On January 25, 2023, Professor UEMATSU Yoshihiko, Executive Director of Gifu University Organization for Promotion of Glocalization (GU-GLOCAL) attended a meeting with the Director Prof. B. S. MURTY of the Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad (IITH, India) in Tokyo. Professor UEMATSU and GLOCAL faculty members informed the collaborative activities between GU and Indian universities, and discussed a future partnership between GU and IITH.
IITH is one of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and was founded in 2008. It is the nation's first higher educational institution that incorporated Artificial Intelligence (AI) Department into its 18 Departments open for students. Eighteen departments include Chemical Engineering, Biotechnology, Civil Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Materials Science and Metallurgical Engineering, Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, Climate Change, and Heritage Science and Technology (departments in enginerring).
IITH has already concluded a number of memorandums of understanding with multiple universities, research institutes and companies in Japan. IITH has been actively engaged in joint research activities with its Japanese counterparts over the years.
The meeting with the Director Prof. B. S. Murty was organized by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to provide a venue for GLOCAL faculty members, representatives from academic and business institutions, etc., and the Director for opinion exchange regarding a future partnership. This meeting was conducted in a hybrid mode of "in-person" and "virtual," and was attended by officials from six universities (including GU), two government organizations and three companies in Japan.
As a successful example of collaboration with universities in India, Professor UEMATSU gave the Director an overview of Joint Degree Programs (JDP) which were jointly launched by the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati (IITG, India) and the National University of Malaysia (UKM, Malaysia) in April 2019. After the meeting, GLOCAL faculty members also had an opportunity to talk directly to the Director. GLOCAL members explained GU's educational and research collaboration with IITG, "Education for Highly-Skilled Human Resources in Northeast India and Tokai Area based on Glocal JDP Platform" of "FY2022 Inter-University Exchange Project" (adopted by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) of Japan), and the activities of Industry-Government-Academia-Banking Institution Consortium. GLOCAL faculty members and the IITH Director agreed to keep contact with one another and work together to build a new academic partnership between GU and IITH.
We hope that we can apply our experiences of faculty members and student exchange with IITG for the promotion of educational and research collaboration between Japan and India, and contribute to a strong growth of businesses and industries between the two countries.
Group photo (from right, Mr. UEDA Daisuke, Deputy Director General, and Group Director for Higher Education and Social Security Group, Human Development Department from JICA, Associate Professor KATAOKA Kotaro from IITH, Director Prof. B. S. MURTY, Professor UEMATSU, Professor EBIHARA Akio from the Faculty of Applied Biological Sciences (GU), Designated Professor MIWA Shinichi from GLOCAL, and Mr. TANJI Daisuke, MPD Fellow from the Graduate School of Project Design)
[Related Links]
IITH
JDP
Education for Highly-Skilled Human Resources in Northeast India and Tokai Area based on Glocal JDP Platform
