(Photo: Prof. Rangan Banerjee, Direrctor, IIT Delhi)

        IIT Delhi-Abu Dhabi Campus: Academic programs expected to commence in early 2024

 

New Delhi: IIT Delhi’s 54^th Annual Convocation ceremony will be held on August 12, 2023. Dr. Gagandeep Kang, an eminent virologist and professor of microbiology at Christian Medical College, Vellore, will be the Chief Guest on this occasion.

Addressing a press conference on Thursday, Prof. Rangan Banerjee, Director, IIT Delhi, said that over 2350 graduating UG and PG students will be awarded degrees during the convocation ceremony. During the 54^th convocation ceremony, graduates of first batch of M.Tech. in Electric Mobility, Interdisciplinary M. Tech. in Cyber Security, Masters in Public Policy, Master of Science in Research (MSR) in Materials Science and Engineering and Joint PhD programme with the University of Queensland, Australia, will be awarded their degrees.

Meritorious students will be awarded the President’s Gold Medal, the Director’s Gold Medal, Dr. Shankar Dayal Sharma (Former President of India) Gold Medal, Perfect Ten Gold Medal and the Institute Silver Medal.

At the Convocation ceremony, the Institute will also honour its esteemed alumni with the prestigious Alumni Awards 2023.

IIT Delhi-Abu Dhabi Campus

Speaking about the IIT Delhi - Abu Dhabi campus, Prof. Rangan Banerjee said that it is envisioned as a research-centric campus of the Institute that will contribute to the research and academic ecosystems of Abu Dhabi and the UAE, and in the process, contribute to IIT Delhi’s growth and strengthen linkages between the two countries.

A temporary campus for IIT Delhi-Abu Dhabi is already assigned, and work for customization of the existing facilities to IIT Delhi’s requirements has already started. The campus will formally start its operations in a few months, and academic programs are expected to commence in early 2024. In due course, the Institution will migrate to a permanent campus. Other administrative, academic, and operational policies regarding IIT Delhi-Abu Dhabi are being developed and discussed in anticipation of the formal launch early next year.

The international campus of IIT Delhi is expected to offer degrees at the UG, PG, and doctoral levels in a diverse range of programs covering Energy and Sustainability, Artificial Intelligence, Computer Science and Engineering, Healthcare, Mathematics and Computing, and other disciplines of engineering, sciences, management, and humanities.

Outreach Events for Abu Dhabi Students

IIT Delhi has planned a diverse range of multiple outreach events till the end of the year and beyond as part of its efforts to reach out into the education landscape of Abu Dhabi. The Institute has also planned to hold other training programs for various stakeholders in Abu Dhabi and UAE in the coming month.

At present (July-August 2023), a three-week mathematics immersion program is underway in Abu Dhabi, where selected high school students are undergoing an intensive program in mathematics being taught by IIT Delhi faculty. This program is designed to be a rigorous in-class experience in mathematics, meant for talented high school students.

During July 18-20, 2023, a Summer Outreach program was organized in Abu Dhabi, for which IIT Delhi faculty and students travelled to Abu Dhabi. About 100 students from Abu Dhabi attended the event. The students were introduced to various contemporary areas of interest, such as assistive technologies, healthcare and biosciences, artificial intelligence, generative AI, robotics and bionics, and a genomics workshop. All sessions, including the hands-on activities, received an overwhelming response from the students.

During July 10-19, 2023, a 10-day Future Changemakers Summer Bootcamp for students from Abu Dhabi was conducted on IIT Delhi campus. A selected number of visiting students from Abu Dhabi were exposed to contemporary topics like climate change and sustainability, design thinking and modeling, artificial intelligence and its applications, and novel materials for engineering and healthcare.

The students stayed in IIT Delhi’s residential campus and experienced campus life first-hand, and also enjoyed fun off-campus activities and sightseeing, including a visit to the new Parliament building.

MoU with Sorbonne University

Sorbonne University, Paris, and IIT Delhi have signed an MoU to establish a strategic partnership. The collaboration originated in June 2022 when they jointly submitted a project under the French government’s Franco-Indian Campus for Health initiative. The partnership involves research projects in cancer studies, neurosciences, biotechnology, and biomedical engineering. Student mobility will begin in the next academic year, with two Master’s students from Sorbonne University going to IIT Delhi and four postgraduate students from IIT Delhi visiting Sorbonne University.

