Demographic Dividend Of India And Potential Spaces Attract Foreign Investment In Education Sector

The demographic dividend and huge spaces that are needed to be created in order to sustain the aspirational goals that Indians might have are the key factors attracting foreign investment in Indian education sector, Professor Rhonda L. Lenton, President and Vice-Chancellor, York University, Canada said.

"The demographic dividend in India and spaces needed to be created in order to sustain the aspirational goals that Indians might have for the percentage of the population gives the opportunity to collaborate in a way that can be mutually beneficial. The expansion of university in India means that all the resources to develop the programme are at pace that is faster than we ever seen in higher education," Lenton told Opportunity India.

Nature Of Work Changing

She said the nature of work including automation, AI, everything is changing so quickly and the World Bank of Canada has said that 50 per cent of the jobs that we see today, will either be gone or fundamentally changed in next 10 years. So, this is where collaborating and partnership could be hugely and mutually be beneficial.

"Our employers tell us that one of the key characteristics they look for in a talent is those who have international understanding. So we want our domestic students from Canada to go abroad and if they can't afford to go abroad, to have international experience otherwise like online globally network learning courses. There is huge opportunity here for us to collaborate and to meet our respective needs and to learn from one another," Lenton added.

She further added that there are so many young entrepreneurs who have ideas and need support for those ideas so that's another whole area that we think we can collaborate together for entrepreneurship programmes.

More People Below The Age Of 30 Years In India

Adding his thoughts to what Lenton said, Professor C Raj Kumar, Founding Vice Chancellor, OP Jindal Global University said, "There are 915 million people who are less than the age of 30 years in India. Most parts of the western became older. When eastern world including Japan and China will be older, India will be younger for a longer time. young Indians will be shaping the future of India and the world, only if the demographic dividend we have translates into education and job opportunities in the future."

"The gross enrollment ratio that we have currently is 22 to 24 per cent, has to be significantly increased. Investing in India and Indian higher education will help in advancing research capacity as well as other institution building capacity within Canada," Kumar said.

Memorandum Of Understanding Signed

These remarks came after Canada’s top York University signed the MoU with OP Jindal Global University in Sonipat, Haryana, as part of its broader outreach in India.

"York is proud to invest in several critical initiatives that will strengthen our ties with India and create mutually beneficial opportunities for our talented students and researchers, including an India Immersion Programme with OP Jindal Global University as it’s important for Canadian students to understand India, it’s growth story and the impact of India on the world," Lenton said.

Like many prestigious Indian industries and institutions, York is prioritizing teaching, research and knowledge mobilization in areas that will address equity and inclusion. In the field of education, India and Canada have a close and long-standing relationship. Higher education and research partnerships are a critical part of the Canada-India bilateral relationship.
As is natural for two countries that share so many diplomatic and cultural associations, areas such as student mobility, research partnerships and educational exchanges, are of ever-increasing productive cooperation.

Conscious For Collaboration

Speaking on the collaboration where both the parties benefited, Kumar said, "We are global university and we want to make efforts to build partnership with many institutions but it is also important for us to have opportunity that have substantive in nature."

"We partnered with Seattle university and that yielded significant results and as we speak, 15 students of Seattle university are on our campus. We are very conscious of building collaboration which can actually provide results for students and faculty," he added.

Offers

Both the universities are planning to roll out many programmes including, student exchange programmes, dual degree programmes and other collaborating programmes in research as well as faculty engagement. York University is known for having significant large number of international students including 2000 Indian students.