President’s delegation advances the University’s global engagement strategy

TORONTO, Jan. 23, 2023 – Renewed relationships, new collaborations, future engagement opportunities are just some of the results of York University’s recent delegation to India, aside from increased awareness about the University and its global engagement.

The two-week trip included meetings with strategic partners, high school counsellors, alumni, government officials and media, and exploratory conversations with potential partners in the South Asian country.

The India mission was part of York University’s revitalized vision, Engaging the World: York University’s Internationalization and Global Engagement Strategy, 2022-2027, to bring greater focus, cooperation and prioritization to the university’s internationalization efforts as highlighted in the University Academic Plan 2020-2025.

"Our partnerships in India are very important to us, and we were eager to explore how we can continue to support access, excellence, connectedness and impact in higher education through enhanced collaboration,” said President and Vice-Chancellor Rhonda Lenton. "Given the increasing complexity of global problems, partnering across borders with leading institutional partners who share our values is key to sharing knowledge, skills and resources for the betterment of all”.

O.P. Jindal Global University (JGU) and its Vice Chancellor Professor C. Raj Kumar facilitated parts of the trip that kicked off with signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for student mobility between York University and JGU, which is located near Delhi, in Sonipat. Developing programs for student and faculty exchange, summer abroad and dual degrees as well as establishing collaborative research projects are also in the works.

Professor Kumar, who recognizes York University as an early mover in the Indian higher education system’s foreign institution landscape, facilitated conversations with diverse higher education stakeholders across India.

These interactions also came at a time when the government of India removed restrictions preventing world class universities from offering education programs to its growing youth population, the largest in the world.

York University’s president Lenton was accompanied by the deans for Environmental and Urban Change, Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, and Science; Lassonde School of Engineering’s associate dean for research; associate dean for programs at the Schulich School of Business; associate vice president for alumni engagement; and an associate director from York International. 

York University’s leadership visit also attracted significant media attention, since the delegation was in India during heightened diplomatic tensions between the two countries.

Members of Indian media centred their questions around how current and future students may be affected by the situation. In response, Lenton highlighted Canada as one of the safest countries in the world that values diversity and continues to attract large number of immigrants from the Indo-Pacific region.

“Canada is an incredibly welcoming multicultural, inclusive, safe society that values higher education. In fact, Canada’s university education system is one of the country’s best resources because no matter what university you go to, you are going to receive a high quality education,” assured Lenton, including in an exclusive interview to the   Indian Express.

“We help students connect with each other and build a strong network and community in Canada. York University is unwavering in the support for our diverse and inclusive community,” Lenton told the Times of India. “We continue to welcome students from all over the world, including India, and provide a supportive environment for all international students, both current and those planning to come to study at York. We look forward to welcoming them to our community.” 

York University representatives met with Hon. M.C. Sudhakar, Karnataka’s minister of higher education, Hon. Palanivel Thiagarajan, Tamil Nadu’s minister of information technology and digital service, and Sanjay Murthy, the Government of India’s higher education secretary, to better understand how regional and national governments are facilitating international higher education collaborations.  

Internationalization has long been a part of York University’s identity since it was founded in 1959 and is a defining feature of our community. The University has been delivering business programs in the country since 2009 and established an India Advisory Council consisting of top Indian business leaders to ensure its programs address the growing needs of India’s economy, Lenton told reporters during press conferences in various cities.  

JGU hosted education conclaves in Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi and Kolkata, where Lenton highlighted the initiatives that are in the pipeline, in her remarks on the theme of “India-Canada Higher Education Partnership: In Pursuit of Excellence, Inclusion and Empowerment.” Those in attendance included hundreds of educators from high schools and universities and think-tanks. Attendees were encouraged to ask questions about how York University’s presence in India might help their students in pursuing studies in Canada, particularly at York.

The university also hosted some of its first alumni events in cities across India, attended by hundreds of professionals who call York their alma mater.

During the trip, delegates visited York University’s campus in Hyderabad to exchange academic ideas and learn about the experience of students enrolled in the University’s India MBA as well as other programs offered by the Schulich School of Business in collaboration with GMR Group.

In all, the deans visited six cities in as many states, and engaged in discussions with their Indian counterparts to explore opportunities for two-way student exchange programs and research partnerships, and to firm up institutional collaborations. The delegates met or visited representatives from  RV University (Bengaluru); Vinayaka Missions Research Foundation (Chennai); Shiv Nadar University (Delhi); BITS Pilani (Hyderabad); Adamas University  (Kolkata); Infosys Science Foundation (Bengaluru), the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras (Chennai), Royal Global University (Assam), Tata Institute of Social Sciences (Mumbai) and the SatCom Industry Association (Delhi) and the Shastri Indo Canadian Institute (Delhi).  During the visit to the Foundation for Medical Research, with which York recently launched a collaboration on disease modelling, York delegates met with Nadir Godrej-York India Advisory Council Member and FMR Trustee- and FMR researchers. 

York also made significant announcements that will increase cooperation with countries like India, including the launch of the Global Research Excellence Fund that will seed research collaborations with leading and diverse global partners to drive research excellence at York.  ­

Another important announcement focused on experiential learning and pathway programs to support entrepreneurship-related education with India, by building on the success of the Schulich School of Business’s Together Mission. This partnership would see York students travel to India to learn about its dynamic innovation ecosystems, and access other unique educational opportunities in a country that is home to 1.5 billion people.