Building academic collaborations across diverse countries calls for both connections and community building over time. A point in case is the long-standing partnership between ZHAW’s School of Applied Sciences in Zurich and Christ University in Bangalore, which culminated earlier this month in the signing of a MoU. The MoU envisions a more formalized framework to engage into further faculty and student exchanges, as well as joint research projects, such as currently conducted joint project on Jugaad leadership.

In fact, the MoU builds on various collaborations and exchanges since 2012, when swissnex India initiated a one-week exposure tour for the faculty members from six different schools of the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW). The leading Swiss university for applied sciences, which also hosts since 2017 the Leading House for South Asia, was then connected with Christ University, its Indian equivalent and a leading private academic institution in Bangalore, India.

This progressed to Winter Schools organized by ZHAW for its students at Christ University in 2015 with students of Christ University, in turn, visiting ZHAW for a semester exchange program. With the continued collaboration, Professor Christoph Steinebach, Dean, School of Applied Psychology has been a part of the engaging talks and workshops during the Golden Jubilee celebration this year. With this formalized agreement, those collaborations shall further be enhanced.