NEP 2020 will be crucial in the synchronization of Indian education with the international pattern, said Union Education Minister Mr. Ramesh Pokhriyal.

It will also be beneficial for international students with a greater scope of short-time course commitment, credit transfer, and semester away facilities. 

In an online international webinar named “India the Global Destination for Higher Education, post-NEP 2020" conducted by the IIT Kharagpur Alumni Foundation along with IIT-KGP on October 9-10, 2020, the minister emphasized the core unique pattern to be the credit bank system, awarding certificate, degrees, and diplomas. 

Read In detail: National Education Policy 2020

The Education Minister along with Commander V K Jaitly, the IIT-KGP webinar chairperson expressed concern regarding the outflow of overseas study cost that India experiences every year. An estimated amount of $16 Billion cash is outflowing from India every year for foreign education. 

With the new NEP 2020, the internationalization, quality improvement, and branding of the Indian education system can revert back nearly $20 Billion each year, the Chairperson hopes.

Read More: NEP 2020: No Plan to Revise Reservation Norms, Says Education Minister

Eminent principals and academicians, present in the webinar expressed their opinion on National Education Policy 2020 as follows:

  •  V K Tewari, Director of IIT-KGP has expressed his satisfaction with finally having a scope for internationalization of the inbound as well as outbound education through the credit transfer and semester away system.
  • The Higher Education Secretary Amit Khare emphasizes to cover the social aspects of cyber-physical research, create short-term courses, and leverage the researchers network of GIAN and SPARC programs under NEP 2020.
  • The need to create a silo for the Indian Knowledge System under NEP 2020 will be beneficial for international students, said the AICTE Chairperson Mr. Anil Sahasrabudhe.
  • The Director of IIM-B, Dr. R T Krishnan, pointed out the dilemma of international students over choosing long term projects due to uncertain cost of education.
  • Columbia University professor and president, Asia Initiatives, Dr. Geeta Mehta emphasized the need to increase public awareness of IITs and their reputations.
  • The Director of IIT-Guwahati, Dr. T G Sitharaman expressed concerns regarding the return of investment, hence, proposing short-term internship and employment opportunities for foreign students. 
  • The Director of IIT (BHU) Varanasi Dr. Pramod Kumar Jain advocated on making the application procedures more flexible through NEP 2020 for foreign students. 
  • The VC of SRM University, Mr. Sandeep Sancheti emphasizes introducing Masters programs that can bring international attention. 
  • M K Surappa, the Vice-Chancellor of Anna University elaborated on the contribution of private, government, and state-facilitated engineering colleges other than IITs. 
  • Sudhir Jain, Director, IIT Gandhinagar, Souvik Bhattacharyya, VC, BITS Pilani, DY Patil School of Management Director Member Dr. R Gopal, and Sashtra Deemed University VC S Vaidhyasubramanium emphasized the techniques and need of promoting and publicizing NEP 2020 in international platforms. Incorporating foreign offices and existing foreign students as brand ambassadors, consortium marketing approach, looking for opportunities in the SAARC countries can be beneficial, they added. 
  • US Consul General in Kolkata Patti Hoffman also emphasized the role of international offices in acting as a mediator. The respective office can also venture into joint collaborative programs under NEP 2020, she added.
  • Pradeep Khosla, chancellor at the University of California San Diego, Prabhat Hajela, provost, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, along with other academicians emphasized the role of outreach programs in different countries in collaboration with the foreign offices.

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