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Meetings in Abu Dhabi, studying infra in Tanzania — IITs gear up for offshore campuses by 2023

In January 2021, UGC amended its regulations to allow 'institutes of eminence' to set up campuses abroad, in line with the NEP 2020, which encourages Indian institutes to go global.

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New Delhi: With the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) planning to have operational offshore campuses by 2023, IIT officials have been meeting education department officials from countries which are being seen as potential destinations, ThePrint has learnt.

After a team of officials from Abu Dhabi’s ministry of education visited the IIT Delhi campus last month, a team of two IIT Delhi members are set to visit the country in the next two weeks, said sources in Delhi IIT. More trips are planned in the coming months to chalk out further details, they added.

While IIT Delhi is set to open an offshore campus in Abu Dhabi, IIT Madras in Tanzania and IIT Kharagpur in Malaysia.

Sources in the IITs privy to the matter, told ThePrint, “Unlike other newer IITs (set up in India), which were hand held by older ones, the international IITs will be run (directly) by the founding IITs for 5-10 years before they become self-sustaining. The faculty teaching at these institutions will also be hired by the founding IITs and will be paid according to industry standards in that country.”

IIT Madras has also set up a team for global engagement at the institute, which will spearhead the process, the institute’s director, V. Kamakoti, said.

Kamakoti added: “As of now we are at a nebular stage of discussions. We are still talking as to what they have to offer, what we can offer. We are looking at the timeline of a year. We might also collaborate with other IITs to help set up this campus. It is an evolving process.”

ThePrint reached the IIT Delhi spokesperson over phone, but he refused to comment on the issue. ThePrint also reached IIT Kharagpur over mail, but received no response till the time of publication of this report. The copy will be updated once a comment is received.

In January last year, the University Grants Commission (UGC) had made amendments to its regulations to allow “institutes of eminence” to set up campuses abroad, after prior approval of the Ministry of Education and no-objection certificates from the Ministry of External Affairs and Ministry of Home Affairs. The amendments were made in line with the New Education Policy 2020, which encourages Indian institutes to go global.


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Beyond borders

Meanwhile, directors of 23 IITs in the country came together for a first-of-its-kind two-day event — IInvenTiv — to conclude Saturday, where the institutes showcased their research and development projects at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, in a bid to push for industry-academia collaborations.

In February, the Centre had formed a 17 member committee, led by IIT council standing chairperson K. Radhakrishnan, to plan for the offshore IIT campuses. While the IITs will be following the guidelines given by the committee, they are also looking at going beyond its scope to ensure successful functioning of the IITs.

Earlier this month the committee had reportedly suggested that the IITs charge royalties for the offshore campus.

“The establishing IIT should get something back from the institute abroad. For example, there could be a royalty for using the IIT brand. There should be safeguards for saving the IIT brand in the long run. Every effort should be made to ensure that the IIT brand is not diluted in any manner, in case one of the institutes established abroad does not do well for whatever reason,” the panel had said in its recommendations.

IIT Abu Dhabi, the intended name of the institute to be set up in that middle-eastern country according to sources, will also be accepting a certain number of Indian students for the undergraduate and postgraduate programmes through the Joint Entrance Test.

The IITs are also looking at the current infrastructural facilities that these countries have and what is needed.

“We have found that Tanzania has good undergraduate degree programmes and they are looking for more post graduate courses. So we are in conversation with them trying to understand what kind of fields they are looking at,” Kamakoti said.

He added: “We are also studying industry parameters in Tanzania. For example, fields like mining, metallurgy may be important in Tanzania, so allied courses will be of great value to them. Then we are also looking at the industries present there, if any Indian industries in those sectors can collaborate and provide employment to their students.”

(Edited by Poulomi Banerjee)


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