Indo-US joint research gets big, funding jumps to $220 million

Vice-president Joe Biden wasn’t joking when he said that India and the US have more science and technology partnerships between them than any other two countries. A dialogue that had begun quietly seven years ago has recently blossomed into a substantial research collaboration involving roughly 100 institutions and nearly 1,000 scientists, according to officials in the Department of Science and Technology.

The committed funding from the two countries has also risen from only $2 million five years ago to $220 million. This research collaboration has begun to tackle some of the most serious challenges facing the two countries. Nearly half of the funding goes to developing a clean energy development centre, which functions within existing Indian and US institutions.

The major partners in this from India are the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Indian Institutes of Technology (Bombay and Madras), Solar Energy Centre, Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, CEPT University, and private companies like Wipro, Thermax, Abellon Clean Energy and Schneider Electric. The prominent US partners are the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Stanford University, University of Florida, and private companies like General Electric, Autodesk, Cookson Electronics, and Honeywell. They are trying to develop next-generation technologies in solar energy, biofuels and green buildings.

There are also partnerships in weather forecasting, healthcare and creating open government data platforms. The monsoon mission of the government of India, a Rs. 4-billion project to improve forecasts of the south-west monsoon, funds several collaborations; one of them is a monsoon desk at the National Centers for Environmental Prediction in Maryland, a US government organisation that provides weather forecasts and analyses to agencies around the world.

India is a scientific partner in the $1.2-billion telescope coming up in Hawaii, which will the most powerful so far in the world. “Indo-US collaboration in science keeps on expanding rapidly,” says T. Ramasami, Secretary of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India.

The motivation for the collaboration stems from the fact that the two countries have many common problems that will benefit from joint research. Although the US is scientifically advanced, some contemporary problems require research inputs from multiple perspectives. The US could provide advanced scientific inputs to India, while India with its large scientific establishment and unique traditions could help US look at things from a different perspective. In the early stages of the programme, the decision of what to work on was left to the scientists, but now this is decided at the government level.

The Joint Clean Energy Research and Development Centre (JCERDC) is now developing next generation energy and building technologies. The most significant project in this is on solar energy, where a large team — 15 laboratories from each country — from both countries is trying to develop some very ambitious technologies. “In my 38 years of professional research,” says Kamanio Chattopadhyay, professor at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and lead from India for solar energy, “I have not worked on a project like this. If we succeed, we could produce some path-breaking technologies in five years.”

The aim of the solar energy project is develop disruptive technologies in three areas: photovoltaics, solar thermal and integration. The photovoltaic part includes developing print-jet technology, organic polymer cells, and solar cells with silicon-like efficiency with nontoxic and abundant materials. In solar thermal, which generates electricity by focusing the sun’s heat rather than light, scientists are developing new kinds of reflectors and coating materials. One of its aims is to increase the efficiency and decrease the amount of land, always a constraint for implementing large solar energy projects.

In biofuels, the clean energy centre is developing technology to utilise high-biomass plants like sorghum, bamboo and pearl millet, which grow easily in Indian conditions. “These plants can withstand dry conditions and even salt,” says Ahmed Kamal, scientist at the CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Technology at Hyderabad, who is the project lead from India. Bamboo is a special plant as it can absorb and sequester 30% more carbon dioxide than other forest plants. Current research on the so-called second-generation biofuels focuses on ethanol from cellulose.

India has started blending petrol with ethanol, whose share can rise up to 20% in four or five years. In green buildings, the aims are slightly different for the two countries. Since India is yet to construct a large number of the buildings it needs in the next few decades, its focus is on producing new green buildings. Since the US already has a large base of buildings, it focuses substantially on retrofitting for reducing energy use.

The two countries have still found common ground. “Building science as a research topic does not exist in India,” says Satish Kumar, energy efficiency ambassador of Schneider Electric, a partner of the project from India. The Indo-US project would aim to fill this vacuum, as well as creating policy imperatives and best practices. “Certification in India does not look at operational efficiency,” says Girish Ghatikar, Rish Ghatikar, Project Director, the U.S. India Center for Building Energy R&D (CBERD). Improving this operational efficiency is one of the goals of the project.

