The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : U.K. for strategic partnerships with Indian universities

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Aug 05, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

U.K. for strategic partnerships with Indian universities

Special Correspondent

Move to enroll more students under exchange programmes A few key areas for collaborative ventures include English for the globalised context, nanotechnology, sustainable development, pollution control and international relations

CHENNAI: United Kingdom was looking towards forging strategic partnerships with Indian educational institutions, identify best practices and encourage student exchange programmes, Bill Rammell, British Minister for Higher Education, said.

"The number of Indian students studying in the U.K. has gone up from 4,000 to 17,000. We aim to increase the number of students pursuing mutual student exchange programmes to 25,000 in 2008,'' he told participants during a round-table on higher education organised by the University of Madras here on Thursday.

Mr. Rammell is heading an eight-member U.K. delegation that is touring India to explore partnerships in education.

Studying the role of businesses in higher education and establishing co-operative links with schools across the world formed part of the delegation's mission. Expressing satisfaction with the Indian tour, Mr. Rammell said the inputs gathered would result in a "strategic proposal'' that would be put forward during British Prime Minister Tony Blair's proposed visit to India in September. "We are not looking at just tie-ups between departments or academics but between clusters of universities on both sides.''

Key areas

A few key areas for collaborative ventures had been identified such as English for the globalised context, nanotechnology, sustainable development, pollution control and international relations, the Madras University Vice-Chancellor, S.P. Thyagarajan, said.

The varsity was pursuing an agenda of internationalisation of education through initiatives like e-learning, networking of institutions and modernisation of its distance education programme. A total of 24 memoranda of understanding had been signed with foreign educational institutions during 2003-2005. A centre for informatics, data and knowledge management would be set up.

The varsity was also putting together a multilingual dictionary of 12 Indian languages and a revised Tamil lexicon. Several proposals to the tune of Rs 100 crores had been submitted to the Union Planning Commission.

Joint PG programmes

A proposal was afoot to offer joint postgraduate programmes under which a student could pursue studies in both India and the U.K. at a reduced cost.

An international hostel for students was coming up at Palavakkam on the outskirts of the city, he said.

The U.K. delegation consisted of, among others, British Council representatives Tim Gore, head Education-India; Eunice Crook, director for South India; and Kartar Singh, deputy director for South India.

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