Sibal pitches for American varsities to open shop in India

As the first ever high-level Indo-US education summit gets underway, India on Wednesday pitched for famed American universities to "reach out" to the country, with the visiting minister Kapil Sibal saying that tie-ups would yield high economic returns. Making a strong case for US institutions of higher education to partner with those in India, the minister for human resource development said it is time that the US institutes of higher learning realise that the "way to move forward in education is to come to India, to collaborate and set up institutions and reach out to people."

He, however, added that India too has to "reach out" and create an environment for US universities to set up base in the country.

"You have a higher education structure which is the envy of the world, it has been at the front of all knowledge creation. US has the best academics all over the world. It is time for you to reach out, collaborate with us because in that process you will participate in not just helping us solve our problems but helping us solve the problems of the world," he said at an event on India-US education opportunities organised by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies here.

The day long education summit on October 13, to be co-chaired by Sibal and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, will see participation by over 300 higher education leaders, government and private sector representatives.

Sibal pointed out that investing in the Indian education sector makes good economic sense for the US as the return on investment in India is much higher as compared to any other country.

"Your model that kids should fly across the Atlantic to go to Harvard, Stanford or Yale is not a good economic model because your investment per dollar gives you a very small return. The same investment in India in collaboration with an Indian institution will give you much higher return," Sibal said.

While only 100,000 Indian students are currently studying in the US, Sibal said India has over 200 million students who need quality education.

"So instead of having 200,000 people come to the US, you can actually with the same money empower a million kids in India. There is need to change the mindset of people in the education sector."

To address the education needs of the young in India, the country would need another 1000 universities and 55,000 colleges in the next 10 years when the number of children going to college increases from the current 16 million to 45 million.

"India cannot build 1000 universities on its own. So we will perforce have to create an environment in which private sector investment, FDI and public-private partnership will be channelled into the education sector."

The mindset of the Americans that students should come to the US to study is the "wrong way of going about it" because the global economy and solutions are not going in that direction.

Capital flow will not be directed to developed economies, which have reached saturation point, Sibal said, adding that capital will flow to countries with opportunities.

"There are opportunities galore in India in every part of its economy, be it infrastructure or education" and billions of dollars of investment is projected to be made in these sectors.

Source: The Hindustan Times

USA is the most popular destination for Indian students!

Body - Indian students constitute the largest group among all International students in the United States of America. Majority of the Indian students opt for Bachelors degree in Engineering, Commerce and Economics and Masters Finance, Business and Management. Traditionally, USA universities eligibility criterion for Masters demand 16 years of full time education. But, number of USA universities has started accepting students with 15 years of education. Most of the Indian students arriving in American campuses do well because of strong back-ground and training received in High-Schools of India. Few intellectual in India think it a brain-drain and others argue that it is the necessary investment for the future reverse Brain-drain? Kampus Landing believes it has both.

Tejal Laul, Director of Kampus Landing a Global Education Specialist organization says “India’s best institutes for engineering has limited seats, the number of prospective students outnumber the actual availability of seats. Let us take IIT Joint Entrance Examination popularly known as IIT JEE for the year 2010. More than 472,000 students had registered for the examination and the total available seats were 9509. IIT JEE is one of the toughest engineering entrance exams in the world with a success rate of around 1 in 45 in comparison getting to MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) is easier with an acceptance rate of over 10. It doesn’t mean IIT is better than MIT, IIT caters to the best of the Indian students compared to MIT which caters to the best students from all over the world. I believe as far as the studies are concerned at undergraduate levels IIT and MIT are equal but MIT is much better when it comes to graduate level. IIT doesn't have the research resources like MIT and that is one of the main reasons students after completion of their bachelors degree opt for Masters at MIT.”

The USA education system is freedom oriented and Indian system is forced one where the students don’t get much choices to choose the subject range. Tejal Laul says, “I undoubtedly feel that the American education system is superior. USA being the developed country has the best of the resources, facilities and faculties in the world. Although, India is progressing at a great pace but may take another 50 years to become world class.” The USA education USP’s are practical focus, enriching experience, acceptability by employers all over the world, placement opportunities, diverse culture, immense exposure and cutting edge technology which makes it a dream destination for students wishing to study abroad for higher education.

The USA colleges and universities require twelve years of education for admissions to an undergraduate level. All the USA colleges universities in the US use tests viz TOEFL, SAT, GRE, GMAT to evaluate applicant’s eligibility for admission. These tests are standardized and conducted by the ETS or GMAC in the centers throughout the world including India. Even IELTS has found acceptability with majority of the universities in India. Pearson has also initiated a test known as PTE which also is finding acceptability with USA colleges and universities. The students take TOEFL and SAT if they are going for Bachelors degree in USA, TOEFL and GMAT if they are seeking admissions for MBA program in USA business schools, TOEFL and GRE if they are looking for admissions in Masters apart from MBA. The Bachelor Degrees such as BA, B. Com, B.Sc., B.E., are known as undergraduate degrees in USA universities and not graduate degrees. Master’s degree is called graduate degree and doctoral a degree is called postgraduate degree in USA. The degrees like B.Sc. and M.Sc. are Termed BS and MS respectively. Masters in Physiotherapy is termed as MS Physical Therapy in the United States.