In all projects, it is a case of mutual benefit. “This is not a technology transfer project,” says Rajan Rawal, assistant professor at the CEPT University in Ahmedabad, which leads the green building project from India, “India has to offer something back to the US as well.” In green buildings, much of the knowledge from India could be on methods of passive cooling, by not using airconditioning, as buildings in the US always use air-conditioning for cooling.

In solar energy, this could be domestic expertise in software technologies; modern solar energy systems use a high amount of software. In any case, if the project expands as it has in recent times, the energy sector of both countries could see some breakthrough in the next few years.

Source: The Economic Times, July 25, 2013

India, US sign four pacts on education – Move to set up Community Colleges in India

Minister for Human Resource Development M.M. Pallam Raju said that given the size of the student community in the country there was a scope for establishing at least 20,000 community colleges. On Tuesday, four Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) were signed in the educational space during the ongoing India-US Higher Education Dialogue 2013.

He said that there was substantial progress and clarity on how to progress on community colleges. The Ministry is working with the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC), to develop a framework for community colleges in the country.

An MoU was signed between the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and the AACC for setting up community colleges in India.

Further, Raju also said that with the transformation that Massively Open Online Courses (MooCs) are bringing in the educational sphere, the Government is planning to focus on this area. An MoU for this has been signed between IIT Bombay and edX, a non-profit entity created by Harvard and MIT that develops higher education content for open online courses.

Besides this there is an effort to enhance teacher capacity development in collaboration with institutes in the US. Raju said that through these initiatives the Government was trying to adopt best practices of teaching and not trying to mirror models in the West.

When asked if the recent move to introduce four-year courses in University of Delhi could be seen as replicating a Western model and whether it would work in India, Raju said the Government was keeping a close watch on the concerns and any lacunae in the course would be sorted out. While addressing concerns that the talks and MoUs signed on Tuesday could be a way of giving foreign institutions a back-door entry, given that the Foreign Education Providers (Regulation) Bill is yet to come to pass, Raju said these are straightforward agreements to encourage both American and Indian students to go to each others’ countries for studies. He said the Bill, which is pending in Parliament, would be tabled in the upcoming session.

Source: The Hindu Business Line, June 26, 2013

Stage set for new India-US education partnership

Starting this year, as many as 200 American students will come to India’s Central universities and the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) as part of a novel ‘Connect India’ programme planned by the two countries. The University Grants Commission (UGC) will also award 300 Raman Fellowships to Indian students for post-doctoral studies in the US.

The moves aim at deepening the engagement between the two countries as part of the Second Indo-US Higher Education Dialogue. India and the US will also join hands to set up a cyber security cell, education testing services, twinning arrangements and meta-university format engagement with the US varsities. These are among the set of 15 concrete outlines of the Second Indo-US Higher Education Dialogue starting in October this year.

Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal led a 14-member delegation of academicians for participation in talks that were held on June 12 in Washington for a formal approval for the ‘Connect India’ programme which will be coordinated by the UGC and the Central universities. The Vice-Chancellor of JNU will be the key authority handling this project from the Indian side.

Waking up to the real threats that could come from the virtual world, India will later this year set up a Cyber Security Centre with the IIT-Delhi handling it along with the Ministry of Home Affairs. A few US institutions are also expected to assist in the project.

Aiming to boost institutional-level collaboration, the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) has already got the UGC to approve regulations to facilitate twinning arrangements between Indian and foreign educational institutions. These will enable tie-ups with foreign institutions without any need for a legislative backing. That apart, the UGC will also initiate the second round of the Manmohan Singh-Barack Obama fellowships and collaborate in education testing services along with the IIT-Kanpur and the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE).

The MHRD will identify ‘Grand Challenge’ areas for research and innovation related collaboration besides in the area of E-learning — a subject highlighted by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton — support a US-India Higher Education web portal, host an international seminar on community colleges.

Source: The Indian Express, August 16, 2012

IITian head of Cornell wants stronger ties with India

Soumitra Dutta, who will assume charge as the new dean of Cornell University’s management school on July 1, takes pride in being an IITian. Although opening a campus in India does not figure in his immediate plans, Dutta wants to build stronger links with researchers and thinkers in India as part of a grand strategy to take Cornell to the world, and bring the world to Cornell.

