Cultural, scientific and technical cooperation/B_descRubAff1>
The expansion of university, scientific and technical cooperation with India is also a priority for France.
In theuniversity sector, there are approximately 3,000 Indian students in France, a number that is growing sharply, as it has more than doubled over the past five years. France’s efforts have two components: support for scholarship programmes (a 50% increase in the number of scholarships since 2007) and support for partnerships between Indian and French institutions to develop inter-university agreements.
Scientific and technical cooperation is another key area of our partnership. This cooperation is based on high-quality structures, bringing French and Indian researchers and scientists together, such as CEFIPRA (Franco-Indian Centre for the Promotion of Advanced Research), which celebrated its 25th anniversary in February 2012; the development of joint research laboratories in promising areas of research (neuroscience, chemistry). It is also based on confirmed political will, as is indeed the case in the field of space, with the signing in 2008 oftwo agreements on space collaboration between France and India.
Finally, France and India have also agreed to strengthen their cooperation in the area of the environment and the fight against climate change, through the activities of the Franco-Indian working group on the environment and with the establishment of the French Development Agency in India in 2008, where it has a mandate focused on the protection of global public goods.
Updated on 03.09.12