Education in India

Indian teachers in Florida get their visa extensions and are back to teaching

says a TCPalm.com report,

On Tuesday, the U.S. State Department completed processing the visas for the Indian teachers, about a week after approving extending the visas to June 15 so the teachers can finish the school year. FAU created the exchange/internship program to help the district fill vacancies for experienced math, science and special education teachers. Besides Dan McCarty, the teachers were placed at Southport Middle School, Treasure Coast High School, Oak Hammock K-8, Allapattah Flats K-8 and Samuel S. Gaines Academy.

Dan McCarty's staff greeted the teachers' return with a mini party of hugs, cheers, coffee and doughnuts. "Our family is united again," said principal Kerry Padrick, who in addition to Rangaraj, welcomed back three other teachers — Kamesh Senthamilselvan, Anggayarukanyee Subramaniam and Durai Sathanan. Student Karen Duran, 13, was looking forward to her afternoon science class with Rangaraj. "I'm really glad she's back because she's really nice and gives good advice," she said.

....

At Tuesday's school board meeting, Superintendent Michael Lannon said the district's human resources officials are looking at options to pay the teachers for the missed work. Also, he said staff is working to keep the teachers here past June 15 to fulfill a promise an outside party made to the teachers when recruited that they would automatically be allowed to stay in the U.S. for a number of years once hired full time by the district.

The same report also provides a timeline of what happened when.

TIMELINE

May and June 2007: St. Lucie County School District partners with Florida Atlantic University in a teacher exchange program that brings 17 teachers from India to teach in math, science and special education.

Late July: The 17 Indian teachers arrive in Florida.

Late July or early August: Indian teachers attend a school district orientation addressing district policies, procedures, programs.

Aug. 20: First day of school for St. Lucie County Schools.

Oct. 26: The International Committee of the College of Education at FAU decide not to renew the program for next school year because the program is too "labor intensive."

November: FAU officials learn of a problem with visas issued to Indian teachers. Also, during this time, the school district conducts its own evaluation and hires 16 of the 17 teachers for the remainder of the school year.

Jan. 24 2008: U.S. State Department sends FAU a letter reprimanding the university for paying the teachers low pay and calls the visa problem an "egregious misuse" of FAU's privilege.

Feb. 8 or 9: Visas expire for the teachers, and they are barred from their classrooms, forcing school district officials to hire substitute teachers.

Feb. 19: State Department receives paperwork to extend the visas until June 15, the end of the current school year.

Feb. 26: State Department completes processing of the visas and extensions and FAU and district officials receive visas.

Feb. 27: Indian teachers return to their classrooms.

In earlier posts, I had described the issues faced by the Indian teachers in Florida and their students, as well as the visa problems.

More on the travails of Indian teachers in Florida

It turns out that the 16 Indian math and science teachers, most from Tamil Nadu, now teaching in schools in Florida, USA, have been having a very rough ride. According to a news report, the Indian teachers in Florida schools are being paid as little as $50 per day, which works out to just about Florida's minimum wageof $6.79 per hour , assuming a 7 hour day.

Aside from a few minor cultural differences, the program seemed fine. School administrators, faculty, students and their parents quickly adjusted to different teaching styles. Many students found their new teachers inspiring. Math and science became fun, they said. While it was the St. Lucie School District that employed and paid the teachers, Florida Atlantic University initiated the program last summer and handled the visa paperwork through its International Office.

....

I'm told this mess may all boil down to a clerical error in the type of visa that was applied for. Both Lannon and FAU's Aloia say they are "cautiously optimistic" that Washington can fix the problem and the teachers will be able return to St. Lucie classrooms. We pay substitute teachers $70 a day to be babysitters; we paid highly qualified, excellent Indian teachers $50 a day. That's no way to treat anyone, wherever they're from.

The U.S. State Department has come down hard on Florida Atlantic University (FAU), who had organised for the Indian teachers to come and teach in Florida's schools. FAU seems to have goofed up not just in terms of the clerical error in the visas, but also in paying the Indian teachers on par with local teachers.

The State Department has blasted Florida Atlantic University for raising the specter of "servitude" by recruiting experienced Indian teachers for public schools and paying them "poverty" wages while the college accepted money to administer the program. Under an internship contract between FAU and the school district, the 16 teachers - all of whom have master's degrees and multiple years of experience - were to be paid as interns for the first half of the year and receive a regular teacher's salary the second half. The school district paid the normal salary rate the first half of the year but gave the Indian teachers only $5,000 of that amount and sent the remainder to FAU to administer the program, said Susan Ranew, a St. Lucie schools human resources official.

It's unclear how much FAU earned under the pilot program, but a teacher with a master's degree and three years' experience would earn $38,700 a year, or $19,350 per semester, Ranew said. An Indian teacher with those credentials would have earned $5,000 last semester and FAU would have received the difference of $14,350, Ranew said. If that number were representative of all 16 teachers, it means FAU could have earned $229,600 under the pilot program.

