Dr. Indrani Gogoi, India CRITICAL AREAS OF POSSIBLE COOPERATION BETWEEN INDIA AND THE U. EDUCATION IN HIGHER Where do you see your home institution's future goals/plans for enhancing its international dimension and for building the capacity of its faculty and students through international collaborations and exchange and innovative curricular design? To improve the quality of technical education in India and bring It to intemational standards, india has become a participant of the Washington Accord. The Government of Assam has directed all the technical Institutes of Assam to get their accreditation through the National Board of Accreditation. The immediate goal of the Directorate of Technical Education, Assam is to create the necessary infrastructure, achieve all the milestones and incorporate all the systems that are required by the technical institutes for the accreditation. ‘The Directorate of Technical Education, Assam can develop an incentive structure that would welcome collaborations with US Universities. It is important to evaluate (i) how such collaborations can be made independently sustainable (i) If the technical Institutes of Assam have the flexibility to employ high-quality foreign faculty, (i) If the evaluation system of Universities and the State Council of Technical Education (SCTE) can accept course credits for students who spend semesters in US- regulated universities. To compete globally, it is therefore necessary for the Department of Higher Education - Technical Institutions in Assam, India to develop a robust govemance structure. India ‘could leam from the regulatory framework and accreditation system of the US higher education sector that make it flexibie and innovative. The Directorate of Technical Education Assam can participate in the 21st Century Knowledge Initiative that aims to strengthen collaboration and build partnerships between U.S. and Indian institutions of higher education. The United States — India Education Foundation (USIEF) engages institutions of higher education in the U.S. and in India to help create linkages between them in areas of collaborative research, study abroad programs, faculty exchanges and seminars for higher education administrators from both countries. The grant recipients can utiize the funds over a two- year period, with the aim of promoting mutual understanding, encouraging educational reform and ‘conomic growth, and developing junior faculty at U.S. and indian institutions of higher learning, The existing Government Engineering Colleges of Assam will be encouraged to take advantage of the India-US Higher Education Dialogue that creates opportunities for student mobility and faculty collaboration across the two countries through initiatives such as the Global Initiative of Academic Networks (GIAN) programme, where the Ministry of Human Resource Department, india creates a channel for US professors in science, technology and engineering to teach in Indian academic and research institutions an short-term exchanges. The Engineering Colleges will benefit tremendously from such visits, and the Directorate of Technical Education (DTE), Assam can facilitate and stronaly advocate the same. The Indo-US Higher Education Dialogue (2011-14) had laid out the road map for promoting strategic institutional partnerships. Four of the Polytechnics in Assam had initiated the Community College Scheme as a pilot project in 2014. This Directorate can leam sustainability aspects from the U.S. experience in community colleges and can collaborate with U.S. institutions in the area of Technology Enabled Leaming and Massive Open On-line Courses (MOOCs) to extend the reach of education in india. The DTE will encourage the faculties and students of engineering colleges and polytechnics to avail opportunities for leadership programs, exchange programs and intemships through the Fulbright-Nehru programme that supports more than 300 scholars between the two countries ‘The US government initiative - “Passport to India” in partnership with the Ohio State University, seeks to inspire America’s next generation to evaluate the impact India promises to have ‘on their future lives and careers. It,also inspires the next generation of entrepreneurs by encouraging youth in both countries to develop ideas, solutions, and companies that can address shared global ‘challenges of the 2st century. The DTE Assam can facilitate students from the United States to camry ‘out intemship opportunities, service learning and study opportunities in india Given the gap between the quality of higher education in Indian institutions and the demands of the job market, skill development is of ulmost priority for the government. Employability is a key concen el siferal efi. ar bei wie to mish sue passing out rth tactical UeiRiton more employable. Strategic collaboration with USIEF can be made to design training pi 's for students of the technical institutes to impart emplayable skills as demanded by the = | gS