India, US to host higher education summit in Washington

New Delhi, July 19 (ANI): India and United States plan to host a Higher Education Summit in Washington on October 13 to highlight and emphasize the many avenues through which the higher education communities in both nations collaborate.

In a joint statement issued after the conclusion of the second US-India Strategic Dialogue here, both counties said they also plan to expand the higher education dialogue, to be co-chaired by the U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Indian Minister of Human Resource Development Kapil Sibal to convene annually, incorporating the private/non-governmental sectors and higher education communities to inform government-to-government discussions.

According to the statement, as part of the Obama-Singh 21st Century Knowledge Initiative (OSI), the two governments announced the publication of their requests for proposals from post-secondary educational institutions that support OSI's goals of strengthening teaching, research, and administration of both U.S. and Indian institutions through university linkages and junior faculty development.

The United States created the Passport to India initiative to encourage an increase in the number of American students studying and interning in India.

The leaders also recognized the great bridge of mutual understanding resulting from the more than 100,000 Indian students studying and interning in the United States.

The statement further said the United States' Department of Energy and India's Department of Atomic Energy signed an Implementing Agreement on Discovery Science that provide provides the framework for cooperation in accelerator and particle detector research and development at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility, and Brookhaven National Laboratory.

The India-U.S. S and T Endowment Board, established by Secretary Clinton and Minister Krishna in 2009, plans to award nearly three million annually to entrepreneurial projects that commercialize technologies to improve health and empower citizens, the statement adds.

The two sides are strongly encouraged by the response to this initiative, which attracted over 380 joint India-U.S. proposals. The Endowment plans to announce the first set of grantees by September 2011.

India and the US also plan to host their third annual Women in Science workshop in September 2011. (ANI)