Obama effect: Big-ticket education deals this week

U.S. President Barack Obama’s visit to India is set to start to an unprecedented wave of back-to-back, big-ticket international education deals over the coming week aimed at making India a global education destination.

India will sign key education pacts with Canada on Tuesday and the U.K. on Thursday after finalizing projects with Obama’s delegation on Monday, top government sources confirmed.

“Don’t forget that the U.S., U.K. and Canada are countries that Indians have traditionally thronged for education. It is indicative of India’s role in the global education scenario today that they are coming to India virtually in back-to-back trips we have never witnessed before,” a senior government official said. “These countries need us as much as we need them.”

Named after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the U.S. President, the Singh-Obama 21st Century Knowledge Initiative will be the cornerstone of the discussions between officials of the two nations on education this Monday. The U.S. also wants to declare an education summit with top Indian officials.

On Thursday, human resource development minister Kapil Sibal will ink a pact for a second phase of the U.K.-India Education and Research Initiative (UKIERI) with British minister of state for education and skill David Willetts. Under the UKIERI-2 pact, the U.K. will declare officially a plan to make India a major destination for its students -for education and work experience. “Destination India” is aimed at increasing the number of British students in India —currently only about 1000, in sharp contrast to the 50,000 Indian students in the U.K.

Pacts will be signed with private Indian firms under UKIERI-2 to hire British students as interns. “India is one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. We want British youth to be better aware of India and its evolving realities because India will be a major global player,” said a British official involved in the deal.

On Tuesday — just the day after Obama departs — Sibal is scheduled to hold talks with Canadian officials for an Indo-Canada partnership in education which Canadian PM Stephen Harper is very keen on, sources said. UNESCO officials are also visiting New Delhi on Thursday for talks with Sibal.

Source: Hindustan Times, November 8, 2010

Canadian universities coming to woo Indian students

Presidents of 15 Canadian universities embark on a seven-day mission to India on Monday to woo students from the second fastest growing nation in the world. It is the biggest mission to India by Canadian educational institutions after the two countries signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on higher education during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Canada in June.

Though more than 150,000 Indian students go abroad for higher education each year, Canada gets only about 3,000 annually. Thus, Indian students account for a fraction of more than 90,000 foreign students who enrolled in Canadian universities last year. With foreign students paying more than $15,000 in fees each and collectively pumping more than $6.5 billion into the economy, Canada is looking to a big jump in enrollment from India.

Organized by the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC), the Canadian education mission will travel to Pune and Delhi for meetings with educational institutions, the private sector and administrators to usher in new era in ties in this sector between the two nations. Its major engagements in India include a roundtable with Indian university presidents, which will also be attended by Indian human resource minister Kapil Sibal and his Canadian counterpart Gary Goodyear. The mission will also participate in the higher education summit being organized by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).

“This mission is a way for us to get to know India and its needs more deeply – and to make sure that when Indians think of research and higher education, they think of us,” said AUCC President Paul Davidson before the mission’s departure for India. “Educators and business people in India need to know that Canadian universities are open to building successful partnerships that will enrich experiences for students, strengthen links between our countries and advance international research collaboration,” he said.

Source: The Economic Times (Online edition), November 8, 2010