FICCI to set up StudyinIndia pavilion at NAFSA 2017

New Delhi [India], May 26 : The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), along with the Ministry of Commerce, Government of India and Service Export Promotion Council and in partnership with Education Promotion Society for India will be setting up a 'StudyinIndia' pavilion, leading a delegation of over 50 Indian higher education leaders to the 69th Annual NAFSA conference scheduled to take place from May 28 to June 2 2017, in Los Angeles, U.S.A.

The delegation comprises leading higher education institutions' promoters and vice-chancellors, industry leaders and government officials.

"The current decade is an opportunity for Indian institutions to make a mark at a global level and showcase its best practices of innovations which has created a start-up culture.

We are ready to win the confidence of global stakeholders at a platform like NAFSA", said Dr. Rajan Saxena, Chair, FICCI's Higher Education Committee and Vice Chancellor, NMIS. The NAFSA 2017 Annual Conference and Expo is projected to be one of the largest international education events.

More than 10,000 international learners, educators and change-makers are expected to attend the conference from over 100 countries.

The key objectives of the Indian delegation is to facilitate the visiting members to explore the opportunity of forging international partnerships, showcasing the best practices of Indian higher education systems at a global platform and also organising road shows to promote FICCI's 13th Higher Education Summit and Exhibition which is scheduled for November 9 to 11, 2017, in New Delhi, with the support of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and Services Export Promotion Council.

"Participating in NAFSA through StudyInIndia pavilion is an opportunity for Indian higher education institutions to gain valuable global perspective and insights on all the areas of international education administration, student services, faculty development and research and innovation and showcase their strengths and leverage collaboration possibilities," said Dr.

A Didar Singh, Secretary General, FICCI. The Centre's recent initiatives like IMPacting Research INnovation and Technology (IMPRINT), Global Initiative of Academic Networks (GIAN) and the soon-to-be implemented Global Research Interaction Network (GRIN) highlights the government's thrust to promote new age research and innovation.

Further, to match the 21st century skill requirements, the government's initiative of setting up 20 world class universities that will have enabling regulatory architecture, is very apt.

With an initial corpus of Rs. 1000 crores, the government proposes to create a not-for-profit higher education financing agency to leverage funds from the market and support infrastructural improvements for those 20 universities.

The Union HRD Ministry is in the process of devising a mechanism for providing graded autonomy to universities through a rating mechanism.

It is proposed that the well performing institutions, both public and private, would be granted full autonomy, the mediocre institutions would be subjected to partial autonomy and the non-performing ones will have no autonomy and will be subject to full regulation.

"The demographic dividend and its energy is channelised to embrace applied knowledge and innovations, which is critical in translating India into a global human resource hub," said Mohandas Pai, Chairman, Manipal Global Education and Chair, FICCI Skill Development Committee.

The Indian higher education sector witnesses spends of over Rs. 46,200 crore and is expected to grow at an average annual rate of over 18 per cent to reach Rs. 232,500 crore in the next 10 years..

Source: ANI