CMI launches Master's degrees for the futureThe Cambridge-MIT Institute (CMI) today launches a range of new, one-year Master's degrees aimed at the high technology, science, and engineering leaders of the future. The multi-disciplinary Master's courses - which provide both technical expertise and business breadth - will be offered at the University of Cambridge from Autumn 2002. They have been developed with the support of CMI, the joint venture that links Cambridge with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Boston. Students on the new courses will be taught by Faculty members from both sides of the Atlantic. They will also have considerable interaction with students on parallel programmes at MIT. There are three new Master's courses for Autumn 2002: BioScience Enterprise, Technology Policy, and Environmental Engineering and Sustainable Development. (A fourth course, on Chemical Engineering, is in development for Autumn 2003). Drawing on MIT's successful track record in this regard, all the new Master's programmes offer students the opportunity to combine a discipline base in science or engineering with courses on business and entrepreneurship, provided by Cambridge's business school, the Judge Institute of Management. (At MIT, the ability of students to combine disciplines is seen as a major contributor to its success in stimulating the start-up of new companies.) All three new courses emphasise practical application, case studies and interaction with industry. Professor Nick Oliver is programme director of CMI's Professional Practice Programme, which has led the development of these new courses. He says: "CMI is delighted to have helped develop these pioneering new Master's courses. The fact that they offer a combination of technical depth and business breadth is vital - we need scientists and engineers who have a sound grasp of business, and business people who understand the science. It is through working across the boundaries of science and business that MIT has developed its remarkable track record for innovation". Professor John Vander Sande, Executive Director of the Cambridge-MIT Institute at MIT, says: "At MIT, the opportunity for students to combine disciplines is widely regarded as a major source for the success of MIT's spin-out activities. It's also popular because it helps bring together groups of students from disciplines who would not otherwise meet and work together. All the new Master's programmes MIT is jointly developing with Cambridge will share this unique approach, and we are sure it will be very successful." The launch of the courses has been welcomed by Lord Sainsbury of Turville, Minister for Science and Innovation at the DTI, who says: "CMI's new Master's courses at the University of Cambridge aim to equip scientists, engineers and high-technology innovators both with the business skills to excel in their professions, and the technical expertise to address the challenges facing them. As Science and Innovation Minister, I welcome the launch of these courses and wish the participating graduates at Cambridge every success." The new Master's degrees feature modular structures that will allow individual courses on each programme to be included in other, sometimes pre-existing, programmes. This is a considerable innovation at Cambridge, where Master's degrees have typically comprised courses highly specific to those programmes. Developing the new degrees is a key new initiative from CMI. The company is supported by the UK government, and industrial and other partners, in its mission to help convert pioneering research and teaching excellence into economic success. A limited number of student bursaries are available for outstanding candidates in the UK who wish to study on these programmes. For further information on these new courses, or about CMI, please contact;
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