INDIA, MALAYSIA SET UP TASK FORCE ON HIGHER EDUCATION

KUALA LUMPUR, June 18 (Bernama) -- India and Malaysia have decided to set up
a task force to address all issues on higher education between the two
countries, India's Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal said
Thursday.

He said the task force would present a report within three months to the
ministers in charge of higher education of India and Malaysia for them to decide
on the next course of action.

The Indian minister said the issues to be taken up by the task force
included those related to the recognition of medical degrees.

"The idea behind this (task force) ... we would like a free flow of students
from one system to another ... from one educational institution to another
between India and Malaysia," he told reporters after opening a seminar on "Open
and Distance Learning: Bridging the Knowledge Divide" at the Asia e University
(AeU), here.

Kapil Sibal said any impediment on the development of higher education
between India and Malaysia would be addressed by the task force by exploring
possible solutions.

"A range of issues ... how to settle it ... to resolve it. This is something
for the task force to recommend to us," said Kapil Sibal, whose portfolio covers
primary, secondary and tertiary education and vocational training as well as
human capital development.

Kapil Sibal said India, with about 350 universities and 20,000 colleges, was
already an educational hub while Malaysia too was aiming to be an educational
hub and was now attracting students from many countries.

"We would like to take benefit of this open-door policy of Malaysia and hope
to bring in institutes here and at the same time explore the possibility of
having foreign universities in India," he said.

On his meeting with Human Resources Minister Dr S. Subramaniam Wednesday,
Kapil Sibal said India and Malaysia had decided to set up a working group to
explore possible collaboration in the areas of skills development and vocational
training.

He said Malaysia had tremendous experience in these two areas of human
resource development and India would like to learn from Malaysia.

Meanwhile, in a separate function at the same venue, Kapil Sibal performed
the soft launch of the first "India Education Fair 2009" to be held at the Mid
Valley Mega Mall here on June 20 and 21.
-- BERNAMA