India, US to set up JWG on education

NEW DELHI: The government���s willingness to open up the education sector for foreign players was clearly evident on Thursday when it discussed the setting up of a joint working group on education with US undersecretary of state for political affairs William J Burns. The visiting US official held a meeting with HRD minister Kapil Sibal.

The HRD minister is usually not even a whistle stop for senior officials of the US state department. However, with the government signalling its keenness to open up the sector for foreign players, Mr Burns���s meeting with the HRD minister becomes significant.

At the meeting, a decision was taken to set up a joint working group on education, which would be headed by Mr Sibal and his US counterpart. University and government representatives will be part of the group as well. It will meet once a year alternately in India and the US.

The working group will focus on institutional linkages in secondary, higher and vocational education. The US delegation expressed keen interest in pursuing a bilateral education dialogue with India for fruitful co-operation in the field of education.

Bilateralism was the centrepiece of the meeting, but there were clear indications that foreign participation would eventually be part of the agenda. Neither the Indian nor American delegation made any direct reference to the legislation allowing foreign education providers to set up campuses in India.

However, the import of the legislation was clearly part of the meeting. Mr Sibal impressed upon the visiting American delegation that India would emerge as a major provider of trained workforce for the entire world. To this end, the minister said that a key focus area would be to increase the gross enrolment ratio at the tertiary level to 15% from the current rate of 10%.

Mr Sibal said that such a plan would require an investment of $250 billion, of which only $30 billion could be raised internally. Even as the minister referred to India���s need for investment, he made it clear that fly-by-night operators would not be tolerated in the sector.