Union Minister for Education Shri Dharmendra Pradhan today met with a high-level delegation led by Mr. Ronald J. Daniels, President, Johns Hopkins University (JHU), Baltimore, Maryland, USA. The delegation also included officials from Gupta Klinsky India Institute (GKII), an internal unit of JHU with a mandate to bring the JHU community with Indian partners through research, education, policy and practice.

Secretary, Higher Education, Shri K. Sanjay Murthy; senior officials of the Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education and Ministry of External Affairs attended the meeting.

Shri Pradhan highlighted the transformative opportunities enabled by the National Education Policy 2020 (NEP 2020), which has paved the way for academic collaborations and advancing India’s education sector. Shri Pradhan appreciated the university’s commitment towards building robust partnerships with Indian HEIs, contributing to the global exchange of knowledge, particularly in the areas of dual and joint degree programmes, two-way mobility of students and faculty, and research partnerships in emerging fields like data science, artificial intelligence, and futuristic technologies. He emphasised the potential for these collaborations to foster innovation and entrepreneurship among students in both nations.

The discussion centred on strengthening academic and research collaborations between JHU and premier Indian Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). The delegation actively discussed establishing an offshore JHU campus in India.

The visit by Mr. Daniels and the delegation highlights the growing significance of India-US educational cooperation. As part of their multi-city tour of India, the delegation will visit various Indian university campuses and engage with key government officials, academic leaders, and embassy representatives to strengthen JHU’s operations in India and advance the internationalisation efforts.

The 12-member delegation included distinguished academicians and administrators such as Fritz W. Schroeder, Senior Vice President for Development and Alumni Relations; Alexander Triantis, Dean of the Carey Business School; Judd Walson, Chair of the Department of International Health at the Bloomberg School; Sridevi Sarma, Vice Dean of Graduate Education at the Whiting School of Engineering; Jon Goldstein, Senior Associate Director of Development for International Programs; and Amita Gupta, Director of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Johns Hopkins University and Co-Founder of the Gupta-Klinsky India Institute (GKII).

Prominent Indian-origin faculty from JHU, such as Mathuram Santosham, Professor of Paediatrics and International Health, and Chirag Parikh, Professor of Medicine and Director of the Division of Nephrology, also participated. The delegation further included GKII officials and members of its advisory board, including Raj and Kamla Gupta, Deepak Raj, Kunal Pal, and Neetisha Besra.

*****

SS/AK