A delegation led by Vice Chancellor SKUAST -Jammu, Prof. B. N. Tripathi visited University of Western Australia and entered into MoU for forging academic and research collaboration. Discussions between the two institutions were held to work out modalities for mutually beneficial relationship. The research areas mutually agreed upon were plant biotechnology, economics & agribusinesses, precision agriculture, horticulture, rumen microbiology, stress management in animals, plant physiology, soil science & biochemistry. Both the universities agreed to workout the modalities for academic associations, faculty visits & students dual degree programme. The fields identified were plant breeding and genetics, Natural Resource Management (NRM) & plant production. The Australian delegation led by Prof. Amit Chakma, Vice-Chancellor included Prof. Kadambot Siddique, Director, Prof. Phil Vercoe & Mr. B. Moncrieff whereas Indian delegation headed by Prof. B. N. Tripathi, Vice-Chancellor included Prof. B. C. Sharma, Dean, FoA Prof. M.S. Bhadwal, Dean FVSc & Prof S. K. Gupta, Dean, FoH&F. The Indian delegation also visited state of art facilities at Shenton Park field station, center for microscopy, characterization and analysis, ARC center for Plant Energy Biology, besides high tech horticulture facilities like glass houses and growth chambers for agriculture & horticulture crops.
