LONDON: India and the United Kingdom will collaborate in ``world-class'' research under a new major initiative launched here on Tuesday to boost cooperation in higher education between the two countries.

The U.K.-India Education and Research Initiative, backed by British Government funding, will link centres of academic excellence in India and the U.K. through 70 new research projects over the next five years. It will also offer fellowships to Indian students in partnership with universities there.

Partners of choice in education

Prime Minister Tony Blair, who first announced the initiative during his visit to India last September, said it would lay the ground for the two countries to become ``each other's partners of choice in education,'' and to collaborate on ``world-class research.''

``Backed by a £12 million of Government money, and nearly £5 million in cash or kind from private sector partners, the initiative will allow split PhDs and research fellowships, and increased academic exchanges,'' Mr. Blair said.

Writing in The Guardian ahead of the launch, he said: ``No one who visits India can fail to be impressed by the huge advances the economy and education system are making, and I returned determined that we needed radically to improve our links with a country that is producing hundreds of thousands of graduates each year.''

Mr. Blair also launched a campaign to attract overseas students, increasingly becoming a major source of earning for Britain's cash-strapped universities. The campaign aims at attracting 100,000 more foreign students from outside the European Union over the next five years.

Facing competition

He acknowledged that British universities were facing competition from countries such as Australia and New Zealand. Besides countries such as China, Malaysia and Singapore which traditionally sent students to Britain now had their own ``bourgeoning'' higher education sectors.

Recently, Chris Patten, Chancellor of Oxford University, visited India to tap into the booming education market there. There is concern that American universities are overtaking their British counterparts in attracting Indian students. There are nearly 80,000 Indian students on American campuses compared to 17,000 in Britain.

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