UQ is strengthening its ties with two of India’s premier universities through biotechnology and student exchanges.
A research collaboration agreement has been signed between UQ and the Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE) – one of India’s top medical school.
It comes as UQ hosts two Indian students under a student exchange program signed last year with the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) – one of India’s top postgraduate university.
UQ’s Biotechnology Director Associate Professor Ross Barnard, who set up both programs through the Faculty of Biological and Chemical Sciences (BACS), said they improved UQ’s research and profile in India.
Sonika Tyagi and Ragothaman Yennamalli, both 25, are the first batch of Indian students to study at UQ under the exchange.
Mr Yennamalli has spent the last six months researching weaknesses in the dengue virus and Ms Tyagi is researching DNA sequences.
“The quality of students we get from India is tremendous,” Associate Professor Barnard said.
“They’re really an inspiration to work with.”
Mr Yennamalli, who is investigating new drug treatments to stop the virus entering cells, said he felt he had joined a big family.
“This is one city which I feel like home, since it has the same type of climate of the cities in India,” Mr Yennamalli said.
“I will advise the students who are aspiring to study in Australia to include UQ as one of their top five choices to study and live.”
UQ students Simon Carter (computational biology) and Rajiv Tyagi (structural biology, computational modelling) will study in India.
The Australian Vice Chancellors Committee and Department of Education, Science and Training provided funding for the student exchange.
Both the research agreement and exchange program sit under an umbrella agreement between the Queensland Government and the Director of Education from the Indian state of Karnataka.
Associate Professor Barnard, a cancer and infectious disease specialist and Dr Lisbeth Grondahl, a senior researcher with UQ’s Nanotechnology and Biomaterials Centre, are UQ’s initial research collaborators.
He said Indian media had called MAHE the “Oxford of India” and many Indian students were identifying with UQ’s research reputation.
After three visits in the last 18 months, he returns to India next month to interview potential masters students.
For more information contact Associate Professor Barnard (phone: +61 07 3365 4612, email: rossbarnard@uq.edu.au) or Miguel Holland at UQ Communications (phone: 07 3365 2619, email: m.holland@uq.edu.au)
