AFS India Member Schools Meet for Principals was held on 14th September 2019 in one of the AFS India Member Schools: The Hyderabad Public School, Begumpet. The meet aimed to bring together schools and institutions to ideate for maximizing impact. It was attended by 48 Principals and Directors of the AFS Member Schools from 5 different regions of India.
The meet featured discussions, presentations, expert sessions, networking to advance our 3 impact goals: develop active global citizens, globalize schools & institutions and expand access to intercultural education.
The meet entailed the following sessions:
- The keynote by Dr. Sumer Singh about AFS, its network and the initiation of AFS programs. Dr. Singh encouraged the Principals and Directors to choose AFS to send students abroad on exchange programs. He emphasized how AFS has a strong network and how the volunteer-based organizations provide excellent support and risk management compared to any other organizations in India.
- Followed by a presentation on AFS as a Brand, its existence, programs AFS offers, its risk management, and strong support system, fees structure, the benefits, components of intercultural learning, orientations, etc. Through this presentation, the aim was to create awareness of AFS as a brand. Directors and Principals were given a background of the mission of AFS, the brand attributes we stand for and how AFS’s Study Abroad experiences are unique and different and has educational curriculum attached to it.
- Directors and Principals used the platform to have a Regional Meeting to strategize on how they can help in expanding access to intercultural education in various regions of India. The regional meeting was facilitated by Mr. Jayant Lal also focused on the expectations of the member schools in terms of AFS programs and the opportunities schools are interested in.
- An expert session by Mr. Sambhav Srivastava, Under Secretary, (Evaluation) Retd., Association of Indian Universities talked about AIU, its inception, role of evaluation department, structure of higher education in India, equivalence of degrees authorized Indian agencies, latest policy, school level qualification, +2 level qualifications in other countries, procedure to apply for equivalence of qualifications and so on. (The Evaluation Division of AIU issues the Equivalence Certificate to students with foreign qualifications to facilitate their admission in India)
- AFS Study Abroad Resource Center was shared with the attendees which brought clarity on how resource center can help anyone get complete information on AFS Programs, Benefits, Fees Structure, Destinations, Scholarships, etc. Attendees were encouraged to share the same with their School Representatives so that promotion of AFS can be done with much awareness.
- Unlocking Alumni Success Stories Through Technology was another session facilitated by the representatives of Univariety. Univariety is India’s foremost Career Counselling, Guidance, and College Planning platform.
- Principals and Directors shared their experiences of being involved with AFS. They spoke about Principals’ Meet and how it has helped them have a better understanding of AFS and its programs, and how they look forward to advancing AFS’s mission in India.
The meet ended by felicitating the Principals and Head of the schools with the memento as becoming an AFS Member School.
We’re thankful to Mr. Skand Bali, Principal of The Hyderabad Public School to co-host the Principals’ Meet 2019 in their school. We look forward to hosting such meets in the future to maximize AFS’s impact in India.