– Governor calls for facilitating Exchange of Semester, Internship, Faculty and Student Exchange
– Governor Bais, US Consul Gen address meeting of Senior Leaders of U.S. Universities and Maharashtra
Mumbai :- The Governor of Maharashtra and Chancellor of State universities Ramesh Bais addressed the senior leaders of 14 U.S. universities and leaders of universities in Maharashtra to explore the possibility of facilitating semester exchange, internship programs, research, curriculum development, online learning, faculty and student exchanges with universities in Maharashtra.
The U.S. Consulate General, Mumbai supported IIE to organize a roundtable discussion between the U.S. universities delegation and leaders of Maharashtra state’s public universities at Raj Bhavan on February 29, 2024.
U.S. Consul General Mike Hankey provided U.S. government perspective on collaborative priorities to guide potential programs between the U.S. and Indian institutions.
In addition, the roundtable was attended by Vikas Chandra Rastogi, Principal Secretary Higher and Technical Education, Government of Maharashtra; Sita Raiter, Deputy Cultural Attache, U.S. Consulate General in Mumbai; Jason Czyz, Co-President, IIE; and Vivek Mansukhani, Director IIE India office among others.
Stating that the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 launched by India and being implemented in Maharashtra from the forthcoming academic session seeks to promote internationalization of higher education, Governor Bais said NEP provides for credit recognition and credit transfer, establishment of campuses of Indian universities in other countries and opening of campuses by foreign Higher Educational Institutions in India.
Noting that NEP 2020 aims to improve the Gross Enrollment Education from the present 26 per cent to 50 per cent by 2035, the Governor said considering the vast geography and the profile of the people of Maharashtra, distance and open learning will be the best option to reach out to the majority of students. He said that a majority of India’s youth will be happy to receive skilling, skill upgradation and re-skilling support from the universities in the U.S. He remarked that skilling will be an important area where India will welcome collaboration with universities in the U.S.
The Governor said India has had a top educational system in the past. He said India remains a repository of the ancient knowledge of the Vedas, Upanishads, Yogas, Jurisprudence and many other subjects. The Governor said university level collaboration will help U.S. universities to learn about India’s work in the areas of Preventive Healthcare, Yoga, Ayurveda, Astrology, Astronomy, Vedic Mathematics and so on.
Speaking on the occasion, U.S. Consul General Mike Hankey said the U.S. education system offers several advantages to the students, including professional workspace experience. He said 2.7 lakh Indian students are already pursuing higher education in various universities in the United States and that Mumbai alone issued 90,000 student visas. Consul General Hankey said he would be happy to see more U.S. students coming to Maharashtra.
Salma Ghanem, DePaul University; Stephanie Doscher, Florida International University; Ranjan Mukherjee, Michigan State University; Jennie Akune, University of California, Berkeley; Rajiv Mohan, University of Missouri; Michael Pelletier, University of Houston; Malisa Lee, University of California, Davis; Jeffrey Simpson, Oklahoma State University; Wendy Lin-Cook, Montclair State University; Mohini Mukherjee, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey; Jeet Joshee, California State University, Long Beach were among those present.
Prof Suresh Gosavi, Vice Chancellor, Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU); Prof. Sanjeev Sonawane, Vice Chancellor, Yashwantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open University (YCMOU); Prof. Apoorva Palkar, Vice Chancellor, Maharashtra State Skills University; Prof Ajay Bhamre, Pro Vice Chancellor, University of Mumbai; Prof Ruby Ojha, Pro Vice Chancellor, Shreemati Nathibai Damodar Thackersey (SNDT) Women’s University were among those present.
