Wales and India steer towards new partnerships
A high-level mission of academics and senior management from universities in Wales visited India in March 2010, to investigate further opportunities for collaboration with Indian partners. The mission was led by Professor David Halton, Vice Chancellor of University of Glamorgan and Chair of the Wales International Consortium. Professor Halton was accompanied by senior colleagues from Aberystwyth University, Cardiff University, Swansea University, Glyndwr University and UWIC along with colleagues from Hefcw and the Welsh Assembly Government.
The purpose of the visit was to present a grouping of collaborative universities to capitalise on opportunities in research, teaching and commercialisation and to build on previous links made over many years with government, universities and industry.
The existing partnerships are wide-ranging. Bangor University has an extensive list of successful Indian links and partnerships. One example is the collaboration with CAZS-NR (Centre for Arid Zone Students, College of Natural Sciences), Gramin Vikas Trust in New Delhi and Birsa Agricultural University in Ranchi, Jharkand in the development and dissemination of drought tolerant varieties of rice through participatory plant breeding and marker assisted selection.
Cardiff University’s varied links include Cardiff Business School and the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta; Cardiff School of Journalism, Media & Cultural Studies and a recently established progression agreement with the Asian College of Journalism in Chennai and Cardiff School of Biosciences and the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad (CCMB).
Glyndwr University has active teaching partnerships with Rajagiri Higher Education College in Kerala and DSI Higher Education College in Bangalore and research involvement with the Centre for Solar Energy Research.
Swansea University has a range of research and teaching partnerships in India, including joint degrees in Business Management, Business Communications, Engineering, Media, and Computer Science with Christ College Bangalore, Presidency College Bangalore and Manipal University, Mangalore.
University of Glamorgan’s Professor Alan Guwy participated in the “Indo-UK dialogue on low carbon technologies for decentralised power production”. The Low Carbon Research Institute (LCRI) management team visited India in 2009 and there will be a return visit in 2010. An MOU has been signed with The Energy Research Institute (TERI) in India with regards to potential research collaboration and MSc courses.
Currently over 2,100 students from India studying in Wales, an increase of over 21% on 2008/09.
In May 2009 the Welsh Assembly Government appointed Avik-Kumar Debnath as Welsh Affairs Officer based in Delhi to build on existing links between Wales and India and develop long term relationships in the education, business and tourism sectors. Avik Debnath has recently visited the higher education institutions in Wales to develop further the successful partnerships between Wales and India.
The recent visit to India included meetings with the Education team of the Federation of the Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI), with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) that is home to the Department of Higher Education & Scientific Research, the European Union Representation in Delhi, and Universities.
During the mission 100 Indian alumni from universities across Wales met the delegation at the High Commissioner’s residence for a reception to celebrate Wales’ national day.
Professor Halton, who led the visit said, “It was a great opportunity to lead this very senior group of Welsh university representatives whose remit was to seek out purposeful and meaningful relationships with universities, research institutes and industry in India. Our Welsh consortium is unique in the UK in that collectively, Welsh Universities seek to offer a wide range of programmes and research collaborative opportunities together, rather than only in competition.”