India Seeks to Improve Higher Education Through Tie-ups with U.S., UK, Other Nations

India has set up joint research programs with the United States, United Kingdom, Israel, Norway and New Zealand to give an impetus to the quality of higher education in the country.

This has been done under the Special Scheme for Faculty Development to provide an opportunity to teachers to pursue academic and research activities. It also aims to help in establishment of Inter University Centers (IUCs) that provide state-of-the art equipment and facilities, the Times of India reported.

The Ministry of Commerce and Industry is setting up seven new research parks modelled on the setup at IIT Madras, the Lok Sabha was informed. “IIT Kharagpur at a cost of Rs 100 crore is under construction and Rs 74.83 crore released to IIT Kharagpur, IIT Mumbai at a cost of Rs 100 crore is under construction and Rs 34 crore released to IIT Bombay,” CR Chaudhary, the Minister of State for Commerce and industry, said.

The Research Park at IIT Gandhinagar has been sanctioned by the Department of Science and Technology at a total cost of Rs 90 crore, and an installment of Rs 40 crore has already been disbursed. “Also, five more research parks at IIT Kanpur, IIT Delhi, IIT Guwahati, IIT Hyderabad and IISc will be set up at a budget of Rs 375 crore. It is to be approved by the Ministry of Human Resource Development,” Chaudhary said.

Approval has also been given by HRD ministry to continue two already approved research parks at IIT Bombay and IIT Kharagpur at a cost of Rs 100 crore each.

In July 2017, the HRD ministry launched other initiatives like National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF), Impacting Research Innovation & Technology (IMPRINT), Uchchatar Avishkar Yojna (UAY), Global Initiative of Academic Networks (GIAN) & Global Research Interactive Network (GRIN) in the field of education to encourage innovation and research in the country.

Minister of State for Human Resource Development, Satyapal Singh, said in a statement that the objectives of the UAY scheme are to promote innovation in IITs, address issues of manufacturing industries, to spur an innovative mindset, to coordinate action between academia and industry, and to strengthen labs and research facilities.