In June, I was fortunate enough to have been invited to visit India as part of Prime Minister John Key’s trade delegation.
Though my stay was short, it left me with a lasting impression of what an amazing country India is – a society where ancient traditions mix with the best of modern technology to create an energetic and diverse culture, which is fascinating to observe.
I was left in no doubt that India is a burgeoning economic superpower, and New Zealand would be wise to focus on building our business relationships.
Along with Derrick McCormack, the Chair of Universities New Zealand (and Vice-Chancellor, AUT University) and Edwige Fava, President of the New Zealand Association of Private Education Providers, I was part of a group of three representing the New Zealand tertiary education sector, and attended as the representative of New Zealand’s Institutes of Technology and Polytechnics.
We spent three days in India, visiting New Delhi and Mumbai, as part of a larger trade contingent of 75 persons.
During our time there, we met with a range of representatives and officials from the education sector. It quickly became very clear to us that the Indian education sector is in the midst of a period of massive expansion as institutions attempt to keep up with the surge in demand for education and skills training.
Ambitious plan
The scale of education and skills development provision that is needed in India is daunting. This was impressed on me during a meeting with the National Skills Development Corporation, a Public Private Partnership between Government and Industry, which had been established with the objective of upskilling 150 million Indians by 2020, or an astonishing 46,000 people per day.
The demand for education and skills to support the Indian economy and to improve social wellbeing outcomes gives rise to immense opportunities.
The need is for Indians to have access to high quality education at home, and for those students who wish to experience the world, as many young people do, also abroad. At Unitec, India is already our second largest source of international students and it seems very likely that student numbers will rise in the future.
It was clear that to maintain and grow New Zealand’s export education market, we must ensure that we focus on recruiting students into quality programmes of study with reputable education providers.
However, it is also imperative that there is reciprocity in our relationship with India. I am particularly excited about the opportunities I saw in India for educators to develop sustainable and collaborative relationships that assist Indian institutions to develop their own capabilities.
Building capacity
One of the challenges that were shared with us by both government officials and by the companies we met with was over the ‘employability’ of graduates from Indian institutions. There is already interest in India in what the New Zealand education sector has to offer to help build capability in India, and I was surprised by the number of times I was sought out by business representatives during the visit to discuss the possibility of assisting their curriculum development and training requirements.
Much of the immediate demand in India comes from employers who need their staff upskilled to meet the needs of an economy that is predicted to soon become the world’s fastest growing.
Advice and assistance with course content from New Zealand Polytechnics and Institutes of Technology, which offer practical vocational education could prove very useful to Indian Institutions in the process of setting up or expanding their curriculum.
Strengthening links
Although the spotlight was very much stolen by former Black Cap Stephen Fleming, which was unsurprising given the nation’s love of cricket, I do feel that our visit was immensely valuable.
Our education delegation came away from the trip with a range of contacts and we will be following up with colleagues from across the tertiary sector about how we could establish closer links with India in the future.
I can see many mutual benefits for both New Zealand and India from establishing a close working relationship, which enables young people to have access to high quality education opportunities in both countries.
The Indian media coverage of our visit was extensive and generated a great deal of goodwill towards New Zealand, and the warmth with which we were welcomed was truly memorable.
Dr Rick Ede is the Chief Executive of Unitec, New Zealand’s largest Institute of Technology. The above is exclusive to Indian Newslink ©
