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| Indian Human Resources and Development Minister Kapil Sibal addressing the Educational Council meeting in New Delhi |
New Delhi: Indian Human Resource and Development minister Kapil Sibal and
Steven Joyce, Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment, New
Zealand co-chaired the first meeting of the India-New Zealand Education Council
held Friday here in New Delhi.
The Council has been
constituted to draw up a framework and devise mechanisms of co-operation and
set the agenda for improving educational relations between the two countries.
This first meeting of the Council was attended by senior
academicians, industry leaders and government officials from both sides. Both
the Ministers expressed satisfaction at the vibrant engagement between the two
sides in the field of education and hoped that the Council, being a novel joint
mechanism, will further strengthen the collaborative efforts.
Both leaders renewed their commitment to collaboration and
partnership in higher education. India and New Zealand expressed their
commitment to earmark US $ 1 million annually to enhance the cooperative
activities through specific programmes designed by the India-New Zealand
Education Council. The programmes will include joint research, student
mobility, faculty development, qualifications framework as well as vocational
education and training, among others.
Six MoUs of cooperation between different institutions were
also signed on during the meeting.
The members of the Council recognised skill development,
especially catering to the needs of the industry and keeping pace with the exponential growth in global
mobility of workforce, as one of the major challenges facing the two countries
and pledged further collaboration.
The mobility of students and workforce also necessitates
parity in qualifications between various countries and therefore, the Council
suggested early recognition of each other’s educational qualifications by India
and New Zealand. The Council also noted the need to set up more institutions of
excellence, for which enhancement of the quality of faculty is a key challenge.
It was also agreed to collaborate in the Tribal Studies and preservation of
languages, culture and traditional crafts.
The meeting was attended by officials from Ministry of
Tertiary Education and Skills, New Zealand High Commission in India and
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade,
Vice-Chancellor of various New Zealand Universities, executive of Vocational
Educational Institutes and representatives from business organizations.
From the Indian side officials of Ministry of HRD, UGC,
Vice-Chancellors, eminent academicians senior professors from Indian
Universities and officials, representatives of Industries including FICCI and
CII participated in the meeting.