The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay will launch its first overseas sub-campus in the US in collaboration with the State University of New York (SUNY) at Old Westbury. This marks the first time an IIT will run its own academic programmes on American soil.

This initiative represents a major step toward the internationalisation of Indian higher education, following the establishment of IIT Madras’ Zanzibar campus and IIT Delhi’s Abu Dhabi campus.

Dr. Rahul Choudaha was quoted in the University World News article on the symbolic significance of the initiative than its scale.

This is the first time an institution of this calibre has chosen to embed itself directly within a US university rather than pursue the more traditional internationalisation playbook – MOUs, student exchange, joint research grants, recruiting fairs. By physically anchoring a presence on an American campus, IIT Bombay is signalling a shift from India exporting talent to India exporting institutional presence. If it works even modestly, it sets a template – however unproven – for other top Indian institutions to think beyond the usual toolkit of internationalisation and consider direct footholds abroad.

Beyond academic programmes, the partnership will foster faculty and researcher exchanges, joint research projects, conferences and multidisciplinary collaboration in emerging fields of science and technology.

Choudaha cautioned that this initiative should be viewed in the right perspective

This starts with certificate programmes in a Long Island suburb – not full degree programmes, not thousands of students. New York is also an intensely competitive, saturated higher-education market, with elite private universities, strong public systems and community colleges all within reach.

This looks like a deliberately phased approach rather than a large-scale rollout. Starting with certificate courses lets IIT Bombay test traction – see how the market responds, how the partnership functions operationally – before committing to degree and research programmes.

In other words, this isn’t a bet on scale from day one; it’s structured experimentation, with room to expand if the early phase proves itself.

Choudaha said that foreign universities have a practice of testing the US market with limited offerings before expanding on a large scale.

For example, CKGSB’s presence in New York and INSEAD’s in San Francisco are both orientated around corporate relationships, offering limited certificate-style programming rather than broad academic degree pathways.

IIT Bombay’s move, by contrast, builds on its strength in engineering and technology. A Scottish university that attempted a full-fledged campus in New York did not achieve the expected enrolment scale and ultimately closed.

IIT Bombay’s reputation and recognition are real, but it is likely to be one more name in a very crowded area and its appeal will very likely be limited to the Indian diaspora, at least to start.