Even though lawmakers in India don’t seem likely to pass any laws that would enable foreign universities to set up shop in India anytime soon, opportunities still abound for
institutions of higher learning here in the United States to collaborate with their Indian counterparts and to engage and recruit students in India as well.
That’s the consensus being reached by a growing number of higher education leaders here in the United States as the governments of both nations seek to strengthen their strategic ties and make post-secondary degrees a more common feature among their respective populaces by 2020.
However, in seeking Indian institutions of higher learning with which to partner, experts warn that caution must be exercised. Just because an Indian college or university has achieved accreditation or some other stamp of approval doesn’t necessarily mean that quality or infrastructure is there, specialists say.
Such are some of the pros and cons being articulated as of late by higher education leaders who’ve recently visited India and experts who regularly facilitate higher education partnerships between institutions in India and in the United States.
The points were made repeatedly during a series of presentations on higher education in India in February in Washington, D.C. at the annual conference of the Association of International Education Administrators.
“There is clearly a huge fascination for American and foreign education among Indians,” said Rahul Choudaha, an Indian higher education expert at World Education Services, a New York-based “international education intelligence” firm.