With this, Dutta will join a growing club of Indian-origin academicians who head prestigious universities in the United States. He will probably be the first person from the country to head Cornell University. Stating that Delhi’s IIT (Indian Institute of Technology) helped him develop his true potential, Dutta said: “The excellence of its faculty and curriculum helped me develop critical thinking and analysis skills.”

Speaking on the confrontation between government and IITs over the change in JEE (Joint Entrance Exam), he said: “The faculty and alumni of an educational institution are best placed to make decisions on the format of academic programmes and their entry criteria. The government is an important supporter of the IITs and has an important interest in seeing the institutions grow stronger. However, this is best achieved by working in partnership with IIT faculty and alumni, and developing a common understanding and framework for action.”

For now, Dutta wants to expand the reach of Cornell, and bring it closer to India – among other countries. “Cornell is fortunate in being able to attract some of the best Indian students and faculty to its campus in New York. There is a lot more that Cornell can do in India, and I will focus on bringing Cornell’s excellence in faculty and educational programmes to India.”

Even though India has pockets of excellence in education, a lot more needs to be done, Dutta said. “I am especially concerned about improving the level of research excellence within Indian educational institutions. I will aim to develop stronger links with India with the goal of improving research norms and culture in Indian institutions.”

Source: Hindustan Times, June 10, 2012

Obama tasks an Indian to sell US colleges

Suresh Kumar’s passage to the United States and its citizenship was different from the standard route. A former Doordarshan newscaster – a contemporary of Salma Sultan and Kabir Bedi – Kumar, an alumnus of Delhi’s Hindu College, studied management in Mumbai and worked his way through Greece, Indonesia, Singapore and Canada before coming to the US in the 1980s to teach at Thunderbird School of Management and Rutgers University. “So my model is a little different,” he muses, “most people come to US to study and then go to India to teach.”

Early next week though, Kumar will travel to India to hawk the virtues of an American education system of which he was not a beneficiary but is now certifiably an expert. As the US Assistant Secretary of Commerce and Director General of the US and Foreign Commercial Service, he is one of the Obama administration’s highest ranked Indian-Americans, a spectacular rise in government. Tasked now with leading a Department of Commerce Education Industry Trade Mission to India, he is also pointman for an education export initiative that will take 21 US colleges and universities to New Delhi, Chennai, and Mumbai to connect US educational institutions to potential Indian students and universities.

Not that US education system needs much salesmanship in India. For nearly a decade, India among all countries has been sending to the US the highest number of students, whose population is now upwards of 105,000. But the inflow has tailed off during the last year, and China has retaken the lead. It’s a statistic that has furrowed some brows in both academia and government, considering that Indian students plow in more than $ 2 billion annually into the US economy.

Why the Indian admissions are falling off is not quite clear. Indian students are certainly exploring other options such as Canada, Australia, UK and Europe, but anecdotal accounts suggest they could also be staying home for further studies, unsure whether forking out $ 100,000 for a US degree is worth it given the economic downturn and visa and immigration issues that have made headlines. If that is the case, then the US is quite happy to bring its education wares to India.

In any case, the developments coincide with President Obama’s National Export Strategy in which India is considered a ”priority market,” and selling education and technology to India is a key component. Kumar’s mandate is not just to attract more Indian students to study in America, but also lubricate the passage of US universities and schools to India, either directly, through collaboration, or even through distance education. A bill before the Indian parliament that enjoins US universities to reinvest their profits in India (and therefore bans repatriation) is not something that has thrilled Washington, but the US is looking at working around this issue, Kumar indicated in an interview on Wednesday.

While Kumar will be in India, India’s human resources minister Kapil Sibal will be in Washington DC parlaying with Hillary Clinton in what’s termed as the US-India higher education summit. Washington makes no secret of the fact that it considers education an industry and a commodity worthy of export initiatives (measuring ”India’s higher education market potential, estimated in the billions of dollars”) it also feels education is an integral part of the strategic partnership between the two countries ”because of its impact on fostering collaboration on critical issues that we face today.”

