The agreement will provide impetus to explore newer research activities and application possibilities in the field of science and technology

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday approved the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Indian Institute of Space science and Technology (IIST) and the Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), the oldest and largest Dutch public technical university.

The signing of this agreement will enable pursuing the following potential interest areas of cooperation such as, exchange of faculty members, students and researchers, scientific materials, publications and information, said a statement of the Union Cabinet.

The MoU that was signed on April 9 and May 17 at respective institutes and exchanged by email, provisions for carrying out the academic programmes and Research activities involving students and faculty members in each institution.

The cooperation between the two premier institutes will be in 5 areas such as students exchange programme, dual degree/double degree programme, internships and project work, faculty exchange and joint research.

By signing the agreement the institutes may exchange students at undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral level. They agreed the Practicum exchange programme for degree training should follow the educational system and regulations of the hosting partner.

Under the agreement the two sides also seek to develop specialized curriculum to be pursued by students for award of either undergraduate or postgraduate degree, which will be in addition to the initial degree to be awarded by the home Institute.

Designing and developing research of engineering project assignments which will be pursued by students during their stay both short term and long term, in the partner institute has also been provisioned for under this agreement.

Also they may consider a faculty exchange programme during which their faculty member will offer courses in the partner institute, for which the course contents will be developed jointly.

Finally the faculty members of both parties may identify the joint research programme in common areas of interest with defined duration.

Cooperation with the EWI, TU Delft, The Netherlands, an oldest and largest Dutch public Technological University through this agreement would lead to develop a joint activity in research in the area of Science and Technology. Thus, all sections and regions of the country will benefit.