Prof Geoffrey Petts, VC of University of Westminster speaks with Sangeeta Yadav about their collaboration with Indian universities and scholarships on offer
What brings you to India againIJ
Our major agenda is to built a strong relationship with India by creating new partnerships and also meet the universities and institutes which we have already tied up with. We are partnering with top 10 management, architect, media journalism and photography institutes of India. We will be collaborating with Faculty of Media, Arts and Design and Jamia Millia Islamia’s AJK Mass communication Research Institute also. We have also partnered with Jagannath International Management School which will allow business students the opportunity to study in london for the final year of the Bachelors in Business Management after completing two years of studies in Delhi.
With strict law of not providing work visa to the overseas students, how do you ensure that your students are doing well at the work frontIJ
Our second major focus is to work with students and attract talented students from India to come to Westminster. Thus, we have launched our alumni group — Westminster Indian Alumni Network who will help the students get on to the job ladder when they return to their own country. Around 800 Indian alumni will be combining opportunities for the pass out students of Westminster to come back to their country and do internships, work experience, mentoring by them. They’ll be providing peer support and create development forum as they go through their working lives.
What is the Global latitude Project all aboutIJ
Global latitude Project is an initiative which arises with the partnership with the School of Planning and Architecture in Delhi. Through this project, we’ll discuss and let our students find out the solution about the climate change of their country and the world. They can get much more global picture of the problems of building cities in the future. We are setting up a high-tech smartrooms through which the students will be able to interact and have real time experience with the experts and other students from different parts of the world.
How is studying in the University of Westminster likeIJ
Our teaching programmes are very closely informed by the recent practioners, professionals and people from the industry. We have top politicians, lawyers, architects, finances etc coming in to study master’s programme. Thus students can meet and interact with the people from the field.
What makes your style of teaching different from other institutesIJ
The primary difference is that we emphasize team learning and student interaction. Students tell us that real leaning experience comes from interaction with the people. Online learning also plays an integral part. From the past three years, we have invested considerably in providing spaces for students to get together in their peer groups coming from various educational streams.
Any scholarships offeredIJ
We have tied-up with the British Council’s Great Scholarship programme. Six new scholarships will be jointly funded by the University and the British Council in the fields of law, Media, Computing, Biotechnology and Marketing. A distinct feature of these scholarships is that they are awarded on the condition that upon graduation, the student returns to work in India.
How do you ensure quality of educationIJ
Britain has the best quality assurance system in the world. There are two levels of quality assurance system. One is the national system— National Academic Quality Assurance which inspects the university every five years. We are selling this system to other countries. Then there is another committee of experts of the respective fields who come and inspects the university.