INDIA: Indo-US higher education initiative set to fly

India and the US will soon cement collaboration in higher education, with India's Education Minister Kapil Sibal meeting US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Washington on 13 October in a high-profile visit to use education diplomacy to build relations between the two countries.

The leaders will give shape to the Obama-Singh 21st Century Knowledge Initiative announced jointly by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and US President Barack Obama during the Indian premier's visit to the US in November 2009.

The initiative will provide US$10 million in funding to universities, divided equally between the US and India, to increase linkages and support junior faculty development and collaboration between US and Indian institutions.

Industry experts, academics, vice-chancellors of some central universities and representatives of industry bodies will accompany Sibal and ministry officials for the meeting with Clinton.

According to an education ministry official, the idea is to integrate theory, research and teaching rather than separating them, as is the current practice in many Indian universities.

India wants to set up 14 theme-based universities, known as innovation universities and often dubbed India's 'Ivy League', to promote research and train lecturers.

The new universities will be allowed to admit half their students from abroad, teach foreign curricula and hire teachers and even vice-chancellors who are foreign nationals, according to a draft law circulated by the government.

"The first six IITs (Indian institutes of technology) were set up with foreign help including from Germany, the US, UK and Russia. They are doing very well. The Obama-Singh initiative will help in nurturing the innovation universities in the area of energy studies, sustainable development, environmental studies, education and educational reform and innovation," the education official said.

The Obama-Singh initiative will also help India meet its shortage of academics.

"The requirement for Indian universities has changed and we need to network with faculty from the US, many of whom are Indians or of Indian origin. This is already happening in the IITs but the Obama-Singh initiative will give a big impetus, especially for exchange of post-doctoral students and faculty in new universities," said Professor Gautam Barua, director of IIT Guwahati.

India's higher education institutions, including the elite IITs, are facing a faculty shortage of 33%, according to government data. The country's 22 top universities have nearly 3,800 vacant posts out of a total of 11,000.

Newly created Indian institutes of management (IIMs) at Raipur, Rohtak and Ranchi are largely depending on visiting professors to teach their students. The 15 new central universities, which began operating two years ago, face a faculty shortage of up to 50%.

Academics are also concerned about the difference in work culture in higher education between the two countries.

"The Obama-Singh initiative will play an important role in shaping the innovation universities and the new central universities that have been set up in the last two years in India," said BB Bhattacharya, former vice-chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi and a professor of business environment at IIT Kanpur's Noida campus near Delhi.

"But care should be taken to adapt the US way of functioning to the Indian context. US universities have private sources of funds, large endowments and thus support a more independent work culture."

According to Bhattacharya, research is a priority for US universities, large differentials in salaries of faculty are common even in the same department and a "more corporate" work environment is the norm.

"In India you have to go through strong teacher unions and [deal with] caste politics. For example, there is a demand for reservation in faculty appointments," said Bhattacharya, referring to affirmative action in the form of reserved places for particular disadvantaged groups.

"These obstacles have to be kept in mind while forging collaborations."

A bill that allows foreign educational institutions to set up campuses in India is pending in parliament. But a senior official of the education ministry said the bill served a different purpose to the Obama-Singh initiative.

"Through the bill we want [foreign] educational institutions to come to India and set up campuses. But not every US university will be in a position to do that. For those who want collaborations rather than going the full length and setting up a campus in India, this [initiative] is an excellent opportunity, both for Indian faculty members to learn from their Western counterparts and vice versa," the official said.

While the Obama-Singh initiative had been used by both governments to gain political mileage, academics said the collaborations would go beyond their political tenures.

"Manmohan Singh has only initiated the programme. Even when he is no longer prime minister the faculties at Indian and US universities will continue to exchange and collaborate. This is similar to collaborations with UK universities under UKERI," said Gautam Barua of IIT Guwahati, referring to the UK-India Education and Research Initiative launched in 2006.

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