The Hindu : National : “British varsities can help address India’s skills gap”

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“British varsities can help address India’s skills gap”

Hasan Suroor

LONDON: Academics from India on Sunday joined their British peers to highlight the need for expanding India-U.K. cooperation in higher education to meet the “skills gap” facing Indian industry.

‘Industrial sector growing’

Speaking at a conference, “International Academic Forum 2008: Focus Andhra Pradesh,” organised by the British Institute of Technology and E-Commerce (BITE), they pointed out that India would need more skilled professionals as the industrial sector grew. And British universities, with their long experience of industry-led research, could help in this.

K.C. Reddy, Chairman, AP State Council of Higher Education, said British universities could play a role in addressing India’s skills-gap.

“We can share good practices and develop a more cohesive education system in Andhra Pradesh,” Prof. Reddy said.

‘Huge task’

Tirupati Rao, Vice-Chancellor, Osmania University, and Satya Narayana, Vice-Chancellor, Andhra University, said meeting the growing demand for skilled professionals was going to be a “huge task” for the Indian higher education sector. The ideas thrown up at the conference would help them, they said.

Muhammad Farmer, Director of BITE, said India was moving so fast that its education infrastructure was unable to meet the demand of its burgeoning high-technology industries for people with necessary skills.

“India will need to partner with developed nations in delivering quality education, training and centres of research excellence,” he said.

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