With an aim to motivate students to join basic sciences as a subject of study and help them find a rewarding career in pharmaceutical and chemical industry, a five-year integrated MSc Chemistry course is being introduced in GITAM University from this academic year.
The programme with an intake of 50 students, selected through an entrance test conducted by the university, is being sponsored by Laurus Labs. Not only would the annual fee of Rs. 50,000 be paid by the Laurus Labs but also the students would be paid a stipend of Rs. 5,000 per month for 10 months in a year to take care of their boarding and incidental expenses.
The course includes three semester internships in the company. After qualification, the student would have the option of joining the company or looking for opportunities in some other company. “In effect there is no financial burden on either the student or her parent, further there is a job guarantee,” Laurus Labs chief executive officer C. Satyanarayana explained speaking before signing of MoU with the University on Thursday.
Pointing out that there is a dearth of candidates in basic sciences with most students and their parents looking at engineering alone as a career option, he hoped that this would be a good incentive for attracting bright students towards research in basic sciences.
This was a fine example of industry-academia collaboration, president GITAM University M.V.V.S. Murthi said and hoped more enterprises would come forward for such collaborations. The collaboration would be for five batches, GITAM Vice-Chancellor G. Subrahmanyam said.
The memorandum of understanding was signed by GITAM registrar Potharaju and CEO of Laurus Labs C. Satyanarayana. Senior members of GITAM faculty and senior officials of the company were present on the occasion.
