During his first visit to Kolkata, the Ambassador of the European Union to India, H.E. Mr. Tomasz Kozlowski, interacted with the students during the “EU days” organized by Jadavpur University and IIM-Calcutta. Later he interacted with the media and answered questions raised by the reporters.

Following the 14^th India-EU Summit held in New Delhi on 6 October 2017 where Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi, and Presidents of the European Council, Mr. Donald Tusk and the European Commission, Mr. Jean-Claude Juncker had endorsed a far-reaching joint statement, the relationship has been further enhanced in the fields of foreign and security policy, trade and investment, sustainable modernization and climate change action, research and innovation as well as people-to-people contacts. The EU’s new strategy on India, endorsed in December 2018, proposes to continue on this positive trajectory through joint actions to address global challenges, as well as concrete collaborations that benefit the EU and India alike.

The Ambassador called for greater people-to-people connect and exchange in higher education between European Union and India during his visit. He invited the students, researchers and faculty members to tap the various scholarships and funding opportunities available under EU-funded programmes for higher education and research such as Erasmus+, the Jean Monnet programme and Marie Sklodowska Curie Actions and collaborative projects under the Horizon 2020programme.

Education is a key element of EU-India Strategic Partnership, which was also reiterated as an important focus area for cooperation in the recently announced EU’s strategy on India.

Out of the 5800 scholarships over the years, 241 Erasmus+ alumni belong to West Bengal including 101 from Jadavpur University. University of Calcutta (28), IIT Kharagpur (15), University of Kalyani (15) and Maulana Abul Kalam Azad University of Technology (9) are some of the other top institutions where Erasmus scholars have been selected from.

The EU-funded Erasmus+ program not only gives scholarships to Indian students but also supports Indian universities under a variety of cooperation programs, where Indian partners are taking an increasingly active role. Eight institutions in Kolkata are part of the Capacity Building programs for Higher Education including Amity University (Kolkata), University of Engineering & Management (Kolkata), Birla Academy of Art & Culture, University of Calcutta, Heritage Institute of Technology, Adamas University, Ramakrishna Mission and Mahanirban Calcutta Research Group. In the last 4 years, since Erasmus Mundus upgraded into Erasmus+, almost 200 Indian universities have benefitted.