image: Hebrew University of Jerusalem's Vice Rector professor Yaacov Schul (left) and Nanyang Technological University's Associate Provost (Graduate Education and Special Projects) professor Lam Khin Yong shake hands at the agreement signing. view more
Credit: The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Two leading universities of the world – Singapore's Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel (HU) – have signed an agreement to set up a joint Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) programme in environmental life sciences.
This is the first time that HU, which was ranked the top university in Israel in the 2010 QS World University Rankings, is offering a joint PhD programme with a foreign university.
The joint PhD programme will leverage on the complementary strengths of both universities in key research areas such as environmental microbiology and nanomaterials.
The first batch of PhD candidates from Singapore and Israel will enrol this August. They will be co-supervised by faculty members from both universities, and will spend at least one year at the partner university. NTU and HU will offer scholarships to students accepted into this joint PhD programme. Successful candidates will be conferred a doctorate degree under the seals of NTU and HU.
"NTU is the first overseas university that The Hebrew University of Jerusalem is partnering to set up a joint PhD programme," said NTU President-Designate and Provost, Professor Bertil Andersson. "This speaks volumes of NTU's growing stature as a research-intensive university of global repute. This joint PhD programme will leverage on the complementary strengths of both universities, starting with the Singapore Centre on Environmental Life Sciences Engineering at NTU, a national Research Centre of Excellence."
"Environmental life sciences is a fast-growing and exciting area of research, development and education. For instance, we now know that bacteria 'communicate' with each other. If we know how to 'interfere' with their communication process, this can lead to novel ways to stop the spread of diseases. The training of more postgraduate students in this field is therefore crucial to develop the talent base for related environmental, life sciences, biomedical and pharmaceutical industries in Singapore, Asia and beyond," said Professor Andersson.
"I am thrilled with this opportunity to usher in the next era of scientific breakthroughs with our friends from Singapore's Nanyang Technological University. This agreement is a significant step in our strategy, which aims to develop The Hebrew University of Jerusalem as an international world-class university," said HU's Rector, Professor Sarah Stroumsa.
"This joint PhD programme will be of pivotal importance for cross-disciplinary research in cutting-edge life sciences and environmental engineering to create a new discipline of environmental life sciences engineering," said Professor Yehuda Cohen, Deputy Director, SCELSE. "These experts will then be able to harness microbial community-driven processes for environmental sustainability such as degradation of harmful pollutants, recycling of used water and minimising environmental health risks. NTU is fast becoming the international hub in this important new domain."
The Implementation Agreement for the NTU-HU joint PhD programme was signed by Professor Lam Khin Yong, NTU's Associate Provost (Graduate Education and Special Projects) and Professor Yaacov Schul, HU's Vice Rector, at the HU campus in Mount Scopus, Jerusalem, on 5 April 2011.
This is NTU's second joint PhD programme with an Israeli university. The first was with the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, signed in June 2010.
Other universities which NTU has joint PhD programmes with include Imperial College London (United Kingdom), Karolinska Institutet (Sweden), ParisTech – Institut des Sciences et Technologies (France), and Technische Universität München (Germany).