Placement

The number of job offers, unique selections as well as PPOs were at a record high during the placement season 2022–23. 368 companies visited the campus with 659 job profiles to hire IIT Delhi students. The students received 1417 job offers with 1270 unique selections (including 267 PPOs). 221 companies made 806 internship offers (with around 701 unique selections) to the students.

Infrastructure Development

One of the biggest infrastructure projects being undertaken on the IIT Delhi main campus in Hauz Khas is the construction of engineering blocks 99B and 99C, which are spread over about 55,000 sq m. These buildings have around 200 faculty offices and more than 200 labs, in addition to other facilities like workshops, committee rooms, conference rooms, etc. The blocks will become operational early next year.

Construction of academic block 103 with a tentative cost of Rs. 231.05 Crore and Type-C staff and faculty houses with a tentative cost of around Rs. 121 Crore will start very soon.

Three new hostels, namely Dronagiri, Sahyadri, and Saptagiri, with a design capacity of 1200 single rooms, have gone operational. Two new hostels (one boys’ and one girls') will also be constructed. A tendering process has been initiated by M/s RITES for the two hostel projects, tentatively costing Rs 300 Crore, which are partly funded through IoE grants.

Flatlets for married PhD scholars are being constructed on the campus under the Nalanda Phase 2 project. 

A mini-academic complex spread over 1365 sq. m. on the main campus and consisting of 18 laboratories and 36 faculty offices was inaugurated this year.

For the Jhajjar campus in Haryana, M/s NBCC Ltd. has been entrusted with the responsibility of building a boundary wall along the periphery of the campus along with the sewage system. On the Sonipat campus, construction of the IoE-funded SATHI Building is in full swing, and the work should be completed by November 2023 end. The total cost of the project is Rs. 59.73 Crore.

Research & Development

During the financial year 2022-2023, 604 sponsored projects and consultancies worth Rs. 294 crore were undertaken through the Industrial Research and Development Unit of the Institute.

IRD supported 1600 Research Scholars to travel abroad and participate in International conferences & Seminars (Research Excellence Travel Awards/Research Scholar Travel Awards) with a sum of Rs. 5.00 Crore, thereby becoming sponsored brand ambassadors of IITD.

Multi-Institute Faculty Interdisciplinary Projects (MFIRP) scheme aims to catalyze cross-research activities between the two institutes having complementary research & expertise. Under this program, since 2018, IRD has supported 227 joint research projects with a total fund of Rs. 22 crore. IITD has collaborated with nine (9) National Institutes and nine (9) International Universities having interdisciplinary research & expertise to work on thematic areas of national importance benefitting the society. 

On August 14, a day-long workshop will be organised at IIT Delhi where Medicos and Health Care Industry experts will discuss the MedTech and Healthcare Ecosystem for the upcoming IIT Delhi-Jhajjar Campus. The existing MoU between AIIMS & IIT Delhi will be also renewed to continue the research and academic collaboration in the mutually agreed terms & conditions.

IIT Delhi’s extension campus in Haryana’s Jhajjar district is likely to come up within 3 years. This is going to be the country’s first-of-its kind institute for Patient-Specific Drug Development for Cancer Treatment. IIT Delhi Jhajjar campus will also work in the areas of Performance Enhancement for Paralympians and Sports Injury Prevention & Rehabilitation; Medical Implants, Diagnostics, Device Design and Development; and Application of AI/ML in Digital Healthcare along with Medical Imaging with new courses and manpower development.

Bullet-resistant jackets, ABHED (Advanced Ballistic High Energy Defeat), are indigenously designed and developed by IIT Delhi at the DRDO Industry Academia Centre of Excellence (DIA-COE), which is offering the lightest possible solution globally in the field of bullet-resistant jackets. The ABHED: BIS Level 5 and ABHED: BIS Level 6 comply with the Indian Army’s latest requirements and are capable of defeating eight AK-47 HSC and six Sniper API bullets, respectively, on 1000 sq. cm panels after ageing with minimum back face deformation. The R&D ballistic testing as per BIS standards has been conducted successfully at DRDO-TBRL, Chandigarh, and is ready for Technology Transfer by IIT Delhi to Indian Industry.

                    (Photo: Bullet-resistant jackets, ABHED)

Limestone Calcined Clay Cement (LC3) is a family of composite cements containing clinker, calcined clay, and limestone that was invented at EPFL, Switzerland, in collaboration with UCLV, Cuba. IIT Delhi has played a leading role in terms of research that has contributed to bringing LC3, a more sustainable cement with higher performance, from the laboratory to the Indian and global markets.

