'The exchange programme may also include an internship either in a local company or in a research laboratory of the host institution,' the statement said.

According to Sharma, 'international cooperation and collaboration has become a necessity to foster globally accreditated higher education and research. The partnership with GEM shall be an added advantage as the focus here is on industry relevance for education and research.'

GEM institutions offer academic and research programmes in almost all engineering disciplines and function in close coordination with the industry.

Speaking about the partnership with DTU, Schwartzentruber said: 'We were keen to partner with leading engineering institution in India and are happy to be associated with DTU, which shares the same philosophy of engineering as we do.'