IIT Delhi will open a campus in Abu Dhabi this year, nine years after its maiden overseas campus in Mauritius was closed down following scrutiny by the NDA government.
While the Mauritius government had agreed to bear the cost of the International Institute of Technology Research Academy (IITRA) set up by IIT Delhi in 2013, the tech school has not disclosed who would bear the cost for its campus in Abu Dhabi.
An MoU was signed on Saturday between the education ministry, Abu Dhabi department of education and knowledge and IIT Delhi.
The Abu Dhabi campus is expected to launch its academic programmes next year with undergraduate, postgraduate and PhD courses and operate research centers related to sustainable energy and climate studies as well as computing and data sciences, a media release issued by the education ministry said.
In 2013, IIT Delhi had entered into an agreement with the Mauritius authorities to set up an IITRA in the island nation. However, the Narendra Modi government shelved the project after coming to power in 2014 on the ground that the law governing the IITs had no explicit provision allowing tech schools to award degrees to students not admitted to their campuses in India.
Later, the law ministry suggested that no amendment to the Institute of Technology Act, which governs the functioning of the IITs, is necessary to enable the institutes to set up foreign campuses.
An official of the education ministry said a committee headed by the chairman of IIT Council’s standing committee, K. Radhakrishnan, supported the setting up of campuses abroad by the Indian institutions. The National Education Policy also endorses foreign campus by Indian entities.
Last week, the governments of India and Tanzania signed an MoU for setting up an international campus of IIT Madras in Zanzibar. The campus will offer two full-time academic programmes — a four-year Bachelor’s degree and a two-year MTech course in data science and artificial intelligence.
The total number of seats is 70 and classes will start from October. Applications for admission are open now.
Initially, faculty members for the Zanzibar campus will be deputed from IIT Madras or recruited from India. Gradually, local talents will be groomed and employed.