Media Release Thapar University partners with Trinity College Dublin New Delhi/ Dublin, June 29, 2015: Thapar University and Trinity College Dublin (University of Dublin) have partnered to promote academic collaboration in the key areas of undergraduate programmes and research. This institutional partnership was announced at a special event in New Delhi today. The President & Provost of Trinity College Dublin, Dr. Patrick Prendergast and President of the Thapar University, Mr. Gautam Thapar signed the agreement at the ceremony today. The collaboration is a central component of a major contemporisation programme that Thapar University is undertaking. It will also significantly contribute to Trinity College Dublin s global engagement in attracting high calibre students. In the delivery of this contemporisation programme, Thapar University will align its Engineering curriculum with that of Trinity College Dublin. Eligible students who have completed 2 years of undergraduate Engineering programs at Thapar University may progress into Year 3 of undergraduate degree programmes in Civil, Mechanical, Biomedical, Electronic, and Computer, and Electronics & Computer Engineering at Trinity College. On successful completion of Years 3 and 4 of the Trinity programme and its assessment, students will receive a Trinity College Dublin award. On completion of the degree, qualified students can apply to pursue a Masters qualification at Trinity by completing one additional year at Trinity. Thapar University and Trinity College Dublin are also looking at collaboration in other areas of academia and research. The contemporisation will also involve the funding of two senior academics working on joint research developments between the two institutions. Speaking at the event, Mr. Gautam Thapar, President, Thapar University said: We are pleased to have Trinity College Dublin s support as we fulfil our mission of offering global standards in our deliverables at Thapar University and uphold the internationalisation of higher education in the country. This partnership will help address and bolster Thapar University s position as a leading centre for higher education in India and in the region." Dr. Patrick Prendergast, President and Provost of Trinity College Dublinsaid: Trinity College Dublin s global engagement attracts students and staff of the highest calibre and promotes mobility among our staff. This is enabled by the development of strategic partnerships and joint partnership degree programmes with institutions globally. Thapar University's reputation in India, together with the outstanding academic ability of its undergraduate students and good quality undergraduate programmes, provides a very strong platform for this collaboration.
Commenting on the landmark moment Mr. R.R. Vederah, Chairman of the Board of Governors, Thapar University, remarked: We value Trinity College Dublin as a partner and look forward to a rewarding collaboration. Trinity College Dublin is one of the world s oldest universities over 400 years old. Its cutting edge research, technology and innovation place the university at the forefront of higher education globally. This significant contemporisation promises to transform the education landscape in India and is in keeping with the trend of educational institutions coming together to forge global linkages and benefit their students, the leaders of tomorrow. Ends
Annexure What is the collaboration about? Thapar University will align its Engineering curriculum with that of Trinity College Dublin. This alignment will enable Trinity College to enter into a 2+2 Articulation Agreement with Thapar University. Eligible students who have completed 2 years of the undergraduate Engineering programmes at Thapar University may progress into Year 3 of undergraduate degree programmes in Civil, Mechanical, Biomedical, Electronic, and Computer, and Electronics & Computer Engineering at Trinity College. On successful completion of Years 3 and 4 of the Trinity programme and its assessment, students will receive a Trinity College Dublin award. On completion of the degree, qualified students can apply to pursue a Masters qualification at Trinity by completing one additional year at Trinity. What are the other areas of collaboration? Thapar University and Trinity College Dublin are also looking at collaboration in other areas of academia and research. The contemporisation will also involve the funding of two senior academics working on joint research developments. The professors will be in the School of Computer Science and Statistics and in the School of Engineering in agreed thematic research areas. Their roles will include teaching obligations at both institutions and will contribute to the development of a research culture at the Thapar University, which in the future may have the potential of supporting the establishment of a research centre at Thapar University. What led to this collaboration? This commitment follows exploratory high level discussions and visits by institutions and a successful academic review in early November, 2014, by Trinity College Dublin of four Thapar University departments: Civil Engineering, Computer Science & Engineering, Electronics & Communication Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering. Trinity professors from Engineering (Civil, Electronic, and Mechanical), Computer Science and Statistics, as well as the Academic Secretary, formed part of the delegation and fully endorsed Thapar University s contemporisation programme. Following the review, senior academic and administrative management in Thapar University spent a week in Trinity, during which time Thapar University staff were given extensive
