Manipal, March 5, 2021.

The University of Sydney (USyd) has underpinned its partnership with Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE) with an agreement to enhance academic and educational exchange and research collaborations. The University of Sydney is one of the best universities in Australia and is consistently ranked in the top 50 universities in the world.

Professor Stephen Garton AM, Vice-Chancellor and Principal at University of Sydney and Lt. Gen. (Dr.) M. D. Venkatesh, the Vice-Chancellor of MAHE, signed the MoU in a high-profile virtual event on Thursday attended by heads of institutions from the Faculty of Health Sciences. Besides enhancing academic interaction between the two universities, the MoU shall facilitate two-way mobility of students and announce a call for research seed grant scheme that will build capacity based on collaborative research. Through this collaboration both the universities intend to identify opportunities for joint activities in areas of mutual interest that address the pressing issues globally.

In his opening remarks, Prof. Garton said “The institutions must explore opportunities to establish joint innovation to promote collaboration and commercialization activities between Australia and India”. He also expressed that the new collaboration will establish a long-term partnership that could help foster research and mobility. Central to the new agreement will be the recognition of jointly supervised Ph.D. programs across the proposed research clusters identified by the two universities. Ms. Amanda Sayan, Director of Partnerships, University of Sydney assured that “The university intends to launch a joint Global Strategic Partnership Fund to support research and other collaborative activities under this agreement. Dr. Raghu Radhakrishnan, Director of International Collaborations at MAHE stated that “MAHE is committed to this collaboartion. In the true spirit of internationalization, MAHE places diversity and adaptability through inclusion in the center of organizational matters” He also highlighted government schemes like Study in India (SII) and Scheme for Promotion of Academic and Research Collaboration (SPARC) in addition to the New Colombo Plan for hosting international students and facilitating academic and research exchange.

Lt. Gen. (Dr.) M. D. Venkatesh concluded the meeting expressing his delight at formalizing this MoU and exuded confidence that this collaboration will be mutually beneficial bringing the best of academics to scale new heights of excellence enshrining the knowledge triangle of education, research, and innovation.