New Delhi: More than 300 students, researchers and faculty members of Delhi University (DU) are looking forward towards a collaboration and mobility programme in the field of higher education. It is conducted by the European Union namely Erasmus Mundus under which batches of students are sent as well as hosted from the European universities.
As per sources, DU became a partnering university of the Erasmus Mundus programme in 2008, and since then, the university has sent one batch comprising of 35-40 scholars to the European universities as well as boarded students from there. The 2009-10 Erasmus Mundus programme also has two sub-programmes titled Lot 13A and Window India Learning Link Power or WILLPower.
Under the Lot 13A sub-programme, the exchange of students, researchers and academic staff is facilitated. They are provided an opportunity to work or study in one of the partnered universities through a scholarship programme, which covers all their expenses. Twelve European and eight Indian universities are partnering institutions in Lot 13A.
The Indian partnering universities include Delhi University; Jadavpur University, Kolkata; Pune University; Kerala University; Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (IIT-K); Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai; Pravara Institute of Medical Sciences, Loni; and Anand Agricultural University, Gujarat.
The focus of Lot 13A programme ensures the Millennium Development Goals by creating a partnership for research and development between the two countries, which would strengthen their ties. The topics that would be included in the education and research collaboration are agriculture, climate change, energy, environment, biotechnology and nanotechnology.
The next sub-programme called the WILLPower, its main focus and objective of functioning is to fortify the existing network of cooperation among Indian and European universities. The programme has 17 associate institutes including 10 in Europe and seven in India, which include Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore; Anna University, Chennai; Delhi University; IIT Guwahati; IIT Kanpur; IIT Madras and IIT Rajasthan.
The project encourages participation in the subject areas of architecture, urban and regional planning, business studies and management sciences, education, teacher training, engineering, technology, natural sciences and social sciences. Each scholarship covers tuition fees, subsistence costs, travel expenses and insurance.
While nearly 1,500 applications have been received from India under Lot 13A, 800 students have applied under WILLPower. Prof. Sreenivas of DU said that we are in the process of short listing the applications received from the European students who wish to study here. The results are expected to be out by the end of February. The Indian faculty is scheduled to leave for Europe in April, while the students shall proceed in September.
