On 16 January 2008, AIT President Said Irandoust met with a group of Indian faculty member, namely Professor S. P. Pawadee, Dr. Mrs. Gauri Rane, and Mr. Anil Rao, from the Khandesh College Education Society, Jalgaon, India, (www.jalasri.kces.in). The group had participated in the HealthGIS 2008 Conference, organized by Dr. Nitin Tripathi and colleagues from our Remote Sensing and GIS field of study. They are interested in developing a two-stage master’s program, leading to an AIT degree, and are targeting to launch it starting from the next semester. They are also keen on establishing an integrated bachelor’s-master’s program with AIT in the future.
There is an increasing interest from institutions in India to partner with AIT, which is most encouraging. Likewise, the Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT) (www.kiit.org), and the Vishwakarma Institute of Technology (VIT), are also interested to launch a similar two-stage master’s program with AIT, also setting next semester as the target date. Dr. Joydeep Dutta, Associate Dean for New Development in School of Engineering and Technology (SET), personally visited VIT and helped further AIT’s linkages with VIT. The VIT is a self-financing institute of repute affiliated to the University of Pune, which is recognized by the Government of Maharashtra, and approved by the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE), New Delhi.