Purdue looks up to India

US-based Purdue University is increasing its focus on India by collaborating with Indian institutes in areas like nanotechnology, entrepreneurship, energy, life sciences, information technology, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, agriculture and the environment.

The university is in talks with the various engineering and business schools in India for this purpose.

This week, the university signed an agreement with the Department of Science and Technology to establish research collaborations and exchange programmes for researchers, students and faculty between Purdue and Indian institutions.

The university also wants to conduct conferences, lectures and programmes to benefit Purdue and Indian faculty and students.

According to representatives from the university, who visited India this week, they want to tie up with Indian institutes to focus on developing ways to collaborate on interdisciplinary research projects and jointly seek funding to support projects and academic programmes.

The university's representatives met officials from institutes like Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Jawaharlal Nehru Center for Advanced Scientific Research, Center for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Tata Energy Research Institute, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi, Indian Institute of Information Technology, Indian School of Business and the Department of Biotechnology.

"At present, we are looking at tying up in areas of scientific research. So we are going to work with institutes here on projects like biofuel research, tuberculosis and drought management. But later we also plan to visit the management institutes and explore the opportunities to work together," Charles Rutledge, vice president for research at Purdue University, said.

According to Rutlej, India has created quite a buzz among foreign universities in the US. "We have all read Thomas Friedman's 'The World is Flat' and people in the US are very impressed with the success of companies like Infosys. We realise we will be missing something important if we are not present here," he said.

The university is hoping the agreement they have signed with the Department of Science and Technology will help them increase their visibility in India. Purdue has a long-term goal to establish a physical research presence in India.

LONG-TERM GOALS

To establish a physical research presence in India

Tie up with universities in areas of scientific research

Collaborate with Indian institutes in areas like nanotechnology, entrepreneurship, energy, life sciences, IT and pharma