BeyondHeadlines News Desk
New Delhi: The inauguration of the first MHRD- Scheme for Promotion of Academic and Research Collaboration (SPARC) course, entitled “Thinking with the Sea: Histories of the Indian Ocean” was today held at the department of English, Jamia Millia Islamia. The short-term course on “Cosmopolitan Cultures and Oceanic Thought: Thinking through History across the Waters” is being offered by Dr Saarah Jappie from University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.
Vice-Chancellor, JMI Professor Najma Akhtar was the chief guest for the occasion, who encouraged the participants of the course through her words while also expressing her interest in aiding and promoting the project as best as she can.
The inauguration opened with a welcome address by Professor Nishat Zaidi, Head, Department of English followed by a brief account of the components and significance of the MHRD SPARC programme by Professor Zahid Ashraf, Department of Biotechnology. He brought to the audience’s notice that JMI has been given eleven of the MHRD SPARC projects, four of which have been secured by the Department of English alone.
Inauguration function came to an end with a vote of thanks by Professor Simi Malhotra, Department of English.
The inauguration was attended by Professor Wahajuddin Alvi, Dean, Faculty of Humanities, faculty members of the department of English as well as other departments and students from JMI and several other universities such as Delhi University, Jadavpur University and Ambedkar University. The inauguration was followed by the first lecture of the course at the department of English by Dr Saarah Jappie.
With a view to facilitate global research networks between higher educational institutions in India with those in other global universities, Government of India had started the Global Initiative for Academic Networks (GIAN) programme in November 2015. After reviewing the functioning of GIAN, with a view to further the opportunities to improve the research ecosystem and the academic standards the Government decided to fund joint research projects between the Indian higher educational institutions and the best of global universities. Accordingly, Government has sanctioned SPARC that promotes global research collaborations.
