University of Liberia and O. P. Jindal Global University Sign MoU

Ahead of the State Visit of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf to India, the President of the state-run University of Liberia (UL), Dr. Emmett Dennis, and the Vice Chancellor of the O.P. Jindal Global University (JGU), Professor Dr. C. Raj Kumar, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for partnership, cooperation and collaboration.

According to an Executive Mansion release quoting a Dispatch from Delhi, India, on Saturday, September 7, components of the MoU include student exchange, faculty collaboration and exchange visits, research collaboration, joint publication framework, summer internships as the core deliverables of the agreement.

The MoU indicates that five students from the JGU will be sent for Masters level programs at the UL per year, while the UL will also send five students per year for Masters level programs at the JGU. The two universities may also choose to send students to attend courses taught for Bachelors level degrees at JGU and vice versa.

The MoU further states that the UL and JGU will jointly plan conferences on academic issues of mutual interest identified by faculty members and deans of both institutions and the two universities will reciprocally invite faculty members to come to Liberia and India respectively to teach courses at the two universities.

The two universities will also promote opportunities for collaborative research projects and joint publications, including mutual research visits as necessary to Liberia and India; university-to-university research collaboration to involve specific topics chosen through mutual consultation by various schools/departments of the two partner universities; and that a regular standing "India-Liberia Research Platform" can emerge out of this broad-based joint research initiative that encompasses partner schools/departments across the various disciplines. The overall objective of the standing platform will be the promotion of ideas shared by civil societies and intelligentsia of both Liberia and India and strengthening people-to-people links between the two countries.

The Dispatch also indicates that both universities undertake to co-publish policy-relevant monographs or edited volumes that fit the intersecting research interests of faculty members of the two sides while the various academic journals published by both universities would regularly feature articles authored by faculty members of both universities.

The UL and the JGU will develop a summer internship program in India for UL graduates and the UL will do likewise for JGU's postgraduate students in Liberia.

Earlier, Dr. Dennis was received was received by the university's registrar, Professor Y. S. R. Murthy and led to the Vice Chancellor, Professor Dr. C. Raj Kumar for a meeting and a guided tour of the university's campus and facilities.

Dr. Dennis briefed Vice Chancellor Kumar about efforts currently being pursued by the UL aimed at seeking collaboration with higher institutions of learning around the world, expand the capacities of the faculty and staff, seek opportunities for graduate studies and for assistance from the JGU in realizing the goal of transforming the Foreign Service Institute at the Foreign Ministry into a graduate degree granting program in international law and diplomacy under the IBB Graduate School of International Studies at the UL. He appealed for professors, curriculum development, partnership and collaboration in this regard. He then extended a special invitation to the JGU's Vice Chancellor to visit Liberia later this year.

For his part, the Vice Chancellor of the JGU, Professor Dr. C. Raj Kumar thanked Dr. Dennis for the visit and highlighted India's desire to always be of help to the African continent, particularly post-conflict nations. He also informed the UL President that JGU has been authorized to begin a one-year LLM Program in Law that could accept law graduates from the UL for graduate degree. Dr. Kumar accepted the invitation of Dr. Dennis to visit Liberia later this year.

Dr. Dennis, who was accompanied by presidential press secretary, Jerolinmek Matthew Piah to the JGU, will on Monday visit the Delhi University.

O. P. Jindal Global University (JGU) is a non-profit Global University established by the Haryana private universities. The university which is a private university promoting public service is established in memory of Mr. O. P. Jindal as a philanthropic initiative of Mr. Naveen Jindal, the founding Chancellor. The university is situated on a 80-acre state-of-the-art residential campus in the National Capital Region of Delhi and is one of few universities in Asia that maintains a 1:15 faculty-student ratio and appoints faculty members from different parts of the world with outstanding academic qualifications and experience.

It has five schools: Jindal Global Law School, Jindal Global Business School, Jindal School of International Affairs, Jindal School of Government and Public Policy and Jindal School of Liberal Arts and Humanities. There are currently seven Liberians enrolled at the university with full scholarship from the university. Transportation to begin the studies was provided by the Government of Liberia.