India will be promoted as a global destination providing premium education at affordable costs to help restore its status as “Vishwa Guru”, said Minister of State for Education Subhas Sarkar.
Laying out the government’s strategy to promote a key recommendation of the National Education Policy 2020 on “internationalisation” of higher education that would offer two-way mobility for students i.e. Indian students going abroad to study and foreign students coming into India, the Minister said subjects such as “Indology, Indian languages, AYUSH systems of medicine, yoga, arts, music, history, culture... as well as quality residential facilities and on-campus support would be fostered to attain this goal of global quality standards, attract greater numbers of international students, and achieve the goal of internationalisation at home.”
Mr. Sarkar was speaking at an event organised by the Services Export Promotion Council under the Ministry of Commerce. Its Chairman, Sunil H. Talati, while addressing the gathering said that the services sector contributed 55% of the total exports, and by 2023 the Council aimed to take this to 75% of exports for which the export of education would have an important contribution. He said that from a trade perspective it was important to increase the influx of overseas students and forex to reach the target of $350 billion export by March 2023.
Minister Sarkar said the International Students Offices at each higher education institute hosting foreign students were being set up to support foreign students. High-performing Indian universities would also be encouraged to set up campuses in other countries, and those from among the top 100 universities in the world would be facilitated to operate in India.
The Minister said that so far IIT-Delhi (IIT-D) had submitted a proposal to set up its satellite campus in Egypt and Saudi Arabia and IIT-Madras (IIT-M) had expressed interest in establishing a campus in Tanzania. The government had also requested IIT-D to explore the possibility of setting up a campus in the United Arab Emirates.
The 16-member committee appointed by the University Grants Commission last year and headed by the chairman of the standing committee of IIT council, K Radhakrishnan, to prepare a framework for Indian universities to set up campuses abroad has also submitted its draft report.
The Minister said that such ambitions hark back to the long history of teaching and learning at institutions such as , Takshashila, Nalanda, Vallabhi, Pushpagiri Vihara, Odantapuri, Vikramashila, Somapura Mahavihara, Bikrampur Vihara, Jagaddala Mahavihara and many more.
He elaborated on the success of Vallabhi Vidhyapith, which was was founded by the Maitraka dynasty of Saurashtra in 600 AD with its capital in Vallabhi, which is now Bhavnagar, in Gujarat.
“During its golden days, it was considered to be parallel to Nalanda University. The University taught science, wisdom, theology, economics, accounting, law, agriculture, etc. Graduates of Vallabhi Vidyapith were employed by the King to assist the Government. Can it be called ‘Campus Placement’ during that era,“ said Mr. Sarkar.
