December 20, 2010
Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Coimbatore
The city of Kyoto in Japan is famous worldwide, thanks to the Kyoto Protocol. What is not generally known about the city, however, is that it is one of Japan’s leading academic centers and home to 37 institutions of higher education.
The region is also known for promoting international collaborations with universities of repute. For instance, Stanford University of the US has a campus in Kyoto.
This past week, Prof. Masaaki Tatsuki, Vice President of Doshisha University in Kyoto, visited Amrita’s campuses at Amritapuri, Coimbatore and Kochi. This 130 year old top-ranked private university in Japan is expected to soon sign an MoU with Amrita.
“One of the main purposes of Prof. Tatsuki’s visit was to initiate a student exchange program,” shared Dr. Maneesha Ramesh, who leads efforts for international collaborations for Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham. “Doshisha University is interested in having students from Amrita study in Kyoto.”
Besides beginning a student exchange program, Prof. Tatsuki also expressed interest in collaborative research projects especially in the fields of social sciences, economics and commerce.
“We will initially prefer to work with departments that can facilitate the quick collection of data for research studies,” he stated.
As the senior administrative leader of a university known for its technological superiority, Prof. Tatsuki took an interest in also visiting many of the high-tech labs at the Amrita campuses to learn first-hand of the cutting-edge work being done in these labs.
At Amritapuri, he interacted with the team developing haptic devices to impart vocational training to India’s rural and tribal youth.
At Coimbatore, he toured the facilities of the Bio-Medical Center and the Center for Computational Engineering and Networking, among other labs on campus. He met with the Vice-Chancellor and other senior administrators of the institution.
In the afternoon, he was an honored guest at the closing ceremony of the regional contest of the ACM-ICPC, where he gave away prizes to all winners.
Finally, at the Health Sciences campus in Kochi, he visited the Center for Nanosciences.
“Prof. Tatsuki expressed an interest in the satellite connectivity of our multiple campuses,” shared Dr. Maneesha. “He reviewed the A-View platform that makes for a seamless connectivity. Perhaps, in the future, we might offer a dual degree program using this platform, with his university.”
Overall, what did the Professor think about Amrita?
“He was very much impressed with our institution. He said that Amrita provides a fine ambiance for those studying here.”
