V. 13 I. 11 – Nov 2013 – Canada India Education Council

UGC Regulations on Promotion and Maintenance of Standards of Academic Collaboration Between India and Foreign Educational Institutions

November 8, 2013December 13, 2013Canada India Education Council (CIEC)

Source: PwC News Alert | University Grants Commission (‘UGC‘) has notified regulations for promotion and maintenance of standards for academic collaborations between Foreign Educational Institutions (‘FEI’) and Indian Educational Institutions (‘IEI’). These regulations will be called the UGC (Promotion and Maintenance of Standards of Academic Collaborations between Indian and Foreign Educational Institutes) Regulations, 2012(‘Regulations’).

UGC Regulations nov 11, 13 – view pamphlet

The following are key highlights of the regulations:-

I. Applicability of regulations

These regulations shall apply to all FEI and IEI operating in India through collaboration and offering programmes leading to award of degree or post graduate diploma. However, these regulations shall not apply to technical institutions.

Where an IEI or FEI has existing collaborative arrangements, they will be required to comply with these regulations within a period of six months from the date of the regulations coming into force (i.e. September 21, 2013).

II. Key Conditions for collaboration

S.No.	Criteria	FEI	IEI
a.	Accreditation	It will be required to be accredited with the highest grade in home country	It will be required to be accredited by national accreditation agencies with a grade not less than B or its equivalent grade
b.	Operative arrangement	FEIs shall have operative arrangements in India through IEIs by way of collaboration
c.	Experience and infrastructure requirements	FEI means an institution duly established or incorporated in its home country and has been offering educational programmes at the graduate and higher levels in its home country in the areas or disciplines concerned	It is required to have at least five years of experience in offering degrees of post graduate diploma in India and academic infrastructure to meet the requirements set out by relevant statutory body
d.	Maintenance of standards	It will ensure that the programmes of study imparted in India are in conformity with the standards laid down by the respective statutory regulatory body	–
e.	Grievances redressal	–	It will be responsible to address all the grievances of students including legal matters of collaboration

(*However, in case the IEI is maintained by central government or commission or a state Government, it shall not be required to comply with accreditation and experience conditions as mentioned in point 1 and 4 above).

III. Common conditions

The following additional conditions are required to be adhered under collaborative arrangement between an IEI and FEI:

Academic requirements including details of the programme to be made public and to be displayed on the IEIs websites

No programme of study and/or research to be offered which is against national security and territorial integrity of India

Foreign exchange transactions to abide with the relevant regulations, norms, notifications and instructions issued by the Reserve Bank of India from time to time

Educational institution to also abide by any other conditions specified by the Government of India or Statutory Bodies from time to time

IV. Procedure for collaboration

The collaboration between FEI and IEI is required to be a written memorandum of understanding (‘MOU‘) subject to following conditions:

Before entering into collaboration, it is mandatory to seek prior approval of the UGC
Approval of UGC is also required on the draft MOU
MOU signed by both the parties is required to be forwarded to UGC
MOU signed by both the parties is required to be uploaded on their websites

V. Procedure for Approval

The following is the procedure for approval:

FEI and IEI cannot enter into a franchise arrangement nor an IEI can undertake educational activity in India by receiving license, permission etc for a consideration from an FEI.

For ease of reference, please find attached the UGC regulations.

uSask Reports Progress in Cost-Saving Plan

November 8, 2013November 8, 2013Canada India Education Council (CIEC)

Source: uSask News Release | Saskatoon – Members of the University of Saskatchewan campus community attended a financial town hall today to hear about progress towards the university’s goal of financial sustainability by 2016.

The focus was on TransformUS, an initiative underway at the university to prioritize all of its programs and services in order to invest in its most important work.

“We know these are challenging times for members of our campus community – our faculty, our staff and our students – as we wait to learn the outcomes of TransformUS,” said Provost and Vice-President Academic Brett Fairbairn.

“We are doing this for a reason and we want to take the time to do this right. We are confident the changes we undertake will strengthen us as one of Canada’s top universities and place us in a financial situation where we are free to capitalize on opportunities, invest in our priorities and excel in our research and learning mandates.”

The U of S will be releasing two TransformUS reports on December 9, 2013 – one will outline recommended resource changes to academic programs and the other to administrative services. These recommendations will be presented to President Ilene Busch-Vishniac by two independent internal task forces, and are the first steps in deciding on how resources are allocated to programs and services at the university.

