British Council India held its last segment of the higher education policy dialogue series on 29 March 2022 for the closing year 2021-22.  The theme was ‘Internationalisation of National Education Policy: the journey so far’. The panel discussion aimed to examine the articulation of the new national education policy on ground and how ready are the systems and processes, particularly in relation to its internationalisation objectives.

An engaging conversation with higher education academics and experts from India and the UK sector provided very useful insights and a better understanding of the direction of travel including what are going to be key enablers.  The speakers were:

1. Prof Gopalakrishna Joshi, Executive Director, Karnataka State Higher Education Council
2. Delia Heneghan, Vice President - Global Education Practice, Acumen (Sannam S4)
3. Prof Sandeep Sancheti, Vice-Chancellor, Marwardi University  
4. Harish Lokhun, Manager India, Global Wales

We explored the following questions: 

1. What are the internationalisation objectives and goals which state governments are pursuing especially those who have adopted NEP?  How is the state higher education council taking forward these changes in the state?

2. How are opportunities of internationalisation translating at the university level?  What would Indian universities value more from such partnerships and why?

3. From an international partner perspective, what positive developments are seen in India with regards to internationalisation of HE, particularly in the last two years since the NEP was released?  

4. What changes and developments would the international HE sector expect more of?  How is the UK placed to respond to the opportunities?

5. What are the major challenges on the ground faced by implementors? 

For readout of the discussion and key highlights, please read the attached report. 

In case of any further information, you may please contact Sandeepa Sahay at sandeepa.sahay@britishcouncil.org