University of Delhi signs MoU with University of Glasgow

London: The Universities of Delhi and Glasgow have signed an agreement under which the students in Delhi would receive lectures from Glasgow and vice versa via video-link. Professor Dinesh Singh, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Delhi, signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Professor Anton Muscatelli, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Glasgow, to formalise their links, a release by the Glasgow University said on Tuesday.

Both universities are members of Universitas 21 (U21), the leading global network of world-class, research-intensive universities for the 21st century. The U21 AGM (Annual Network Meeting), Presidential Symposium and Student Summit were hosted by the University of Glasgow over the course of last week, allowing the formal signing of the agreement to take place.

The first venture of this exciting collaboration will kick off in autumn this year when colleagues in Glasgow will use video link technology to teach aspects of English literature to students in Delhi. The exchange is a two-way one Glasgow students will receive lectures in post-colonial literature from Delhi.

The project has received a 10,000 pounds grant from the British Council Knowledge Exchange Partnership as well as support from the University of Glasgow's International Partnership Development Fund.

The first joint project will be in English literature and is to be led by Professor Nigel Leask, Regius Chair of English Language and Literature in the University of Glasgow's School of Critical Studies and a Fellow of the British Academy. "There are certain areas for which the English department at the University of Delhi do not have a lecturer, such as Mediaeval and Renaissance literature, and these are great strengths in our School of Critical Studies," said Prof Leask.

Plans are well advanced to provide video-linked seminars for senior undergraduate students and/or Masters students at Delhi with a view to eventually having students at both institutions taught simultaneously. Professor Leask said: "It is an exciting prospect to have students from two continents exchanging ideas on literature from Chaucer to Shakespeare."