Indian education set to go places

BANGALORE: Mandarin as a second language. Multi-ethnic campuses. Married couples on campus. Wired classrooms. Higher education outsourced.
Sounds foreign? Not quite.
As the world prepares for a scenario where higher education is increasingly a commodity — thrown open for international participation under the WTO regime from January 2005, local institutions are going global.
Tie-ups with foreign universities and governments, campuses in foreign countries, student-exchange programmes are all set to hit a feverish pitch.
At the Dayananda Sagar Educational Institutions in Bangalore, talks have already been completed to induct 500 Chinese students from the Hunan province for various courses from the next academic year.
The Chinese students will take up programmes offered by the institution in a tie-up with the University of Wales.
The institution is also courting tie-ups with Iran and Iraq to service the higher education needs of the two trouble-torn countries.
International quality infrastructure, English-based education and low costs compared to the West are seen as the key to selling Indian education abroad.
"In January 2005 when WTO provisions come into force the iron gates of education are going to be opened. We are offering our services to countries in a mutually beneficial way," says vice-chairman of the Sagar group Dr Premchandra Sagar.
Offering Mandarin lessons through Chinese instructors is part of the give and take.
China is seen as a key country for the education business since it is deficient in English-based education. "They are not going to wait for the situation to improve, they want to use the resources wherever available," says Sagar. Bangalore is being seen as a city that is quite international, English speaking and with a strong IT culture — much like the changing globe — and this has attracted the Chinese.
Part of the cost of education will reportedly be borne by the local Chinese government.
At the Manipal Academy of Higher Education, a deemed university, already attracting students from over 49 countries, plans are afoot to create more overseas campuses and attract more students from Africa and other Asian countries.
"Many players will come both from India and abroad into the education field post 2005. Market forces will rule. India can be a key education destination for people from Africa and South-East Asia, if the government and institutions work together," says chairman of Manipal Education and Health Group Dr Ramdas Pai.
MAHE with its head start in education is already on par with institutions around the world in terms of teaching and curriculum and is geared to meet the coming challenges, he says.
The deemed university already has programmes in Dubai and Nepal and is looking to expand to Malaysia and the US.
Sadly, very few institutions are really off the block and geared to meet the new scenario. Most are still caught in traumatising students, bickering over fees and seats.