A potpourri of MOU’s for Ashoka University in 2022
Ashoka University signs a series of MOU's since February 2022 as it marks Global Collaborations.
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In September 2022, Ashoka University signed an MOU with University of Melbourne (UoM), which is its first partner university in Australia. Ashoka University, represented by Pro Vice-Chancellor, Mr. Rajesh Garodia and University of Melbourne, represented by Deputy Associate Dean (International – India) Dr. Dolly Kikon inked the MoU on September 5th. The MoU looks to cement the ongoing relationships and promote collaborative research, student and faculty exchange.
Faculty and senior leaders have been in conversation with teams from University of Melbourne for several years. Numerous engagements between the two universities have taken place, as well, which included semester study abroad at UoM by Ashoka students, connection with the India center and faculty research collaborations in specific, with Trivedi Center for Political Data (TCPD).
In April this year, a delegation from the University of Melbourne that included Professor Tim Lynch, Associate Dean (International) and Dr Dolly Kikon, Deputy Associate Dean India visited Ashoka and held in-depth conversations with faculty and the Office of Global Education and Partnerships (GESP). This led to the detailed modalities of the partnership, whereby both universities aim to start student and faculty exchanges in 2023.
Europe: Over the summer, Ashoka University signed a number of MoUs with high-ranked European universities which include University of Geneva, University of Zurich and the University College Maastricht.
An MOU with the University of Geneva (UNIGE) was signed in May 2022, which includes student and faculty exchange and collaboration on research projects between the two universities. The GESP team at Ashoka was quick to implement the student exchange and under this agreement, 3 undergraduate students have been nominated to spend the Spring semester in Geneva starting January 2023. The team is also looking forward to welcoming UNIGE master’s students to Ashoka campus in the monsoon 2023 for a semester exchange.
A second European MOU with student exchange as its focus has been signed with University College Maastricht (UCM), Netherlands, UCM offers undergraduate courses in English and Ashoka students will start their exchange soon. We are looking forward to hosting visiting faculty and students from UCM in 2023.
Ashoka University has inked a third partnership (this summer) with the Faculty of Social Sciences and Arts, University of Zurich for student and faculty exchange and opportunity to connect on collaborative research. In the pipeline is an exploration to host joint summer/winter school collaboration with the School of Indian Studies at the University of Zurich.
In addition, a partnership with Linnaeus University (LU) in Sweden has seen some good traction with both faculty and student exchange. Please see a detailed article on this here.
Taiwan: Earlier in February 2022, a MoU was formalized with the National Taiwan University (NTU) to develop collaborative activities and exchanges that will cover university wide activities. This MOU also explores collaboration for the Ashoka Centre for China Studies. These may include short term immersion programmes for students and researchers from both universities.
Canada: Ashoka University signed a broad-based MOU with University of Toronto (UoT), Canada in January 2022. Both institutions agreed to explore and develop joint activities in the field of education, research and student mobility. The two universities have collaborated virtually, through Global Classrooms (GC) initiative of UoT since 2021. More recently, Ashoka University students participated in the virtual Climate Change and Democracy Design Jam in March 2022. The session brought together students from around the world in a collaborative workshop for cross-cultural engagement and learning, rooted in design thinking.
