IIM Ahmedabad may set up campus in UAE in 1st global foray by any IIM

Education ministry has held at least one round of meetings on the proposal, it is learnt. Three IITs already in process of setting up campuses overseas.

Representational photo of Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad | Commons

New Delhi: The Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad may set up a campus in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), becoming the first IIM to make a foray abroad along the lines of at least three Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) that are currently in the process of establishing overseas campuses, it is learnt.

The development is significant since it’s the first time that the central government is considering the overseas expansion of one of India’s top business schools. Government sources have told ThePrint that the education ministry has already held at least one round of meetings on the proposal.  

Sources in the ministry said it was the UAE government that first reached out to the Indian embassy in Abu Dhabi with the proposal. 

“Subsequently, our people (Indian embassy officials) conveyed the proposal to us. During discussions, it was felt that IIM-A was best placed to make the move,” a source said.

It is also in the UAE that IIT-Delhi could open its first overseas campus in September 2024. Meanwhile, IIT-Madras is setting up a campus in Tanzania and IIT-Kharagpur in Malaysia.

ThePrint reached both the education ministry and IIM-A by phone and email for comment. This report will be updated if and when a response is received. 

But a source at IIM-A confirmed the development. “Some IIMs tied up with companies abroad in the past to offer general management programmes. But until now, there were no plans for IIMs to set up full-fledged campuses abroad,” the source told ThePrint.

So far, two IIMs — IIM-A and IIM-Bangalore — offer general management programmes for working professionals in Dubai. The classes are online and held over weekends.

In 2019, IIM-A established its first overseas branch — the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad Executive Education (IIMAEE) — in Dubai.

The development comes less than a year after a committee led by IIT Council standing committee chairperson K. Radhakrishnan drafted guidelines to facilitate the foreign expansion of IITs. The IIT Council is the governing body for all IITs.  

Among several recommendations, the Radhakrishnan panel had said that the new institutes could be run under the brand name of ‘Indian International Institute of Technology’.

Committee to examine proposal

According to government sources, a meeting involving top officials of the education ministry was held on 30 June, and it’s possible that another committee on the lines of the Radhakrishnan panel would be instituted to examine the proposal of setting up overseas campuses of Indian business schools. 

Both IIM-Kozhikode and IIM-Rohtak have expressed interest to have a footprint in the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) region, which comprises UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar. These countries are home to a large number of Indian nationals and people of Indian descent.

The Radhakrishna committee had also taken into account feedback from the heads of Indian missions to draw up its report.

The idea of allowing Indian educational institutions to expand abroad as well permitting foreign universities to set up campuses in India flows from the National Education Policy, 2020 — the Narendra Modi-government’s ambitious and sweeping educational reforms. 

“High performing Indian universities will be encouraged to set up campuses in other countries, and similarly, selected universities e.g., those from among the top 100 universities in the world will be facilitated to operate in India,” the NEP says. 

The central government is currently working on regulations to allow foreign universities to open in the country.  

(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)