University Vice-Chancellors from India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have agreed to work together to internationalise their campuses, following a roundtable meeting in New Delhi, India, chaired by the British university Anglia Ruskin.
The meeting welcomed leaders from a host of institutions including Mumbai University, NorthSouth University, Bangladesh, and General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University, Sri Lanka.
Discussed were ways to boost interregional student and faculty exchange, as well as collaborative research initiatives. Professor Michael Thorne, VC of Anglia Ruskin, also offered to send research fellows from his university to Asia to give “short-duration, capacity-building” workshops for students.
“This means that Indian students can work towards chartered status at one-third of the cost”
“The idea that, when our students finish their second year exams and before they start their final year in the UK, they could come and do work in a research team, would be very interesting for us,” he said at the meeting. “I think quite a few students would be interested in that.”
As a pre-cursor to the roundtable, Anglia Ruskin University signed an MoU with Galgotias University in Greater Noida, India. It will enable students to study three years of a B Tech Civil Engineering programme at Galgotias University before transferring to the third year of a BEng Civil Engineering at Anglia Ruskin in the UK.
Upon successful completion they will receive Incorporated Engineer status with the Institution of Civil Engineers – the association that certifies civil engineers in the UK.
“This means that Indian students can work towards chartered status at one-third of the cost – the cost for completing the third year at Anglia Ruskin University,” the university said in a statement.
It added, “The university is fully aware of the employability challenges of returning graduates and is now looking at instituting an employment coordinator in India who will work with the students to facilitate their entry into the job market even before they return to India.”
