Marquee collaborations at UPES to boost students’ prospects

UPES, in separate MoUs, has tied up with American tech-giant IBM and Italy’s Istituto Europeo di Design. These pioneering partnerships will open a new world of learning opportunities for students and faculty

When a university collaborates with industry and academia, it leads to blockbuster breakthroughs. Ideas germinating from extensive research at the university become profitable for the company, while the industry’s practical approach to executing solutions opens a new world for faculty and students. Thus, curriculum and teaching methodologies always keep evolving, resulting in an experiential learning experience.

UPES has always been a pioneer in updating its pedagogy to align with a world, changing at a blink-of-an-eye speed. The university has teamed up with American multinational technology corporation IBM, and Italy’s esteemed design school, the Istituto Europeo di Design (IED), in two separate memorandums of understanding (MoUs).

The scope of collaboration between UPES and IBM entails:

• A dedicated single point of contact (SPOC) from IBM at the campus
• 30% face-to-face interactions between IBM experts and UPES students
• Project-based learning and competitions such as ‘Hackathons’
• Mentoring by industry professionals
• Access to IBM’s tinkering lab, solutions lab and ideation lab
• Events such as ‘Ice Day’ and ‘Summer Day’

UPES School of Design tie-up with IED would promote opportunities for research and international students’ exchange. IED is a private higher educational institution offering undergraduate, advanced and master programs in Design, Fashion, Visual Arts and Communication.

This pioneering partnership will encourage joint institutional activities such as: 

•         Cooperation in international education projects

•        Assistance in students’ mobility to strengthen design knowledge and intercultural competencies at the international level

•         Facilitation of faculty and staff exchange for sharing knowledge and good practices in the academic field

•         Organisation of collaborative activities to broaden the scope of cooperation between IED and UPES

•         Access to IED programs of study at a reduced cost for UPES students

The world is undergoing a fundamental shift, and the field of education is no exception. Agility, evolution, knowledge-sharing, and the will to grow together will be crucial to thriving. Partnering with industrial doyens and academic peers reaffirms UPES’ commitment to evolve and provide the best education to its students.