‘Mumbai will certainly have a place in Yale India initiative’

How will partnerships between Yale and Indian educational institutions and other organisations be decided?
The entire initiative is not about one-on-one tie-ups. Across the country, based on our and other university’s interests, we have different collaborations. It is an extremely broad base initiative where the Yale University will look at courses ranging from history, literature, architecture, law, engineering, nursing, medicine, and many more. Since we are faculty driven, our faculty members will decide what they find interesting and where. So our things will be driven mostly by our faculty.

What can Mumbai expect from the Yale India Initiative?
Given the presence of a number of prestigious institutions in Mumbai, and the fact that it is the prime business centre in the country, we will be doing a lot of activities with business leaders at some point. I fully expect that over time, we will develop partnerships and Mumbai will certainly have a place in what we are trying to do.

When can we expect to see the dividends of the initiative?
It’s taken us several years of work to expand but the foundation has been laid over the last decade only. We cannot expect anything to happen overnight as implementation will take years. But, may be we can see some results in the next three to five years.

What is the budget for the programme?
It is the largest investment by any university. We have spent a total of 75 million dollars on it, of which 30 million has been given by the University itself and the rest by donors.