India is the Most Important Research Collaborator with UK: Mr. Jo Johnson
Pune, 15th April 2022: “NEP 2020” in India and “Higher Education Research Act” in UK have many similarities. Both are designed to make massive reforms in the current education system. Implementation of such policies requires a stable government and consistent interest in the execution of the policy in the long run to see the results. In India the current leadership has a clear vision and a strong support from the Prime Minister’s Office for executing the reforms, said Mr. Joe Johnson, Former Minister of State for Universities, Science, Research & Innovation, UK. Chairman, Access Creative. Senior Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School. President’s Professorial Fellow at King’s College, London.
Mr. Jo Johnson was in conversation with Dr. Vidya Yeravdekar, Pro Chancellor Symbiosis International
University which was a “Special Session” in the “SIU-AIU Conference” on “Internationalization of Higher Education” (Virtual). The theme of this year’s conference is “Interregional Cooperation for Effective Internationalization of Higher Education”. The said conference is scheduled from 14th April to 16th April 2022.
During the conversation Mr. Johnson spoke about the India- UK Partnership Roadmap 2030. Mr. Johnson said, India is the most important Research Collaborator with the UK. India is at number two after the USA in the Research Collaborators list of the UK. We are promoting more and more partnerships & collaborations with India. Till now we have an impactful research outcome with India as compared to China. A lot more to invest in this relationship, a comprehensive knowledge partnership Mr. Johnson added further.
Talking about the Student mobility from India to UK Mr. Johnson said, the number of Indian students coming to UK for education has declined due to the withdrawal of “Post Study Work” Visa but the number has again gone up in the last three years once it is reintroduced by the UK government. Talking about Professional Mobility Mr. Johnson said that we are working on the recognition of Indian Degrees in the UK Job Market and I am optimistic about the progress in this regard.
During this special session for IHE 2022, Mr. Jo Johnson and Dr. Vidya Yeravdekar discussed a range of issues in higher education between India and the UK including the UK’s transition from a funding system to a market regulation system in the realm of higher education, the potential for bilateral India-UK collaborations to create impactful research, the future of mutual recognition agreements, the existence of barriers to student mobility and solutions, as well as books authored by him.
