Government has set an ambitious target of 5 Lakh international students by 2024: Dr Rajkumar Ranjan Singh, Union MoS for External Affairs, & Education
Singh inaugurates Asia’s biggest
International Faculty Development Programme at Chandigarh University
123 Professors from 75 international
universities in 32 countries to participate in 6-day long program
MOHALI: India aims to increase the number of
international students studying in its Universities from 50,000 currently to 5
lakh by the year 2024, said Dr Rajkumar Ranjan Singh, Honourable Union Minister
of State for External Affairs, and Education. Dr Singh was speaking at the
inaugural ceremony of Chandigarh University’s International Faculty DevelopmentProgramme (IFDP) 2022 at Varsity’s Gharuan campus.
Organised as
part of Government of India’s initiative for internationalisation of Indian
higher education as per the New Education Policy (NEP), the IFD programme of
Chandigarh University is Asia’s biggest international Faculty Development program.
More than 123 professors, having expertise in 27 different fields such as
Engineering, Management, Liberal Arts, Medical Sciences, Media Studies, Applied
Sciences etc and teaching in 75 international universities from over 32
countries including USA, UK, Canada, Australia, Germany, Spain, South Africa,
Ireland, UAE, Poland, Denmark, Iran, Oman, Philippines, Malaysia, Kenya,
Bangladesh, Nepal etc will participate in this 6-day program which will
culminate on July 9.
Dr
Banwarilal Natiya, Chairperson, NRC, NCTE Delhi, Prof Rajeev Ahuja, Director
IIT Ropar, Sh Dharampal Singh (IAS), Hon’ble Advisor to UT Administrator,
Chandigarh, Mr Freddy Svane, Danish Ambassador to India, S. Satnam Singh
Sandhu, Chancellor, Chandigarh University were the prominent among those
present on the occasion.
Speaking on
the occasion, Dr Rajkumar Ranjan Singh said that the International Faculty
Development Programme organised by Chandigarh University was in true spirit,
the implementation of Internationalisation of Higher Education.
“With more
than 100 Professors from 75 Universities of over 30 countries in attendance, I
feel this Programme is a great opportunity for faculty as it will lead to their
sensitisation about new concepts in teaching, enhance their skills and update them
on latest developments in their field and research methodologies. In line with
the principle of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam for mutual growth and inclusive
development, this IFDP is surely going to set out a continuous and stirring
discussion to explore effective methods of improving higher education
standards, both in India and the participating countries,” he said, and batted
for particular attention to be paid to emerging disruptive technologies that
will necessarily transform the education system.
Singh noted
that India was once considered as Vishwa Guru in the field of Education and
students from all over the world came to study here but the student flow to
India slowed down over the years.
“This was
one of the major concerns for Honourable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi ji
and he has worked tirelessly to reverse the trend. Under his dynamic
leadership, we are able to identify the gaps in the higher education, including
the quality of education, irrelevant curriculum and the irrelevance of the
courses vis-a-vis the future employability of students and we have decided to
fix all of that with the National Education Policy, 2020 and its
implementation,” said the Minister, who was the chief guest on the occasion.
Singh said
that with the implementation of NEP 2020, the Indian Education System is
witnessing world’s biggest reforms in the field of Education and is focused on
Making India a Vishwa Guru once again in the Global World, primarily by the
Internationalization of Indian Education.
“The vision
of the Honourable Prime Minister has already started showing great results as
India has increased its share of international students from 2.3% to 6% in the
Global Student Mobility Market. More than 50,000 students from 164 countries
are currently studying in Indian Universities in various programmes and we aim
to make that rise to 5 lakh by the year 2024,” he said.
Singh called
for empowering the faculty to conduct innovative teaching, research, and
service as they have been given autonomy to innovate on matters of curriculum,
pedagogy, and assessment within a broad framework of higher education
qualifications while ensuring consistency across institutions, programmes and
modes in the NEP-2020.
Invoking
Indian scriptures, Dr Banwarilal Natiya, Chairperson, NRC, NCTE Delhi, urged
the educational institutions to keep social welfare at the centre of its
activities and exhorted the students to imbibe values along with quality
education. Describing education as the creator of knowledge, Dr Natiya said
that any country can move towards progress and prosperity only through quality
education, whereas Prof Rajeev Ahuja, Director IIT Ropar said that for
realising India’s dream of becoming a Vishwa Guru, a well-trained faculty,
updated with the latest happenings in the fields of science and technology is a
prerequisite which can make the fundamentals of basic science among students
really strong, while a strong partnership between industry and academia was
equally important.
Noting that
Chandigarh has unmatched reputation as one of the best destinations for higher
education in the country with best GER, highest concentration of Higher
education institutions per square metre of area, Institutions of National
Importance and students from all parts of the country and all across globe, Sh
Dharampal Singh (IAS), Hon’ble Advisor to UT Administrator, Chandigarh called
for collaborations among the best institutions in the tricity, saying that it
would bring the best for all and can help achieve Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam in real
sense. S. Satnam Singh Sandhu, Chancellor, Chandigarh University said that
Internationalisation of Education will immensely help Indian students with the
global exposure and the IFDP organised by the Varsity is a step in line with
the vision of the Honourable Prime Minister.
Asserting
that very few countries in the world have the capability, skills and
opportunities like India, Mr Freddy Svane, Danish Ambassador to India said that
what India has achieved in 75 years of its independence is truly outstanding
and deserves appreciation.
“There are 1
billion people below the age of 32 years in India, so this nation has huge
potential and the new education policy launched by Prime Minister Shri Narendra
Modi will play an important role in this direction,” he added.
On the inaugural
day, elaborate discussions were held by the experts on Ideal model of teacher
education in Indian conditions, CO2 fixation, Pandemics, Business Resilience,
Sustainability, Joint research Proposals with International Organisations and
Project Proposal writing, Theatre and Drama, Business Research & Decision
Making Leadership in the Global Context Influencing the Changing Workplace and
many other topics.
