India - Dedication to Innovation and Vocational Education

The tiger awakes - with an ambitious plan, India is seeking establish itself among the world's scientific leaders. By 2020, India will open 70 new institutes of higher education in an effort to increase the number of students and meet international standards. In addition, the research budget has been increased significantly. India is Germany's most important partner for scientific and technological cooperation (STC) in South Asia. Both countries can look back on 60 years of cooperation in the field of education and research.

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The German-Indian Research delegations with State Secretaries Thomas Rachel (front row, third from the left) and Dr. Thirumalachari Ramasami (front row, fourth from the left). ©Forschungszentrum JülichUnder the leadership of Parliamentary State Secretary of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research Thomas Rachel and the Indian Research State Secretary Dr. Thirumalachari Ramasami, the official German-Indian discussion on scientific and technological cooperation took place at the Research Centre Jülich in September 2012. Both State Secretaries provided an overview of developments in research policy of their respective countries.

Thomas Rachel: "India and Germany have been trusted partners for nearly forty years. We have attained strategic collaboration in research, development and education, which enables diverse forms of cooperation. This is an excellent result of trusting and forward-looking development upon which to build."

As part of the ninth gathering of the "Indian-German Committee for Science and Technology," it was decided that, for example, cooperation in innovation-oriented research should be advanced with the involvement of science and industry. New research focuses include security, innovation and energy. Further information can be found here.

Federal Minister Annette Schavan with the Minister for Labour and Employment Mallikarjun KhargeTogether with the Federal Chancellor, Federal Education Minister Schavan spent two days in India at the end of May 2011. There she met with her colleague, Indian Ministers for Labour, for Science and Technology, and for Human Resource Development. German-Indian cooperation in vocational education and training (BBZ) was central to the discussions. 

The Indian Federal Government has set a goal of providing vocational education and training for 500 million people by 2022. It is the expressed wish of the Indian Prime Minister to give top priority to the improvement and expansion of vocational training. An agreement establishing a German-Indian working group for vocational education and training under the leadership of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research was reached in 2007, when Germany's Federal Chancellor visited India together with Ms. Schavan.

The goal of the working group is to support the Indian Government in the implementation of its "National Skills Development Initiative," which aims to take the country's changing economic situation into account and to initiate a paradigm shift in terms of cooperative vocational training. One crucial change will be the inclusion of industry within training. In the future, vocational education is to become more relevant and oriented to the marketplace. Germany is considered an ideal partner in measures to reform India's vocational training system.

The German-Indian Working group has enabled a continuous dialogue on vocational training between German and India, while helping both countries acquire understanding of the other's system. Above all, the initiative has advanced the export of vocational training. Germany's iMOVE initiative (International Marketing of Vocational Training) supports a variety of stakeholders.

The Memorandum of Engagement between the iMOVE initiative and the National Skills Development Initiative is an important step on our continued joint path. Both are determined to work together in the funding of private sector initiatives, the establishment of Sector Skills Councils, and in the training of training staff. Financing for concrete measures is to be clarified on a case-by-case basis in the course of the "roadmap" development.

In addition, the iMOVE initiative plans to open an office in New Delhi in order to intensify marketing of "Training - Made in Germany" and to offer a contact point in India for German-Indian cooperation in vocational education, both in the public and private sectors.

Political Framework of the Scientific and Technological Cooperation (STC)

Increase collaboration in growing markets with countries that have a dynamic research environment is a goal of both the German Federal Government's High-Tech Strategy and the BMBF's Internationalization Strategy. The Federal Government supports cooperation with countries that are strongly expanding their research and development capacities and are therefore becoming attractive partners for Germany in its role as a high-tech leader. Germany and India are strategic partners, seeing great potential for cooperation in the area of education and research.

German-Indian STC relations are based on the 1971 Agreement on the Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy and Space, the 1974 Agreement on Cooperation in Scientific Research and Technological Development, as well as numerous individual agreements between the BMBF and various Indian Ministers. This includes various research institutions, intermediary organizations and universities active in India, which have also established individual agreements with Indian Ministers or research organizations.

Since 1996, the extent and aims of STC have been determined by the Indo-German Committee on Science and Technology, which is based on agreements that were made between the heads of government in 1988 and 1994. The 7th meeting took place in Jülich on 20 May 2008. The STC activities are run by the International Bureau of the BMBF.

Key Areas of Cooperation

Scientific and technological cooperation with India is categorized into three areas that complement each other:

• Student and scientist exchanges through the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (AvH), the German Research Association (DFG), and other organizations. This is fertile ground for future projects and long-term collaborations, including campaigns that form part of the "Hi Potentials" project and the programme "A New Passage to India."
• Joint research projects in the specialized programmes of the BMBF and the DFG, as well as projects within the context of the Indo-German Science and Technology Centre (IGSTC).
• Mobility projects run by the BMBF International Office and DAAD ("Project-based Personnel-exchange Programme" or PPP) for the initiation and preparation of joint research projects: workshops, conferences, and reciprocal visits of specialist delegations.

Approximately 50 BMBF mobility measures are currently in place, providing support to about 75 Indian scientists and engineers every year who come to work at German universities and research institutions, and enabling approximately 75 German scientists to travel to India. In addition to the mobility measures, approximately 15 individual visits and 2-4 bilaterally financed workshops are supported every year.

According to the decisions made at the last meeting of the committee, the key areas of scientific and technological cooperation are:

• Biotechnology
• Health research
• Information technology
• Environmental research
• Sustainability research
• Materials research
• Space research, technology and applications
• Production technology
• Disaster and security research