UK Vice-Chancellors Seek Opportunities in Indian Higher Education Sector

Vice-chancellors from 20 eminent universities in the United Kingdom (UK) attended a delegation in the national capital, New Delhi. The British Council of India led the delegation. The motive of the delegation was to facilitate exploration of opportunities for mutual interest in the Indian higher education sector with Indian government and institutes i.e., Indian stakeholders.

The purpose of the vice-chancellor’s visit was to provide opportunities to ponder with leading Indian stakeholders from the government sector, private sector universities and relevant bodies. This was to identify and then carve out areas of mutual interest in Indian as well as the UK higher education sector. The visit was a part of a bilateral programme focused on the higher education of the concerned nations. The programme is called the UKIERI (UK-India Education and Research Initiative).

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Tom Birtwistle, Director North of British Council of India says that UKIERI (UK-India Education and Research Initiative) is first bilateral research programme in India that allows the Uk and Indian governments along with their universities to work together in the higher education sectors of both the countries. According to the director, the agenda of internationalisation is critical for both the involved nations. He further added that the discussions in the delegation with Indian stakeholders will concentrate on consequences regarding three key areas. The areas are:

• Internationalisation of the higher education institutions

• Research collaboration

• Student mobility between both countries

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As per Sir Steve Smith’s views on the delegation, the visit will give both involved countries to work closely and will further strengthen their relationship. The delegation will help identify mutual priorities for any future collaboration, says Chair, Universities UK International, Sir Steve Smith.

From the inception of the programme UKIERI in 2006, it has managed to deliver more than one thousand institutional partnerships, two thousand research publications and over 20,000 academic exchanges of students between the countries involved. Till 2021, the UKIERI aims at taking the numbers even higher.

The internationalisation of the education, research collaboration and mobility of students belonging to the UK as well as India will eventually help harness the employability in both the nations.

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