Policy Sessions: Institutional Cooperation
Indian Delegation
Programs of institutional cooperation in education have productive implications in the context of the knowledge economy. Their productive implications arise from an inter- and intra-disciplinary context of knowledge generation. In addition, the movement of programs, students, teachers, and researchers in these collaborative frameworks may develop
institutions and groom students in a multicultural environment. Institutional cooperation is very much dependent on
the policy support and supporting regulatory and monitoring mechanisms that partnering country institutions evolve.
The objective of this paper is to shed some light on developing the enabling conditions for institutional cooperation in
higher education.
Curriculum Integration: Access to an international curriculum enables comparative studies and regional or global
perspectives. Curriculum integration and its adaptation to industry and the local and global environment that is in national interest is one of the vital components of internationalization. Language poses an important challenge in integration. The quality of a program delivered through institutional cooperation has to be ensured in terms of curriculum,
methods of teaching, pedagogy, and faculty as comparable to those prevalent at the provider’s main campus.
Curriculum design has two main components: content and structure. Universities in India have full autonomy to design
the curriculum. In any program designed by partner institutions, the content has to be mutually agreed on by the institutions without compromising the quality and at the same time protecting the national and learners' interests. Structured methods of teaching and assessment need to be related to credits and credit transfers. Such issues are decided
by academics within the university.
Joint and Dual Degree: Degrees can be conferred in India only by universities established by the Central Parliament or
state legislatures (public or private university), deemed universities, and institutions of national importance. For joint
degrees, partner universities jointly award a degree, while dual degrees are awarded by partner countries separately
for the period of study. Split Ph.D. programs are jointly supervised by academics from the partner universities and a
joint degree is awarded. In all the cases there is a mutually agreed on credit transfer arrangement, except for split Ph.D.
where there is no joint course work. Since foreign degrees cannot be conferred in India under the existing UGC Act,
there is a legal restriction on joint/dual degrees and split Ph.D.s involving a foreign university. Due to legal restrictions,
a degree is finally awarded by a public university in India even though in few cases coursework is undertaken in a foreign university. In a few privately managed institutions joint or dual degrees are practiced in India without much legal
sanctity. Such degrees are accepted in the job market, nationally or internationally, due to the brand value of the partnering foreign university.
Twinning partnerships are allowed under the regulatory framework of AICTE. Currently 12 twinning collaborations are
being conducted with some prestigious universities across the world.
Except for twinning programs, dual degree programs or split Ph.D.s are not currently available in India within a
regulatory framework of universities, although private institutions have many such programs in collaborative or twinning modes.
A policy response is needed to create a regulatory framework for joint/dual degrees and split Ph.D.s under the collaborative delivery of these program. Since UGC in India is responsible for the coordination and maintenance of standards
in universities, UGC needs to evolve an enabling regulatory framework under all forms of collaborative programs for
universities in India.
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Policy Sessions: Institutional Cooperation
Indian Delegation
Universities in India furthermore need to change corresponding acts to allow the joint delivery of programs and the
conferring of a joint/dual degree and split Ph.D.
Twining: Collaborative arrangements facilitate twinning. If issues relating to joint or dual degrees are resolved, it will
probably promote twinning on a much large scale than what is happening today
Diploma Recognition Programs: Strict differentiation is maintained between a degree and a diploma. Regulations exist
by and large for degrees and for diplomas that are offered by polytechnics and teacher education institutions, recognized by respective Councils and those recognized by National/State Councils of Vocational Education. Universities too
offer diploma programs. However, most of the diplomas and certificates offered in a non-university system in response
to market pressures are neither standardized nor are all of them recognized.
Job providers are, therefore, not assured of the value of such diplomas. Policy has responded to such phenomenon.
The National Vocational Qualifications Framework has been prepared, and mechanisms to recognize qualifications
offered in the market may be undertaken. All diplomas that are run through institutional cooperation in partnership
with foreign institutions need to be assured in terms of quality and recognized in India after proper assessment. However, the international recognition of diploma programs offered by the non-university system is still a vexed issue to be
deliberated further.
International academic linkages need to be facilitated through the recognition of academic awards offered by accredited universities, notwithstanding the differences in the time period and the quality of an academic qualification. Once
this principle is accepted, universities may decide how the deficiencies will be met. If this principle is not accepted,
differences are too large to come to a solution. Another important issue relates to the adoption of a credit system in all
Indian universities. This is being given a policy thrust. Mutual acceptance and the transfer of credits have to be further
strengthened to facilitate international academic linkages. The final important issue with respect to the promotion of
international academic linkages is the establishment of a quality assurance system such that all collaborative programs
are properly assessed. Collaboration has to be on a sustainable basis. Presently collaborative program delivery in India
is confined to private unrecognized and non-accredited institutions. Any temporary collaboration driven by pure commercial interests has been found to be unsustainable.
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