Presidential visit in India: major agreements to Higher Education & Research

19/03/2018
From 10th to 12th March 2018, the French Minister for Higher Education, Research and Innovation, Mrs. Frédérique Vidal, M. Marc Renner, President of CDEFI, M. Gilles Roussel, President of the CPU and Mrs. Anne-Lucie Wack, President of the CGE, joined the President of the French Republic, M. Emmanuel Macron during his official visit in India.

This visit improved substantially the academic and scientific cooperation between France and India, especially in order to meet the government objective to increase two-fold the number of Indian students in France by 2020 (from 5,000 to 10,000).

First, it was decided to create a Franco-Indian fund for education to encourage mobility between both countries. Then, the first summit of higher education and research between France and India, the “Knowledge summit”, was organized in New Delhi on March 10th and 11th. About 20 French schools of engineering attended the summit.

During this summit, an agreement on a mutual recognition of diplomas was signed and more than 20 bilateral agreements between Indian and French higher education and research institutions were also signed.

Among these agreements, three can be distinguished:
 
  • MoU between Institut Mines-Télécom (IMT) and Indian Institute of Technology Indore (IIT Indore),
  • MoU between the French national Centre of scientific research (CNRS), IMT Atlantique, Université de Bordeaux, Centrale Nantes and Indian Institut Technology Madras (IIT Madras),
  • MoU between Centrale Lille and the Dr. B. R. Ambedkar National Institute of Technology, Jaletharas.
These agreements aim to encourage mobility for students, teachers and researchers and to develop common research programs and courses.
Note that the agreement signed with IIT Madras should open new opportunities of thesis supervised by IMT Atlantique, STICC Lab (CNRS) and IIT Madras, and funded by Thalès, an agreement was also signed between Thalès India, Thalès France and IIT Madras. A first thesis should start before the end of 2018.

A joint “sciences and technologies” committee with representatives from French and Indian Ministries of higher education and a technical working group dedicated to work on priority thematic areas for academic and scientific cooperation will meet during the year. These meetings also aim to prepare the next “Knowledge summit” which will take place in France in 2019.

Download the “Knowledge summit” program

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