IIT goes global: UK, Gulf countries among seven nations that will soon get an IIT campus

In a major development, a committee set up by the Centre for the global expansion of IITs has identified the UK, UAE, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Malaysia, and Thailand as prospective locations for offshore campuses.

The institutes would bear the name of the Indian International Institute of Technology.

 

 

According to a report submitted to the Ministry of Education by the 17-member committee, led by IIT Council standing committee chairperson Dr K Radhakrishnan, the institutes would bear the name as Indian International Institute of Technology.

 

The parameters include level of interest and commitment, academic lineage, conducive ecosystem to attract quality faculty and students, regulatory provisions and potential benefits to enhance India’s “branding and relation”.

 

 

 

The IITs are considered the crown jewel of India's higher education and have produced many scholars, not just in the field of technology but social sciences as well. Many IITians are in key international positions and some are heading global technological giants.

 

The proposal for IITs to expand abroad is not new. For instance, IIT Delhi is already in talks with the Department of Education and Knowledge in UAE’s Abu Dhabi, while IIT Madras is exploring options in Sri Lanka, Nepal and Tanzania.

 

So far, the discussions were largely about individual IITs. The committee has, for the first time, proposed a model under which a chain of institutions would be set up under the Indian International Institute of Technology brand name with domestic IITs as mentors.