The fourth All IITs International Relations Conclave was recently held at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Gandhinagar from September 30 to October 1, 2022. At the event, it was suggested that international IIT centres be built in neighbouring countries and that targeted scholarships be used to bring the number of international students on their campuses up to 5%. This would help bring more foreign students to the top universities in the country.
The IIT name would be used to enhance the proposed centres’ reach and draw the region’s top students to the IITs, which are located in Nepal, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan, the countries that send the most students to India. The New Education Policy (NEP) gives internationalisation a lot of attention. This is done to give Indian students more educational options and to raise the status and rankings of Indian universities abroad.
At the two-day conclave’s opening ceremony, Professor Amit Prashant, Officiating Director, IITGN, noted that “IIT alumni are among the most visible and globalised of any educational institution in the world, and the IIT educational brand is reputed internationally. Today, IIT graduates run some of the most recognisable corporations in the world. These international centres would help make the IITs better known in the area, bring in more students from other countries, and encourage academic and research cooperation across borders.
In order to significantly internationalise the 23 IIT campuses around the nation, the conclave advocated establishing 1,000 international student scholarships each year. With the help of the scholarships, the percentage of international students in the IIT system is expected to increase from its current 1% to 5%. The IITs will be able to keep the international students who were accepted but didn’t enrol because they didn’t have enough money.
The conclave also suggested making 100 PhD study abroad fellowships for IIT PhD students to spend a semester at some of the best universities in the world for classes, lab experience, or research, and 200 undergraduate overseas experience fellowships for IIT students to do internships of six to eight weeks at universities or corporate labs abroad.
Nearly 35 people from the international relations offices of 19 IITs took part in the conclave, which was focused on strengthening the IITs’ internal capabilities in international student recruitment, international student exchanges, and making the IITs a better place for international students.
At the conclave, they also talked about having an annual event on one of their campuses for international students from all of the IITs. They also talked about ways to work together within the IIT network for semester-long or short-term exchanges for conferences, courses, and lab internships.
IITs want to quadruple international students and open IIT centres around the world.