The goal of TransformUS is to reduce the operating budget by $20-25 million per year, with up to $5 million reinvested in the highest priority programs. Decisions will be announced in May 2014.

“In addition to TransformUS, we are looking at multiple strategies to not only reduce expenses but also increase our revenue,” added Greg Fowler, vice-president finance and resources at the town hall meeting. “We are not alone in our financial challenges as a post-secondary institution, but what makes us unique is the time we have to make the best decisions to secure our long-term financial sustainability.”

Dinner Roundtable Discussion: ‘Canada-India Economic Relations: CEPA and Beyond’

November 6, 2013January 8, 2014Canada India Education Council (CIEC)

Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute (SICI) and Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce (ICCC) with support of Dr. Asha Seth, Senator, are organizing a Dinner Roundtable Discussion

on “Canada-India Economic Relations: CEPA and Beyond” which would take place in Parliament Hill (Room 237- C Centre Block), Ottawa on Tuesday November 19, 2013 from 6.30 PM to 8.30 P.M.

a) Education, skill development and vocational training

b) Innovation, science and technology, and sustainable development

c) Investment

In addition, there will be an exchange of views on:

The need for a cohesive and coordinated approach at the national level involving representatives from government, industry/private sector, and academia;
The increasingly important role of Canadian provinces and Indian states as emerging players for strengthening Canada-India partnership;
The critical role of synergistic actions by Indo-Canadians, other bridge-builders and stakeholders for building comprehensive economic partnerships

Please contact [email protected] for more information.

ICCC’s Winter Gala 2013

November 6, 2013January 8, 2014Canada India Education Council (CIEC)

Time: 6:30pm onwards
Date: Friday, November 29, 2013
Venue: Pearson Convention Centre
Address: 2638 Steeles Ave E Brampton, ON L6S 6J9 ‎

The Winter Gala – popularly known as the Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce (ICCC)’s Annual Holiday Dinner & Dance is one of the Chamber’s
marquee event is one of the most popular Indo-Canadian community event in the Greater Toronto Area. Over 600 guests attended the event in 2012. They include Chamber’s esteemed members, sponsors, friends of the community, professionals, entrepreneurs, senior representative of corporations, government officials, political leaders, and opinion makers. The program comprises a blend of theme-based entertainment,
spectacular song and dance sequences and sumptuous culinary delights.

Buy your ticket or reserve your table now, click here: Winter Gala 2013

“Saving Brains” of Kids: Grand Challenges Canada Funds Project in India and Worldwide

November 6, 2013Canada India Education Council (CIEC)

Source: Government of Canada | Grand Challenges Canada, funded by the Government of Canada, today extended a total of CDN $10.1 million (INR 60 crore) to 14 bold, creative projects aimed at improving the early brain development of kids in low-resource countries.

Seed grants of CDN $270,000 (INR 1.6 crore) each are given to seven organizations overseas — in India, Vietnam (2 grants), Bangladesh, Kenya, Zambia and Peru. And three seed grants are given to Canadian organizations: the Hospital for Sick Kids, Toronto (two grants), and the University Health Network, Toronto.

Projects in Jamaica, Colombia, Bangladesh and Indonesia are scale-up award nominees (board-approved grants up to CDN $2 million, pending successful contract negotiations).

All 14 projects will be implemented in developing countries: five in Africa, six in Asia and three in Latin America and the Caribbean.

“Impoverished brains result in impoverished countries,” says Dr. Peter A. Singer, CEO of Grand Challenges Canada. “For a wide range of sad, all-too-familiar and preventable reasons, an estimated 200 million children under 5 years old in the world’s 112 low- and middle-income countries will fail to reach their brain’s full development potential.”

“These projects illustrate well the success of our search for ‘bold ideas with big impact, pioneering new approaches worldwide to maximize the number of kids in low-resource countries who achieve and contribute to their fullest capabilities,” Dr. Singer added.

The seed fund grant in India went to designing iron-fortified biscuits to reduce maternal and child anemia. After extensive consumer research, the nutrition team led by Dr A.V. Kurpad and the project collaborators, Violet Health Inc have developed several prototypes specifically designed with the tastes and preferences of pregnant women in India,” says project leader Dr. Pratibha Dwarkanath of St John’s Research Institute, unit of CBCI Society for Medical Education.

