A National Webinaron ‘Internationalisation of Higher Education’ was conducted today by Department of Higher Education and University Grants Commission. Government of India has recently launched National Education Policy-2020 making way for large scale, transformational reforms in both school and higher education sectors. Ministry of Education is organising series of Webinars as part of ‘Shikshak Parv’ starting from 8th September 2020.
Prof. Rakesh Mohan Joshi, Chairperson (Research), Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, Shri Alok Mishra, Director, NITI Aayog, Prof. I. K. Bhatt, Former Director, National Institute of Technology, Hamirpur, Dr. S. Vaidhya subramaniam, Vice Chancellor, SASTRA Deemed University were the guest speakers on the Webinar. Dr. Manju Singh, Joint Secretary, International Cooperation, UGC moderated the session.
India’s ancient and rich education and cultural heritage have tremendous potential to attract students from abroad, Prof. Rakesh Mohan Joshi said. He emphasised on making coordinated efforts by all HEIs in a single platform to enhance our global outreach.
Shri Alok Mishra enumerated the drivers and strategy of internationalisation in a detailed presentation. Shri Mishra focused on an ecosystem of World Class University, articulated institutional commitment and internationalisation at home and abroad to drive internationalisation of higher education in India.
Dr. S. Vaidhya subramaniam, highlighted the need of effort towards channelising our resources in the policy pathway to steer internationalisation. Dr. Vaidhya subramaniam deliberated on three models – full physical presence, through collaboration and through online education for entry of foreign institutions in India.
Prof. I. K. Bhatt stressed on the importance of constituting a taskforce to address concerns regarding internationalisation of higher education. Prof. Bhatt further underlined the need for framing an agenda for internationalisation. Dr. Singh summing up the rich insight from the Webinar emphasised on authentic data with dedicated portal; facilitating of credit transfer, twinning, joint degree, dual degree; autonomy to HEIs and addressing rigidity of approval process; simplified and streamlined admission procedure for international students; international students office at all HEIs; and brand building to drive internationalisation.
The Webinar was joined by academia, international organisations, industry and Higher Education Institutions. Few of the participants also made their observations on the presentations by expert panellists.
