CHANDIGARH, India- Study in India campaign has been successful in projecting India as Global Education destination as there has been a quantum jump in number of foreign students coming to India in last four years. There is a need to develop Global Standard Curriculum to encourage more international students to choose India as their preferred destination for Higher Education. This was stated by Dinesh K Patnaik, Director General of Indian Council for Cultural Relations. He was speaking during the inaugural ceremony of the Diplomatic conclave organized by Chandigarh University. Taking the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make India a Vishwa Guru in the field of Education, Chandigarh University has taken an initiative to mentor other countries in the field of Space Technology, Research, Entrepreneurship, Innovation, Training of Faculty in New Technologies, Curriculum Development, Quality Assurance and Student Mobility. Chandigarh University is organizing a 2 days Diplomatic Conclave on the theme ‘Cost-Effective Higher & Technical Education Matching Global Standards’ from 27th September to 28th September 2021. Ambassadors from 24 countries including Indonesia, Tanzania, Iran, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Togo, Malawi and Zimbabwe participated during the inaugural ceremony of diplomatic conclave. Satnam Singh Sandhu, Chancellor, Chandigarh University and R.S Bawa, Pro-Chancellor, Chandigarh University were also present during the inaugural ceremony of Diplomatic Conclave.
During his inaugural speech Dinesh K Patnaik said, “Chandigarh University becomes the first private university of India to be listed in ICCR. The New Education Policy is a visionary step which emphasizes on the Internationalization of Education for all-round Development of Students and New Education Policy will not empower the youth of the country but also help in making India an education hub for the foreign students. India Education market is now worth US$ 250 billion.” Dinesh K Patnaik further said, “The National Education Policy 2020 (NEP) has introduced innovative concepts to improve access, equity and quality education in India. Credit transfer programme which has been introduced in the New Education Policy will provide huge opportunities to the students. Credit transfer has the potential to internationalise India’s higher education system as it offers a student friendly approach that can ensure multidisciplinary holistic education to the students.” “India should have to emphasize on extracurricular activities to make a preferred destination in the field of education for foreign students,” added Dinesh K Patnaik.
Ambassador of Bhutan, Major General Vestop Namgyel said, “Bhutan presently doesn’t have enough colleges to meet the needs of Bhutan’s youth who finish high school every year. Like any students of the world, students of Bhutan would also like to study in the best university in the US and UK but the cost is beyond the reach of the vast majority of students in Bhutan.” Ambassador of Bhutan further said, “India with its rich history and civilization and culture of learning and home of the oldest university in the world has been a very good destination for higher education for Bhutan students.” All the colleges and universities in India have common objectives of providing affordable and world class Higher Education comparable to the best universities of the world at much more affordable cost to the students, added Ambassador Vestop Namgyel.
Speaking on the occasion, Nabhit Kapur, Royan Ambassador to India said, “Often due to some reasons not every student is able to pursue higher education, so universities should take concrete steps to provide free education to the students. Providing free of cost quality education to the students can provide opportunities to every student at the global level.” Nabhit Kapur further said, “Students studying in other countries do not give importance to learning different languages. In this direction, concrete steps should be taken by the universities, and at the same time, attention should be paid to the mental health of the students and to motivate them.”
While speaking about the friendly relations between Bangladesh and India, High Commissioner of Bangladesh, Muhammad Imran said, “Every year a large number of Bangladeshi students come to India to study and as a neighboring country, Bangladeshi students does not face any problem in India.” Bangladesh has a proper educational environment and infrastructure for higher education and about 7 to 8 thousand Indian students are presently studying in Bangladesh in the field of medicine and science. “We should need to focus on promoting cooperation, exchange of ideas, so that students of both the countries can benefit,” added Muhammad Imran.
Speaking on the occasion, Malawi Deputy High Commissioner Patrick Mphepo said, “The education sector has faced many challenges due to COVID-19 so we need to work towards a B2B approach at the university level and efforts should be made to link higher education institutes within the country.” Patrick Mphepo further said, “Apart from this higher education institutes through tie-ups with the research institutes of national and international level and through more practical based learning approaches should work on skills improvement of the students and faculties.”
Deputy Ambassador Zimbabwe, Edson Moyo said, “More than 2000 students of Zimbabwe are presently studying in India. Zimbabwe and Indian Higher Education Institutes should collaborate in various training programs, collaborative research, knowledge sharing and faculty & student exchange programs.”
Describing the new education policy as historic, Chandigarh University Chancellor, Satnam Singh Sandhu said, “In order to make world class and quality education in the country, the university is emphasizing on developing an educational framework based on the aspects of the new education policy. This diplomatic conclave would prove fruitful in terms of internationalization of education, where expectations and challenges for the expansion of education were discussed under the guidance of representatives of different countries.” Satnam Singh Sandhu further said, “With the objective of imparting international standard education to the students, the University has tie-ups with more than 312 universities around the world. More than 2000 students from 60 countries of the world are pursuing their higher education in the Chandigarh University and more than 1200 students of the university have gone abroad to study under various international academic programs.”
