IES India organised a webinar on Online education in India – Internationalisation in the Post COVID 19 landscape on 24 June 2020 on Teams Live. The session was curated to understand more about the government of India’s policies around online education and what that means for UK HEIs, especially around partnership and internationalisation. We had participants from UK HEIs and Indian HEIs.

The session was chaired by Janaka Pushpanathan, Director British Council South India, and the discussion was led by 

• Dr Shakila Shamsu  former OSD (New Education Policy), Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development.
• Mr Shrikant Sinha - CEO Telangana Academy for Skill and Knowledge (TASK) Government of Telangana
• Prof Suranjan Das - Vice Chancellor, Jadavpur University
• Prof Nitin R Karmalkar - Vice Chancellor, Savitribai Phule Pune University

Below are the key takeaways:

• There is an appetite for online education in India which COVID-19 has accelerated.
• Government of India (GoI) has invested a lot on resources to develop and launch various online platforms and courses to give a push to online education.
• At the policy level, the discussions are in progress regarding the nature, future and accreditation of online degrees for Indian students. Draft NEP has also given an emphasis on online education which shows the commitment of GoI towards 21^st century skills of its students and faculty. Norms and guidelines for acceptance of online education are work in progress and GoI will soon share details.
• COVID-19 has been an opportunity to bring institutional reforms in HE in India such as capacity building of the faculty in online content creation, online teaching, assessment and more. A teacher should be trained in three areas:
  1. Creation of content with all its richness
  2. Skills to deliver
  3. Creation of a platform
• Indian HEIs are ready to collaborate and partner in this domain with foreign universities with a focus on mobility and research, both at faculty and student levels. Knowledge diplomacy is a way forward with mutual benefits with HEIs of two countries.
• The sudden push to online education is due to COVID19. Content is king including in online education. However, it should not replace the traditional method of teaching and learning. It should become more blended, striking a balance to retain and embrace traditional modernity.
• In this year’s budget, the Finance Minister announced 100% FDI with additional source of funding. This will benefit the education sector. Finer details, norms and guidelines are yet to be designed.
• More than 230 educational institutions have been delivering online/distance education in India. However, the regulations regarding accreditation, dual degree are still under consideration at the policy level.
• Pedagogy to become innovative and student friendly which should enable the use different ICT tools.
• Short-term courses could be the future of education in India with strong industry linkage. One idea was to develop all the research papers initiated by programmes by UKIERI, Newton and similar into capsule modules for both Indian and UK students.
• This is the right time to explore skill-based online education which can cater to industry needs. To cover the cost of such programs, CSR could play a vital role.
• Some of the challenges which Indian HEIs are facing in terms of online education are mindset of students and teachers, adaptability with online teaching and learning, exposure to online mode, relevance of the course, platform, technology, infrastructure, and content. Institutions are grappling with the change which is affecting the quality.

• Though various schemes have been announced, preparedness and acceptance, both at faculty and student level remains a challenge. Faculty have been struggling to deliver online classes. Some students do not have equal access to the internet too, leading to inequality in terms of access to resources and opportunities.  Hence access/ equity and preparedness including infrastructure remains a challenge
• To make online education a success in India, the focus should be on content, its delivery and assessment.

You can re-watch this Live event. View the recording here.

If you have any questions, please write to Aatreyee Guha Thakurta (Regional Marketing and Communications Manager, International Education Services, South Asia).