INDIA-US HIGHER EDUCATION SUMMIT

India-US higher education summit

    Aiming at more collaboration in higher education, India and the US will host a summit in Washington this October. 2011. A statement issued after the talks between US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna said the summit will be held Oct 13 to 'highlight and emphasize the many avenues through which the higher education communities in the US and India collaborate'.'The US and India plan to expand its higher education dialogue, to be co-chaired by the US Secretary of State and Indian Minister of Human Resource Development, to convene annually,' the statement said. It said the summit would incorporate private and non-governmental sectors and higher education communities to aid government-to-government discussions.

The US said a special initiative named 'Passport to India' has been created to encourage American students to study and intern in India. Over 100,000 Indian students are now studying or interning in America. The US-India Science and Technology Endowment Board, established by Clinton and Krishna in 2009, plans to award nearly $3 million annually to entrepreneurial projects that commercialize technologies to improve health and empower citizens.'The two sides are strongly encouraged by the response to this initiative, which attracted over 380 joint US-India proposals. The Endowment plans to announce the first set of grantees by September 2011,' the statement said.

The two countries will also focus on strengthening teaching, research and administration of both US and Indian institutions through university linkages and junior faculty development at higher education level.The statement said the India-US Science and Technology Forum, now in its 10th year, has convened activities that have led to the interaction of nearly 10,000 Indian and US scientists and technologists. As a follow up to the successful US-India Innovation Roundtable held in September 2010 in New Delhi, the two sides agreed to hold another Innovation Roundtable in early 2012.

                                                    Prof. John Kurakar