IIT’s Global Expansion- Why in the News?
Recently, IIT’s global expansion has been in the news as IIT Delhi opened its first offshore campus in the United Arab Emirates’ capital city, Abu Dhabi, on September 2, 2024. The IIT Delhi Abu Dhabi campus was inaugurated by the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed with 52 students selected for the inaugural batch through the Combined Admission Entrance Test (CAET). IIT’s global expansion is a significant outcome of the Joint India-UAE Vision Statement signed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan on February 18, 2022, with the aim to “intensify bilateral engagement in diverse areas”.
Where do IIT’s global expansion stand now?
IIT Madras is the first of the 23 IITs to open its international campus in Zanzibar, Tanzania, on November 6, 2023, with Preeti Aghalayam as its director. The step marks many firsts for the IITs as Professor Aghalayam has been the first woman director to lead an IIT in the 72-year-old history of India’s elite institutions.
What are the future plans for IIT’s global expansion?
The IIT’s global expansion has received a significant boost after the Central Government formed a 17-member Committee headed by Dr K Radhakrishnan, the standing committee chairperson of the IIT Council, to look into the matter. The Committee consisting of the directors of premiere IITs and the vice-chancellors of prominent central universities submitted its report in 2022 to the Ministry of Education to aid IIT’s global expansion.
The Committee has identified seven countries, namely the UK, UAE, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, and Malaysia, for IIT’s global expansion based on certain criteria such as academic heritage, student and faculty-friendly environment, genuine interest and commitment. The countries are chosen with a view to expanding India’s diplomatic ties and keeping in mind the potential advantage that it might offer in the long term.
The committee, in collaboration with the 26 Indian missions abroad, has approached the UK High Commission, among others, with the proposal for IIT’s global expansion. The UK High Commission has revealed that it has received concrete proposals from 6 of the prominent Universities in the UK, including the University of Birmingham, King’s College London, the University of Exeter, University of Oxford, University of Cambridge and University College London expressing serious interest in collaborating in IIT’s global expansion effort.
How did IITs originate in the first place?
The history of IIT can be traced back to pre-independence times with Sir Ardeshir Dalal, a member of the Viceroy’s Executive Council who conceptualized the Indian Institutes of Technology for the first time, having realized the rising importance of technology for the future prosperity of India. Later, Dr Humayun Kabir, along with Sir Jogendra Singh, set up a 22-member committee under the chairmanship of Sir Nalinini Ranjan Sarkar.
The Committee, popularly referred to as the Sarkar Committee, submitted its recommendations in 1945, suggesting the establishment of at least four technical institutions of higher learning in the Eastern, Western, Northern and Southern regions of the country. Therefore, even though rapid industrialization was the goal of the Second Five-Year Plan (1956-61) with a focus on technical education and job creation, the establishment of the first IIT coincided with the First Year Plan (1951-56), which primarily focused on agricultural growth.
The first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru, as a visionary leader, realized the importance of science and technology in uplifting the impoverished nation that just emerged from 200 years of colonial exploitation. In his words, the “IIT system would over time provide scientists and technologists of the highest calibre who would engage in research, design and development to help building the nation towards self-reliance in her technological needs”. Accordingly, the first in the series of IITs came up in Kharagpur in May 1950 which was formally named “Indian Institution of Technology” after its inauguration on August 18, 1951.
The irony is best reflected if one takes a closer look at the site that was transformed into one of the elitist Indian institutions. The Hijli Detention Camp, where once the British colonial ruler incarcerated political prisoners to curb their spirit of free-thinking, modern India, with its however limited resources, turned to a higher education centre known for nurturing young minds and creating technocrats and scientists out of them who are liberated to think and innovate. Thus, IIT’s global expansion is also an indicator of the remarkable progress that the newly emerged nation has achieved within 77 years of its independence from the yoke of foreign rule.
What is the reason behind Brand IIT’s success?
True to his vision today, in almost seven decades, the IIT has been successful in creating a global brand for itself as its alumni have proved their outstanding calibre and excellent leadership skills in every field they have ventured into. Some notable alumni who are dominating the country as well the globe include Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google and Alphabet; Raghuram Rajan, former Governor of RBI and Chief Economist at International Monetary Fund; Vinod Khosla, co-founder of Sun Microsystems and the founder of Khosla Ventures; Deepinder Goyal, CEO of Zomato; Narayan Murty, founder of Infosys; Sachin Bansal, co-founder of Flipkart, among others.
Along with offering a plethora of courses under the aegis of experienced faculties, recent initiatives to integrate liberal arts as part of the curriculum show IITs intention to provide a holistic and interdisciplinary education, which is generally wanting in conventional engineering colleges and clearly makes IITs stand out among the rest. Such measures to introduce humanities and social sciences alongside the existing STEM disciplines to embrace interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approaches are in line with National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and justify the ambition of IIT’s global expansion.
What are the challenges plaguing IITs at present?
Despite its global and national success, newer IITs are encountering certain problems presently. The second and third-generation IITs lack the quality infrastructure that characterizes the first-generation IITs. Besides the lack of infrastructure like labs, and land for expansion of academic buildings, there are inadequate faculties to train the students, which hamper the quality of education delivered in these institutions. In fact, the Comptroller and Auditor General Report of 2021 admitted to an increasing number of vacancies in the faculty positions and student shortfall in the second-generation IITs that came up in 2008-09.
Moreover, the rapid expansion of IITs in recent times without ensuring land availability from the respective state governments has been criticized by the opposition on certain occasions. Therefore, the newest IITs fail to ensure quality in terms of education, faculty and infrastructure.