FAU President Frank Brogan said the money was used to hire mentors for each teacher, host an orientation session in India and help the teachers find housing and transportation.
"We've lost money in the program," Brogan said. "It has turned out to be incredibly expensive to administer because of the additional time and costs of getting people settled in a foreign country."

The State Department said there has been an "egregious misuse of the university's privileges" as a sponsor of the Exchange Visitor Program and said it places the department in a potential "state of notoriety and disrepute." "To pay the master's level-educated teachers with three to five years' experience a wage at or below poverty level may be interpreted by some as a form of peonage or servitude imposed upon foreign nationals by a State Department-designated sponsor," Stanley Colvin of the department's Office of Exchange Designation and Coordination wrote FAU on Jan. 24.

Brogan said the Indian teachers were aware of the salary when they agreed to participate and are paid the same as U.S. teaching interns. In a sharply worded letter sent to FAU last month, the State Department's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs chastised FAU for recruiting teachers under a short-term scholars program designed only to allow foreign students to study up to six months at FAU.

...

Brogan on Friday acknowledged that an FAU employee mistakenly applied for teaching visas under the student program but denied treating the teachers as servants or profiting from it. The international pilot program was modeled after a successful one that has involved U.S. teaching interns since 2002. The foreign-exchange program has proven so costly, Brogan said, FAU decided in October not to renew it for a second year.

"It's a great, innovative ideal to bring them over here," Brogan said. "There's no question the error in the visa assignment was ours, and it has caused a great deal of difficulty with these 16 fine people and their students. We're hoping to get word any moment that they'll get to stay the rest of the school year."

There has been nothing and all so far in the Indian press about this issue. Even the local press in Florida have been looking at it entirely from the point of view of the Florida school system and the State Department. There's no viewpoint of the Indian teachers caught in the midst of all the finger-pointing between FAU, the school district and the State Department. There's no mention either of the role of MERIT, the Indian agency involved in sourcing the teachers for FAU. But the hosts have been trying their best to help the Indian teachers through the trying times, starting from the local Congressman, down to the teachers, staff and officials.

U.S. Rep. Tim Mahoney said another concern he had was the $5,000 total stipend teachers received for their first semester of pay. "I just wanted to make sure that the foreign nationals weren't being taken advantage of and they were treated the same as other teachers in the district," he said.

The pay, which FAU provided to the district, was set in a contract and is the same amount given to FAU education students interning at the district, said Sue Ranew, district's assistant superintendent of human resources. Participants in both programs are treated as interns and teach for one semester in the district. If participants are successful, they are hired as full-time teachers, with benefits and union membership.

Ranew said district's teachers, staff and officials realized the financial hardship the Indian teachers were in and helped them out. "We gave them gift cards and furniture," she said. "We sent out an e-mail district wide with things the teacher needed and asked staff to donate."

In January, the Indian teachers began earning regular teacher salaries with benefits and union membership. And on Friday the teachers received a paycheck from work previously completed, Ranew said.

Also see the earlier post on the problems faced by these Indian teachers.

Indian math and science teachers teaching in schools in Florida

The Merit India Teacher Program organised by Madras Education and Research Integrated Trust (MERIT) and Florida Atlantic University, inviting Indian math and science teachers to teach in Florida's schools has run into heavy weather. A news report last October pointed to some teething troubles with the accents of the Indian teachers.

Durai Sathanan - "Mr. Durai," as he is known to his Dan McCarty Middle School students - is one of 17 teachers from India who began teaching in the St. Lucie County School District this fall as part of the Merit India Teacher program with Florida Atlantic University. The purpose of the program is to help school districts in the state fill vacancies for experienced math and science teachers, said FAU professor Rangasamy Ramasamy, the program's coordinator.

...

This is the first year of the program, which started with a test run last year with one teacher, who was placed at Fort Pierce Westwood High School. And in the inaugural year, there have been some growing pains as students adjust to teachers' accents. Parent Ron Arold's daughter attends Southport Middle School and can't understand her Indian science teacher. And since the start of the year, he has watched her grades drop from A's to F's.

He said after many meetings with school officials, his daughter was transferred to another class. "I'm not prejudiced or anything, but my child is failing and I have to do something," Arold said. "I'm happy that someone comes here and tries to make good for themselves."

Now it seems, the Indian teachers are having trouble with their visas.

U.S. Rep. Tim Mahoney is working with the U.S. State Department to help to resolve the visa mishap that resulted in 16 teachers from India being removed from their classrooms on Feb. 8. "We're in contact with (the State Department) and awaiting final word as to whether the teachers will be allowed to stay through the end of the school year. I will continue working with the Department of State, St. Lucie County and (Florida Atlantic University) to ensure that students do not suffer by losing their teachers," Mahoney said in an e-mail sent Friday morning.

School District and FAU officials said they have not heard whether the visa problem had been resolved.

The problem occurred when the teachers were hired in August and were given the wrong type of short-term visas - ones that did not allow extension requests. FAU officials learned of the problem in late November and have been working with the State Department since December to resolve the issue. The visas expired Feb. 9 and officials have 30 days until March 9 to get the teachers new visas or they could be deported.

