Sir Steve Smith, the UK’s International Education Champion and three Indian senior policymakers from the central and state governments were part of the panel that discussed ‘Transformational reforms in India’s higher education system’ held on 16 June 2021.

Four key reform areas from India’s National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 were highlighted by Dr Manju Singh, senior official from the University Grant Commission as the stepping stones for international collaborations. These are Internationalisation of higher education, embedding apprenticeship into general education system, digital transformation for education delivery and boost to research and innovations through setting up of the National Research Foundation.

The ambition to Internationalise higher education is to make India a global knowledge hub - an attractive destination for international students as well as address a wide range of global challenges such as climate change, food and security, pandemic etc. This means opening up of the sector for entry of foreign universities in India and forming increased number of academic and research collaborations.

Mr Jayesh Ranjan, senior state level policymaker from Telangana government shared entrepreneurship and innovation as the state’s priorities for international partnerships and collaborations. They have a few ongoing academic and technology related partnerships with UK universities and expect opening up the creative arts sector for international collaborations in the near future.

Research and innovations were outlined as a key priority by Ms Anju Sharma, senior state education policy maker of the Gujarat government for their internalisation vision aligned to the NEP 2020. They are interested in promoting research partnerships in close collaboration with international universities from various countries including the UK HEIs to tackle social challenges and also incubate ideas which will have potential for industry engagement.

Sir Steve pointed out similarities between the UK and India on the focus towards internationalisation and the UK government will be looking forward to forge partnerships with their Indian counterparts in areas of international mobility, teaching and research. Under the UK International strategy, India is one of the five priority countries where the UK will continue to strengthen and take all opportunities to learn from one and another and continue to build even deeper G2G partnerships, institutional collaborations and strengthen people linkages. Universities are absolutely central to this objective and have defining contribution to build these collaborations with the UK sector.

Comments from British Council :

The discussion reinforces the Indian government’s ambition to internationalise higher education set out in its new National Education policy and which is a driving force for both central and state governments. The central government this year carried out an external consultation on draft regulations on dual degrees, joint certification and twinning programmes which will open the sector to a verity of TNE partnerships. States valuing the power of international collaborations welcome direct engagement with higher education universities. The focus may however vary from state to state. Besides academic and research collaborations, some states are keen on collaborations where it supports job creation and employment – areas such as industry engagement and start-ups. With the UK-India roadmap 2030 which is the new bilateral policy guiding our strategic relationships and Sir Steve’s championing of the internationalisation agenda, there will be a further boost to the existing partnership and ongoing discussions resulting in more TNE opportunities shaping up. If you have any questions, please write to Aatreyee Guha Thakurta (Regional Marketing and Communications Manager, International Education Services, South Asia).