BU to ink MoU with Oz varsity

Nanotechnology, bio-technology research centre on cards

 
Besides student and faculty exchange programmes, the two universities are finalising the finer details of a fully equipped nanotechnology and bio-technology research centre.

The Bangalore University will sign a general MoU next week with its Australian counterpart. Sources also informed Deccan Herald that Deakin University, which has several campuses in Australia is in talks with the Viswesaraya Technological University (VTU) and the Mysore University for signing similar MoUs.

Vice-Chancellor of  Bangalore University, Dr N Prabhu Dev told Deccan Herald that the Bangalore University will be the first to sign the MoU. “We will be signing a general memorandum of understanding for an exchange programme with the university on September 29. The finer details of the discipline-wise exchange are being thrashed out,” he said.

Dr H P Kincha, the Vice Chancellor of VTU admitted that the university was in talks with Deakin University to enter into an agreement.

State of art lab

According to highly placed sources, the MoU will include setting up of a laboratory with state-of-the-art equipment for research work in Nanotechnology and Bio-technology within the Bangalore University campus.

“We will be providing space and a building, while Deakin University will provide the technology, equipment and even faculty to guide the research,” a source at the Bangalore University said.

Research

The source added that 50 students from the Bangalore University will be selected for research in the two faculties as part of the agreement with the Deakin University.
While two years of the research will be carried out at the centre here, the students will be sent to Australia for further research.

Deakin University has four campuses in the state of Victoria in Australia with over 30 thousand students pursuing higher education. The University has in the past had exchange programmes with several Indian institutions including Christ University in Bangalore.

Sources said that if the finer details are sorted out, this partnership will be Bangalore University’s biggest collaboration with a foreign university. Currently, the Bangalore University’s only exchange programme with a foreign university is that of the University Law College with France’s University of Paris, Nanterre.