NEW DELHI: In a bid to foster deeper ties with Indian academic institutions and think tanks The University of Michigan inked partnerships with The National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) and AIIMS in New Delhi last week.

The five-year MoU between NCAER and the University of Michigan’s Survey Research Center (SRC) is aimed at promoting collaborative survey research. SRC is a part of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research (ISR) and the MoU was signed between Shekhar Shah director general NCAER Mary Sue Coleman president University of Michigan and William Axinn director Survey Research Center.

Both institutions have said they will jointly seek to develop sample survey infrastructure to support economic and other social science research in India. Other initiatives may include establishing a survey research laboratory at NCAER to test and advance new approaches for social science research and for training professionals in state-of-the-art survey-based research methods.

“We are interested in the application of information technologies to social research in India. Collaborative research will be our top priority but the problems faced in data collection in India in terms of the sheer size of the population and the several linguistic barriers could be a perfect training ground for our students here” said Axinn.

“NCAER has a tradition of survey based research but we realised that some of the work that we were doing was not cost effective and cutting edge. Through this tie-up we get a chance to collaborate with a world leader in survey methodology and technology” Shekhar Shah director general NCAER added.

The University also expanded its partnership with AIIMS last week to facilitate health research and education. The new agreement includes the research of cancer immunology genetics trauma and disaster medicine. It was signed by professor Mahesh Misra director AIIMS and Mary Sue Coleman president University of Michigan.

“AIIMS will benefit immensely from our collaboration in gastroenterology liver pediatric surgery acute care surgery organ transplantation” professor Mahesh C Misra director of AIIMs stated.

Added Joesph Kolars senior associate dean for education and global initiatives at the University Of Michigan Medical School: “We are aiming to develop a robust platform for collaboration that will facilitate research on diseases common to both our countries and the education that will strengthen our abilities to improve health.”