SHILLONG, April 11: Making her maiden visit to the North-Eastern Hill University (NEHU), the US Consul General in Kolkata, Melinda Pavek, expressed satisfaction over the wide-ranging discussions on mutually beneficial cooperation and collaboration in some of the most cutting-edge areas of science and technology, American studies, indigenous culture and literature — all of which can go into a prospective people to people collaboration, according to the Consul General.
She very fondly recollected her Wyoming country home in the US and Meghalaya’s undulating green landscape that had set the background of NEHU-US Consul interaction on multi-lateral subjects touching upon research and academic exchange in the fields of space, energy, quantum computation, literature, language and social sciences etc.
Pavek gave ample consideration to NEHU academia, a large number of students, research scholars, scientists and professors, who elaborated upon possible areas of long-term collaboration within the integrated country strategy currently drawn up between India and the United States.
As part of the ongoing India-US exchanges at various levels, Pavek announced QUAD fellowship for four countries — India, Japan, Australia and the US — in areas that enhances existing University-to-University interaction, think-tanks, NGOs and all other such partners.
She particularly emphasised on the role of block chain technology in resource sharing and managing Human Resource, healthcare and wide-ranging genomic research.
In his inaugural address, the Vice Chancellor of NEHU, Prof Prabha Shankar Shukla, exhorted the newly established International Affairs Office of NEHU for setting up an over-arching framework of NEHU Indo-US educational partnership. He also made a mention of the luminaries of NEHU — Prof Temsula Ao, Prof David Reid Syiemlieh and many other present scholars and teachers who not only got a meaningful stint in the US, but contributed to building up solid foundations for NEHU and United States partnership.
He pointed out the synergies already existing between a range of disciplines starting from Management, Bioinformatics and Nanosciences to Humanities and Social Sciences with advancement of research in various US laboratories and Universities.
In the interactive session, students were particularly interested to know prospects of online access to various research and study materials. The US team drew their attention towards the American libraries located in various parts of India in providing easy access to such resources.
Prof AS Dixit, Director IQAC, wanted to know specific areas of priority for US educational entities in India which can develop collaborations with NEHU. The US team pointed at the similar geographies of research that NEHU shares with a state like Michigan and advised that the university can always interact with ‘Education USA Advisor’ to strike up strategic deals so that joint graduate and research programmes can be carried out between NEHU and particular US Universities.
Emphasising on the role of supply chain management and block chain technology for pursuing a sustainable path of development, both the sides agreed on the need for creating mindsets of creative combinations.
The US embassy in Delhi, it was pointed out, runs an IPR cell as well as coordinates with venture capitalists and entrepreneurs of India, which could be of much help for NEHU’s nascent programme of building innovation, incubation and entrepreneurship.
The meeting was attended by a large of number of Fulbright scholars, professors with a strong US academic background and students and research scholars.