A Commerce Department brief ahead of Kumar’s visit notes that India aims to increase gross enrollment of high school graduates in higher education to 30 percent by 2020, which means almost tripling the enrollment from the present 14 million to 40 million. Presently, the Indian population in the relevant age group enrolled in a higher education course is more than that of Europe, USA, and Australia combined. The United States, whose leadership in education is still unquestioned, is well-positioned to help India reach its higher education enrollment goals, the report notes. As a small benefit, it will also bump up US trade figures with India, which are sharply lower than its figures vis-a-vs China.

Source: The Times of India, October 7, 2011

IIM-Lucknow ties up with Indiana University

The Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow (IIM-L) on Wednesday signed an agreement with Kelley School of Business (KSB), Indiana University, USA, to collaborate for research, faculty and student exchange programme. A memorandum of understanding in this regard was signed by Mr. Michael A McRobbie, President, Indiana University and Devi Singh, Director, IIM-L, stated a media release.

The MoU will also explore the possibilities of launching a Dual – Degree Programme in Business Analytics and Global Strategy. This Programme would be designed, developed, marketed and delivered by both the institutes and would be primarily taught at IIM Lucknow’s Noida campus by faculty members from both the institutions.

The collaboration will include extensive research. Kelly School of Business & IIM Lucknow will investigate avenues to enhance the research mission. Collaborative case studies would be developed which would be then used for teaching purpose, design and deliver series of faculty research workshops.

KSB and IIM-L will also explore the best avenues to combine the interests of faculty at both institutes with students, the business community and society in general. The collaboration seeks to produce events such as webinars and video conferences.

Source: The Economic Times (Online Edition), August 31, 2011

India-US higher education summit in October, 2011

Aiming at more collaborations in higher education, India and the US will host a summit in Washington this October. A statement issued after the talks between US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna said the summit will be held on October 13 to “highlight and emphasize the many avenues through which the higher education communities in the US and India collaborate”.

“The US and India plan to expand its higher education dialogue, to be co-chaired by the US Secretary of State and Indian Minister of Human Resource Development, to convene annually,” the statement said. It said the summit would incorporate private and non-governmental sectors and higher education communities to aid government-to-government discussions.

The US said a special initiative named “Passport to India” has been created to encourage American students to study and intern in India. Over 100,000 Indian students are now studying or interning in America.

The US-India Science and Technology Endowment Board, established by Clinton and Krishna in 2009, plans to award nearly $3 million annually to entrepreneurial projects that commercialize technologies to improve health and empower citizens. “The two sides are strongly encouraged by the response to this initiative, which attracted over 380 joint US-India proposals. The Endowment plans to announce the first set of grantees by September 2011,” the statement said.

The two countries will also focus on strengthening teaching, research and administration of both US and Indian institutions through university linkages and junior faculty development at higher education level.

The statement said the India-US Science and Technology Forum, now in its 10th year, has convened activities that have led to the interaction of nearly 10,000 Indian and US scientists and technologists. As a follow up to the successful US-India Innovation Roundtable held in September 2010 in New Delhi, the two sides agreed to hold another Innovation Roundtable in early 2012.

Source: www.indiaedunews.net, July 20, 2011

>Obama-Singh initiative to take wings soon

>India and the US will take steps to increase collaboration in higher education in the next few months under an initiative announced during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to the US in November 2009. The country aims to set up theme-based universities, promote research, train teachers and brand a group of leading educational institutes the Indian Ivy League under the Obama- Singh 21st Century Knowledge programme, named after Singh and US President Barack Obama.

Human Resource Development minister Kapil Sibal will meet US secretary of state Hillary Clinton in Washington on 15-16 June, along with a number of education experts, academicians and administrators from both countries, said a note prepared by the ministry, a copy of which has been reviewed by Mint.

Before that, the government has formed five sub-committees of education experts from public and private sectors to visit the US next month. They will “identify specific areas of interest and avenues for cooperation with the US” before Sibal’s visit, the note said. The sub-committees will focus on mechanisms for knowledge partnerships, faculty development initiatives and academic leadership, academic-industry collaboration, vocational and skill development, and building environment for institutional partnership.

“The US education system is well-advanced, and Indian higher education is gradually transforming for the better,” said Narayanan Ramaswamy, Ëxecutive Director of education practice at auditing firm KPMG. “Learning from each other’s experience and collaboration in areas of science, technology, research, and skill education will be a great opportunity for both, especially for India as it wants to be the knowledge capital of the world.” The initiative will help attract reputed US universities to set up so-called innovation universities with Indian partners, said a senior ministry official, asking not to be named.

