Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan holds discussions with European Commission Vice President

Dharmendra Pradhan, the Union Education Minister, held discussions with EU Vice President Roxana Minzatu. The minister expressed confidence that the meeting will pave the way for significant strides in India-EU relations.

Dharmendra Pradhan, the Union Education Minister, on Friday met Roxana Minzatu, Vice President of the European Commission. The Union Minister, who was accompanied by Jayant Chaudhary, the Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, held discussions with Vice President Minzatu on potential partnerships between India and the EU. The talks also touched upon deepening academic, research and skill development engagements between India and the European Union.

In his post on X, the Education Minister underscored that there is immense potential in building partnerships between educational and skilling institutions in mutually beneficial areas, including sustainability, critical technology and AI, establishing a framework for mutual recognition of qualifications, promoting two-way mobility of students, faculty/teacher exchanges, joint/dual degree and twinning programmes between our universities, and the possibility of offshore campuses of top EU universities in India.

The Union Minister’s discussion with Roxana Minzatu also included enhancing collaboration for bridging learning and skill gaps as well as for improving the learning and skilling ecosystem.

The EU Vice President briefed the Indian side about the Erasmus and Horizon programmes of the EU as well as the EU’s priorities.

What are the Erasmus and Horizon programmes?

The Erasmus and Horizon programmes pertain to education, training, youth, and sport. Horizon 2020 is the EU’s framework programme for research and innovation. According to a report, these programmes contribute to youth exchanges, international partnership projects, and youth policy development.

Both sides have agreed on creating an architecture for continuous policy dialogues for furthering the mutual education and skilling agenda, fortifying knowledge bridges, and fostering deeper collaborations in education, skill development, research, and innovation.

The Education Minister expressed confidence that the meeting will pave the way for significant strides in the India-EU Education and Skill Development Partnership.