New Delhi, Nov. 8: Manmohan Singh and Barack Obama today announced the first-ever higher education summit next year to promote collaborations, though an Indian initiative for such partnerships already appears to have rolled.

The All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) is set to announce a new policy to facilitate more collaborations between foreign and domestic institutions in study programmes and joint research in various areas, including science and technology, a top official told The Telegraph.

The policy is to be unveiled in a few days. It will aim to facilitate what a 2002 regulation has not done to the extent desired: facilitate more joint research projects and attract the best foreign institutions.

The government is in the process enacting a law allowing foreign institutions to set up campuses and offer courses in India. But as the legislation has not been passed by Parliament, the planned AICTE policy will help address tie-up problems, the source said.

Two entities from the US — Vaughn College of Aeronautics and Technology and Anburn University — are among the seven foreign institutes that have tie-ups with Indian institutions in technical education.

Speaking about the summit, Prime Minister Singh said: “We have decided to hold a higher education summit next year. Co-operation in the education sector holds great promise because no two other countries are better equipped to be partners in building the knowledge economy.” President Obama said the meeting would help forge collaborations.

The summit — whose dates and venues have not been decided — is expected to be attended by HRD minister Kapil Sibal and US secretary of state Hillary Clinton.

“The summit will be an official forum where vice-chancellors and education leaders from both sides will present issues and problems, and explore ways to address them,” an official said.

Another such plan, the Singh-Obama 21st Century Knowledge Initiative, was announced during the Prime Minister’s US visit last November. The plan aims to increase co-operation between universities of the two nations.

Two delegations of experts from US colleges and universities have arrived in recent months to forge partnerships with Indian institutions. HRD minister Sibal has led a number of Indian teams to the US on a similar mission.

The USAID, the country’s aid agency, runs a five-year programme aimed at improving Indian teachers’ skills.

Under the US’s Community College Programme, the first batch of 48 Indian students has gone to that country. Hundred American students come to India each year to learn its languages.

Fulbright funding up

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Barack Obama have agreed to substantially increase funding for the Fulbright-Nehru Scholarship. Each government is committed to a nearly 40 per cent increase in the funding.

The Fulbright programme in India is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year and over 17,000 students and scholars from both countries have benefited.