Times Higher Education, Narendra Modi visit highlights opportunities for the higher education sector
Today marks the celebration of India’s Diwali, the ‘festival of lights’, which is a celebration of light over darkness, knowledge over ignorance, good over evil and hope over despair. It takes place during the darkest new moon night in the Hindu month of Kartika after the summer harvest.
As such, there is no better day to welcome Indian Prime Minister Modi for the first time in over 10 years. India is increasingly becoming a very powerful player in the global landscape, not unnoticed by various nations. Modi has made numerous official visits abroad over the past months, as India becomes a significant voice in tackling global challenges, pushing towards technological advances and driving better education and employability.
The UK and India have launched various programmes demonstrating the importance of their relationship, such as the Newton Bhabha Fund, the UK Indian Education and Research Initiative and Generation UK-India. We will surely see these relationships increase as time goes by. At present, the article points out, ‘Britain outranks nearly every country in the world in its investment in India, and Indians invest more in Britain than in the rest of the EU combined. The same applies to higher education: the value of UK-India research has grown from less than £1 million in 2008 to over £200 million today’. However these figures cannot be taken for granted as global competition for partnerships heighten, and the UK must ensure new policies – such as immigration policies – do not negatively impact a very prosperous and enduring relationship.