German varsity awards PG degrees to VIT students

NEW HORIZONS: G. Viswanathan, VITchancellor (second from left) and Karl Heinz Meisel, president of UASK, Germany (third from left) presenting the postgraduate degree certificate to Kalyan Chakravarthi Madikkera on his successful completion of the Masters Twinning Programme in Sensor System Technology, at the VIT University campus in Vellore on Monday. Dieter Hopfel, vice-president of Academic and International Affairs of UASK (third from right), and VIT vice-presidents Sankar Viswanathan (right) and G.V. Sampath (left) are in the picture. Photo: Special Arrangement

President of the University of Applied Sciences, Karlsruhe (UASK), Germany, Karl Heinz Meisel, presented Master of Science post-graduate degree certificates to Jaya Prakash Poojali and Kalyan Chakravarthi Madikkera, two of the five students of the VIT University belonging to the first batch of the twinning programme between VIT and UASK in Sensor System Technology, who successfully completed their two-year course, on Monday.

The function was held in the presence of G. Viswanathan, Chancellor and President of VIT on the VIT campus here on Monday. The other three students who completed the twinning programme are T. Prasoon, Ravishankar Machiraju and Riyaz Ali Shaik.

Talking to newspersons, Mr. Viswanathan said under the twinning programme launched in 2008, five students of the M. Tech. in Sensor System Technology in VIT were selected for study in UASK.

After completing one year of study in VIT, the students went to UASK, Karlsruhe for the second year. The government of the Federal Republic of Germany and the local State government provided scholarships to the students.

The VIT Chancellor said that it was the first time that a twinning programme was being organised between an Indian and a foreign university. The students, who would be getting double degrees, one from UASK and the other from VIT, would be in great demand. As many as 150 students of VIT were studying in various foreign countries under the Semester Abroad Programme.

Hailing VIT as the best private university in India, Dr. Meisel said that there was a general interest in Germany on cooperation with India in higher education. Dieter Hopfel, Vice-President of Academic and International Affairs of UASK, said there was a possibility of the UASK and VIT providing twinning programmes in Mechatronics and Computer Science.

Alex Zacharia, Director, School of Electronics and Engineering (SENSE), VIT said that while the VIT started a PG programme in Sensor Technology in 2002, it got the approval of the DAAD (the German equivalent of Academic Exchange Programme) for the twinning programme in 2005.

Since 2008, VIT has been sending five students every year to UASK for the twinning programme in Sensor System Technology.