Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Friday said “Education as a service” has significant potential to contribute to India’s export earnings and help take high-quality Indian education to the rest of the world.
“The future growth engines of the world are likely to be less developed or developing countries such as India. Therefore, exposure to India would help students from developed countries in their future careers,” Goyal said.
Goyal further said he sees growing recognition of this trend while negotiating services chapters in Free Trade Agreements (FTAs). He noted that the nine FTAs finalised by the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi have all been with developed economies. According to him, nearly two-thirds of global trade is now covered by India’s FTAs because the country has engaged with more developed and evolved economies.
He said this reflects a shift in India’s approach to global engagement, noting that the country no longer negotiates from a weak position or a colonial mindset. Instead, India now engages with the world with confidence and from a position of strength.
The Minister said that if India is currently contributing around 20 per cent of global growth and has emerged as an engine of growth, younger generations across the world will increasingly need to work with countries such as India in the future.
Piyush Goyal was addressing the Vice Chancellors’ Conclave on “Reimagining Internationalisation of Higher Education for Viksit Bharat 2047”.
Goyal said he would like to engage with Vice Chancellors and hear their ideas and thoughts on the future of higher education in India, and expressed happiness that the Ministry of Commerce and the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) under the Ministry is taking a lead in exploring the potential that education as a service holds for India’s export earnings as well as for expanding the global reach of Indian education.
The Minister further said that a comprehensive effort to reform India’s education system was undertaken through extensive consultations with educationists across the country in drafting the National Education Policy 2020 under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“The policy was formulated after wide-ranging consultations and inputs from stakeholders across the country and overseas. Nearly three lakh inputs and feedback were received, each of which was given due importance and carefully considered before finalising the policy,” he said.
He said that the policy emerged after years of deliberation and reflects Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s style of working. “The policy has opened India’s thinking to aspire for international standards in education, expand educational institutions to meet India’s growing needs, and attract students from across the world,” he added.
Piyush Goyal said the policy has permitted international campuses to come and set up in India and has enabled universities to collaborate with Indian institutions to offer dual degrees. It has also encouraged cross-border student exchanges so that Indian students can gain exposure to education systems in developed and other countries, while international students can also experience India’s education system.