Mid Sweden University in India – potential partner universities visited
In November, a delegation from Mid Sweden University visited several higher education institutions in India. The aim was to broaden and develop cooperation with Indian higher education institutions based on the Action Plan for Internationalisation, but also to recruit students.
Mid Sweden University has long collaborated with Indian researchers, universities and organisations. Among other things, there is a very strong collaboration on VFU for students. In 2020, a national education policy (NEP) was introduced in India, which, among other things, opens up for deeper and broader internationalisation with Indian higher education institutions. Swedish higher education institutions can now collaborate with their Indian counterparts in the same way as we do with other countries around the world. This opens up completely new opportunities for collaboration.
Mid Sweden University's visit to India took place in parallel with a Swedish delegation trip, coordinated by the Research and Innovation Council, to New Delhi. A total of 19 Swedish higher education institutions participated in this delegation. Mid Sweden University's visit to India is part of a strategic development of our internationalisation work for both research and education, within the framework of the Action Plan for Internationalisation. Hans-Erik Nilsson, Anna Olofsson, Koustuv Dalal, Anna Lindahl and Ellen Horbach were appointed as representatives. The focus of the national delegation was university collaborations and student recruitment. On the schedule were university visits to Chennai, Mumbai and New Delhi as well as recruitment fairs for student recruitment in each location. Mid Sweden University also chose to visit Pune and its own university contacts in Chennai and Delhi.
More trips are planned
In total, Mid Sweden University visited 12 universities, of which 3 were in Chennai, 6 in Pune and 3 in New Delhi. During the visit, 6 Memorandums of Understanding were also written regarding the intention of university-wide collaboration.
The purpose of this first delegation has been to review what collaboration opportunities there may be for Mid Sweden University in India. The representatives were tasked with monitoring the opportunities for cooperation at the university as a whole, based on their various areas of responsibility. Right now, the follow-up work is underway and continued discussions are underway with the higher education institutions that were visited to identify which subjects and collaborative activities are appropriate to start with. The plan is for a second delegation with representation from identified subjects to visit the higher education institutions again between February 26 and March 1, 2024, for continued discussions and concretization. The trips will be financed with funds from the Action Plan for Internationalisation.
Mid Sweden Universitys Actin plan for internationalisation