Portugal, India sign agreement on Nalanda University

New Delhi, Oct 12: Lending it a further international character, Portugal has become the 17th country to sign an agreement with India on the establishment of Nalanda University. The revived university came into being with the notification of the Nalanda University Act on November 25, 2010.

To further reinforce the university's international character, this inter-governmental Memorandum of Understanding came into force at the 8th East Asia Summit in October 2013. The MoU from the Portuguese side was signed by Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ambassador Ana Martinho and Ambassador of India to Portugal Jitendra Nath Misra.

The other countries who have signed MoUs in this regard are Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Myanmar, New Zealand, Singapore, China, South Korea, Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Sri Lanka.

The university embodies the memory of the ancient Nalanda University and is premised on the shared desire of the Member States of the East Asia Summit to rediscover and reinvigorate educational cooperation, by tapping the East Asia Region's centres of excellence in education, to enhance regional understanding and the mutual appreciation of heritage and history.

Teaching at the Schools of Historical Studies and Ecology and Environment Studies began in September 2014.

PTI