India-US higher education summit from July 30

MUMBAI - Mumbai will host a three-day India-US Summit on higher education to mark the golden jubilee of the Indo-American Society, an official said Thursday.

The event will be inaugurated by Union Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal July 30, president of the society V. Rangaraj told reporters.

The event is expected to create collaborations between educational institutions, and exchange programmes involving students, faculty and researchers from both India and the US, Rangaraj said.

“Both India and the US play a significant role in today’s global arena. More than 100,000 Indian students choose to go to the US to pursue higher education, but there is another almost four times the number of students who want to study in the US. Thus, there lies a huge opportunity for US educational institutions to access these students by bringing their brand of education into India,” said Rangaraj.

The society helps create the ideal framework of government policy, partnerships models and access to networks that enable interactional education providers to access this huge untapped demand, he said.

The summit will offer participants opportunities to collaborate with key business, political and academic personalities at a national and international level.

It would also address important issues, particularly with regard to policy framing and regulations and international partnerships.

“The objective of this summit is to promote the Indo-American Society as a facilitator of a global hub of knowledge cultivation and talent development. It will serve as a catalyst for research and technology that will benefit students seeking higher education,” Rangaraj said.

Speaking on the occasion, Mumbai Sheriff Indu Shahani, who is the convenor of the summit, said that the objective was to bring change in the current education paradigm by increasing access and enhancing quality of India-US higher education in the global economy.

“This event which is the first of its kind will bring together American and Indian universities and will contribute in a big way to strengthen co-operation between India and the United States in the field of education,” she said.

During the summit to be held at Hotel Grand Hyatt, Sibal will release a white paper on higher education, prepared by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) India.

The summit will be chaired by Vijay Khole, former vice-chancellor of Mumbai University, and addressed by prominent personalities from different institutions.

Some of these include Sarah Farley, COO, Global Knowledge Initiative, Melanie Sanders-Smith, vice-president, Institute of International Education, Bala Balachandran, faculty, Kellogg School of Management, Joel M. Rodney, chancellor, Pennsylvania State University, N. Jadhav, member, Planning Commission of India, and Shahani, who is also the principal of H.R. College, Mumbai.