September 10, 2010
School of Engineering, Coimbatore
 

Dr. Eric Blanco is Associate Professor of Engineering Design at the School of Industrial Engineering, Grenoble Institute of Technology in France. He is also in charge of international relationships for his department.
 

Currently in Amrita as part of the Erasmus Mundus student and faculty exchange program, Dr. Eric briefly spoke to the Amrita team regarding why he chose to come specifically to Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham and his outlook on opportunities for collaboration.
 

“I was drawn to the fact that Amrita offered two masters programs in mechanical engineering; both matched very well to the offerings of our department in France. Also, I found that many students from Amrita had come to Europe under the auspices of Erasmus Mundus, which indicated to me that the institution was open to international partnerships.”
 

Now that he had spent a few weeks here, what were his thoughts about Amrita?
 

“I am impressed with the environment, the students and the faculty members. Teaching is of very high quality. The value system here is very strong.”
 

What opportunities for working together did he see?
 

“India is an important partner for many companies, so if my students had an opportunity to study here, that could be of great value to them. They would gain a first-hand experience of working in a global world.”
 

“I recall what was emphasized at the recent SAEINDIA Educational Meet at Amrita, which I also had the opportunity to attend. The Vice President of John Deere had elaborated on the need to redesign products to meet requirements of Indian and other emerging markets, and I completely agree.”
 

“Our new generation of engineers would need to design and build products for masses at the base of the pyramid.”
 

What opportunities did this overseas faculty see for the Amrita students, to study and conduct research in his institution?
 

“Of course we would welcome Indian students to work with us in our research centers. We expect Amrita faculty members, post-docs or PhD students to apply to our institution as well, in the next INDIA 4 EU program. We now even offer programs in English to Indian students and others in French technologies and culture.”
 

Would he teach at Amrita during his time here?
 

“My primary objective is to develop our partnership; unfortunately my time here is too brief to be engaged in teaching. I am in charge also of industrial partnerships for my department, and I will also use my time in India to build new contacts in industry.”