Sep 2 2009
Two leading universities of the world, Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore and Technische Universität München (TUM), Germany announced a new agreement on Monday, 31 Aug 09, that will enable both institutions to jointly offer highly attractive Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) programmes. The move will establish a broad base of doctoral programmes that will generate new research, as well as additional education and employment prospects for the students of both countries and beyond.
For a start, NTU and TUM will commence with a joint PhD programme in Electrical and Electronic Engineering, specifically in the fields of Integrated Circuit Design, Micro- and Nano-electronics. This will be progressively extended to cover the rest of the two universities’ programme offerings in future. Successful candidates of the four-year programme shall receive a Joint PhD degree issued under the seal of TUM and the seal of NTU. The collaboration is also a milestone for NTU as it is only the University’s second joint PhD programme with a partner university. 1
Entry to the programme is expected to be competitive as the programme offers candidates from both universities a unique cross-cultural learning experience and provides opportunities for research and the exchange of scientific ideas. The high level of synergy arising from the combination of top-tier resources and talent from both institutions is expected to lead to cutting-edge research discoveries and potential scientific breakthroughs.
The joint NTU-TUM PhD programme is expected to start in Jan 2010 with five scholarships for the taking offered by both NTU and TUM.
Candidates are required to fulfil a minimum residency of one year each at NTU and TUM and are expected to spend about half of their candidature period at NTU and the other half at TUM.
At NTU, candidates admitted to the programme will be eligible for the Nanyang President Graduate Scholarships or the NTU Research Student Scholarships. At TUM, candidates admitted by NTU will continue to receive the scholarship stipend under the individual schemes from NTU. Candidates will also benefit from the strong support that TUM enjoys from the German industry. This means that they can look forward to scholarships and internships offered by leading German companies.
The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the NTU-TUM joint PhD programme is signed today, by TUM President Dr.Dr.h.c.mult.Wolfgang A. Herrmann and NTU President Dr Su Guaning. The signing ceremony is held in conjunction with the official opening of the new premises for GIST-TUM Asia, TUM’s Asia subsidiary institution. His Excellency Mr. Jörg Ranau, Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to Singapore graced the occasion with some 100 guests from German institutes and companies, foreign and local academia
“This MOU is genuine proof of the commitment by NTU and TUM to optimize the synergy from our training expertise and facilities for our graduate talents and faculty. By pooling together our complementary strengths and working towards industry needs, we are charting new territory and re-defining the paradigms of post-graduate education for Europe, Asia and the rest of the world. I am sure other universities will be turning to us to learn from our model and together, we will enrich the quality of higher education internationally,” said Dr Su Guaning.
TUM President Dr Wolfgang A. Herrmann said: “The strategic alliance with NTU as a leading technology university highlights the strengths of both institutions. Based on exciting collaborations, TUM opens its new policy of joint PhD programmes with NTU to highlight on leading technology research programmes. TUM has a strong identity in Singapore as the key educational hub in South-East Asia”.
The collaboration with NTU on this joint PhD programme takes TUM closer to their mission of increasing the number of high end programmes offered and opens new areas of academic exchange in fields of science, engineering and technology.
"I congratulate Nanyang Technological University and Technical University Munich for taking this bold initiative,” said His Excellency Ambassador Jörg Ranau. “The MOU, whose signing we are witnessing today, will elevate the German-Singaporean cooperation in the field of higher education to a new level of academic excellence. At the same time, the new PhD-programme will increase the GIST-TUM Asia's attractiveness and sharpen its scientific profile, so that its role as the flagship of German academia in Singapore will be further enhanced."
The joint PhD programme brings the existing collaboration between NTU and TUM to a higher level, capitalising on the excellent relationship and rapport between faculties at both universities. NTU and TUM had previously established three successful Master of Science programmes in Integrated Circuit Design (Jul 2005), Microelectronics (Jul 2007) and Aerospace (Aug 2009). Faculty members at both universities have also held joint research workshops in Singapore (Sep 2008) and Munich (Apr 2009).
Posted September 2ndt, 2009