Panjab University ties up with two international varsities for research

The Panjab University (PU) is joining hands with two international varsities for research work in as many as 21 subjects. While the exchange programme is a common practice in universities, under the new venture, faculty members of PU and the foreign institutions will pursue research work together — a first for PU.

Professors from PU's University Business School (UBS) will undertake academic research with their counterparts from the University of Western Sydney (UWS) and University of Nottingham. The home university has shortlisted 11 faculty members for the purpose, including UBS chairperson Prof Deepak Kapoor, senior teachers Prof Meenakshi Malhotra, Dr Suvera Gill, Dr Tilak Raj, among others.

A team of 30 researchers from PU, UWS and Nottingham University has been constituted to work from April onwards. "It is a positive step in the field of research where brains from three different universities will come together to discover new things," a senior professor associated with the programme said.

The 21 subjects the triumvirate varsities will research on have an interesting array of topics covering socio-cultural, religious and economic aspects of the society. The teachers will study subjects such as cultural difference, housing price-determination, modern manufacturing, governmental financial resiliency. Other areas of research are Foreign Direct Investment, sub-national policy and electric vehicle uptake, planning and regulatory environment cost, healthcare promotion and Golden Temple and its relationship with the Sikh diaspora.

Meanwhile, PU is also planning to earmark an amount of around one lakh pound to empower research work in its University Institute of Engineering and Technology. The objective is to bring more students into research and pursue an extensive range of subjects. This too is being done with another United Kingdom-based counterpart — Nottingham Trent University. The students will work on biomedical imaging and instruments and advanced manufacturing processes, among others.

It may be noted that PU has been trying to resurrect itself in the field of research after its ranking slipped to 18 in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF), 2018 for Research and Professional Practices. The National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) in its last report had also pointed out that the university needs to improve and focus on quality of research.

Improving Rankings

It may be noted that PU has been trying to resurrect itself in the field of research after its ranking slipped to 18 in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF), 2018 for Research and Professional Practices