Jadavpur University has tied up with a US university for a dual-degree Ph.D course. A Telegraph picture

Jadavpur University (JU) has tied up with the US-based Virginia Tech University to offer a dual-degree Ph.D programme in engineering mechanics. The course starts in July.

The degree will be awarded by both universities and students from each can enrol for the course.

The four-year programme will be divided into two parts and the students will have to complete one part of the research in JU and the other in Virginia Tech University.

They will have to stay in each of the institutions for at least 18 months and submit theses to both.

Indian students with an ME or M.Tech degree have to qualify in TOEFL to enrol for the course. They will also have to fulfil certain conditions laid down by Virginia Tech University.

“We are perhaps the first institution in the country to launch a dual-degree Ph.D programme in association with a foreign university,” said Parthapratim Biswas, a member of JU’s executive council and a senior teacher in the engineering and technology faculty.

The proposal for the programme, approved by the executive council on Wednesday, was mooted in 2006 when a team of JU teachers visited Virginia Tech University.

“The deans of both institutions will meet to finalise the technicalities for running the programme. Officials from Virginia Tech may visit JU or we may go there,” said a JU official.