UK-India collaboration in higher education is in the spotlight this week, as Sam Gyimah the UK's minster for Minister for Universities, Science, Research and Innovation visits India to meet with ministers, innovators and entrepreneurs. The minister's visit highlights the huge opportunities for partnerships between the two nations, and the advantages that the shared language, structures, and academic traditions of the Commonwealth can offer.

With more than 240 member institutions across India and the UK alone, the ACU will be watching closely for outcomes and opportunities arising from the visit. For now, however, it is a welcome opportunity to celebrate some of the ways the ACU promotes cooperation and collaboration with India's vibrant and expanding university sector.

Martha Farrell Memorial Fellowship – through our collaboration with the Martha Farrell Foundation in New Delhi, India, we support the prevention of sexual harassment and discrimination on university campuses across Asia and beyond.

ACU grants and bursaries – supporting academic exchange and mobility opportunities across the Commonwealth, including Madhurima Sinha, a student from Imperial College London, who received a bursary to undertake their medical elective in India and Khristianne Greenhalgh, a medical student from Newcastle University UK, who used her bursary to carry out her elective at the Amrita Institute for Medical Sciences in Kochi, India. 

Partnership with the Association of Indian Universities – following a high-level meeting in India last year, our CEO and Secretary General signed a partnership agreement with the AIU, signalling the ACU's commitment to closer collaboration with our Indian members .

In keeping with this, we take a look at the evolution of teaching and research in Indian higher education. In the first article, Dr Abhay Bansal and Dr Sanjeev Bansal from Amity University – one of our Indian member institutions – share insights into their institutional approach to building industry-academia partnerships, and how this helps develop future-ready graduates.

While Wafa Singh, India Research Coordinator for the UNESCO Chair in Community Based Research & Social Responsibility in Higher Education and Assistant Program Manager at Participatory Research in India (PRIA), reflects on the state of teaching in India's higher education system, and how through PRIA's focus on community-based research teaching can be revolutionised.

Read these blogs here:

• Bridging industry-academia gaps in India
• Towards 'engaged' teaching in higher education in India