Ostfalia University recently welcomed a delegation from the education sector of the Indian state of Telangana to its Wolfenbüttel campus. The delegation comprised around 40 representatives from the education administration and state universities and colleges, including, in particular, Osmania University (external link, opens in a new window), the Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University Hyderabad (external link, opens in a new window)(JNTUH) and Kakatiya University (external link, opens in a new window). In addition to Ostfalia, they visited other German universities and higher education institutions such as RWTH Aachen University and the University of Göttingen. The group was accompanied by Zammit & Associates and IndoEuroSync, German-Indian partners specialising in higher education cooperation.
Best practice from Germany for the Indian higher education system
The aim of the delegation’s visit was to gain insights into best practice in teaching and research at German higher education institutions and to explore potential areas of collaboration for Telangana’s higher education system. The state is situated in south-central India, has a population of over 35 million and is roughly the same size as Bavaria and Lower Saxony combined. Its capital and economic centre is the metropolis of Hyderabad, with a population of over a million.
Ostfalia is exploring opportunities for cooperation with Indian universities
Prof. Dr Ina Schiering, Vice-President for Research, Development and Technology Transfer, Prof. Dr Udo Triltsch, Dean of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, and Prof. Dr Lorenz Däubler from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology, outlined where Ostfalia sees opportunities for international university cooperation. “Over the coming months, we will be assessing, on behalf of our faculty, the extent to which these initial contacts can lead to concrete collaborations. In recent years, we have repeatedly been able to attract large cohorts of students from India to our engineering programmes,” says Prof. Dr Udo Triltsch.
More than 1,000 Ostfalia students come from abroad
The guests were particularly interested in examples of practice-oriented teaching. In the Open Mobility Lab, the Sanitary Engineering Laboratory and the Mechatronics and Robotics Laboratories, they were able to experience first-hand what application-oriented and interdisciplinary teaching looks like in the Faculties of Mechanical Engineering and Supply Engineering. Indian students provided authentic insights into their everyday student life. Around ten per cent of Ostfalia students currently come to Lower Saxony from abroad to study.
