New Delhi India January 8 ANI Internationalization of higher education is of utmost importance in today's globalized world as it promotes the production of knowledge and its dissemination worldwide, leading to enhanced international academic credibility. It is a process by which knowledge produced in one country is shared with the world in many ways.
It could be based on cross-border student flow, faculty exchange, international collaboration in research, partnerships, semester exchange, joint dual degrees, and training programmes. Internationalization promotes cultural exchange and helps in the internationalization of course curriculum, practices, and outcomes.
It positively impacts all stakeholders of the education system, i.e. Students, faculty, staff, and academic leaders aid in enhancing the learning environment. It helps in producing global citizens who are knowledgeable and cross-culturally sensitive.
In India, the Internationalization of Higher Education has received its due importance for the first time in the newly formulated National Education Policy 2020, which aims to promote Internationalization by bringing some structural policy reforms.
The policy advocates horizontal and vertical linkage of Indian universities with foreign educational institutions FEIs and promotes integration in terms of curriculum design, exchange of faculty, students, and research so that India can emerge as a popular destination for international students and a knowledge economy.
At the same time, the policy focuses on the promotion of Indian value-based education system through the export of education, by opening campuses of Indian universities abroad to promote cultural heritage, ancient knowledge system, Indian system of medicine like Ayurveda, Naturopathy, Yoga, etc.
The policy is to increase the number of inbound students from other countries to India, and to take measures to retrain outbound students in India by providing affordable quality education at home and to save a large amount of foreign exchange for our country.
The setting up of campuses of foreign universities in India will attract foreign students from neighbouring countries to India, since India would be a nearer destination and the cost of living in India is comparatively less than in other developed countries.
There are many research partnerships between Indian and foreign universities that could help in improving the quality of higher education in our universities by establishing campuses of foreign universities in India.
The credits earned by students from reputed foreign universities can now be transferred to Indian universities. International offices in Indian universities will be set up to provide a seamless international experience for foreign students in our universities to promote the internationalization of higher education in India.
The sole purpose of the purpose is to promote India as a global study destination, providing premium education at affordable prices. Some of the major reforms recommended in the NEP for Internationalization of Higher Education are given below -
Invitations to selected universities i.e. There are 100 foreign universities in India that are among the top 100 to operate in the country. The most important recommendation is to create a legislative provision for facilitating the entry of such universities with the regulatory framework on governance and content norms on par with other autonomous institutions in India.
Encouraging high-performing Indian universities to set up campuses in other countries.
Permitting credits to transfer credits as per the requirements of each HEI for the award of dual degrees. Research collaboration and student exchanges between Indian institutions and global institutions will be promoted through special efforts.
Establishing an International Students Office at each HEI for hosting foreign students, facilitating research teaching collaborations and faculty exchanges with high-quality foreign institutions, and signing MoUs with foreign countries for mutual benefit, and setting up of an International Students Office at each HEI for hosting foreign students.
Despite the fact that the policy initiatives of the government are well-grounded, its implementation in ''letter and spirit is only possible with concerted efforts by all stakeholders including the UGC, AICTE, AIU, CII, FICCI, and higher education institutions.