District officials have been using substitute teachers at $70 a day to fill in since the teachers were removed from their classrooms.

An earlier report had stated that the program has been cancelled for next fall.

A controversial pilot program to use teachers from India in St. Lucie County schools will not be returning in the fall, officials said Wednesday. Florida Atlantic University decided in October to cancel the program, which placed 17 teachers from India in St. Lucie County public schools this year because it became too "labor intensive," said Gregory Aloia, dean of the FAU College of Education, which oversees the program.

College of Education officials were responsible for helping the teachers find housing and transportation - issues they weren't prepared to handle. "The level of effort and the energy required to keep the program up and running, (a College of Education committee) felt it would not be consistent with the mission of the College of Education to get involved with this kind of international recruitment and training of teachers," Aloia said.

The purpose of the program was to help school districts fill vacancies for experienced math and science teachers. Teachers in the program all have master's degrees and tested proficient in speaking English. Parents have been critical of the program because some students were having trouble understanding their teachers. Southport Middle School parent Laura Ostashev on Monday said she saw her son's math grades fall from A's and B's to D's and F's and he is now being tutored. "Everyone deserves a chance but not at the expense of my son's education," she said.

...

Without the program continuing in the fall, district officials will have to find more teachers to fill an existing teacher shortage.

Questions have also been raised on whether the Indian teachers were paid fairly.

But Mahoney said he was concerned that the teachers, who were brought to St. Lucie County to help fill needed public school positions in math, science and special education, may not have been adequately paid. While weighing in on the teachers' behalf, Mahoney's office learned of a Jan. 24 letter sent by the State Department to Florida Atlantic University questioning the teachers' compensation.

FAU brought the teachers to the United States in August and placed them in six St. Lucie schools, including Treasure Coast High, Southport Middle and Dan McCarty Middle. They were paid about $5,000 each for the first half of the year and started earning a regular teaching salary in January, said Susan Ranew, the school district's assistant superintendent of human resources.

Mahoney said he raised the compensation issue in a telephone call Thursday with FAU President Frank Brogan, stressing that the university must pay the Indian teachers the same rate as American teachers at the same job level. "It's vital to make sure that people are not inadvertently being taken advantage of," Mahoney said he told Brogan. "I got every assurance from President Brogan that they were being treated the same as any other American student teacher." Mahoney said he planned to talk to Brogan about the matter again today.

Mahoney's office was not the only one that leapt to the teachers' aid. The offices of Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., and Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Miramar, also were involved, although Mahoney's office spearheaded the effort.

The Indian teachers have been on unpaid leave since Friday because of a problem with their visas, which expired Feb. 9. People with expired visas have 30 days to voluntarily leave the country. If they overstay their visas, they could face difficulty if they seek readmission. FAU recruited the teachers, all of whom have master's degrees and multiple years of experience, as part of a pilot program to fill much-needed school positions.

...

Of the 17 teachers who arrived in St. Lucie in August, 16 were asked to stay when their probationary period ended in January, Ranew said.

I had written earlier about Indian teachers going abroad to teach. While the teacher shortage in Amercia is an opportunity for Indian teachers to go and teach in USA, they will need to overcome the challenges of accent and adjusting to a different culture and society as well.

Foreign Direct Investment allowed in education in India: Questions in the Lok Sabha

LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO 11 (answered on March 01, 2005)

11. SHRI GURUDAS DAS GUPTA, SAMBASIVA RAYAPATI RAO

Will the Minister of HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:-

(a) whether the Government is considering a proposal for allowing foreign investments in the field of higher education;

(b) if so, the details thereof;

(c) whether the Government had had a detailed consultations with all stake holders before taking any final decision in the matter; and

(d) if so, the details thereof?

ANSWER

MINISTER OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT (SHRI ARJUN SINGH)

(a) & (b): Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in education, including higher education, is already being allowed under the automatic route, without any sectoral cap, since February, 2000, vide Order No.7(4)/2000-IP dated 11 February, 2000, issued by the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion.

(c) & (d): Do not arise.

A subsequent question on the same issue - LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO 11 was answered on February 21, 2006.

303. SHRI ANANTRAO GUDHE, M. APPADURAI

Will the Minister of HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:-

(a) whether the Government has decided to permit Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in education sector, particularly elementary and primary education;

(b) if so, the details thereof;

(c) the details of the FDI proposals approved and the proposals which are at an advanced stage of approval;

(d) whether any policy guidelines have been formulated in this regard;

(e) if so, the details thereof; and

(f) the extent to which FDI is likely to improve the education sector?

ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT (SMT. D. PURANDESWARI)

(a) & (b): There is no separate sectoral policy notified for education sector. By virtue of Press Note 2(2000 Series), FDI up to 100% is allowed on automatic route in the Education Sector. In the recent review of policy notified vide Press Note 4 (2006 Series) there is no change in the policy for education sector. In addition, as indicated in the same Press Note No.2(2000 series), the investor may choose to make an application direct to the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) without availing the automatic route.

(c):Information is being collected and will be laid on the table of the House.

