IIT Guwahati, AOTS Japan, SMC and Maruti Suzuki ink MoU to promote technical education and training

The Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati (IITG), The Association for Overseas Technical Cooperation and Sustainable Partnerships, Japan (AOTS), Suzuki Motor Corporation, Japan (SMC) and Maruti Suzuki India Ltd (MSIL) today announced a collaboration effort for promotion of technical education and training.

The MoU was exchanged by representatives of the four parties at IITG in the presence of Mr Satoshi Suzuki, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to India. The MoU exchange ceremony was attended by Ashok Kumar Chawla, Advisor-Japan, Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India.

This first-of-its-kind institutional collaboration facilitates promotion of education and training covering engineering course and internship programmes in both India and Japan. It will also promote research for next-generation technologies for benefit of both the countries.

The following initiatives are authorised by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), Government of Japan, as a Japanese Endowed Course.

There are two courses:
Suzuki Endowed Course: An engineering course, primarily related to automobiles, will be conducted by SMC and MSIL by providing training to students through lectures. As part of the curriculum, a Japanese language course will be conducted by AOTS.  This course will be provided to students of IITG.  AOTS, SMC and MSIL will arrange for faculty to conduct these at IITG.

Suzuki Internship Program: Eligible students will be provided an opportunity of being placed for an internship at SMC’s facility in Japan as well as at MSIL in India. This program will help students gain both local and global exposure.

Commenting on the initiative, Mr Satoshi Suzuki, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to India said, “I am delighted to see the setting up of a new JEC in IIT Guwahati, in collaboration with three Japanese partners – Maruti Suzuki, Suzuki Motor Corporation and AOTS. I believe these three are the best partners the Japanese side can offer. I hope the synergy among these partners will help create future engineers to lead India’s manufacturing sector and to build new bridges of friendship between India and Japan.

Kenichi Ayukawa, Managing Director & CEO, Maruti Suzuki India said, “This institutional collaboration will help us prepare students for wider technical roles. Internship exposures at global and local levels will make students ready for global and local roles. It is a fine example of academia, industry and students coming together to create new benchmarks in technical education. I see this collaboration taking technical education to the next level.”

Also read: Maruti Suzuki launches diploma in tool and die design engineering