IIT-M and UK university tie-up to offer joint-degree course, THE reports

Times Higher Education (THE) has revealed that the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras and the University of Birmingham have come together to offer joint-degree programmes.

The programmes on offer will be 2-year master’s in Energy Systems, Data Science, and Biomedical Engineering.

Talking to THE, the Birmingham vice-chancellor Professor Mason revealed that students will complete one year of their programme in India while the other will be completed in the UK. The faculty will also move between the two institutions.

There is no update on what the student intake will be for these courses. However, as per Prof. Mason, the course will be “easily attractive to 50 students or more a year.” He also said that students will receive a single degree certificate from both universities upon completing their course.

He also stressed the selectivity of these programmes saying that the universities will keep quality over quantity. However, a concern that remains is how the universities will address the difference in the cost of studying between the two universities.

According to Prof. Mason, merit-based scholarships might be one solution to help students with bearing the high cost of studying at a UK university. He also highlighted the universities’ need to tackle the issues of quality assurance and governance.

The report comes just months after UGC has set new regulations in place for academic collaboration between Indian and foreign universities. Under these regulations, guidelines for offering Twinning, Dual Degree, and Joint Degree programmes were put in place by the regulatory body.

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