Delhi delights – part three
An early start for a 07.00am flight to Delhi, and straight into the groove of our programme – this time a round table discussion on innovation in Higher Education.
The UK contributions included a presentation from Les Borysiwicz, Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge on their experiences in creating an extraordinarily successful innovation cluster in and around Cambridge, and Martin Bean on the OU and Futurelearn the UK’s MOOC platform. We also hear from Professor Sharma, Vice-Chancellor of Delhi Technological University about the remarkable inventiveness of our Indian colleagues, and the role that Universities are increasingly playing in harnessing and commercialising innovation. As ever, it is the sheer scale of activity in India that leaves the mind reeling. Talk of a technology “corridor” stretching the 615 miles between Mumbai and Bangalore left a particular impression on me.
We have 15 minutes for lunch before being ushered onto coaches for the next leg of our programme to the Janki Devi Memorial Women’s College of the University of Delhi. This was one of those slightly surreal moments. We were greeted by an honour guard of the College’s cadet corps and ushered through the College grounds to a large amphitheatre where several hundred students were assembled. David Willetts, leading the V-C delegation, was treated to the full rock star reception with enthusiastic applause and cheering. At this stage Mr Willetts had to explain that he was not, in fact, the Prime Minister who was due to arrive in a few minutes…..
We left the arena to go to a fascinating meeting and workshop with the faculty of the Women’s College. Nigel Thrift (Vice-Chancellor of Warwick) and I were assigned to meet with the Humanities faculty members and had a brilliant and inspiring discussion about the commitment of the College to women’s empowerment, and in particular how the study of disciplines in the humanities developed important transferable skills that prepared students for a range of employment opportunities. We also exchanged experiences in interdisciplinary education which gave me another opening to talk about our experiences with the Curriculum Innovation project. It was humbling to meet with this group of incredibly dedicated faculty staff (almost exclusively female) providing a fantastic education for young women from a wide range of backgrounds in India – particularly humbling because the resources available for teaching were very modest compared to those we take for granted back in the UK.
The VC group was then ushered into a small classroom for a meeting with the PM. He was in high spirits having turned up with one of India’s best known Bollywood stars, Amir Khan. If David Willetts had received an overwhelming response from the students, you can only imagine their response to the PM and a film star! It was a great opportunity for us to have a full and frank exchange on some key issues including international student visas, the science budget and the impact of the government’s reforms to higher education. Although it is hard to claim that we are in agreement on all aspects of government policy, it was an opportunity to ‘accentuate the positive’. It all finished with a fun team photo in front of an evidently well-used blackboard – high symbolic value for the delegation!
The evening event was a small and intimate gathering of 2500 people at the High Commissioner’s residence. It was a rare opportunity for networking among the UK delegation, and a much larger group of the great and the good of the Delhi government and business community. I was especially pleased to be able to meet again with the Chief Executive of Atkins Engineering, Uwe Kruger (a recent distinguished lecturer at the University), as well as making new connections with Tim Cobbold, Chief Executive of De La Rue, with whom we are developing a research relationship.
There was a highly unauthorised and informal competition among the VCs as to who could meet the most unusual guest. I felt I had a strong claim on this in meeting the person responsible for India’s active programme to disrupt and prevent tiger poaching. Belinda Wright, Executive Director of the Wildlife Protection Agency of India, was an impressive and determined woman, continuing the battle against the effects of land encroachment and poaching on tiger habitat.
The evening finished with a relaxed and very informal dinner with Minister Willetts.
Homeward bound – part four
Wednesday morning was originally unscheduled time, but as usually happens on these visits, something is scheduled at late notice. On this occasion the PM led a group from the delegation on a visit to Amritsar.
I had already filled the time with a combination of meetings with university partners and media interviews. I was pleased to be able to meet with Dr Shireen Jejeebhoy of the Population Council of India and later, Professor Srinath Reddy, President of the Public Health Foundation of India. Both meetings were set up for me by Sabu Padmadas and both were thoroughly enjoyable, enabling me to both promote stronger working relationships with two important organisations in India. I also had the opportunity to learn more about the remarkable work these two impressive individuals were undertaking to tackle challenging public health issues in India, ranging from violence against women to responding to a rapidly emerging epidemic of diabetes. It also gave me a chance to talk about my personal interests in the relationship between education, literacy and health.
I then joined Martin Bean to speak to the Indian media about MOOCs and Futurelearn. There is no doubt that MOOCs have captured a lot of attention in India, tinged with some disbelief. We were consistently asked if the courses will be genuinely equivalent in content and learning experiences to courses available to students on campus (that is the goal), and genuinely free to access. Martin and I were able to offer some reassurance on these issues but were honest in admitting that there was also a great deal that we don’t yet understand about how MOOCs will work and what their long-term impact on conventional campus education will be. Only experimentation and time will enable us to answer these questions.
My morning finished with a surprising interview with the Times of India. I met with their Education correspondent Aaditi Isaac and was expecting to talk about the PM’s messages on visas, on academic partnerships with Indian universities, and MOOCs. In fact she told me she had “done her homework” on me and wanted to talk about public health challenges in India. It didn’t take too much encouragement for me to slip back into this role and to speak about the challenges facing India in addressing serious inequalities in health, and in access to the most basic health services in many parts of the country. It pays to be adaptable in these situations and I was able to regularly refer to the strengths of the University of Southampton in a wide range of public health disciplines across the University using some examples of work we are involved in India and relevant work in other countries.
Minutes later, I was on a coach to the airport and clearing security ready to head back to the UK. Once in the air the PM did one final tour of the plane, checking that we had achieved our objectives for the visit. In truth, it is an impossible question to answer for a Vice-Chancellor. I was not able to secure a valuable order for goods or services, but felt I had been able to contribute to advancing the interests of UK higher education, and had taken every opportunity to support our existing relationships in India, to create new partnerships, and more generally to raise the profile of the University of Southampton in India. Time will tell how effective this may have been.