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Opening up new vistas in education

Lakshmi B. Ghosh

COMMITMENT TO EXCELLENCE: First Secretary of Education at the British High Commission, Tim Gore

NEW DELHI: For nearly three decades now Tim Gore has literally "lived" out of classrooms. Addicted to the cause of education, he has globe-trotted from Sudan to Egypt, Hong Kong to Singapore and Jordan to India, promoting new modes of learning and establishing links for global initiatives in the field.

Having recently taken over as the First Secretary of Education at the British High Commission here, Gore now has his eyes set on one of the United Kingdom's big education markets. "Every country is different and has its own qualities. India is an enormous country and I find it very interesting. There is a growing commitment to excellence here and a lot of commitment towards the education system. I see a lot of desire at all levels to go through a proper education and that is extremely healthy.''

While pointing out that the UK is looking at four basic areas -- schools, further education for the workplace, higher education and science and research -- Gore points out that "we want to ensure it is a two-way relationship that does not just help Indian students find a suitable course in the UK but also enables British students to gain from the experience. My main aim is to ensure that it is not just a relationship built on commercial interests but one that helps build a two-way communication and benefits both sides''. Nearly 16,000 students go to the UK to pursue higher studies every year, with a study by the Global Student Mobility vision 2020 predicting that the numbers are expected to cross 26,000 by 2010.

Growing competition

Although the UK continues to be a preferred destination after the US, with increasing competition from countries like Australia and New Zealand, Gore admits that there are many more players today. "They have clearly made one of the fastest rises over the years, but the key area as far as we are concerned would be to be able to communicate well the good quality of education that UK offers. The other important thing is that we offer an education that is coherent."

From student exchange programmes to those involving teachers, the UK-India education initiative is clearly on a roll. "We will be announcing a lot of new programmes in the coming months, As of now we are still talking to various organisations in India such as the UGC, AICTE, AIU and IITs and other engineering colleges to see what can be worked out,'' he adds.

Describing it as an exciting time for education, Gore points out that it will play the most important role in the years to come

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