UPDATED:  October 29, 2011 10:04 PM
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Educational collaboration a driving force in US-India dialogue: Clinton

By: Geeta Goindi

WASHINGTON--Taking bilateral cooperation in the integral field of education to a whole new level, the US-India Higher Education Summit, co-chaired by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Indian Minister of Human Resource Development Mr. Kapil Sibal, opened to a promising start at the Georgetown University here. The Summit, a first-of-its-kind, drew a cross-section of some 300 leaders in academia, government, foundations, associations, business and industry to the nation’s capital. The pouring rain and dismal weather did nothing to dampen the spirit of the participants keen on buttressing India-US educational ties.

Speaking at the opening ceremony on Thursday morning, Clinton told the erudite gathering, “Educational collaboration is a driving force in our strategic dialogue with the Government of India. And this summit is a result of the discussions between President Obama and Prime Minister Singh because for those of you who are watching the great rise of India, I hope you share our excitement that this largest of all democracies, this wildly pluralistic nation, is on the path to providing greater benefits for their citizens within the context of freedom and opportunity. And they know, as we know from our own experience, that a democracy depends upon education, an educated citizenry. And we, therefore, at the highest levels of our two governments are committed to this”.

But, she acknowledged that the success of the summit will depend on those outside government - the professors, teachers, researchers and business leaders. She implored American state and local officials to engage with their counterparts in India to support educational cooperation and connection at every level. The US administration, she assured, will “continue to facilitate dialogues like this, but we’re asking you to develop direct connections - faculty to faculty, student to student, business to business”, she told the audience.

The summit provides “an opportunity for us to take our high-level partnership and begin making it real for the millions of Americans and Indians who care about our shared future and are, frankly, curious about one another”, Clinton said. “We want our relationship between these two great democracies to be as interconnected as possible at every level. Yes, government to government, but that is just the beginning and is clearly not the most important of the lasting collaborations that we seek”.

Prominently, on hand, were: Indian Ambassador Mrs. Nirupama Rao; Robert O’ Blake, Jr., Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia; Ann Stock, Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs; Ambassador Richard Celeste, former US envoy to India; John J. DeGioia, President of Georgetown University; leaders in academia; and students, the subject of the summit. Warmly acknowledging our envoy, Clinton said, “it is always a pleasure to be anywhere with the new Indian ambassador to the United States. Ambassador Rao, we thank you for all you’ve done on behalf of your country and the relationship between us”.

It is noteworthy that Indians are the second-largest foreign student population in America, after the Chinese. But, the figures are skewed. While over 100,000 students from India are pursuing college or graduate level study in the US, only some 2,500 Americans study in India. At the summit, obviously cognizant of the disparity, Clinton mentioned, “we want to see more American students enrolling for academic credit at Indian institutions”.

Clinton, who must be aware of the Tri Valley University scam in California and investigations at the University of Northern Virginia where many Indian students have been left in the lurch following visa fraud allegations against the institutions, assured that the US was taking steps to bar fraudulent universities from reaching Indian students. She told the gathering that the administration has expanded its Education USA advising services for Indian students and their families to provide accurate information about opportunities for study and to help them sort out misleading offers that come over the internet and flood into homes across India, beguiling young Indian students. “We don’t want to see that happen”, she emphasized. “We want to see real exchanges with credible institutions and we will do everything we can to support that”.

The top Obama official made it abundantly clear that the US is fully committed to enhancing academic cooperation between the world’s greatest democracies. Already, the Obama-Singh Initiative provides some $10 million for increased university partnership and junior faculty development. Under the new ‘Passport to India’ program, the private sector helps American students experience India through internships and service projects.

The Fulbright-Nehru program has almost tripled in size over the past three years and the US now conducts more faculty exchanges with India than with any other country in the world! Clinton disclosed that when she was a senior at Wellesley College, her first hope was to get a Fulbright to India. But, for reasons pertaining to geopolitics, the program was put on pause at that time and she ended up going to Yale Law School.

Minister Sibal, who studied at Harvard, acknowledged that “the US epitomizes excellence in education, innovation and research”. He described India as “a nascent democracy” where half of the 1.2 billion people are under the age of 25. “Our young population, almost the size of Europe, is energetic, on the move and full of hope”, he said. “The young are our future. We have a responsibility to create an appropriate environment to help them plan their future”.

The Minister presented a compelling case for increasing the supply of higher education in India. The Gross Enrollment Ratio is about 15 percent in India and increasing that proportion to 30 percent by 2020 would require providing opportunities in higher education to an additional 30 million children, a staggering figure for most countries. “To do that, we will need to build an additional 1,000 universities and 50,000 colleges”, Sibal said. “To serve these institutions, we will require quality faculty of over a million assisted by quality support structures”.

The Minister warned, “business as usual is a sure recipe for global disaster. The global economy will not be defined by financial flows and trade, but by global, collaborative, knowledge networks where ideas move seamlessly”, he said. “Social networks and resource sharing in cyber space are precursors to the development of knowledge networks that will aim to address the problems of tomorrow. Technology has led to the ‘death of distance’. Partnerships would lead to the germination of knowledge”.

Sibal pointed out that research and innovation thrive when there is a capacity to create, share and apply new knowledge, and creativity can flourish only in an environment where inquiry is encouraged and the status quo challenged. “In this, India and the US, with their democratic traditions, openness of thought, spirit of tolerance, rule of law, respect for institutions and understanding of diversity, are natural partners in our quest for lasting solutions”, he said.

The Minister emphasized, “it is only through education that we hope to empower populations across the globe to confront the challenges of the 21st century. Without doubt, US defined the milestones of the 20th century; while India, as you, Secretary Clinton, described recently, is a defining story-line of the early 21st century”.

Blake, always active in advancing India-US ties, noted that higher education has been one of the high points in bilateral relations. “The point of the summit is that, we believe, there are a lot of opportunities to really expand what we’re doing right now”, he said.

Stock, also a high-ranking official in the US State Department, believed that “ultimately, American and Indian students will manage the future of our relationship. We live in a global society and students who study abroad learn about the culture, the country, the language and the people. That gives them a major advantage ... Thanks to today’s summit, I’m truly confident that we are well on our way to reaching the Secretary’s vision of a truly 21st century bilateral relationship”, she said.

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