I wonder if details of the FDI proposals approved and the proposals at an advanced stage of approval have already been laid on the table of the House. Should be interesting to see what this reveals.

(d): No, Sir.

(e): Does not arise.

(f): Experience with FDI in education is recent and no serious analysis has been made of the data available.

India as an education destination

Two unconnected reports point to efforts to promote India as an education destination. Both the state and the private sector seem to be working at it.

The Indian Government has set up a "Scholarship Programme for Diaspora Children" (SPDC) to study in higher and technical institutions in India. I'm not sure if this is just an attempt by the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA) to be seen as doing something for the diaspora or if there's more to this. But this may end up being a good marketing exercise to export education (via mode 2 - consumption abroad - according to GATS terminology for trade in services) by promoting India as an education destination for foreign students. If diaspora students start coming to India for education, their foreign classmates too might be tempted to consider the option.

The Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs web site has more details on the SPDC.

The Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs, Government of India has introduced Scholarship Programme for Diaspora Children (SPDC) to study in Higher and Technical Institutions in India. Educational Consultants India Limited (Ed.CIL), a Government of India Enterprise, has been designated as the Nodal Agency for implementation of the SPDC.

Assistance on Merit basis, is provided to the children of Diaspora [Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs) and Non-Resident Indians (NRIs)] under the Scholarship Programme for Diaspora Children (SPDC) to study in Higher and Technical Institutions in India for the academic year 2006-2007.

This SPDC is applicable for undergraduate programmes for Professional and General courses (except Medical and other related courses). Assistance provided will comprise of financial assistance primarily towards tuition fee, admission in select institution and courses, post admission services as mentioned herein after. The scheme is applicable to 23 no. of select countries, having concentration of Indian Diaspora. The list of countries, where it is applicable is appended at Appendix-A. For the purpose of this scheme, Indian Diaspora shall comprise of PIOs and NRIs, as per Appendix-B.

The program is open to students from Bahrain, Fiji, Guyana, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Jamaica, Kenya, Kuwait, Malaysia, Myanmar, Oman, Qatar, Reunion Island, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, Surinam, Tanzania, Thailand, Trinidad, Tobago, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen.

Short-listing and Selection Process will be based on Common Written Examination, which will be held on Sunday 30th April 2006 in the respective countries. The venue and timings of the examination shall be informed to individual candidate by email or through Indian
Missions in their respective countries.

Financial Assistance

First year of study: Full/Partial assistance towards Institutional Fee i.e. Tuition fee, Hostel fee and other institutional charges etc. limited to US$ 1800 per annum.
Second and subsequent year of studies: Full/Partial assistance towards Institutional Fee i.e. Tuition fee, Hostel fee and other institutional charges etc. limited to US$ 1800 per annum.

No other financial assistance whatsoever shall be provided. Please note that the total expenditure likely to be incurred for pursuing various courses of study may be higher than the above assistance provided. The expenses in excess of assistance above shall have to be
borne by the Candidate or his/her parents/guardians.

Interestingly, diaspora children from North America or Europe aren't covered - nor are those from various other countries in Africa and Asia, except those mentioned. Top Indian Institutions like the IITs are not part of this scheme either. The various other colleges and universities that are part of the SPDC are listed in the official notification as are the tentative costs of education in various colleges and universities which range from about $2,000 per year to $8,200 per year (in Vellore Institute of Technology). While a news report in the Times of India claims that only 100 students will be provided scholarships, the notification on the MOIA web site doesn't seem to mention any such number.

On a completely unconnected front, private sector schools in India are marketing themselves to NRI parents as high-quality, but cost-effective education options for their children. The cost differential is very attractive, just like the differential in medical costs.

Amit Roy writes in The Telegraph (April 09, 2006)

There is a wonderful symmetry in the following: The headmaster of a public school in England has been in India, urging parents to send their children to his school in the UK. Meanwhile, the headmaster of a public school in India has been advising Indian parents in England to send their British-born sons to his establishment.

The first is Peter Armstrong, headmaster of Worth School in West Sussex, who has toured Bangalore and Calcutta with his cricket team and found time to meet prospective parents. The second is Nirmal Kumar Tewari, headmaster of the Scindia School in Gwalior, who already has two British Asian boys — and would like many more among his flock of 600, aged 11 to 18.

Perhaps the time has come for some British Indian parents to consider “outsourcing” their children to the top public schools in India which are run very much on the pattern of Eton or Harrow. It is an option worth considering seriously if the choice is between a poorly performing state school in Britain — and some inner city comprehensives do struggle badly — and a high achieving public school in India.

Back in Britain, sending a child to most well known boarding schools would cost, at least, £20,000 a year. “It’s much cheaper here,” says Tewari, whose school, founded in 1897 by the Scindia royal family, seemed to me to be as good as most schools in England. While boys from India pay Rs 200,000 a year, the fees for Indians from the UK doubled two years ago to Rs 400,000 a year. “That’s still only about £5,000 a year.”

Tewari wants British Asian parents to visit the school if they are interested in sending their sons to Scindia, even if it is for a couple of years. “If you send them here, we can guarantee a good education.”

