Edu-leaders

The Penn State University hosted the US-India Higher Education Research Conference at its campus on October 10-11, 2011. The aim of the conference was to create a network of scholars and policy makers that can serve as a think-tank for discussing opportunities and disputes associated with higher education in India.

The two-day conference was inaugurated by Michael Adewumi, Vice Provost for Global Programmes and leader of the Global Engagement Network strategy. It had participation from high-level delegation of invited administrators and researchers from India and the US.

The conference also brought to light the obstacles in the Indian system of education. Some of them were: minimal access to quality education that will provide students with the credentials to compete in a global economy, lack of quality faculty, students graduating without basic soft skills, India’s low GER (19%) and lack of flexibility and freedom of choice in the country’s education system.

The solutions discussed at the conference included: integration of liberal arts into the curriculum to enhance the overall quality of higher education and produce well-rounded and marketable employees, raising the student-teacher ratio and development of a system that allows for more focus on learning rather than exams and offer more flexibility to the students.

“We expect that this conference will contribute to establishing and strengthening relationships between academic communities in the US and India, and of course with Penn State,” said Adewumi.

Other eminent people such as Sam Pitroda, Advisor to the Prime Minister of India, and Dr Narendra Jadhav, Member of the Planning Commission of Higher Education in India were also present at the conference. Pitroda said, “It’s time to question the model of education and we hope through these kinds of dialogues with Penn State, we can learn about new programmes that will create a good situation for everyone.”

This conference was organised by the Faculty Implementation Team of Penn State’s Global Engagement Network with special focus on India. It was primarily led by Arvind Rangaswamy, Senior Dean of Faculty and Research in the Smeal College of Business.

Adewumi explained that as an institution, Penn State must set out on the course towards global leadership in scholarship and international engagements through partnership. The conference’s presentations and discussion sessions are expected to serve as a catalyst for the synergistic and collaborative relationship the US and India hope to cultivate in the coming years.