Indian universities and University of California to raise research and teaching standards together

Indian universities --Jamia Millia Islamia, Jamia Hamdard, Aligarh Muslim University along with University of California, Riverside came together to discuss ways of raising their research and teaching standards in different fields at the initiative of JMI Chancellor and Governor of Manipur, Najma A Heptulla.

Talat Ahmad, Seyed Ehtesham Hasnain and Tariq Mansoor, vice chancellor of JMI, Jamia Hamdard and AMU respectively and Paul Joseph D’ Anieri , Former Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost of University of California, Riverside met in JMI yesterday under the Chairmanship of Heptulla to discuss common areas of cooperation and possibilities of exchange of faculty, students and collaborative research.

Speaking on the occasion, Chancellor Heptulla said that the aim of the collaboration is to make JMI a top notch institution not only in India but globally. Pointing out that JMI already has institutions of great standing like AJK Mass Communication Research Centre (AJK MCRC) and the Faculty of Engineering, she said, such collaborations will further raise the standards of the university.

VC-JMI, Ahmad said that with universities facing shortage of resources it will be advisable if they pool their resources and share their research and technical know-how to benefit from each other’s area of expertise that would lead to improving standard of teaching and research especially in the fields of science and technology. Future research will get a boost from such collaborations, he added.

D’ Anieri , said that all the four universities can work together and unite their resources to file Intellectual Property Rights so as to reduce costs incurred in it. “In this manner, we can ensure that we are able to patent our inventions” within reasonable costs, he said.

He said that many universities in India have earned a global reputation for their research and teaching standards, like JMI for mass communication, Jamia Hamdard for pharmacy and AMU for Engineering. D’ Anieri said that organising regular seminars and conferences will ensure that all collaborating partners benefit from such exchanges.

Heptulla welcomed the idea of pooling resources by the four universities for patenting their research and said that Jamia Hamdard has made outstanding contributions in the field of Unani Medicine and has made several key inventions.

Ahmad said that major research needs to be undertaken to deal with effects of Climate Change and its resulting natural calamities. Universities have to bring together their resources in order to undertake major research in these areas.

AMU VC, Mansoor said that his university was a fully residential one and houses 13 faculties. Recently, a centre on International Studies has been set-up.
Hasnain, VC Jamia Hamdard said that his university’s pharmacy department is ranked no. 1 in the country. The department of Unani medicine has made some significant inventions and all the four universities can help in patenting them.

Among those present at the meeting were JMI Pro Vice-Chancellor, Shahid Ashraf, Registrar JMI, A P Siddiqui, Deans, Heads of Departments and Directors of Centres.
Also present were Ahmad Wali Faisal Rahmani, Director of Strategic Project Management, University of California Riverside and Fahad Rahmani, CEO of Rahmani30, which is well-known for its coaching for engineering entrance examinations.

Ahmad, VC-JMI asked CEO of Rahmani30 to help JMI’s Residential Coaching Academy which is already proving coaching for Civil Services examinations, in training candidates for various engineering entrance exams.