Namaste!
Since the beginning of 2025, TU Austria has prioritised cooperation with India with the aim of international collaboration in education, research and business. In November, a delegation from Graz University of Technology (TU Graz) travelled to South Asia to visit selected institutions.
On 1 November, we set off early in the morning for Mumbai, and a good week later we landed back in Graz with five new partnerships with Indian institutions under our belt and an incredible number of impressions that this trip had left on all of us – Horst Bischof, Stefan Vorbach, Wolfgang Bösch, Stefan Mangard, Sujoy Sinha Roy, Jan Hansen, Sabine Prem and myself.
In these seven days, we visited IIT Bombay in Mumbai, IISc Bangalore, IIT Madras in Chennai, IIT Kharagpur (two hours by car from Kolkata) and IIT Bhilai. I had organised several delegation visits before, but with eight delegation participants visiting five partner universities in five different states – that topped all my previous delegations.
And yes, India really is different. But... it all worked out, the country is incredibly exciting, the universities offer very interesting opportunities, and I can't wait to see what will develop in the coming years thanks to the new bilateral cooperation agreements!
In addition to the many cooperation talks, there were cybersecurity and electrical engineering talks, lab visits, meetings with ‘senior functionaries’ and of course the official appointments for signing the respective agreements, etc. We also visited research parks and technology innovation hub teams. The focus was on: how can we work together in the future, and how can existing collaborations be expanded? The different specialist interests meant that up to three meetings were held in parallel at the institutions. And there were always surprises! Monkeys on the roof of the IISc main building! Deer and antelopes at the IIT Madras Campus! What food is this? Oh, delicious. But be careful not to put ice cubes in the drink! And look, a cow on the road! But if you're a passenger in traffic, it's better to close your eyes – thrills are guaranteed!
I had never been to India before, so many things were just a question mark beforehand. Many had said that the dense programme you had planned would not work out: India is different. And yes, India really is different. But... it all worked out, the country is incredibly exciting, the universities offer very interesting opportunities, and I can't wait to see what will develop in the coming years thanks to the new bilateral cooperation agreements!
Best wishes,
Claudia Jansen
International Office – Welcome Center
PS: Perhaps you are the next person interested in working together with our partner institutions in India? Just let me know!
You can find this article and other articles to browse through in TU Graz people #95, the magazine for TU Graz employees and interested parties.
