Secretary Clinton Speaks at United States—India Higher Education Summit
October 27, 2011
On Thursday, October 13, 2011, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke at Georgetown University on the collaborative efforts between the United States and India with regards to issues surrounding higher education.
The Secretary remarked that the United States and India have a strong educational alliance, and that through continued efforts and strategic conversation, this alliance will grow. In the past year, President Barack Obama and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced the Obama-Singh Initiative, allocating an additional $10 million for furthering university partnerships and faculty development between the two countries. In the past three years, the number of Fulbright-Nehru scholars has tripled. Last year more than 100,000 Indian students attended American universities. The hope is that through continued collaborative efforts, there will be an equal number of American students studying at Indian Universities.
The Secretary expressed interest in increasing the student and faculty exchanges between the United States and India, enlisting the aid of both the private sector and the government to help catalyze the workforce in both countries in order to break down barriers that thwart this progress. She remarked, “We want our relationship between these two great democracies to be as interconnected as possible at every level. Yes, government to government, but that is just the beginning and is clearly not the most important of the lasting collaborations that we seek.”