As part of its strategic global initiative, Rice University recently welcomed a presidential delegation from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc). The group of Rice leadership and IISc representatives discussed their current collaboration while also mining ways to extend future efforts.
“Rice’s growing partnership with IISc took a momentous step forward in ambition and commitment,” said Caroline Levander, vice president for global and the Carlson Professor in the School of Humanities. “Only a month after Rice’s presidential delegation visited IISc at their Bangalore campus and signed a strategic collaboration agreement, IISc’s senior leadership team came to Rice specifically to forge even stronger bonds between our institutions.”
The visit further cemented the relationship between the partner universities with the signing of two new agreements. The first will launch a joint Ph.D. student supervision program, which enables IISc and Rice faculty to jointly direct students’ research and dissertation work. The second establishes a student fellows’ program, which will support students from both campuses to spend up to four months performing research at the other institution.
The agreements also ensure office space for Rice’s India Institute to begin operations and establish presence in the country.
Levander noted the first employee will be hired in early 2024 to begin the process of representing Rice in India and working to raise awareness of and build Rice’s academic reputation.
The strategic collaboration agreements build on another of Rice’s existing partnerships with the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, deepening and broadening the university’s presence in India.