Education Ministry Asks Offshore IITs to Offer Programs in Data Science, AI, Robotics & Mining

New Delhi: The Ministry of Education has emphasized, among other recommendations, that the newly proposed offshore IIT campuses should include Undergraduate (UG) Degree programs in data science, artificial intelligence, robotics, mining, and energy disciplines.

According to the reports, the ministry has chosen the potential courses on the basis of input received from Indian embassies abroad. The result came after the embassies contacted the authorities of host countries to determine the demand for various disciplines in those countries.

The survey reveals that the majority of universities in the countries were initially targeted to offer regular undergraduate courses to interested students. The courses will be offered under the operating offshore IITs which will be operated as "Indian International Institute of Technology".

According to host country ambassadors, computer science or information technology, data sciences, artificial intelligence (AI) , machine learning (ML), robotics, electrical, electronics, mining, metallurgy, petroleum, and energy are some of the most commonly listed subjects.

The academic programs will be termed accordingly, for example, Bachelor of Technology (BTech) and Masters of Technology (MTech) , as the convention in India, will be named as commonly used international terms; Bachelor of Science (BS) and Masters of Science (MS).

The ministry has suggested a variety of admissions procedures, including JEE, GATE , JAM, SAT , and GRE. If it is economically and logistically feasible, a JEE or JEE (Advanced) exclusively for off-shore campuses may be set up in the future.

The committee also prescribed a minimum intake of up to 40 students for UG Courses annually, and 15 to 20 for PG courses . In line with global standards, the faculty-student ratio should be 1:10. The quality will be preferred more than the country of origin, the reports said.

The report notified the case of an alternative model to the lifelong appointments used in India for faculty recruitment. The faculty should be recruited on long-term contracts with considerable flexibility to the institutions to negotiate salary and terms with the candidates.

The committee also recognized the provisions for deputing faculty members from the already existing IITs to the prospective institutes abroad, specifically in their early years, along with the recommendation that joint recruitment of faculty could be discovered.

Similar flexibility has been envisaged in the case of students as well in the proposal to spend four semesters each in India and abroad. On the administrative level, a board of governor-led model is expected to be replicated even for the offshore campuses.

The reports said that the BoG should have representatives from both India and the host country. They ought to represent a variety of fields, including those in academia, business, and government.

Meanwhile, in consultation with Indian missions abroad, a committee established by the Center for Global Expansion of IITs has identified the UK, UAE, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Malaysia, and Thailand as potential locations for offshore campuses.

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