With an aim to promote interaction and collaboration between two premier institutions of the country -- All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur (IIT-KGP) -- signed a memorandum of understanding on July 17.

"The primary focus is to enhance research outreach programme and medical services amongst faculty members, scientists and students to carry out joint academic and research programmes, joint supervision of masters and doctoral students as well as collaborative research projects," said a statement from AIIMS.

According to it, an understanding was reached between the two institutions for joint academic programmes such as Ph.D, MD-Ph.D, MSc-Ph.D and other courses, coordinated internship programmes for students from AIIMS and IIT-KGP, joint research projects and seeking research funding from external funding agencies. Some other joint academic programmes to be initiated under the arrangement are conducting short modular courses designed for undergraduate and postgraduate students, exchange of faculty members, use of laboratory facilities and sharing of data, among others.