THENJIPPALAM: The universities in Kerala have tremendous potential and the research they conduct have high standards, says German consul-general Jorn Rohde.
Germany wants to increase collaboration with India in academics and is keen to fund suitable projects for preserving culture, including historical documents and monuments and its libraries.
He was speaking to DC during his visit to Calicut University campus on Tuesday.
“South India, especially Kerala and Karnataka, have a strong base of education, thanks to the contributions of the Maharajas of Travancore and Mysore.
Kerala has cent percent literacy and the universities here are impressive with their academic performance. We already have 75 partnership programmes alone in Kerala and Karnataka and 40 percent of the long-term visas are issued from the consulate at Bangalore which is in charge these states.
This means how strong the education system here which comprises just five percent of total Indian population and that’s why we are more interested in collaborations with universities here,” he said.
The Consul General also emphasised the need for learning German to exploit the opportunities in Germany. “At present, one can do his master's or research in Germany in English. But when you want to work there, you need to speak German and it will not be a problem for Indians who are already fluent in three or four languages to learn an extra language,” he said.
