In the summer of 2007, the Institute signed a letter of understanding with the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh in order to be able to set up an international campus, making it the first to set up a university in India.
The Andhra Pradesh government has set aside land to set up the campus. The government has promised between 100 and 200 acres free of cost in exchange for an excellent educational curriculum at a practical tuition rate.
After frequent visits to eight cities since 2004, Tech officials finally chose Andhra Pradesh as the location to set up its campus because 40 percent of the students who come to Tech’s Atlanta campus from overseas are from that area.
The first facility will be set up on 40 acres of land near Hyderabad, the capital of Andhra Pradesh. Later, academic and research facilities will expand to a larger, 70 acre campus, in Visakhapatnam.
Hyderabad is India’s sixth largest metropolitan area with a population of 6.1 million.
The city is known for its IT services, pharmaceuticals and entertainment companies. It is currently the financial capital of Andhra Pradesh.
It is situated near an international airport, and contains attractions which include botanical gardens, palaces, forts, planetariums, parks, ancient tombs and temples.
The Hyderabad campus is expected to hold its first day of classes some time in 2009.
It is designed to focus on engineering and research while trying to keep up with global corporations such as IBM. The international campus is also expected to offer foreign degrees by establishing academic connections with nearby universities to meet India’s educational requirements.
Degrees offered from this campus would be recognized in the United States. The Tech campus in India will be the first school to offer Indian students this prospect.
Academic courses will be taught by actual Tech faculty on a tenure track who have the benefit of having spent time studying or researching on both the US and Indian campuses.
“I think the idea of having a campus in India is great,” said Sushanth Sreenivasan, a first-year Management major. “Because students in India are immersed in the fields of science and math, India produces some of the greatest engineers in the world. The campus would be great because there is such a high demand for trained engineers…I think it would also be an excellent way to expose Indian students to the liberal arts, fields that are not of the highest priority [in India],” Sreenivasan said.
In 2007, Tech was ranked among the top ten public universities in the United States. The presence of such a high-ranking university overseas would improve the academic records of the city.
Currently, Tech has a campus in Metz, France, which plays an important part in Tech’s International Plan. Tech’s Lorraine campus offers courses in English, and has partnered with French universities to offer research to students who are willing to participate.
The university also offers the study abroad option in which students can choose to study in different parts of the world while earning college credit. Countries to study abroad in include Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Chile, Denmark, Egypt, England, Germany, Japan, Mexico, Spain, Switzerland and Turkey.
To learn more about international educational opportunities at Tech, visit www.oie.gatech.edu.