When I last visited India, in 2009 as the External Affairs Minister, what struck me immediately was the pace of the cities. I thought Delhi was fast moving and then I went to Kolkata and I couldn’t believe how frenetic daily life was.

 Two years on I am preparing to go back as Education Secretary and I am looking forward to renewing my acquaintance with these two great cities, which both have historical and enduring links to Scotland.

 My first port of call will be Delhi, where I have a busy and varied programme already arranged. Looking at my schedule some of the highlights that jump out are opening the first full Scottish university campus in India and addressing the influential conference of the Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

 I’ll be speaking at a reception for Alumni of Scottish universities living in India and meeting with my counterpart in the Indian Government. I’ll also be involved in a meeting that will see a number of Scottish university principals, SQA Chief Executive Janet Brown and key figures from the worlds of academia and business in India get together to discuss future and further co-operation in higher education.

 Of course, the educational excellence of our universities and colleges is well known, with more institutions ranked among the best in the world per head of population than any other country. I am proud of their success, but I am also impressed by their ability and willingness to use their expertise to help other countries and therefore build on Scotland’s reputation as a modern, confident and forward thinking country.

 After five days in Delhi, it’s a short flight to Kolkata where I will be returning to the Scottish cemeteries project to discuss the progress that’s been made with the restoration since my last visit. This is a great example of the historical links between Scotland and India and I am keen to catch up with the developments over the last couple of years.

 After that I’ll be visiting a local school to see the Indian equivalent of our school education system first hand. Later that day I’ll be helping Glasgow University cement their links with some key Indian partners. On Sunday, and to mark the 90th anniversary of the poppy, I will be proudly representing the Scottish Government at a Remembrance Day ceremony and laying a wreath to commemorate those who lost their lives in armed conflict.

 I am sure that my visit will help strengthen the current bonds, and forge new relationships, between Scotland and India, especially to the mutual benefit of our universities, our students and both our economies.

I’ll be blogging regularly on Engage so you can keep up to date on how things are progressing.

Michael Russell,
Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning

Live updates next week:
You can follow the progress of the India trip from 6 -13th with Mr Russell’s daily blog updates on the ScotIndia page as well as via the @EngageForEd twitter (hashtag #ScotIndia11).

Related:
Scottish Government website – India Trip news release.