For better edu in Ind, Hinduja calls for foreign collaboration

Hinduja Group co-chairman Gopichand Hinduja today underlined the need for forging collaborations with international educational institutions and universities with the goal of providing world-class education to students in the country.
"We have been boasting about the Nalanda and Takshashila universities. But, today, we do not have any that will even come in the list of top 100 universities in world. To improve the quality of education, we need to collaborate with foreign institutions," Hinduja told reporters on the sidelines of an event here.
He called upon Prime Minister Narendra Modi to tweak government policies so as to allow foreign educational institutions to participate either directly or through collaborations with domestic varsities.

"Modi really wants to change the face of the country... and that can be achieved through better education and health facilities," he said.
Emphasising the need for brining in changes in the policy framework, Hinduja said, "The legislation by the previous government to allow foreign varsities to operate out of the country was not even discussed in Parliament and the Bill has lapsed.
"There is a felt need to bring in a legislation to allow credible and highly-ranked foreign universities and institutions to bring in their academic and research culture into our education system."

The government must also explore all options to create an enabling environment for this to happen as there is interest from foreign universities who sense the demand and the potential, he said.

There is also an equal interest from reputed domestic business houses to contribute to the higher education system through such collaborations, he added.
Hinduja said he has written to the Union HRD ministry urging it to seek the support of the private sector for upgrading Indian varsities into world-class institutions.
"The Hinduja group has been approached by several prestigious educational institutions for working together here in the field of education. We are willing to do so, but a policy framework is needed for foreign educational institutions to operate," he had said in the letter.