First cohort of an expected 20 PhD students from Tezpur University reach Belfast
As a part of the MoU signed earlier this year, a group of seven students from Tezpur University Assam have recently been placed at Queen’s University Belfast, one of the leading Universities in UK and Ireland as well as a member of the prestigious Russell Group of UK research intensive universities. These students who will complete their PhDs which were sponsored by the government of India, are the first cohort of an expected 20 PhD students to begin their new academic journey in Belfast.
Within this association, sponsored students nominated by Tezpur University will get to study a degree programme at the University. The staff at Queen’s University and Tezpur University will take part in exchange trips for collaborative research, teaching and discussions. Undergraduate students from Tezpur will also be able to travel for a research internship experience of three to four weeks at Queen’s University. There are also benefits for the Belfast students as they may also be nominated to carry out their studies in India.
Professor Stan Scott, Dean of Internationalisation, Engineering and Physical Science at Queen’s University Belfast said, “I’m delighted to welcome the first cohort of PhD students from Tezpur University. Queen’s has been engaged in discussions with the government of India for nine years to develop a capacity building project the North East Region of India and its fantastic to see this come to fruition.”Tanmay Jyoti Deka (25) from Tezpur has just started a PhD in Chemical Engineering. He commented: “Queen’s is one of the best universities in the world and I’m very excited, not many people get opportunities like this in their lifetime as I have.”
Talking about his decision to study at Queen’s, Tanmay said: “At Queen’s there are excellent facilities and very good supervision and I’m very interested in doing some research which will help the people of my own country. In India going abroad to study is quite a big thing. Queen’s provides the infrastructure and the facilities to give me exposure to industry and I think attending Queen’s will help me to grow and develop both my academic and personal skills.”
Queen’s University Belfast, one of the leading Universities in UK and Ireland, as well as a member of the prestigious Russell Group of UK research intensive universities, had signed a MoU earlier this year to explore mutually beneficial opportunities over the next five-year period, specifically in the areas of joint supervised doctoral programmes. The scope of collaboration is in research, aligning with the strengths of both the institutions. Initially, identified research areas of interest are primarily within the engineering field. However, it is expected that research areas from other faculties will be explored at a later stage.
