Queen’s will today sign a new agreement with Jawaharlal Nehru University that will see new opportunities for staff exchanges and split site studentships.

In addition, the Queen’s delegation will also build on partnerships established in previous years, announcing the second international cancer conference in conjunction with India’s National Institute of Immunology (NII).

Last year, Sir Reg Empey, Minister for Employment and Learning in Northern Ireland launched the first conference in New Delhi. Representatives from the NII have this week confirmed that the Centre for Cancer Research and Cell Biology at Queen’s will host the second global event in 2009.

Next week, delegates from NII will travel to Belfast to plan for the conference and to take part in the international Mitchell Cancer Symposium at Queen’s £25 million Centre for Cancer Research and Cell Biology.

The University has also expanded its India Welcome Scheme for Indian Postgraduate students. Designed to develop science and technology leaders of the future, 30 scholarships will be on offer to encourage leading Indian students to come to Queen’s. Those currently pursuing studies in science and technology, social sciences, humanities or medicine will engage in a range of academic, cultural and social activities in Northern Ireland and will experience life as postgraduate research students in a vibrant and international setting, working alongside specialist researchers.

The announcements are part of a ten day visit to India by a Queen’s delegation, led by its Vice-Chancellor Professor Peter Gregson, to further build on key research and teaching partnerships.

Renowned for its record of achievements in frontline research, first class education & a commitment to internationalisation, Queens University Belfast is hoping to progress and develop a number of initiatives including:

Meeting with India’s industry confederations and the Indian Chamber of Commerce with a focus on trade collaborations between companies in Northern Ireland and India.

§ New opportunities in research and education for staff and students will also arise from the trip. Queen’s will sign agreements and extensions to those already agreed with several of India’s leading universities.

§ Opening of the Easter India Centre for Water and Environment (EICWE), located at Bengal Engineering and Science University (BESU), Kolkata.

Queens’ has been collaborating with BESU for past two years, to develop a technology to provide arsenic-free water, with the aim of benefitting India & other regions of the world with similar problems. Recognising the work of Queen’s in this area, the British Council, as part of its DELPHE programme, will also announce the University’s selection as a provider of training to improve groundwater management in regions of eastern India affected by arsenic. Partners in the project with Queen’s are BESU and India’s Institute of Environmental Management & Studies.

The UK Government's Department for International Development (DfID) under the British Council DELPHE programme is investing up to £3 million a year in a new Development Partnerships in Higher Education programme (DelPHE), which will run to March 2013. The programme will provide funding to support partnerships between Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) working on collaborative activity linked to the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The overall goal of DELPHE is to enable HEIs to act as catalysts for poverty reduction and sustainable development. DELPHE aims to achieve this by building and strengthening the capacity of HEIs to contribute towards the MDGs and promote science and technology related knowledge and skills. It is anticipated that around 200 partnerships will be funded during the lifetime of the scheme.

Queens University India Commitment: The guiding principle of Queens University's is the recognition that knowledge knows no boundaries, and forging of international partnerships is central to the realisation of its vision. It has links with universities around the world and is committed to developing & strengthening fruitful partnerships to promote universal welfare. Queen’s partnership with India encompasses not only science & medicine but also literature, history, engineering, communication technology & ecology. Indian Staff and research scholars from India at Queen’s have contributed significantly to research collaborations, and have highlighted the key achievements of Queen’s in India. Queen’s hosts a number of Indian delegations each year and academic staff has visited India many times, thereby fostering and developing research, educational and cultural links.

National Institute of Immunology, Delhi - A research partnership in the biomedical sciences associated with cancer research and cell biology and experimental medicine. The partnership includes split-site studentships, staff exchanges and a biennial international conference. This partnership is supported by the Department of Biotechnology, India.

University of Hyderabad - Collaborations relate to literature, language and translation. There are staff exchanges and student exchanges at undergraduate and postgraduate level with particular emphasis on the impact of English literature on South East Asian writing. During this summer, ten Queen’s students spent four weeks at Hyderabad, and earlier in the year, Hyderabad’s Head of English, Professor Sachi Mohanty visited Queen’s in the first semester of last year, followed by several of his students.

Bengal Engineering and Science University (BESU), Kolkata - A broadly-based programme of research partnerships with particular emphasis on Electronic Engineering, Information and Communication Technologies and Environmental Engineering, particularly linked to water supply. The partnerships feature spilt-site studentships and staff exchanges.

Queen’s-India Lecture Series - Through an established network with the major Indian universities this series brings leading scholars and researchers from India to Belfast for public lectures and interaction with relevant Schools within Queen’s University. The series also intends to bring leading Indian academics from around the globe to an annual symposium that addresses issues of Postcolonial India and Ireland: Empire and Resistance.

Queen’s India Welcome Scheme - Designed to help develop research leaders of the future, 30 scholarships are now on offer for Indian students to come to Queen’s. Those currently pursuing studies in science and technology, social sciences, humanities or medicine will engage in a range of academic, cultural and social activities in Northern Ireland and will experience life as postgraduate research students in a vibrant and international setting, working alongside specialist researchers. In June 2008, Queen’s welcomed 20 undergraduate students from the Bengal Engineering and Science University (BESU) in Kolkata, India. The students studied at the Institute of Electronics, Communications and Information Technology (ECIT), working on a range of research projects.

About Queens’ University

Queen's University Belfast, Northern Ireland, is a member of the prestigious Russell Group of top 20 research-intensive universities in the United Kingdom.

Queen's has more than 17,000 students from over 80 countries, 3,500 staff and 100,000 graduates worldwide. More than 20 of its courses are cited in The London Times top 20 universities by subject area.

The University is located in Belfast, one of the world's safest cities in which to live and one of the regions in the United Kingdom with the lowest living costs. It hosts the annual internationally acclaimed Belfast Festival and has also hosted the Gandhi, King, Ikeda Peace builders’ international Exhibition.

Northern Ireland offers a friendly environment for all its international guests, is easily accessible from anywhere in the world and is only one hour by plane from London.

The University has a record of achievement in frontline research, first-class education and a commitment to internationalization. Queen's is currently investing over $500 million in its staff, students and infrastructure to develop a community of world-class academics and students.