Writing in The Daily Telegraph (May 01, 2006), Amit Roy adds a bit more.

[Mr. Tewari] has a clutch of boys from abroad, including two from Britain, but he would like the latter number to grow. He says that with the rigorous academic education they receive, they would sail through their GCSEs and A-Levels, which they can sit at Scindia. "I send more than 20 to 25 students every year on exchanges to countries outside India," said Mr Tewari, whose school has exchange schemes with, among others, Westminster, Ellesmere College, Woodbridge, Oswestry, Wellington and Eton.

"One common thing I find, when we get the reports from them, they say, 'All your kids are exceptionally good at mathematics; they don't need calculators and they have a very strong scientific base.' We get that feedback even for students who are not specialising in science."

Once, the school restricted entry to princes but that was changed by a British headmaster. "His name was F G Pearce. He felt if schools here copied British public schools, it may not work. He wanted to bring some Indian value into it." Today, the house system at Scindia is almost identical to Eton's, although there is one woman, Deepika Tandon, who has made history as the only house mistress in an all boys' school.

Education exports through the Mode 4 route - Indian teachers going to USA

The number of Indian school teachers going abroad to teach is increasing - a trend with both positive and negative implications. A recent ad (March 03, 2006), indicates that teachers from India are being offered salaries starting at Rs. 12 lakhs (about US$ 27,000) per annum to teach in district schools in USA. A similar ad seems to have appeared in The Hindu about an year ago (February 23, 2005).

A report in USA TODAY (July 2005) states that "New teachers (in USA) make, on average, $29,733 straight out of college. That's less than what nurses, accountants and others make, according to the National Education Association (NEA). The nation's largest teachers union will urge school districts to raise salaries for beginning teachers to at least $40,000, saying the move is essential to keep public education competitive with other fields." The average annual salaries of teachers in USA range from US$ 33,236 (in South Dakota) to US$ 58,287 (in California) according to NEA estimates in 2004.

Indian teachers seem to be getting salaries on par with new teachers in USA with the potential to increase their salaries as they become more experienced. These kind of salaries will be quite attractive to a large number of Indian teachers, but the tale of one Indian teacher (see box on that page) who has been to the U.S. to teach and returned back to India is describes the challenges they have to deal with.

Educational Consultants India Limited (Ed.CIL) had advertised for the recruitment of teachers from India for schools in USA. Ed.CIL has been recruiting Indian teachers for positions in various African countries for sometime now. This is an example of education exports through the mode 4 route (to use GATS terminology for trade in services).

Employment agencies in USA have been recruiting teachers from India for schools in USA for some time now. The agencies organise all expense paid trips for education administrators from schools in USA and do not charge schools to find the teachers for them. The agencies typically get the teachers to pay them a fee for finding them a job in USA. A report put out by NEA in June 2003 titled Trends in Foreign Teacher Recruitment along with an analysis of the report by an organisation that's against loss of American jobs to foreigners provides more detail.

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Here is the text of the recent ad by Ed.CIL - though the details seem to have been taken off the Ed.CIL website at the time of writing this post:

Date: March 3, 2006 12:54PM

Job Function : Teaching/Education
Industry : Educational/Training
Qualification : Postgraduate
Experience : 2-4
Level : Middle - Manager, Assistant Manager
Location : United States

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION :
Required School Teachers in USA. Require competent, smart and dynamic School Teachers for challenging assignment in District Schools at USA.
Salary: Rs. 12.0 lakh upwards per annum.
Subjects: Mathematics, Science and Special Education.
Eligibility: Post-graduation with B.Ed / M.Ed and minimum of three years post-qualification experience.

Apply latest by March 15th, 2006 in the prescribed format downloadable from Ed.CIL website (www.edcil.co.in).
For details contact: Project Manager (Teachers Recruitment - USA) by mail at: Educational Consultants India Ltd. (A Govt. of India Enterprise) or website.
CONTACT INFORMATION :
Address : Project Manager (Teachers Recruitment-USA), Educational Consultants India Ltd., Ed.CIL House, 18-A, Sector 16-A, Ph: 01202512003-6 (EPABX), Website: www.edcil.co.in, Noida/Greater Noida
Phone : 01202512001

India may remove education from WTO offer

Indian Express (Feb 04, 2006) reports on a move by the Ministry of HRD to reverse India's decision on allowing foreign universities free entry into India by asking the Ministry of Commerce to remove education from India's offer to WTO.

Reversing its earlier decision, India plans to withdraw from its list of offers to the World Trade Organisation a provision that would have allowed foreign universities free entry into the country. The Union Commerce Ministry is to take the revised proposal to the Cabinet Committee on WTO to rescind the list approved of last July. It was after the July approval that the Indian delegation informally extended a commitment to the WTO whereby foreign educators would gain entry to India with the sole condition being that their fees would be fixed by the government or its agency, so that their entry did not lead to profiteering. However, no formal offer had been made and the talks are still to be concluded , said sources.

