Jamshoro PR (8 Dec 2011)   Mehran University of Engineering and Technology (MUET) has been selected as a partner university of Euro 1.98 million Erasmus Mundus project which will enable the exchange of staff and students across higher education institutions in the European Union (EU) and South and South East Asia. Lead persons of the project at MUET Prof Dr BS Chowdhry Dean Faculty of Electrical Electronics and Computer Engineering and Prof Dr Aftab A Memon, Chairman Telecommunication Engineering Department further told that in the project “Strong Ties”, the main areas of interest include Electrical, Electronics engineering and Information and Communication Technologies, Photonics, Biomedical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Power systems and energy, Informatics, Communication Engineering and Microwaves.

The funding will enable a total of 101 staff and students from across South and South East Asia to work or study at one of seven EU universities for periods ranging between two and 30 months. The first call for applications has been opened on 5 December 2011 for Doctorate students and staff, with a deadline of 21 January 2012. There will be two further annual calls – for Bachelor, Masters and Post-Doctorate students in 2012 and at all levels in 2013.

Scholarships available for Doctorate students, including return economy airfares, travel and health insurance coverage, a participation cost subsidy (paid to the host university) and Euro 1,500 per month for subsistence. Staff funding includes return airfares, insurance coverage and Euro 2,500 per month towards living costs in the host country.

The Strong Ties EU partners are: Poiltechnico di Milano, Italy; University of Southern Denmark; University of Limerick, Ireland; Wroclaw University of Technology, Poland; Frederick University of Technology, Cyprus; University of Dortmund, Germany; and City University London, UK.

The Asian partners are: Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, and United International University, Bangladesh; National University of Science and Technology(NUST), and Mehran University of Engineering and Technology (MUET), Pakistan; University of Pune, India; Kathmandu University, Nepal; Royal University of Bhutan; Kabul University, Afghanistan; University of Malaya, Malaysia; Bangkok University, Thailand; and Bandung Institute of Technology, Indonesia.

Further information is available at www.strongties.eu