Piyush Goyal urges Canada for dual degrees to drive cooperation in education sector

NEW DELHI: Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has suggested that Canada consider dual-degree programmes with an aim to increase cooperation in the education sector.

Addressing Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, University of Toronto, he said the way the global turmoil is affecting world economies and relations between nations today, it's truly a "very" appropriate time to do a political reset in the Canada-India relations .

The minister invited young boys and girls from Canada to come to India and observe the developmental activities. "In fact, I was talking to the Honorable Prime Minister (Mark) Carney and I suggested we should quickly look at dual degrees so that students from India come to Canada for may be a year, see the world out here, and go back encouraged to prepare India for the future," he said.

Also read RTMNU Nagpur University exams plagued by delays, result errors; chaos disrupts academic schedule, internships

India-Canada can jointly offer academic courses: Piyush Goyal

In dual degrees arrangements, universities or higher educational institutions of two countries could jointly offer academic programmes where a student studies partly in India and partly in Canada and receives degrees/certifications recognised by both institutions. Seeking investments, he said India is growing at a faster pace.

"We've been the fastest growing large economy for the last several years in a row. Our effort and plans, the roadmap that we've set for ourselves is to continue to be the fastest growing large economy at least for the next two decades or 25 years so that until 2047, when we celebrate 100 years of independence, India is a country with at least a USD 20,000 per capita income," Goyal said.

He added that India is investing heavily in manufacturing and infrastructure building. "An economy of USD 4 trillion growing at constant prices at about 7 per cent plus or minus 1 per cent ,with a nominal growth of anywhere between 9 per cent and 10 per cent, compounds in the next 25 years to an '8x' level. So when we talk of a USD 4 trillion becoming a USD 30 trillion economy, it's not just a prediction... It's just pure mathematics," he added.