India’s prestigious chain of technology schools set for international expansion
NEW DELHI - These institutions have laid the academic foundation for the chief executives of some of the world’s iconic firms such as Google, Twitter and IBM. Now the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), a chain of premier institutions first set up in the 1950s, is aiming for an ambitious international expansion.
Tanzania, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Malaysia are three locations these government-funded but autonomous institutes are targeting in the first phase, with Egypt, Qatar and Thailand also under consideration.
While IIT Madras is setting up a school in Tanzania, the one in Delhi is doing so in Abu Dhabi. IIT Kharagpur in the eastern state of West Bengal is also working on setting up an institution in Malaysia.
Professor V. Kamakoti, director of IIT Madras, told The Straits Times that academic activity at the institute in Tanzania could begin as early as October 2023. “Whatever good things that we have done over the last 60 years, we will try and implement it and see that there is a very strong academic institution coming up (in Tanzania),” he said, adding that the move would be a “big learning” experience for IIT Madras.
The institute in Abu Dhabi, meanwhile, could begin operations by September 2024, according to a Dec 18 report in The Times of India. IIT Delhi’s director, Professor Rangan Banerjee, said the institute is working on this initiative but refused to give further details “till plans are firmed up”.
The institute has been working with UAE’s Department of Education and Knowledge on the proposed IIT Abu Dhabi.
There are 23 IITs across India. The first one was set up in 1951 in Kharagpur and the newest one in 2016 in the western state of Goa. Eight of these institutes rank among the top 500 universities in the QS World University Rankings 2023, with IIT Bombay the best ranked at 172.
The entrance exam for these institutes is among the toughest in the world. More than 1.2 million candidates sit for it every year, competing for around 11,000 places at these prestigious engineering institutes.
IIT Tanzania will debut with a Bachelor of Science degree in data science, one of the most popular programmes at IIT Madras, with courses in metallurgy and mining down the line.
The institute will have locally recruited faculty and is expected to draw students not just from Tanzania but also from other African countries. In a tweet last month, India’s Minister for Education Dharmendra Pradhan envisioned it as “a hub for technology education in Africa”.
But hurdles abound, including raising standards of some of the newer IITs, such as the one in Ropar, in the northern Indian state of Punjab, and Mandi, in the state of Himachal Pradesh, that were set up in 2008-09, so that the brand name is not sullied. A government audit of eight of these newer IITs conducted from 2014 to 2019 flagged several problems, including a persistent lack of the requisite land to augment operations as well as “significantly high” delays in expansion of infrastructure.
It also found that five of these IITs had failed to obtain even a single patent during 2014-19, indicating the need for improvement in its research outcomes.
While the Indian government is collaborating with local government partners to support IITs’ global expansion, challenges will also have to be overcome abroad. This includes setting up the necessary infrastructure and recruitment of quality faculty.
Prof Kamakoti said he is confident suitable faculty can be found in Tanzania by deputing academics from India as well as training locals, some of whom can even be brought to India for PhD programmes and necessary training. “We must also build teaching capacity there,” he added.
A government committee, formed to look into the global expansion of IITs, had earlier this year identified the United Kingdom, UAE, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Malaysia and Thailand as prospective locations. Another 11 countries, including Singapore and Vietnam, were placed in the second-run of potential destinations.
Gloss