He was speaking during a virtual roundtable on ‘Advancing India-US Education Partnership’ on Wednesday. The Round Table Conference was organized by the Embassy of India in association with its five Consulates in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Houston and Atlanta.
“India and the US are natural allies, especially in the field of education. There is great potential to strengthen cooperation between India and US academic institutions, particularly in connecting industry, academia and policymakers,” Pradhan said. said.
He said that India’s National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 has opened up the mobility of students and teachers across the world and it encourages research partnerships and mutually beneficial educational collaborations.
“To align with the Prime Minister’s announcement at the COP26 summit in Glasgow, India’s education system must be prepared to align with global aspirations and the NEP 2020 allows for such alignment,” he said. They said.
The Round Table Conference was attended by presidents, vice chancellors and representatives from 20 American universities, including the University of Colorado, New York University, Rice University, and the University of Illinois.
All US participants agreed that NEP 2020 is a welcome announcement and the removal of restrictions, especially bureaucratic barriers, from the education sector would be mutually beneficial for both India and the US on all fronts, especially economically.
Representatives from most US universities said they would like to partner with India on specific topics such as cyber security, healthcare, biotech, artificial intelligence, data science, agriculture, climate change and sustainability.
He said that they want to encourage research collaboration and engagement with existing partners as well as explore new relationships with educational institutions in India.
In his address, India’s Ambassador to the US Taranjit Singh Sandhu said that Office of International Affairs has been established in more than 150 universities across India.
New guidelines have been issued to the higher education institutions of India to move ahead in research at the international level. Rules have been put in place to embed internships in general education. He said that the government proposes to set up a National Research Foundation to further improve the research ecosystem in the country.
“All of these offer huge opportunities for US institutions. We can now see a two-way student and research dynamic: US students can take short-term courses or a few semesters at Indian institutions. We are certainly looking for more student and academic exchanges. Can also provide joint research programmes,” Sandhu said.
“Educational institutions in both countries can explore joint projects in third countries, including Africa, Latin America and the Indo-Pacific. Top political leadership of both countries have spoken about it,” he said.
University Grants Commission Chairman DP Singh, All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) Chairman Anil D Sahasrabuddhe, Jawaharlal Nehru University Vice Chancellor Jagdish Kumar and others participated in the round table conference.
Indian speakers said this is the right time to take advantage of the India-US partnership and their common areas of interest, with education being the most important.
Recently, India has intensified its dialogue with American educational institutions. Ambassador Sandhu alone has interacted with over 120 university presidents.
The Embassy is organizing a series of interactions between Indian and American educators and experts to explore ways to deepen the education partnership.
,