Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the United States yielded a bounty of American gifts for Indian higher education. Cerebral, no-drama Obama and folksy, down-to-earth, Modi shared good chemistry and signed a slew of pacts in the White House on Tuesday that will boost education in India.

Here is a quick take on what President Obama promised India:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Barack Obama agreed in a Washington summit to improve education and job training.

• The U.S will help to set up a new Indian Institute of Technology (IIT). The US Agency for International Development (USAID), headed by Indian American, Rajiv Shah will provide a range of high-level analytic, diagnostic, and organizational development services to support India's efforts to set up the new technology institute.


• Based on the outcomes of these services, USAID and the State Department will explore potential areas for future collaboration with India, which will include planning, faculty development, and exchange programs.


• India’s Global Initiative of Academic Networks, or GIAN, for short will draw nearly 1,000 American science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) professors to teach in Indian academic and research institutions on short-term exchanges.


• In addition, India’s SWAYAM platform for massive open online courses, or MOOCs, will identify opportunities for U.S. universities to provide India with online college level courses.


• In October, Passport to India which is run with Ohio State University will launch a new website www.PassportToIndia.com that will serve as a portal for all student opportunities in India. It will inform U.S. students about private sector internships and study abroad opportunities in India. In spring 2015, Passport to India will launch a massive open online course (MOOC) for American students interested in learning about India.

Uttara Choudhury is Editor, North America for TV 18’s Firstpost news site and a writer for Forbes India. In 1997, she went on the British Chevening Scholarship to study Journalism at the University of Westminster, in London.