The ministry (of HRD) said that there was no need to make a hurried offer when others were dragging their feet. The only nations pushing for liberalisation in this area were education exporters like the US, the UK, Australia and Canada—none of which expect any outsiders to make incursions into their turf. The ministry (of HRD) also suggested that the country adopt a "cautious approach" considering that other countries in the Third World and among Muslim nations as well had told the WTO that they would not open their education sector as doing so would affect local political and cultural sensitivities.

The withdrawal of the offer would now mean a limited entry for the foreign educational institutions, with the government enacting a bill to regulate their entry, operations, as well as their fees.

What's the real extent of India's "education imports"?

The strong resistance amongst policy advisers and regulators to letting foreign education providers operate in India may be resulting in a huge "education imports" bill for the country. The case of an obscure college in Ireland throws some light.

Indymedia.ie (Dec 29, 2004), an Irish web site, reported that

Finally, in early December, a business operation named Dundalk Business School folded with debts of about €600,000. It appears that many of the creditors are Indian students and would be students who made advance payments to attend IT courses. It appears that India was a particular target of the company’s marketing although India itself is a world leader in IT.

Finfacts.com (July 21, 2005), an Irish business portal, provides the background to the story. 

Last December, Dundalk Business School, which termed itself a college of further education, was wound up by order of the High Court.  A solicitor, in an affidavit, said he had been retained to act for 300 Indian students whose applications were processed through an Indian overseas student association, which had discharged about €450,000 in tuition fees to the school - and had sent another €150,000 to the school in support of visa applications which were unsuccessful.

A director of the college Mark Markey, in an affidavit, said the Dundalk premises had been raided by Gardaí in September 2004 and subsequently the Garda National Immigration Bureau had ceased granting visas to any students who had paid fees or deposits to the company.

India, which is a leading global software industry location, is the source of thousands of students for what are essentially third-rate Irish educational institutions, providing courses that are not on a par with what they could find in their own country. In addition, Indian students do not need to come to Ireland to learn English.

The current situation provides big incentives for both the Irish education businesses and agent intermediaries in poor countries.

I'm not sure if the last bit was said in a positive or negative sense, but this raises many questions. The shortage of supply of higher education in India is being exploited as an opportunity by other countries resulting in India having to "import education".

A back of the envelope calculation indicates India's education imports from the U.S. might amount to  close to a billion dollars a year due to Indian students who go to the U.S. for higher studies, paying for their education themselves. Add to that, the outflows to the U.K. and Australia, two other countries who have been aggressively recruiting in India in recent years and it could be a sizeable sum. What is the real extent of India's "education imports"? How well are we tracking it? Which agency of the government is tracking it?

The fact that students are willing to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to go abroad to dubious institutions is an indication of the huge mismatch between demand and supply of higher education within India. The first impulse of the government when there is a short supply of some product or service in the country resulting in huge imports will be to impose import duties on such imports. But unlike other products or services on which import duties can be levied, there is nothing that the Indian government can do to disincentivise education imports since the value is delivered outside the country and citizens are free to buy it if they have the money. With foreign exchange available easily today, there is nothing to stop citizens from going ahead.

This problem can be solved only by addressing the problem of short supply. The objective of the government and the regulators should be to increase the supply urgently, while maintaining quality and standards, to provide access to higher education to everyone who desires it. There's not much point on quibbling on the means (state-funding, private funding, foreign providers etc.), the end (of increasing supply) is far more important - we must use all the means possible. We are using all means possible to ensure adequate supply on other fronts including food, clothing, shelter and health care. We should do so in education too.

If we permit reputed foreign education providers to set up campuses in India, we would not only be increasing supply here and enabling many more Indian students to get a high quality education right here in India, we'd also be reducing education imports substantially and possibly building on the opportunity for education exports too.

Indians continue to be the largest segment of foreign students in USA

According to Open Doors 2004, the annual report on international academic mobility published by the Institute of International Education (IIE), the number of international students enrolled in U.S. higher education institutions decreased by 2.4% in 2003/04 to a total of 572,509, from 586,323 in 2002-03. The following data has been obtained from the India Country Fact Sheet in the Open Doors 2004 report.

But, India continues to remain the largest sending country of origin for the 3rd year, and the number of Indian students in USA climbed by 7% over the prior year, to a total of 79,736 in 2003/04, offsetting decreases from a number of other countries which experienced sharp declines. However, India's rate of increase in 2003/04 has slowed from the prior year's dramatic 12% growth. Total enrollments fell by 5% for students from China (still the second largest sending country with 61,765)

Of the 74,603 students from India, 79.0% were graduate students, 17.0% undergraduate and 4.0% other.

See my earlier post on the Open Doors 2003 report. I had also done a back of the envelope calculation to estimate the value of USA's higher education exports to India (via Mode 2 according to the GATS classification, which involves movement of students from one country to another for higher education) and arrived at a figure of over US$ 1 billion a year out of USA's total exports to India of about US$ 8 billion a year. I'm not sure if I'm missing something here, but if the US$ 1 billion is in the right ball park, that's a huge figure!

Surprisingly, I have not seen much of an analysis of this in the Indian press. It's worth investigating further.

