IIFT gets nod to start off-campus centre in Gujarat’s GIFT City

NEW DELHI: The Ministry of Education, on the recommendation of University Grants Commission (UGC), has approved the establishment of an off-campus centre of the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) at GIFT City, Gandhinagar, Gujarat. The Centre issued a Letter of Intent (LoI) on January 21, 2025 allowing the institute to start the off-campus centre subject to fulfillment of certain conditions.

To run the new centre, IIFT will have to fulfill the conditions such as submission of roadmap to run the centre with 1,000 students, details of students, land, and faculty with their educational qualification.

“Now, therefore, in exercise of the powers conferred under Section 3 of the UGC Act, 1956, the Ministry of Education, on the advice of UGC, hereby accords approval to Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, New Delhi to start an off-campus Centre at GIFT Tower 2, (Floor 16 & 17), GIFT City, Gandhinagar, Gujarat,” the MoE said.

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The UGC chairman approved the report of its standing committee which verified the compliance report submitted by the registrar of IIFT, the ministry acknowledged.

IIFT new campus

The ministry in its LoI had asked the university to fulfill the following requirements within a period of three years:

• The deemed to be university shall submit a roadmap for the proposed off-campus centre to develop into a multidisciplinary Institution with more than 1,000 students.
• The deemed to be university shall submit details of minimum of five under-graduate or post-graduate or research or combination thereof with a minimum of 50 teachers, with qualifications as per prescribed norms.
• The deemed to be University shall submit details of land and construction of permanent campus in the land identified by the GIFT City authorities.
• The deemed to be university shall submit the details of the faculties along with their educational qualification for the proposed off-campus centre.
• The Institution deemed to be university shall submit approval letter from the relevant regulatory body(ies)/statutory council(s) before starting professional courses.
• The deemed to be university shall develop the library with an adequate number of books.

“The initiative marks a significant step toward expanding access to quality education and promoting multidisciplinary learning aligned with National Education Policy 2020,” the education ministry said in a post on X.