The Ohio State University and the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT Bombay) have launched a new partnership to increase the research and academic relationship between the two organizations.
IIT Bombay is a national flagship technical institute in India. It is predominantly an engineering school, with robust research programs in a number of engineering and science disciplines.
A delegation from IIT Bombay visited campus on April 20 to celebrate the establishment of the dual degree program, which included a meeting with Ravi V. Bellamkonda, president of Ohio State and Kaya Şahin vice provost for global strategies and international affairs.
A planned new dual doctoral degree program will support exceptional graduate students from IIT Bombay and Ohio State with global educational and professional experience. The dual degree program cements an existing relationship at the PhD level and expands access to industrial partners and research areas of interest. Initially focused on collaboration in microelectronics and artificial intelligence, the new program is also expected to grow talent in both schools and aid in global workforce development.
“This new opportunity will help students gain an international experience in graduate education and provide access to new information and perspectives, innovative concepts and methods, emerging research technologies, and unique populations and environments not typically available at a single institution and country,” said Balasubramaniam Shanker, professor and chair of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Ohio State.
A special advantage of the new dual doctoral degree program is its association with the previously established IIT Bombay-Ohio State Frontier Science and Engineering Research Center, initiated by Ohio State’s Institute for Materials and Manufacturing Research (IMR).1
A goal of the new program is to produce skilled and diverse graduates from Ohio State and IIT Bombay by recruiting and nurturing excellent domestic and international students to the graduate programs.
The program will enable graduate students to pursue part of their PhD graduate course requirements and research work at both IIT Bombay and Ohio State. The dual degree program will satisfy the degree requirements for both institutions within the time period typically required for a single PhD degree from either institution.
This news story was written by Chris Booker, Ohio State News, and was published on September 26, 2025.