“We estimate our solution to be more cost-effective than the iron pill, while reaching more anemic women and their children”

“After proof of concept, we anticipate a scaled trial in Karnataka within three years and reducing anemia in women and infants.”

Says Mrs. Laureen Harper, honorary chairperson of the program: “The Grand Challenges Canada Saving Brains program is designed to help millions of children in developing countries who fail to reach their full development potential due to such factors as malnutrition, infection, birth complications, or a lack of nurturing and stimulation at an early age.”

Says the Honourable Christian Paradis, Canadian Minister of International Development and Minister for La Francophonie: “Our Government, under the leadership of Prime Minister Harper, is committed to advancing the health of the world’s most vulnerable mothers, newborns and children. We are proud to partner with Grand Challenges Canada to find innovative solutions to the most pressing global health challenges. The Saving Brains program is just one example of how innovation can help improve the lives of children in their earliest days. ”

Seed grant award to India

Iron-fortified biscuits to reduce maternal and child anemia

St John’s Research Institute, Unit of CBCI Society for Medical Education, Bangalore, (India)

Anemia — a low level of red blood cells causing a body’s reduced capacity to carry oxygen — results from micronutrient deficiencies, most often iron.

India has one of the highest rates of anemia globally: over 79% of children aged 6 to 8 months and 58% of the 26 million pregnant women each year. Some 17 million of these women have access to iron pills yet 11 million do not take them for the recommended time (adherence rate: 35%). Why? The pill is big and tastes metallic.

Yet iron deficiency anemia dramatically affects the health of a pregnant woman and her unborn baby, increasing risks of death and sickness during childbirth, including haemorrhage and low-birth weight. Long-term, iron deficiency anemia delays psychomotor development and impairs cognitive development in infants, preschool and school-aged children around the world.

Moreover, researchers say, the effects of anemia are, “not likely to be corrected by subsequent iron therapy… anemic children will have impaired performance in tests of language skills, motor skills, and coordination, reportedly equivalent to a 5 to 10 point deficit in IQ.”

Part of the answer may be an iron-fortified biscuit for use by pregnant women, indistinguishable in taste from popular Indian biscuits.

Coupled with marketing, project leaders say their new biscuit is more likely to be used by previously non-adherent pregnant women, and increase iron stores in newborns, “which translates to more sustainable and protected early brain development.”

Project collaborators include Violet Health, Inc., NY, and the Indian Institute of Management, India Bangalore.

* * * * *

Background

* * * * *

Saving Brains

The Grand Challenges Canada Saving Brains Program promotes fulfillment of human capital potential by focusing on interventions that nurture brain development in the first 1,000 days of life. The goal of the Saving Brains program is to unlock the potential of children by developing and scaling up products, services and policies that protect and nurture early brain development in an equitable and sustainable manner. Almost CDN $30 million (180 crore INR) has been committed to date. In addition to projects, the Saving Brains program is investing in an authoritative quantification of the economic impact and true costs of poverty-related risk factors for cognitive and human capital development.

Grand Challenges Canada invites global, regional and corporate partners committed to enabling innovation for early brain development to join us in Saving Brains.

Please visit grandchallenges.ca and look for us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn.

About Grand Challenges Canada

Grand Challenges Canada is dedicated to supporting bold ideas with big impact in global health. We are funded by the Government of Canada through the Development Innovation Fund announced in the 2008 Federal Budget. We fund innovators in low and middle income countries and Canada. Grand Challenges Canada works with the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and other global health foundations and organizations to find sustainable long-term solutions through integrated innovation – bold ideas which integrate science, technology, social and business innovation. Grand Challenges Canada is hosted at the Sandra Rotman Centre.

www.grandchallenges.ca

About Canada’s International Development Research Centre

The International Development Research Centre (IDRC) supports research in developing countries to promote growth and development. IDRC also encourages sharing this knowledge with policymakers, other researchers and communities around the world. The result is innovative, lasting local solutions that aim to bring choice and change to those who need it most.

As the Government of Canada’s lead on the Development Innovation Fund, IDRC draws on decades of experience managing publicly funded research projects to administer the Development Innovation Fund. IDRC also ensures that developing country researchers and concerns are front and centre in this exciting new initiative.

www.idrc.ca

About Canadian Institutes of Health Research

The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) is the Government of Canada’s health research investment agency. CIHR’s mission is to create new scientific knowledge and to enable its translation into improved health, more effective health services and products, and a strengthened Canadian health care system. Composed of 13 Institutes, CIHR provides leadership and support to more than 14,100 health researchers and trainees across Canada.

