ISDC's Special Focus for Karnataka in the India Growth Strategy

• Minister Dr. Ashwath Narayan and the wider delegation had series of meetings with ISDC and ISDC partners and stake holders in the UK on future collaborations in Karnataka

• ISDC will be hosting the Karnataka Education Innovation Conference in October 2022 in Bengaluru where these discussions will be put into action

Dr. Ashwath Narayan CN, Minister of Higher Education of Karnataka, had meetings with ISDC partners/stakeholders (such as IoA, WDC, SQA. Etc) in the UK on the sidelines of the Commonwealth Education Conference in London. ISDC is the leading provider for British education and skills working with Universities and Professional Bodies in UK for expanding their reach and visibility internationally and have an active presence in India with an excess of 200 University Partnerships.

Dr. Ashwath Narayan with World Design Council officials

With a massive presence in Karnataka, ISDC works with most private and deemed universities and autonomous colleges. The partnership also includes the Bangalore University and Mangalore University as state universities and several high-level alliances in the traditional education and higher education technology space. ISDC signed a contract with Karnataka State Skill Development Corporation last year to teach finishing skills to nurses. ISDCs Karnataka NEP conclave in last November gained attention at the national level too.

Dr. Ashwath Narayan met with representatives from the Institutes of Analytics (IoA), Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) and World Design Council (WDC) to discuss future collaborations in order to improve education and skills in Karnataka and to transform the state into a data-literate one. Representatives of professional bodies expressed interest in working collaboratively with the government to further develop the education sector in Karnataka.

The team of IoA, a UK-based professional body for analytics and data science professionals worldwide, proposed to implement a special program on data literacy specifically intended to help government employees in Karnataka improve their skills in analytics. Additionally, IoA proposed a specialised funded program for selected 1000 Engineering Graduates from the Government Colleges in association with ISDC and a fully funded data literacy program for the Schools.

In another meeting, the delegates from World Design Council (WDC), World Design Organization (WDO), and UK Design Council, met the Honble Minister and proposed their plan pertaining to Design Thinking and expressed their interest to work with the Govt of Karnataka in this regard. Dr. Ashwath Narayan C.N reaffirmed the states interest in formulating and implementing a Design Policy for Karnataka. In this context, the Government of Karnataka will host the "World's Largest Design Festival" - "Bengaluru Design Festival" during the Bengaluru Tech Summit 2022 to be held in November.

Dr. Ashwath Narayan also held an important meeting with the team of the Scottish Qualification Authority (SQA) and expressed his interest in exploring access to SQA in the Karnataka Higher Education System. He also supported SQAs efforts in the internationalization of education. SQA is the national awarding body in Scotland; responsible for developing, accrediting, assessing, certifying, and awarding qualifications other than university degrees.

According to Dr. Ashwath Narayan CN, Minister for Higher Education, Government of Karnataka, "The meetings I had with renowned professional bodies during a recent trip to the UK proved to be extremely useful." "By bringing British education and skills to Karnataka, through collaboration with UK Universities and Professional Bodies, will not only assist the Karnataka students to enhance their skills and expertise, but also enable them to explore career options. I appreciate ISDCs efforts to bring British education and skills to Karnataka and its efforts to internationalize education." The Minister further added.

Mr. Tom Joseph; Executive Director, Strategy & Development at ISDC, said, "We had quite successful meetings and discussions with the Honble Minister along with our strategic partners. Dr. Narayan enthusiastically met with our partners and was optimistic about the proposals they shared to internationalise education in Karnataka. We are hosting the Karnataka Education Innovation Conference in October where we will take this discussions to the wider education audience and execution. Through these strategic partnerships, Karnataka students will be immensely benefitted and able to get global level of education. We are hopeful of a new horizon in the coming times, in which these strategic partnership will help the state to excel in Data Literacy, Design Thinking etc. and promote the internationalisation and latest innovations in Higher Education."

About ISDC

ISDC (International Skill Development Corporation) is a leading International Provider for British Education and Skills with an active presence in India, working in partnership an excess of 200 Universities and Higher Education Providers by Developing and Upgrading the Academic Degrees for Future to Seek External Accreditations/Memberships/Qualifications along with the University Degrees. ISDC is working with UK Skills Federation, Scottish Qualification Authority, large number of universities and an excess of 25 Professional Bodies in UK for their Market Expansion, Transnational Education and Growth.

For more details, please visit: www.isdcglobal.org.