Offshore IIT: Know all about Indian institutions to be setup abroad

According to the news agency PTI, the institutions may be called “India International Institute of Technology”. The report also suggested that faculties of the Indian counterpart may be transferred to branches set up abroad.

Name of Offshore IIT

According to news agency PTI, the offshore IITs will be named ‘Indian International Institute of Technology’. They also clarified that the ‘international’ bit will be added to the name to avoid confusion.

“The name distinction with sufficient similarity will allow the newly established IITs to develop their own identity and ethos, while building on the strength of the existing IITs. The offshore campus should be a separate legal entity headed by an Indian institute with its own identity and ethos,” People aware of the matter said PTI.

Locations for offshore IITs

According to several reports, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Egypt and Saudi Arabia have shown great interest in hosting offshore IIT campuses. IIT Delhi is considering setting up a campus in the UAE, while IIT Madras is exploring options in Sri Lanka, Nepal and Tanzania.

The committee will decide on offshore IITs

Earlier a 17-member committee was formed, headed by IIT Council Permanent Chairperson K Radhakrishnan to discuss the way forward plan for offshore IIT campuses. The committee included JNU Vice-Chancellor Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit, Indian Institute of Science Director Govindan Rangarajan and directors of various IITs in India.

Structure of Offshore IITs

The committee recommended that offshore IITs be built on the structure of IITs, National Institutes of Technology (NIT) or Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER). This means that multiple institutes can be established as the current IIT Act does not provide for setting up IITs outside the country.

The committee also suggested four models of institutes-

– Offshore campus of a particular IIT, (Model A)

-A new campus jointly set up by IITs and a group of higher education institutions (Model B)

-Collaboration between one or more IITs with a reputed host university abroad

-Completely different chain of catering establishments specially in such campuses abroad (Model D)

Education in offshore IITs

As recommended by the committee, English will be the medium of instruction in all offshore campuses. Further they said that the overseas campuses will follow the semester system and the start and end dates of the semester may be aligned with the academic calendar.

The institutes will offer a bachelor’s degree (BTech), a master’s degree (MTech) and a research-based Ph.D.

The committee also recommended programs like specialization

– Computer Science and Information Technology

– Data Science

-Artificial Intelligence

-Machine learning

– Mechanical engineering

-Electronics

-Mining or petroleum and energy

Student strength in offshore IITs

“The number of students in a given program should be such that the course is economically viable. But the exact number may be left to the institutes to decide. Although these institutions may cater to the local student population who may be Indian diaspora, the panel recommended that Indian students in these institutions The percentage should be less than 20 percent,” PTI quoted people aware of the matter as saying.

He recommended by the committee ’30 to 40 students per year for each B.Tech programme, 15 to 20 students for postgraduate programs and “a few students” for PhD programmes.’

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