IIT BOMBAY TO ESTABLISH GRADUATE DEGREE PROGRAMME WITH NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE

IIT BOMBAY TO ESTABLISH GRADUATE DEGREE PROGRAMME WITH NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE

and the National University of Singapore (NUS) signed a Memorandum of Understanding

on March 29, 2005 at Singapore inthe presence of Hon’ble Shri. Arjun Singh, Minister of Human Resource Development, India and Hon’ble Mr. Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Minister of Education, Singapore, to establish a joint degree programme at the Masters and Doctoral levels.

The MOU provides a framework for both NUS and IITB to work on programmes leading to a joint MS and Ph.D. degrees in Advanced Engineering Materials, training human resource relevant to a number of industrial sectors in both countries.

On the occasion Shri Arjun Singh said that these are two leading academic institutions in Asia and it is only fitting that they cooperate in the growth of technical education in new areas of science and technology. He expressed his hope that the students of this pioneering programme between India and Singapore will go out with a wide inter-disciplinary technical background, as well as the appreciation of working as part of a globally integrated work force.

The presence of an IIT in Singapore, for which the joint master’s programme is a prelude, would further enhance Singapore’s image as an education hub in much the same way that US and European universities such as MIT and INSEAD, said Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam. He further commented that the union of two of the world’s best engineering universities would lead to an enlarged campus of talent, promising greater innovation. It would attract some of the best brains in this region.

Prof. Ashok Misra, Director IIT Bombay, signed the MoU on behalf of IIT Bombay, and Prof. Shih Choon Fong, President, NUS on behalf of NUS. Prof. Misra called this a landmark event for IIT Bombay since IITB for the first time would be reaching out in a foreign country for offering a joint degree. “This programme has a special significance since it will bring the faculty members of the two Institutions closer and will lead to collaborative research programmes, which will be to the benefit of both the Institutions. It is envisaged that the graduates from these programmes will in turn help in the growth of industries specially those which have a presence both in Singapore and India”, he said.

NUS President, Professor Shih Choon Fong felt that with increasing consumer sophistication, engineering education needs to be redefined, if not restructured, to keep up with market demand. The programme in Advanced Engineering Materials covering nanostructures, hybrids and composites, micro-fabrication and micro devices, biomaterials, electronic materials, chemical engineering materials, building materials and tribology, aims to increase the depth and breadth of engineering materials for tomorrow’s consumer and environment. Prof. Shih noted that “partnering India, a powerful growth engine in Asia, provides abundant opportunities for nurturing talents in leading edge technologies for key engineering areas”.

The programmes will draw heavily on existing NUS and IITB infrastructure and course modules, greatly reducing the cost of mounting such a joint programme. IITB will have the advantage of sustaining a new degree programme with little cost to IITB or MHRD. Both IITB and NUS professors will participate in joint teaching and supervision of projects, in Singapore and in India, and via teleconferencing. With funding support from the Singapore Economic Development Board and the Ministry of Education, the partnership is expected to yield some 40 MS and eight PhD graduates annually in the steady state.

Under the programme, IITB expects to further develop its “smart” classroom facilities for course delivery to Singapore, which can also be used for furthering the distance education programme within India. The programme is expected to attract students from top engineering schools in India and from top schools in China, Singapore and other ASEAN region. Selection would be based on GATE (IITs graduate admission test in engineering), GRE, TOEFL (where applicable) scores and an interview. Some two-thirds of student intake would be expected to have engineering background, with the balance coming from a science background. The programme emphasises three elements, namely, education, research and industry relevance.