K'taka govt partners with British Council to bolster bilateral cooperation in higher edu

The Karnataka government and the British Council on Thursday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to further bilateral cooperation in higher education. The MoU will facilitate collaborative and mutually beneficial programmes in the state and contribute to increased research and social linkages in the field of Higher Education between the two entities, an official release from the CMO said.

It said the MoU between British Council and Karnataka State Council for Higher Education is aimed at deeper collaboration between the state and the UK to achieve the outcomes envisioned through the New Education Policy of the Centre. The release further said student mobility and faculty exchange across higher education institutions (HEIs) in Karnataka and the UK is a key priority of the MoU to enhance research and support internationalisation of HEIs.

The two entities will work closely to strengthen Karnataka's higher education academic landscape through systemic initiatives such as leadership development for faculty and education and research partnerships between institutions of the state and the UK, it added. The MoU was signed in the presence of Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa, UK Secretary of State for foreign and development affairs Dominic Raab, Deputy Chief Minister C N Ashwath Narayan among others.

The two governments are signing a first-of-its-kind three years MoU involving collaboration on leadership development in higher education institutions, Yediyurappa said. Pointing out that Karnataka's Global Innovation Alliance (GIA) initiative for innovation partnerships with countries across the globe has contributed to the state's global image as the leading tech hub, he said UK has been a very important GIA partner for Karnataka and 38 per cent of UK investment into India in 2017-18 came into Karnataka.

The government's Urban Development department has collaborated with the UK through the Climate Resilient Cities for Shared Prosperity Urban Development programme, he said. This will deliver a transformational project on design and delivery of Multimodal Transport Hubs in Bengaluru, an Integrated Transport Authority and Transport Observatory in partnership with UK Catapults.

Barbara Wickham OBE, Director India of British Council, said the MoU is a further step in realising the mutual vision of a deep, strong India-UK education relationship while supporting the knowledge ambitions laid out in India's National Education Policy 2020. Through this MoU, we look forward to creating more education and employment opportunities for aspiring students of Karnataka as well as supporting the state's vision for stronger higher education systems, she added.

Director South India of British Council, Janaka Pushpanathan said employability and upskilling is a focus area for governments across the world and we are confident that the co-developed programmes as part of the MoU will help drive the desired results for both Karnataka and the UK in these areas.