From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network
Bengaluru, Dec 17: The British Council and the Government of Karnataka signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to further bilateral cooperation in higher education in the presence of Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Bengaluru on Thursday.
The Chief Minister said the two governments are signing a first-of-its-kind MoU involving collaboration on leadership development in higher education institutions extending for a period of three years.
India and UK relationship spans several sectors of cooperation including trade and commerce, education, science and technology, defence and culture, he said.
The State Government’s Global Innovation Alliance (GIA) initiative for innovation partnerships with countries across the globe has contributed to Karnataka’s global image as the leading tech hub.
UK has been a very important GIA partner for Karnataka and 38% of UK investment into India in 2017-18 came into Karnataka, Yediyurappa noted.
The Chief Minister welcomed the establishment of the Tech Hubs and Tech Clusters programmes as well as Go Global programmes for taking innovative in start-ups from India to the UK.
Karnataka’s Urban Development department has collaborated with the UK through the Climate Resilient Cities for Shared Prosperity Urban Development programme.
“This will deliver a transformational project on design and delivery of Multimodal Transport Hubs in Bengaluru, an Integrated Transport Authority and Transport Observatory In partnership with UK Catapults. The project demonstrates innovative ways to combat air pollution. The CM said that this is a platform to highlight Karnataka’s leadership role and to mutually chart a way forward in the sector,’’ the Chief Minister said.
Barbara Wickham OBE, Director India, British Council, said the MoU is a further step in realising the mutual vision of a deep, strong India-UK education relationship while supporting the knowledge ambitions laid out in India’s National Education Policy 2020.
“Through this MoU, we look forward to creating more education and employment opportunities for aspiring students of Karnataka as well as supporting the states vision for stronger higher education systems,’’ she said.
Dr C N Ashwath Narayan, Deputy Chief Minister and Higher Education Minister, said India is poised for big change in education.
“NEP is serving as a transformation opportunity. Karnataka is in the forefront of implementation of NEP,’’ he said pointing out that the collaboration with UK HEIs through British Council is happening at an opportune time.
Planned initiatives through this collaboration will immensely benefit the stakeholders of higher education, he noted.
Janaka Pushpanathan, Director South India, British Council, said employability and upskilling is a focus area for governments across the world.
“We are confident that the co-developed programmes as part of the MoU will help drive the desired results for both Karnataka and the UK in these areas. Students and researchers from South India, especially Karnataka, value the UK higher education sector and we expect the engagement to go up as part of the MoU,’’ he explained.
The MoU will facilitate collaborative and mutually beneficial programmes in Karnataka and contribute to increased research and social linkages in the field of Higher Education between the two entities.
The MoU between British Council, UK's international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities and KSCHE, the apex body for promoting academic excellence in higher education in the State, is aimed at deeper collaboration between the Karnataka and the UK to achieve the outcomes envisioned through the New Education Policy of the Government of India.
Student mobility and faculty exchange across higher education institutions (HEIs) in Karnataka and the UK is a key priority of the MoU to enhance research and support internationalisation of HEIs.
The two entities will work closely to strengthen Karnataka’s higher education academic landscape through systemic initiatives such as leadership development for faculty and, education and research partnerships between institutions of the state and the UK.
Dominic Raab, Secretary of State for foreign and development affairs, UK, Chief Secretary T M Vijaya Bhaskar and others were present.