Prof. Dr. Verena Blechinger-Talcott, Executive Vice President, International Affairs, Freie Universität Berlin visited India as part of the DAAD Hochschul Politische Reise and visited Universities in Hyderabad and Delhi. The FUB India & South Asia office hosted a Partner & Alumni Meet and High Tea for an interactive session with Prof. Dr. Blechinger-Talcott at the German House on 24th March 2025.

FUB’s academic partners such as University of Delhi (DU), Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU), Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and many more visited Delhi to be a part of the event. German House partner universities such as Heidelberg University, University of Cologne, University of Göttingen, along with supporter organisations namely DFG Office India, Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan, and Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany interacted with Ms. Vibhuti Sukhramani, Head India & South Asia Liaison Office who moderated and conceptualized this event. All participants talked about their association with Freie Universität Berlin, their past and ongoing joint programs, and their interest in future collaborations with the India office.

Prof. Dr. Blechinger-Talcott shared her experience of travel to various organisations in Hyderabad and Delhi during the event.

The event was also joined by several Alumni of Freie Universität Berlin from Delhi, who were excited to be a part of the Meet and to share their experience of study and research at Freie Universität Berlin with feelings of nostalgia! The group expressed their desire of being a part of future FUB India Alumni activities through the Alumni network. The topic of their discussion was the time they spent in Berlin as a student or as a researcher and now being invited by FUB brought back all those memories for them. The connections they made were with the India office team, VP1, with colleagues from international office and FuBis team. The benefits are immense – they felt valued and were ready to assist and support the office for any future events. We conduct a regular online event – Journey of a Researcher where we invite Alumni Researchers to share their journey on various topics such as Biochemistry, Theater Studies, Teachers Training etc.

The event was followed by a lovely outdoor Indian High Tea with snacks from different regions of India. It was a great networking opportunity for the guests and they enjoyed the cold and hot beverages with some sunshine in the lush green lawns.