News : India, Germany celebrate 50 years of cooperation in higher education

German Minister of Education & Research Annette Schavan with her Indian counterpart Kapil Sibal in New Delhi, February 2007

India, Germany celebrate 50 years of cooperation in higher education

September 08, 2008

On Monday, 8th September, Germany’s Minister of Education & Research Annette Schavan begins a two-day visit to India. Her first stop is Chennai, to participate in the golden jubilee celebrations of IIT Madras, a flagship project of Indo-German cooperation in higher education. In Delhi on the 9th, she launches a series of science and technology cooperation inititiaves along with Kapil Sibal, the Indian Minister of Science and Technology and Earth Sciences.

India and Germany have had over five decades of cooperation and exchange in the field of science and technology. India is a priority partner of Germany in Asia and science and technology cooperation (STC) is one of the most important strategic goals for the future of German-Indian relations.

This was also underlined by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the German-Indian Joint Declaration signed in April 2006 during the Indian Prime Minister's visit to Germany. Since India’s independence, approximately 1,300 scholarship holders of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and more than 2,500 German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) scholarship holders have traveled to Germany for short-term and long-term research projects.

The forthcoming visit of Minister Schavan will be her third trip to India since 2007. After her last visit with Chancellor Merkel in October 2007, she emphasised that mutual mobility and exchange is profitable for both India and Germany. Schavan stressed on the importance of German students gaining technical and cultural experiences in India. For this, the federal Ministry has provided an additional 4.3 million euros to the DAAD programme “A new passage to India”, beginning in 2009.

The Indian Institute of Technology in Chennai (formerly Madras) – IITM – is Germany’s oldest and most extensive technical cooperation project anywhere in the world. A meeting between independent India’s first Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and Germany’s first Chancellor, Dr. Konrad Adenauer in 1956 set the grounds for the establishment of IITM. Germany, along with the United Kingdom, USA and the Soviet Union helped set up modern India’s institutions of higher education. But significantly for India and German, this cooperation has continued and grown over the last 50 years. Speaking at the opening of the golden jubilee celebrations of IITM earlier this year, German Ambassador to India Bernd Mützelburg stated “it has become, in some sense, the pride of Germany… The most important investment we ever made was into IIT-Madras, because it was into the brains and hearts of Indians. It pays out now in so many ways for our strategic interests.”

Over the last ten years alone, the German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) has promoted 25 common projects of scientific-technological co-operation between German research establishments and IIT Madras. The focus of cooperation is on Physical and chemical technologies (4 projects), engineering sciences (6 projects), Information and communication technologies (5 projects), environmental research (2 projects), research in health (2 projects) and in energy (3 projects).

As part of the forthcoming visit, the German Minister of Education & Research will inaugurate the Indo-German Science and Technology Centre (IGSTC) in Delhi on 9th September jointly with her Indian counterpart Kapil Sibal. The IGSTC is an initiative through which BMBF and the Indian Department of Science and Technology (DST) will provide up to 10 million euros for joint research and development projects in the next five years. The Centre is being established on the basis of a Memorandum of Understanding signed between the two Ministers in October 2007.

The IGSTC intends to primarily provide support for “2+2 technology projects” (with the participation of science and industry on both sides) on the basis of invitations for projects in various fields of research. The Centre will focus on natural, life and engineering sciences. The first six joint research and development projects have already been approved, with funding of 300,000 euros. IGSTC will also conduct joint workshops and symposia for German and Indian scientists.

Commenting on the importance of this new initiative Schavan said, “The new Indo-German Science and Technology Centre in New Delhi is a good example of heightened cooperation. It will make an important contribution towards strengthening collaboration between science and industry and accelerating the translation of research results into new products, processes and services. With its High-Tech Strategy, the Federal Government has set the course in Germany for further innovative company start-ups, sustainable growth, greater international competitiveness and additional highly qualified employment. We … intend to expand the Centre over the coming years in close cooperation with science and industry. It will conduct joint projects and become one of the main pillars of our cooperation.”

On 9th September, the two countries also begin the campaign “India and Germany – Strategic Partners in Innovation”. This two-year (2008 – 2010) project is being implemented under the larger “Research in Germany – Land of Ideas” initiative. It aims to intensify co-operation in strategically important areas and to initiate joint projects between India and Germany. It is also looking at a bilateral exchange of the best international experts for joint R&D activities. The key objectives are to build new international networks of competence clusters and increase contract research of German research institutions in the global market. 15 projects with partners in India – four from manufacturing technologies, three from biotechnology, one project from health and one from media technology – have already been selected through a competition.

The inaugural event on 9th September will be followed by a day-long programme, including presentations by eminent researchers and industry captains on innovative technology and programmes in the field of Production Technology, Life Sciences and Sustainable Development. One of the highlights of the event is a partnering meet with German institutions and Research organisations.

Recognising the considerable potential for collaboration in developing cost-effective and innovative technologies between Germany and India, the first ever Indo-German conference on “Science for Sustainability” will be held in New Delhi on 9th September. This conference will discuss sustainable solutions to the global challenges of climate change, energy efficiency and sustainable resource use. A Joint Indo-German Declaration of Intent on Science for Sustainability will also be signed by the two Ministers.