According to the Education Ministry, IIT will open a second international campus in Abu Dhabi by 2024

By 2024, the IIT-Delhi plans to open a new international campus in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Dharmendra Pradhan, the union’s minister of education, stated on Saturday that the two governments had signed an agreement to this effect. This will be an Indian Institute of Technology’s second international campus.

The first international IIT campus opened in Zanzibar, Tanzania, in October, according to an announcement made last week by IIT-Madras. Additionally, IIT-Kharagpur is in discussions to establish an international campus in Malaysia’s Kuala Lumpur. IIT-Delhi director Prof. Rangan Banerjee said in an interview with News18 in January that there have been continuing discussions to establish a new campus in Abu Dhabi.

In order to build its first campus, an agreement was made between the ministry of education, IIT-Delhi, and the department of education and knowledge (ADEK) of Abu Dhabi. “…With the signature of this MoU, India’s educational system enters a new phase of internationalization. The IIT Delhi campus in the UAE will be a symbol of India and the UAE’s friendship, Pradhan said while announcing the partnership in a tweet. According to him, the IIT-Delhi campus in Abu Dhabi would establish a new standard for harnessing the power of knowledge for both individual and collective well-being.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UAE President Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan both attended the signing. The director of IIT-Delhi, the Indian ambassador to the UAE, and the undersecretary for education in Abu Dhabi all signed the agreement.

According to a press release, IIT-Abu Dhabi will work with major institutions of higher learning in the UAE, such as the Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence, Khalifa University, New York University Abu Dhabi, Technology Innovation Institute, and Hub71, to offer complementary programs, carry out ground-breaking research, and strengthen the regional startup ecosystem.

Numerous bachelor’s, master’s, and PhD programs are anticipated to be offered on the new campus. Additionally, it is anticipated to run research facilities for computer and data sciences, climate studies, and sustainable energy. According to the statement, “it is anticipated to offer a diverse range of programs covering energy and sustainability, artificial intelligence (AI), computer science and engineering, mathematics and computing, and other disciplines of engineering, sciences, and humanities.”

The courses that will be offered at IIT-Delhi’s international campus have not yet been announced. A BS in data science and AI as well as an MTech will be the first programs offered at the IIT-Zanzibar campus, according to IIT-Madras director Prof. V. Kamakoti, who made the announcement earlier this week.

The Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), which was signed by the senior leaders of the two nations in early 2022, included a provision for the establishment of an IIT campus in the United Arab Emirates. The ministry of education eventually chose IIT-Delhi to lead this country-wide initiative of strategic significance.

The IIT in Abu Dhabi is intended to be a campus of the IIT in Delhi that is focused on research. According to Banerjee, “Our new Abu Dhabi campus is a challenge and an opportunity for us to make sure that our research and education have a global impact.”

IIT-Delhi has already started outreach programs for UAE schoolchildren as part of its services for the nation’s academic environment. The director also said that short courses and executive programs for the sector should begin shortly.