Indian envoy Taranjit Singh Sandhu interacts with heads of US universities

Washington, August 21

India’s Ambassador to the US Taranjit Singh Sandhu Friday interacted with the heads of some of the top American universities and said as democracies with shared values, open exchange of knowledge and information is integral to India-US relations.

“Strengthening Education and technology pillars of India and US partnership,” Sandhu said in a tweet after the interaction with the presidents of 10 US universities.

Some of them attended the event in-person at the Indian Embassy here, while some participated virtually.

“As democracies with shared values, open exchange of knowledge, information and ideas is integral to India-US relations. Strengthening technology, and innovation partnership is also central to strengthening the strategic pillar of our relationship,” he said.

“Both the Prime Minister and Education Minister are keen on strengthening the knowledge partnership between both our countries further,” Sandhu said in his address to the presidents of US universities.

Among those who attended the meeting were Satish K Tripathi, State University of New York, Buffalo; Pradeep Khosla (University of California, San Diego); Michael Rao (Virginia Commonwealth University), Prof. Kumble Subbaswamy (University of Massachusetts, Amherst); Ashish Vaidya (Northern Kentucky University), Renu Khator (University of Houston), Venkat Reddy (University of Colorado, Colorado Springs), Mauli Agrawal (University of Missouri, Kansas City), Mantosh Dewan (Upstate Medical University, SUNY) and Mahesh Daas (Boston Architectural College, Boston).

Currently, there are 16 presidents of Indian origin in various universities.

“We are proud of your achievements; we also hope that we will have several more success stories in the years ahead. It is not just about more students or more faculty tie-ups,” the ambassador told the participants.    

“These are important, however, I would like to see the creation of a set of tools for engagement on a more sustained basis. Can we create a virtual platform where we bring in universities in both countries? Can we facilitate seamless information flows? Can we promote more joint research?” the ambassador said.

Keen on strengthening the partnership in education and knowledge-sharing between India and the United States, Sandhu said that the future of India-US relations will depend on how closely the youth in both countries remain connected to each other.

“It is also personal for me. My parents were both educators, and they completed their doctoral degrees from the University of Ohio, and returned to India,” he said.

In recent months, Sandhu has visited many universities, including Georgia Tech, Emory University, University of California Los Angeles.

“I have written to Chancellors/Presidents of around 75 universities; I have had virtual interactions also with many of them. When I speak to the Governors, they are so excited about strengthening the education connect. I see the potential to do a lot more. Each one of you has an important role to play in this regard,” he said. PTI

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