Illinois Varsity Chancellor visits India, mulls research partnerships

Updated on: Friday, October 08, 2010

Prof. Robert A. Easter, the Chancellor and Provost (Interim) of Illinois University at Urbana-Champaign is visiting India to discuss and form bilateral partnerships with Information Technology companies such as Infosys, Wipro and Tata Consultancy.

The Chancellor also plans to meet with members of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and the G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology.

The professor's visit comes after the state of Ohio had recently banned the outsourcing of software jobs to India.

U.S. President Barack Obama is set to visit India in November. Prof. Easter called his visit only a month before the president's visit a coincidence. He also spoke about an agenda for building partnerships between India and the Unites States in several sectors that fits into the Obama-Singh 21st Century Initiative.

Illinois University will soon be signing two Memorandums of Understanding (MoU) with the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology for setting up an Information Technology Research Academy in New Delhi and another with the ICAR for a research programme that is mutually beneficial.

Robert A. Easter is a professor of animal sciences and nutrition sciences. He said that the areas identified by the U.S. for collaborating with the ICAR include animal husbandry, food technology, product agriculture, agriculture engineering, information technology, agribusiness, agri-finance, agri-marketing and biotechnology.

Illinois Varsity Chancellor visits India, mulls research partnerships

More Education news