Macquarie University, which has been the world’s 49th international university according to Times Higher Education Ranking (2015-2016), previously visited Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS) in January 2016, signing an MoU with TUMS and granting 5 scholarships to high profile TUMS students to initiate international collaborations between the two institutions in the form of a jointly supervised PhD program (namely Cotutelle).

Cotutelle PhD program was primarily initiated in France, hence the term Cotutelle (co-supervising). Cotutelle program requires PhD students to be enrolled at both institutions, and upon successful completion of the program gives two diplomas to students (from each institution) as a privilege to other joint PhD programs. Giving the supervisors and the students to enjoy a co-environmental atmosphere to work in, Cotutelle PhD program has been highly valued recently.

In this meeting which was held with a focus on Cotutelle PhD program on September 28^th, 2016, Prof. Rushmer, Associate dean HDR, Mr. Altaani, the Middle East Manager and Dr. Mohsen Asadnia, a lecturer from Faculty of Engineering attended on behalf of Macquarie University and Dr. Nekoofar, the director of International Relations, Accreditation and Ranking of TUMS, Dr. Ghazi Khansari, director of the Postgraduate Studies, Dr. Shamshiri the director of Knowledge, Translation and Research Utilization Office and Ms. Davoodifar, the International Relations’ officer attended on behalf of TUMS.

Research lines of each institution, facilitation of TUMS student selection for the mentioned Cotutelle grant and the possibility of student and staff exchange were the main topics discussed in the meeting.

Dr. Rushmer explained that the department of Chemistry and Biomolecular Sciences of Macquarie university working on natural products and the School of Traditional Medicine of TUMS can be good matches. In Addition, she also mentioned that staff exchange can lead to more collaborations between institutions as understanding each universities’ system is an important factor.

Dr. Nekoofar finally announced that TUMS grants 5 scholarships to Macquarie students on a reciprocal basis to further expand the academic relations between the two institutions.