Memorandum of Understanding between India and Afghanistan in the field of human resource development
No: --- Dated: Dec, 17 2018
The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi today has given its approval for signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between India and Afghanistan on cooperation in the field of Human Resource Development.
The MoU would facilitate students and faculty of Educational Institutions in Afghanistan to register and use the SWAYAM Courses. Also, it would facilitate them to upload on SWAYAM, the courses developed in Afghanistan. The required training to students and faculty from Afghanistan would be imparted by MHRD, Government of India.
Through this MoU, Government of India would provide access and share the technology of other major ICT Initiatives in Education such as National Digital Library of India (NDLI), Virtual Labs, Spoken Tutorials. It is also proposed to establish Joint Master Degree Programmes between Indian and Afghanistan Universities / Institutions. MHRD would assist the Ministry of Higher Education, Afghanistan in the areas of Curriculum Development and Capacity Development of Teaching Staff.
Through this MoU, both the countries agree to sign an agreement on mutual recognition of academic qualifications. This is expected to promote student mobility under Study in India program, by attracting more foreign students to come and study in Afghan Institutions.
This MoU would be a significant mile-stone in the collaboration between two countries in education sector.
Background:
India and Afghanistan have strong diplomatic relations in various areas including education. To strengthen this further, both the countries have decided to cooperate in the field of Human Resource Development by signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).
Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), Government of India has taken up number of technology enabled learning initiatives under National Mission on Education through ICT (NMEICT). SWAYAM, India's own MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) platform is one such major initiative, which offers various online courses prepared by the best faculty from across the country. Till date, more than 35 Lakhs students have enrolled in about 2000 courses that have been offered through SWAYAM. This includes courses from Class 9th to Post-Graduation and also for lifelong learning. The students can avail credit transfer upto 20 % for the courses done through SWAYAM. Also, this platform is being used to provide Annual Refresher courses for higher education faculty.
Courtesy – Press Information Bureau, Government of India