Government has set an ambitious target of 5 Lakh international students by 2024: Dr Rajkumar Ranjan Singh, Union MoS for External Affairs, & Education

Singh inaugurates one of Asia's biggest International Faculty Development Programme at Chandigarh University

123 Professors from 75 international universities in 32 countries to participate in 6-day long program

CHANDIGARH, India, July 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- India aims to increase the number of international students studying in its Universities from 50,000 currently to 5 lakh by the year 2024, said Dr Rajkumar Ranjan Singh, Honourable Union Minister of State for External Affairs, and Education. Dr Singh was speaking at the inaugural ceremony of Chandigarh University's International Faculty Development Programme (IFDP) 2022 at Varsity's Gharuan campus.

Organised as part of Government of India's initiative for internationalisation of Indian higher education as per the New Education Policy (NEP), the IFD programme of Chandigarh University is one of Asia's biggest international Faculty Development program. More than 123 professors, having expertise in 27 different fields such as Engineering, Management, Liberal Arts, Medical Sciences, Media Studies, Applied Sciences etc and teaching in 75 international universities from over 32 countries including USA, UK, Canada, Australia, Germany, Spain, South Africa, Ireland, UAE, Poland, Denmark, Iran, Oman, Philippines, Malaysia, Kenya, Bangladesh, Nepal etc will participate in this 6-day program which will culminate on July 9.

Dr Banwarilal Natiya, Chairperson, NRC, NCTE Delhi, Prof Rajeev Ahuja, Director IIT Ropar, Sh Dharampal Singh (IAS), Hon'ble Advisor to UT Administrator, Chandigarh, Mr Freddy Svane, Danish Ambassador to India, S. Satnam Singh Sandhu, Chancellor, Chandigarh University were the prominent among those present on the occasion.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Rajkumar Ranjan Singh said that the International Faculty Development Programme organised by Chandigarh University was in true spirit, the implementation of Internationalisation of Higher Education.

"With more than 100 Professors from 75 Universities of over 30 countries in attendance, I feel this Programme is a great opportunity for faculty as it will lead to their sensitisation about new concepts in teaching, enhance their skills and update them on latest developments in their field and research methodologies. In line with the principle of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam for mutual growth and inclusive development, this IFDP is surely going to set out a continuous and stirring discussion to explore effective methods of improving higher education standards, both in India and the participating countries," he said, and batted for particular attention to be paid to emerging disruptive technologies that will necessarily transform the education system.

Singh noted that India was once considered as Vishwa Guru in the field of Education and students from all over the world came to study here but the student flow to India slowed down over the years.

"This was one of the major concerns for Honourable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi ji and he has worked tirelessly to reverse the trend. Under his dynamic leadership, we are able to identify the gaps in the higher education, including the quality of education, irrelevant curriculum and the irrelevance of the courses vis-a-vis the future employability of students and we have decided to fix all of that with the National Education Policy, 2020 and its implementation," said the Minister, who was the chief guest on the occasion.

Singh said that with the implementation of NEP 2020, the Indian Education System is witnessing one of world's biggest reforms in the field of Education and is focused on Making India a Vishwa Guru once again in the Global World, primarily by the Internationalization of Indian Education.

"The vision of the Honourable Prime Minister has already started showing great results as India has increased its share of international students from 2.3% to 6% in the Global Student Mobility Market. More than 50,000 students from 164 countries are currently studying in Indian Universities in various programmes and we aim to make that rise to 5 lakh by the year 2024," he said.

Singh called for empowering the faculty to conduct innovative teaching, research, and service as they have been given autonomy to innovate on matters of curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment within a broad framework of higher education qualifications while ensuring consistency across institutions, programmes and modes in the NEP-2020.

Invoking Indian scriptures, Dr Banwarilal Natiya, Chairperson, NRC, NCTE Delhi, urged the educational institutions to keep social welfare at the centre of its activities and exhorted the students to imbibe values along with quality education. Describing education as the creator of knowledge, Dr Natiya said that any country can move towards progress and prosperity only through quality education, whereas Prof Rajeev Ahuja, Director IIT Ropar said that for realising India's dream of becoming a Vishwa Guru, a well-trained faculty, updated with the latest happenings in the fields of science and technology is a prerequisite which can make the fundamentals of basic science among students really strong, while a strong partnership between industry and academia was equally important.

Noting that Chandigarh has unmatched reputation as one of the best destinations for higher education in the country with best GER, highest concentration of Higher education institutions per square metre of area, Institutions of National Importance and students from all parts of the country and all across globe, Sh Dharampal Singh (IAS), Hon'ble Advisor to UT Administrator, Chandigarh called for collaborations among the best institutions in the tricity, saying that it would bring the best for all and can help achieve Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam in real sense. S. Satnam Singh Sandhu, Chancellor, Chandigarh University said that Internationalisation of Education will immensely help Indian students with the global exposure and the IFDP organised by the Varsity is a step in line with the vision of the Honourable Prime Minister.

Asserting that very few countries in the world have the capability, skills and opportunities like India, Mr Freddy Svane, Danish Ambassador to India said that what India has achieved in 75 years of its independence is truly outstanding and deserves appreciation.

"There are 1 billion people below the age of 32 years in India, so this nation has huge potential and the new education policy launched by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi will play an important role in this direction," he added.

On the inaugural day, elaborate discussions were held by the experts on Ideal model of teacher education in Indian conditions, CO2 fixation, Pandemics, Business Resilience, Sustainability, Joint research Proposals with International Organisations and Project Proposal writing, Theatre and Drama, Business Research & Decision Making Leadership in the Global Context Influencing the Changing Workplace and many other topics. 

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