Manipal Academy of Higher Institution of Eminence (MAHE) in collaboration with Griffith University, Australia has launched a ‘Dual Award Doctoral Programme’ and formalised a joint commitment to establish the Griffith-MAHE Centre of Research Excellence at the MAHE Bengaluru campus.

This initiative aims at addressing the growing need for globally connected and interdisciplinary doctoral training.

The dual doctoral programme provides Ph.D scholars with access to academic supervisors from both MAHE and Griffith University. They will be enrolled in both the institutions simultaneously and will be awarded with doctoral degrees from both institutions upon completion. Scholars pursuing research will also earn a stipend ranging from ₹30,000 to ₹40,000 per month.

Commenting on the partnership, Abhinav Bhatia, Senior Trade and Investment Commissioner, South Asia, Trade and Investment Queensland, said, “Queensland and India share a strong and growing relationship across education, research and innovation. Partnerships such as this demonstrate long-term institutional collaboration.”

Both institutions will also establish a collaborative seed funding scheme, which is supported by an initial investment by Griffin University of AUD 1,00,000, which will be matched by MAHE, to support joint research projects over the next three years.

On commenting on safety of Indian students studying in Australia Professor Carolyn Evans, Vice-Chancellor and President at Griffith University, said, “We at Griffith take issues such as safety extremely seriously. We provide foreign students all possible support required to stay and study comfortably at Griffith.”

To enroll into the programme, students need to pass the entrance test conducted by MAHE. On the basis of the scores, interested students will get admission into the programme. MAHE also provides scholarships to the academicians pursuing research under the programme, “We, at MAHE, make sure that researchers get access to top quality facilities, irrespective of their economic background,” said Dr. Sharath K. Rao, Vice-Chancellor, MAHE.

The programme launched with a focus on health and transdisciplinary research with further plans to expand into other fields, including engineering, information technology, digital health, sports science, and other emerging fields.