Posts
BANGALORE: He is fresh from a two-hour talk with technologists, innovators, entrepreneurs and scientists in Bangalore. And for Sir Leszek Borysiewicz, 345th vice-chancellor of the 803-year-old Cambridge University, that's enough to capture the mood of IT city.
"This is an amazing city of opportunities. People here are always looking forward. The Bangalore-Cambridge connect is great," the 62-year-old medical researcher told TOI on Wednesday, hours after he opened a centre on the sprawling National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS) campus on Bellary Road. Excerpts:
The Bangalore-Cambridge connect got a little closer today. Why is the city special for one of the world's oldest universities?
A This city has so many innovators and entrepreneurs - and that's the spirit at Cambridge. This is the IT and science hub of the country. Back in Cambridge, we do a lot of research which can be translated into business in Bangalore because there are so many innovators here. The collaboration with NCBS is fostering knowledge-driven therapeutic interventions for human diseases, and the other key stakeholders in the Bangalore-Cambridge innovation network are the Indian Institute of Information Technology and IISc.
The Indian government has expressed its intent to allow foreign universities to set up campuses here. Will we have a Cambridge in India?
We have no plans to open a campus in India. Exporting collegiate education is not possible as it's very expensive. We'll continue to partner with scientific institutions and colleges in India. We're looking at exchange programmes and research for students. We can collaborate with any number of institutions. To me, partnership is the key as learning is two-way.
How has the economic slowdown affected universities?
It would be wrong to say we are immune to the slowdown. World over, universities have been affected. But students who look up to us continue to come. That's heartening. We need to loosen up the immigration policy. I've asked the UK government to allow more international students into our campus.
Innovation is the buzzword for Cambridge. How have you integrated the changes in your courses?
We've made the Arts and Humanities courses more flexible. There are more subjects within each stream now so the student is more rounded. Innovation and research must be the success statement for every university, so that students are not lost when they step into the corporate world.
Forging links
The innovation network will also drive commercial activity between technology companies like Infosys, in Cambridge. My meeting with your chief minister Siddaramaiah was encouraging, where we agreed to leverage this city's strengths in information technology, biotechnology and science. Research must be ploughed back into the economy. The vision is to foster links between academics, businesses, researchers and entrepreneurs from both cities.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bangalore/Translating-Cambridge-research-into-Bangalore-business/articleshow/22676302.cms
"This is an amazing city of opportunities. People here are always looking forward. The Bangalore-Cambridge connect is great," the 62-year-old medical researcher told TOI on Wednesday, hours after he opened a centre on the sprawling National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS) campus on Bellary Road. Excerpts:
The Bangalore-Cambridge connect got a little closer today. Why is the city special for one of the world's oldest universities?
A This city has so many innovators and entrepreneurs - and that's the spirit at Cambridge. This is the IT and science hub of the country. Back in Cambridge, we do a lot of research which can be translated into business in Bangalore because there are so many innovators here. The collaboration with NCBS is fostering knowledge-driven therapeutic interventions for human diseases, and the other key stakeholders in the Bangalore-Cambridge innovation network are the Indian Institute of Information Technology and IISc.
The Indian government has expressed its intent to allow foreign universities to set up campuses here. Will we have a Cambridge in India?
We have no plans to open a campus in India. Exporting collegiate education is not possible as it's very expensive. We'll continue to partner with scientific institutions and colleges in India. We're looking at exchange programmes and research for students. We can collaborate with any number of institutions. To me, partnership is the key as learning is two-way.
How has the economic slowdown affected universities?
It would be wrong to say we are immune to the slowdown. World over, universities have been affected. But students who look up to us continue to come. That's heartening. We need to loosen up the immigration policy. I've asked the UK government to allow more international students into our campus.
Innovation is the buzzword for Cambridge. How have you integrated the changes in your courses?
We've made the Arts and Humanities courses more flexible. There are more subjects within each stream now so the student is more rounded. Innovation and research must be the success statement for every university, so that students are not lost when they step into the corporate world.
Forging links
The innovation network will also drive commercial activity between technology companies like Infosys, in Cambridge. My meeting with your chief minister Siddaramaiah was encouraging, where we agreed to leverage this city's strengths in information technology, biotechnology and science. Research must be ploughed back into the economy. The vision is to foster links between academics, businesses, researchers and entrepreneurs from both cities.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bangalore/Translating-Cambridge-research-into-Bangalore-business/articleshow/22676302.cms
0 comments:
Post a Comment