Russia-India: prospects for cooperation in the field of education and science

HSE St. Petersburg continues to actively develop ties with Indian universities, expanding the pool of partners for mobility and academic exchange programs.

Veselova L.S.

On April 3-15 took place business trip of a delegation from HSE St. Petersburg, which included the Academic Supervisor of the Master's programmes "International Business in the Asia-Pacific Region" and “Business and Politics in modern Asia” Veselova Liudmila. India is a growing economy with the largest number of young people in the world, so cooperation in the field of science and education with Indian universities is one of the priority areas of the HSE St. Petersburg, as it was mentioned previously in the interview of the HSE St.Petersburg Director Anna Tyshetskaya.

India has long been a center of attraction for foreign education providers, but previously it was universities from the USA, Canada, Australia and the UK. These universities mainly operate on a commercial basis, they do not seek to develop scientific cooperation, and the main goal is Indian students who are ready to study on programs for a fee. For a long time, Russian universities did not consider India as a priority partner for scientific and educational exchange, focusing mainly on European universities, so the new strategy of the HSE St. Petersburg can give the university many advantages for internationalization. Moreover, the HSE is ready to develop scientific cooperation, student mobility and faculty exchanges, invite outstanding students from Indian universities to budget places in undergraduate and graduate programs.

Veselova Liudmila:

“The system of higher education in India is similar to the Russian one, in addition, most of the universities work on the same credit-module system as the HSE. The undoubted advantage of Indian universities is a high level of English proficiency and the availability of English-language programs, that is, Russian students do not need to learn Hindi in order to successfully master courses and disciplines. This is convenient, since often, to participate in MA programs in China, Japan or Korea, you need to know Asian languages ​​ at a fairly high level. The choice of programs that Indian universities offer is quite extensive, so Russian students can easily choose a decent university to continue their studies or for included education during mobility. We expect that in the next wave of the mobility competition, a number of Indian universities will become available destination to the HSE students.

Indian students are aiming to study abroad because, despite the desire of Indian youth to study, local universities are not always ready to meet the need for places for students. HSE can become a reliable partner for Indian students who are interested in Russia and would like to receive a quality education in our country. For a long time, there was a stereotype that one could go to Russia only for medical or military education, which was justified in 1990-2000. I am glad that by active work with colleagues and students from Indian universities, we can overcome this stereotype about Russia and show that our country has a high level of education in other specialties.

This year Russia has entered the top five of India's largest trading partners, many Russian companies are starting to work with Indian partners or targeting the local market. For our program "International business in the APR" India is of particular interest, as the country is a significant player in the Asia-Pacific region, and is only increasing its economic and political presence. Many business schools in India can become potential strategic partners for the program, so we are interested in expanding and deepening cooperation”.