Cutting edge higher education practices and the established research capability of Scotland’s top universities may well find their way into India’s languishing tertiary education sector. Kimberley Daly, senior international business executive, education, of the Scottish Development International (SDI) was recently in Delhi gathering information on India’s educational needs and challenges, to investigate the prospects of SDI working with Indian counterparts. “At this early stage it is only possible to shortlist synergies and areas for collaboration. First impressions indicate we could help in developing vocational education and training systems, and initiate partnerships in curriculum development and training of teacher trainers to deliver degree programmes to meet the needs of industry,” says Daly.
According to her, research-driven higher education in Scotland is of excellent standard, with over 70 percent of the research departments of Scottish universities included in the top three categories (4, 5 or 5*) in the UK’s RAE (research assessment exercise). “Scot-land’s higher education institutions continually excel on the world stage in terms of teaching quality and research performance. They are best known for research expertise in the life sciences, medicine, biotechnology, informatics, energy, nanotechnology and environ-mental sciences. In India, we see a big opportunity in sectors like energy, oil exploration, healthcare, hospitality and soft skills training for making students industry ready,” says Daly who began her career as an education networks manager at the British Council Scotland, spent five years as a policy adviser in the higher education & science division of the Scottish Executive before signing up with SDI.
During her recent visit, Daly also conferred with leaders of business and industry including promoter-proprietors of small and medium sized enterprises. “The practice of research pooling was initiated in Scotland in 2004, offering corporates and industry opportunities to pool resources for collaborative research to strengthen the critical mass of Scotland’s research base, and achieve better value from public investment in research. This initiative has been very successful and currently there are eight successful research pools in Scotland in the areas of mathematics, chemistry, physics, economics and life sciences with two more under formation,” reveals Daly.
A useful service, SDI could offer Indian higher education is in development of vocational education and training curriculums based on the highly successful Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF), which maps the equivalences of all qualifications from school to postgra-duate level within the Scottish system, says Daly. “This makes it easier for individuals to move through the system via differing progression routes, and for employers nationally and internationally to understand the value — in terms of credits — of various education qualifications.”
For students opting for higher studies, there’s the option to work in Scotland for upto two years. “We hope to facilitate active research and knowledge transfer networks through institutional partnerships. Simultane-ously SDI facilitates joint development programmes for industry and students where there is a need for comple-mentary expertise,” explains Daly.
Autar Nehru (Delhi)