Sciences Po, France-based Social Sciences University,
on Tuesday announced MoUs with University of Delhi, Presidency University
Kolkata and Ashoka University for facilitating student and faculty exchange and
collaborative research and teaching programmes.
The university already has a significant
cooperation with India, having inked MoUs with nine top universities, colleges
and fellowships: Jawaharlal Nehru University, Jamia Millia Islamia, Tata
Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai, The
National Law School of India, Bangalore, Christ University, IIT Madras, the
University of Madras, and the Young India Fellowship.
Frederic Mion, President, SciencesPo
Paris, said, “To us India is a key element is our strategy of opening up the
university internationally. The sheer pool of talent that this country has to
offer is big and there are a number of very good institutions in the country
offering higher education.”
The university has about 80 Indian
students currently.
While the Indian Government has allowed
foreign universities to operate independently in India, set up campuses and
offer degrees without having a local partner, not enough traction has been seen
on this front.
On why the university prefers MoUs instead
of setting up a campus here, Mion, said: “Our strategy has not been to create
our own campus but to build partnerships with those institutions with which we
have closest kinship. As part of that strategy we have created dual degrees
with institutions.”
Vineet Gupta, Founder and Trustee, Ashoka
University: “As we go about building a new institution – Ashoka University – in
India, we are looking to collaborate with top institutions in the world. A lot
of research on India is happening more at Western universities now than Indian
universities itself. We can learn a lot from Sciences Po in this regard.”
SciencesPo Paris, established in 1871, is
a full-fledged research and teaching university.
