The Nature and Extent of University Engagement with Indian Higher Education Institutions
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THE NATURE AND EXTENT OF UNIVERSITY ENGAGEMENT WITH INDIAN HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS Brigid Freeman 2017 Page | 1 OVERVIEW OF FINDINGS This paper complements A Report on Australia's Engagement with India's Higher Education System by providing additional data and analysis regarding the nature and extent of university engagement. The report has been prepared by the Australia India Institute for the Commonwealth Department of Education and Training. The key findings presented are as follows: 1. Indian higher education institutions are interested in engaging with foreign higher education institutions in research-intensive (North America, UK, Europe, East Asia) and emerging research (Africa, Middle East and other Asian) regions. The extent and nature of government, system level and institutional engagement varies, spanning science diplomacy, academic and research collaboration, university association level commitments and formal institutional agreements. Bilateral engagement is supported by Government of India agreements with over 50 countries, university association-level commitments, and institutional agreements and collaborative ventures. 2. India's higher education internationalisation agenda is reflected in government commitments and the Science, Technology and Innovation Policy 2013, while the new National Education Policy is yet to be finalised. The current regulatory environment supports academic collaborations under the University Grants Commission Promotion and Maintenance Standards of Academic Collaboration between Indian and Foreign Educational Institutions and All India Council for Technical Education Regulations for Entry and Operation of Foreign Universities Imparting Technical Education. 3. Interest in engaging with India is high. Foreign governments and higher education institutions invest intellectually and financially in their relationship with India’s higher education system. Investments include funding for collaborative research; faculty, professional staff and international student scholarships; faculty exchanges; market intelligence and research regarding the Indian higher education system; professional development for Indian institutional leaders and professional staff; and support for alumni networks. India's outward facing efforts and engagements are also evident in their area studies, Asian studies and language programs. Various recognition schemes and cross-cultural training programs also celebrate and facilitate India's growing international engagements. 4. The Indian government's interest in visiting faculty is evidenced by the introduction of funding schemes such as the Global Initiative of Academic Networks (GIAN). International collaboration is also facilitated by the inclusion of foreign faculty as partner investigators in Indian government funding schemes available to academic staff at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) for collaborative research. This includes Uchhatar Avishkar Yojana (UAY) and the Impacting Research Innovation and Technology, referred to as the IMPRINT India Initiative. 5. Other than in a few leading institutions, institutional level plans and policies, staffing and international office structures are yet to be replicated throughout India’s higher education system, and this is particularly problematic given the Page | 2 complexity of India's higher education system. Indian higher education institutions are introducing more structures and policies to support international engagement. The recently launched Indian Network for Internationalisation of Education (INIE) should facilitate further developments. 6. The mutual recognition of qualifications represents an ongoing challenge for international student mobility, academic collaboration and graduate employability. The Government of India has committed to progressing this complex issue with Australia and competitor countries. 7. Australian universities are well placed to engage internationally as they already have high levels of co-authorship in international scientific journals. While Indian higher education institutions produce fewer such journal articles, the leading Indian higher education institutions represent notable exceptions and suggest that research activity growth can be expected. Indian higher education institutions publish more documents with faculty in competitor countries (United States, United Kingdom, Germany, South Korea, France, Japan) than Australia. Faculty at Australian universities will need to better position themselves and increase their exposure in India to secure collaborations with faculty in Indian higher education institutions. Such engagements may increasingly be multilateral (i.e., India, Australia, third country). 8. Australian universities are committed to engagement with foreign higher education institutions, and this is reflected in the large number of memorandums of understanding (MOUs) in place. The majority of these MOUs are with international partners in emerging China and research-intensive countries (United States, Japan, Germany, United Kingdom and France). MOUs with Asian higher education institutions reflect Australian university's interest in China's increasingly dominant contribution to global science, and the ongoing research-intensity of Japan. Australia’s engagement with India can be strengthened and this is anticipated given that growth in the number of agreements with Indian higher education institutions has been faster than that reported for any other country over the period 2003 to 2016. 9. Most Australian universities have formalised MOUs with Indian higher education institutions, with Deakin University and RMIT having the largest number of individual agreements. Australian university's engagement is concentrated in the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, where India's population and infrastructure are heavily concentrated. While a third are longstanding, two thirds were only established recently. Over one quarter of all MOUs are with India's leading higher education institutions, including the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), and elite universities (e.g., University of Delhi, Jawaharlal Nehru University). As such, a surprisingly large proportion (three quarters) of Australian university's MOUs are with tier 2 and tier 3 specialist institutions, comprehensive universities, and other Indian higher education institutions. 10. MOUs between Australian universities and Indian higher education institutions vary with respect to their disciplinary coverage, from multi-disciplinary, to STEM disciplines (predominantly engineering and technology, information and Page | 3 computing sciences, medical, health and biological sciences, other sciences), social science disciplines (management, and law and legal studies) and the humanities (communications and culture, creative arts). 11. There are several key differences between Australian universities and Indian higher education institutions that can inform decision-making regarding potential engagements. These differences relate to discipline mix; student population; the proportion of postgraduate students; teaching, scholarship and research roles; complexity; and the place of English. 12. Indian international student flows contribute significantly to Australia's export education market, while the flow of students into India from Australia remains low. Recent shifts in Australia’s immigration policy will likely impact both Australia’s export education market and opportunities for engagement with India. 13. Australian university engagement with India in relation to transnational education (TNE) is currently low, and this area can be expected to expand, particularly as research training-based engagements progress. Expansion in TNE joint doctoral training would appear to provide good opportunities for Australian universities to engage with Indian higher education institutions. In relation to other TNE opportunities (e.g., undergraduate and postgraduate coursework programs), Australian universities will be positioned well for strengthened engagement should the Government of India prioritise academic collaborations with the top 200 universities globally. Page | 4 COMPETITOR COUNTRY ENGAGEMENT Indian higher education institutions are interested in engaging with foreign higher education institutions in research-intensive (North America, UK, Europe, East Asia) and emerging research (Africa, Middle East and other Asian) regions. Government, system and institution level engagement is illustrated by government science diplomacy efforts, academic and research collaboration, university association level commitments and institutional MOUs. Variations in scale: The scale of engagement with Indian higher education institutions varies, influenced by the number of: - higher education institutions and faculty (e.g., the North American and Chinese higher education systems are comparatively large); - academic engagements, including: o transnational education programs; o international students (e.g., the flow from India to the United States is the highest, whereas the flow to India is highest from developing countries); - research collaborations and propensity for publication co-authorship (e.g., the United States, United Kingdom, Germany and China produce the largest numbers of collaborative research publications);1 - partnerships with Indian companies (e.g., British Council MOUs