New Delhi Friday 11 December 2015<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) and O. P.\nJindal Global University (JGU) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)\nto facilitate collaboration between emergent research universities in South\nAsia for teaching, academic and research activities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The signing took\nplace at the British Council offices in New Delhi on 9 December, at the start\nof a three-day British ministerial visit led by the Secretary of State for\nBusiness, Innovation and Skills Sajid Javid MP and the Minister for\nUniversities and Science Jo Johnson MP to promote cooperation on education,\nskills and research. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
QMUL\u2019s Vice\nPrincipal (International) Professor David Sadler and O.P. Jindal Global\nUniversity\u2019s Vice-Chancellor and Director of International\nInstitute For Higher Education Research and Capacity Building (IIHEd) Professor\n(Dr.) C. Raj Kumar signed the MoU, under which QMUL expresses support for the\nInternational Institute for Higher Education Research and Capacity Building\n(IIHEd), O. P. Jindal Global University, in its endeavour to create an\nAssociation of Emergent South Asian Research Universities (AESARU). <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The AESARU is\nperceived as a network of universities that are relatively newly-established,\nhave or aspire to a significant research ambition in their institutional\nmission, aim to contribute to economic and social progress, actively promote\nintegrity, excellence, and equality of opportunity and are genuinely\nnot-for-profit in their operating model. It intends\nto be recognised as a participatory, progressive, and values-based network organisation,\ntranscending national boundaries and encouraging substantial and continued\nself-development of its members and of higher education within South Asia more\ngenerally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Under the MoU,\nQMUL will facilitate the building of a network for the AESARU and will\ncultivate members not only from its own extensive network in the region, but\nalso from outside. The two institutions will jointly organise meetings and\nconferences for the network activities. Other AESARU activities will include,\namong other things, student and faculty exchanges, research and teaching\ncollaborations and summer programmes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Professor Sadler\nsaid: \u201cBuilding on our existing partnership with O.P. Jindal Global University\n(JGU), Queen Mary University of London is pleased to be working in close\ncollaboration with the International Institute for Higher Education Research\nand Capacity Building at JGU on this exciting new project. It signals our\nlong term commitment to working in India, and South Asia at large, and we look\nforward to helping facilitate greater information exchange, teaching and\nresearch collaboration between member institutions of this new network across\nthe region.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He added: \u201cIt’s a\nparticularly opportune moment for new universities across South Asia to be\nlearning from each other and developing mechanisms for collaboration and mutual\nsupport, and QMUL is uniquely placed in the UK to support this process”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Professor Kumar\nsaid: \u201cWe have had the opportunity to partner with leading institutions across\nthe globe, but this partnership with Queen Mary University of London is truly\nspecial, not only will it help set up progressive global exchange and study\nopportunities for students and faculty of both institutions, but also help\ncreate a framework of economic and social progress that actively promotes\nexcellence, and equality of opportunity for the youth in the South Asian\nregion.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dr. Kumar further\nhighlighted, \u201cthere is a dire need for institutions in the South Asian region\nto participate and build a stronger base for policy making in the higher\neducation sector in their respective countries\u201d. He called for institutions\nwith similar goals to partner and contribute to this vision. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Centre for\nSouth Asian Legal Studies, Centre for India – China Studies and the Centre for\na New South Asia at JGU will be actively engaged in the functioning of the\nAESARU. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Director of the\nBritish Council India Rob Lynes said: \u201cThe British Council supports\npartnerships between UK and Indian Universities, and with 2016 being the\nUK-India year of education, research and innovation, we trust this new\nrelationship between Queen Mary University and OP Jindal Global University will\nbe both a productive and mutually beneficial partnership.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
About O.P\nJindal Global University & IIHEd<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n JGU is a\nnon-profit global university established by the Haryana Private Universities\n(Second Amendment) Act, 2009. JGU is situated on an 80-acre state-of-the art\nresidential campus in the National Capital Region of Delhi. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The vision of JGU\nis to promote global courses, global programmes, global curriculum, global\nresearch, global collaborations, and global interaction through a global\nfaculty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n IIHEd is an independent research institute within JGU\nthat will be focused on pursuing research and capacity building initiatives on\ndifferent aspects of higher education in India and beyond, with the vision of\ncontributing towards institution building for nation building<\/p>\n\n\n\n IIHEd will conduct research and offer advice on all\naspects of higher education with a strong focus on curriculum development;\npedagogical innovations; faculty engagement; faculty recruitment, retention and\ndevelopment; research and knowledge creation systems; promotion of scholarship\nand building research capacities; developing international collaborations;\nbenchmarking and assessments of institutions; and for providing institutional\nsupport on law, policy and regulations relating to higher education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n About Queen\nMary University of London<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Queen Mary\nUniversity of London (QMUL) is one of the UK’s leading universities, and one of\nthe largest institutions in the University of London, with 20,260 students from\nmore than 150 countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A member of the\nRussell Group, we work across the humanities and social sciences, medicine and\ndentistry, and science and engineering, with inspirational teaching directly\ninformed by our research – in the most recent national assessment of the\nquality of research, we were placed ninth in the UK (REF 2014).<\/p>\n\n\n\n We also offer\nsomething no other university can: a stunning self-contained residential campus\nin London’s East End. As well as our home at Mile End, we have campuses at\nWhitechapel, Charterhouse Square and West Smithfield dedicated to the study of\nmedicine, and a base for legal studies at Lincoln’s Inn Fields.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We have a rich\nhistory in London with roots in Europe’s first public hospital, St Barts;\nEngland’s first medical school, The London; one of the first colleges to\nprovide higher education to women, Westfield College; and the Victorian\nphilanthropic project, the People’s Palace based at Mile End.<\/p>\n\n\n\n QMUL has an annual\nturnover of \u00a3350m, a research income worth \u00a3100m, and generates employment and\noutput worth \u00a3700m to the UK economy each year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n For more\ninformation, please contact:<\/p>\n\n\n\n