By OUR STAFF REPORTER
DEHRADUN, 6 Nov: UPES has been promoting multilateral exchanges of students and faculty, and collaborating with renowned institutions of academic excellence globally. A visit by Fafa Sanyang, Gambian Minister of Petroleum & Energy, along with Gambian High Commissioner Jainaba Jagne, and the Finance Attaché Baba F Kinteh to UPES on 4 November was yet another positive step in this direction. The high-powered visit was the outcome of the endeavours by the ‘Department of International Affairs, UPES, headed by Dr Ugur Guven with a committed support of Dr Velidi VSS Gurunadh – Coordinator International Affairs, UPES. UPES has a diverse strength of students from all parts of India that aptly reflects its reputation a national university. Dr Ugur Guven apprised that among the many discussions held with the Gambian Delegation during the visit, the deliberations on UPES assistance and expertise to Gambian Petroleum Ministry officials in the field of capacity building and designing specialised training sessions for their Oil & Gas workforce featured among the top priorities. “UPES will also play the important role of mentoring the new Technical University of Gambian being founded in the year 2020 to meet the industrial needs of that nation. UPES will be one amongst the two international multilateral stakeholders in this mentoring – the University of Helsinki in Finland being the other,” he said. Dr Velidi VSS Gurunadh added that, currently, UPES has 7 Gambian students enrolled in its academic programmes as a part of its total international students’ community of approximately 100 students from USA, Canada, Mexico, Kenya, France and Gambia. Minister Fafa Sanyang appreciated the existing UPES Academic-Industry Collaborations specific to the Oil & Gas Sector. High Commissioner Jainaba Jagne said, “The academic engagements and course delivery at UPES is more suitable to the Gambian Students.” Welcoming the members of the Gambian Delegation at the Bidholi Campus of the University, Dr Deependra Jha, UPES Vice Chancellor, stated, “Year 2019 is being already being observed as the ‘Year of Internationality’ at UPES and I am happy that this mutual exchange between UPES and Gambia is a part of it. We are already partners in an Indo-French Academic Alliance. UPES shall extend all possible support in establishing state-of-the-art Academic Institutions in the field of Science & Technology. The Vice Chancellor offered to provide a detailed engagement proposal within a week or two that would help take this association further. The UPES delegation comprised Dr Kamal Bansal, Dean, SOE; Dr Sunil Khare, HOD, Petroleum Engineering; Dr Githa Heggde, Dean, SOB; Dr P Vijay, HOD, Chemical Engineering; Dr Jitendra Pandey, Dean, Research; Dr Manish Prateek, Dean, SCS; Dr Prasoom Dwivedi, Dr VK Singh and many others.
