Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, officially inaugurated Abu Dhabi campus of Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IIT Delhi-Abu Dhabi) today. This event marks a historic moment in international engineering education, with the institution welcoming its first batch of undergraduate students. The inaugural cohort of 52 students will pursue B.Tech degrees in Computer Science and Engineering, as well as Energy Engineering. These students were selected through the JEE Advanced exam and the newly introduced Combined Admission Entrance Test (CAET) specifically designed for international students. The student body comprises a diverse mix of Indian, Emirati, and international students, symbolizing the global outreach of the IIT brand.
The establishment of IIT Delhi-Abu Dhabi is a significant milestone in the India-UAE partnership following the signing of a Vision Document that serves as a roadmap for expanding collaboration between the two nations into new areas, including education. The sprawling, state-of-the-art campus, inaugurated by the Crown Prince, is a testament to the commitment and hard work invested by both countries. The campus, set in beautifully landscaped surroundings, represents the growing strength of the India-UAE relationship. In his visit today, Sheikh Khaled was accompanied by Sunjay Sudhir, the Indian Ambassador to the UAE, Prof. Dr. Rangan Banerjee, Director of IIT Delhi, and several Emirati dignitaries, underscoring the event’s significance.
During the inauguration, IIT Delhi signed several key Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with leading 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. These strategic collaborations aim to bolster Abu Dhabi’s academic, research, and innovation ecosystem, with a focus on enabling cutting-edge research and supporting the local start-up landscape. With its emphasis on academic excellence and global exposure, IIT Delhi-Abu Dhabi is set to transform the engineering education and research landscape in the UAE, the Middle East, and beyond.
