A Government of India-funded initiative to strengthen higher education and promote climate change research in the Pacific region will take off soon as a result of joint efforts by several leading universities in India, the University of South Pacific (USP) in Fiji, and the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
As part of the initiative, a team of experts from the ADB and the USP have just concluded discussions with officials from the Indian Institutes of Technology, Indira Gandhi National Open University, Jawaharlal Nehru University, and other higher academic institutions in India.
An important outcome of the discussions was a collaboration agreement between USP and the premier Indian universities and tertiary institutions, to facilitate faculty exchange programme and joint curriculum development to strengthen higher education and promote joint research on key issues such as climate change and private sector development in the Pacific.
The Indian tertiary education sector has been collaborating with the Fiji based USP in Suva for the past few years now. USP Vice-Chancellor Rajesh Chandra, who just returned from India as part of the joint delegation, has said the relationship is growing into a major academic collaboration.
“It is a new relationship and we are trying to build new relationships. And it could be a major partnership for the future, both because it brings India as a significant cash donor and also because the Asian Development Bank is a very major player and we are looking at a larger partnership between the ADB and USP,” Prof Chandra told Radio Australia’s Gemima Garrett.
Prof Chandra said he visited the Indian Institute of Technology at Kharagpur, the first institute of technology in India as also the Jawaharlal Nehru University.
USP has signed an MOU with the Indira Gandhi National Open University. This is now the world's largest university with over 2.8 million students. “The relationship will allow us to procure some material from them to do some joint research and to exchange staff,” Prof Chandra said.
The arrangements would substantially and speedily expand USP’s distance learning Prof Chandra said. Half of the University's 20,000 students study by distance education.
India is now a dialogue partner with the Pacific Island Forum and at the last Forum in August in Vanuatu a large Indian delegation was present (as reported by Indian Weekender).
India says it is interested in playing a development role in the Pacific and it has funded smaller things in the past, especially to do with climate change. The present arrangement with USP is a larger amount.
This is the first time that the Government of India is funding an ADB-assisted project of this kind in the education sector in the Pacific. The Government of India is extending the assistance in the spirit of South-South cooperation.
The US$1 million grant by the Government of India will be used to support ADB's project preparatory efforts, which are being implemented in partnership with the USP and its 13 different campuses in the Pacific.
ADB’s technical assistance will directly support upgrading of the University’s ICT network and pave the way for a larger investment project. As a result, a large proportion of USP courses are expected to be available through ICT-based systems.
USP is one of the world’s only two regional universities and serves the entire Pacific islands region with over 20,000 students and campuses spread across the region. It also runs a successful journalism programme in Suva.