UK must set up int'l education foundation-report

LONDON, Aug 6 (Reuters) Britain should create a new foundation to promote higher education links with the emerging powerhouses of India and China, a parliamentary committee said in a report released.

The Education and Skills Committee said the foundation -- offering scholarships and fellowships and jointly funded by the government and the private sector -- would allow British universities to access increased research funding.

China and India -- two of the world's two most populous countries China -- have economies that are bigger than some of the members of the G8 group of industrialised economic powers.

''Collaboration and partnership between institutions and individuals in the UK higher education sector and their counterparts in countries such as India and China are vitally important,'' said the chairman of the committee, Barry Sheerman yesterday.

''Key decision makers in China believe that the time is ripe for a major growth in collaborative research between the UK and China and this could lead to a massive increase in research funding for UK universities,'' added Sheerman.

The committee's report - ''The Future Sustainability of the Higher Education Sector: International Aspects'' -- also called for a new strategy to encourage British students to study abroad.

The committee wants British universities to allow students to go abroad for three or six months -- rather than a year -- as well as providing more intensive language training.

Reuters PDS VP0610