KU LEUVEN AND VELLORE INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY SIGN COOPERATION AGREEMENT

NIEUWS UIT DE FACULTEIT

On 15th April 2019, Prof. Luc Sels, Rector of KU Leuven and Prof. Sekar Viswanathan, Vice-President of the Indian Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT) signed a Memorandum of Understanding in Leuven. Both parties agreed to intensify the cooperation in engineering education and research and to start up exchange and twinning programmes.

Prior to the signing ceremony, Vice-President Viswanathan and Prof. Sandhya Pentareddy, Executive Director at VIT were welcomed at Group T Campus by Prof. Koen Eneman, Campus Chair, Prof Abhishek Dutta and Wim Polet, Director of The International Office.

VIT is a young private university with four campuses in Vellore (Tamil Nadu), Chennai, Bhopal and Amravati Andhra Pradesh. At these campuses, more than 25,000 students enrolled in 20 undergraduate programmes, 34 postgraduate, 4 integrated MS courses and 4 doctoral programmes in Engineering, Technology, Applied Sciences and Management. VIT was among the first universities in India to implement the Fully Flexible Credit System (FFCS), which gives the students the flexibility to make their own timetables by choosing the subjects and the faculties under whose guidance they want to study. Recently, VIT received the honorary title ‘N°.1 Indian Private Institution of Innovation’.

Prof. Sekar Viswanathan, Vice-President of the Indian Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT) and Prof. Luc Sels, Rector of KU Leuven

With over 250 International Cooperation Agreements, VIT has a strong presence across the globe. In the International Transfer Programme, students study two years at VIT and two years in a partner university and get a degree from it.

During the visit in Leuven, further possibilities to co-operate were discussed, such as collaboration with the VIT Graduate School in research on Artificial Intelligence, participation of KU Leuven at the VIT Higher Education Fair, the exchange of visiting professors, a Semester Abroad Programme for final year bachelors, study tours for students and the start up of a Dutch language introductory course at VIT.

Worth noting is also that VIT has its own Formula Racing Team. Pravega Racing is the official Formula Student Combustion Team of VIT. It designs and manufactures F1 prototype race cars to participate at Formula Student, the world’s largest engineering competition.

Yves Persoons