Media Release
Bengaluru, Dec 3: Scotland’s deputy first minister, John Swinney visited India between to November 24 to 28. His visit was with the intention of promoting greater business and education co-operation between India and Scotland.
During his visit to Bengaluru, he explored the possibilities of collaboration between Bengaluru, Mangaluru and other cities for business and education in Scotland. Swinney, who is also the minister of Education for Scotland, brought along a fully fledged business and academic delegation, including the vice-principal of Edinburgh University, Prof Charlie Jeffery, and eminent professors from St Andrews University, Glasgow University, and other famous Scottish Universities. Of the 2,35,000 students studying in Scotland, 1,300 at present are from India. Scotland has over 15 Universities, with many of them in the Ivy League. Their first University, St Andrews was founded in 1413, 605 years ago.
The deputy first minister was particularly interested at collaborations between Universities and Businesses and Mangalore with its tremendous academic progress and track record of generating excellent institutions is an area of interest. The minister held a reception the British Deputy-High Commissioner Dominic McAllister's residence for the alumni of Scotlands Universities along with guest of honour Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, the founder of Biocon. In the opinion of serial entrepreneur, Dr Allan Pinto who is also a German educated doctor, “The potential of business and educational collaborations with Mangaluru and Scotland are tremendous. With over 63 colleges, and 27 well known hospitals, Mangaluru is the hub for education in South India and can offer a strong connect to Scottish institutions”
A round table conference between the delegation and around 20 CEO’s was held at the Taj West End, Bengaluru on November 28. Moderated by Cherise Mascarenhas, the Country Head of Scottish Development International (SDI), the nodal agency for enabling the collaborations, the deputy first minister stated that Scotland has the ability to fast track proposals due to its size and dynamism, sometimes in a matter of weeks. According to Dr. Joseph Rasquinha, CEO of Blueleaf Cyberspace who was present at the meeting and is an Alumni of St. Andrews University, “The business opportunities are significant. A single Entrepreneur organisation like Kanara Entrepreneurs Bangalore with just 200 members has a gross asset base of 1.5 billion dollars. If you add the different organisations in the region, along with the educational institutions, it is an asset base that runs into tens of billions of dollars. If explored diligently, both Scotland and the South Kanara region can gain in toto.”