In an online meeting held between Mangosuthu University of Technology (MUT) and Bharathiar University on 14 March 2023, both universities openly declared the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which was signed electronically on 6 March 2023 by the executive management of both universities.
Bharathiar University in India has been ranked by Times Higher Education Young Universities World Ranking in the range of 201 to 250. Bharathiar University is in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India. Both Bharathiar University and MUT are named after change-makers; with Bharathiar University named after a Tamil poet Subramania Bharati, and MUT named after Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi, the Founder of the University. In addition, both universities are young, with Bharathiar established in 1982 and MUT in 1979.
Declaring the MoU, Professor Marcus Ramogale, MUT’s acting Vice-Chancellor and Principal, shared MUT’s vision and provided progress on the rationale for the University to encourage the entrepreneurship route for students.
“With the unemployment rate rising in this country, we want our students to become employers, not employees. It is heart-warming for me that we will partner with a university that has put entrepreneurship at the heart of its value proposition,” said Professor Ramogale.
Bharathiar University has made huge advances on entrepreneurship and has been impressed by MUT’s managers, who are driving the VC’s vision to have MUT known as a University of Entrepreneurs. That dream may not be too far, given the commitment to implement the MoU activities as soon as possible by the Director In-Charge – Bharathiar School of Management and Entrepreneur Development (BSMED), Dr Rupa Gunaseelan.
“Very soon, we will put a plan which entails virtual meeting classes, faculty and exchange programmes, as well as working with MUT to plan the Entrepreneurship Conference that you plan to host in October/November,” she said.
Dr Gunaseelan also said she was moved by the VC’s great interest to move MUT forward and this “will be a huge transformation for both universities”.