The Indian Institute of Technology-Guwahati (IIT-Guwahati) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with IIT (BHU), Varanasi to launch a joint doctoral programme in July 2021.
The two institutes signed the MoU on Friday.
Directors of both the institutes, TG Sitharam of IIT Guwahati, and Pramod Kumar Jain of IIT (BHU) said that this is the first time in the country that two IITs have come together to offer a joint degree programme.
The idea of a joint PhD programme was originally proposed by Sitharam in 53rd IIT Council Meeting held on September 27, 2019.
The vision behind this is to build a “Network of Excellence” of all IITs rather than each one striving to become a “Tower of Excellence”, IIT-Guwahati said in a statement on Friday.
The IIT Council accepted the proposal to start Joint Degree programmes.
Through this academic collaboration, both the institutes are expecting a significant boost in high-quality research and foundation for further academic collaborations.
Under the National Education Policy (NEP2020), such educational reforms and academic collaborations between premier educational institutes will promote multidisciplinary academic programs and research for encouraging and promoting a knowledge-based economy of the country.
IIT BHU is considering starting a Joint MTech programme on similar lines to provide multi-institutional and multidisciplinary MTech programs.
IIT Guwahati has also agreed to be part of this initiative, the statement added.