In order to foster academic collaboration and provide opportunities to students and faculty members to enhance their domain knowledge, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee (IIT Roorkee) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with National Institute of Design Haryana (NIDH), Kurukshetra. Prof. Ajit K. Chaturvedi, Director-IIT Roorkee, and Prof. Vanita Ahuja, Director-NIDH, Kurukshetra signed the MoU on Mar 7, which will remain effective for a period of three years and can be renewed with mutual consent. The MoU will be effective from the 2020 – 2021 academic session and students from both the institutes would be able to opt for the various courses and facilities mentioned in the agreement.
Through this MoU, the institutes will collaborate for R&D activities, share learning materials and experiences. Institutes will also help each-other in curriculum development for their respective courses and share teaching responsibilities in relevant domains. They will also organise workshops on topics of mutual interest for students and faculty members. The institutions will also collaborate in research and consultancy programs sponsored by national or international funding agencies. Institutes have also agreed to organize joint workshops/short-term courses/FDP/MDP programs for participants from industry and academic institutes. They would share their expertise and infrastructure to address the challenges of society.
The MoU assumes further significance owing to the recent initiative of IIT Roorkee to launch two new masters programmes in Master of Design and Master of Innovation Management with effect from the next academic year. Being a design education based institute NID Haryana, Kurukshetra could be an effective partner in implementation of the proposed programs, while NID Haryana, Kurukshetra will get benefitted from the vast resources in the field of Architecture, Planning and Engineering of the 173 years old institute of the country. It is worth mentioning here that the recently developed Design Innovation Center (DIC) at IIT Roorkee has played an important role in getting this MoU signed. The MoU was signed in the presence of Prof. Manoranjan Parida, Deputy Director, many key functionaries of IIT Roorkee, head of several departments of the institute, coordinator of the Design Innovation Center Prof. Apurbba Kumar Sharma and a few other faculty members.
Prof. Ajit K. Chaturvedi, Director-IITR, said, “With the establishment of our Design Innovation Centre and it’s future roadmap of an enhanced footprint, the MoU would provide a platform for synergy between the two institutions.”
The MoU has provision for student exchange and their training through internships, projects, masters dissertation, and doctoral thesis. The institutes have also agreed to offer modular/elective courses to students in the area of mutual interest of both the institutes. They will offer joint projects enabling students to learn design culture and understand the use of technology for product design.
Prof. Vanita Ahuja, Director-NID Haryana, Kurukshetra said, “An association with IIT Roorkee, one of the premier institutes of the country is a step in the right direction. Such interface of Engineering and Design education is the requirement in present times. We would be delighted to share our expertise with the faculty and students of IIT Roorkee and are hopeful that the agreement would yield positive results for both the institutes.”
