TS govt inks MoU with King's College London

Hyderabad: The Telangana government has inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with King's College London in the presence of Minister for Industries and Commerce KT Rama Rao in connection to the Pharma University at Hyderabad Pharma City.

The MoU was signed on Tuesday as part of the Telangana delegation's visit to UK-led by the Minister, Principal Secretary Jayesh Ranjan, and Professor Richard Trembath, Senior Vice-President (Health & Life Sciences) and Executive Director of King's Health Partners. The MoU was signed during the visit of the KTR and other delegates from Telangana State to King's College London on 19 May. The visit also provided an opportunity to discuss shared ambitions and future collaborations between the State and King's College London, with a particular focus on Telangana's Pharma City, a cluster for industry and academic innovation currently in development.

This MoU sets out a joint intention between King and the Telangana government to explore the development of higher education provisions within the Telangana Pharma City. This will involve collaborative research projects, staff, and student exchanges, as well as curriculum development and upskilling.

Hyderabad, is an international life sciences and tech hub, producing a third of the world's vaccines and hosting the secondary offices of some of the world's biggest tech companies, including Microsoft, Google, Amazon, amongst others. The current Telangana life sciences ecosystem has a value of $50billion.

The partnership fostered between King's and Telangana will help to support the vision for Pharma City, of which the creation of a life sciences higher education provision forms a key element of this vision - drawing together innovation, research and development and excellence.

KTR's visit to London follows an engaging trip to India by King's delegates, including President and Principal of King's College London last month, spearheaded by the British Council as part of its focus to strengthen HE sectors through internationalisation in both India and the UK.

Professor Shitij Kapur, President & Principal of King's College London said:

"King's is a global university and we are proud of our academic partnerships and high-impact research collaborations with India. These include an anthropological research study with India's flagship cancer hospital, Tata Memorial Centre in Mumbai and the King's India Institute, an inter-disciplinary centre for research, education and public engagement on contemporary India launched in 2012. This collaboration represents an exciting opportunity to develop higher education provision in Telangana with a focus on areas with current global significance and in which King's has world leading expertise, including technology and health care."

At the signing ceremony, KT Rama Rao said, "Spread across 19,000 acres, Hyderabad Pharma City will be the world's largest pharma cluster and the establishment of a Life Sciences & Pharma University is an integral part of the Pharma City vision. With Telangana's life sciences ecosystem estimated at $50 bn, combined with King's College London's world leading expertise in research and training, I'm hopeful that this collaboration will deliver mutually beneficial partnerships for both Telangana and the UK."

Sir Steve Smith, the UK government's International Education Champion, said, "I am delighted that King's College London and the Government of Telangana are embarking on the first steps of this hugely important partnership. UK Government is committed to supporting deep and meaningful teaching and research partnerships that not only bring benefit to the UK and India but to a global community as well. This is an opportunity for world leading collaboration in teaching and research into the most pressing health challenges of the day. The Government of Telangana and British Council are longstanding partners in driving internationalisation of higher education in the state. On behalf of my colleagues in UK Government and British Council, I am delighted to support the signing of this MoU."