On 17th June 2019, IIT Roorkee signed an MoU withInstituto Superior Técnico(IST) the largest and most prestigious school of engineering in Portugal.
Founded in 1911, IST is a public school of engineering and technology, part of Universidade de Lisboa (University of Lisbon). IST’s alumni have held prominent positions in both the private and public sectors of Portuguese society, having produced numerous CEOs, government ministers, 3 Prime Ministers of Portugal, and 1 Secretary-General of the United Nations.
The existing successful collaboration between IITR and IST, at the research level will be fortified and expanded to promote student and faculty exchanges, joint degree programs, and curriculum development.
Both IST and IITR are connected through theHeritage networkwhose General Assembly was hosted by the IST during 28-29 May 2019. Ms. K. Nandini Singla, India’s ambassador to Portugal, updated on the major cooperation agreement signed between the Department of Science and Technology, India and the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, Portugal, during 2017. As an outcome of that agreement, recently, funds about four million euros are allotted for Indo-Portugal collaborative research projects. The calls will be advertised in a few months.
“This MoU signing is important to promote academic and research cooperation and the development of our two institutions as centres of excellence of higher and technical education and scientific research.” said Prof. M. Parida, Acting Director IIT Roorkee.
In a ceremony organized at IST, the MoU was signed by Prof. Arlindo Oliveira (President, IST), witnessed by Prof. Paramasivan Arumugam (Associate Dean of International Relations, IITR) and Prof. Luis Silveira (Vice-President for International Affairs, IST). Prof. Lidia Ferreira (CeFMA and Department of Physics, IST, Prof. Isabel Correia (Centro de Química Estrutural, IST), and Prof. Joaquim Cabral (Department of Bioengineering, IST) who have active collaborations with IITR, are felicitated. Ms. Ana Pipio (Coordinator of the International Affairs Office, IST) coordinated this event.