EU delegates visit RGU Arunachal Pradesh

Pothashang News Service: Imphal, April 4, 2019: The Rajiv Gandhi University (RGU) today hosted delegates from the European Union for an interaction on areas of possible collaboration in research and innovation in its campus in Arunchal Pradesh.

In his opening remarks, RGU Vice-Chancellor Prof. Saket Kushwaha said that the RGU has been striving to provide access to higher education apart from contributing to research in Arunachal Pradesh. Expressing his gratitude to the delegates for its initiative to reach out to RGU, he said that the University and its entire fraternity are enthused at the possibilities of affiliation and collaboration.

Starting the series of presentations, IQAC Director Prof. Amitav Mitra, said that the RGU was established not only to educate and train manpower for the development of Arunachal Pradesh, but also to pay special attention for improvement of social and economic conditions and welfare of Arunachal Pradesh.

He further said that through its various research projects and collaborations, the RGU has created a very congenial research ecosystem. Terming the visit as very significant, he said that India being one of ten countries that the EU has chosen as strategic partners will make a new era of fruitful academic cooperation.

Marking the start of a series of presentations on the EU MS/AC-India research-funding programme by the visiting team, delegation head Ms. Tania Friedrichs, the head of the delegation while giving presentation on “the EU MS/AC-India research-funding programme”, shared that research and innovation cooperation was an integral part of the EU’s relation with India and called out for the University to engage more with the instruments of research that the EU offers. Describing the visit as a beginning of a long-term engagement, she said that the EU has an implementing arrangement with India that included scholar mobility programs, individual fellowships as well as bilateral and multilateral collaborations.

Other presenters of the delegation each from Belgium, France, Italy, Denmark and Norway shared the respective country’s perspectives on thrust areas of possible funding and collaborations.

The EU delegation comprised of Ms. Tania Friederichs (Head of EU delegation), Dr. Vivek Dham (Member, EU delegation), Ms. Inger Midtkandal (Royal Norwegian Embassy), Dr. Srinivas Kaveri (Director, CNRS, Paris), Mr. Alain Ghislain Baetens (Embassy of Belgium), Dr. Massimo Spandoni (Embassy of Italy) and Dr. Jakob Williams Oerberg (Royal Danish Embassy). The Internal Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC) of the University organized the interaction programme.