COOPERATION AGREEMENT WITH VELLORE INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY RESULTS IN COOPERATIVE EDUCATION PROGRAMME

FACULTY WORLDWIDE

On 9th January 2020, a Cooperative Education Programme in Bachelor of Engineering Technology was launched in Vellore (India). It opens the door for Indian bachelor students to continue their studies at Group T Leuven Campus after two years of study at their home university and to obtain a bachelor’s degree from KU Leuven. The first batch of students is expected in the fall of 2020.

The new cooperative programme is preceded by a history that begins with the visit of a delegation from the former University College Group T to Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT) in 2012. After the integration of Group T’s engineering programme in KU Leuven and a visit by Rector Luc Sels to India, the cooperation became definite which led to the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding in Leuven in April 2019.

N° 1 in Innovation

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 are enrolled in 52 undergraduate programmes, 32 postgraduate, 11 integrated MS courses and 4 research & industrial 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’ and was recognised as an ‘Institution of Eminence’ by the Indian government. With over 300 International Cooperation Agreements, VIT’s range of action covers the entire world.

Academic records

The agreement signed by Prof. Govindasamy Viswanathan, founder and Chancellor of VIT, Prof. Gerard Govers, Vice-Rector of KU Leuven and Prof. Bert Lauwers, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering Technology may be summarised as follows: students enrolled in the B.Tech- Mechanical Engineering Programme at VIT can be nominated to enrol in the Bachelor of Science in Engineering Technology, specialisation Electromechanical Engineering at KU Leuven. Each nominated student has successfully completed two years fulltime study at VIT and needs to present good to excellent academic records and meet all admissions requirements of KU Leuven, including language proficiency. After completion of the 2nd and 3rd year of the undergraduate programme at Group T Leuven Campus, the students receive a Bachelor’s degree from KU Leuven and are automatically admitted to an English language master programme in a relevant major offered by the Faculty of Engineering Technology.

Yves Persoons