Principal Colin Bailey speaks at QS India Summit for Higher Education in Chennai 

Colin Bailey speaking to an audience

The annual conference brings together leaders from across the globe from universities, governments, and industry. The Minister for Education for India and the Head of the State of Tamil Nadu addressed the conference, along with Lord Kamlesh Patel, Chairman of the India Business Group and member of Queen Mary’s Global Policy Institute Advisory Board. The conference was attended by Vice-Chancellors and other senior leaders from universities across the globe. 

The theme of this year’s Summit was “Empowering Excellence: Unleashing the Potential of Partnerships and Collaboration in Indian Higher Education” and explored the transformative power of collaboration in shaping the future of Indian higher education. 

In his opening remarks on “Innovating Interactions: Interdisciplinary Research & Education Collaboration”, Professor Bailey gave best-practice examples from the UK and related them to the opportunities the new National Education Policy presents. 

Professor Bailey gave examples of ways to enable multidisciplinary learning including the use of open modules that students from all disciplines can enrol in, and the development of interdisciplinary degree programmes. For illustration, Professor Bailey described the range of interdisciplinary postgraduate degrees Queen Mary offers, which draw on the expertise of several Schools and Institutes. 

Professor Bailey commented: “Colleagues at Queen Mary are actively responding to the opportunities the National Education Policy presents. By working together and bringing varied perspectives and expertise across the world into the same room, our research and education can help solve the current challenges faced by the global community. The NEP provides a great framework within which to develop new partnerships, including those that cross traditional subject and geographical boundaries.”