US varsity looks to widen collaboration with state

A US university is looking at expanding its academic collaboration with the institutes of higher education in Himachal Pradesh. The collaboration will include faculty and student exchange programmes, an opportunity for students to pursue their UG courses partly in Himachal and partly in the US, research sharing, virtual learning, etc.

Incidentally, the Penn State University, Pennsylvania, had started an academic collaboration with two colleges in Himachal in 2022 – the government-run RKMV College in Shimla and privately-owned Gautam College in Hamirpur.

Under the programme, the faculty from the US university visited both colleges last year and held some workshops and project-based learning for the students. The faculty from these two colleges also visited the Penn State University earlier this year.

A delegation of the university recently met Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu.

“The collaboration with these two colleges has gone really well and everyone involved is quite happy and satisfied. It’s on the basis of this experience that we thought to taking the partnership to the next level, and collaborate with the State Education Department to involve more educational institutions,” said Vasu Singh, Adviser, Penn State University, India Operations.

The representatives from the US university have already had a meeting with the top officials of the Education Department and both the parties have agreed to prepare a draft for mutual cooperation. “Since I am from Himachal, I am glad to see this partnership shaping up so well and heading towards another level,” said Vasu Singh.

She added that Penn State University has a wide range of courses to offer the students, including in engineering and medical streams.

However, the recent visa restrictions imposed by the US government could hinder this growing partnership between the university and the educational institutions in the state. Due to the stricter visa provisions, a scheduled visit of a group of students from RKMV and Gautam College to Penn State University had to be put on hold. Singh though feels this hindrance is temporary. “Some changes have happened due to the decision but I don’t see this having a long term impact,” said Singh.