President, University of Ottawa
International Education
The session on International Education Initiatives: Learning and Collaborative Opportunities laid focus on the views of experts from across the shore on the various global education initiatives. It highlighted the need for going beyond the Indian soil and exploring varied new opportunities in international education
PROF ALLAN ROCK, President, University of Ottawa
India and Canada have similar issues in the higher education domain including ensuring access, quality, establishing effective relationship with countries, maintaining academic independence and of course skills gap
 Vice Chancellor, Gujarat Technological University India is weak in internationalisation owing to shortage of seats in education institutions for its own students. Hence, attracting global students has never been a priority. Things are changing with a few models getting implemented. For instance, at Gujarat Technical University, there are 112 professors from various universities of Europe and North America who are working as adjunct professors, giving the global flavour to Indian education. In further initiatives, the Ministry of Human Resource Development recently decided that they will get 1,000 foreign professors to come and teach at central universities under a project called Global Initiative of Academic Networks (GIAN). |
 President, University of Ottawa India and Canada have similar issues in the higher education domain including ensuring access, quality, establishing effective relationship with countries, maintaining academic independence and of course skills gap. However, a sufficiently strong relationship between Canada and India in the sphere of education and collaboration either through student exchange, mobility, or research partnerships is yet to be established. I think we have a great deal to learn from each other and that is the main reason I’m participating in the WES 2015. It is nice to learn more about how India and its institutions are confronting the challenges of meeting the market domains on one hand and educating the population on the other. Exchange of viewpoints, perspectives and experiences would lead to a common advantage. |
 Vice Chancellor, Bhagat Phool Singh Mahila Vishwavidyalaya India is the third largest system of higher education with 27.5 million students. While enrolment in higher education has grown six times in the last 30 years, faculty strength has grown only four times, resulting in shortage of faculty and high student-teacher ratio. Our higher education sector today doesn’t have enough good quality institutions particularly technological institutions to meet the growing aspirations and the requirement of our present youth. |
POINTS TO PONDER:
- Need to create strong hold in international studies
- Mixed faculty reaps in cultural and educational advantages
- MHRD to bring 1,000 foreign professors under the GIAN project
- Higher education challenges in India similar to those in Canada
- Ensuring access, quality, establishing effective relationship with countries, maintaining academic independence and skills gap
- Enrolment has grown six times in 30 years but faculty strength has grown only four times
- Globalisation has transformed the job markets and the careers
To increase internationalisation, the dual degree programme is a good option for the students. Even 10-15 years back, universities taught this collaborative system. It enables students to make use of their vacations to enroll in different programmes at foreign universities and enhance their talent. PROF VSS KUMAR, Vice Chancellor, Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Kakinada |
 Currently higher education in India from past five years has been undergoing a sea change followed by unprecedented challenges. There is need for additional capacity of at least 50 million seats in the education system. There is a gap between the industry requirements and the courses that students are learning. Globalisation has transformed the job markets and the careers. Today, the industry wants employees with an exposure to global market. Going for internationalisation is an imperative for not only the premier institutions, but also the entire education segment as a whole.
DR O.R.S. RAO, Vice Chancellor, ICFAI University, Ranchi |
 The culture and practice in education is almost similar to that of India in Bangladesh. In terms of international collaboration, Bangladesh is focusing on India and Malaysia. One of the major challenges in the Bangladesh education system is the lack of use of ICT. It is mostly print-based and the teaching strategy is mostly teaching-centric and not learnercentric. With limited access to resources, inclusivity of the learners is missing.
MUSTAFA AZAD KAMAL, Bangladesh Open University |
