The Association of Indian Universities and its Scottish counterpart, Universities Scotland have signed a memorandum of understanding to promote cooperation between the higher education institutions of the two countries.
Under this agreement, Universities Scotland and the AIU will facilitate knowledge exchange and sharing of best practices between institutions, promote student and faculty exchanges, and drive collaboration in research and development.
The two bodies will also encourage joint degree development and help identify opportunities for enhanced funding to support institutional initiatives and drive advocacy in areas of mutual interest.
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“Indian and Scottish institutions have valuable knowledge and expertise, so both countries stand to benefit from the collaboration that will result from this agreement,” said Michael Russell, Minister for Culture, External Affairs and the Constitution in the Scottish Government after the agreement was signed.
Additional Secretary in the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development Ashok Thakur noted the country was going through a phase of education reforms that focused on providing access, equity and quality.
“The bill on the entry of foreign universities in India is likely to be tabled before Parliament in this winter session.”
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Comparing the Indian institutions with the Scottish universities, Mr. Thakur said: “Scottish universities have been generating their own resources in an exemplary way. We also want to tell our institutions that if you want autonomy, you can’t depend completely on government funding. You have to generate your own resources.”
“At the next meeting of the Indian Institute of Technology Council, we may discuss with the IITs a proposal for keeping 5 per cent supernumerary seats for foreign students to generate resources,” he added.
The Scottish Minister also announced that the number of Saltire Scholarships for Indian students has been increased to 50 this year, where the students can study at the master’s level in Scotland. More information is available at www.scotlandscholarship.com
Pamela Gillies, a representative of the Universities Scotland – a grouping of 14 universities and university colleges – said efforts will be made to raise the number of Scottish students studying in India.
“We will be offering scholarships to our students so that they come to India. We are also looking at creating joint programmes with Indian universities so that the students come here to study for some duration during the course,” she added.