British Council as part of its Internationalising Higher Education (IHE) framework programme in Higher Education creates collaborative partnerships, promotes policy debates, supports internationalisation of student experience and provides authoritative independent analysis and advice on international higher education trends and opportunities.
Knowledge Economy Partnerships (KEP) is one of the key strands of IHE and this provides a platform and framework for the creation of long term sustainable partnerships between Indian and UK Higher Education institutions to build capacity and strengthen policy and practice of the HE sector to drive forward national economies.
British Council has initiated two such partnerships:
1. British Council’s partnership programme between the Madras Veterinary College Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University and The Royal Veterinary College, University of London on the Development and delivery of online e-courses for continuous professional development programmes in veterinary and animal sciences. This is a one year partnership programme.
Benefits of the programme
The development of e-learning courses, modern pedagogy and an online delivery platform provide a suite of courses leading to a joint qualification with a sustainable delivery model will benefit veterinarians in both parts of the world. The creation of an environment favouring life-long learning will primarily help the practicing veterinarians numbering around 55,000 in India alone to sharpen their skills or to learn a new skill. However, indirectly it will help the 69% of rural farmers, who depend on animals for their sustenance. Further, in the context of globalization with the exchange of people and materials between countries, the threat of trans boundary diseases is looming large over many nations including the European Union. Hence, continuous professional development programmes (CPD) programmes on tropical animal diseases delivered as e-learning courses will be timely, not only for the two partner nations but to the globe as a whole.
2. The other partnership programme being between The University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom and Christian Medical College, Vellore, India on the Development of the tools and the learning culture for a bespoke Family Medicine Distance Learning online programme model capable of being scaled up and rolled out widely. This is a one year partnership programme.
Benefits of the programme
Staff: The staff at CMC Vellore and partner institutions who will develop their capacity to deliver on-line Distance Learning teaching in a quality enhanced accessible way. Staff at University of Edinburgh will enhance their understanding of learning techniques across different cultures and geographical environments and gain a better understanding of how knowledge is interpreted from e platforms as well as becoming more knowledgeable about specific Indian health issues.
Students: Students undertaking the Masters programme: who will gain from the investment in interactive learning tools and the opportunity to learn while continuing to work
Patients: the ultimate goal of the KEP and the many initiatives working alongside this is for better, fairer and more equitable health outcomes for patients because the practitioners’ knowledge base, understanding, practical skills, awareness, diagnostic abilities, and communication, skills are framed within an holistic and continuous care professional paradigm learned from the MSc in General Practice.