India Is The First Country Where We Have Initiated Our Integration: Rod Smith, Cambridge University Press & Assessment

Rod Smith, Group Managing Director, International Education, Cambridge University Press & Assessment was in India recently. In this free-wheeling interview with Outlook Magazine, he spoke of the importance of India, his views of the government’s new education policy and new products that have been developed for the India market, among other things: 

Can you tell us on how have the last three years been for Cambridge International in India?

The last three years have been challenging but we've learned a lot about what to do when curriculum, education, and learning are disrupted.How can you use digital more effectively to help schools, students, teachers, and the system.India is now 30percent larger than it was before the pandemic. So, the actual market and sector are really rebounding. This has been a hugely important learning period for us and now our markets are recovering well.

Tell us about your markets in India and in Southeast Asia – the journey and growth in the last three years?

We are expanding rapidly. Weare now 30percent larger than we were before the pandemichit India. We have seen a significant increase in the number of schools seeking to implement the Cambridge curriculum in recent years. Wehad been looking at about 50 schools a year that might be interested in implementing the Cambridge curriculum. That figure has now doubled, and the trend appears to be increasing. In terms of India's openness for example,we are seeing that Indians are looking at international education and also understand the opportunities it creates.
But that’s not all. The work we are doing across 2000 CBSE schools and other schools in India is growing too. We are in conversations with various state governments across India around supporting them in their ambition for education. Some of these conversations are in advanced stages of discussion. This is also something that we are really keen on building.

How is the Cambridge University Press and Assessment brand changing its play in India?

Cambridge University Press and Assessmentis one of the big things that happened during the pandemic. Previously we were Cambridge University. It was the most logical time to bring about the merger during a pandemic. Our research showedvery clearly what drives improvements in standards, and this was also very much in alignment with India’s national education policy. Tests and assessments were a successful business and part of Cambridge University. And we put all of this together to create a single organization. This wasn’t just about efficiency; it was about what can we do together, to be more coherent and more aligned in helping to teach and learn. India is the first country where we are initiating this integration.What we can do by bringing together all these different elements of Cambridge is to bring much broader solutions and coherent solutions that are relevant to India. That we brought our businesses together in India, ahead of almost any other part of the world,is testimony to thepotentialwe see in this market.

What do you think about the new National Education Policy?

I applaud the NEP for its ambition. What we are seeing coming out of COVID is that countries around the world are really asking themselves about the fitness of their education system for the future world.The NEP aims fora more holistic approach that reduces curriculum content to make space for critical thinking. It strives to make education more inclusive, aligned to global models, focuses on learning outcomes with competency-based learning and assessments. 

We believe education needs to be aligning itself with the future at the national level and that’s exactly what the NEP is doing.I think it's very ambitious as well as comprehensive.It focuses on everything – right from early yearsand across the whole continuumof learning and combines this with a very different way of teaching and learning. I also applaud the way that it's trying to look for practical long-term solutions.There are no quick fixes in bringing a system into a very different place.If you like the value of international perspectives and international education, it gives it the best chance of being successful.The practical execution is going to be challenging, but I think that the sentiment and the approachesare in place. I think it's something very commendable, and while there will be challenges along the way,we believe we've got a role to play in helping address those challenges.

What are your thoughts on education in regional languages?

We are strong advocates and believers in bilingual education, and we support bilingual education in school. We think that English is an important part of K12 learning because it is the leading language for both academia and business.Being able to prepare students, within their mother tongue and vernacular languages in the early years is hugely important for aligning a whole community around a child's education.But there needs to be a transition towards English as the medium of instruction from grades nine onwards. It is critical for the futureof students as it ensures flexibility and enhances their ability to access international opportunities. We believe that English is hugely important, but alongside, education in the mother tongue during early years is pivotal to success.

Tell us about your early year solutions that was developed in India

One of the fundamental things about Cambridge is that we look at what can we learn not just from our research but also from global best practices from across multiple markets around the world. India is a very unique and attractive market for us - not one where we bring in things that have been developed elsewhere. There are severalsegments where India is our primary market, where we're starting to do some things that are new.With this as a starting point we have developed an entirely Indian curriculum around early years education – something that we created just before the COVID-19 pandemic. And with regards to the way this needs to be delivered, we have ensured that this is aligned not just to the students but also to educators and teachers. What we see as really valuable is India's openness to be looking at international education and how it can sit alongside national education to provide a broader range of choices and options for learners.