Introduction

The British Council is supporting the International Relations for International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) Gift City to identify one or more education partners from the UK to collaborate and deliver online financial courses to working professionals and students from Gujarat and other related areas. They want to explore financial courses provided by UK higher education institutions which can be beneficial in terms of professional development and can be a mandated course in the longer term.

International Relations for International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) Gift City is a Global Financial and IT Hub with a Domestic Tariff Area and a Multi Services Special Economic Zone. IFSCA has been established as a unified financial regulator by the Government of India under the IFSCA Act, 2019. The Authority is mandated to develop and regulate Financial Institutions, Financial Services and Financial Products in the International Financial Services Centre (IFSCA) in India.

The latest Global Financial Centres Index, London, (March 2021) puts IFSCA in Gift City at the top amongst 15 centres globally, which are likely to become more significant over the next two to three years.

Some of the highlights of IFSCA in Gift City

• Access to large hinterland economy
• Connecting ~30 Mn strong Indian diaspora globally to India through IFSCA
• Inbound and outbound gateway for International financial services
• Access to Global Investors to participate in India’s growth story
• Opportunity to Global investors to set up business in the areas of banking, investments, insurance and asset management
• IFSCA to emerge as a leading fund destination for both Indian and Foreign centric funds and as a global hub for fintech start-ups.

For more details please visit: https://www.ifsca.gov.in/

IFSCA is looking to collaborate with UK partners interested in providing short term Financial Courses in the Gift City via online or blended module for young professionals and students

About the course module

The course suggested should be something which is already existing as an online financial and technology course in the UK HEIs; at this stage we do not want any bespoke course as we are exploring delivery and module of the courses offered by Universities. It should cater to our pool of young professionals as well as students, and it can be a short-term diploma course as well. However, the type of course and its contents will be evaluated in consultation with the IFSCA ensuring the course is relevant as per the global standards and best practices. This could be a certification programme too.

The course is intended to be delivered online but can be blended too in the long term depending on the situation. If the association demands 100 per cent online, the module should have the flexibility to be adapted for complete online delivery.

The learning platform for the online module should be provided by the UK HEI unless the association provides a video conferencing software. For the classroom modules, the UK HEI will be provided a classroom and other standard training facilities like projector, photocopier, whiteboard etc.

In the long term IFSCA has planned to set up International University campuses in Gift city in partnership with Indian HEIs.

Objective of the programme:

• The core objective is to develop the skills and knowledge of students and professionals as well as administrators of the IFSCA in a range of areas related to finance
• To create a platform for international knowledge exchange between the IFSC and the UK, including exchange of best practices from this programme
• To facilitate and encourage student/professionals’ mobility and exchange programmes

Expected Outcomes from the course

• Provide a strong and industry-relevant academic course in finance and technology that will upskill students and prepare them for the competitive financial sector in India and internationally.
• Use modern valuation techniques to evaluate investment opportunities
• Communicate more effectively with other financial executives and external stakeholders
• Develop employability skills along with academics as per the global norms and standards

Benefits to UK HEIs:

• establish a long-term academic partnership with IFSCA, one of India’s upcoming global financial and IT hub which is Notified as India’s maiden International Financial Services Centre
• potential for expansion into other fields, such as student and faculty exchange across other themes.
• opportunity to raise profile and bring brand awareness to Gujarat, and possibly benefitting student and young professional recruitment.

Expression of Interest:

Please submit your proposal describing

• Your interest in this opportunity and why 
• the scope of work (what is included and excluded), would you be interested in delivering short term (6 month) certification programmes or long term (1year) certification programmes 
• general approach and methodology
• Academic knowledge anything around industry relevance etc
• Training methodology and expected outputs
• work programme with timelines and the financial proposal
• CVs of university team with relevant previous experience
• Other countries, stakeholders you have collaborated with on Finance subjects
• Flexibility of the training format (Blended/Online/Face-to-face)

Please note that the EoI should have a maximum of 5 pages

Selection criteria

Please add the estimated cost of the courses in the template. Commercials will be discussed after consulting with IFSCA