The University of Hyderabad has been selected for a prestigious European Commission Project for its internationalization strategy. As part of a seven-country initiative led by the University of Zaragoza, Spain and the European Policy Development and Research Institute, Slovenia, “The Harmony Project” seeks to build capacities in each of the partner institutions to promote and improve access to its academic programmes for international students.
The project called, “Internationalization and Virtual Exchange: Borderless between EU and Asian Countries,” involves institutions in Bulgaria, Lithuania, Bangladesh, Vietnam, and India. From India, the Vellore Institute of Technology and the Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies will also participate.
The University’s share of the grant amounts to about Rs.67 lakhs for the three-year tenure of the project, launched officially in January 2021. While coordinated by Prof. N. Siva Kumar, Director of UoH’s Office of International Affairs, other members of the team include Prof. Vinod Pavarala, Prof. J. Prabhakar Rao, Prof. Aparna Rayaprol, Prof. R. Siva Prasad, and Dr. S. Shaji.
Internationalization is one of the key goals of the University’s Institution of Eminence (IoE) mandate. As Prof Appa Rao Podile, Vice Chancellor, stated on hearing the news, “being a part of such an extensive European project will help us considerably in moving towards our IoE goal of greater internationalization, and I am delighted that UoH has been selected for Harmony”.
The University has several foreign nationals on rolls in its Masters and Doctoral programmes, besides running a pioneering Study in India Programme that brings North American and European students for short-term academic stints lasting from a few weeks to a full semester. It also has several MoUs with highly ranked international Universities across the globe that facilitate exchange of students and faculties and has already initiated MoUs with some Universities that are ranked in the global top 100 in the QS ranking. The University is currently working towards a blueprint for Joint Degree Programmes in the PhD, which will also enable better internationalization.