India, China Talk Education, Recognising Degrees

India and China are discussing an agreement on mutual recognition of degrees and exchange of faculty, an official statement said on Wednesday as education officials from the two countries met for the first time under a new bilateral mechanism.

Top officials from the educational ministries of India and China also discussed promoting “educational exchanges” between the two countries.

A discussion on “faculty exchanges” is an indication that New Delhi and Beijing could exchange professors under a formal programme.

“Discussion was also held on exploring the possibility of signing an agreement on mutual recognition of qualifications as well as promoting greater student exchange,” a statement from the Indian embassy said here on Wednesday.

The statement was released after the first “Joint Working Group meeting on Education between India and China” was held in Beijing on Wednesday.

“Both sides discussed various aspects of respective educational systems as well as explored areas of cooperation,” the statement said.

“Both sides agreed to undertake activities such as school students’ exchanges, organise seminar on education in China and other collaborative activities as part of the celebrations of the 70th Anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations between India and China,” it added.

The Indian and Chinese officials discussed “greater mobility of students to study in each other’s countries”.

Currently, more than 23000 Indian students are studying in China while the number of Chinese students studying in India is a modest 300.

Among the Indian students in China, more than 21000 Indian students are enrolled in medical courses but grapple with problems like lack of quality education and misinformation.

At the meeting, the Indian side made presentation on the Scheme for Promotion of Academic and Research Collaboration, Global Initiative of Academic Networks, Study Webs of Active Learning for Young Aspiring Minds and Study in India programme.

China has some of the top academic institutes in the world.

As many as 12 Chinese academic institutions were in the global top 100 of QS World University Rankings 2020, released by Quacquarelli Symonds, a higher education analyst firm in June this year.

Beijing’s Tsinghua University was China’s highest-ranked university in the list, rising from last year’s 17th to 16th after sustained improvements in research output. Peking University, also in Beijing, rose by eight places to 22nd globally.

According to the QS, this year’s rankings highlight a sustained improvement throughout the Chinese system. Furthermore, Chinese research impact continues to improve.

Among 42 ranked universities in Chinese Mainland, 32 have improved their performance for QS’s ‘citations per faculty’ indicator.

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Source: Hindustan Times

Image Courtesy: Hindustan Times

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