The group of students, who are the first cohort of an expected 20 PhD students, were awarded their places at Queen’s after the university signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Tezpur University earlier this year.

The partnership allows sponsored students to be nominated by Tezpur University to study a degree programme at Queen’s.

Tanmay Jyoti Deka (25) from Tezpur has just started a PhD in Chemical Engineering. He commented: “Queen’s is one of the best universities in the world and I’m very excited, not many people get opportunities like this in their lifetime and I am.”

Talking about his decision to study at Queen’s, Tanmay said: “At Queen’s there are excellent facilities and very good supervision and I’m very interested in doing some research which will help the people of my own country.

“In India going abroad to study is quite a big thing. Queen’s provides the infrastructure and the facilities to give me exposure to industry and I think attending Queen’s will help me to grow and develop both my academic and personal skills.”

As part of the agreement, staff at Queen’s University and Tezpur University will also take part in exchange trips for collaborative research, teaching and discussions.

Undergraduate students from Tezpur will also be able to travel for a research internship experience of three to four weeks at Queen’s University.

There are also benefits for the Belfast students as they may also be nominated to carry out their studies in India.

Professor Stan Scott, Dean of Internationalisation, Engineering and Physical Science at Queen’s University Belfast, said: “I’m delighted to welcome the first cohort of PhD students from Tezpur University. Queen’s has been engaged in discussions with the government of India for nine years to develop a capacity building project the North East Region of India and its fantastic to see this come to fruition.”

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Media inquiries to Emma Gallagher at Queen’s University Communications Office T; +44 (0)28 9097 3087 E; emma.gallagher@qub.ac.uk