Another major problem that plagues the IITs is their failure to ensure placement for their students. According to a Right to Information (RTI) Act response, around 38 per cent of IITians from the class of 2024 across all 23 campuses are yet to get placed. While premiere IITs like Bombay could secure employment for only 75% of its students, with the lowest salary package dropping to an all-time low at 4 lakh per annum, the newer IITs cut out a dismal picture. As the upfront cost of admission, fees and other expenses are on the rise, the salary offered is below par which is concerning the students as well as the parents.
Apart from the economic challenges, the emotional cost of rigorous coaching is known to take a severe toll on the aspirant’s mental health. The coaching hub at Kota, Rajasthan, is witness to countless incidents of suicide, which are mainly attributed to the failure of the prevalent education system that ruthlessly burdens the young minds by feeding them with the IIT dream and cramming their minds with technical information with a blatant disregard for their childhood fancies and interests.
Even after cracking the most competitive exam, when students join these reputable institutions, the overwhelming academic pressure, along with caste prejudices in some of them, mar their joy of learning. Suicide rates among the students at IITs often make headlines, making it a case for serious introspection into the systemic failure to address the problem.
What are the potential challenges that will affect IIT’s global expansion?
While success stories grab global headlines and arouse curiosity and genuine interest among non-residents in these Institutions of Eminence, chances are high that the domestic challenges, if not addressed in a proper time-bound manner, can have fallout in IIT’s global expansion. Moreover, the IITs must strictly adhere to the suggestion of the 17-member committee, which prescribes less than 20% of Indian students in the foreign campus. Failing to adhere to this particular mandate will be a serious compromise on the global character of these overseas campuses.
In addition to that, India’s percentage allocation of GDP to education falls much below the prescribed rate of 6% despite strong recommendations of NEP, 2020 and other education policies. In its interim budget for the financial year 2025, India allocated nearly 3% of its GDP to education. Distributing this meagre sum for meeting domestic challenges as well as its expansionary policy remains a significant challenge for the IITs.
What are the implications of IIT’s global expansion for India’s Soft Power Diplomacy?
IIT’s global expansion conforms with India’s newly introduced National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, which aims to promote India as a “global study destination providing premium education at affordable costs, thereby helping to restore its role as a Vishwa Guru”. Vishwa Guru, or world leader, is the position that India desires to reclaim, and its policies are carefully framed in line with the vision. Moreover, its effort to reclaim its glorious past is comprehensible if one takes a closer look at its hoary tradition.
India, which is steeped in cultural and educational heritage, is the country to gift the world the first residential university in the form of Nalanda, which was founded in 427 CE by the Gupta Emperor Kumaragupta I. The country is also known to be the homeland of educational centres like Takshshila and Nalanda, which once attracted students from foreign lands much before Oxford, Cambridge, or Harvard came into existence.
Soft Power in diplomacy, which refers to the power of a nation to influence others through the creation of positive self-perception based on its cultural appeal, is particularly strong in the context of India, as evidenced by history. Therefore, India’s offer to extend its support on spreading academic excellence and technological expertise that it has garnered over the years can prove to be a gamechanger in influencing bilateral partnerships with different countries across the globe. Moreover, the expansion of IITs, especially in the Global South, has immense potential in terms of offering stimulus to South-South Cooperation, which is a cornerstone of India’s foreign policy and remains a key diplomatic strategy for Brand India.
FAQ
Why in the News?
Recently, IIT Delhi has been in the news as it opened its first offshore campus in the United Arab Emirates’ capital city, Abu Dhabi, on September 2, 2024. The IIT Delhi Abu Dhabi campus was inaugurated by the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed, with 52 students for the inaugural batch.
Where do IITs global expansion stand now?
IIT Madras is the first of the 23 IITs to open its international campus in Zanzibar, Tanzania, on November 6, 2023, with Preeti Aghalayam as its director who is also the first woman to lead any IIT.
How did IITs originate in the first place?
The history of IIT can be traced back to pre-independence times with Sir Ardeshir Dalal, who conceptualized the Indian Institutes of Technology for the first time, realizing the importance of technology for the future prosperity of India. Later, Dr. Humayun Kabir, along with Sir Jogendra Singh, set up a committee that submitted its recommendations to establish four technical institutions of higher learning.
What is the reason behind Brand IIT’s success?
The IIT has been successful in creating a global brand for itself as its alumni have proved their outstanding calibre and excellent leadership skills in every field they have ventured into. Some notable alumni w include Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google and Alphabet; Deepinder Goyal, CEO of Zomato; and Narayan Murty, founder of Infosys among others.
What are the future plans for IIT’s global expansion?
The IIT’s global expansion has received a significant boost after the Central Government formed a 17-member Committee headed by Dr K Radhakrishnan to look into the matter. The Committee has identified seven countries, namely the UK, UAE, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, and Malaysia, for IIT’s global expansion.
What are the challenges plaguing IITs at present?
Despite its global and national success, the second and third-generation IITs lack the quality infrastructure that characterizes the first-generation IITs. Besides, there are inadequate faculties to train the students, which hamper the quality of education delivered in these institutions.
What are the potential challenges that will affect IIT’s global expansion?
Chances are high that the domestic challenges, if not addressed in a proper time-bound manner, can have a fallout in IIT’s global expansion. Considering India’s nearly 3% allocation of GDP to education, distributing this meagre sum for meeting domestic challenges, as well as its expansionary policy, remains a significant challenge for the IITs.
What are the implications of IIT’s global expansion for India’s Soft Power Diplomacy?
IIT’s global expansion conforms with India’s newly introduced National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, which aims to promote India as a “global study destination providing premium education at affordable costs, thereby helping to restore its role as a Vishwa Guru”. Moreover, the expansion of IITs, especially in the Global South, has immense potential in terms of offering stimulus to South-South Cooperation, which is a cornerstone of India’s foreign policy.
