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Dr Ashok Jhawar, BP India, Usha Soni, Shell Technology India and Bruce Irvine, BAE Systems, at the
Corporate Champions' lunch hosted by Rod Pryde, Director, British Council India during the visit of
Bill Rammell, MP, Minister of State (Lifelong Learning, Further and Higher Education) |
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| PARTNERS IN PROGRESS |
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| MESSAGE ON UKIERI CORPORATE PARTNERSHIPS |
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UKIERI has engaged successfully and created strong partnerships with the corporate sector. Companies recognise the need to engage with major new knowledge
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| economies like India as both our countries prepare our workforces for tomorrow's jobs in a networked world. In addition to their financial contribution, our corporate partners have contributed both their time and expertise by providing advice, technical assistance and work placements. |
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I very much welcome the decision by both Shell and BAE Systems to continue to support UKIERI for the initiative's remaining two years  |
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Bill Rammell
MP, Minister of State (Lifelong Learning,
Further and Higher Education) |
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| The UK-India Education and Research Initiative (UKIERI) is a unique partnership of public and private sector organisations, with the collective aim of enhancing the education and research links between India and the UK. Working in partnership with businesses has been a key component of UKIERI, as we recognise that these partnerships will enhance the sustainability of the initiative. It is also an acknowledgement of the resources, reach and expertise that the industry possesses which can multiply the impact, manifolds. |
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| BP, BAE Systems, Shell and GlaxoSmithKline are associated with the initiative as 'Corporate Champions' and KPMG is the Keystone Partner of Financial Services Skills Exchange. Each of them has a substantial track record in supporting education, research and community investment worldwide. They have greatly enhanced the scale, quality and impact of the initiative by sharing their skills and expertise. They have also added tremendous value through in kind contribution like work placement opportunities, guest speakers, valuable staff time, research inputs, site visits and curriculum material. |
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| The corporate partners in UKIERI have engaged with the initiative in the spirit of a true partnership, proactively participating in the activities in the areas of their business footprints, which include research bid evaluations, school cluster activities, skills research and policy dialogue workshops. |
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UKIERI values the support of its corporate partners, which has made us, in the words of the National Audit Office an 'efficient public-private partnership'. We look forward to working with you towards further enhancing the 'trust brand' status that UKIERI has achieved, for greatly improving the strategic education and research relationship between the UK and India  |
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Anjum Kapur Kumar
Corporate Partnerships Manager, UKIERI |
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CHANGE IN
CORPORATE CHAMPIONS'
GOVERNANCE ROLE |
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T he Corporate Champions have a
governance role in UKIERI through rotating representation on the Project Board. Usha Soni, |
| Extra Mural Research Manager, Shell Technology India, has taken over this role from 2008. |
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Usha has a double Masters in Chemistry, from Allahabad University, India and from the University of Idaho, USA. She has worked in the |
| oil
industry for over 30 years, 20 of which have been at the Shell Technology Centre in Houston, USA. She has been with Shell |
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| Technology India in Bangalore since 2006, as the Extra Mural Research Manager. In this capacity, she is developing relationships with Indian institutes and universities and initiating joint research projects. Usha has been involved with UKIERI since its inception. |
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| We also take this opportunity to convey our deepest appreciation to Pia MacRae, Director Communications and External Affairs, BP India, for her very able and objective representation of the Corporate Champions in the first full year of the initiative, beginning September 2006. |
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Pia championed the agenda of a robust engagement for the corporate partners in the three UKIERI Strands (Schools, Higher Education, Professional and Technical Skills) with much diligence and enthusiasm. She worked relentlessly to engage all the corporate partners, keeping them informed at every step, besides inviting their inputs and voices regularly. So, a big thank you from all of us, Pia
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| UKIERI ACHIEVEMENTS |
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Bill Rammell, MP, Minister of State (Lifelong Learning, Further and Higher Education), interacts with the
UKIERI-GSK work placement students at the FCO reception, London, February 2008 |
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| The UK-India Education and Research Initiative,
a five-year programme was launched with the sole aim of fostering educational links between India and the UK. It is a unique partnership between multiple stakeholders including Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills, Office of Science and Innovation, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the British Council, devolved authorities of Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales and the four Corporate Champions – BAE Systems, BP, GSK
and Shell. |
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| Already in its third year, this initiative has done tremendously well by creating over 475 new Indo-UK higher education and school links. The key highlights of the initiative over the last two years are: |
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6 Major Research Awards (of up to ₤500,000 each) |
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61 Standard Research Awards (of up to
₤150,000 each) |
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20 PhD Scholarships |
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43 Research Fellowships |
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20 Collaborative Programme Delivery
(CPD) Awards |
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88 Travel Grants |
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24 Cluster School Partnerships involving over
300 Schools |
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7 Linkages in Professional and Technical Skills |
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35 Events in Policy Dialogue and
Networking |
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CORPORATE CHAMPIONS PARTICIPATE
IN UKIERI MID-PROGRAMME EVALUATION |
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| The UKIERI board has commissioned River Path Associates (http://www.riverpath.com) to undertake a mid-project evaluation between June and August 2008. This piece of work will: |
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Review the success of UKIERI to date against its strategic goals |
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Review in detail a range of aspects of the project, including financial management and governance, quality of links made between India and the UK, and the views of a wide range of stakeholders including our corporate partners |
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Make a series of recommendations on the future direction of UKIERI to 2011, as well as recommendations on the future of this work after the project is completed |
| The methodology entails a series of one-to-one interviews with key stakeholders in India and the UK including our corporate partners. Hence, interaction with you, as a valued corporate partner, will be a valuable and important component of a successful evaluation exercise. |
| We appreciate the valuable time that many of you have spared to take with part in this evaluation and look forward to sharing the outcome you in the near future |
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