New Delghi, Aug. 21 : Suggesting an integrated approach to improve India''s higher education standards, the Director General of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Professor Samir Brahmachari, said the country urgently req1uired a research university.

Speaking at a panel discussion on "India''s Leadership in Manufacturing: Role of Engineering Education" at Observer Research Foundation today, Professor Brahmachari stressed the need for quality education, citing the instances of unemployability of many engineering graduates when there is also a demand for good engineers.

Professor V. S. Ramamurthy, the Chairman of Board of Directors of IIT, Delhi, underlined the need for creating enough market for post graduates and PhD holders.

Washington, Aug 20: Using calculators in the classroom does not hinder learning of multiplication, as long as children have a basic grasp of the skills first, suggests a group of researchers.

The study, conducted by Bethany Rittle-Johnson and colleague Alexander Kmicikewycz, will be published in the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology.

Calculators are useful tools in elementary mathematics classes, if students already have some basic skills, new research has found. The findings shed light on the debate about whether and when calculators should be used in the classroom.

Sydney, Aug 20 : High-school students in Australia will be able to use iPods, the Internet and mobile phones during exams under a plan revealed by a all girls’ college.

Presbyterian Ladies'' College at Croydon in Sydney said that it was redefining the "open book" exam concept, in which students are able to bring in reference books, to take into account new technology.

The school is trialling the use of the new media with 14 and 15-year-old English students but hopes to expand its use across all subjects by year-end.

Stockholm - Swedish teachers consider it is important to teach about the Holocaust but many lack knowledge about it, a survey released Wednesday suggested.

Only two of the roughly 5,000 teachers polled were able to answer all 11 questions in the poll while 70 per cent of the teachers had at least eight wrong answers, the Swedish government agency Living History Forum said.

For instance, many teachers thought that the Gulag - the extensive prison system and forced labour prison camps in the Soviet Union - were extermination camps set up by Nazi-led Germany.

About half of the teachers polled said teaching about the Holocaust was just as important or more important than other subjects in history.

In a hope to improve its infrastructure, library and research facility, the Aligarh Muslim University has tied up with seven US universities.

Washington, Aug 19 : When it comes to math, piling on the homework may not work for all students, say a group of researchers.

The researchers found that large pile of assignments tend to have a larger and more significant impact on test scores for high and low achievers, however in case of average achievers, it is less effective.

The joint study by researchers at Binghamton University and the University of Nevada has been published in the July issue of the Econometrics Journal.