Bengaluru: The Bengaluru campus of Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham (Amrita University) awarded Master of Science (MS) degrees to 109 students at its 2017 Graduation Ceremony. A total of 66 students of the 9th batch of MS (Business Analytics) and 43 students of the second batch of MS (Embedded Systems) were awarded degrees. Both these are twinning programs between Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham and University at Buffalo, State University of New York.
Top officials from both the institutions of higher learning were present to facilitate the students. Representing Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham were Dr. P. Venkat Rangan, Vice Chancellor; Dr. Sasangan Ramanathan, Dean, School of Engineering; and Manoj P. Chairperson, School of Business.
From the University at Buffalo were present Dr. Satish Tripathi, President; Prof. Stephen Dunnett, Vice Provost for International Education; Prof. Paul Tesluk, Dean, School of Management; and Prof. Liesl Folks, Dean, School of Engineering & Applied Sciences.
The University of Buffalo and Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham are collaboratively offering joint twinning programmes since 2007. These consists of two master’s degrees: MBA or Executive-MBA from Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham as well as MS in Management Science: Business Analytics & Systems from University at Buffalo. In addition, M.Tech-MS twinning was launched in 2013 which offers an M.Tech in Automotive Systems from Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham and MS in Embedded Systems from University of Buffalo.
Said Dr. P Venkat Rangan, Vice-Chancellor, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham: “These twinning programmes have been designed by the two universities in conjunction with several focus groups of high-performance managers and engineers who provided valuable inputs for curriculum development. The business triggers for this arrangement are threefold: enable top talent in the Indian industry to grow into world-class managers and engineers; enable Indian firms to retain such talent by providing significant career advancement through these programmes; and make them extremely attractive to the outside world. This enables a robust and effective development of human resources, contributing to both organizational development and individual growth.”
During his congratulatory address to the students, Dr. Satish Tripathi, President, University at Buffalo, emphasized the importance of being global citizens. He said: “As students of the 21st century, you are competing in the global market, and as successful graduates of this international twinning programme, you are exactly the kind of educated citizens the world needs. Now, more than ever, we need ideas, solutions and collaborations which transcends borders of all kinds. We need global-minded citizens who are ready to come together to tackle the challenges facing the world, and that is where you come in. Your education has prepared you for exactly this kind of engaged global citizenship.”
On the occasion, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham and University of Buffalo extended their decade-long relationship by signing a new MoU for a twinning Ph.D. programme, where a Ph.D. scholar will be co-advised by a faculty member of both the institutions. This will help form closer ties among the faculty of both the universities, as the dissertation committee would have representation from each.
