Roundtable discussion : ‘Exploring Collaborations in Education & Youth Welfare for the UK & India (Madhya Pradesh)

Moderator: Uday Nagaraju, Co-Founder & Executive President, Global Policy Insights

Discussion Participants :

GPI

• Uday Nagaraju, The Executive President of the GPI Madhya Pradesh & India
• Jitu Patwari, Minister of Education, Sports and Youth Welfare, Madhya Pradesh India
• Raghvendra Singh, IAS The Commissioner of Higher Education from Madhya Pradesh
• Manish Singh, IAS, Minister(Economic), High Commission of India, London
• Virendra Sharma, The Chairman of the Indo-British All-Party Parliamentary Group and MP
• Rajesh Agarwal, The Deputy Mayor of London for Business

UK Government Education Department

• Anna Sonley, Senior Policy Advisor International Higher Education, Department of Education

University Groups

• Professor Kevin Ibeh, Chair of Universities UK regional policy networks & Pro Vice Birckbeck, University of London
• Kudzai Muronzi, Association of Commonwealth Universities

UK Industry

• Lakshmi Kaul, The head of the confederation of Indian Industry, UK
• Vishal Gandhi, Staffing Director at Tata Consultancy Services, UK
• Kamal Prabhakar,The Vice President of Ganador Sports

Global Policy Insights, an international, centrist policy institute with its vision of researching and analysing models of governance, political economy and policies, and current contentious issues, successfully convened a roundtable discussing the collabaration oppurtunities between UK & India(Madhya Pradesh) particularly in the Education Sector. GPI’s UK South Asia Educational Program explores and faciliates partnerships in the Education Sector between the UK and South Asian nations. The high-level discussion held at the Grand Committee Room of Westminster Palace.

Education and Youth Welfare, potential for collaboration between the UK & Madhya Pradesh, India

The Indian Education sector is rapidly developing. The state of Madhya Pradesh is no exception, as the past years have seen significant improvements in education and youth welfare, especially with the sports and skill-based university being set up. The state also enjoys growing economic and business sectors. Strengthening the Education and Youth ties between Madhya Pradesh and the UK institutions can become a step on the way to bigger collaboration on Education and Youth between the UK and India, a mission, which strongly resonates with the objectives of the GPI to strengthen links between the UK post-Brexit and India.

With this in mind, Global Policy Insights organized a roundtable discussion on the topic, which was joined by distinguished Parliamentarians, UK University Groups, UK Government Education department and other stakeholders.

The Chairman of the Indo-British All-Party Parliamentary Group and MP, Mr Virendra Sharma, began the discussion by welcoming the distinguished guests and thanking GPI for putting it together. He further spoke on the relationship between India and the UK and Madhya Pradesh whilst stressing the importance of building and strengthening the relationship together, for the joint vision of success. He stressed the importance of discussion and bringing the two countries further closer to one another.

This was followed by compelling remarks from The Executive President of the GPI, Mr Uday Nagaraju who introduced the Seminar and the distinguished panellists to discuss the present status of Madhya Pradesh and UK relationship and ways to take it to the next step. He spoke about how pivotal it is for the UK to maintain good relations with the Commonwealth, especially India. He also emphasised on enhancing partnerships in Education and the oppurtunity that current climate presents towards it.

The Deputy Mayor of London, Rajesh Agarwal spoke about the business relations between London and Madhya Pradesh. He stressed the ability of further strengthening business ties and collaborations with the UK

The discussion continued with the Minister of Education, Sports and Youth Welfare, Sri Jitu Patwari, who set the floor with his remarks on his idea of global partnerships. He spoke about the Madhya Pradesh economy and educational capabilities of the state, as well as about his agenda for education, mentioning collaborations with some of the best universities in the UK, the fact that sports and skills-based university would be set up in Madhya Pradesh. He concluded by inviting UK universities to Madhya Pradesh for collabarations.

Panel on Educational Collabaration

Moderator : Raghavendra Singh, IAS The Commissioner of Higher Education from Madhya Pradesh

Raghvendra Singh, The Commissioner of Higher Education from Madhya Pradesh, spoke about various potential collaborations possible between universities in MP and the UK. He said London is at the heart of Incredible India.

Continuing the discussion around education, Professor Kevin Ibeh, Chair of Universities UK regional policy networks & Pro Vice Master of Birckbeck, University of London spoke about the potential collaboration between the best universities in Madhya Pradesh and the UK and the high scope of collaboration possible. He further expressed keenness of UK universities to engage in India.

The discussion also heard from Anna Sonley, Senior Policy Advisor International Higher Education, Department of Education, who spoke on university collaborations between MP and the UK. She mentioned that India stands number two in the number of International students to the UK. She expressed the department’s desire to increase international students from India into the UK, and also the government’s desire to increase the total number of International students.

Next in the discussion, Kudzai Muronzi, Association of Commonwealth Universities, mentioned their organisation’s work in 53 countries with a membership of 500+ universities. 4 MP universities are current members of the ACU. Kudzai Muronzi also specified the importance of working together and increasing collaborations.

Panel on Collabarations in Youth

Moderator : Lakshmi Kaul, Head of Confederation of Indian Industry, UK

Manish Singh, IAS, Minister (Economic) Indian High Commission, spoke about his origins in Madhya Pradesh. He discussed hosting start-ups from India at the High Commission in London, as well as Make in India and Madhya Pradesh.

The head of the confederation of Indian Industry, Lakshmi Kaul, spoke about Madhya Pradesh being high up in the ease of doing business index. She then spoke about the importance of creating jobs for the Youth to be employed.

Vishal Gandhi, Staffing Director at Tata Consultancy Services, UK spoke about Tata Group being the biggest private employer in the UK and their graduate intake of 200 per year. He emphasised on the collaborations with Youth.

The Vice President of Ganador Sports, Kamal Prabhakar, mentioned the love of cricket enjoyed by both countries and the possibilities of sports collaborations, while specifying how sport can bring people together.

The discussion was concluded with Madhya Pradesh government thanking Global Policy Insights for organizing the event and key speakers for their valuable inputs.

Uday Nagaraju, Co-Founder & Executive President of Global Policy Insights, mentioned that the roundtable has successfully identified areas of collaboration in Higher Education and will be followed up with one-to-one meetings between University groups and MP government for tangible results. A framework for cooperation has been established between UK universities and Madhya Pradesh: experts and policymakers in the field of Education had an opportunity to share their vision and discuss the potential for stronger partnerships between the UK and Madhya Pradesh.

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