Biden and Modi Acknowledge the Growing Partnership between Indian and American Universities

The joint statement read, “The leaders welcomed the signing of an MoU between Indian universities, represented by the Council of Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT Council), and the Association of American Universities (AAU) to establish the India-U.S. Global Challenges Institute, with a combined initial commitment of at least US$10 million.”

The Global Challenges Institute is expected to bring together leading research and higher education institutions from India and America — including those which are not a part of the AAU or IIT Council as well. The institute will seek to further research on the fronts of sustainable energy and agriculture, health and pandemic preparedness, semiconductor technology and manufacturing, advanced materials, telecommunications, artificial intelligence, and quantum science.

The Union Minister of Education, Dharmendra Pradhan in June, had welcomed the establishment of the institution in June earlier this year, saying that “the formal partnership, with its complementary expertise and incorporation of industry collaboration and startup enablers, will facilitate free flow of ideas, student exchange and joint IPRs.”

“The leaders also welcomed the growing number of multi-institutional collaborative education partnerships, such as those between New York University-Tandon and IIT Kanpur Advanced Research Center, and the Joint Research Centers of the State University of New York at Buffalo and IIT Delhi, Kanpur, Jodhpur, and BHU, in the areas of critical and emerging technologies,” the joint statement further added.

The Tandon School of Engineering at NYU and IIT Kanpur launched a joint Ph.D. program in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering in 2020, with half the program expected to take place in either of the two institutions. IIT Delhi, along with the State University of New York at Buffalo held a conclave in May last year in IIT Delhi, with “the goal of establishing a multi-Institutional centre for Education, Training, and Research in Nanomaterials, Biotechnologies, AI and Machine Learning, and Photonics and their interfaces.” The conclave saw participation from several institutes, including Ashoka University, IIT Kanpur, IIT Bombay, IIT Jodhpur, and IIT BHU.