With Tohoku University, IIT Bombay will open its first overseas campus in Japan.

In collaboration with Tohoku University, IIT Bombay will open its first overseas campus in Japan.   To establish IIT Bombay's first overseas campus in Japan, the two organizations have inked a strategic collaboration.  With postgraduate courses scheduled to start next year, the accord ushers in a new era of academic collaboration between India and Japan.

Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT-B) will take its first step into the international arena as it launches a new campus in Japan.   This project, expected to roll out sometime next year, is the institute's foray into the global education sector after similar international projects by IIT Delhi in Abu Dhabi and IIT Madras in Zanzibar.

IIT Bombay has joined hands with Tohoku University, a recognized and government-funded Japanese university, instead of setting up shop on its own. This partnership will start with a research-oriented PhD program and will soon offer MTech courses.

The move is seen as a strategic alliance aimed at bringing together Japan's technological edge and India's intellectual ability.  Through cooperation in information sharing, joint research, and exposure to Japan's top business and innovation networks, the campus aims to be not only an educational hub but also a way of deepening India-Japan relations.

Campus recruitment has gained speed ever since a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed officially in Japan last month.  This new setup is likely to raise the number of Indian students studying at Japanese universities, which currently stands at around 1,600.  Recurrent recruitment of IIT Bombay students by Japanese firms has made the link stronger.

The new campus is going to give utmost importance to postgraduate studies, focusing on innovation and research.   Undergraduate studies are not planned presently.   The collaboration aims at creating a special synergy between Japanese technical facilities and Indian software and engineering talents to create opportunities for academic and economic development.