UAlberta International meets with His Excellency Vikas Swarup, High Commissioner of India to Canada

On Friday, June 14 a delegation from UAlberta led by Dr Cen Huang, Interim Vice-President and Vice-Provost (International) hosted a lunch meeting in Calgary with His Excellency Vikas Swarup, High Commissioner of India to Canada on the sidelines of the Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute's Conference and Reception.

Peter Carter, UAlberta International - 19 June 2019

Dr Huang was joined by Dr Shanthi Johnson, Professor & Dean, School of Public Health; Dr Amit Kumar, Professor, Faculty of Engineering and NSERC/Cenovus/Alberta innovates Associate Industrial Research Chair in Energy and Environmental System Engineering; and Mr Peter Carter, International Relations Coordinator (Asia), University of Alberta International.

A career diplomat for over 30 years, High Commissioner Swarup has served in diplomatic assignments in Ankara, Washington DC, Addis Ababa, London, Pretoria and Osaka-Kobe. He is also the author of the novel, Q&A, which was adapted as the multiple Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire.

The delegation updated the High Commissioner on a variety of initiatives being led by the University of Alberta to enhance its relations with India, such as the recent launch of Engage India: Association of Professors and new collaborations being formed with some of India's top institutions.

High Commissioner Swarup was pleased to hear about current advancements in UAlberta-India relations and provided additional insight into emerging opportunities for consideration.

India is a priority country for UAlberta and continuous efforts are being made to strengthen existing relations and to explore new partnerships with academic, industry and government organizations.

As of June 2019, UAlberta has 27 active agreements with partners in India and is home to over 800 students from India - the second largest group of international students on campus.