Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy Leads UMass Amherst Delegation on 12-Day Trip to India

Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy
Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy

AMHERST, Mass. – A delegation of UMass Amherst officials and faculty has departed this week for a 12-day trip to India, led by Chancellor Kumble R. Subbaswamy.

While in India, the delegation will meet with several Indian governmental, university and business leaders, as well as UMass Amherst alumni and admitted students, from the New Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru areas of the country.

One of the many goals of the trip is to strengthen existing relationships and partnerships that UMass Amherst has in India, as well as explore new ones. Among the highlights of the trip are:

  • Renewal of a memorandum of agreement with Maharshi Dayanand University in Haryana, India, regarding academic and research collaboration.
  • A presentation of the latest research by Professor Sangeeta Kamat of the College of Education on educational diversity and equity in India at an event at the India Habitat Center in New Delhi. The research is a joint project between UMass Amherst and the KSP Women’s Studies Center at Pune University, and is sponsored by the U.S. India Education Foundation.
  • A demonstration in Chandigarh of prototype technology developed by UMass civil and environmental engineering Professor David Reckhow that removes difficult contaminants in drinking water.

Other higher education meetings are scheduled with Department of Science and Technology Secretary Dr. Ashutosh Sharma, University Grants Commission Chair Professor D.P. Singh, officials from Jawaharlal Nehru University Delhi and the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay.

Subbaswamy and members of the delegation also will meet with leaders from Reliance Industries, Ltd., a Fortune 500 company based in Mumbai, and the largest private sector corporation in India.

The trip will conclude with a dinner and presentation by Subbaswamy on “Recent Challenges Facing American Universities.”