access to Trinity s education model and shadowed key staff in Engineering and Computer Science at Trinity. Additionally, Thapar University staff received further recommendations for academic development, and extensive advice regarding implementation from Trinity. About Thapar University Ranked among India s leading institutions of engineering education, Thapar University in Patiala, Punjab has redefined technical education in the country through dissemination and application of actionable engineering knowledge. A steady source of highly skilled manpower to top Indian and overseas corporates, the sprawling 250 acre Thapar Technology campus, consisting of Thapar University, Thapar Polytechnic and Thapar Centre for Industrial Research and Development (TCIRD), has an extraordinary potential for development of indigenous technology and its transfer to engineering industries. Standing tall on the four pillars of cutting edge research capabilities, highly accomplished faculty, enviable infrastructure and smart academia industry linkages, the 58 year old university continually reinvents itself by upgrading its curriculum to match global needs through periodic self assessment and formal reviews. Over the years, Thapar University has grown by leaps and bounds as a research based university with focus on sunrise areas like nanotechnology, biotechnology and IT. Signifying a pioneering corporate effort to boost research, TCIRD has been facilitating a dynamic interface with academia and national and international R&D labs. Driven by the conviction that original research applied, industrial, technological and scientific has to be the backbone of engineering education, the university has published over 2,500 research papers in peer reviewed impact factor journals in the past five years alone. It has 119 ongoing research projects under its belt with a sanctioned grant of Rs 25.72 crore. Engaged in high end research, the faculty of the university have so far filed 19 patents. Many of them are working on research projects sponsored by the industry. Backed by the Avantha group, one of India s most diversified conglomerates, Thapar University also rates high on infrastructure with its campus home to some of India s best automation, automobile engineering, metrology, sand testing and solid mechanics facilities. Aspiring to become a globally acclaimed university, Thapar University is in sync with the ever evolving global trends in technical education through MoUs with various foreign universities. Thanks to strong academia industry linkages, many leading corporates are now a regular feature at Thapar University placements. Both reputed Indian and international companies are associated with Thapar University for research as well as faculty exchange programmes. For media queries on Thapar University, contact: Abhijit Neogy Phone +91 11 41699211Email: abhijit.neogy@avanthaholdings.com Mr Amardeep Tiwana,Phone: 98140 46480Email: amardeep@adfactorspr.com
About Trinity College Dublin, the University of Dublin Trinity College Dublin, the University of Dublin, www.tcd.ie holds a global position as one of the leading universities in the world. Established in 1592, it is consistently ranked in the top 100 world universities by the QS World University Rankings, and is the highest ranking university in Ireland. Cutting edge research, technology and innovation places the university at the forefront of higher education in Ireland and globally. It is located on a 19 hectare campus in the centre of Dublin city. Its historic buildings are located alongside modern award winning architecture of more recent generations. Trinity College Dublin has many great alumni, many of whom have helped shape the history of the world. Nobel prize winners such as Ernest Walton for physics and Samuel Beckett for literature; great writers such as Jonathan Swift and Oscar Wilde; famous philosophers such as Edmund Burke and George Berkeley; renowned mathematician William Rowan Hamilton; and Presidents of Ireland, Douglas Hyde and Mary Robinson. Today, Trinity alumni can be found in every sphere of society and are innovators in their fields, leaders in their communities and ambassadors for excellence all around the world. Trinity College Dublin encompasses all major academic disciplines, and is committed to world class teaching and research across the range of disciplines in the arts, humanities, engineering, science, social and health sciences. It is Ireland s leading university across all international rankings, and is ranked 71st place worldwide and in the top 25 in Europe in the recent QS World University Rankings 2014. Trinity College Dublin s Links with India Trinity College Dublin has important research links and academic collaborations with a number of key Indian Higher Education Institutions. Building on longstanding work with institutions like Delhi University, the National Centre for Biological Science and the Indian Institute of Science, Trinity now has an extensive network of partnerships across India in all disciplines from Neuroscience to Digital Humanities. A Delhi office was opened in 2012, facilitating more than 20 major Trinity missions in the past three years, in addition to hundreds of smaller academic engagements in India and regular visits by Indian academics to the TCD campus. Trinity leads the Irish Government s Science Foundation Ireland funded International Strategic Cooperation Award Programme for India, which works to strengthen exchange of research expertise between the two countries. With the announcement in November 2014 of Karnataka State Government funding for Science Gallery Bangalore to join the Science Gallery Network, along with Trinity College Dublin, the university s presence in India is further cemented.
The number of Indian students joining Trinity College Dublin is increasing annually. The Trinity Indian Society, founded in 2009, is one of the fastest growing societies on campus, with Holi and Diwali celebrations now being enjoyed by the entire college community. Trinity College Dublin s strong ties with India reach back to the establishment of the chair of Oriental Languages in 1762. By the mid nineteenth century not only were classical languages such as Sanskrit being taught at Trinity, but also numerous regional languages, not to mention courses in Indian law and history. In the second half of the nineteenth century, over 150 Trinity graduates entered the Indian Civil Service, trained at Trinity s Indian Civil Service School. Among these was Trinity mathematician George Grierson, whose famous Linguistic Survey of India catalogued 364 Indian languages and dialects for the first time. For media queries on Trinity College Dublin, contact: College Press Officer, Caoimhe Ní Lochlainn, Tel: +353 1 8962310\ communications@tcd.ie