India and UK Join Hands to Prosper Education Sector

The education sector in India is reaching unprecedented heights with government signing deals worth crores of rupees with various countries. With the mission of spreading high quality education to students in India, the Ministry is collaborating with numerous foreign education institutions. Through various multi-million agreements and deals, exchange programs, workshops and other such efforts, the educations system is surely undergoing a transformation phase.

Some of the recent achievements in academic sector include India-US summit on higher education; investment of gargantuan amounts in technology institutes; extension of loans at cheaper interest rates through education loan camps; promotion of e-learning trends and adoption of Unique ID system. The latest feather added in the cap is finalizing of a 5 million pound deal with UK facilitated through the UK-India Education and Research Initiative (UKIERI). The two nations are coming together to work on developing and disseminating education among students in both India and UK.

The Indo-UK deal involves setting up of new educational institutes and holding skill development & leadership programs. It includes focusing on assurance and maintenance of quality of the courses offered to the students. India and UK are equal partners in the deal i.e. both of them have invested 2.5 million pounds each after signing the MoU today on July 28. University Grants Commission (UGC), the Commission that allocates grants to Universities, has funded the share of nearly Rs. 18 crores on behalf of India.

UK has expressed interest in developing education with India as a partner by including the proposed Innovation Universities of our country on its agenda. It wishes to set up new institutes besides developing such universities and take it further. Indian education system is acknowledged worldwide and so, many countries are looking forward for active educational tie-ups. Such programs are expected to boost India’s education sector tremendously and take it to uncharted territories.

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Achieving Excellence in Higher Education

The education sector in India is set to reach new heights with top Indian B-schools and technology colleges spreading their wings. The entry of foreign universities into the country also shows positive signs for students who will now be endowed with better academic opportunities.

Union Human Resource Development Minister, Kapil Sibal is spearheading a huge reform by asking focus on increasing the number of college enrollments and the creation of more infrastructures for education institutes.

According to him:

-Education sector should be given priority lending rates and not commercial rates to enable construction of more schools and colleges across the country.

-The gross enrolment ratio (GER) should be improved which demands focus on substantially increasing the number of college going and research students. The GER of other countries varies from 40 to 50% whereas it is as low as around 12% in India, thus, becoming a matter of serious concern.

The coming up of new institutions would definitely add volumes to the opportunities available in higher education. This will help in potentially increasing enrolment and improvement of quality both directly and indirectly. But, this will help only if the foreign universities impart education in line with the goals, objectives and mission of Indian higher education.

The importance of creativity, new ideas and innovation has to be understood by our education system. It must give space to students and help them develop the qualities they already possess rather than forcing them to follow conventional study patterns. The scope and extent of collaborative learning and exchange programmes is huge and needs to be taken advantage from.

The mission of higher education in India is better access and excellence. As more students pursue higher education and take up research, it will bring immense benefits for the country and its economy.

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Need for change in law education

Education in any field, needs to be reformed with the changing times and demands of the respective industry. I hope you would agree with me on the fact that, change in the work environment has lead to change in the course curriculum of the related fields. Same has been put by the Chief Justice of India, K.G. Balakrishnan, who says there is a strong need for promoting Inter- disciplinary agenda in the curriculum for law education. According to him, there is a need to focus on the subjects like sociology, political science, economics, psychology, history, languages and literature, which would help students in gaining knowledge about these subjects. Implementation of such subjects in the curriculum for law students can help them understand the deeper prospects of a particular case.

As a part of his speech in the first annual convocation of the Gujarat National Law University, he shared the difficulties he faced while solving cases, due to the unavailability of the knowledge about these subjects, during his course days. Also, he mentioned that law statements and judgements sometimes can not only be given on the basis of proves and witnesses, there are cases, where you need to perceive things on the grounds of social and economic backgrounds of the person. In such cases, one must also possess a great understanding about the human psychology and his actions and reaction at different stages of life. He stated that law colleges, should also focus on producing honest and reliable lawyers, who in future helps in the growth of the country’s economy in the right direction.

Changes like this, and many more revolutionary benchmarks in the studies for law, can surely help in reforming our society and its law structure. Everything starts from the ground level, so change in the teaching methodologies and course structure for the law students will definitely lead to a breakthrough in the ways, the criminal and other legal cases are solved.

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Foreign Universities coming to India

Foreign universities, foreign education, has always been a craze among students. Foreign degrees in higher education even do wonders for students in terms of preference in job opportunities. Students with degrees from foreign universities are in high demand comparative to degrees from Indian schools and colleges. The major factor involved in courses from foreign universities, is the price and the difference in lifestyle and culture of the foreigners from India. Now students don’t have to worry about their adjustments in the foreign land, and the extra pounds they had to shed for food, house rents and many other things. The students now can earn foreign degrees, studying in their country only, without sacrificing the love of their mom and the home food, which are the most prominent things which are said to be missed by students.

I m not exaggerating anything, I am just writing, according to the Foreign Educational Institutional bill passed, by the Union Cabinet of Indian Government. The bill states the biggest milestone in the Indian education sector, as per which, foreign universities are now onwards allowed to set campus in India. Yes, I am, not kidding, finally the dreams of many foreign universities have got fulfilled, and they have already approached many Indian institutions for tie ups. The entry to these institutions would be in the form of tie up and associations with top Indian universities and large business groups.

Though, the approval for 200 universities is pending, covering few of the top universities like Cambridge and Oxford. India has proved to be a great market for the education industry, because of the level and standards of school education in the country, many foreign universities want to open campuses in India, so that they get to the produce the cream of the society. It’s good for the future of the students of India as well, because it will give birth to more choices for the students to opt as a career and advancements in term of educational practices and the methods to disseminate information to the students will be seen.

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