What kind of impact does UQ hope to have in India?
Alison: The University of Queensland has a proud reputation for creating change in the world through research, teaching and learning. Our impact extends across the globe by partnering with communities to create deep and mutually beneficial partnerships. These partnerships help UQ create change through the establishment of research collaborations, academic programs, endowed chairs, and industry-funded scholarship schemes.
UQ has identified India as a country of strategic importance under the University's Global Strategy (2018-2021). UQ's valued relationship with India has been strengthened by decades of academic and industry partnerships, student mobility, and commercialisation opportunities. Our researchers hold strong links with the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT), and significant funding from a range of Indian organizations ensures innovation will continue to deliver change to the broader community.
For growth and success, we aim to operate with a holistic strategy that aligns the University with the Indian government, academia and industry, and supports PhD and collaborative research with strategic partners. Our strategic partnership with IITD will drive other activities in teaching and learning, research and training with our partners to achieve long-term, mutually beneficial outcomes.
A person's education is a lifelong journey and the formative years lay foundations for future learning success. UQ is engaging with high schools in India through the Create Change Challenge. The challenge is an inter-school competition aimed at fostering innovation and creativity in high school students. Like, UQ respects the invaluable role that educators and school teachers play. To acknowledge that, UQ has developed the UQ Margdarshak Award for influencers of our students from India. This year, UQ will be awarding seven Margdarshak Awards to influencers in India and inviting them to visit UQ in December.
Can you tell us a bit more about the industrial partnerships UQ has in India?
Alison: Through UQ's academic partnerships in India, UQ is forging closer relationships with industry in India.
For example, a key component of UQ's partnership with Institute of Technology Delhi that established IITD's first ever international joint PhD program through a joint Academy of Research (UQIDAR), is working with industry. In time, both UQ and IITD hope that leading research institutes, in and around New Delhi, will join the Academy as Associate and Industry Partners, so it can continue to expand internationally relevant research in diverse areas such as medicine, economics, agriculture and the humanities. Both industry and academia stand to benefit from long-term cooperation. Companies will gain greater access to cutting edge research and scientific talent. Universities will gain access to financial support and partners in research. Most importantly,
Another example is the Energy and Poverty Research Group (EPRG) that works with Indian universities, private-sector organizations, and local institutions to support sustainable, reliable, and affordable energy systems that are determined to local communities. The Group conducts research across five key areas: climate, community development, livelihoods, gender and equity, and the private sector. Having maintained engagement in India through student mobility and staff visits since 2015, the EPRG is currently working in three states: Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, and Maharashtra. The group collaborates with IIT-Mumbai, the Tata Institute of Social Science (Mumbai), the National Institute of Advanced Studies (Bengaluru), the Xavier Institute of Management, the Foundation for Ecological Security, and non-profit Gram Vikas.
How has the recent reclassification of student visa applications from India as high-risk affect your plans for India?
Alison: UQ has a strong and supportive student recruitment agent network in India who play a key role in assisting the University to evaluate the genuine intentions of prospective students. The University is keen to attract students who are able to flourish in their studies, which can only be achieved by having strong academic results in previous studies to meet UQ's academic entry requirements, as well as, having sufficient funds to support the experience.
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Mithun Mohandas is an Indian technology journalist with 10 years of experience covering consumer technology. He is currently employed at Digit in the capacity of a Managing Editor. Mithun has a background in Computer Engineering and was an active member of the IEEE during his college days. He has a penchant for digging deep into unravelling what makes a device tick. If there's a transistor in it, Mithun's probably going to rip it apart till he finds it. At Digit, he covers processors, graphics cards, storage media, displays and networking devices aside from anything developer related. As an avid PC gamer, he prefers RTS and FPS titles, and can be quite competitive in a race to the finish line. He only gets consoles for the exclusives. He can be seen playing Valorant, World of Tanks, HITMAN and the occasional Age of Empires or being the voice behind hundreds of Digit videos. View Full Profile
