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jaargang 42, 22 juni 2000 English page

“TUE and NUS Compete with Best in the World” The Technische Universiteit Eindhoven and the National University of Singapore (NUS) are planning joint research programs in three fields, culminating in a joint Ph.D. degree. A delegation from Singapore was at TUE last week to sign an agreement to this effect. “By combining our strengths we will be able to compete with the best in the world,” deputy vice-chancellor of NUS Prof. Hang Chang Chieh commented after ratifying the deal. The program is the first of its kind for both TUE and NUS, also for any university in the Netherlands. According to a TUE spokesman ten talented Ph.D. students from TUE in the fields of Logistics, Mechatronics & Design and Quality and Reliability have been selected to take part in the first phase. They should receive their joint degrees in 2002 and will defend their thesis at both institutes. A similar group is starting the joint Ph.D. program in Singapore. Joint Masters The program will eventually be extended to the Masters degree and other courses. Prof. Hang says a plan for a joint Masters degree is in the works and should be ready within six to twelve months. In the long term, he would also like to see more undergraduates involved in joint courses. Hang is enthusiastic about pioneering interactive distance learning, something NUS has been working on for the past year with Boston University. “This is a direction to go in our Masters program, it may be possible to synergize some courses with Boston, Singapore and Holland.” The agreement between TUE and NUS formalises both universities’ ambitions to co-operate more closely in research and training. This intent was defined in a ‘Memorandum of Understanding’ in 1997. During the past few years, TUE and NUS have set-up a number of new exchange projects for students and there have been heightened contacts between lecturers. Deputy vice-chancellor of NUS Prof. Hang Chang Chieh. Photo: Bram Saeys “We want to expose our graduates to the international research scene. The joint program allows us to do that without sending them away to earn a foreign degree. Both in the Netherlands and Singapore, students will build a different and broader kind of network,” Hang explains. Different Angles “Furthermore, a lot of creativity occurs in the cross-disciplinary boundary. Each of our universities has unique characteristics. Sometimes professors who co-supervise approach problems from different angles, and new things come up. Joint research would reap the benefits of these efforts.” “Our strengths are in-fluenced by the type of people we already have, TUE and NUS excel in different areas. Eindhoven is strong in consumer electronics, but not so much in mobile phones. We, on the other hand, work closely with Nokia. Singapore is probably number one in wireless communications. These are areas where cross fertilization may be viable.” Hang says a possible field for future joint exploration by TUE and NUS is Chemical Engineering. “I hope our people will start to visit each other. Petroleum and Chemical Engineering are very strong in Singapore. Here in Eindhoven the Dutch Polymer Institute is doing great work. I see tremendous potential in co-operation.” Chemical Engineering is the Deputy Vice-Chancellor’s own field. In the seventies Hang spent time in The Hague working for his degree with Shell. “I find the Dutch easy to deal with, very open and straight forward,” he comments. Impressed “Working with TUE, I’m impressed by the way your professors co-operate closely with industry while still moving toward their own research goals. In this, TUE differs from Singapore, we tend to keep research and commercial application strictly separate. Traditionally, there is not much R&D in Singapore. This is changing. Our industry is starting to design new products from scratch for the Asian market. We look to TUE as an example of how to keep academic excellence while working with industry. TUE-chairman De Wilt is confident of TUE’s ability to keep the right balance by being very selective. British universities are not very good at that, they separate research and commerce very clearly. And of course, we were founded by the British. Here in the Netherlands, things are more permeable. That makes for interesting synergy. We would like to emulate our Dutch friends in this.” Prof. Hang says the effect of the joint program will not be immediate. “This is a long-term collaboration. After five to ten years we can look back and ask others to measure the program’s effectiveness.” /.

Young Talent Avoids University A third of all our scientists and researchers will be pensioned off this year. Not enough young talent is available to replace them, universities and institutes are unable to hold onto these people. The shortage of scientists now impending, threatens the quality of Dutch research and education and the development of a ‘knowledge economy’ in the Netherlands. These are the conclusions of a report by ‘Talent voor Toekomst, Toekomst voor Talent’, by Dr. Lieteke van Vucht-Tijssen, commissioned by minister Hermans (ministry of Education and Science). Van Vucht-Tijssen recommends a number of solutions to the minister, one of them is to improve the position of women in the academic world. When it comes to the position of women in research and science, the Netherlands is very low on the list of European countries. Van Vucht Tijssen indicates that at least ten years and 140 million guilders a year will be necessary to change this situation. Excellent Performance TUE Interna-tionally TUE performs very well scientifically at an international level. Researchers in Eindhoven publish relatively frequently in leading scientific journals. The number of referrals to their articles by other researchers is also above average. TUE does especially well in the fields of chemical engineering, physics, polymer science, analytical chemistry, mechatronics, chemistry and materials science. In these areas there are not only relatively frequent publications, but also publications from Eindhoven have a relatively great scientific impact. These are some of the conclusions from an as yet confidential concept report commissioned by TUE, and researched by Centrum voor Wetenschaps- en Technologiestudies at Leiden University.