The aim of this mission was to see the reality of these universities first hand and explore the possibilities of Indian students enrolling at the URV

From 31 January to 7 February a URV delegation consisting of the rector, Dr Josep Anton Ferré, the vice-rector for Academic Policy, and Teaching and Research Staff, Dr Josep Pallares, and the vice-rector for Internationalisation, Dr Mar Gutiérrez-Colon, accompanied by the advisor of the Directorate General of Universities Kewal Singh, travelled to India at the invitation of the Indian Universities of the Punjab, because the Chandigarh University had visited the URV a few months ago.

The aim of this mission was to see the reality of these universities first hand and explore the possibilities of Indian students enrolling at the URV (master’s degrees, doctoral degrees and Study Abroad programmes). Bilateral agreements have been signed with the two universities visited and proposals for collaboration have been made.

Another of the aims of the visit was to find ways of streamlining the visa application process for Indian students wishing to study at the URV. To this end, two meetings were held at the Embassy of Spain in India attended by the Ambassador, the First Secretary and Consul in charge of Cultural Affairs and the Minister of Science and Technology.

The URV delegation visited several faculties and schools at Chandigarh University (Punjab) and met deans and directors. The two universities signed a partnership agreement in front of an audience of about 400 students.

The rector and vice-rectors also spent two days visiting the Sri Guru Granth Sahib World University, the Sri Guru Teg Bahadur Khalsa College, the Anandpur Sahib Khalsa College and Baba Banda Singh Bahadur Engineering College, Fatehgarh Sahib. With this latter university a collaboration agreement was also signed in a ceremony presided over by all the vice-rectors and in the presence of Jathedar Avtar Singh, chairman of the Sikh Committee (Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Commitee), and Rector Dr. Gurmohan Sing. The signature was also witnessed by several Punjabi media