India, Japan to strengthen education ties

New Delhi, August 6: India and Japan Tuesday agreed to advance bilateral academic cooperation. Two Letters of Intent towards establishing academic cooperation between the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) and the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) with the Japan Society for Promotion of Science (JSPS) were signed for the advancement of academic cooperation in humanities and social sciences between Indian and Japanese researchers, the human resource development (HRD) ministry said.

The letters were signed during a meeting between HRD Minister Smriti Irani and Hakubun Shimomura, Japan's minister of education, culture, sports, science and technology.

Irani lauded Japan for its advancement in education and technology, and "appreciated the assistance of the government of Japan for the development of the new IIT in Hyderabad and the Pandit Dwarka Prasad Mishra Indian Institute of Information Technology, Design and Manufacturing (IIITDM) in Jabalpur", the statement said.

She also proposed that the two nations could cooperate for sharing of knowledge resources through the Indian government's national e-library initiative and the Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs).

IANS