According to the reports, the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) is considering Sri Lanka as the location for its third offshore campus. The news came upfront, when the president and Finance Minister of Sri Lanka, Ranil Wickremesinghe, announced the 2024 Budget. Currently, he is in deep discussion with IIT Madras regarding the collaboration.
A high-level delegation had recently visited the Chennai campus to discuss the future roadmap. The talks are on and the campus is likely to come up in Kandy. The sources also revealed that, the delegation also visited the Research Park at the campus and interacted with officials about possible areas of engagement.
The Indian government had announced that opportunities for admission to the IITs in India will be provided to meritorious Sri Lankan students from the 2017-18 academic sessions onwards. If the plan for the Sri Lanka campus comes through, it will be IIT Madras' second international campus.
Last year the institution had talked regarding the campus in Tanzania's Zanzibar with Preeti Aghalyam being appointed the director-in-charge who also became the first woman IIT Director. A MoU was signed between India and Tanzania last year, was the final procedural step that paved the way for the opening of the campus.
The institute began functioning in November last year from a temporary campus and is offering two full-time academic programmes a four-year Bachelor of Science in Data Science and Artificial Intelligence and a two-year Master of Technology in Data Science and Artificial Intelligence.
IIT Delhi followed the league and signed a formal agreement with the UAE government to set up a campus in Abu Dhabi. The initial Master's course at the IIT Delhi-Abu Dhabi campus will focus on energy transition and sustainability, reflecting a shared vision between India and the UAE to leverage knowledge for mutual prosperity and global well-being.
The UK is also keen on welcoming an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) to set up an offshore campus in the country and some UK universities are already in talks with IITs to explore the possibility. Several IITs have been receiving requests from the Middle East and South Asian countries to set up their campuses.
The central government had created a 17-member committee to facilitate the process of opening IIT campuses in foreign locations where students from different nations can study technical education.
The committee headed by IIT Council standing committee chairperson Dr K Radhakrishnan had submitted its recommendations in 2022.
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