IIT Delhi to set up a campus in Abu Dhabi, UAE

The Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IIT-Delhi) is about to establish an overseas campus in Abu Dhabi, UAE. The institute is going to host its 53rd convocation on 5 November 2022. In a press conference, it announced that it is setting up an institute in Abu Dhabi. Furthermore, it stated that the Ex Dean academics would be the coordinator for IIT Abu Dhabi, and IIT Delhi will hire faculty and formulate the curriculum for the overseas campus in Abu Dhabi. The institute is coming up with a new curriculum in the year 2023.

In addition, the institute is also going to launch several projects, such as the state-of-art observatory in Sonepat, state-of-art central research facility on the campus and in Hauz Khas and Sonepat, healthcare hub and centre for paraplegics in Jhajjar, among others. Moreover, IIT Delhi offers 500 fully funded PhD fellowships for international students.

Apart from IIT-Delhi, A few other IITs are getting requests about opening overseas campuses in the Middle East and South Asia. IIT Madras is looking forward to setting up its campus in Tanzania, whereas IIT Kharagpur is looking to establish its campus in Malaysia. According to reports, the founding IITs—IIT Delhi, Madras, Kharagpur, and others—will hire the faculty and run the international IITs for ten years until they become self-sustained.

According to the joint India-UAE vision statement announced on 18 February 2022, after a virtual summit between the leaders of the two countries, they agreed to establish an IIT in the United Arab Emirates.

Following that, the Center has formed a 17-member committee led by IIT council standing Chairperson K. Radhakrishnan to chart out planning for overseas IIT campuses and asked IIT Delhi to look into the possibility of opening an overseas campus in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

As per the recommendation made by an expert committee to the IIT Council Standing Committee, only 20% of the students at the overseas IIT campuses will be Indian, and the remaining seats will be reserved for the local students. The panel also suggested that, since the overseas campuses have to adapt themselves to the local laws and other legal and financial requirements, they should have enough freedom to excel.