India pitches for American varsities to open shop in India

Washington, Oct 12 (PTI) 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 Indian Union 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 US 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.
US-SIBAL 2LAST
"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. PTI YAS
SAR