Indo-Global Education Summit 2012 offering opportunities for Indian educational institutions for collaborations with foreign universities kicked off here at Hyderabad today. The Summit will be held till 9th September at Hotel Taj Krishna and Hotel Taj Deccan is being organised for the fourth time by The Indus Foundation, an American organization in support with HRD Ministry Government of India and Andhra Pradesh State Government.
Over 1000 top Indian and foreign universities from the USA, the UK, Germany, Australia, South Africa and 40 other countries are participating. Mr. Ponnala Lakshmaiah, Minister for Information Technology & Communications, Government of Andhra Pradesh inaugurated the summit at Hotel Taj Deccan. Hon'ble Justice G. Raghuram, Judge, Andhra Pradesh High Court, Hyderabad Mr. Suresh Badami, Head of South India, ICICI Bank, Mr. C.D. Arha, Former Secretary, Government of India and Chairman of Indus Foundation, A.P. Janardhan, Senior Vice President of Dayanand Sagar Institutions, Bangalore and others graced the occasion.
Speaking on the occasion Ponnala Lakshmaiah said we have witnessed some of the greatest revolutions of the past such as Agricultural Revolution, Industrial, Electronic and IT Revolution. Well, if you not fully convinced yet, the next big revolution which is going to affect the mankind globally is The Education Revolution, he said And added that one should take into the cognizance that the landscape of education has changed dramatically. There needs to be a paradigm shift in how we approach . In the past we had text books and fixed set of slides that the instructor used to go over. However in today’s age, a student doesn’t have to go to a college or a university to get information. He can go to Google or find that on any of his social technical networks. If universities or colleges have to differentiate themselves from the Googles and Facebooks, they need to provide a layer above the knowledge foundation. A way to enable the students to apply the knowledge, ways to be creative, be enterprising and know how to utilize the information in a way that benefits them and the society at large, he informed.
Speaking on the occasion Mr. C.D. Arha said If India has to move forward, we need to empower our students and our citizens. Mr. Ashok Agarwal, Adjunct Professor—BITS Pilani, Chairman EWB India said if our GDP has to grow beyond 9% and achieve double digit we need to overcome the present untable scenario in the country. India is a knowledge economy. This is our unique positioning. This is our competitive advantage. If we continue to keep it that way our key focus has to be on the education, he said and added that India has 611 universities and 31000 plus colleges. However the enrolment ratio is only 20%. If we have to achieve 30 enrolment ratio by 2017, we have to build capacities in institutions. How do we ensure that? he questioned. More than 50% of our engineering graduates remain unemployed he said. We need to work on improvement of our faculty and focus on faculty development, he observed.
Speaking on the occasion, other speakers felt that without exception all over the world everyone is experiencing scarcity of the good faculty. We need to focus on skills based training. We also need to focus on industry led education.
For students interested in study abroad an Expo is running in parallel with the Summit and will be held from 8-9 September at Hotel Taj Krishna. The expo would provide a showcase of technology & training solutions and highlight best practices in teaching, learning and training. Students are urged to utilize this opportunity to know about the various educational opportunities abroad and admission criteria. Certificates will be given to students who participate. Entry is free for students.
The Indus Foundation is a non-profit educational trust dedicated to the promotion of higher education in India. An important mission of the Foundation is to galvanize high-impact educational collaborations between Indian institutions and reputable foreign universities.
Mr. S.B. Anumolu, Managing Trustee of The Indus Foundation informed that Indo-Global Education Summit 2012 is an annual event and it is the biggest and the most comprehensive networking educational event where the who’s who of the Indian education systems converge. The objective of the Summit is to explore opportunities for collaborations between foreign universities and Indian institutions, apart from guidance of Indian students for higher education abroad.
As you are aware, Indian educational system has been undergoing a paradigm shift in the recent past. India has the world's second largest post-secondary student population of around 20 million. It is expected that this number will get doubled over the next 12 years. Further, the Indian economy is transforming into an international powerhouse requiring India to provide the best possible educational opportunities to its citizens. In the face of a growing demand for post secondary education and limited capacities, India is keen to bridge the anticipated gap, by improving the quality of its own higher education with the help of reputable foreign universities, while enhancing capacities.
Indo-Global Education Summit 2012 is a unique event which is being organized in India as a sequel to the highly successful Education Summits held in 2009, 2010, and 2011. The Summit 2012 will have sessions on collaborative research programs, joint / dual degree programs, twinning & transfer programs, distance education & vocational education programs, faculty & student exchange programs, study abroad in India programs, and other academic partnerships. The major fields covered would be Engineering & Applied Sciences, Information Technology, Business & Management, Clinical & Health Sciences, Life Sciences & Biomedicine, Agricultural Sciences, Physical Sciences, Environment & Natural Resources, Education & Teacher Training, Arts & Humanities, and Social Sciences.
The Summit 2012 is specifically designed for Managing Directors, CEOs, Vice-Chancellors, Principals, Provosts, Deans, Dept. Heads, Faculty, Trustees, Correspondents, Government Officials, and others connected with higher education.
Some of the universities participating in the summit include Aachen University, Germany; Aston University, UK; College Board, USA; Dartmouth College, USA; Hadassah Medical School, Israel; Iowa State University, USA; King Saud University, Saudi Arabia; Lille Catholic University, France; McGill University, Canada; McMaster University, Canada; Montana State University Billings, USA; Nanyang Technological University, Singapore; Paris-Dauphine University, France; Purdue University, USA; Sackler School of Medicine, Israel; Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China; Singapore Management University, Singapore; Southern Illinois University, USA; Tel Aviv University, Israel; UBIS University, Switzerland; University of California Berkeley, USA; University of Cape Town, South Africa; University of Hawaii at Manoa, USA; University of Hong Kong, China; University of Johannesburg, South Africa; University of Montana, USA; University of Nottingham, UK; University of Southern California, USA; University of Stockholm, Switzerland; University of Virginia, USA; University of Waikato, New Zealand; University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA; West Virginia University, USA; Western University of Health Sciences, USA; etc and others.
As part of the Summit, educational excellence awards will be presented to institutions from around the world in recognition to their excellence in Arts, Science, Commerce / Business / Management, Law, Engineering, Medicine etc. Initiated in 2010, the Indus Foundation’s awards identify and promote innovation and educational excellence. The Indus Foundation is committed to assisting Indian students for study in good foreign institutions. The motto of the Foundation is: Educational Excellence without Borders.