CIHR will be responsible for the administration of international peer review, according to international standards of excellence. The results of CIHR-led peer reviews will guide the awarding of grants by Grand Challenges Canada from the Development Innovation Fund.

www.cihr-irsc.gc.ca

About the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada

The mandate of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada is to manage Canada’s diplomatic and consular relations, to encourage the country’s international trade, and to lead Canada’s international development and humanitarian assistance.

www.international.gc.ca

About Sandra Rotman Centre

The Sandra Rotman Centre is based at University Health Network and University of Toronto. We develop innovative global health solutions and help bring them to scale where they are most urgently needed. The Sandra Rotman Centre hosts Grand Challenges Canada.

www.srcglobal.org

India Promises Foreign Universities Non-profit Status

November 6, 2013September 3, 2019Canada India Education Council (CIEC)

Source: Nitya Rajan of PIE News | A new ordinance from India could help foreign universities set up branch campuses as non-profit companies and issue government recognised foreign degrees for the first time – without any form of partnerships between itself and a local higher education institution (HEI) .

The announcement from India’s human resource development ministry (HRD) came over a month ago and still has a few more hurdles to jump before it becomes law. If it clears however, HEIs worldwide will have easier access to India’s 1.2 billion population– 50% of who are aged 25-years old and under.

“It could change mobility out of India but it is still early days and we don’t know when the laws will be set in stone,” John Bunter, Trade and Investment Adviser at British Deputy High Commission told The PIE News.

However, the Indian government is being seen to make every effort to welcome foreign universities, including reducing the deposit necessary to establish a campus from $ 8,125,000 to $4,062,500.

The new legislation also stipulates that universities be listed as one of the world’s top 400 and parent branches will not be entitled to distribute profit from their Indian campuses to overseas parent branches or repatriate money.

“The proposal is a positive thing. The biggest change is that degrees will be recognised as foreign degrees and it has been approved by the Indian government,” Amanda Selvaratnam, Director of The Training Gateway – a company brokering educational partnerships between UK training providers and global organisations – told The PIE News.

“A lot of universities are still happy to do the partnership approach. We had a delegation of eight universities from Pune who are meeting 18 British universities this week,” she said.

“Those within the UK who may be interested in launching campuses have kept their cards close to their chests,” she added.

Others, however, including US universities Duke University, California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and VirginiaTech have been more vocal about the chance to capitalise on India’s booming student market.

“While Virginia Tech plans to establish research centres and graduate education programmes in India, we are waiting for the government of India to outline the final rules and regulations for the establishment of foreign universities in India,” Guru Ghosh, the vice-president for outreach and international affairs at Virginia Tech told The PIE News.

“In the meantime, we are moving forward with establishing a research centre outside Chennai in 2014,” he said.

Parent branches will not be entitled to distribute profit from their Indian campuses to overseas parent branches or repatriate money

Still, some industry experts say the ordinance’s small print could put HEIs off. In Canada, where some 12,049 student from India studied in Canada in 2011 , educators are pausing for thought before taking India’s bait.

“It’s positive in general but not a whole lot of Canadian institutions qualify for the top 400 requirement, right now there are some schools that would tick all those boxes,” Husain F. Neemuchwala, Chief Executive Officer of Canada India Education Council (CIEC) told The PIE News. “I have guarded optimism about the proposal, because it’s not easy to acquire land and the repatriation will also cause issues,” Neemuchwala added.

Bunter at the British Deputy High Commission added, “to work in India, universities have to know that there is a lot of bureaucracy that you have to overcome. They need to be ready for that.”

With 47 million people expected to be in the working age group by 2020 and India only spending 3.7% of its GDP on education, the government is hoping its open arms to foreign educators will meet the rising demand for quality education.

Local education in India has come under criticism for leaving its graduates poorly prepared for work – none of its institutions list in QS’s 2013/14 rankings.

Asked if Indian universities are worried what a potential flood of foreign educators might do to their own profits, Selvaratnam said: “Even if a university has a campus out there [in India], there are still opportunities for joint research and staff student research.”