Bangalore: Manipal University and University of Wollongong Australia signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for students and faculty exchange, working in various areas ranging from engineering, humanities and sciences, medicine, and business, aside from other disciplines. The signatories of the Memorandum of Understanding were, Dr. H. Vinod Bhat, Vice Chancellor, Manipal University and Professor Paul Wellings, CBE, Vice-Chancellor and Principal, University of Wollongong, Australia.
“Manipal University is the most well-known university in the country for going international,” said Dr. Vinod Bhat. “We have campuses in different parts of the world, we have teaching faculty and students going to different universities of the world; we have faculty from overseas coming and teaching our students, we have joint degree programs and even research programs with universities abroad.” Talking about the MoU signing today, he said that it was a significant moment for both universities. “The MoU being a general agreement, we can have students of a number of our institutions going to University of Wollongong for electives or a semester with them,” he said.
Dr. Bhat also informed that at the recent FICCI education conference in Delhi, Manipal University was declared the best Indian University for international admissions. And this is because of the international office in Manipal University which has taken the university’s agreements to over 300 in the world.
Manipal University is indeed proud to announce the strategic partnership with UOW, one of the leading research institutions in Australia. For Manipal University, having collaborative ties with a variety of universities in Australia, this represents an additional expansion in the Australian continent.
Prof. Wellings said that he was delighted to enter into this partnership with Manipal University. “It will be a long-term commitment in India and with Adam Gilchrist as our Ambassador, we like to do a whole range of things with universities in India. Each year about a thousand Indian students join us at Dubai or Wollongong and we’d like to strengthen our relations with Manipal and this part of the world. We share common values, we share common goals.”
He also spoke about some of the courses in UOW and said that their medical school was the only one in Australia which was specifically designed to deal with regional and rural medical education. “We are really looking forward to working together and make for meaningful action. We have lots to learn from this relationship,” Prof. Wellings said.
Adam Gilchrist also spoke on the occasion as a Brand Ambassador of the university and Ambassador of Australia. To a question, he said, “I feel that the Australian education sector has a lot to offer in a collaborative spirit.” He also said that UOW offers a sports scholarship which provides an opportunity for young students to study at our campus in Wollongong and pursue cricketing desires. It is a scholarship given by the Bradman foundation. After the MoU was signed, Adam interacted with the students of Manipal University at the indoor sports complex, Marena.
