Apr 17 2008
The signing of a joint Memorandum of Understanding paves the way for numerous future research collaborations and exchanges of students and staff between the University of Cambridge and the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IITB).
Professor Alan Windle was in Mumbai today, on behalf of Cambridge Vice-Chancellor Professor Alison Richard, to present the Memorandum for signing by Prof. Ashok Misra, Director, IIT Bombay.
Their meeting also marked the signing of the first collaboration agreement between the two, based on nanoscience and nanotechnology and its applications to nano-structured materials and nano-structured devices, the field in which Professor Windle specialises.
Under the agreement, funding will be made available for ten studentships to pursue three-year PhD courses at Cambridge through the Cambridge Commonwealth Trust. In addition there will be support travel by senior academic staff between the two partnering universities.
The signing follows the high-profile visit to four Indian cities by Professor Alison Richard last January, during which the strong ties between Cambridge and India were celebrated and further strengthened.
Prof. Ashok Misra, Director, IIT Bombay, says, “Establishment of an academic collaboration with the world renowned University of Cambridge is a landmark event for IIT Bombay, specially since it is taking place during our Golden Jubilee year. University of Cambridge has been known for high quality education and research over centuries and our interactions with them will definitely enhance our research activities, which the institute has been stressing upon in the recent times. We look forward to our partnership going from strength to strength in the years to follow.
Prof. Allan Windle, University of Cambridge, says, “University of Cambridge is delighted that this MoU is now in place and very specially pleased that it is with IIT Bombay, as it is a focal point for energy and commitment to Science and technology which characterizes modern India. It is highly appropriate that the first collaboration under this MoU is in the area of Nanoscience and Technology. This new field of endeavour is one of the keys to growth and prosperity in the future and it also cuts across many of the traditional fields of academic studies. It is new, vibrant, exciting and reflects the spirit of the country.
IIT-Bombay has just celebrated its fiftieth anniversary. Set up by an Act of Parliament, it was established in 1958, at Powai, a northern suburb of Mumbai. Today the Institute is recognised as one of the centres of academic excellence in the country.
The University of Cambridge is ranked among the very top universities in the world. As it approaches its eight hundredth anniversary in 2009, it is looking to the future. It continues to change in response to the challenges it faces. The modern University is an international centre of teaching and research in a vast range of subjects: about half of the students study science or technology. Members of the University have won over eighty Nobel Prizes.