Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University is looking at strengthening its research and academic collaborations with top Indian universities, Tim White, Vice President, International Engagement. “The most important institutional collaborations NTU has are with IIT Madras and IISC Bangalore where through the generosity of an endowment from Kris Gopalakrishnan 50 Indian PhD scholars will be trained at NTU,”.
“Other important collaborations are under development with the All India Institute of Medicine (AIIMS), Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB) and the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII),” he added. “For many years, NTU has sponsored an India Connect program that has allowed Indian undergraduates to have short term research attachments in Singapore. There are numerous direct partnerships between NTU and Indian professors across science, engineering, social sciences and humanities fields,” said White.
India is one of the largest strategic markets for NTU Singapore. “Indian students are highly sought after by NTU faculty and researchers. The long historical and cultural ties between the countries, together with their geographical proximity are readymade for partnership,” he said. “Educational collaboration is also a component of the wider narrative of Singapore being larger source of direct foreign investment in India.”
On being asked about how the institute facilitates Indian students get jobs locally in Singapore, especially at a time when the global macroeconomic uncertainty and the headwinds is impacting the job prospects of entry level talent, White said: “In Singapore, some 250 companies have laboratories on the campus. All students have the opportunity to serve as interns with these companies.” “Experience has shown that internships have a high conversion to employment after graduation. In addition, NTU actively trains capable students in entrepreneurship that could allow graduates to start their own company in Singapore to serve the ASEAN and Indian markets,” he added.
