"What are the uniform and orderly movements by the assumption of which the apparent movements of the planets can be accounted for?"

-Plato (428 - 348 B.C.)

Between Pune University and Indian Institute of technology, Bombay. It is widely acknowledged that IIT Bombay and University of Pune are institutions of excellence in the Sciences, Engineering, Humanities and Social Sciences. A vision shared both by Professor Ashok Misra, Director of IIT Bombay and Professor Ashok Kolaskar, Vice Chancellor of Pune University, was the motive force behind the idea of this MoU. Simply put it is this that if these two institutions come together complementing their strength in the form of expertise, resources, infrastructure, they together would be able to make a much stronger impact on the national scene by way of their contribution to the academic fields mentioned earlier and take research, development and teaching activities in these areas to greater heights.

Based on this vision, the two institutions agreed to encourage collaboration and execute a Memorandum of Understanding, which was signed by Prof. Misra and Prof Kolaskar in a simple ceremony held in the Conference Room, Main Building on April 17, 2003. The MoU allows interested faculty of either institution initiating joint research projects in any mutually agreeable field of Sciences, Engineering, Humanities and Social sciences.