Diplomatic relations between India and Spain started more than six decades ago and since has grown in many areas. Apart from the political, economic and cultural, there has also been growth in the academic sector between India and Spain. In fact, the educational element is slowly gaining significance and evolving as a component of contemporary India-Spain relations.
Areas of Academic Collaborations
One of the leading institutions in India in this area is the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), which not only offers scholarships to students from Spain to study in India but also facilitates networking between universities in India and Spain. The ICCR currently offers ten scholarships for Spanish students to study in India under the General Scholarship Scheme (GSC). In addition to these, the ICCR also maintains the Indian Cultural Centre or Casa de La India, established in 2003 and based in Valladolid, Spain.
In addition to the above, there is Obreal Global, established in 2003 and headquartered in Barcelona. It is an interregional cooperation association created for the purpose of fostering collaboration among institutions of higher learning in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Latin America and Africa. Indian institutions of higher learning that members of this organisation include, National Institute of Technology Karnataka, Indian Institute of Science (Bangalore), Indian Institute of Technology Madras (Bangalore), to name a few.
There is also the Fundación Consejo España India or the Spain-India Council Foundation, a non-profit organisation established in January 2009 by Spain’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation. Aimed at enhancing mutual knowledge between India and Spain, it serves as a platform to promote cooperation across diverse areas including science, technology, research, culture and academia. It also convenes the Spain-India Forum, which was first held in 2017 and again in 2023 and 2024. The forum acts as an important platform for promoting bilateral ties between the two countries and for identifying new areas of further collaboration. The fifth Spain-India Forum is scheduled to take place in early November 2025 in Spain. Apart from the above, there is the Instituto Cervantes in New Delhi, which offers courses aimed at promoting the learning of Spanish in India, with Spanish emerging as one of the most popular foreign languages there.
In 2019, India’s Ministry of Education initiated the Scheme for Promotion of Academic and Research Collaboration (SPARC) and launched the DUO-India Fellowship Programme. The latter is aimed at fostering faculty and student exchange between India and countries in Europe, including Spain. Since 2020, efforts to internalise Indian higher education have been closely aligned with India’s National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 which emphasises collaboration between institutions of higher learning in India and international educational institutions. Amongst the areas of focus, these include the establishment of dual and joint degrees, the creation of research alliances, enhancing inward and outward student mobility and faculty exchange, as well as turning India into a global education hub through the ‘Study in India’ initiative.
Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) in the Academic Sector
At the university level, the first initiative to foster academic ties between institutions of higher learning in India and Spain began in January 2013 when the Alliance 4 Universities (A–4U) signed an MoU with six leading higher education institutions in India. The MoU aimed to collaborate on the internationalisation of higher education and create programmes for faculty and student exchange. This included offers of scholarships and fee waivers totalling €9 million. The A-4U alliance comprises of Universitat Autónoma de Barcelona (UAB), Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM), Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M), and Universiat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona (UPF) while the six Indian institutions of higher learning were International Institute of Information Technology (IIT), Bangalore; Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore; National Institute of Technology, Hamirpur; Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, New Delhi and two private institutions. It was also reported that at least three other institutions of higher learning in India were in high-level discussions with the A-4U. These were the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (IIM-B), the University of Delhi, and the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi (IIT-Delhi).
As part of a move to foster closer cooperation between institutions of higher learning in India and Spain, in September 2018, the ICCR, in collaboration with Valladolid University, established the ICCR Chair of Hindi. The primary purpose of the Chair is to promote the use of Hindi in Spain and to provide a greater understanding of Indian culture. The Chair involves an Indian academic visiting Valladolid University annually to deliver lectures promoting the Hindi language. The first recipient of this Chair was Professor Ram Prakash Yadav from the Department of Translation Studies at the School of Translation and Interpretation, Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi Vishwavidyalay, in Wardha, India.
Further, in December 2018, the ICCR Rabindranath Tagore Chair of Contemporary Indian Studies was also established at Valladolid University. This Chair is aimed at fostering a greater understanding of contemporary India and enhancing collaboration between Valladolid University and Indian institutions of higher learning. The first holder of this Chair was Prof. Sangeeta Thapliyal from the Centre for Inner Asian Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in New Delhi.
There was a Joint Declaration of Intent on Cooperation in Cultural and Academic Fields signed in June 2022 and another signed in 2024. Some of the areas covered in the latter MoU include cooperation in archaeology, archives, libraries, museums, literature, and research and documentation.
Academic collaboration between both countries was further elevated in July 2024, when the Association of Indian Universities (AIU) and Crue Universidades Españolas (Conference of Rectors of Spanish Universities) or CRUE met and signed an MoU on bilateral cooperation in the tertiary education sector.
In July 2024, officials from India’s Kurukshetra University held discussions with officials from various Spanish universities to initiate collaboration in research, student, and faculty exchange programmes. Besides the University of Kurukshetra, Chandigarh University has also inked a number of MoUs aimed at forging international partnerships with at least eight Spanish universities. These include Universitat Politecnica De Catalunya, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, University of Salamanca, amongst others.
Research Collaboration
As far as research on India is concerned, there is the Asociación Española de Estudios Interdisciplinarios sobre India (Spanish Association for Interdisciplinary India Studies), or AEEII. This non-profit, scientific association promotes interdisciplinary research on India and aims to foster greater cultural and scientific relations between India and Spain. The AEEII also runs an online journal, Indialogs: Spanish Journal of India Studies, published by the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. There are approximately 1,400 Indian students studying in Spain, mainly in and around Barcelona.
Conclusion
Growing university partnerships, student exchanges, and cooperative research projects have all contributed to the steady improvement of India-Spain intellectual ties. These collaborations are fostering innovation and understanding amongst disciplines, including science, technology, and the humanities. All things considered, academic partnership has emerged as an essential principle for strengthening bilateral relations between the two nations.
