The first Canada-India Education Summit this week in Ottawa is set to boost research and educational ties between the two countries.
With Canada reportedly registering more than a two-fold increase in Indian students this year from about 4000 last year, the two-day summit at Carleton University from June 17 will further boost enrolments from India.
Top educationists and researchers from India and Canada will participate in roundtable discussions at the summit to be opened by Purundeshwari, Indian minister of state for human resources development.
Canadian foreign affairs minister John Baird will deliver the plenary address.
"It is the first-ever education summit between our two countries. It will lay the path forward to ensure that students and faculty move back and forth easily. Joint research, student exchanges and degree studies in the two countries are on our agenda,'' Carleton University president Roseanne O'Reilly Runte told IANS.
She said, "Definitely, the number of Indian students coming to Canada will increase as a result of the education summit. We are getting representation from about 15 universities from India.''
Kapil Sibal, minister for human resources development, who was to deliver the keynote address,is not coming. Instead, minister Purundeshwari will now deliver the keynote address.
Prominent participants from India include UGC chairman Ved Prakash, IGNOU vice chancellor V. N. Rajasekharan Pillai, Delhi University vice chancellor Dinesh Singh, Calcutta University vice chancellor Suranjan Das, Panjab University vice chancellor R.C. Sobti and Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute president Sunaina Singh.
Apart from a session on 'Dynamics of Higher Education in India and in Canada,' the two-day summit will have roundtable discussions on 'Co-tutelle and joint programmes,' 'Credit transfer and degree recognition,' 'Technology in international teaching,' 'Joint research,' and 'Designing the path forward.'
The summit is being held jointly by the Indian high commission, Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade and the Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute that promotes educational and research cooperation between India and Canada.
As speakers at the just concluded Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) here said, the number of students from India coming to Canada is set to rise sharply in the next few years.