IIT Guwahati is implementing special initiatives to attract foreign students to pursue higher education. At present, 29 foreign students are enrolled in the Institute from nine different nationalities including the UK, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Syria, Ethiopia, Sudan, Cameroon, and Seychelles.
The institute is at 384 by the QS World University rankings 2023. It has gained rank 37 globally in the ‘research citations per faculty.
A joint degree PhD programme (JDP) student who gets a PhD from IIT Guwahati and a partner institute abroad spends at least 12 months at each institute during the programme. More such JDPs are likely to be offered in the near future. The institute is also actively inviting foreign national students for admission in courses across all disciplines of engineering, sciences, humanities, and social sciences, design, healthcare and medicine, management and interdisciplinary areas.
Highlighting IIT Guwahati’s vision to become a global educational institute of excellence, its director TG Sitharam said: “With rapid internationalization of the education sector, IIT Guwahati shall gain a strong foothold, across higher education institutes, worldwide and can play an active role in mitigating challenges associated with global issues.”
“Students on the other hand will gain by obtaining the quality education that we offer here at IIT Guwahati and get an opportunity to pursue research in a world-class environment.”
The institute is currently part of six foreign exchange programmes. These include the Joint Academic Program (M Tech) in Food Science and Technology with GIFU University of Japan as the partner; Joint PhD Programme with GIFU University of Japan in Mechanical Engineering; Joint PhD Programme in Bio Informatics with Heidelberg University of Germany, BSBE; Collaborative PhD Programme with the Curtin University of Australia in Civil Engineering; Collaborative PhD Programme with National Institute of Material Science (NIMS) Japan and Joint PhD supervision Programme with Shantou University, China.
Highlighting the initiatives of the institute, Mihir Kumar Purkait, dean (alumni and external relations), IIT Guwahati, said: “To excel as a global leader, IIT Guwahati must attract the best and brightest brains from around the world, retain home-grown talent within the limits of our country.”
“It is a challenging job but we are hopeful that with small steps we will march ahead in becoming a destination for international students.”
The institute aims to further improve the number of foreign students by taking specific steps, including the exchange of research work programme.
“Applications from foreign nationals registered for a PhD degree in a recognized institute/university who are officially sponsored by that institute/university to carry out research work or to avail a laboratory or other facilities at IITG for a period not exceeding two semesters are accepted as visiting students (with IITG roll number) under the MoU,” said a statement of IIT Guwahati.
