IIT Bombay to tie up with US university

In its efforts to collaborate with premier international universities for research and development, IIT Bombay is planning to associate with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), US.

“IIT Bombay is looking at some kind of association with MIT. But talks are still at a nascent stage. However, what is encouraging is that the MIT alumni in India are very excited about the possible interaction of their institute with IIT Bombay,” said professor Pradipta Banerji, dean of alumni and international relations at IIT Bombay.

In recent times, IIT Bombay signed a number of memorandum of understandings (MoUs) with international universities for facilitating faculty and student exchange as well as joint research projects. The list includes Monash University, Rice University, University of Southampton and University of Cambridge, to name a few.

“For some time now, our focus has been to associate with top-level universities. We have been trying to leverage research work with some of them so that it helps our institute in achieving the goal of acquiring world class status,” said Banerji

Emphasising that signing MoUs or joint venture agreements was only the first step, Banerji said, “Currently, we are focusing to ensure that we are able to successfully operationalise the commitments we have made so far.”

For instance, he said, while work on the Institute of Science and Technology in Africa had begun three years ago, the classes at the institute started this year. “Three parallel programmes have started, which are relevant for that region, and include material sciences; petroleum engineering and water resources engineering,” he said.