Offering education consultancy, technical help across the globe

Educational Consultants India Limited (EdCIL) was conceived and incorporated as a public sector enterprise in 1981, under the ministry of human resource development. It offers consultancy and technical services in areas of education and human resource development not only in India but also abroad. Its CMD Anju Banerjee spoke to HT on a range of issues. Excerpts:

Elaborate on the evolution of EdCIL over the years.
The mandate of EdCIL has been to offer consultancy and technical services in various fields of education and human resource development in the country and world. Over the years, it has been instrumental in successfully conceptualising various educational entities like IIT-Guwahati, IIM Lucknow, Calicut and Indore, IGNOU and National Open School, among others. EdCIL has also worked on national and international projects in diverse areas of education, funded by foreign government and international agencies. It has the credentials of providing placement to students from over 30 countries and sending faculty to over 15 countries.

How diverse and comprehensive are consultancy services?
EdCIL consultancy services flow with the concept of establishing a university or an institution, starting from vision, mission and detailed project report, construction of the building, furnishing with teaching aid, laboratory equipment, library and recruitment of expert faculty.

The service spectrum of EdCIL is designed accordingly and the activities are catered through technical assistance, institutional development, and procurement and testing.

The placement of foreign students through expert faculty is carried out by the placement division. EdCIL provides logistic and technology support to eminent education schemes like the Sarva Sikhsha Abhiyan, among
others.

What about your overseas operations?
Recently, EdCIL had undertaken an international project for providing consultancy to Asian Development Bank (ADB) and loan-funded project to the ministry of public education, Republic of Uzbekistan, titled ‘ICT in Basic Education’. It has shown interest in similar projects in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Mongolia.

Earlier, EdCIL had completed projects in Tanzania, Zanzibar, Rwanda and Ghana. We are involved in setting up the India-Africa Institute of Information Technology (IAIIT) in Ghana.

The ministry of external affairs is facilitating institutional development in Africa — one such institution is in the area of information and communication technology.

The host country will provide land and building, whereas the Indian government will facilitate equipment, besides setting up of the institution initially and operating it for the first three years.

EdCIL has already completed the DPR to set up the institution in the initial phase.