Networking in IndiaSouthwest University Federation (HfSW) opens a contact office in Pune, India
State Secretary Petra Olschowski (second from the right) and Professor Dr. Michael Pfeffer (right), HfSW’s India delegate, at the construction site of the future Contact Office for the HfSW in Pune, India.
State Secretary in the Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts Petra Olschowski visited India as part of an academic delegation trip to India to visit the future Southwest University Federation Office in Pune in the Indian state of Maharashtra. The HfSW, founded in 2012, will already get their contact office in the first half of 2018. The branch office will serve as a point of contact for Indian applicants and will intensify the network of German universities with the universities and companies in the area.
The three million-person city is one of the three most important centers of India’s automotive industry, numerous Germans and especially Baden-Württemberg companies have established sites there. Through their strong background in internships, the universities of applied sciences managed to found a close relationship with this industry. Aside from the university contacts, the planned branch office will ensure close collaboration with this important foreign city. “The future HfSW office is the first of its kind in India—with the goal of optimally preparing Indian students to study with us in Germany. Potential students are explained the modalities of applying and are given support filling out the applications. Because of this, the opening is an important step for academic exchange between Baden-Württemberg and its partner region, Maharashtra. This is how the strengths of our universities will be bundled to make the Baden-Württemberg universities a little more visible,” said State Secretary Olschowski.
The builders are currently still in the middle of building the office. The delegation from Germany’s southwest toured the construction site in Pune. The Office for the Representation of Baden-Württemberg will be located next to the HfSW in the new building, and a contact office for the city of Karlsruhe is also moving in. Sadeev Sanduh, a representative of Baden-Württemberg in India described the decision as a “perfect win-win situation. The opening of the HfSW contact office will further strengthen the relationship between Baden-Württemberg and Maharashtra.”
Prof. Dr. Michael Pfeffer, Vice-President of Ravensburg-Weingarten University, explained that the contact office’s job can be broken down into simple operations: “It will help us a lot when the paperwork coming from India is improved. Right now, it’s a huge managerial task to fish out the right documents and verify that they live up to our standards,” said the HfSW representative for India. Moving forward, it’s easy to imagine language or admissions tests for a degree program in Baden-Württemberg could be conducted in Pune. Programs in further education for Indian workers from companies could also be within the scope of this office.
Someone local should staff the new HfSW office in India. “It would, of course, be perfect if we found an Indian graduate from one of our universities,” said Michael Pfeffer.
Information on the HfSW: Baden-Württemberg Universities in Aalen, Esslingen, Heilbronn, Mannheim, Ravensburg-Weingarten, Reutlingen and the Hochschule der Medien in Stuttgart are networking according to their motto, “Bundle resources, strengthen profile.” This federation represents around 40,000 students and 1,000 professors. The participating universities are bundling their resources to increase the capacity for teaching applied sciences and research. In cooperative projects, the participants find common answers to the increasing complex problems in the field of universities. Next to the systemic collaboration, providing support is a requirement for the success of the HfSW. The content-based focus of the HfSW allows for an attractive spectrum. With this, the participating universities take top places for training engineers. On top of that, these universities will distinguish themselves through more comprehensive offers in business sciences, welfare, and media.