India and France to Treat Academic Degrees Equivalent for Higher Studies and Jobs
- India and France agreed to treat each other's academic degrees equivalent for higher studies and jobs.
- Medicine and law degrees will not be covered under the Memorandum of Understanding.
On March 10, 2018,IndiaandFrancesigned Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to treat theacademic degreesof both the countries equivalent to take up higher studies and jobs. It is the initiative of first-of-its-kind to facilitate the mobility of students between India and France.
Union HRD Minister, Mr. Prakash Javadekar termed the agreement as historic and significant. Themutual recognition of academic degrees/ education qualificationsbetween the two countries is a premier step in promoting higher education. However, the MoU is not applicable to medicine and law degrees, he clarified.
Expressing his happiness, Mr. Javadekar pointed thatgovernment-to-government MoUhas been signed for the first time to recognise academic qualifications/ degrees. Earlier, there were only bilateral agreements between the institutes, and the new agreement between India and France will be highly helpful and beneficial to students, he added.
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The agreement between India and France was signed atKnowledge Summitthat took place in New Delhi last week. French Minister of Higher Education, Research and Innovation, Frederique Vidal, attended the summit. Addressing the gathering, Vidal revealed that theFrench Government is aiming to enrol 10,000 Indian students by 2020.
At present, more than 5,000Indian studentsare pursuing higher education in France, and about 1,500French studentsare studying in India. The Government of India will soon launch a unique initiative ‘Study in India’ to attract more students from abroad.
So far, India has not signed such academic agreements with any country due to variations in the duration of academic programmes offered by host institutes abroad. Only India and France are able to reach a consensus despite the difference in the duration of academic programmes. For instance, school education in India is 13 years whereas it is 12 years in France. On the other hand, theUG and PG programmesin India are of the same duration. However,B.Techcourse in India is four years, while it is only three years in France.
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As per the new agreement between the two countries, the academic degrees of students returning from France will automatically be recognised by the Indian government, and they will not have to seek the Certificate on Equivalence issued byAssociation of Indian Universities (AIU).