IIT Delhi to Expand beyond Its Tech Domain

In an attempt to expand beyond its tech tag, IIT Delhi is looking forward to become a more inclusive institute. It is armed with financial support from the Centre under the Institute of Eminence scheme. However, the institute needs to abide by the norms of the Human Resources Development ministry, in order to get these funds.

IIT-Delhi is gearing up to foray into the international arena, enhance its infrastructure, faculty and improve its global ranking. An expenditure of over Rs 2,500 crore (which includes the Rs 1,000-crore funding) has been budgeted by the institute for the upcoming 5 years, in order to achieve this objective.

Though the institute’s ranking was 172 globally, the lack of international students and a high teacher- student ratio made it loose points, said V Ramgopal Rao, the director of IIT Delhi. The institute got no points for its international mix of both students and faculty.

According to M Balakrishnan, the Deputy Director of IIT, the institute never invited applications from international faculty or promoted itself as a possible destination for them. “But with the new grant, we can send a team to international conferences. They can meet 30 to 40 possible candidates, and give us their feedback,” he said.

Not expecting any students from high-income countries, IIT Delhi is looking forward to focus on the ASEAN countries. “While IIT does not have much autonomy in selecting undergraduate students, it can pick postgraduate students from different countries who would be given comparable grants to carry out research here,” said Rao.

IIT Delhi is considering collaboration with Australia, Taiwan and Canada to start joint PhD courses by the end of this year. As a part of the course, the students will be required to go back and forth between the countries to complete their doctoral study. They will be awarded a joint degree on completion of the course.

The institute in relying upon the alumni connections, endowments, grants and industry collaborations for generating internal revenues. It is also likely to offer diploma courses for mid-career professionals against higher fees.