Prof. Suman Kundu, Director BITS Pilani Goa Campus and Dr. M D Goudar, Director, MITAOE, Pune signed the MoU on behalf of their respective institutions for academic collaboration between the two institutions on 1^st Sept 2023.  MITAOE, founded by Prof. Dr. Vishwanath D. Karad and affiliated with the Savitribai Phule Pune University, was represented by Dr. Sandeep P. Shewale (Dean, Chemical Engineering); Dr. Abhijit M. Malge (Dean, Mechanical Engineering); and Dr. Prafulla Hatte (Dean, Research & Development).

On behalf of BITS Pilani, Goa Campus Prof. Bharat Deshpande (Associate Dean, Academic – Graduate Studies & Research); Mr. Sailesh Narayan Mohanty (Joint Registrar); Prof. Srinivas Krishnaswamy (Head, Dept. of Chemical Engineering); Prof. Shibu Clement (Associate Dean, Sponsored Research and Collaboration Division) and Mr. Arjun C Halarnkar (PRO) attended the MoU signing function.

This collaboration is expected to lead to collaborative research projects and publications, joint workshops, seminars and conferences, etc.  This MoU will also allow students of MITAOE to pursue their PhD programmes and project works at BITS Pilani.  It will also support exchange of academic and scholarly information between the faculty and students of both institutions.

Faculty of both, BITS Pilani and MITAOE will collaborate in supervision of exchange students and in joint research in disciplines of mutual interest.  Another highlight of the MoU is direct admission of MITAOE students to the BITS Pilani PhD programme.  In this scheme the students currently pursuing B.Tech at MITAOE will be provided an opportunity to explore the option to undertake a research project at BITS Pilani and be considered for admission to PhD programme at BITS Pilani.  While undertaking the research project, the student may take courses to satisfy the credit requirements for their B.Tech registration in MITAOE.

BITS Pilani is in the process of entering into such collaborations with reputed institutions in Goa as well as in other parts of India.