NEW DELHI, 8 December 2022: Water is essential for life and with depleting natural supply, it has become vital to manage water-resources. With the aim to share and experience different water management skills, Australia’s Federation University and India’s Chitkara universities recently had a unique interaction between Australia and Indian students from these universities.
The Australian students led by Dr. Harpreet Singh Kandra, spearheading the project, travelled with the Australian students to India, a mission that gave a mode of understanding what issues India faces and how the Australian experience can make it better, Talking to South Asia Times (SAT) on the phone from Gurugram, India, Dr. Harpreet said the interaction is meant to understand water is not just a crisis, but its management is essential for the two countries and the world.
The Honrable Pro-Chancellor, Chitkara University, Dr Madhu Chitkara said “The systems thinking skills acquired in this course through a mix of teaching methods in a multi-cultural environment will help prepare our graduates for a dynamically changing world. The collaborative nature of this course also aims to strengthen bonds between India and Australia, while building problem solving skills through sharing of better practices.”
Students from the two universities deliberated structural and non-structural ways to measure and reduce their water footprint building on the core philosophy of ‘What gets measured, gets managed’. They also presented and brainstormed on successful case studies from different parts of the world focusing on innovative approaches such as recharge of aquifers, flood management, smart buildings, reuse of treated wastewater and stormwater and so on.
This course aims to develop Systems Thinking skills while also helping young budding engineering students to understand the multi-disciplinary nature of water resource management.
Later the Australian students travelled to Delhi, Taj Mahal and the Delhi Technological University to appreciate the rich cultural diversity of India.
