News archive 2008

Supporting expansion of India's HE sector

29 Apr 2008, PR 79/08

Professor Rick Trainor, Principal of King's and President of Universities UK, is leading a delegation of UK Vice Chancellors to India to discuss increasing collaboration as India expands its higher education sector.

The two-day visit (27-29 April) follows up on the summit meeting between Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in January. During the summit in January - also attended by Professor Trainor - the two Prime Ministers agreed to promote increased links between British universities and the premier educational institutions in India.

Speaking from India, Professor Trainor said: 'We have been enormously impressed by the scale of the planned expansion in India's higher educational system and the strength of the commitment by all those concerned to make it happen. We are very pleased that the British university system is going to play an active role in supporting this expansion, drawing on the world class expertise of British universities, our strong ties with India and the existing institutional links between British and Indian HE Institutions.

'We have identified a number of important areas where the UK and India will be able to collaborate, bringing significant mutual benefits to both Higher Education systems. We have also discussed the approach to selecting the specific premier institutions that UK universities will work with under the initiative and look forward to firming these up in the near future.'

With Professor Trainor on the visit are Professor Paul Wellings, Vice Chancellor of Lancaster University, Professor Caroline Gipps, Vice Chancellor of University of Wolverhampton, and Professor Andrew Hamnett, Vice Chancellor of the University of Strathclyde.

During the two-day visit, the UK delegation has met government ministers, senior officials at the Ministry of Human Resource Development, the University Grants Commission and the Prime Minister's Office. They have also met Vice Chancellors from a number of India's leading universities and visited the Campus of Delhi Indian Institute of Technology and Jawaharal Nehru University.

Notes to editors

UUK Press release

1)During the visit, Vice Chancellors discussed collaboration on the establishment of a new Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), an Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), and a new Central University.
2)The visit was organised by the UK Higher Education International Unit, based at Universities UK, and the British Council as part of the UK-India Education and Research Initiative (UKIERI).


King's College London
King's College London is one of the top 25 universities in the world (Times Higher 2007) and the fourth oldest in England. A research-led university based in the heart of London, King's has 19,300 students from more than 130 countries, and 5,000 employees. King's has an outstanding reputation for providing world-class teaching and cutting-edge research. The College is in the top group of UK universities for research earnings and has an annual income of approximately £400 million. An investment of £500 million has been made in the redevelopment of its estate.

King's has a particularly distinguished reputation in the humanities, law, social sciences, the health sciences, natural sciences and engineering, and has played a major role in many of the advances that have shaped modern life, such as the discovery of the structure of DNA. It is the largest centre for the education of healthcare professionals in Europe and is home to five Medical Research Council Centres – more than any other university.



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