EU and Bihar Govt. to organize workshop on 8Dec to discuss funding opp. for Indian institutions

PATNA, India - Dec. 6, 2016 - PRLog -- The Delegation of the European Union to India is partnering with the State Higher Education Council of Bihar Government to organize a workshop here on 08December 2016for Vice Chancellors and academic leaders to discuss funding opportunities for India-Europe mobility and cooperation through a range of EU-funded programmes, namely Erasmus+, Jean Monnet and Marie Sklodowska - Curie Actions (MSCA's).

Hon'ble Minister for Higher Education, Government of Bihar, Dr Ashok Choudhary, will deliver the inaugural addressand the keynote addresswill be given by Dr. Saibal Gupta, Member Secretary, Asian Development Research Institute, Patna. Dr Cesare Onestini, Minister Counsellor and Deputy Head of the Delegation, European Union Delegation to India, will give the welcome address.The workshop will be held at Hotel Maurya, Patna from 11.30 am – 2.30  pm on Thursday 08December 2016.

After the grand success of Erasmus+ funding and scholarships for the Call of 2016, the half-day workshop is being organized to prepare for the upcoming Call for proposals for 2017.The workshop is expected to see the presence of up to a hundred higher education stakeholders, from Vice Chancellors and Head of Institutions to a range of academic and administrative staff from higher education institutions. It will aim at informing in a practical way about the objectives, content and implementation modalities of Erasmus+, Jean Monnet and MSCAs programmeswith a view to increasing the participation and success rate of Indian students, researchers and higher education institutions, including their staff, for the next application round which is coming up approximately during October 2016 to March 2017.

"I am  looking forward to meet the Hon'ble Minister, the Vice Chancellors and academic leaders at this workshop in Patna," said Dr. Cesare Onestini.He said India was the greatest beneficiary of Erasmus Mundus,the predecessor programme to Erasmus+ as about 5,000 Indian students have benefited from Erasmus+ mobility scholarships to date. A series of information workshops to promote awareness of Erasmus+ programmeshas been going on in major Indian cities since last year. "At the start in 2015 before such workshops, 6 Indian institutions received the new Erasmus+ capacity building grants for two projects. In 2016, already 36 Indian institutions from 12 states have participated in 10 winning projects, partnering with 37 European universities from 18 European Union Member States," Dr. Cesare Onestiniadded.

The workshop will be moderated by Mr. Sanjeev Roy, Senior Expert, Higher Education, DAI Europe.