Georgia Tech’s plan in India; post-graduate research institutions in Andhra Pradesh
June 9th, 2010
Following is an excerpt from a report in Economic Times.
Infosys Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Kris Gopalakrishnan and Georgia Tech’s provost and vice president for academic affairs Gary Schuster recently signed a memorandum of understanding to partner on potential research and educational opportunities, Infosys said in a statement here.
"Georgia Tech is exploring the possibility of establishing a small, high quality post-graduate research institution in Hyderabad. The proposed Georgia Tech facility will include centres for excellence in information technology and information systems, energy systems, biotechnology and infrastructure studies," it said.
As part of the partnership, Infosys will collaborate on research projects of mutual interest in these areas of technology.
"Since Infosys has a presence both in Atlanta and Hyderabad, there are collaborative opportunities in both locations," the statement said quoting Schuster.
An older TOI article elaborates on Georgia Tech’s original plan. Following are some excerpts.
The US-based Georgia Institute of Technology has signed up with the southern state to set up two campuses at an estimated investment of $100 million over the next few years.
… Georgia Tech will set up a campus in Hyderabad and later at Visakhapatnam by 2009-1010, on land purchased from the AP government.
The institute will initially start with a faculty of 10 and 200 doctoral students. There are further plans of setting up a special economic zone that will ensure successful industry-university interaction.
Experiences elsewhere, like Harvard and Wales in the UK suggest that such an interaction acts as a catalyst for research, economic development and technology commercialization.
There are ambitious ramp up plans. Says Vijay Madisetti, executive director of Georgia Tech’s India initiative and professor in its School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, "The campus is expected to grow over 10 years to about 100 faculty and 2,000 students co-located with a university-industry research park. We expect to work with private donors and the US and Indian industry to raise the necessary funding (approximately $100 million)."
Georgia Tech’s India campus will offer degrees recognized in the US, identical to those offered by its US collegiate counterparts. This will make Georgia Tech the first global university to do so in India. The initial set of master’s and doctoral programmes will be in the areas of information technology and hardware systems; biotechnology and healthcare; infrastructure research; and energy systems.
Says Madisetti, "The degree programmes will be taught by tenure-track and tenured Georgia Tech faculty, who are expected to possess the advantage of having study and research time spent on both US and Indian campuses."
While most students are expected to come from India, some would be from the US as well. Just as in the US, most students are likely to support through graduate research assistantships.
Entry Filed under: Georgia Tech in Andhra Pradesh,Learning from others