Mahindra University and Massey University celebrate new partnership with delegation visit to New Zealand
Hyderabad/Palmerston North, xxx 2026: Mahindra University (MU), Hyderabad, India, and Massey University, a highly ranked university located in New Zealand, have marked the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with a visit by a Mahindra University delegation to Massey’s Wellington and Palmerston North campuses. The communication programme at Massey University is ranked first in New Zealand and 45th in the world by ShanghaiRanking.
The MoU, now signed by both institutions, establishes a comprehensive framework for academic and research collaboration across joint research, collaborative teaching, student mobility, staff exchanges, postgraduate internships, and shared academic initiatives. The visit moved that framework into a concrete programme of work.
Specifically, the School of Digital Media and Communication (SDMC) at Mahindra University and the Center for Culture-Centered Approach to Research and Evaluation (CARE) at Massey University will collaborate on community-engaged, culture-centered communication solutions to global challenges, working alongside communities at the margins to build responses to questions of democracy, media and Big Tech. The two units will also develop faculty exchanges and immersive internships for undergraduate and postgraduate students. One of the first initiatives is an articulation pathway that will allow eligible Mahindra University students to enter Massey’s Bachelor of Communication (BC) and Master of Communication (MC) with recognised prior learning.
Dr Yajulu Medury, Vice Chancellor, Mahindra University said, “At Mahindra University, we remain committed to expanding our global footprint through collaborations with leading international institutions. Our partnership with Massey University reflects this commitment and will provide our students and faculty with meaningful opportunities for global engagement and scholarly exchange. We believe that exposure to diverse academic environments broaden intellectual horizons, deepen critical thinking, and foster the innovative mindset that the future demands.”
Across the two campuses, the delegation and their Massey colleagues worked through three areas of the partnership: articulation programmes that will allow Mahindra University students to enter Massey’s Bachelor of Communication with recognised prior study; study abroad and exchange pathways that will carry students in both directions; and the research collaboration between SDMC and CARE. The MoU itself formalises and standardises the relationship, providing a focal point for the administration of these and future collaborative programmes.
“Hosting the Mahindra University delegation in Wellington and Palmerston North has given real substance to the agreement our two universities have signed. We have set out articulation programmes into our Bachelor of Communication, study abroad and exchange pathways that will let students learn in another context and return changed by it, and a research collaboration between CARE and our Mahindra colleagues on community-engaged, culture-centered communication solutions to global challenges. Those challenges are shared ones, and the answers to them are built with communities rather than delivered to them. This is a partnership grounded in what both institutions do best,” according to Professor Cynthia White, Pro Vice-Chancellor, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Massey University.
“The work of CARE is anchored in Te Tiriti o Waitangi, and Te Tiriti is not a background commitment for us but the ground on which our method stands. Tino rangatiratanga means the communities we work with holding authority over the questions that get asked, the knowledge that gets produced and the solutions that get built. Partnership means we work as relationships rather than as extraction, and active protection means we are accountable for safeguarding community knowledge and the conditions in which it is voiced. Community-engaged, culture-centered learning in that register is what makes communication at Massey distinctive: theory, method and practice worked out alongside communities, from Palmerston North and Wellington to the sites where we work across seventeen countries. The articulation pathways we have developed with Mahindra University open this to students who will enter our Bachelor of Communication with that grounding already in place, and bringing it together with the strengths of the School of Digital Media and Communication gives our two universities a shared platform for applied communication that addresses complex global challenges — health inequalities, the climate crisis, disinformation and the erosion of democratic voice — with solutions built by the communities living them,” said Professor Mohan J. Dutta, Dean’s Chair in Communication and Director of the Center for Culture-Centered Approach to Research and Evaluation (CARE), Massey University.
“Over many months, SDMC has been in active dialogue with Massey University about student internships, faculty exchange and research collaborations, alongside longer-term plans for joint offerings. Visiting the campuses and meeting colleagues in person has turned those conversations into a working relationship. This arrangement with such a globally leading university will empower us to deliver more high-quality value to our students, especially those engaged in media and communication, and expand our influence,” Dr Shashidhar Nanjundaiah, Dean, School of Digital Media and Communication, Mahindra University, added.
Additional areas identified for cooperation include joint projects, sharing of academic materials, joint applications for third-party research funding, and further articulation of courses across the two institutions.
Link: MoU with Massey
