The professor in materials science and polymer technology maintains close connections with institutes in Singapore, in particular with the Institute for Materials Research and Engineering. `Three materials science students are working on an internship there and seven more vacancies are available to students. In addition there are PhD positions for those who want to conduct research in Singapore for a year. Lodging is provided and living expenses are partially paid. There is money for full-time equivalent (fte) positions per year,' says Vancso. He sees himself as a harbinger for the relationship with the research institutes in Singapore.
`Internationalization is an important factor in the Route'14 plan and this cooperation fits in perfectly. You could also send out post doctoral students to Singapore, not only master's and PhD students. These contacts might also be of interest for the graduate school, which the UT is planning to start.' Since 2002, Vancso has visited Singapore four times and just returned from an international congress on nanoscience and technology.
Singapore has two large universities: the Nanyang Technological University and the National University of Singapore, which both collaborate with MIT, the most important American institute for technological research. The close ties to these universities will offer a chance for the UT to contact other highly reputed universities in South East Asia. In the field of research, A*STAR strives to promote scientific knowledge. The organization consists of fourteen technological-scientific institutes, from electrical engineering to biomedical technology.
In the field of research, the UT and the Asian institutes are evenly matched, and in that sense there are plenty of possibilities for scientists to participate in complementary research. Scientists from Singapore work for different chairs in his faculty. In Vancso's chair, two post doctoral students and one PhD student are working who come from that area.
In order to strengthen the collaboration, a delegation from A*STAR will visit Enschede next year, said Vancso.