The government plans to set up 14 such research-oriented universities, each with a focus area ranging from science to sustainable development. A draft law that will make it easier for foreign universities to open campuses in India is yet to be cleared by Parliament. The official said the Obama-Singh initiative will also help India meet its shortage of trained teachers. Higher educational institutes, including the elite Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), are facing a faculty shortage of 33%, according to data available with the Central government. The country’s 22 top universities have nearly 3,800 vacant posts out of 11,000 sanctioned teaching jobs.

Newly set up Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) at Raipur, Rohtak and Ranchi are largely depending on visiting professors to teach their students. The 15 new central universities, operating for two years, face a faculty shortage of 50%. Although no concrete steps had been taken to implement the initiative until recently, Obama had reiterated his commitment to it while visiting New Delhi in November.

Source: Mint, April 11, 2011

Knowledge Power: India-U.S. Higher Education Summit next year

Education continues to be an important area of cooperation for India and the United States. On Monday, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and U.S. President Barack Obama announced the decision to host a Higher Education Summit next year.

“Building on our successful efforts to expand educational exchanges, including our Singh-Obama 21st Century Knowledge Initiative, we will convene a summit to forge new collaborations in higher education,” U.S. President Barack Obama said in his opening statement at the joint press conference.

The summit, chaired by HRD minister Kapil Sibal and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, will bring together top education leaders from both countries to discuss areas of cooperation and concerns. The summit is part of the U.S.-India Cooperation on Education agreed to last November during Prime Minister Singh’s state visit to the U.S. The cooperation includes three initiatives — enhanced India-U.S. strategic partnership in education, Fulbright-Nehru Fellowship expansion and the Obama-Singh 21st Century Knowledge Initiative.

Progress on the education initiatives has been slow. Senior HRD officials have attributed the delays to putting a legal framework in place. Parliament is yet to pass the foreign education providers’ bill which will make it possible for foreign education institutions to set up campuses in India. It is clear that top drawer institutions are unlikely to set up campuses in India, but Indian institutions can expect greater faculty and student exchange and interaction as well as collaborative research.

During his recent visit to India, Yale president Richard C. Levin had said that his university would not be setting up campus in this country. A fact reiterated by his counterparts in Ivy league universities like Cornell. Experts say that once the legal framework for educational reforms are in place, there could be greater interaction among universities.

India-U.S. education summits led by institutions and associations have been held in the past, but Monday’s announcement is the first time that governments of the two countries will hold summit level talks on education. Both Prime Minister Singh and President Obama have emphasized the need to focus on collaboration in education as a key component of the Indo-U.S. partnership which both leaders have defined as one of the “defining partnerships of the 21st century.” The summit is aimed at providing greater momentum to reforms that can facilitate further deepening of ties in the sector.

Source: The Economic Times, November 9, 2010

Obama leads U.S. universities to India

Yale University and Duke University are among dozens of U.S. colleges that India is recruiting to help educate its population with more than 550 million people under age 25. Duke, Brown University and the University of Chicago are planning offices, research centers and campuses in India. The presidents of the University of Pennsylvania, Stanford University and Cornell University have traveled to India to raise money and establish collaborations. Yale President Richard Levin visited India last week to set up a joint program that will educate Indian college leaders.

President Barack Obama will make a three-day state visit to India, starting tomorrow (November 6), accompanied by U.S. university officials eager to strengthen their ties to the country. Institutions want to “get in on the ground floor” as India’s economy and education system mature and the nation becomes a global power, said Dipesh Chakrabarty, a University of Chicago history professor who is leading the university’s efforts to plan a research center in New Delhi, India’s capital.

“We see India as a tremendous opportunity for higher education,” said Robert Brown, President of Boston University and a member of the delegation traveling to India, where he aims to open a campus, in a telephone interview. “There’s tremendous demand, a growing population in the middle class, an English-speaking, well-organized educational system — all the things that you need to interface with a private American university.”

Read the full report on Bloomberg site – http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-11-05/universities-tag-along-with-obama-to-india-to-set-up-ties-like-yale-duke.html

Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/