will have to continue in the colleges allotted previously,” added Rao.The seats can not be filled by the college managements. Nearly 15,028 fresh allotments were made in the second phase of counselling, which concluded on September 10.

While electronics and communication engineering (ECE) seemed to be the most favoured branch, computer science, and electrical and electronics have lost favour of the aspirants.

As the AICTE lists the course of action over 2012-13, a fresh crop of private engineering colleges is likely to come up in the state, adding to the dismal situation.

“We would request AICTE within a week’s time to refrain from approving the establishment of new engineering colleges as it will compound our woes,” said Rao.As of now, about half of the 3.1 lakh engineering seats in the state are vacant.