IITs Madras, Delhi, KGP on fast-track for overseas expansion

The plan to set up Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) campuses in Abu Dhabi, Tanzania and Malaysia has been put on the fast track with a year as the time frame envisaged, key officials said.

IIT Madras director Prof V Kamakoti said a team led by the institute's Dean of Global Engagement has been entrusted with the coordination work to set up the institute's proposed campus in Tanzania which will primarily offer courses in Mining, Metallurgy and Ddata science.

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 report is based on feedback from heads of 26 Indian missions, with the Economic Diplomacy section of the Ministry of External Affairs arranging two virtual sessions between the committee and embassy officials on February 2 and March 28.

According to inputs shared by the Indian High Commission in the UK, the mission has obtained "six concrete proposals of cooperation from University of Birmingham, King's College London, University of Exeter, University of Oxford, University of Cambridge and University College London".

The report also states that IIT-Delhi is the preferred choice for UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Malaysia.

According to the report, Egypt is keen to launch an arrangement, online if not physical, from 2022-23.

However, the committee has advised against haste, saying that preferably only residential campuses be opened after due deliberations.