Dr Uday Salunkhe in Mumbai University Delegation to China

Dr Uday Salunkhe visited China as a part of Mumbai University delegation to the country. The delegation included heads of various academic institutions and organizations of Mumbai. The delegation visited Tianjin University which happens to be the oldest University of China, Tianjin University of Technology and Nankai University. Three MoUs were also signed for collaborations in various study areas, including joint research. These will benefit both the students and faculty as they get to interact with best minds of both the countries .The two also agreed to set up a Confucius institute at University of Mumbai to understand social , cultural & economic development of China as well as drivers of growth. The MoU with Nankai University will pave the way for joint research projects in various disciplines of Management, Engineering, Humanities & Science along with exchange of PhD guides & research scholars and stress on lab concepts and experimentation. It focused on theories & practices of higher education for the disabled along with educational finance & investment management. The academia on both the sides studied and discussed multidisciplinary approach including Management with Economics, Arts & Engineering. The academia of the two countries also agreed upon cooperation to facilitate creation of new knowledge and for better retention of conceptual framework of conventional practices but at the same time adopting a lab approach for different disciplines The interaction between the two countries will facilitate the identifying of talent and construction of faculty teams, significant issues, theoretical & practical, thus forming a rigorous & precise, free & open academic atmosphere with the goal of serving society. The delegation focused on Innovation and therefore strive for joint processes of Innovation for all our stakeholders including SMEs (small & Medium Enterprise), Incubation Centre, student & faculty projects on innovation. These efforts may soon culminate into bringing the two together in the field of innovation and in turn, setting up of centre of “China & India Innovation’ i.e. “Chinovation” The visit will definitely give a boost to research orientations at all levels- be it the National, State and local community. Currently planned projects for doctoral degree are in the fields of Computer Science & Technology, Material Science & Engineering, Management Science & Technology, and Chemical Engineering & Technology. Hence, collaboration under these can be identified for doctoral students to engage with each other. The coming together of the two Asian giants in the field of education and particularly innovation will definitely go a long way in adding to the robustness of the Indian higher education along with accelerating the pace of innovation.