US designs one-year master's programme for Indian students in line with education policy NEP

The United States (US) State Department has curated an educational programme that is in line with India's New Education Policy (NEP). The new programme will allow Indian students to pursue aone-year professional master's degree with an industrial specialisation in American universities.

The programme has been developed byAkhilesh Lakhtakia, a Jefferson Science Fellow at the State Department’s South and Central Asia (SCA) bureau.Lakhtakia was roped in fromPenn State University where he was serving as aprofessor of engineering science and mechanics to study India's NEP. The State Department wanted him to come up with a programme that is beneficial to the students, governments as well universities of the two countries.

The courses are currently confined toscience, technology, engineering and math (STEM) disciplines and will start beginning the fall semester of 2024. Specialised courses onwireless technology, artificial intelligence (AI) applications, quantum engineering,5G and 7G communication systems,semiconductor processing, nano-technology, and photonics among others are currently being offered.

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With the State Department acting as a facilitator, over 20 American and 25 Indian universities are in discussion to take advantage of the initiative.

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Notably, once the course is completed, students will be eligible to stay in the US for up to three years, as per current visa rules. The move is intended to allow them to gainwork experience in industry and repay student loans.

“What was proposed was very much to my liking. It is student-centred, flexible, multidisciplinary, futuristic, and international. If this can be implemented, it will simply revolutionise school and higher education,"Lakhtakia was quoted as saying by Hindustan Times.

"The State Department brought me in to understand how, in line with NEP, the two countries can work together. The objective was to create a win-win, but in my mind, my client was the Indian student,” he added.

Win-win situation

The starting of the courses is a win-win situation for the State Department and the Commerce Department. While the former will be able to deepen people-to-people linkages and enhance soft power, the latter will see more revenue generation as foreign students arrive on the US shores.

Since the skilled and cream of the crop will be pursuing these highly specialised one-year courses, they will be able to contribute to the American economy in an active way straightway.

Explaining the decision,Lakhtakia said:“A usual master’s degree in the US is for two years. But we thought that over 12 months, students can get a master’s degree with 30 credits. The idea is also to have a strong experimental component so that graduates when they go into industry, can become effective fairly quickly.”

(With inputs from agencies)

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