Shantanu Roy, Executive Director, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi-Abu Dhabi said that while IIT Delhi presently has around 12,000 students, the Abu Dhabi campus has 182 students.
That number is likely to become 400 next year, Roy told visiting Indian media during an interaction at the IIT Delhi-Abu Dhabi campus recently.
Asked about what differentiates IIT Delhi Abu Dhabi campus with other IIT campuses in India, Roy said, “This is in a different geography and is being aligned with the priorities of the United Arab Emirates. India is a much bigger country, with a much larger population, the economic expanse is large.” “This is of course the Middle-East, which has had a history of largely being a fossil fuel-based economy, but UAE is expanding and diversifying a lot. So, the whole education innovation ecosystem that is being set up here is in alignment with that diversification,” Roy said.
“But of course it’s a smaller country, with a very small population and geography, and has a large international student strength.
“That’s because UAE being at the crossroads of the world, is connected with Europe and Asia. So, we have diversity in the student population,” he said.
Roy said the campus is aligned with the priorities of the UAE in terms of energy, sustainability, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and smart materials, which are specifically focused here.
“It is not to say that this is not being done in the Delhi campus, because all these areas are of great importance to India as well. It is not like this campus is not aligned with the Delhi campus.
“We are actually one institution, and not two different institutions. I think that’s very important to understand at the outset,” Roy said.
“We are actually one global institution with three campuses. This (Abu Dhabi) is our first international campus,” he added.
“In the beginning, in the first semester, we started with 17 students. We had only one master’s programme. Within six months, we started two undergraduate programmes with around 50 students enrolled then.
“We are starting a new undergraduate programme every year, maybe a new master’s programme every year, and possibly some growth on the PhD front every year,” he said. Asked how AI is reshaping teaching and research, Roy said it is a part of the IIT Delhi curriculum, adding that there are master’s programmes in AI.
“The curriculum we are offering here (Abu Dhabi campus), is by and large, the same curriculum, except for some customisation specific to the Middle East requirement. A requirement for accreditation of branch campuses is that you maintain the ethos of the parent campus,” Roy said.
“As far as curricula are concerned, we are very closely aligned. It is not like if you go to IIT Delhi in Delhi, you get a different training from what you get in Abu Dhabi. You get more or less the same training, except there is some local contextualization in terms of courses that are compulsory in all the universities in UAE,” he said.
“That said, the UAE is largely focused on innovation in AI. Not that India is not. India is also focused, but so is UAE,” he said.
Roy also spoke about the strategic collaboration with Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence.
“We are closely aligned with Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI), which offers specialized AI degree programmes for local and international students. We are starting a master’s programme in AI, which is already offered in (IIT) Delhi,” he said.
“This is not our permanent campus. This is a transit campus. It may have very good infrastructure, but it’s still a transit campus. The permanent campus is still some years away,” he said.
“But as and when that happens, we’ll get to obviously the best standards internationally, globally in buildings and so on, as well as sustainability will be another big aspect of how we plan that campus, make it as sustainable as possible.
Located in Khalifa City, the IIT Delhi-Abu Dhabi campus was inaugurated on September 2, 2024, following an agreement between India and the UAE.
Undergraduate admissions are through JEE Advanced and Combined Admission Entrance Test (CAET). While one-third of students come through JEE Advanced, CAET is designed for UAE residents, including expatriates who have lived there for five years, Roy said.