Union Minister of Human Resource Development Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank met Parliamentary Delegation from Canada led by the Speaker of the Senate, Parliament of Canada Mr. George J. Furey in New Delhi today. In the meeting, Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank said that India is an ideal education destination where students from foreign countries can come to study niche courses like Yoga and Ayurveda, along with other disciplines in some of the best institutions in the country. Shri Nishank also spoke about the upcoming New Education Policy and how it is poised to make education in India more accessible, inclusive and high quality. He spoke about the already strong relations between India and Canada in the field of education and how this could be strengthened further in the coming years.Shri Pokhriyal also explained in detail the initiatives taken by Ministry of HRD for internationalization of Higher Education, such as Study in India, Global Initiative for Academic Network (GIAN) and Scheme for Promotion of Academic Research Collaboration( SPARC. ) He highlighted that Canada is one of the 28 countries participating in SPARC, with more 19 joint research proposals underways between Indian and Canadian Institutions.
Under GIAN, nearly 90 faculty members from Canadian institutions have come to teach courses in Indian institutions Shri Pokhriyal invited students from Canada to study in the fields of Yoga, Ayurveda, Hindi, Sanskrit and other Indian languages and Indian philosophy along with science and technology in various Indian educational institutions. He also talked about the work being done by Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute (SICI), a bi-national organization created by a joint announcement of Government of India and Government of Canada in 1968, towards promoting academic exchange between the two countries.The Minister also suggested that we should strive to develop a system whereby the top Canadian companies and Indian companies provide an opportunity to internship students in their respective countries. He added that many multinational companies are doing excellent work in both India-Canada locations. The Minister also appealed that there is a need to promote collaborative research with Indian establishments in Canada, as it is doing excellent work in the fields of nanotechnology, green energy, ecology, medicine, etc.Shri Pokhriyal said we should make special efforts to the enhance exchange of students between the two countries. The Minister hoped that this meeting will effectively help in developing strategies to promote balanced international mobility of students and faculty between higher education institutions between India and Canada.