UK minister on India visit to launch new English campaign

London: A British minister will visit India this week to enhance bilateral partnership on education and skill development, especially English language training. Matthew Hancock, minister of state for skills and enterprise, will launch a new publicity campaign called "English is GREAT"?that is aimed at boosting links between British and Indian English language service providers.

"The English language is fast becoming the world`s language of choice. Top quality UK providers are ready and able to offer India the best in English language training," Hancock said in a pre-visit statement. His visit, starting Thursday, is also aimed at promoting the use of latest mobile and computer-based learning programmes. "UK companies are at the forefront of developing the latest in education technologies ? such as delivering remote learning from world-class institutions. This is one of the reasons why the UK is excellently placed to be the partner of choice in helping India to achieve its target of training 500 million people by 2022," Hancock said. He will meet Indian minister of state for labour and employment K Suresh to explore further collaboration under a recent MoU for cooperation on skill development and employment services. "Better skills are vital for creating jobs and sustaining economic growth the world over. We have much to learn from India, and much to offer. So I am looking forward to strengthening the existing UK-India ties in education," he said. A meeting has also been set up with minister of state for human resource development Shashi Tharoor to discuss the next steps under the MoU signed last year between the UK department of business innovation and skills and the ministry of human resource development to work with 25 community colleges as part of the UK-India Education and Research Initiative. Hancock will also highlight the role UK companies are playing in harnessing the latest technologies to deliver world-class education and?will test-drive Vodafone?s pioneering mobile learning project. He will attend a roundtable on "English Skills for Employability" with National Skill Development Corporation CEO Dilip Chenoy and National Skill Development Agency director- general J P Rai. Hosted by the British Council in Delhi, the event will be attended by senior representatives from Indian organisations and UK English language training providers such as Trinity College London and Pearson Education.