<p>"The process for our schools to partner with Indian counterparts or to create new institutions of learning in India remains challenging. That is one of the reasons we organised the Summit. We want to do everything we can to lift the barriers to greater cooperation between our educational institutions and help these ties flourish," Deputy Secretary of State William Burns said here.<br /><br />Addressing a gathering of academicians and business leaders at an US-India Business Council event, Burns said the flourishing economic and diplomatic ties between the two countries notwithstanding, level of cooperation in education remains much to be desired.<br /><br />"For all the benefits - for our people, for our economies, for our diplomacy - it remains a long and sometimes arduous journey from India to study in America. Our education system is full of thousands of excellent schools. But it is also decentralized and not always easy to understand from the outside," he said.<br /><br />Burns lamented that the number of American students studying in India is also far too few.<br /><br />He said at a time when India aims to modernize its economy and America is looking to grow its exports as a source of economic renewal, educational exchanges would help both the countries to move forward. <br /><br />"In knowledge economies like ours, growth depends on innovation, moving new ideas from the laboratory, design floor and classroom into the marketplace. It depends on reaching new markets," Burns said.<br /><br />Speaking on the occasion, Minister for Human Resources Development Kapil Sibal said it is time the US reaches out and realises that it has "as much a stake in India as India has a stake in the betterment of the life of its own people."<br /><br />Sibal said solutions to problems of the world including food security, water shortage and climate change will come through research and development and will be housed and embedded in the educational institutions.<br /><br />The two countries have a lot to gain if they partner in areas of faculty development, quality education and technology, he said.<br /><br />"We have to partner to find solutions for tomorrow. India is the land of opportunities, whatever you do in India, it will serve as a benchmark for the rest of the world," he said.<br /><br />Burns said Indian and US educators should use the summit to seek out new avenues for cooperation that the two nations have not yet fully explored, including community colleges, distance learning and new technologies in education, part of a robust higher education mix.<br /><br />This, he said, will be beneficial to students, societies, economies as well as the world.<br />"The truth is that we have crossed a threshold in our relations where -- for both of us, for the first time -- our success at home and abroad depends on our cooperation."<br /><br />Burns said America's vision of a secure, stable, prosperous 21st century world has at its heart a strong partnership with a rising India.</p>
<p>"The process for our schools to partner with Indian counterparts or to create new institutions of learning in India remains challenging. That is one of the reasons we organised the Summit. We want to do everything we can to lift the barriers to greater cooperation between our educational institutions and help these ties flourish," Deputy Secretary of State William Burns said here.<br /><br />Addressing a gathering of academicians and business leaders at an US-India Business Council event, Burns said the flourishing economic and diplomatic ties between the two countries notwithstanding, level of cooperation in education remains much to be desired.<br /><br />"For all the benefits - for our people, for our economies, for our diplomacy - it remains a long and sometimes arduous journey from India to study in America. Our education system is full of thousands of excellent schools. But it is also decentralized and not always easy to understand from the outside," he said.<br /><br />Burns lamented that the number of American students studying in India is also far too few.<br /><br />He said at a time when India aims to modernize its economy and America is looking to grow its exports as a source of economic renewal, educational exchanges would help both the countries to move forward. <br /><br />"In knowledge economies like ours, growth depends on innovation, moving new ideas from the laboratory, design floor and classroom into the marketplace. It depends on reaching new markets," Burns said.<br /><br />Speaking on the occasion, Minister for Human Resources Development Kapil Sibal said it is time the US reaches out and realises that it has "as much a stake in India as India has a stake in the betterment of the life of its own people."<br /><br />Sibal said solutions to problems of the world including food security, water shortage and climate change will come through research and development and will be housed and embedded in the educational institutions.<br /><br />The two countries have a lot to gain if they partner in areas of faculty development, quality education and technology, he said.<br /><br />"We have to partner to find solutions for tomorrow. India is the land of opportunities, whatever you do in India, it will serve as a benchmark for the rest of the world," he said.<br /><br />Burns said Indian and US educators should use the summit to seek out new avenues for cooperation that the two nations have not yet fully explored, including community colleges, distance learning and new technologies in education, part of a robust higher education mix.<br /><br />This, he said, will be beneficial to students, societies, economies as well as the world.<br />"The truth is that we have crossed a threshold in our relations where -- for both of us, for the first time -- our success at home and abroad depends on our cooperation."<br /><br />Burns said America's vision of a secure, stable, prosperous 21st century world has at its heart a strong partnership with a rising India.</p>