New Delhi: As India emerges a global education market, the University of Southern California (USC) is offering a new doctorate course aimed at professionals in the field of education.

The programme, being launched by USC Rossier School of Education, is a doctorate in education (Ed.D.) aimed at working professionals aspiring to be high-level practitioners in the field.

"The highlight of the programme is it will be training professionals in global education with a focus on making global leaders in the field of education," elaborates Mike Diamond, professor in the USC Rossier School of Education.

Diamond was in India along with Dominic Brewer, Rossier vice dean for partnership and research, to talk with prospective candidates for the new Global Executive Ed.D. programme.

The university is also setting up an office in Mumbai.

"It will be on the lines of MBA (master of business administration) programmes," he says.

Unlike the traditional Ph.D., which is for students planning to go into professional teaching, this course is for professionals. Around 25 people will be chosen for the course from around the world, of which three to four will be from India.

"An Ed.D. is a professional doctorate aimed at working professionals aspiring to be high level practitioners in education as opposed to a Ph.D. which is aimed at individuals aspiring to be future academics," says Diamond.

"We have interest in establishing relations with countries in the Pacific rim and India," he says.

"India is a major country with tremendous education needs and a huge education market. Students from the US and India can work together and solve many problems education is facing," he says.

"The idea is to focus on global issues and not just country specific issues," he says.

Diamond adds that the University of Southern California already has a large number of Indian students, with courses in engineering, technology and business being the most popular courses.

"The school of engineering is our most established programme, a number of our students come from India," he says.

Indian students make the second largest group of foreign students in the US after China, consisting of almost 14 percent of foreign students, according to the Open Doors Report.

The report also revealed that a small one percent fall in the number of students going to US was registered in 2011. In 2010-11, 103,895 Indian students took admission in US universities, while the number was 104,897 in 2009-10, marking the first such decline since 1998-99.