New Delhi: Rice University president Reginald DesRoches said India is becoming a key pillar in the university's global strategy, with the institution exploring deeper academic partnerships and future expansion opportunities in the country.
Rice University, a private research university in Houston, Texas, the US, launched Rice Global India in November 2024, establishing a strategic hub in Bengaluru to accelerate research, innovation and educational partnerships.
Speaking with PTI during the university delegation's India visit, DesRoches said Rice University sees India as "another strategic and really important place for us, for global partnerships, for opportunities for our students, for exchange of students between the two countries".
"We're really excited about the progress we've made and the opportunities moving forward," he said.
DesRoches said the university has witnessed around a 60 per cent increase in interest from Indian students over the last four years.
"We've seen a significant increase in interest amongst the students from India, about 60 per cent increase in the last four years," he said.
"We've worked hard to ensure that students who are interested in coming to Rice University from India, that we can navigate the challenges currently around the visa applications and just the delays that we're seeing around the US," DesRoches added.
He added that Rice University has strengthened support systems through its Office of International Student Services to assist students in navigating the process.
"And we've been able to navigate those very well. We have another strong incoming class of students from India this year," he said.
DesRoches said the university is keeping "all options open" regarding expanding partnerships or developing a more durable, physical infrastructure within the country in the coming years.
Asked about the outcomes of Rice Global India since its launch in 2024, Caroline Levander, vice president for Global Strategy, said the university has been "very busy" building strategic partnerships with Indian institutions including the Indian Institute of Technology Madras and Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur.
"We are finalising an agreement with Infosys for a student immersion programme in Bangalore campus," she said, adding that the university remains committed to expanding its network of "research and educational partnerships" in India.
Levander said the delegation's visit to Delhi and Mumbai is aimed at exploring collaborations with more Indian institutions.
"We're in Delhi and Mumbai on this trip, meeting for the first time with, again, some of the best institutions like IIT Delhi, IIT Bombay. And so we're exploring expanding the partnerships that we currently have," she said.
On India's role in shaping global AI governance and research partnerships, DesRoches said artificial intelligence is among the university's priority areas for international collaboration.
"This is one of the core areas we've identified... where we believe there's a lot of synergy both between the countries and between our institution and institutions here," he said.
Rice University said it is actively engaging with leading Indian institutions including the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur and Indian Institute of Science (IISc) through joint research projects, faculty exchanges, student mobility programmes and co-supervised doctoral training models.
According to university officials, three joint research projects are already underway under the Rice-IIT Madras collaboration framework, while collaborative academic work with IISc and IIT Kanpur has generated joint publications.
Addressing concerns around ethical AI development in cross-country collaboration, David Sholl, executive vice president for research, said Rice University has identified ethical and responsible AI as one of its core research priorities.
He said they felt that the ethical responsibility, both at the societal level and at the mathematical computer level, is incredibly important.
Sholl added that the university is trying to educate students "in a global context" so they think not only about how AI affects them individually but also "their own countries and everyone around the world".
This report was published from a syndicated wire feed. Apart from the headline, the EdexLive Desk has not edited the copy.