GATS and Higher Education in India - an overview

Rupa Chanda of IIM Bangalore has been studying the implications of GATS for higher education in India. She made a comprehensive presentation on GATS, Higher Education Services and India  (ppt)  at a Higher Education Summit, organized by FICCI in New Delhi on December 2, 2004.. Here're some bits from her presentation - her entire presentation is worth reading.

GATS defines services trade as occurring via four modes of supply all of which are relevant to education

• Mode 1: cross border delivery: delivery of education services via internet (distance education, tele-education, education testing services)
• Mode 2: consumption abroad: movement of students from one country to another for higher education (foreign students in US universities)
• Mode 3: commercial presence: establishment of local branch campuses or subsidiaries by foreign universities in other countries, course offerings by domestic private colleges leading to degrees at foreign universities, twinning arrangements, franchising
• Mode 4: movement of natural persons: temporary movement of teachers, lecturers, and education personnel to provide education services overseas

The main subsectors under the GATS in the area of education are

1. Primary education
2. Secondary education
3. Higher education
4. Post secondary technical and vocational, university degree or equivalent
5. Adult education
6. Other education services

India has received requests (for opening up of services) from several countries (Australia, Brazil, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, USA) in education services in the new round of service trade negotiations launched in January 2000 (GATS 2000 round), which mostly focus on higher education, adult education, and other education services. USA also specified training services and educational testing services and Brazil has also requested in primary and secondary education services, while there were no requests from the European Community. All requests to India are for full market access and national treatment commitments in modes 1, 2 and  3. India has not made any offer in education services in the GATS 2000 round due to sensitive public good nature.

It is understandable for the U.S. to want opening up of training and educational testing services, but quite interesting to note that Brazil has requested opening up of primary and secondary education services. I wonder what prompted Brazil to do so.

Rupa Chanda provides a list of India's interests in import and export of educational services.

India's import interests in education services

• Mode 2: Indian students studying in foreign universities (US, UK, Australia)
  
  • Over 40,000 studying in US courses (This is more like 75,000 added per year)
    
  • Several thousand in Europe
• Mode 3: foreign institutions entering India through twinning and franchise arrangements
  
  • Indian students getting foreign degrees, doing professional courses at local branch campuses of foreign institutions in India
  • UK-based Wigan and Leigh College
  • Indian School of Business tieup with Kellogg, Wharton, and London Business School
  • Western International University,Arizona
  • NIIT tieup with ITT Educational Services, USA
  • Tata Infotech tieup with Hertfordshire University, UK
• Mode 1: Prospects for distance education and degrees from foreign academic institutions
• Mode 4: Foreign faculty and scholars teaching in India

India's export interests in education services

• Mode 1: Prospects for tele-education in management and executive training.
  
  • Experience with distance learning, use of new technologies (IGNOU)
  • Education process outsourcing with remote tutoring from India (along the lines of efforts by Career Launcher, Educomp Datamatics etc.)
• Mode 2: Students from developing countries studying in Indian engineering and medical colleges.
  • Around 5,500 students from neighbouring developing countries (2001)
  • Exchange programmes and twinning arrangements
• Mode 3: Setting up of overseas campuses, franchising by Indian institutions
  
  • MAHE, BITS, Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages
  • Over 100 CBSE schools abroad, catering to diaspora
• Mode 4: Indian teachers, lecturers teaching abroad in Middle East, Africa, researchers/scholars on visiting arrangements abroad
  
  • Some 10,000 secondary school teachers overseas
  • Recruitment of Indian teachers in Maths, Science, English
• Potential as a regional hub for exporting higher education services

Writing in The Financial Express (December 14, 2004), Rupa Chanda says

There’s a widespread perception that from January 1, 2005, India is obliged under the WTO to open up its higher education sector to foreign providers and to end public subsidies, with adverse consequences for the quality and affordability of higher education.

But how genuine and well-founded are these concerns? What does GATS oblige India to do in the education sector? What is the experience thus far with foreign education providers in India? If the likely impact is negative, where is the source of the problem?

First and foremost, GATS does not require India to do anything at present in education services.

It’s worth noting that India did not schedule education services either in the Uruguay Round or in its revised commitments under the ongoing Doha Round. Hence, India has no multilateral obligation under the WTO to open up higher education services to foreign participation. Whatever liberalisation has occurred in this area, such as allowing 100% FDI on automatic route and permitting foreign participation through twinning, collaboration, franchising, and subsidiaries, has been autonomously driven. Of course, it’s likely that in future GATS negotiations, India will come under increasing pressure from certain countries to multilaterally bind the liberalisation undertaken thus far in this sector. But it’s unlikely that India will acquiesce to such demands.

The issue then is largely a domestic one. The impact of opening up higher education services is shaped not by the WTO but by domestic factors, including the domestic regulatory framework and the state of the domestic education system in terms of quantity, quality, costs, infrastructure and finances. In this context, evidence suggests that some of the concerns about opening up education services may not be so misplaced.

