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Opening doors across the globe

August 24, 2009

India trip helps affirm strong partnership potential for OSU

By Jeff McCallister

A substantial part of President Gordon Gee’s plan to move Ohio State from excellence to eminence is an increased focus on the university’s global activities.

That focus has been affirmed by the Board of Trustees, and the President’s and Provost’s Council on Strategic Internationalization has developed a set of specific strategies to enhance Ohio State’s already-substantial presence around the world.

And Gee has wasted little time getting to work to implement the council’s strategies, which it presented to him in June.

He recently returned from a 12-day trip to India, one of the countries in which the council advised an increased focus.

“We are taking an overall look at broadening our engagement in certain specific areas of the world,” Gee said. “Clearly, opportunities abound in several regions and countries, and the purpose of this trip was to see if the focus on India made sense.”

He said he was not disappointed.

“Indeed, from my point of view, a focus that includes India makes tremendous sense,” he said. “It is a vast country with incredible intellectual resources and is becoming increasingly welcoming to Americans in higher education and business and industry.”

Ohio State already has significant numbers of students coming from India - more than 700 last year - as well as a fairly large number of Indian-born faculty. Further, the university has several existing relationships that provide the basis for expanded collaborations.

Ohio State faculty, for example, began working with two agricultural universities in northwest India more than 50 years ago, assisting in the development of greatly increased crop yields. Other recent partnerships include a newly established graduate school of business that several faculty members from the Fisher College of Business have helped to found.

“We already have a longstanding set of relationships in India, so we decided to try to make a determination whether this is an area where we would want to commit considerable time and energy, and the determination is absolutely to move forward aggressively in building upon these relationships.”

Some highlights of the visit:

* Introducing Professor Rattan Lal as Lal was awarded the prestigious M.S. Swaminathan Award for his contributions to agriculture. “It was very moving to see that Prof. Lal has near hero status in India,” Gee said. “He is one of the foremost soil scientists in the world and his work in many ways has had as much impact as any of our faculty in its ability to improve people’s lives.”

* Meeting with Indian President Pratibha Patil and ministers Kapil Sibal (education) and Prithviraj Chavan (science and technology) as well as US Ambassador Timothy Roemer. Gee also signed a memorandum of agreement that encourages cooperation between Ohio State and the Indian government.

* Presenting The Ohio State University Ambassador Medal to Indian businessman Ratan Tata, head of Tata Sons, one of the most expansive and successful companies in the world. Tata also is a former member of the Ohio State University Foundation Board of Directors.

“He holds a great affection for The Ohio State University and has demonstrated his willingness to be a great ambassador for the university in that part of the world,” Gee said. “I was very impressed with him - very thoughtful, very unassuming, and someone who has used his own success as a powerful tool for good.”

* Holding a series of “family dinners” with groups of current students and their parents, alumni and friends in Mumbai, Hyderabad and New Delhi. “We have a very strong group of alumni, wherever they find themselves around the world,” Gee said. “They came and visited with each other as well as with us. They asked a lot of questions. All three evenings were very much appreciated by them and by us.”

* Delivering a lecture to India’s National Academy of Agricultural Sciences in which he highlighted the unique role of agriculture research and higher education and explained Ohio State’s mission as a land-grant university. He also called for accelerated partnerships to solve shared global problems.

* Hosting a lunch with counselors, faculty, and leaders in private secondary schools, as requested by the Ohio Department of Development.

Gee termed the trip an overwhelming success, in part because of the stature of the university and the reputation of individual faculty members such as Rattan Lal.

“There are not many who could go to India and meet with the president and some of the senior ministers of the government and heads of business,” Gee said. “It shows we obviously have a remarkable institution that opens up a lot of doors.”

Joining him for part of the trip were William Brustein, Ohio State’s new vice provost for global strategies and international affairs, as well as vice presidents Peter Weiler (development) and Bobby Moser (agricultural administration).

And Gee said the trip was good not only for the university, but for the entire state.

“This trip was about Ohio State as an instrument for opportunity for the entire state of Ohio. In fact, Ohio is one of the world’s largest economies, so we have great interest as a state in developing business, technology and agricultural interests in India. Battelle just recently opened a center in Pune, and other Ohio companies are seeking strategic ties as well.”

The next step, according to Gee, will be for Brustein to take the ball and run with it.

“He will now take the responsibility for developing a specific strategy along with faculty members who have interests in India and then we will pursue that strategy,” Gee said. “I believe without a doubt we are committed to a long-term relationship with India that goes much deeper than just a once-in-a-lifetime trip.”

Gordon Gee

April 9, 2009

President Gordon Gee

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