The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi - Abu Dhabi campus can expect to see 400 students next year, almost twice the current number, according to an official statement. "Today, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi has a strength of 12,000 students, while the strength of Indian Institute of Technology, Abu Dhabi is 182, which will likely touch 400 in the next year," stated Shantanu Roy, Executive Director, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi - Abu Dhabi, in an interaction with visiting Indian media at the campus in Abu Dhabi.

When asked what gives the difference to this campus of IIT Delhi, as opposed to other campuses of IIT in India, Roy said, 'This is a different geography, of course, and this is being aligned with what is important in UAE. India is a much bigger country, much larger populace, the economic spread is larger.' 'This is, of course, the Middle East, which is known to be a fossil fuel-driven economy. But UAE is doing a lot of expansion and diversification. So, what is being built here, in fact, is aligned with that diversification,' said Roy.

"But of course it’s a smaller country, has a very small population and geography, and has a large number of international students," he said. "It’s because UAE being at the crossroads of the world, is linked to Europe and Asia. So, we have diversity in terms of students," he said. He said that the UAE campus is in line with the UAE’s strategy related to energy, sustainability and AI and Smart Materials research which are being specifically targeted.

However, it’s not as if this is not being done in the Delhi campus, as all these are very important to India too. This is not like the campus is not synchronized with the Delhi campus. "We are actually one institution, and not two different institutions. I think that’s very important to understand at the outset," Roy said.

“We are actually one institution globally with three campuses. This is our first campus outside the country. This campus here (Abu Dhabi campus), in the beginning, in the first semester, started with 17 students. We had only one master's programme. But within six months, we started two undergraduate programmes with 50 students at that time. “We are adding a new undergraduate programme every year, maybe a new master's programme every year, and some progress in PhD annually,” Asked how AI is transforming education and research, Roy stated, "It is part of our curriculum in IIT Delhi. There are also masters programs in AI." Roy also clarified that the curriculum in Abu Dhabi is the same as that of IIT Delhi, except for some adaptation that is required in the Middle Eastern setting. "A requirement for accreditation of branch campuses is that you have to retain the ethos of the parental campus," Roy explained. "So far as curricula are concerned, we are very well-aligned. In fact, it is not as if if you're in IIT Delhi, in Delhi, you get an education that is different from what you get in Abu Dhabi."