The national capital was the site of today's 'Indo-US Higher Education Dialogue'. Satya N Mohanty (Secretary of Higher Education in HRD Ministry) and Richard Stengel (US under secretary of state for Public Affairs & Public Diplomacy) represented the two countries at the dialogue. Before this, the two countries had signed two similar dialogues in Washington (June 2012) and New Delhi (June 2013).
Some of the major points of discussion included community colleges, faculty & student exchange, MOOC (massive open online courses) and skill development. The two parties also underlined the significance of collaboration on the points of skill set training, community colleges, innovation and education technology, exchange programs and industry linkages of the higher education institutes.
Before this dialogue, the two parties met for a joint meeting of the 'task force on community colleges' wherein the future of community colleges and their role in fulfilling the ambitious skills development goals was discussed. The discussion also covered the recently signed MoU between the AACC (American Association of Community Colleges) and the AICTE (All India Council for Technical Education).
Another major announcement by the US Department of state was about the new website called www.passporttoindia.com which has been set up in collaboration with the Ohio State University. This is aimed to encourage young American industrials and leaders to visit India and learn from its varied culture and also get a chance to expand their scope of knowledge.
The US reiterated its pride in its long association with the IITs and the achievements of the famed institutes over the years. They also agreed to provide complete cooperation in setting up of new IITs in the country. Both sides also agreed to join hands in enhancing the scope of India's GIAN (Global Initiative of Academics Network) by roping in the faculties from the US for short term programs in India.
The dialogue ended with a joint statement from both the parties.
Tags: India Us Joint Dialogue
India Higher Education
India Us Partnership
India Us Education
