University of Indianapolis President Tanuja Singh and Provost and Executive Vice President Chris Plouff visited India to create partnerships with several universities in the country.
“Our primary purpose of this particular trip,” Singh said, “was to seek partnerships at the universities that have a similar mission, similar goals, similar objectives, and where our commitment to student success is very similar to theirs. It is a part of our school’s strategic plan to grow internationally, both in terms of the number of students we bring in and the number of students that go from here to overseas.”
Singh said she and Plouff had a very focused visit, having condensed the list of universities they wanted to see. Plouff said they had been having conversations with the universities virtually for two to three months prior to their visit. They visited seven universities and signed memorandums of understanding with four of them: Alliance University in Bengaluru, FORE School of Management in New Dehli, NIIT University in Neemrana and Manav Rachna Educational Institutions in Faridabad, according to Singh. The MOUs indicate the shared intention to work together toward a common goal without being legally binding.
Singh said part of the reason they chose to focus on India for these partnerships is because of the big investment the country has in higher education. Plouff added that there is a large variety of opportunities in the country.
“There are certainly countries that have some similar characteristics, but probably none that mirror the same combination of a large population of growing middle-class, college-going people who are in support of higher education,” Plouff said. “They are looking to expand and grow their partnerships in other parts of the world, including the U.S., so all of those combinations of things make it the ideal country to do work in.”
Singh said UIndy plans to partner with these universities by having programs at the undergraduate, graduate and potentially the doctoral levels. Plouff said he is hoping to see faculty exchanges, research partnerships and joint projects between the Indian universities and UIndy.
“I believe the ability to globalize our campus, to be truly a global university, as we want to be according to our strategic plan is a really big benefit,” Singh said. “Part of our strategic plan focuses on making sure that we have more students studying abroad. At this time, the percentage is lower, but these very intentional partnerships allow us to expand that number substantially.”
International student enrollment would increase with these programs, Singh said, and although the partnerships will require investments to maintain, financial benefits are very important as well.
“Every time I travel to India or any other part of the world I am reminded of how young people across the world have similar dreams, care about the same things and how aware they are of both opportunities and challenges in the world,” Singh said. “We are truly a connected world.”
