Dutch universities sign agreement with India
On 16 July 2008 the Association of Universities in the Netherlands (VSNU) signed a bilateral agreement with its Indian counterpart the Association of India Universities (AIU). Both organizations agreed to improve cooperation in the field of education and scientific research between universities in India and the Netherlands. India has 415 universities, of which 285 are members of the AIU.
India is an interesting partner for Dutch universities because of the strongly growing economy and the big investments made in higher education and scientific research in India. At the same time renowned universities in India have insufficient places to train all available talent, which offers chances again for Dutch science that is contending with a shortage of talented students.
Compared to countries like China, Japan, South Africa and Indonesia, Dutch universities cooperate relatively little with India. In order to change this, the VSNU organized a visit to India in March 2008. Participants in this visit were university directors, prominent scientists and representatives of the Ministry of Education, Nuffic (Netherlands organization for international cooperation in higher education), NWO (Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research) and KNAW (Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences). Signing the agreement between VSNU and AIU is a direct result of this visit.
Sijbolt Noorda (chairman VSNU) and Professor Dayanand Dongaonkar
(Secretary General Association of Indian Universities, AIU)
The cooperation takes shape in a number of collective programs. On a national level the VSNU and the AIU work together in the Student Research Convention. With this the AIU selects a number of talented students in a national Indian competition. These students are offered a PhD placement with a Dutch university. Furthermore, there are collaboration activities in various Dutch universities with Indian universities. In that context the University of Maastricht will be opening an office in Bangalore in the near future in order to recruit talented students and researchers. The Eindhoven University of Technology runs a joint Masters program in Computer Science and Engineering with the Manipal University in India, where the first year takes place in Manipal and the sfecond year in Eindhoven. This year Utrecht University offers f14 so-called Short Stay Fellowships to Indian PhD students. They can use this scholarship to conduct research during three months in Utrecht. During this period the student and the university may investigate options for further collaboration. In 2007 and 2008 Utrecht University also organized various scientific seminars in cooperation with Indian universities.
For more information on cooperation between Dutch and India universities please visit: http://dutchsciencecareers.in
Source: VSNU press release, 16 July 2008 |
