BHU: INSTITUTIONS NEED TO BE ASPIRATIONAL WHILE ALSO STEPPING UP EFFORTS TO ACHIEVE THE INTERNATIONALIZATION OF EDUCATION
- We must prepare our students for international settings, they must be ready to compete and excel: Prof. Sudhir K Jain
- Adoption of best practices is the key if we want to have foreign students and faculty on our campuses: Prof. Jain
Varanasi: Higher education institutions must be aspirational to achieve the goal of internationalization of education. While adopting best practices would attract foreign students and faculty members, changes at the policy level are also very important. These were the key ideas that came to the fore during a technical session on ‘Internationalisation of Education’ on day three of ‘Akhil Bharatiya Shiksha Samagam’. The session was chaired by Vice-Chancellor Prof. Sudhir K Jain. He said that as we eye more enrolments from international students, we need to make sure whether we have made our campuses favorable enough to host foreign students. This comprises many things like good accommodation, study programs, and smooth processes, he added. Prof. Jain also reiterated the need to prepare Indian students from international settings. Our students must be able to compete with their international counterparts and we must work on their capacity building and polishing their skills, added Prof. Sudhir K Jain.
Prof. Vidya Yeravdekar, Pro-Chancellor, Symbiosis, Pune, said that with a greater focus on online education, we do have more numbers of international participants be it, students or teachers. Having international students in the class and foreign teachers in the staff room changes the whole atmosphere. It also helps develop perspectives of students and teachers, said Prof. Yeravdekar. She also added that more efforts are needed in the development of the curriculum, whether we have what foreign students want or not? She called upon institutions to define their own strengths which foreign students find attractive to get them enrolled. Prof. Vidya said that the wider promotion of Indian institutions is a must to achieve the internalization of education.
Prof. Anand Agrawal, Vice-Chancellor, Chandigarh University, informed that his university had set up a department of international relations way before it was suggested in the National Education Policy 2020. He suggested that institutions should join hands in developing joint programs and research to attract foreign students. Calling for a well-crafted strategy to internationalize Indian education, he also proposed setting up a joint center of excellence with international bodies.
Prof. C. Raj Kumar, Vice-Chancellor, O. P. Jindal University presented data on the number of international students enrolled in several countries and how India is far behind in the list. He underlined the objectives set by National Education Policy 2020 about internalization. He said that a total transformation is needed to achieve internationalization. “We must offer what the students want to study and not what we want them to study. We can’t let foreign students get stuck in processes be it for a visa or otherwise, as it would kill their interest and precious time both”, said Prof. Raj Kumar.
Dr. Archana Mantri, Vice-Chancellor, Chitkara University, Punjab, shared the practice of global week being observed in the university. She said that over the years, Chitkara University’s endeavor has helped a great deal in getting more international teachers teaching different programs. She added that the university put a greater focus on making the Indian experience of foreign teachers and students better, which brought exciting results.