UK-EDUCATION 3 LST

Sibal said during his interaction with 16 vice
chancellors and meetings with ministers here and earlier in
the US, he had conveyed the message that "India is ready to
change and that India is willing to, through a new regulatory
framework, accept foreign education providers in India".

He said India has to provide access to another 44 milion
for higher studies "which means we need more than twice the
universities by 2020 - we have to have another 30,000 colleges
and another 800 to 900 universities".
He said this is not a task that can be performed by the
Union Government alone, which also needs the participation of
private players and foreign universities to bring in quality.
"You cannot just provide access without quality as they
will not be able to compete with rest of the world," he said.
He said Ed Balls, the British minister for schools has
suggested that India and the UK should collaborate putting
education in the forefront and they should make joint efforts
to see education ministers attend the G20 and G7 summits.
Sibal said the Association of Universities in England
would come to India for a meeting with Vice Chancellors of
Indian Universities. "I am extremely pleased in the short stay
of two days we have made enormous progress," he said.
He said he also clarified some doubts the VCs had about
the reservation policy, fees system for foreign universities.
"There would be no discrimination," he said, adding some
universities were waiting for necessary legislations to pass.
Sibal said he was impressed with the Space Centre in
Surrey University, and by the ongoing research in Bio-
Engineering and other innovation in institutions here. PTI HSR

AHM


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