Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, inaugurated the Abu Dhabi campus of the Indian Institute of TechnologyDelhi (IIT- Delh)i on September 2.
He also welcomed its first batch of undergraduate (UG) students, marking a historic milestone in international engineering education under the prestigious brand of IIT. The inaugural batch of 52 students will pursue B. Tech degrees in Computer Science and engineering, and Energy engineering, an official press release by the Embassy of India said.
Setting up of a campus of IIT in the UAE was part of the Vision Document launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in February 2022 which is a roadmap for expansion of the IndiaUAE relationship into new areas of collaboration.
The students were selected through the prestigious JEE Advanced exam and the newly introduced Combined Admission Entrance Test (CAET) specifically designed for international students.
The inaugural UG batch has a mix of Indian, Emirati and international students. Before the UG programs,IIT Delhi – Abu Dhabi had launched its first Masters of Technology (M. Tech) in Energy Transition and Sustainability in January 2024. The first M. Tech batch met PM Modi during his visit to Abu Dhab in February this year.
The sprawling campus inaugurated by Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed is a testimony to the untiring efforts of the two countries. The campus, with its beautifully landscaped surroundings, is emblematic of the ever-growing India-UAE partnership, the press release stated.
The visit of Crown Prince to the campus is a testament to the importance accorded by the UAE to bilateral collaboration in the field of education. During his visit, Sheikh Khalid was accompanied by Sunjay Sudhir, the Ambassador of India to the UAE, Rangan Banerjee, Director of IIT Delhi, and Emirati dignitaries.
In a significant segment of the event, IIT Delhi signed key Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) of strategic importance with several top academic and research institutions in Abu Dhabi, including Mohammed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI), Khalifa University, Zayed University, and Sorbonne University-Abu Dhabi.
