January 25, 2009
University Headquarters, Coimbatore
A high-level delegation from the State University of New York at Buffalo, led by President Dr. John B. Simpson, will visit the Amrita campuses at Amritapuri, Bangalore, Coimbatore and Kochi, from February 3 to 7, 2009. They will interact with the Amrita faculty in order to explore opportunities for greater collaboration in research and teaching. Currently, at Amrita’s Bangalore campus, the two universities jointly offer atwinning masters degree program for IT professionals. On the last day of the visit, President Simpson will present the degrees to the first batch of graduating students from this program.
“I have visited the Amrita campuses before and have met with many of the Amrita faculty and students,” stated Dr. Stephen C. Dunnett, Vice Provost for International Education at SUNY, Buffalo, who will also accompany the delegation. “I am deeply impressed by Amrita’s commitment to academic excellence and the fact that a strong emphasis is placed on contributing to the public good. This is one of the core missions of our institution also as a public institution for higher education in the US.”
President Simpson, who has earlier led similar delegations to other leading universities around the world, will also meet with the Chancellor of Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Mata Amritanandamayi Devi. The delegation’s packed agenda includes, among other things, a meeting with Dr. R. Chidambaram, Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India, who will be at the Coimbatore campus to preside over the National Symposium — Water for All — being organized in partnership with the Indian Desalination Association.
“We welcome this interest shown by a major US university in wanting to expand the scope of their collaboration with us,” stated Br. Abhayamrita Chaitanya, Pro-Chancellor, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham. “Amrita has strong programs in medicine and allied health fields, and a rapidly developing social work program — the SUNY team has expressed an interest in deputing their students to Amrita to study in these programs. These kinds of student exchanges will greatly benefit Amrita as well.”
The delegation will begin their visit with a tour of the Amrita Schools of Medicine, Dentistry, Pharmacy and Nursing as well as the 1300-bed super-specialty hospital AIMS, all located on the healthcare campus in Kochi. They will travel to the Headquarters in Coimbatore the next day. Following this, a meeting is planned with our Chancellor as well as a tour of the Amritapuri campus. Finally, the delegation will travel to Bangalore for the graduation ceremony which will be accompanied by the announcement of new degree programs being jointly planned by both universities.
