US to set up Higher Education Council in India

KOLKATA: With private sector to facilitate greater industry-academy collaboration in educational projects in the country, the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs is setting up a Higher Education Council in India.

"The Council, which is in the exploratory stage, will be the first of its kind. Its functions will include, among others, providing academic suggestions and identification of projects in higher education," US Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs Goli Ameri said.

BECA would invest in the project and it would be taken up for discussions at the meeting of the US-India CEO Forum scheduled in October, Ameri, who is also the head of the bureau, said. She said BECA, which initiated the English Access Microscholarship programme to provide courses on the language to underprivileged children in 50 countries, will make the course available on the internet soon. The programme also allows students to study Chinese, Korean, Persian, Turskish and Russain, she said.