Indo-French institutional interaction on higher education kicks off French Edu Week

This was followed by the fair the next day, where more then 100 institutes participated.

French management institutes like ESSEC Business School, Grenoble Graduate School of Business, Ecole Suprieure de Commerce de Clermont, IAE Aix Graduate School of Management, Groupe Ecole Suprieure de Commerce Dijon-Bourgogne Euromed Marseille Ecole de Management, ESC Lille, CERAM and Ecole Suprieure des Sciences Commerciales dAngers are also part of the Edu France to networking and better understand the Indian system. Institutes like ESSEC -- that already have a tie-up with leading IIMs -- are looking for more from this Edu Week.

Speaking to MBAUniverse.com Bruno Heraud, director of international recruitment, ESSEC, We are looking to network with Indian counterparts, and to understand Indian systems for higher education much better and make the most out of it.

At the symposium, there were panel discussions, involving luminaries from the academic world (from both India and France). The speakers included Andre Siganos (director-general, Edu France Paris), Desiraju (joint secretary, Ministry of HRD), Dominique Girard (Ambassador of France to India), Moolchand Sharma (vice chairman, UGC), Dr. Dayanand Dogankar (general secretary, Association of Indian Universities), M Singaravelou (vice-chancellor, Bodeaux 3 University and president of CPU), Dr. R.A. Yadav (vice chairman, AICTE), Prashad Krishna (convenor, NBA), Philippe Martineau (attache for university and scientific cooperation, French Embassy), Francois Dupont (Thales Group), Vincent Gorry (Societe Safran) and Arthur Soucemarriandin (Gernoble University).

The French were clearly enthused about Indian higher education. Director-general of Edu France, Andre Siganos, said, Our government is very liberal. Dialogue is necessary to understand each others landscapes and we have lots of opportunities to have straight and rigorous dialogue.

As the discussions were targeted to enhance academic mobility between France and India, issues stemming from unprecedented globalization trends in higher education came up on the discussion table. Here are a few topics that held center stage: policies of internationalization in higher education in India with respect to foreign collaborations and recognition of foreign degrees; current rules for entering India in the higher education sectors for double-degree exchanges; twinning; co-directed doctorates, future developments expected; the Charte de qualite for welcoming foreign students in France; and the scholarships provided by the French government to Indian students.

Philippe Martineau, attach for university and scientific cooperation, French Embassy, said, In order to make cooperation between India and France smoother and easier, the university system, on both sides, needs to show proximity. For this we need to encourage dialogue and linkages between universities of higher education in three areas: student exchange, exchange of faculties and research programs.

He added that the French government has to ensure that there will be a 50% increase in the number of scholarship for Indian students wanting to study in France.

Dayanand Dogankar, general secretary, AIU, revealed that business management education was the top favorite in the Indian higher studies landscape.

Allowing internationalization in higher education is important but with quality control in place. As Desiraju, joint secretary, Ministry of HRD, explained: This is an area in which we believe the government should not enter. We do allow universities abroad to open campuses here but only those institutes who are accredited, offer quality education and maintain international standards will be admitted.

Collaboration is important both ways but it should be of high quality, otherwise we are creating just a market felt UGCs Moolchand Sharma, adding that there are many other challenges in the way of collaboration besides quality and access: There are five major challenges: relevance, quality and access, governance and management, issue and funding. Partnership is necessary to meet these challenges We are very sure that internationalization of higher education will have mutual benefits.