Date: May 11, 2018
Dr. Bertrand de Hartingh, Counsellor for Cooperation and Cultural Affairs and Country Director of Institut Français, New Delhi along with a team of six officials visited the North-Eastern Hill University on May 11 morning to propose a new partnership between India and France with regards to higher education.
The alumnus of France’s most prestigious university ENS Ulm – alma mater of many Nobel laureates such as JeanPaul Sartre, spoke at length about how Indian students can benefit from Indo-French partnership.
He spoke of France’s commitment to India and the priority of this commitment which lies in education, research and innovation. “It’s no better place for us than NEHU to underline that,” he informed the gathering comprising of Prof. S.K. Srivastava, Vice-Chancellor, NEHU, Prof. Henry Lamin, Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Dr. J.N. Nayak, Registrar, Deans of various schools and officials of the university.
“We have too few Indian students in France. Too few academic and scientific partnerships but we are trying very hard to change the landscape,” he added. “Last year 5164 Indian students comprising PhD students got to go to France which is a tiny number but which is twice the figure three years ago.
“Our target is very simple we would like to have around or more than 10,000 Indian students whether MA, PhD by 2020. Do keep in mind that as of today there are almost 30,000 Chinese students in France and we don’t see no reason why we have 30,000 Chinese students and only 5000 Indian students. We would like to correct the balance by increasing the number of Indian students. And the way that is possible is to have a sound partnership between schools, between departments between faculties and universities.”
Dr. Hartingh went on to list the main channels of the French system. Firstly, they don’t differentiate between universities and colleges. They teach in French and English. They are either totally free including for Indian students or they are charging some fees especially if they are teaching in English. They have elite universities where entry is possible by passing a very competitive exam. “Most of these elite universities have very good master degrees in conjunction with universities,” he informed.
“We are focussing on India because India is an extremely large country. We are focussing on establishing networks or clusters of partners within France and in India,” Dr. Hartingh said.
He also listed six main topics of importance which are IT and Mathematics, Transformation of natural products which include chemistry, Aerospace and Research, Agriculture, Agro business food processing, Renewable energy and urban planning.
“In addition to that, we have specific programme on mobility and specifically electrical mobility where we would like to solve the issue of global warming and climate change. We need to focus on the way citizens inside and outside cities will travel by looking towards renewable energy. We do believe that France and India can develop a solution that will benefit all mankind.”
“We do not look at North East as a remote corner of India. What we would like to develop now is your own knowledge, your student’s own knowledge of what France and India could achieve together,” Dr. Hartingh said.
He further informed of a calendar of events lined up and of several agreements signed between India and France during the French President’s visit to the country recently. An MoU on ‘mutual recognition of educational qualifications’ was signed between India and France, in the first high-level India-France Knowledge Summit 2018.
Apart from MoU on Mutual Recognition of Academic Qualifications between India and France, 15 MoUs between various institutions of India and France in the areas of Higher Education, Research, Innovation, Faculty exchange, Scientific Cooperation were exchanged.
Dr. Hartingh informed that next week there will be a meeting of the Indo-French Centre for Advance Research in France, by June end there will be the first Indo-French joint committee for Science and Technology followed by a joint working with MHRD early or mid-September.
The calendar for 2019 will see the second edition of the knowledge summit in France, the second meeting of the joint committee for science and technology, the second joint working group on higher education and the government of India partnership.
Dr. Hartingh hoped that NEHU will send a delegation to these events and informed that a network of agencies in Kolkata and New Delhi is in place to assist. In fact, Dr. Hartingh said that a team from Kolkata and New Delhi will come to Shillong as often as possible to assist the students on how to pursue studies in France.
Dr. Hartingh also proposed a space in NEHU which could be manned by two officials chosen by NEHU and trained by the French team. This space could be a place where students can find information on how to study in France, what investments are needed for France to India and vice versa, cultural activities and everything relating to France. “If VC is open to this idea then we can open this centre very soon at NEHU,” Dr. Hartingh added.
Dr. Hartingh further informed of a scholarship for Indian students amounting to one million euros every year. “This scholarship could be for food scholarship, intern scholarship, exchange scholarship, PhD scholarship and what we call French government social security scholarship which gives the foreign student the status of being a French government recognised student which allows for low tuition fees, special access to housing and so on and so forth.”
Dr. Hartingh concluded his talk with a suggestion for students coming to France. “You will gain a huge advantage if you study in French. Students who have a proper knowledge of French and is admitted to a government recognised French programme won’t have to pay tuition fees because we will waive it (50,000 euros which is the average cost in France).”
He hoped that NEHU could start French courses at curricular level in the beginning which could then be included in the curricula especially in all six fields mentioned because it could benefit in the long term with France.
Appreciating Dr. Hartingh’s suggestion, Prof. Srivastava said NEHU is thinking of coming up with some kind of basic certificate courses in foreign languages which could be of 6 months duration and which could be held in the afternoon or evening.
Earlier, Dr. Nayak gave a brief presentation on NEHU followed by a short account of the thrust areas of the different schools of the University by each of the Deans present.
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