Timothy L. Killeen, president of the University of Illinois, USA, led a nine-member delegation to India and visited various educational institutions of higher learning and companies. The university, founded in 1867, has 24 alumni who have bagged Nobel prizes. Excerpts from an interview with him:
What is the purpose of your visit, taking delegations to different institutes in India?
India is a special place to visit and learn. The aim of our visit is strengthening partnerships with several academic institutions and companies, including the IITs in Delhi and Mumbai, BITS Pilani, L&T, Government of India’s Ministry of Education, and the Ramaiah Group of Institutions. We are also meeting past students, authorities in government, and businessmen. Our university has enrolled 90,000 students, and of them about 1,200 are from India in various disciplines.
In what way will collaborations benefit Indian firms, institutes, students and faculty?
I think we can help the Indian startup ecosystem by providing soft landings in the United States, where we are at the heart of the market, accessing expertise, getting mentoring etc... India has a vibrant startup culture and the university, with its experience and being located in the heart of the market, will offer help to such firms. There can be curation aspect, which can materially help that innovated ecosystem in India kind of optimise itself... We are strengthening and building partnerships with Indian firms and institutes.
Does the university have any plans to increase Indian enrolment and offer scholarships?
We see a lot untapped potential... almost explosive in India. India is going to be a major contributor in the rest of the century. Indian students are enrolled in multiple disciplines and we can accelerate both enrolment as well as scholarships. We are focussing on degree, postgraduate and research programmes. The human resources will get skilled and re-skilled by providing scholarships.
Why is your university focussing on multi-disciplinary programmes?
Multi-disciplinary programmes solve society’s problems in education, governance, public-private partnerships etc.
