BHUBANESWAR: In a major boost to research collaborations, the Utkal University may host more students from the United States under The Fulbright Program of United States. Similarly, faculty members from the varsity will also be able to go for research to the United States. Recently, a workshop was conducted at the varsity in collaboration with the United States International Educational Funding (USIEF) and The Fullbright Program to facilitate research avenues for students from the States and Utkal University.
The delegates decided about the various research areas which would be considered for this program. It was decided that the scholars from both the countries can work on subjects like climate change, environmental sustainability, public health and gender empowerment.
According to the affiliation from MHRD, Utkal University doesn't require to take prior permission from UGC to start international courses or faculty and student exchanges on a global platform. In such a scenario, Vice Chancellor S Pattnaik opined that the visit of the delegates from the USIEF would benefit the internationalisation policy of the varsity. "The idea was to create new linkages and bonding between students and faculty members from Utkal University and their counterparts in the United States," he added.
As part of the event, India Director of USIEF Adam Grotesky visited Utkal University for the first time. Speaking at the event, Adam said certain Indian states are under-represented globally, when it comes to research. He identified the States of Bihar, Chattisgarh and Jharkhand as the ones which had minimum scholar representation in the universities in the United States.
The research facility will be initially provided to only the faculty members of the Utkal University. "To begin with, we will facilitate research option for faculty members. We will extend the similar support to students later on," the VC added.
The faculty members raised the issue of grants meant for dependents of the researchers. "The delegates assured that there are certain long-term research programmes for which the grants are given to the dependents too. But, in that case, the researcher will have to spend more than 80 per cent of the grant period at the State," the VC said.
Meanwhile, Full Bright had assured the Utkal University of promoting its research facilities on the global platform. "We will be heading for an MOU soon. We have received a positive response from Fullbright," the VC added.