Indian Institute of Technology Mandi (IIT) has partnered with Leibniz Universitat Hannover (LUH) Germany for an academic exchange and cooperation programme in research and education.
The universities have signed a MoU for the exchange of academic materials and research activities, and this will make way for student exchange activities. As a part of this MoU, both IIT Mandi and Hannover will get an opportunity to work on joint teaching and research projects. The visiting scientists will get a workplace with the necessary equipment and students will be enrolled as per their academic qualification. There are plans to develop a mutually recognized curriculum, and the hosting institute will help in social, academic and cultural integration.
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The MoU that has been signed is for a duration of five years, and it can be renewed later. Talking about the collaboration, IIT Mandi’s Director Prof. Timothy A. Gonsalves said that since 2011, IIT Mandi had a strategic partnership with the TU9 in Germany for tapping into the German standards of excellence in science and engineering. A lot of faculty members have research collaborations with TU9 institutes, including Leibniz Universitat. This MoU is expected to take the collaboration to a higher level and will enable bilateral exchange visits by students.
IIT Mandi has also taken a few steps in this direction as recently, a team of 6 members from IIT Mandi including Prof. Gonsalves and a few others visited Leibniz Universitat for a workshop to take the research collaboration ahead. Rs.1.42 crore has already been sanctioned for exchange visit of IIT Mandi faculty to any of the TU9 institutes. German origin instructors who have native German fluency have been engaged at IIT Mandi to help students learn the language at basic and advanced levels.
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IIT Mandi has also developed teaching and research collaborations with various universities in the European Union and other parts of the world. Many IIT Mandi faculty and students have made use of these collaborations to visit various institutes such as TU9. At the same time, international students from these institutes have visited IIT Mandi.