Australian varsity ties up with Indian institutes
Australia's La Trobe University Thursday tied up with three leading Indian institutes to promote student exchange programmes and joint research projects, an official of the varsity said here Thursday.

The Indian institutes are Jagadguru Sri Shivarathreeswara (JSS) University at Mysore, about 140 km from here, Maharashtra Institute of Technology (MIT) and Cummins College at Pune.

"The tie-ups will enable students of JSS, MIT and Cummins to participate in exchange programmes and conduct research projects benefiting students of our university and the three partner institutes," La Trobe's science, technology and engineering faculty dean Brian McGaw told reporters here on the occasion.

Reputed for academic excellence and research achievements, the university was named after Victoria's first lieutenant-governor La Trobe. About 140,000 students graduated from its five campuses across the state since its inception in 1965.

The Australian varsity invested Rs.1,651 crore in setting a world class Centre for AgriBioscience through public-private partnership for conducting research and development (R&D) in agricultural bio-sciences.

"The partnership with Indian higher education institutes will enhance our presence in the sub-continent. Research at AgriBio will contribute to the protection of agriculture from disease threats, improve primary industries competitiveness and focus on climate change and drought," McGaw asserted.

La Trobe entered into similar tie-ups early this year (February) with Birla Institute of Technology & Science, Pilani, in Rajasthan, Delhi Technological University, leading IT major HCL and auto major Mahindra Reva.