Illinois Institute of Technology to establish campus in India, US to be first UGC-approved university

Illinois Institute of Technology (Illinois Tech), Chicago's tech university, is launching a campus in Mumbai, India. Illinois Tech is the first U.S. higher education institution to have received the University Grants Commission (UGC) approval for having an independent degree-granting campus in India. Undergraduate and master's degrees in computer science, engineering, and business will be provided by the new Illinois Tech -- Mumbai campus when it launches in fall 2026.

Illinois Tech's Mumbai campus will share the same rigorously academic, experiential, and industry-driven curriculum as the university's Chicago campuses, a statement on the impact read.

It will involve bringing the award-winning Illinois Tech Elevate program to campus, giving all students hands-on experience in real-world environments like internships, research, competition, and other experiences that have been shown to launch graduates to successful careers around the world's markets.

These courses will be taught by globally recruited teaching staff members, such as visiting faculty on Illinois Tech's US campuses and foreign-certified personnel. Indian students are career-enabled without emigrating abroad — but still get cross-campus study experience along with international classroom exposure.

Nationally top 100 ranked are the graduate and undergraduate computer science programs of Illinois Tech, says the 2025 US News and World Report rankings. The business schools of Illinois Tech are extremely high, its master's in management (#15), marketing (#24), and finance (#26) nationally ranked as some of the best by TFE Times (2025). Illinois Tech is nationally ranked #2 in upward mobility among highly competitive private colleges by Opportunity Insights (2024).

This move to India is a reaction to an observed increasing demand for quality higher education and global collaboration necessitated by India's National Education Policy 2020. Illinois Tech's move is in line with such policies, offering Indian students access within India itself to education globally recognized, the announcement went on to claim.

The university itself boasts a student population of more than 100 nations from all over the world, and its Chicago campus alone has more than a quarter of the students as foreign nationals. The Mumbai campus will now achieve the same by providing an avenue for students to utilize a precious learning experience so as to prepare to head the world economy.

"Illinois Tech's planned Mumbai campus — India's first-ever American university campus with STEM programs — is the National Education Policy 2020 vision to establish India as an education hub and place India in the knowledge society in the centenary year of freedom in 2047. This partnership is a reflection of our collective passion for opportunity, cross-cultural cooperation, and social progress through education.". We would like to witness more of such cooperation in the form of Indian campuses of American universities, said Somnath Ghosh, Consul General of India in Chicago.