India and France to Treat Academic Degrees Equivalent for Higher Studies and Jobs

On March 10, 2018, India and France signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to treat the academic degrees of 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. The mutual recognition of academic degrees/ education qualifications between 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 that government-to-government MoU has 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 at Knowledge Summit that 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 the French Government is aiming to enrol 10,000 Indian students by 2020.

At present, more than 5,000 Indian students are pursuing higher education in France, and about 1,500 French students are 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, the UG and PG programmes in India are of the same duration. However, B.Tech course 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 by Association of Indian Universities (AIU).