JASWANT SINGH GANDAM / RAMAN NEHRA
India Post News Service
PHAGWARA: A 10-member delegation of eminent professors and researchers from Australia’s La Trobe University visited Lovely Professional University (LPU) campus for strengthening academic and research collaborations, a varsity release today said.
The delegates deliberated upon deeper academic collaborations in their respective domains and for student mobility programs between the two universities, according to an LPU press release.
Welcoming the elite visitors, Aman Mittal, head of the Division of International Affairs, made a presentation on the internationalization plan of LPU.
Important discussions were also held upon future collaboration in joint research projects with LPU scientists and researchers. On this occasion, senior executive dean Dr Dharam Buddhi informed the delegates about various research activities, achievements and research strategy adopted at LPU. LPU already has collaboration with La Trobe University on various academic parameters.
The Australian delegation included Prof Kok-Leong Ong, who held panel discussion and faculty interaction; Dr David Walker and Dr Thomas John Mcnamara, both of whom had group discussion with LPU MBA students; associate professors Simon Egerton and Andriy Olenko, who talked about partnership between the two universities; Dr Sandra Leggat who informed about joint research and student mobility programs; Dr Peter Barnard who interacted with PhD students and researchers; senior lecturer Dr Vipul Patel who guided LPU students about civil engineering prospects; and, Regional Director- South Asia and Africa of La Trobe International Amit Malhotra.
Visiting members represented Schools of Business, Psychology & Public Health, Molecular Sciences; Computer Sciences & Information Technology, Civil Engineering, Humanities & Social Sciences, Mathematics & Statistics, and, Department of International Development Programme.
An important panel discussion was held on “Future of jobs”. It was highlighted that La Trobe University is ranked among top 1.2 per cent of universities across the world by Times Higher Education Rankings-2019.
Leader in analytics education, Prof Ong, who has till date attracted over $620,000 in research grant related to data analytics research, mesmerized the LPU business students through his expertise. He has served in over 50 program committees of international conferences related to analytics. His work on using analytics to improve community well-being has also been featured by the European Commission in Science for Environmental Policy. In fact, La Trobe University is investing in research leadership and research teams, building on existing strength areas including life sciences, water management and policy, planning and communication.
