The University of Texas at Dallas and the Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, are expected to sign an agreement this month for exchange of students, faculty and research information between the two institutions.
"There are tremendous synergies between the two institutions, starting with the very strong engineering and computer science programmes at both schools. In addition, IITR has an up-and-coming programme in management which has long been a strength at UTD," Dr Da Hsuan Feng, vice-president for research and graduate education at UT Dallas, said on Wednesday.
He said both the institutions are very enthusiastic about the agreement that will be signed during a visit by Dr Prem Vrat, director of IITR, to the UT Dallas campus end of this month.
The objective of the agreement is to promote cooperation between the two institutions, including reciprocal exchange of students and faculty, collaborative research projects, exchange of publications and academic information and other mutually agreed-upon activities.
The student exchange aspect of the agreement is expected to be implemented almost immediately, with UTD planning to host four third-year students from IITR as research interns this summer. UTD students will be able to study and work at IITR in the near future.
The two universities began a relationship last year when the directors of four IITs, including Roorkee, visited UTD. Last December, UTD returned the visit when a delegation from the university, led by Nobel laureate and UTD faculty member, Dr Alan MacDiarmid, made a ten-day trip to India that included a stop at IITR.
Feng said that while collaboration agreements among universities are concluded all the time, the one being signed this month is especially significant. "We believe this particular agreement hold a great deal of promise because of the many areas of commonality at the two institutions as well as strong desire by both to advance among the ranks of globally recognised research universities."
