To consolidate knowledge Cooperation with India, the United States (US) state department has developed an educational programme in line with India’s New Education Policy( NEP). The programme will produce a new pathway for Indian scholars to pursue a one-time professional master’s degree with an artificial specialisation in American universities, as reported by the HT.
The courses are confined to wisdom, technology, engineering, and calculation (STEM) disciplines. They will begin in the fall semester of 2024. 20 American and over 15 Indian universities are in discussion about how to take advantage of the action, with the State Department acting as a facilitator. Once the courses are complete, scholars can stay in the US for over three times, as per being and applicable visa rules, to gain work experience in assiduity and repay student loans.
Akhilesh Lakhtakia, a Jefferson Science Fellow at the State Department's South and Central Asia (SCA) office who was temporarily brought in by the US government from his academic position as a professor of engineering wisdom and mechanics at Penn State University to study India's NEP and designed the programme. His accreditation was simple — come up with a programme salutary to the US and Indian governments, as well as US universities and Indian students.
Lakhtakia during an interview informed that he felt the NEP was a break from the conventional Indian educational system and seemed to originate from the pedagogical models of American colleges. “ What was proposed was veritably important to my relish. It's pupil-centered, flexible, multidisciplinary, futuristic, and international. However, it'll simply revolutionise academy and advanced education, If this can be enforced. The State Department brought me in to understand how, in line with NEP, the two countries can work together," Lakhtakia said
"The objective was to create a win-win, but in my mind, my client was the Indian student, ” said Lakhtakia who studied electronics engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology( IIT)- Banaras Hindu University before moving to the US in 1980," he added.
The emphasis on knowledge cooperation in the wider bilateral relationship helped. During Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s state visit to the US, his first engagement was in Washington at the National Science Foundation with First Lady Jill Biden, with students and college administrators present.
The working group on education and skill training was established by Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar and Secretary of State Antony J Blinken in April 2022. The group has previously convened and established four panels, two of which will be led by India and two by the US. The committee for US-India higher education cooperation, which is led by Lakhtakia on the American side, is one of the organizations.
