IIM Ahmedabad, IIFT to start off-shore campuses in Dubai next year: Report

NEW DELHI: The Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad is planning to open an international campus in Dubai by the second half of 2025, as per various gulf media reports. The Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) is also in line.

The decision was taken during a meeting between the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UAE PM Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum at the World Government Summit held in Dubai, the Indian ambassador to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) told the reporters.

Last month, minister for commerce and industry Piyush Goyal announced the opening of IIFT’s off-shore campus in Dubai early next year. The IIFT Dubai campus will be located at the India Pavilion at Expo City Dubai.

Recently, external affairs minister S Jaishankar inaugurated the overseas campus of Symbiosis International University at Dubai. The minister also interacted with the students virtually.

Indian campuses in UAE

The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi was the first institution to start an international campus in the Arab Emirates, in an academic exchange between the two countries and expansion of Indian education abroad. In September this year, the IIT Delhi Abu Dhabi campus was inaugurated in the presence of Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council. The IIT Delhi’s international campus will offer two undergraduate programmes starting from this session besides postgraduate courses started last year.

The Ministry of Education, in January this year, gave approval to the Jaipur National University to establish an international campus in Dubai.

At the school education level, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) also started a new regional office and centre of excellence in Dubai.