While there are reputed foreign educational institutions operating, there are numerous less reputed, second or third tier ones as well who charge high fees for programmes of dubious quality. Given India’s capacity constraints in higher education, substandard foreign institutions are able to survive in India. But the problem is not liberalisation per se, but the lack of a supportive domestic regulatory framework, which can ensure that liberalisation is beneficial. This is not to suggest that one should add more layers of regulation in higher education. Already there’s a plethora of regulatory bodies duplicating each other’s functions. What’s required is more effective registration and certification systems, which prevent unapproved institutions from partnering, which protect and inform consumers, enable good quality foreign institutions to enter the Indian market, and which create a level playing field between domestic and foreign institutions so that the former can compete effectively in a liberalised environment. Once such a regulatory framework is in place, India needn’t fear scheduling education services under GATS. It could even inscribe additional conditions on the nature of foreign participation in higher education, something permitted under GATS commitment structure.

She concludes by looking at the opportunity that opens up for India in higher education as a result of the GATS.

Finally, a point often lost on critics is that India also has gone on the offensive in education services. A growing number of Indian educational institutions are beginning to export to other markets. So, globalisation of education services should also be seen as an opportunity, and the GATS as a framework to exploit this opportunity. In short, a pro-active rather than defensive approach is required to benefit from the liberalisation of higher education services, both unilaterally and multilaterally, on the import as well as export fronts.

Prof. Manoj Pant of JNU, writing in The Financial Express (May 28, 2005), provides more background on the options open to India in formulating its strategy for opening up of educational services under the GATS and echoes Rupa Chanda's thoughts on the need to protect and inform consumers' (students) about the quality of the various foreign service providers and enable them to verify their claims.

Having missed the March deadline for submissions under GATS, countries will have to make their submissions now by the end of May. One area in which India, too, will make submissions is educational services which includes higher education. While it is still not clear (at the time of writing) what the India offer is likely to be, it is important to understand how the post- WTO scenario preparedness differs in the case of services compared with submissions under Gatt. I will look at this issue specifically from the point of view of trade in educational services.

The main contention is likely to be the opening up of higher education under GATS. While India could offer only distance education and some professional educational services under the positive list approach, it is important to understand what the subsequent preparedness involves.

A perusal of newspapers may give the impression that higher education is already open to foreign service providers. This is not true. However, the reality is even more alarming. For, any provider of educational services who does not want UGC/AICTE recognition is free to enter any educational service without any regulation. What is more alarming is the lack of any forum where consumers can verify the claims of the multitude of service providers who promise all sorts of benefits to students. Many even offer unverifiable links to foreign institutions. Hence, the first task of the government must be to set up a regulator in the field of educational services. Only then can appropriate legislation be framed to protect consumers.

The second issue in the case of services is regarding foreign service providers. Unlike trade in commodities, the question of FDI in services is built into specification of the mode of delivery of services. In the case of educational services, the issue is whether, and with what restrictions, India would allow the FDI mode of entry of foreign providers (Mode 3).

The primary problem today is the inability of the university system to provide higher education to all who aspire for it. There is no political commitment of public funds and the quality of education in some universities is below par, to say the least. This is the slack that the unregulated private sector is taking up today at considerable cost to students. Should private foreign funds be allowed to compete in higher education? Should we allow this competition?

It is my own suspicion that, if higher education is opened up even in a limited way, the principal opposition to FDI is likely to come from the private sector. Finally, India’s submissions on educational service must also be seen in the context of bargaining strategies at the WTO—to win some you might need to lose some. This is particularly important in the context of known developing country positions on Mode 4  (movement of natural persons and the GATS visa) and India’s own efforts to keep markets open for its IT services.

One of the most aggressive demanders of opening up of trade in educational services, the US, is also the one trying to firm up its domestic legislation to restrict outsourcing of services by its domestic companies. While Indian negotiators have probably taken most of these issues into consideration in finalising their submissions on trade in services, one wonders if there is any move to undertake changes in domestic legislation necessary to meet the challenges of a post-WTO world. One hopes that the lessons of the Uruguay Round have finally been learnt.

As described in an earlier posts, the Government must mandate that every educational institution operating in India, whether Indian or foriegn, public or private, to

• publish an annual report with details of the infrastructure available, the staff, the fees charged, the number of students, the results of the examinations, the amount of funds available to the institution and the sources of funding, affiliation to any foreign bodies with details of those bodies etc.
• be rated by independent rating agencies like CRISIL, ICRA or CARE and publicly announce their rating

This will enable consumers (students) to be fully informed about the educational institutions and help them make their choices.

P.S.   G. Srinivasan, writing in The Hindu (May 30, 2005), reviews India's options in the GATS negotiations in the run-up to revised submissions before the deadline of May 31, 2005, and a Commerce Ministry press release dated May 30, 2005 states

India will be making its Revised Offers shortly in sectors which include those in which commitments were made in the Uruguay Round or in which Initial Offers were made in the ongoing Doha Round of WTO negotiations. The sectors thus covered include business services, construction and related engineering services, health related and social services, tourism and travel related services, maritime services and transport services.

There is surprisingly no mention of education services. Presumably the deadline for revised submissions on education services is still farther away.