U.S. Universities Partner with India for Satellite Engineering Education Program

A partnership between U.S. universities, research centers, private sector corporations, and Indian institutions recently was formed to improve engineering education in India and offer U.S. faculty the opportunity to collaborate with Indian researchers.

Universities UC Berkeley, UC San Diego, Carnegie Mellon University, Cornell University, the State University of New York at Buffalo, and Case Western Reserve University are joining with Indian institutions led by AMRITA University, along with the government of India and the country's Department of Science and Technology. Private sector partners QUALCOMM Inc., Microsoft Corporation, and Cadence Systems, Inc. are funding the program.

To improve engineering education, AMRITA is developing world-class undergraduate and graduate engineering courses to be transmitted via Edusat, a satellite launched by the Indian Space Research Organization, to multiple educational institutions throughout India. Representatives from all the parties involved signed a three-year Memorandum of Understanding last month, according to a news release. Under the agreement, U.S. university faculty are encouraged to spend a quarter or semester of their sabbatical at AMRITA University.

In addition, the program hopes to reverse the decline of foreign graduate enrollment in American universities and expose U.S. faculty to potential research partnerships in India, according to a news release. A survey from the Council of Graduate Schools conducted in 2004 indicates that first-time international graduate school enrollment fell 10 percent between 2002 and fall 2003 and fell 8 percent the year before (see the Nov. 8 issue of the Digest). The American Society for Engineering Education reports that nearly 58 percent of students enrolled in Ph.D. programs in the U.S. are not American citizens, the news release states.

Microsoft India is partnering with AMRITA University to set up the International Centre for Excellence in e-learning for education, research, and helping drive e-learning content. American universities also have agreed to make teaching materials available on a non-exclusive basis for a new digital content library being created by AMRITA for future students.

While program material will focus initially on engineering, computer science, and information and communication technologies, courses in biotechnology and bioformatics, nanotechnology, and medical sciences will be included.

Research partners from the U.S. also involved in the program include the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology, UC's Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society, and Carnegie Mellon's CyLab.