IIT Kharagpur Alumni Foundation (India) in partnership with IIT Kharagpur is organising a two-day International Webinar on October 9-10, 2020, titled 'India: The Global Destination for Higher Education (Post NEP 2020 Scenario)'.
The webinar is going to witness deliberations from eminent academic experts and administrators from India and abroad and will set the platform for the development of policy recommendations towards the internationalisation of Indian higher educational institutions in the light of the New Education Policy 2020.
The panel discussions will include 'Status of Government Institutions in Attracting Foreign Students', 'Contribution of Private Sector Institutions in Attracting Foreign Students', 'Global Alliances: Gaps and Bridging Them' and 'What Makes India as a Preferred Destination for HE post-NEP 2020'.
Ramesh Pokhriyal, Union Minister of Education was the Chief Guest while Amit Khare, Secretary, Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education was the Guest of Honour. Dr Virendra Tewari, Director, IIT Kharagpur is the Patron of the webinar, Commander VK Jaitly, Board Member; IIT Bhuvaneswar is the Webinar Chairman and Rajah Venkat is the Convenor of the International Webinar. Dr Anil Sahasrabudhe, Chairman, AICTE will be a special guest. The Webinar is going to be co-sponsored by PanIIT India, PanIIT USA and IIT Kharagpur Foundation of USA.
Varadarajan Seshamani, Ron Gupta, Krishen Dhar, Sundy Srinivasan from these organisations will be the key organisers. A large number of Directors of IITs, IIMs, IIITs, NITs and VCs of Government and Private Universities will be attending these brainstorming session. Eminent academicians from top foreign universities like Dr Pradeep Khosla, Chancellor, University of California San Diego; Dr Prabhat Hajela, Provost, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; Dr Geeta Mehta from Columbia University; Dr Prith Banerjee, Former Dean, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Northwestern University will be sharing the gaps that need to be bridged for the Indian universities and colleges to attract foreign students from across the world.
Foreign consulate representations actively engaged in international education facilitation are also expected to participate. Speaking about the prospect, Dr Virendra Tewari, Director IIT Kharagpur said, "Academics across the nation are hopeful about the positive changes which NEP 2020 would introduce in the Indian education system across all levels. A key area where we are expecting a significant change is in the flow of inbound and outbound international students." A crucial area to be deliberated in the webinar is the new dynamics that would come to play in the higher education scenario in the post-pandemic world including logistics of international travel, cost of international healthcare, stay etc.
Cdr V K Jaitly who conceptualised the initiative in 2017 and is chairing the Webinar feels strongly about the annual outflow of foreign reserves to the extent of USD 16 billion towards the cost of foreign education of about 2.5 lakhs Indian students studying abroad.
"We feel that the time has come when the mindset of Indians to go abroad for even lesser-known universities in the name of higher education will drastically reduce particularly when we talk of Atmanirbhar Bharat in various sectors," he added.
In addition to the foreign reserves outflow, the country further experiences a loss of intellectual property and a high-quality talent pool in academia and industry adding to the economic burden. Several of the foreign universities have been thriving on Indian academics, researchers and students. India however, has the potential to earn about $ 20 billion every year from the Education Sector.
"India has very few foreign students when compared to the USA, UK, China, France, Australia etc. We are way behind and have a long way to go. We feel that the top 10% of Indian Universities and Colleges both Government and Private can attract foreign students from all over the world," stated Cdr. Jaitly. The two-day webinar will assess the current status and draft a roadmap to arrest talent streaming out of India and attracting the students globally to Indian universities for pursuing higher education.
"In addition to improving our infrastructure, syllabi and quality of the academics, we may have to launch an outreach program throughout the world," remarked Webinar Convener Rajah Venkat.
