The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwahati and the Mehta Family Foundation (MFF), Houston, Texas, USA, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to form the ‘Jyoti and Bhupat Mehta School of Health Sciences and Technology.’ During the current academic year, this new institution will begin its academic activities.
This academic year, the school will begin offering new Master’s and PhD programmes in health sciences and technology. Through GATE 2022, the first batch of 20 MTech students will be admitted to IIT Guwahati in the biomedical science and engineering stream.
Students will be trained in topics linked to Health Science and Technology, with an emphasis on courses from various science and engineering disciplines such as Biosciences and Bioengineering, Chemical Engineering, Electronics and Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Statistics, and Design.
The IIT Guwahati focuses on:
- Promoting research and development.
- Developing innovative pedagogical standards and hands-on training methodologies in fields relevant to health sciences.
- Developing a niche of entrepreneurs and MSMEs that would supply budget-friendly, evidence-based healthcare innovations.
- Education in biomedicine and public health.
According to Ajay Kumar Sood, Principal Scientific Adviser, Government of India, ‘The school will place aspiring academic leaders in close proximity to world-class educators, scientists, physicians, technologists, and entrepreneurs, potentially catalysing high-impact research, reducing costly biomedical imports, and developing an academic curriculum that supports the vision of a sustainable society.’
This new multidisciplinary health sciences and technology curriculum at IIT Guwahati was created in accordance with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. The NEP argues for the creation of a comprehensive academic curriculum to develop the country’s top talents via both pedagogic and practical training.
The school will have highly competent full-time professors as well as the direction of associated faculty members from many disciplines at IIT Guwahati who have expertise developing existing Masters’ and PhD programmes in the Engineering, Science, and Design departments.