India, US agree to expand educational exchanges

Updated on: Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Washington: India and the US agreed to expand educational exchanges,and announced the launch of USD 10 million 'Obama-Singh 21st Century Knowledge Initiative'.

The two countries also agreed to 'dramatically' expand the Fullbirght-Nehru programme that brings students and scholars of both the countries together, especially in science and technology.

After their two-hour long talks at the White House here, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Barack Obama announced the launch of the Obama-Singh 21st Century Knowledge Initiative which will provide USD 10 million in combined funding to increase university linkages and support junior faculty development between US and Indian universities.

'We agreed to expand the educational exchanges that will fuel our knowledge-based economies. We are increasing ties and exchanges between universities and community colleges as part of a new Obama-Singh or Singh-Obama 21st century knowledge initiative. We think it's appropriately named,' Obama said at a joint press conference with Singh.

In his opening remarks, the Prime Minister said India and the US have decided to give a fresh impetus to collaboration in the fields of education and health.. 'We will deepen our ongoing cooperation in frontier areas of science and technology, nucleat power and space. This will open new opportunities for our universities and laboratories and create human capital to meet the global needs of the future,' he said.

The two countries also decided to expand the bi-national Fulbright-Nehru Scholarship Program through a 45 per cent increase in funding by each government to support increased exchanges of students and scholars in priority fields, bringing total support for these scholarships to USD 6.7 million this year.

Obama said: 'To advance our historic Food Security Initiative, American and Indian researchers will collaborate to improve agricultural output and reduce hunger, not only in India, where enormous strides have been made, but around the world. And India has much to teach the developing world in terms of achieving food sufficiency.'

'And our Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will partner with their Indian counterparts to create a new disease-detection center in India to combat infectious diseases and promote global health.

India, US agree to expand educational exchanges

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