President Tuula Teeri brings a delegation of Professors to India: signals for stronger partnership with the Indian Institutes of Technology

The purpose of the trip was to solidify the cooperation that has started in 2013 and identify concrete next steps to bring cooperation on a more strategic level. The delegation included 10 Professors.

During the visit to IIT Madras, Tuula Teeri signed an agreement for joint doctoral programme / double degree programme for PhD education between IIT Madras and Aalto University School of Science. The visit to IIT Madras included the IIT Madras Research Park, which is the first of its kind in India established by a university

The delegation also visited IIT Bombay and enjoyed interactions with their academic counterparts. Professor Risto Ilmoniemi, Department of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering, considers the visit as the opportunity to learn 'about the IIT system, about the work at our host institutions and also about India as a whole' and believes that 'both IITs are well equipped and well-funded and there are very good students and faculty'. Professor Ilmoniemi, who has already invited faculty from IIT Bombay to the Science Factory workshop/summer school in September 2017, hopes to develop cooperation in the area of neuroscience and neurotechnology with IIT Bombay in the future.

On the left: Professor Pradeep, IIT Madras, giving a tour of his Nanotechnology laboratory to Aalto delegates. In the middle: Professor Nagarajan, Dean for International & Alumni Relations, IIT Madras, and Tuula Teeri in discussion with students in the Center for Innovation at IITM. On the right: Professor Khakhar,  Director, IIT Bombay, and Professor Dusane, Dean, International Relations, IIT Bombay, hosting the Aalto delegation at IIT Bombay.
 

President Tuula Teeri acknowledged the like-mindedness of the IITs in entrepreneurship education and internationalization as some of the key elements of a successful partnership with Aalto. Tuula Teeri delivered the institutional lecture in IIT Bombay on Universities and Innovation-Driven Growth: the Case of Aalto University, which was very well received.  Aalto’s approach to multidisciplinarity evoked numerous questions from the audience.

The visit, which was the first of the few planned for strategically relevant partner universities during 2017, provided focus for the cooperation between Aalto and the two IITs.  'We wish to enhance various forms of mobility and also need to map out funding possibilities', summarizes Mari-Anna Suurmunne, Head of International Relations.

For more information please contact

Mari Anna Suurmunne (mari-anna.suurmunne@aalto.fi), Head of International Relations.
Kit Srinivasan (kiruthika.srinivasan@aalto.fi), Advisor, Aalto Learning Services