The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry took a business delegation to the United Kingdom focusing on Education from 10th July to 13th July 2017. The delegation was led by Dr. Suborno Bose, Chairman Education Committee, BCC&I & Chairman and Chief Mentor, Indismart Group. The delegation comprised of industry representatives from West Bengal.

The delegation members were:

Day 1: London: 10th July 2017:Visit toBuckinghamshire New University for Discussions and B2B Meetings:

On 10th July 2017, the delegation members had B2B interaction with the professors, executives and departmental heads of the Buckinghamshire New University. The delegation was received Dr. Lorraine Watkins-Mathys, Dean of Faculty of Design, Media& Management and was welcomed and addressed by Professor Rebecca Bunting, Vice Chancellor of the University. Before the formal meeting, the delegation members had an informal discussion with the representatives of the University, briefing the latter about their sectors of interests and business purposes in the United Kingdom. The Formal B2B meeting was presided by the departmental heads and the faculty members. The Bengal Chamber Delegation was led by Dr Suborno Bose, Chairman Education Committee of BCC&I, who delivered the opening remarks. Dr. Bose spoke about the close cultural and traditionalties that the two countries share and after highlighting the objectives of the trip to the UK, Dr. Bose requested the members to introduce themselves. In her closing remarks, Professor Rebecca Bunting, Vice Chancellor of the Buckinghamshire New Universitythanked the Bengal Chamber for bringing such a dynamic and scholarly delegation, which led to a most stimulating and erudite discussion. Dr Suborno Bose, along with Ms Sukanya Bose, Deputy Director, The Bengal Chamber, thanked everyone present and expressed the interest of creating partner to partner based collaboration with the University.

Day 1: 10th July 2017: Visit to Brunel University:

On the same date, i.e., 10th July 2017, the delegation members had another interaction with the professors, executives and departmental heads of The Brunel University. The delegation was received Prof Andrew Ward, Director of Corporate Relations and was welcomed and addressed by Professor Ashley Braganza, Deputy Dean CBASS and Professor of Organizational Transformation at the University. Before the formal meeting, the delegation members had an informal discussion with the representatives of the University, briefing the latter about their sectors of interests and business purposes in the United Kingdom. The Formal B2B meeting was presided by the departmental heads and the faculty members. Dr Suborno Bose, Chairman Education Committee of BCC&I, delivered the opening remarks.

Day 1: 10th July 2017: Meeting with Ambassador Dinesh Patnaik, Deputy High Commissioner of India at the High Commission of India in the UK, London:

The delegation was received by ShriSaikat Sen Sharma, Counsellor Economic, High Commission of India and was welcomed by the Ambassador Dinesh Patnaik, Deputy High Commissioner of India. Shri Patnaikcongratulated the Chamber on bringing such a niche and focused delegation. He discussed about the opportunities and the demand for setting up incubation centres at different Universities especially at Cambridge University. Any Indian Company interested to open up incubation centreswould be welcomed by the Universities. He also mentioned about scaling up the startups present in various universities in India, to have an ecosystem where Indian startups could tie up with the startups present in the United Kingdom, as the startup success rate now is 1:50. Universities become crucibles when startups try and test out their products or services. He also shared that India and UK are very close is all aspects. He suggested that for Mastersprogrammes, the Universities should tie-up with the UK Universities so that the students could go through two years’ course (one year in India and one year in the UK). In such cases where the VISA Application is genuine and are for studies or short stays, VISA is not a problem in the UK. He also suggested BCC&I Education Committee could communicate with the UK Universities regarding the internship programmes with a concept like KNOW INDIA, where they could send their students for unpaid internship in India for 3 to 4 months and the Chamber couldcoordinate appropriately. He also suggested the need for looking into FINTECH as after demonetization, he felt India should look into FINTECH more. UK is one of the best in Innovation and FINTECH. Dr Suborno Bose thanked Shri Patnaik on behalf of the Chamber and the delegation and concluded with a Vote of Thanks to the Chair.

Day 2: London: 11th July 2017: Meeting with United Kingdom Department for International Trade

The BCC&I delegation had an excellent interaction with Ms Caroline Plumb OBE, Prime Minister’s Business Ambassador for Professional Services. She stressed on innovation and observed that there are many opportunities for the small scale industries in context of innovation.

Followed by Ms Caroline Plumb, Mr Phillip D’Costa, Partner, Commercial Dispute Resolution and India Group at Penningtons Law Firm made a presentation on technology transfer from the United Kingdom to international markets. He also discussed on the trends and opportunities. The session was very useful for some of the members especially those into financial services and financing as they clarified as well as discussed various issues. Thereafter, the delegates had a most engaging session with Mr Andrew McHallam, Head of FCO Scholarship Unit, UK Export Finance. MrMcHallam spoke about theChevening Scholarships programmeas well as the fellowship programme. Following this the delegation met Ms Julian Lynn, Export Finance Manager of UK Export Finance. SREI took a lead role and Mr Dhruv Bhalla of SREI interacted with them extensively.

Day 2: London: 11th July 2017: Meeting with London Chamber of Commerce and Industry:

The Bengal Chamber officials met the officials of the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Dr Suborno Bose, leader of the BCC&I delegation introduced the Chamber. The Corporate Video of the Bengal Chamber was played forMr Peter Bishop, Deputy Chief Executive of London Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Mr Peter Bishop expressed his keenness to draw up a Memorandum of Understanding between the Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry and London Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Such a partnership was agreed to in-principle.

Day 2: London: 11th July 2017: Meeting with Lord Nick Bourne at the House of Lords

The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry had the rare privilege of attending a specially convened meeting at the House of Lords. The Education Committee of the Chamber was invited by Lord Nick Bourne. Apart from Lord Bourne, the meeting was attended by Prof Dr ZenobiaNadirshawand Dr SanjeevKanoria, Managing Director Advinia Healthcare and SREI Group. Dr Suborno Bose, Leader of the BCC&I Delegation introduced the Chamber and shared the various activities of the Chamber. MrSimarpreet Singh, Director, JIS Group presented a memento to Lord Nick Bourne.

Day 3: Birmingham: 12th July 2017: Visit to the Greater Birmingham Chamber of Commerce:

The delegation first reached the Greater Birmingham Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Mr. Paul Faulkner, Chief Executive, Greater Birmingham Chamber of Commerce and Industry formally welcomed the delegation. Dr Suborno Bose, leader of the delegation introduced the Bengal Chamber to the University representatives and the Chamber Members. The Birmingham City Council, Birmingham Commonwealth Association and various educational stakeholders in the City were present to meet the BCC&I Delegation. It was in this forum that the Greater Birmingham Chamber of Commerce and Asian Chamber of Commerce and Industry expressed their eagerness to sign a Memorandum of Understanding between the individual Chambers.

After the formal introduction at the Greater Birmingham Chamber of Commerce, the delegation had to split in order to have B2B meetings with different universities.

The visit concluded on 13th July 2017. The delegation marked the beginning of the international educational tie-ups facilitated by the Chamber and was appreciated by the members comprising the delegation.