Rice and Indian Institute of Technology Bombay sign memorandum

Rice and Indian Institute of Technology Bombay sign memorandum

BY B.J. ALMOND
Rice News Staff

The Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT-B) this week signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Rice University during an event at the U.S. Consulate in Mumbai.

COURTESY PHOTO

Rice President David Leebron (center) meets with Ashok Misra, director of the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (left), and Rice alumnus Michael Owen ’73, U.S. consul general in Mumbai.

As part of the agreement, the two institutions will host a student exchange program and engage in research collaborations. The core focus of the collaboration will be on engineering and management.

“We are thrilled to have established with this agreement the foundation for deepening our relationship with IIT Bombay,” said Rice President David Leebron, who is in India this week. “This is an important milestone in Rice’s plan to create and sustain meaningful connections with India in both teaching and research. IIT Bombay, with its extraordinary student body and accomplished faculty, is an ideal partner for us.”

Professor Ashok Misra, director of IIT Bombay, said, “Since Rice University has roughly the same size and focus as IIT-B, we see tremendous scope for
mutual exchange of ideas in technology, providing a win-win situation for
both institutions.”

While Rice and IIT Bombay faculty have visited each other for many years, the idea of the agreement was first discussed during Leebron’s visit to IIT-B last January and during Misra’s visit to the Rice campus last May.

Rice was one of the 23 international research universities represented at a three-day conclave hosted by IIT-B this week in honor of the institute’s golden jubilee. Leebron spoke at the conclave and congratulated the institute on completing 50 years of education and research.

While in India, Leebron and University Representative Y. Ping Sun are meeting with education, business and government leaders and the news media as part of Rice’s Vision for the Second Century goal of becoming more of an international university.
   

Leebron received a commemorative calendar from Frazer Mascarenhas, principal at St. Xavier’s College in Mumbai.		Leebron (right) toured St. Xavier’s College with Mascarenhas (center) and Rajendra Shinde.
		Leebron with “In Transit” host Sohaila Kapur on the set of Lok Sabh, the public television station for the Parliament of India in New Delhi.