Tri Valley University was one of the cases where Indian students suffered at the hands of a “sham” US University. Many of the Indian students were caught up in the case of alleged immigration fraud of by Tri-Valley University in the Bay Area near San Fracisco, California. Similarly the London Campus of TASMAC was set up in 2004. It was offering BA (Hons) and MBA degrees. The decision to shut down the campus, is believed to be, related to UK efforts to tighten norms in respect of tier-4 student visas.

Seeking to clear the air of confusion over the undue harassment faced by Indians seeking higher education in US, the Secretary of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton after the signing of recent India-US pact on higher education said : “We’ve expanded our Education U.S.A. advising services for Indian students and their families to provide information about opportunities for study, and frankly, to help you sort out misleading offers that come over the internet, and we know flood into homes across India, giving young Indian students the idea that a certain approach will work for them when, in fact, it is a dead end. We don’t want to see that happen. We want to see real exchanges with credible institutions, and we will do everything we can to support that.”

The India-US joint statement on cooperation in higher education signed between the Indian HRD Minister Kapil Sibal and US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on October 13 in Washington “reaffirmed the strategic partnership between India and the United States for meaningful dialogue, cooperation, and engagement in the field of higher education, and launched a new phase in this partnership”.

Sibal and Clinton emphasized that access to and the development of technology and skills are cross-cutting requirements to meet the challenges that their two countries face. The plan is for the Dialogue to be held alternately in the US and India.

The sides agreed to promote a continued expanded US-India Higher Education Dialogue with representatives from government, academia, and business that would interact on a periodic basis to inform and underpin the Dialogue. The priority areas of higher education would include science and engineering, social sciences, humanities and addressing societal challenges in areas such as cyber security, energy, environment, health and agriculture.

They agreed to foster partnerships in the areas of vocational education and skills enhancement to meet the needs of today’s world and to explore models for ‘educational institutions for the 21st Century’ such as ‘meta’ universities.

India announced its intention to set up an India-U.S. higher education platform as a means to pursue these goals. It was also agreed upon by both parties to strengthen educator enrichment and exchange programs to promote development of human resources while also enhancing broader interaction between the two countries.

India indicated its intention to sponsor initially up to 1,500 faculty and junior scholars to leading universities and research institutes in the United States.

The two leaders expressed satisfaction with the progress achieved in the Obama-Singh 21st Century Knowledge Initiative, launched in 2009, under which proposals have been invited by both sides by November 1, 2011, to be reviewed by a joint working group for academic awards in support of university partnerships. The two leaders reiterated their strong commitment to the Fulbright-Nehru Program and its contribution to leadership development and scholarly achievement. They also highlighted and encouraged the full array of collaborations directly between higher education communities, such as the Yale-India program, for academic leadership and faculty development. The two leaders underscored the need to enhance the scope of collaboration and identify new ways to encourage linkages and exchange programs.

They also expressed their support for the India-US Science and Technology Forum, which provides fresh impetus to academic collaboration in the cutting-edge areas of scientific research and technology development.

The two leaders lauded the continuing efforts by both sides to explore new avenues for collaboration such as the India-US Engineering Education Conclave, held in January 2011 in New Delhi, for strengthening higher educational institutions in the fields of engineering and technology and expressed the hope that more such opportunities for engagement would emerge in the future in other fields.

More than 300 presidents, chancellors, and other leaders from across the higher education spectrum in US, private institutions, like Georgetown or Yale, community colleges, state and land grant universities were present at the signing of the India-US pact on higher education.

On the occasion Hillary Rodham Clinton said : “Last year, we welcomed over 100,000 students from India to pursue college or graduate level study here. But we think the opportunities for collaboration are even greater. And particularly, we want to see more American students enrolling for academic credit at Indian institutions. The United States Government is fully committed to enhancing this academic cooperation. The Obama-Singh Initiative provides $10 million for increased university partnership and junior faculty development. The Fulbright-Nehru program has nearly tripled in size in the past three years, and we are proud that the United States now conducts more faculty exchanges with India than with any other country through this program. And with our new Passport to India program, we are working with the private sector to help more American students experience India through internships and service projects”.

Speaking on joint initiative by American Indian students innovation she said : “A few years ago, a small group of American and Indian classmates at Stanford University decided to work together to build a better baby incubator. Four hundred and fifty premature and low-weight babies die every hour, and traditional baby incubators can cost as much as $20,000. So the students developed the Embrace baby warmer, a portable incubator for use in poor and rural areas that doesn’t require electricity and only costs around $100.

“After graduating from Stanford, this Indian and American team moved to Bangalore to continue working on their idea and launched their project. And it’s now in use in hospitals in India and saving babies’ lives. Their goal is to save 100,000 babies by 2013.”

In view of the past pitiful experiences of Indian students in North Atlantic countries, one can only hope that the new India-US pact on higher education may help to streamline the process of getting access to a hassle-free.