Hon’ble Minister of State for External Affairs, Dr. Shashi Tharoor said, “ Despite India being a Developing country, there is a great depth and diversity of education pool available here. The cost of higher education in India is 1/10 th the cost of Higher education in a European country.”
Dr Tharoor was speaking at an Education Summit organized jointly by Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) and the Institute of Marketing and Management (IMM) on “Marketing of India’s Higher Education Worldwide: Revisited”.
The Ho’ble Minister further added that India also has institutes of repute like the IITs and the IIMs. And all that is needed is the proper marketing of India’s Higher education abroad. There is also a ‘Domestic’ demand for Higher education and the marketing of education abroad should not be at the cost of Indian students. Foreign education can take place if additional educational facilities are generated. This will also stem the exodus of Indian students going abroad for studies, he added. Dr Tharoor hoped that Public- Private Partnerships, like the one between IGNOU and IMM, would make Indian education more attractive worldwide.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Narendra Jadhav, Hon’ble Member (Education), Planning Commission, said, “Indian Universities should set up campuses abroad. This will give them a Global name and Indian teachers will get more exposure.”
Summing up the major themes that emerged during the day long Summit , Dr. Latha Pillai, Pro-Vice Chancellor, IGNOU said ,” There is a need to develop Special hubs of Higher education, increasing the number of scholarships for foreign students, providing better infrastructure and introducing credit system to attract more students from abroad.” She further added that IGNOU is already marketing Indian Higher education abroad through its Pan –African network.
Hon’ble Minister of State for External Affairs, Dr. Shashi Tharoor was the Chief Guest and Dr. Narendra Jadhav, Hon’ble Member (Education), Planning Commission was the Guest of Honour for the Summit , organized in the Capital. It was convened by Dr. Jagjit Singh, Executive President, IMM . The Co-Coordinators for the programme were Dr. Latha Pillai, Pro-Vice Chancellor, IGNOU and Dr. Pramod Kumar, Director, IMM.
The Summit focused on opportunities available in the fields of Engineering & Technology; IT & Management; Tourism & Hospitality and Agriculture to students from South Asia, Central Asia, Middle-East, Africa and Central America, at an affordable cost, right here in India.
It also highlighted IGNOU’s role in spreading education through distance mode not only in India but also to the world outside as per convenience of the students, irrespective of boundaries: social, political and economic.
The Subject experts in the Summit were drawn from both the Academia and the Industry. They spoke on the challenges faced by Higher education and deliberated on how Indian Higher education can be marketed to students abroad, so the number of foreign students coming to India for Higher studies can be increased. There are currently just 25,000 foreign students studying in India.
The specialized sectors of Higher education such as Engineering and Technology, IT & Management, Agriculture & Tourism & Hospitality were taken for panel discussion with special emphasis to market them in the Middle-East, Africa, South Asia and Central America. The Seminar was divided into four Technical Sessions, each focusing on one of the sectors in Higher Education.