1-25-99

DELEGATION RETURNS FROM INDIA WITH RENEWED RELATIONSHIPS

   COLUMBUS -- The Ohio State University delegation to India led by President William E. Kirwan and Board of Trustees Chair Ted Celeste announced Monday (1/25) the creation of new and re- established institutional relationships in areas of agriculture, engineering, the social sciences and the humanities.

   The agriculture group, along with Kirwan and Celeste, visited with the Indian Council of Agricultural Research and several institutions operating under its auspices. The group also met with the minister of Agriculture, the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, the Punjab Agricultural University, the Haryana Agricultural University and the Karnatka Agricultural University. At these institutions, the delegation met with Ohio State alumni, including several former vice chancellors, and G.S. Kalkat, current vice chancellor of the Punjab Agricultural University.

   Agreements were signed with the three universities, which will facilitate faculty, staff and scientific literature exchanges, in addition to development of collaborative research programs addressing second-generation problems of the Green Revolution.

   Ohio State worked with the Punjab and Haryana institutions during their formative years of the 1950s and 1960s, providing technical assistance, training and curriculum development. These institutions made major contributions to the Green Revolution of South Asia at that time and in subsequent years.

   In addition to defining a new collaborative mode of interaction and creating good will between Ohio State and the Indian institutions, the delegation established cooperative linkages with the Tata Trust Fund and signed a memorandum of agreement with the Indian prime minister and the director general of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research.

   Several Ohio State officials met with Ratan Tata, industrialist and philanthropist, who expressed interest in supporting future collaborative activities through the Tata Foundation. As a result of meetings with R.M. Lala, director of the Tata Trust Fund, Ohio State also was encouraged to prepare a proposal to be financed with Tata Trust Funds.

   Bobby Moser, vice president for agricultural administration and dean of the College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, indicated the relationships developed in agriculture will help his college globalize its teaching, research and outreach programs in the context of an important emerging market of 1 billion inhabitants, in addition to facilitating access to new technologies of use to Ohio citizens.

   Professor of Soil Sciences Rattan Lal's participation was considered especially important to the success of the mission. Lal studied at Punjab Agricultural University during initial collaborations and later at Ohio State, and joined Ohio State's faculty in the 1980s. In the intervening years, he developed an international reputation for his research in soil physics at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture.

Colleges of the Arts and Sciences and International Studies

   The Colleges of the Arts and Sciences and the Office of International Studies achieved their two major goals of the trip: determining feasibility for developing study-abroad programs in India, especially for undergraduate students, and assessing the viability of cooperative research programs with various Indian universities and research institutes.

   The College of Humanities and the Office of International Studies signed agreements with the Banaras Hindu University in Vanarasi and with the University of Hyderabad. The agreement with Banaras Hindu University provides an opportunity to build on existing collaborative relationships among first-rate scholars in the social sciences and to initiate collaboration in a number of other fields. Among them is the possibility of Ohio State involvement with the project to clean up the Ganges River, the most sacred place on Earth for Hindus. Ohio State also is shaping a new relationship with the University of Hyderabad, an institution known internationally for its research and teaching in the humanities and the social and physical sciences.

   Kermit Hall, dean of the College of Humanities and executive dean of the Colleges of the Arts and Sciences, and Richard Gunther, director of international studies, also established close linkages with two study-abroad programs: the Study India Program in Hyderabad, which provides courses taught in English for undergraduate and graduate students, and a plan to integrate Ohio State into the collaborative foreign language program run by the University of Wisconsin. Both programs offer flexibility in designing a program of study in the languages, cultures and politics of India.

   Hall and Gunther also visited the Indian Council for Social Science Research and discussed a possible agreement facilitating the development of collaborative research and educational programs among Indian and Ohio State faculty. The ICSSR, one of the largest funding agencies in India supporting such activities, is ideally suited to the strengths of the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences.

Hall and College of Engineering Dean David Ashley visited the Indian Institute of Science, the most influential body addressing issues of applied science and engineering. Ohio State was told that approximately $100,000 may be available in the coming year to assist institute scientists and Ohio State faculty in humanities and social sciences in analyzing issues of ethical and moral conduct relating to the application of technology to many social issues. The institute staff also expressed interest in Ohio State's molecular life sciences program. Additionally, a meeting was held with the executive director of the U.S. Educational Foundation in India.

   A follow-up faculty visit is expected in the spring, and students are expected to be studying in India next year.

College of Engineering

   The engineering group met key people at the Indian Institutes of Technology in both Kanpur and Delhi, the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore and the Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, also in Bangalore. The ITT-Kanpur connection has a long history, dating back to its origin when Ohio State participated as one of five American universities in establishing the institute. The visit focused on elevating existing faculty members' long-term personal links to the universities to an institution-to-institution level.

   Ashley emphasized the Indian institutions' central role in leading India's future economic development. Anticipated partnerships with Ohio State will leverage their scarce resources and add important expertise, as well as provide Ohio State engineers with significant and challenging opportunities to apply their research. Upgrading India's technology base also contributes to the U.S. economy; for example, growth of the information technology sector in the United States is fueled in large part by contributions of software professionals in India.

Universitywide

   The delegation was invited to India by R.S. Paroda, director general of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, and hosted by U.S. Ambassador Richard Celeste.

   The Ohio State India Steering Committee will follow up on these initial contacts, identifying specific areas of collaboration, seeking third party funding for the collaboration, and participating in exchange programs. The committee will recommend programs to support faculty-to-faculty and scientist- to-scientist exchanges to be financed in part by the university.

The Ohio State University Delegation to India

William E. Kirwan, president, (614) 292-2424
Theodore Celeste, chair of the Board of Trustees, (614) 487-8400,
   and his wife, Bobbie Celeste
Daniel Slane, trustee, (614) 476-3331
Bobby Moser, vice president for agricultural administration and
   dean of the College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental
   Sciences, (614) 292-1889
David Ashley, dean of the College of Engineering, (614) 292-2836
Kermit Hall, dean of the College of Humanities, (614) 292-1882
Richard Gunther, director of the Center for International Studies
   and executive director of International Studies, (614) 292-6266
Rattan Lal, professor of soil science, (614) 292-9069
David Hansen, director of the Office of International Programs in
   Agriculture and associate dean of the College of Food,
   Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, (614) 292-7252