Nongpoh, Sept 20: With the objective to bring excellence in implementing the ambitious plans of scientific applications and generate new avenues of employment, the “International Center of Excellence” (ICE) at the University of Science and Technology Meghalaya (USTM) was launched on Monday.Addressing the gathering, Meghalaya Education Minister Lahkmen Rymbui said the collaboration of USTM with CIDC will bring positive results for the development of human resources in the region. He also said that study has to be done on how to balance the biosphere and economic development of the region.Assam Education Minister Dr. Ranoj Pegu, speaking virtually through video conferencing, said, “The International Center of Excellence (ICE) that has come up at USTM will be extremely useful for the growth of the North East region. It is another feather of quality education institution in the region.”

Dr Pegu said it is a good moment for all the states of the North East and ICE will definitely increase the employability of the students.

Earlier, welcoming the delegates and everyone present, Chancellor of USTM, Mahbubul Hoque, said that the spirit behind USTM is entrepreneurship and research. Reinforcing his desire to make USTM a university of global standard by 2030, and thanking CIDC for collaborating with USTM, Hoque said that the university is growing day by day and the new International Centre of Excellence will extend value added education to the youth of the region and the neighbouring countries.

Also present on the occasion were Director General of Construction Industry Development Council (CIDC) Dr. P. R. Swarup, Vice Chancellor of USTM Prof GD Sharma.
International experts and industry leaders like Dr. Mo Najafi from University of Texas at Arlington, USA, and Thenucho Tunyi, the former Home Minister of Nagaland, virtually took part in the programme. After the launch of the ICE, a ceremonial exchange of MoU also took place between USTM and CIDC.Objectives of  International Centre of Excellence

Presenting the objectives of the Centre, Dr. P. R. Swarup, Director General, CIDC said that the new Centre at USTM is going to be a landmark with 17 schools of specialization and will use everything from the emerging technology including operation of drone technology for surveillance and other purposes.

The ICE shall have 17 schools and fraternity chapters that include: School of vocational studies, School of construction Quality assessment & health assessment of structures, School of Trenchless Technology, School of Arbitration, Conciliation & Dispute resolution, School of Technical consultancy, School of Drone technology & GIS studies, Student Chapters of ECI, IndSTT, ICC, School of Internships for young engineers, School of skill Assessors training, School of non-conventional Energy studies, School of Production/ Manufacturing process, School of Artificial intelligence, School of Faculty development, School of Subsurface Investigation, School of Surveying, School of Project Management, School of Surface Transportation.

It is planned that the students and research scientists from India’s North East and other countries like from Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Myanmar shall benefit from this initiative. This is also a giant step to generate opportunities of value-added employment for our youth.

Vice Chancellor of USTM, Prof GD Sharma, said that as a result of the intervention with CIDC, students from USTM will be able to go to Texas under students’ exchange programme and study there at a very low cost.  He also informed that the implementation of the MoU has begun from Monday itself with registration of students.