15/04/2013

HKUST and University of Toronto Sign Agreement for Academic Cooperation

(Front row from left) Prof Fugee Tsung, Prof Guohua Chen, Prof Mounir Hamdi, Prof Khaled Ben Letaief, Prof Cristina Amon, Prof Wai Tung Ng, Mr Jim Dawson. (Back row from left) Prof Charles Kwan, Prof Christopher Leung, Prof Johnny Sin, Prof Roger Cheng, Prof Li Qiu, Prof Lilong Cai, Prof Philip Mok, PhD students Mr Alireza Bazargan, Mr Naushad Hossain and Mr Mahdi Nikdast. [Download Photo]

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) and the University of Toronto (U of T) have reached an agreement for academic and research cooperation, working towards a joint venture in PhD education which allows students to conduct academic exchange at both universities.

Under this agreement, both universities are committed to developing joint activities and programs for academic, scientific and technological exchange and cooperation in the broad fields of science and engineering. It is envisaged that both parties would start the realization of collaborative PhD education within the coming few years.

HKUST Dean of Engineering Prof Khaled Ben Letaief said, "We are pleased to team up with the University of Toronto to establish a strategic alliance to promote and enhance engineering teaching, learning and research. The cooperative ties established between the two universities signify our common goal to bring development in engineering to new heights. We endeavor to provide our students with an exciting and diversified learning experience by promoting a joint venture in PhD education in the near future."

Founded as King's College in 1827, U of T in Canada is rich in history and has evolved into a preeminent institution with an outstanding international reputation. It was listed as the top 19th university by QS World University Rankings in 2012, and the 21st by Times Higher Education World University Rankings in 2013. The university is strongly engaged in achieving and maintaining academic and research prominence by promoting inter-institutional collaborations. Some of the current HKUST faculty members who are also alumni of U of T, such as Prof Mohamed S Ghidaoui in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Prof Johnny K O Sin and Prof Philip K T Mok in the Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering, are active collaborators with U of T. HKUST is a top-ranked international research university, which was ranked Asia's No. 1 in QS Asian University Rankings 2011 and 2012. The university was also ranked No. 1 in Greater China and No. 23 globally in 2013 Times Higher Education World University Rankings in Engineering and Technology.

This agreement with U of T signifies yet another significant partnership between HKUST School of Engineering and other top universities in the world. The School has been engaging in academic and research collaboration with a number of leading research universities in different parts of the world. To cite a few examples, we have Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Princeton in the US, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne in Switzerland, Ecole Nationale Superieure des Mines de Saint-Etienne in France, Tsinghua University in China, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology in Korea, and the University of Tokyo in Japan.