Nov 24, 2009
Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Coimbatore
 
The Association of University Administrators (AUA) of UK is a professional body that seeks to promote interests of university faculty and students. An AUA team was in Amrita recently as part of their first-ever study tour to India.
 
“…an amazing visit …” the members of the team wrote on their blog site, describing their visit to Amrita. Over a 10-day period, the team had visited six other universities and institutions, including IIM Bangalore, IIT Bombay, University of Mumbai and Tamil Nadu Agricultural University.
 

The 10-member team was led by Dr. Sonia Virdee, Director of Strategic Planning from University of Essex. Others included Dr. Radka Obrtelova from Lancaster University, Dr. Tove Oliver from Wales, Dr. Andrew Young from University of Newcastle and Simon Eades from University of London.
 

The team was welcomed by the Registrar of Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Dr. S. Krishnamoorthy. This was followed by meetings with other senior administrators, including Dean (Engineering), Dr. M. P. Chandrasekar and Dean (School of Business), Dr. Sanjay Banerjee.
 

“The AUA team was interested in exploring opportunities for collaboration with Indian universities,” stated Mr. Manoj, Director of Indo-US Dept. at the Coimbatore campus. “The team also expressed its interest in online and distance learning facilities. At Amrita also, we are keen to use these facilities to promote greater collaboration.”
 

The team further met Dr. N. S. Pandian, Dean (PG Programmes), Prof. Parameswaran, Director (Corporate and International Relations) and Mr. M. Sreevalsan, Head (Information, Communication and Technology Services).
 

“This presents a unique opportunity for information sharing and mutual learning between the ten members of the tour team and administrators in similar roles in a range of Indian universities,” the team further wrote in its blog site.
 

“The campus is in a beautiful setting with a stunning backdrop of mountains, some limestone and others granite,” the members added. “The buildings are new, elegant and have a Mediterranean feel…Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham has achieved so much in a few years; it will be fascinating to see how this continues to develop.”