Faculty, staff and administrators from Galgotias University in India visited the University of Arkansas in September. The goal of the visit was to explore opportunities for collaboration under an existing memorandum of understanding between the U of A and Galgotias.

Ashok Saxena, head of the department of biomedical engineering, served as vice-chancellor of Galgotias from 2012-2014. He explained that the U of A is partnering with Geogia Tech to seek funding for an exchange program with Galgotias. “The proposed collaboration between University of Arkansas, Georgia Tech and Galgotias University in Greater Noida, UP, India will be to develop a Mentoring Program for Emerging Indian Higher Education Institutions with an overall goal of building an exemplar partnership between Indian and American institutions of higher education,” said Saxena.

Through the proposed program, the U of A and Georgia tech would work with Galgotias to develop a culture of academic excellence and establish a center for enhancement of teaching and learning. The three universities would also develop research collaborations. “This will enable better utilization of the research infrastructure on our campuses and will enable the Indian researchers access to state-of-the-art facilities,” Saxena explained.

During their visit, the representatives from Galgotias met with engineering faculty members and with the U of A chancellor, provost and deans of the Graduate School and International Education, the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences, the Sam M. Walton College of Business and the School of Law. They also visited U of A sports facilities, the Arkansas Research and Technology Park and the Nanoscale Material Science and Engineering facility.