The Dental School hosted a delegation of staff, students and alumni from the Sri Guru Ram Das Institute of Dental Sciences & Research which is based in Amritsar, India. This visit was facilitated by the University of Birmingham India Institute working closely with Dr Aman Puri, the Consul General of India in Birmingham. Dr Puri has a keen interest in facilitating links between the two schools as he is a dentist and also an alumni of the SGRD institute. Over the last few years, Dr Upen Patel has established exchange links with India which has included student visits. It was Dr Patel who organised the visit of the delegation from SGRD.
An initial meeting between the Consul General of India and Professor Iain Chapple, Head of Dentistry discussed potential areas which could be explored. These included research collaborations with potential funding from the India Institute, exchange of staff and students, and a pathway for graduates of SGRD to undertake post-graduate education at UoB through the distance learning programmes that we offer.
Prof Chapple welcomed our visitors and gave a presentation on the background and current activities of the school. This was followed by a welcome by Professor Robin Mason, Pro Vice Chancellor for Internationalisation and a Memorandum of Understanding was then jointly signed between the Prof Mason and Dr Kavipal Singh the Principal of the SGRD institute.
After the signing ceremony the SGRD delegation were given a tour of the clinical and research areas of the School and Dental hospital by Dr Upen Patel. They also met with our Dentistry students to understand Academic life and how exchanges could take place between the institutions
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