SWEDISH SOUTH ASIAN STUDIES NETWORK

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Pune University Vice Chancellor on Swedish tour, June 2011

The Vice Chancellor at Pune University, Professor Raginath Kashinath Shevgaonkar, visits Sweden during the period 19-27 June along with Dr. Prasad Kulkarni, Executive Officer, Pune University.

Prof. Shevgaonkar recently took over as the Vice Chancellor of University of Pune. Before that he was attached to the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay for many years. He was the Head of the Electrical Engineering Department, and also the Centre for Distance Engineering Education Programme (C-DEEP). During the period 2008–2010 he was Deputy Director (Finance and External Affairs), IIT Bombay.

Stockholm/KTH

In Stockholm the Pune University delegation are hosted by the KTH Royal Institute of Technology, with which Pune University has a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). Pune is also a partner university in the Indo-European Erasmus Mundus Action 2 consortium EURINDIA, coordinated by KTH (more information).
During his stay, Prof. Shevgaonkar meets the KTH President, Professor Peter Gudmundson; but also Professor Rajeev Thottappillil, Research Leader at the Division of Electromagnetic Engineering, School of Electrical Engineering, and Professor Prosun Bhattacharya at the Department of Land and Water Resources Engineering, School of Architecture and the Built Environment.
The main purpose behind the visit to Stockholm is to participate in an international conference, the 16th Semiconducting and Insulating Materials Conference (SIMC-XVI), organised by the School of Information and Communication Technology at KTH in Kista on 19–23 June. More information.
Before leaving Sweden, he will also give a IEEE Sweden seminar on ”Controlling Microwaves with Light” at KTH Electrum on Monday, June 27th, 2011, at 10.30. Venue: lecture hall C1, Isafjordsgatan 26, ground floor, Kista. More information.

Lund University

Professor Shevgaonkar and Dr. Kulkarni has also visited Lund University during ther stay in Sweden. They came to Lund in order to strenghten already existing collaboration between Pune and Lund. University of Pune is a partner university in another Indo-European Erasmus Mundus Action 2 consortium (Lot 15/13), coordinated by Lund University (more information).
The highlight of Shevgaonkar’s visit was a meeting over dinner with Lund University Pro Vice Chancellor, Professor Eva Åkesson where they signed an MoU on collaboration between the two universities. Photo by Henrik Hofvendahl.
A large number of students, researchers and staff has come from Pune to Lund since the project was launched in 2008, and a few scholarship holders from Lund to Pune as well. During his stay in Lund, Prof. Shevgaonkar and Dr. Kulkarni met a few of the scholarship holders currently at Lund University, Dr. Tejas Kulkarni, post-doc at the Dept. of Biochemistry and Structural Biology; PhD candidate Pramod Ningappa Kamble, Dept. of Soil Microbiology; PhD candidate Sandeep Chakane, Dept. of Pure and Applied Biochemistry; and PhD candidate Sumitha Reddy, Biochemistry.
They also met the project manager Dr. Sidsel Hansson and other people in charge of the project, including department representatives such as Prof. Leif Bülow, Pure and Applied Biochemistry; Prof. Erland Båth, Department of Biology; Prof. Eva Nordberg Karlsson, Biotechnology; and Prof. Derek Logan, Biochemistry and Structural Biology.

Coming from an engineering background, Shevgaonkar visited a number of departments of his interest at the Faculty of Engineering (LTH), including the Dept. of Biotechnology where he was hosted by Professor Rajni Hatti Kaul. He also met with people working with LTH Academic Development – Mattias Alveteg and Anders Ahlberg, discussing collaboration in quality assurance, and other educational collaborations with LTH. The discussions concluded in a proposal for a LTH led Quality Assurance seminar at Pune University on 22 November 2011.

A visit was made to Practicum – Lund Clinical Skills Centre, developed by Lund University at Skåne University Hospital in Malmö. Practicum is intended to be a regional platform for skills training across the whole range of medical education, from undergraduate and graduate education to postgraduate levels. The needs of all groups of health care students and professionals are in focus. It is headed by Professor Ingemar Ihse. More information about Practicum.
During the meeting, Prof. Shevgaonkar kindly offered to facilitate the necessary contacts for Practicum to establish a maternal health programme in Pune.

The visit to Lund University also included a meeting with the representatives of the Swedish South Asian Studies Network (SASNET). The Vice Chancellor Prof. Shevgaonkar discussed with SASNET’s Anna Lindberg and Lars Eklund existing Indo-Swedish collaboration in research and education, and how to strenghten ties between Swedish universities and Pune even more.
Photo from their meeting.