British Students to Gain Cross-Cultural Skills in India

You return to India shortly after your June visit this year. How successful has this trip been?

It has been a very successful visit. I greatly appreciated the friendship and hospitality of Kapil Sibal. We have had some really good discussions about how our two countries can work together both in higher education and scientific research and skills. There are clearly extraordinary ambitious plans of education in India and we are very keen to work on that. I am very keen that British students and researchers should be encouraged to visit India. What I am aware of is that there are 40,000 Indian students coming to Britain every year, and official statistics reveal that 500 of our students are coming to India. Our students could really gain from an understanding of India if they come here.

There are a host of areas in which we can work together - from your new innovation universities to encouraging more British students to get the benefit of an Indian education.

I came with Prime Minister David Cameron in July, which was the first major international visit by him and he wanted it to be in India because he attaches great importance to our relationship. Within three months I am back again to follow up on what was planned. One thing that came across very clearly, when I met Kapil Sibal in July, was that skills were his priority. When I came in July, I brought a delegation that was largely university-based, but then I realized that he was ambitious for 500 million more Indians to get skills training. So, this second delegation I've got is much more balanced and includes scientists, researchers, universities and very importantly people from the skills sector, chief executives of our educational colleges - people who are responsible for vocational education in Britain. We are very keen to work with you in delivering vocational skills training.

What do you think are India's core strengths in education that can enrich British students' experiences?

A lot of employers say that British students are too mono-cultural. They need to have an understanding of a different country, a different society. I cannot think of a better country for our students to visit to get a better picture on things than India, considering our historic ties and your great strengths in science and innovations and your dynamic businesses. What I am keen on is a framework within which one can study for a doctorate that might include a spell in a British university and a spell perhaps in an Indian university or research institute, ending with a doctorate accredited both in Britain and India. This can work also for postgraduate and graduate studies. Then, there is also the business experience of British students getting work placements in India. There is already a great flow of Indian students coming to get these types of opportunities in Britain. So, there will be much more of a two-way play with an increased flow of British students coming out to India as well.

Do tell us more about UKIERI-II, which you launched recently with Minister Kapil Sibal?

We had a launch together of UKIERI-II (UK-India Education and Research Initiative). UKIERI-I has been completed. We had a very useful assessment of what has been done. I think UKIERI-II is better and stronger than UKIERI-I because it has much more input, because education has now become a national priority for India. One area of cooperation involves the innovation universities. Kapil Sibal has asked us to work on links between British universities and the 14 innovation universities he wants to set up. He wants them to be organized around themes. We have to see how Britain can help with that. This morning, I had a conversation with the vice-chancellor of the University of Dundee, which is one of our most successful research-led universities in Scotland, and he says they are in the process of reorganizing the University around two or three key themes like sustainable development and life sciences. So, as one of Britain's leading life sciences universities gets reorganized, we can perhaps find a way in which we can link up with one of the innovation universities that has a similar theme.

The second area of cooperation is mobility of students that we have touched upon, of British students coming to India and Indian students going to Britain and a framework for the mutual recognition of qualification.

The third area is that of leadership training for which 800 new universities are being planned in India. But we have to look at ways in which Britain can help.