The University of Hyderabad was selected for a prestigious European Commission project for its internationalisation strategy. Part of a seven-country initiative led by the University of Zaragoza, Spain, and the European Policy Development and Research Institute, Slovenia, “The Harmony Project” builds capacity in each partner institution to promote and improve access to its academic programmes for international students.
The project, “Internationalization and Virtual Exchange: Borderless between EU and Asian Countries”, involves institutions in Bulgaria, Lithuania, Bangladesh, Vietnam and India; from India, the Vellore Institute of Technology and the Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies also take part. The University’s share of the grant is about Rs. 67 lakh for the three-year project, launched officially in January 2021. It was coordinated by Prof. N. Siva Kumar, then Director of the Office of International Affairs, with Prof. Vinod Pavarala, Prof. J. Prabhakar Rao, Prof. Aparna Rayaprol, Prof. R. Siva Prasad and Dr. S. Shaji.
On hearing the news, the then Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Appa Rao Podile, said: “Being a part of such an extensive European project will help us considerably in moving towards our IoE goal of greater internationalization, and I am delighted that UoH has been selected for Harmony.”
The University has several foreign nationals in its Master’s and doctoral programmes, and has MoUs with highly ranked universities across the globe that facilitate the exchange of students and faculty, including universities ranked in the global top 100 of the QS ranking. It is also working towards a blueprint for joint PhD degree programmes, which will further its internationalisation.