College Board’s 2nd Annual India Global Higher Education Forum Held in Delhi

At the College Board’s 2nd annual India Global Higher Education Alliance Forum, leaders from the Alliance’s member universities from India, US, UK, Canada, Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore gathered with prominent experts from the World Bank, Brookings India, secondary school leaders and NGOs to discuss how to advance access, inclusion, and excellence in higher education in India.

Leaders held a wide-ranging roundtable on internationalization and innovation in Indian higher education. Francisco Marmolejo, the global lead for tertiary education at the World Bank, moderated a discussion where he probed ways to ensure India connects to the world and retains its soul in the process. Marmolejo reminded the audience that the global aspirations of Indian higher education should be strongly rooted in local social agendas.

Dr. Shamika Ravi, director of research at Brookings India, argued that there is an acute skills gap between current graduates and gainful employment in India. She posited that a continued liberalization of the education sector would both help meet post-secondary training demands and serve as an incubator of academic research.

Jeremy Singer, president of the College Board, reiterated the College Board’s strong commitment to ensuring access to high-quality higher education in India. Singer moderated a panel on expanding access to and enhancing excellence in Indian higher education. Panelists addressed common challenges among diversifying the students on India’s campuses, with a focus on supports needed to foster the success of lower-income and rural applicants.

This powerful and passionate discussion laid the foundation for members of the India Global Higher Education Alliance to begin developing concrete actions that Alliance members can take as individual institutions and as a collective consortium to improve the transition from secondary to higher education in India.

The College Board also announced that an additional eight Indian universities, as well as a 9th Affiliate Member, Yale-NUS College in Singapore, have joined the Alliance.

Alliance members in India accept the SAT exam from students within India as well as international applicants as a part of their admissions process.

The eight new Indian institutions are:

• Jain University
• Jai Hind College (University of Mumbai)
• Plaksha University
• SASTRA (Deemed University)
• Shoolini University
• Symbiosis International (Deemed University)
• University of Petroleum and Energy Science (UPES)
• Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT)

Yale-NUS College also joined as an Affiliate Member, adding a joint American-Singaporean perspective to the dialogue on the transition from secondary to higher education through a global lens.

Alliance members from India include: 

• Ahmedabad University
• Anant National University
• Ashoka University 
• Azim Premji University 
• Bennett University 
• BML Munjal University 
• FLAME University 
• Gandhi Institute of Management and Technology (GITAM)
• GD Goenka University  
• Jai Hind College (University of Mumbai)
• Jain University
• Krea University
• Manav Rachna University 
• Manipal Academy of Higher Education 
• M.S. Ramaiah University for Applied Science
• NMIMS 
• O.P. Jindal Global University
• Plaksha University
• SASTRA (Deemed University)
• Shiv Nadar University
• Shoolini University
• Sri Sri University
• Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology 
• SRM Institute of Science and Technology 
• SRM University, AP, -Amaravati
• SRM University Delhi-NCR, Sonepat
• Symbiosis International (Deemed University)
• University of Petroleum and Energy Science (UPES)
• Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT)
• World University of Design

Affiliate members from around the world include: 

• Columbia University (USA)
• MIT (USA)
• Pomona College (USA)
• Purdue University (USA)
• McGill University (Canada) 
• University of Cambridge (UK) 
• University of Hong Kong (HK) 
• University of Melbourne (Australia)
• Yale-NUS College (Singapore)