94 India Insight programme for Singapore Polytechnic Students and MoU signing

Very often   memorandum  of understanding( MoU)  between  an institute   and a  university  or institution  abroad are  signed   with  announcement   in the  press   with   photographs  of  foreign  dignitaries  visiting the  institute and signing the MoU. On some  occasions,  a team from  the  institute  may also visit the institution on the foreign soil too. But  often nothing   more happens  beyond that. For such interaction to be  meaningful, the    interaction   between  the two institutions should be beneficial to both  the  institutions, with   neither  dominating. We have  also   signed  MOU   between a few  universities  abroad  while  I was  part  of the academic   administration in NITC. There  was  one with which we  had  conducted  a  one-day  seminar  with three  professors  from Georgia  University Atlanta and had  some  interaction  even later. Similarly,  a few  academic personnel from a university in Taiwan visited us and  our Director  with  one of the   Deans  visited  Taiwan, but nothing  happened afterwards. As our director  never  missed  an opportunity  for a   travel abroad  on institute expenses, when   Ngee Ann Polytechnic Singapore  came  up with a proposal to train  a batch of their ICT ( Information, Communication Technology) students at  N.I.T. Calicut, he  accepted the offer.

It was  under an  Insight Programme for Discovering India  as per the agreement  between the Prime Ministers  of Singapore  and India. Under  this scheme  around 30  students and two members  of faculty  from Ngee Ann Polytechnic Singapore will be staying  in NITC  campus for  six weeks and will  be attending  classes  on various developments in India. The programme  included a series of lectures  by eminent  people on the  history, software industry, social life etc and included visits  to historical  and other places in India. All  expenses  for their  accommodation, food and other  items   were  to be paid by the  Ngee Ann Poly. Details  of the  project  was worked out and the formal  agreement  for  the programme  was to be signed by the  Directors  of the  two institutions. Director was  very keen  for the  visit and  as  he knew  that I had  been in Singapore   for less than a year  on a visiting assignment, he wanted  me  to  accompany him. As  I was quite  familiar with  the place, I was  not interested, but  as  the  boss  was insisting, I had to oblige. My duty  was  to  travel  with  him   and show  him  Singapore.

We reached  Singapore  by Air India  flight from  Chennai and reached  Changi  Airport  by 8PM. Representatives   from  Ngee Ann Polytechnic were  available to receive  us  and we took   us to their   newly constructed after  dinner  from a  ‘banana  leaf’ restaurant. We were  accommodated  in a hostel where  the smell of  fresh paint still existed. Even though   we  had some difficulty  in contacting  our family due to  the  international roaming  not available, we  could take  rest for  the  night.

Second  day  in Singapore

This was  the day reserved  for the  official  work. After    taking  our breakfast from  the grand  food court   in the  Ngee Ann Poly we  met the  Director  for formal introduction. The  Director  of Ngee Ann Poly was a nice young lady. We  gave a brief  presentation  on N.I.T. Calicut  and they on their institution. After  the  presentations and introduction, we were taken around the  institution   to see  their facilities. The  projects of   the students  were  nicely arranged and beautifully  described  by their students. Most of them were supported  by  industry giants  like  HP and MicroSoft . For  a set of polytechnic students, these  were really  impressive. After   visiting  their   ICT  labs in the morning  we  were  taken to a  vegetarian restaurant  and was  given a  real  Singaporean lunch. Visit to other  labs  continued in the afternoon. Boss  was particularly  interested in the  Photonics lab and me  in the Energy lab. They had several good projects  using solar  energy.  The  MoU  signing ceremony was   at 430 PM and almost  members of faculty were  present  in the solemn but brief  function. After a sumptuous  dinner  from  our typical  Tamil  restaurant, we returned  to our   lodgings.

Third day

Now that  the  official work is  over ,  we  had a day for sight-seeing and shopping  as Singapore  is a big shopping  place like Dubai. The  Ngee Ann poly  authorities had arranged a vehicle and one of their    teachers  to take us around. Being a Saturday,  I decided  to   visit  Mustafa  Super market and  purchased a few things. We  had a quick look at a shopping mall in Orchard road  also. After  lunch from a typical   Telugu restaurant, we  made a  detour of the  main places  of sight-seeing  in Singapore.

Next destination was  the  Jurong Bird park.   A  quick visit  to the  underwater  aquarium and dolphin lagoon followed.  After  that we  moved  to  Sentosa  island, where  there were  too many things to see including the  history  of Singapore  beautifully  picturised.  The  light  and sound show  called  ‘Song of the Sea’ is a  magnificent  show  very much different  from the  small laser show  they had  when we were  in Singapore. The design  of the show with  musical fountain, multi-colour  lasers and fishermen like  huts  by a French engineer was  really unique. Using   laser  shoes , sea animals were  dancing  beautifully  in the  sky and was  a treat to watch with back ground music .