Georgia Tech has Bangalore in its sights

Georgia Tech has Bangalore in its sights
The Economic Times


BANGALORE is on the radar of Georgia Institute of Technology which is planning to set up its independent campus in India. The institute has approached the Karnataka government seeking its help in getting 1,000 acres of land and infrastructure, sources say.

The institute’s officials had recently said in Mumbai, “We will come to India as a stand-alone facility this year.”

State Education Department’s principal secretary Shobha Nambisan told ET, “They have approached the Karnataka government and other southern states too. We have asked them to apply to AICTE for approval but have made it clear the government will not sanction land or partner in infrastructure for the institute.”

Sources say Georgia Tech plans to create a corpus fund with contributions from corporates in India and abroad to be used for administration purposes. It plans to offer such postgraduate technical courses as M Tech. The government has requested Georgia Tech to consider setting up its campus in Belgaum since the Visvesvaraya Technological University is present there. But the US institute is keen on Bangalore.

Georgia Tech has till now only had a few collaborations with such institutes as IITs and IIScs.

Experts say reputed institutes like Georgia Tech setting up shop here will pressure Indian colleges to raise their standards to remain competitive.
“Imagine Harvard sets up camp next to your institute tomorrow. Do you think students will come to your institute? We need to think about facing the challenges because there is nothing to stop the foreign institutions from setting up their own presence in India since we have signed the WTO agreement,’’ says a professor.

VTU has been one of the progressive universities, having started a slew of initiatives like Edusat, e-learning, tie-ups with industry and inclusion of current technology in its curriculum through electives.