Katrina Pyne, Staff Contributor
With the year of India fast approaching, Tom Traves, President of Dalhousie University, and 14 other university professors made it to the other side of the world to promote relations between Canadian and Indian universities.
The largest delegation of university professors ever to travel abroad left for seven days on Nov. 8 for New Delhi, making quite a splash across the pond.
India has a massively young population: over half of the population of India is under 25 years old. Currently they have 12 million students in universities, and that number is expected to grow to 15 million over the next decade.
“There’s no way India will be able to serve that demand,” says Traves, “so increasingly those who have the means are going abroad for education.”
Traves hopes they will consider Dalhousie.
The seven day trip to India was organized by the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada, (AUCC). Part of the AUCC’s mandate is to encourage the cooperation among universities and governments in other countries.
Traves met with university leaders from Indian institutions that Dalhousie has an interest in developing closer relations with. This will include sharing research projects, creating study-abroad opportunities, faculty exchanges, and providing scholarships.
“I think it would be an incredible opportunity for a student to go abroad to a developing country like India,” says Rebecca Best, a student of International Development Studies at Dalhousie. “India is a unique example of one outcome of colonialism. I would definitely consider going there.”
Currently there is a bill before the Indian parliament to allow foreign universities to establish in India. However, Traves says that Dalhousie is not looking to establish a foreign campus there.
“It’s a huge commitment for Dalhousie to operate one, and because of the distance we would have very limited control on the quality of what’s going on,” says Traves. “I don’t see any great advantage in that for us.”
Right now Dalhousie has students from 140 different countries, and 180 students from India.
Dal is definitely looking to attract students from India. However Traves says Dalhousie doesn’t want to be too ambitious. If Dal were too dependent on students from one foreign country, any changes in that countries government policy would undermine our enrollment stability.
On the other hand, attracting Indian students to Dalhousie would increase enrollment competition that would mean more and better students attending the school.
Stephen Harper and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh recently signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in higher education. It was hoped that this would facilitate partnerships between the two countries.
“You don’t have to be global theorist to see that countries like India, China and Brazil are going to be important in the future,” says Traves.
Home from his first trip to India, Traves says the chance to study abroad would great for Dalhousie students who have an interest in developing countries.
“It would be a life changing experience, and I really want to create that opportunity for Dalhousie students,” says Traves.
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