In furtherance of the mutual interest in the field of education and research and for increased international cooperation, the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (Norwegian: Norges teknisk-naturvitenskapelige universitet, NTNU) at Trondheim, Norway and the School of Planning and Architecture: Vijayawada (SPAV), adopted a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) recently. The MoU aims at a number of collaborative activities and strategies over a period of time, which includes at the vision level the following:

- Exchange of staff in programs to the mutual benefit of both institutions.
- Exchange of students in programs to the mutual benefit of both institutions.
- Collaboration in teaching, research and development and consultancy studies.
- The exchange of academic materials and publications.
- The provision of cultural and intellectual enrichment opportunities for staff and students of both parties.

The MoU enhances NTNU's programme of internationalisation and opens up doors for lots of opportunities for students and teachers. The MoU enables students from both parties towards certain scholarship programmes at Masters and PhD level, thereby giving students from these institutions an added advantage.

In this respect, a delegation from NTNU, including the university Rector and the Dean of the Faculty of Architecture and Planning, visited India in February 2011 and met with officials of SPAV to discuss a way forward in strategising the MoU and building it further to the benefit of students and teachers. 

NTNU has the main national responsibility for higher education in engineering and technology in Norway and is one of the top-ranked universities of Europe. In addition to engineering and the natural and physical sciences, the university offers advanced degrees in other academic disciplines ranging from the social sciences, the arts, medicine, architecture and fine art. The university consists of seven faculties with a total of 53 departments and has approximately 20,000 students.