image: Sealing the deal with a handshake -- Nanyang Technological University President Dr. Su Guaning and Carnegie Mellon University President Dr. Jared L. Cohon. view more
Credit: NTU
Successful PhD (Engineering) candidates at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and the United States' Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) will now be able to earn two PhD degrees – one each from the universities.
The two universities are coming together to establish the NTU-CMU Dual PhD Degree Programme in Engineering. Under the programme, PhD (Engineering) candidates who successfully meet the academic requirements of both NTU and CMU will be awarded PhD degrees by both universities.
This is the first dual PhD degree programme hosted at NTU's College of Engineering, and comes on the heels of a series of high-profile joint doctoral programmes that NTU has started with world-renowned universities such as Imperial College London, Technische Universität München (Germany) and Karolinska Institutet (Sweden).
The average duration of the programme is four academic years. Students will be required to spend at least two academic years of their candidature at NTU and another two academic years at CMU. They will have two co-advisers, one each from NTU and CMU, to guide them in their research.
The partnership was sealed at a ceremony at NTU today where NTU President Dr Su Guaning and CMU President Dr Jared L. Cohon signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to establish the programme, witnessed by senior officials from both universities' Colleges of Engineering.
"This collaboration between NTU and Carnegie Mellon University will equip candidates with two world-class PhD degrees and the best that the two universities have to offer," said Dr Su. "Through this programme, our students will gain cutting-edge knowledge in Robotics and Intelligent Systems so as to make strong contributions in academia as well as in industry. The Economic Development Board's support of the programme has been a major enabler for the realisation of this MOU."
"We are delighted that Carnegie Mellon's Mechanical Engineering Department will be involved with this innovative dual PhD degree programme with Nanyang Technological University," said Dr Cohon. "Carnegie Mellon has a longstanding tradition of collaborating with top universities around the world to provide opportunities for our students to learn in competitive and entrepreneurial environments. This agreement will enable PhD candidates, both in Pittsburgh and Singapore, to work with some of the top minds in a variety of academic disciplines."
Robotics solutions have revolutionised manufacturing processes and will improve productivity across sectors such as health care, transportation and logistics. The Economic Development Board (EDB) is working to grow the Robotics and Intelligent Systems industry in Singapore and this dual PhD degree programme is one of the key initiatives it is supporting – up to 10 students will be supported to gain experience in developing practical Robotics and Intelligent Systems solutions.
"This learning experience in NTU and CMU is a great opportunity for our young people to immerse themselves in Robotics and Intelligent Systems research and commercialisation," said Mr Jonathan Kua, Director, News Businesses, EDB. "This dual PhD degree programme will give them a headstart in becoming scientific and business leaders, who will develop solutions that will bring our industries to a higher level of competitiveness and growth."
NTU also offers, in collaboration with CMU, the Nanyang Master of Science in Financial Engineering programme, which was started in 1999. This programme, which combines the technical and conceptual advances in Computer Science, Mathematics and Finance, is conducted at the Nanyang Business School, with the final seven weeks at CMU. The programme has graduated more than 200 executives from Asia as well as Europe and America.