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India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have officially agreed to establish an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi campus in Abu Dhabi. This partnership was formalized by signing an agreement between the Union Ministry of Education and the Abu Dhabi Department of Education and Knowledge (ADEK). The momentous occasion was carried out in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan during the Prime Minister's day-long visit to the UAE.

The agreement signing ceremony was attended by Indian Ambassador to the UAE, Sunjay Sudhir, and Director of IIT Delhi, Rangan Banerjee, alongside ADEK's Under Secretary, Mubarak Hamad Al Mheiri. The newly established IIT Delhi campus in Abu Dhabi is ready to commence postgraduate courses in January 2024, followed by undergraduate programmes in September 2024.

Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan expressed his joy and hailed this agreement as a significant milestone in the internationalization of India's education system. He emphasized that the IIT Delhi campus in UAE symbolizes the strong bond of friendship between India and the UAE. Moreover, he stated that the campus would serve as a beacon of India's innovation and expertise, setting a new standard for leveraging knowledge to drive mutual prosperity and global progress.

Sara Musallam, Chairman of ADEK, also emphasized the importance of this Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), highlighting Abu Dhabi's commitment to developing a world-class education system aligned with national goals and priorities. She expressed confidence that the partnership between IIT Delhi and Abu Dhabi would foster an environment conducive to innovation and high-level research, contributing to a globally competitive education ecosystem.

IIT Delhi's prestigious reputation was further exemplified by its ranking as the second-best engineering college in India according to the National Institute Ranking Framework (NIRF) 2023. It achieved commendable positions in research and overall categories within the NIRF rankings.

The establishment of the IIT Delhi campus in Abu Dhabi follows in the footsteps of IIT Madras, making it the second IIT to set up an international campus. Recently, IIT Madras announced its plans to inaugurate a foreign campus in Zanzibar, Tanzania, in October 2023. The IIT Madras campus in Zanzibar will offer BSc and MSc courses in data science and artificial intelligence (AI), initially accommodating 70 students. The academic session is scheduled to commence on October 24, 2023, with Preeti Aghayalam appointed as the head of IIT Zanzibar.