The Hindu : Front Page : Now a brand new bond between Delhi and Lahore

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jun 07, 2006

Front Page

Front Page

Now a brand new bond between Delhi and Lahore

Mandira Nayar

NEW VISTAS: Ramjas College on the Delhi University campus.

NEW DELHI: It might be one of the most debatable subjects between India and Pakistan, but Delhi University's Ramjas College has decided to go beyond just talking about history. Opening up a whole new chapter in cross-border dialogue, it has now become the first college in the University to have signed a full-fledged memorandum of understanding with one of Pakistan's premier educational institutions, the Lahore University of Management Sciences, better known by its acronym LUMS.

A step further than the usual short-term exchanges that have taken place so far between colleges across the border, this new MoU envisages a far-reaching exchange programme for students and faculty for a sustained period. Looking at history in a completely different way, the two countries might view the circumstances of 1947 in opposite ways, but for once there will be a chance to air these views academically.

"These negotiations have been taking place for the past two years. With this first-of-its-kind agreement now we will mutually decide the number of students and staff that we want to exchange. We have agreed to do this exchange for history, political science, commerce and economics. It will also be applicable to research,'' says the Ramjas College Principal, Rajendra Prasad.

LUMS, set up by leading private and public sector corporations in Pakistan, has a School of Business, a School of Arts and Sciences, and a School of Engineering and Science that is expected to start functioning later this year. LUMS was granted a charter by the Government of Pakistan in March 1985. With a great faculty, LUMS prides itself on being one of the few world-class educational institutions in Pakistan. The MoU with LUMS is not the only one signed by Ramjas College. It also has an exchange programme with the University of Copenhagen. However, in that case the exchange is only one-way. But this new MoU with LUMS, striving to blur boundaries through education, is really about bringing a new generation closer.

From getting students to come to India or travel to Pakistan for a semester to learn so that they can understand the other country better, the MoU also seeks to strengthen mutual bonds in another way. With both colleges working out a special paper for the students to study while they are on exchange, a paper of Pakistani Culture and Art is being planned for Indian students.

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