With the release of the Indian standard for LC3, it can now be produced commercially by cement companies in the country. IIT Delhi is also helping in the setting up of state-of-the-art laboratories in Kenya to hand-hold the cement industry in Africa start producing LC3, which promises to make cement more affordable for development in Africa. The LC3 technology promises sustainable growth for economies around the world by reducing CO2 emissions by more than 40% compared to plain Portland cement at lower production costs. LC3 is strong, durable, and can be used in the same manner as other cements.

iDEX (Innovations for Defence Excellence) Projects

1- Continuing with the commitment towards self-reliance in Defence and providing cutting-edge innovations to the armed forces, the Indian Army has signed a contract with an IIT Delhi-incubated startup and iDEX winner, CYRAN AI Solutions, for the development of “AI-based satellite imaging".

2- Another iDEX project involved the development of large array imaging sensors for surveillance applications by an IIT Delhi startup 3rdiTech. This was the first attempt in the country to design a 1GP camera system in line with the self-reliance theme. The successful demonstration of the camera system resulted in an order from the Indian Air Force wherein the camera is being integrated in the current fighter planes for surveillance. The success of the large array sensor was noticed by the US space force that has recently signed a cooperative research agreement with the IIT Delhi startup 3rdiTech during PM’s US visit in June 2023.

Both IIT Delhi solutions were among the select few to be showcased and acknowledged in the US under the iCET indo-US initiative during the state visit the Prime Minister.

Alumni Contribution

Thanks to our esteemed alumni, located worldwide, the IIT Delhi Endowment Fund has experienced steady growth since its establishment in October, 2019. At the end of FY 2023, the IIT Delhi Endowment Fund has secured Rs. 408 crores in pledges-to-contribute from over 425 unique donors spread across batches. About 2/3rd of the contributions are unrestricted in nature, and the rest of the donations are restricted to specified causes.

Apart from giving their wealth, alumni have contributed extensively towards advancement of institute by delivering Lectures/Townhalls/Podcasts/Panel discussions, hosting reunions, being a part of student mentoring programmes, funding and mentoring IIT Delhi incubated ideas/startups etc. to name a few.

Generous contributions were received from alumni towards endowment Fund, endowed chairs, student scholarships, fellowships, awards & travel grants, promoting research and others. In recent years, big donations were received from Mr Anant Yardi, Mr Binny Bansal, Mr Sachin Bansal and Mr. Saurabh Mittal.

Stress Management and Mental Well-Being of Students

In addition to existing mechanisms to deal with stress and ensure mental well-being among the students, IIT Delhi is pushing to strengthen some mentorship and interactive verticals, especially to encourage interactions with students outside the classrooms, preferably at an individual level.

• Facilitating faculty-student interactions via academic-domain-independent and academic-domain-dependent faculty mentorships.
• Encouraging interactions through the increased frequency of periodic informal dinners/meals between students and faculty in small groups through the existing Student-Teacher Interaction Council.
• Increasing frequency of "open house" interactions with students.

IIT Delhi used to have a two-minor + one-major examination evaluation system. Based on feedback from all students and faculty, the Senate has approved a one-minor + one-major examination evaluation system along with several continuous evaluation mechanisms from the ongoing semester onward. A maximum cap of 80% weightage has been kept for the two examinations.

Diversity and Inclusivity

The Students Affairs Council (SAC) representatives worked closely with the Office of Diversity & Inclusion (ODI) on a series of impactful initiatives aimed at fostering a campus culture that embraces diversity, inclusivity, and accessibility for all its students, especially for those with disabilities.

To make the campus PwD friendly, a survey was conducted to identify the places on the campus, which are inaccessible to People with Disabilities and to rectify the infrastructural issues. The work is in progress in this regard.

Gender inclusive restrooms: This initiative was aimed at identifying potentially existent single-stalled washrooms that can be converted into Gender Inclusive Restrooms. The infrastructure unit is working to make the necessary changes.

FITT

The Foundation for Innovation and Technology Transfer (FITT) at IIT Delhi is a pioneer technology commercialization organization from academia. From July 2022 to May 2023, 132 technology development and transfer projects worth Rs. 56.67 Crores have been contracted at FITT. During the period 2022-23, 98 patents & IPs were filed, and 17 licensing deals were closed with worth contracted value of ₹ 6.49 Cr. In the same period, 34 new startups entered the incubator.

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