IIT Roorkee Hosts the Indo-Europe Heritage Network General Assembly 2024

The IIT Roorkee hosted the Heritage Network General Assembly Meeting 2024 during April 8-11, 2024, with the participation of Heritage Network member universities from Europe & India.

Heritage Network is the first network between India and Europe for education and research cooperation in various disciplines, supported by more than 30 leading technical higher education institutions that are involved in collaboration through their research and academic activities that address common priorities of national interest and the well-being of society.

The Heritage Network aims to strengthen Higher Education Cooperation (research and training), and develop academic and research exchanges between partner institutions, and foster high-level educational programs in Engineering, Sciences, Design, and Technology between Europe and India. The Network also organizes workshops regularly on scientific and technical topics of mutual interest. The theme of the General Assembly for the year 2024 was “Sustainability: Teaching, Research, and Innovation”.

The members include 13 premier universities from 10 European countries and 16 Indian institutes. From the European side members of the network include Ecole Centrale de Nantes (France), TU Dresden (Germany), TU Dublin (Ireland), Warsaw University of Technology (Poland), Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Universidad de Sevilla (Spain), Royal Institute of Technology/ KTH (Sweden), Politecnico di Milano, University of Genoa (Italy), Instituto Superior Técnico (Portugal), UPC, Université Libre de Bruxelles (Belgium), CTU (Czech Republic), TalTech (Estonia). From the Indian side members are IIT Roorkee, IIT Madras, IIT-ISM Dhanbad, IIT Indore, IIT Kanpur, IIT Bombay, IIT Bhilai, IIT Tirupati, NIT Karnataka, IISc, IIT Guwahati, IIT Ropar, IIT Hyderabad, NIT Rourkela, and NIT Warangal. All the universities were represented by senior administrators and policymakers of these universities.

The inaugural session was attended by Dr. Fabien Chareix (Science and Higher Education Attaché, French Institute in India), and Prof. K.K. Pant (Director, IIT Roorkee). Prof. Raghunath Rengaswamy (President, Heritage Network), Dr. Teresa Zielinska (Vice-President, Heritage Network) and host Prof. Vimal C Srivastava (Dean, International Relations, IIT Roorkee) along with Heritage members.

During the two-day meeting sessions, apart from discussing international cooperation and thematic topics, the General Assembly meeting witnessed the transfer of leadership roles for president & vice-president of Heritage Network, due to after-completion of terms. Prof. Teresa Zielinska, Warsaw University of Technology, Poland was elected as the President of Heritage Network, and Prof. Vimal C Srivastava, IIT Roorkee was elected as the Vice-President of the Heritage Network. The success of the Network was evident with many European institutions applying for membership.

Prof. K.K. Pant, Director, IIT Roorkee stated “In the current era of global education and research, there is a need for having increased bi- and multi-lateral academic programs and research collaborations. Thus, the Indo-Europe Heritage network can play a critical role in this endeavour.”

The newly elected President (HN), Prof. Teresa Zielinska stated that “I have witnessed, promoted & initiated multiple avenues of cooperations between European & Indian institutions since the inception of the Heritage Network and will strive to make it more successful with more tangible outcomes”.

Prof. Srivastava, Vice-President (HN) elect, after successfully hosting the GA meeting, stated that “with enthusiastic participation and support of member institutions, I am sure the Network will grow to serve the institutions with respect to successful academic and research collaborations, enhance faculty and student exchange, and help in receiving multilateral grant from various funding agencies”.

During the meeting, the European & Indian member Institutions discussed strengthening their existing collaborations and proposed enhancing network-related activities. This meeting also witnessed the significant leadership role of IIT Roorkee in the partnership between Indian & European engineering institutions.