India, US agree to expand educational exchanges

India and the US have agreed to expand educational exchanges that will fuel their "knowledge-based" economies and announced the launch of $10 million 'Obama-Singh 21st Century Knowledge Initiative' to increase cooperation between universities of the two countries.

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

After their 90-minute talks at the White House yesterday, prime minister Manmohan Singh and President Barack Obama  announced the launch of the Obama-Singh 21st Century Knowledge Initiative which will provide $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. The prime minister said, "We will deepen our ongoing cooperation in frontier  areas of science and technology, nuclear 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."

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

Recognising the cultural emphasis on education in both countries, prime minister Singh and president Obama emphasised that education holds the key to the advancement of their societies, and to a more prosperous and stable world.

A joint statement issued at the end of talks said Singh and Obama also welcomed the strong collaboration between India and the United States in the area of public health.

"They agreed to build on existing strong ties across academia and scientific communities by advancing public health and biomedical research collaborations between the United States and India," the statement said.