India and Afghanistan signed an MoU to collaborate on Digital Education Initiatives

The Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), Government of India, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Afghanistan Government to collaborate on Digital Education Initiatives, which include many prominent programs developed by Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) at IIT Madras.

Highlights of the MoU:

• One of the main objectives of the MOU is to facilitate students and faculty from Afghanistan to enroll and learn from the courses offered on SWAYAM, which will expose them to latest technology courses and also upskill them in areas of their interest.
• Among the other initiatives envisaged by this MoU is the sharing and access with the Higher Educational Institutions of Afghanistan of various Indian facilities such as the National Digital Library of India (NDLI), VIRTUAL LABS, Spoken tutorials for Higher Educational Institutions of Afghanistan and sharing of experience and participation of Higher Educational Institutions of Afghanistan on Robotic projects and symposiums held under e-Yantra.
• Establishment of Joint Educational Programmes between Higher Educational Institutions of Government of India and Higher Educational Institutions of Afghanistan is also on the anvil.
• The MoU will facilitate assisting the Ministry of Higher Education (MoHE) of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to carry out the curriculum development process including sharing of curriculum developed by MHRD.

The Fields of Cooperation include:

• Sharing of Online Education Platform, named ‘Study Webs of Active Learning for Young Aspiring Minds’ (SWAYAM) developed by Government of India.
• Facilitate use of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) available in SWAYAM Platform by students and faculty of the Educational Institutions in Afghanistan.
• Imparting training to the faculty and students in the Educational Institutions in Afghanistan for using the SWAYAM Platform and Capacity building of Afghanistan faculties and related staff in e-learning.
• Assisting in Uploading and Publishing of existing courses developed by Educational Institutions in Afghanistan on the SWAYAM Platform.
• Assisting Ministry of Higher Education, Afghanistan to develop/set up Afghanistan’s own MOOC platform.

Other salient features:

• Promoting mobility of students between the two countries. Both the parties agree for the Mutual recognition of academic qualifications prevalent in both the countries. An instrument for implementation shall be signed separately.
• Facilitating the Afghan students to study in reputed higher educational Institutions of India, under the Study in India Programme,
• Assisting Ministry of Higher Education in Quality Assurance and Accreditation Processes, Administrative Reform of Ministry of Higher Education (MoHE) structures, Joint Academic Journal Establishment, Joint Research Program with Indian Institutes, Document Attestation, sharing experience on Control and Monitoring of Private Institutes and other academic programs.

About Afghanistan
♦ Capital – Kabul
♦ Currency – Afghan afghani
♦ President – Ashraf Ghani