The IIT-Delhi is all set to formally launch its Abu Dhabi campus from January 2024, with admissions based on a blend of mechanisms followed both by India and the UAE, said director Prof Rangan Banerjee.

This will be the IIT ecosystem’s second international campus and is offering undergraduate and postgraduate courses from the beginning, said Banerjee on Thursday, while addressing a press conference about the upcoming convocation of the institute on August 12.

He said details of the courses to be offered were being worked out, but the subjects include energy and sustainability, artificial intelligence (AI), mathematics and computing, computer science, healthcare and other related disciplines of engineering, sciences and humanities.

Initially, the Abu Dhabi branch will start functioning from a temporary campus. “We are still in the process of taking approvals, both internally and externally. We are working out details of courses to be offered as well as the number of seats. While in India we have JEE Advanced on the basis of which admissions to IITs take place, the same way UAE has its own mechanism so the admission system will be a blend of both,” the director said.

The campus will have national as well as international students. “Our aim is to have a diversified campus,” he added.

The IIT-Delhi faculty will be spearheading the Abu Dhabi campus in the beginning, but the institute will eventually recruit faculty from there as well. The IIT-Abu Dhabi is envisioned to be a research-centric campus and the institute has already initiated outreach programmes for school students from UAE as part of its offering for the academic ecosystem of the country. Short courses and executive programmes for the industry are expected to start soon, Banerjee added.

At present, a three-week mathematics immersion outreach programme is underway in Abu Dhabi where selected high school students are being taught by IIT faculty. Similarly, select students also came down to visit the IIT-Delhi campus in July where they stayed for three days to gain an understanding of teaching and research.

The institute has planned a series of outreach programmes till the end of the year as part of its efforts to reach out to the education landscape in Abu Dhabi. Setting up an IIT campus in the UAE was envisioned in the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) signed between the top leadership of the two countries in early 2022.

In due course, IIT-Delhi was identified by the ministry of education to roll out this effort of strategic importance to the country. The ministry had signed an agreement with the UAE government for opening a campus in Abu Dhabi, on July 16.