Sourav Roy Barman
UK, Gulf countries and Egypt among 7 locations on IIT expansion list: A committee set up by the central government for the global expansion of IITs, in consultation with Indian embassies abroad, has selected UK, UAE, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Malaysia and The Sunday Express has learned that Thailand has identified the countries as prospective locations for overseas campuses under the brand name “Indian International Institute of Technology”.
According to a report submitted to the Ministry of Education by a 17-member committee headed by IIT Council Standing Committee Chairman Dr. K. Radhakrishnan, these seven countries ranked high on several key parameters.
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Parameters include level of interest and commitment, academic heritage, optimal ecosystem to attract quality faculty and students, regulatory arrangements and potential benefits to enhance India’s “branding and affinity”.
The report is based on input from heads of 26 Indian embassies, and has been prepared by the Ministry of External Affairs’ Economic Diplomacy Wing, which organized two virtual sessions between the panel and diplomatic officials on February 2 and March 28.
According to the information shared by the Embassy of India in UK, “The Embassy has received six concrete cooperation proposals from the University of Birmingham, King’s College London, University of Exeter, University of Oxford, University of Cambridge and University College London”.
“Our embassy has made several requests for a meeting between the universities and the IIT group. It has further sought a detailed concept note and a nodal point of contact to take forward the proposal,” said a report reviewed by The Indian Express.
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 start teaching online, if not face-to-face, from 2022-23. But the committee advised no rush and said that live teaching campuses should be opened only after due consultation.
“When setting up new institutions, a certain minimum commitment to the campus is required from the local government. Educational institutions are established to build the reputation of the country abroad and not for trade. Therefore, these institutes should attract local students (which may be diaspora Indians). The percentage of Indian students in these institutions should be less than 20%,” the report said.
Expansion of IITs abroad is not new. For instance, IIT Delhi is already in talks with the Department of Education and Knowledge in Abu Dhabi, UAE, while IIT Chennai is exploring options in Sri Lanka, Nepal and Tanzania.
So far, discussions have mostly been about individual IITs. The group, for the first time, has proposed a model of setting up a chain of institutions under the brand name Indian International Institute of Technology with domestic IITs as mentors.
Members of the committee include directors of IIT Delhi, Chennai, Kharagpur; ISM Dhanbad, Guwahati, Kanpur; Indian Institute of Science; NIT Suratkal; and Vice-Chancellors of JNU, University of Delhi, University of Hyderabad and Banaras Hindu University; and, Dean (International Relations) IIT Bombay.
“The new institute may be called ‘Indian International Institute of Technology (Name of Country)’. The suggested name is close to IIT, and International has been added to emphasize/clarify that the institution is located outside India. The difference in name (with enough similarity) will allow newly established institutes to leverage the strengths of existing IITs and develop their own identity and ethos,” the report said.
However, the report said, “substantial investment from the host country or the Government of India” would be required for the program to succeed and not become a burden on the mentoring institutions. “Indeed the sponsoring company in India should expect a reasonable amount of royalty (10 percent to 15 percent of the overall cost of the foreign campus) from such campus,” the panel said in the statement.
Also, the foreign campus must follow the laws and regulations of the country where it is established, which implies that there will be no reservation for students or staff unless provided by local laws. “The Act of Parliament under which these institutes will be created should provide greater independence than the existing IITs,” the committee said in a statement.
In the panel’s report, Bhutan, Nepal, Bahrain, Japan, Tanzania, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Serbia, Singapore, South Korea and Uzbekistan ranked below the seven countries identified. The committee said the Indian authorities should make arrangements in these countries as well.
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