MOUs in Q4 and a big push to Asia Pacific by GESP

The MOU with University College Dublin (UCD) in Ireland had begun with visits to UCD and Ashoka for over 2 years culminating with the MOU signed in November 2023. It includes student, faculty exchanges and possibilities for research collaborations. UCD and Ashoka faculty in Biology and sciences have already started working together and this MoU will further facilitate their work.

Another MOU was signed between Ashoka University and the University of Otago in New Zealand. This agreement seeks to establish collaborative relations between the two institutions to explore and encourage co-operation and research covered by both institutions. It will also promote exchange of information, faculty, students and staff based on mutually agreed upon arrangements. 

A collaboration agreement IE University in Spain was signed in November 2023 to foster joint research, collaborative initiatives in International Research and student exchanges. The quick turnaround in this partnership will allow student exchange to get started in Fall 2024. 

A Erasmus+ mobility agreement 2023-27 has been signed with Central European University in December 2023 for faculty exchanges and student exchanges in master’s and doctoral level in 2024.

A project agreement with Zurich University of Applied Sciences (School of Applied Linguistics) was signed to carry-out a pilot German language training program for Ashoka student’s language club called “Lang-Up.”

A Letter of Intent (LoI) has been signed with Pace University, USA for academic collaboration, joint research projects and short-term immersion programmes for students.

Big push to develop partnerships in Asia Pacific 

Vanita Shastri, Dean of Global Education & Strategic Partnerships (GESP) & Maitree Dasgupta, Director GESP, attended the EAIE conference in September 2023 with the goal to reach out to universities in Asia Pacific. At EAIE they sought out Universities in Honk Kong, Republic of Korea, Japan and Australia and successfully met Lingnan University in Hong Kong, Yonsei and Sungkyunkwan (SKKU) universities in South Korea, Teikyo University in Japan and University of Sydney in Australia amongst others. The GESP team followed up with these universities after returning to Ashoka. The conversation with Lingnan University has been converted into a MoU with student and knowledge exchange as a central focus of the partnership. Activity on the MOU will start in 2024 while conversation with the others are in the pipeline and will take shape soon.

Two other MOU’s, with University of California at Santa Cruz (UCSC) and University of California at San Diego (UCSD), both in the USA, are in the process of getting signed by the respective leaders at this time with exciting opportunities coming our way. Stay tuned.