Odisha govt plans tie-ups with Oz universities on higher education

BHUBANESWAR: The state government is planning collaboration between Odisha universities and Australian varsities for skill-integrated higher education.
A meeting will be held between vice-chancellors of state universities and representative of the Australian High Commission when Iain Martin, vice-chancellor of Deakin University in Australia and Mathew Johnston, minister-counsellor (education and research), Australian High Commission, India, will visit Bhubaneswar on December 12.
On Saturday, higher education secretary Bishnupada Sethi wrote to vice-chancellors of all state public universities of Odisha to take part in the discussion that will be held on how to have research collaborations between Odisha state government universities and Australian universities.
Higher education minister Rohit Pujari is scheduled to attend the meeting, said the official sources. Centurion University of Technology and Management president Mukti K Mishra had given a proposal to the government for the collaboration meeting.
Odisha state higher education council (OSHEC) vice-chairperson Asoka Kumar Das said the state public universities will embed skills in their curriculum according to the Centre's notification. "So, we are exploring ways to implement this. "Australian universities have a good reputation in the field of skill development. We will hold a meeting with the duo before going for collaboration," he added.
A professor from a state public university said the collaboration with foreign universities should be taken seriously. "We should bring their faculty members to our universities and take their views on teaching and research works. Besides, we should reap the dividends of the collaboration without making it defunct, he added.