India and the US will set up a joint working group to boost bilateral relation in the field of education, it was announced Thursday after a meeting between Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Kapil Sibal and the US Under Secretary William J. Burns.
The group will be headed by Sibal and US Secretary of Education, and it will meet once a year alternately in India and the US. The group will focus on institutional linkages in the field of secondary education, higher education and vocational education.
"The US side expressed keen interest in pursuing a Bilateral Education Dialogue with India for fruitful cooperation in the field of education," HRD ministry said in a statement.
Sibal, while interacting with a US delegation stated that the 21st century will be a Knowledge Century and India, with its young population, will be a major provider of trained workforce to the entire world.
The minister underlined that one of his focus areas would be to better the gross enrolment ratio.
India tops the list of countries sending students to the US and nearly 90,000 Indian students annually go to that country to pursue higher studies.