Purdue Announces Growing Partnership in India at Event with Senator Young and Ambassador Garcetti

Purdue President Mung Chan shakes hands Friday (left) with Eric Garcetti, U.S. Ambassador to India, and U.S. Sen. Todd Young after announcing the creation of the first-ever Purdue-India Center for Education and Engagement and the U.S.-India Center of Excellence in India. Semiconductors, both in India. The afternoon announcement also included plans to jointly offer degrees and attract graduates in India. (Purdue University Photo/John Underwood)

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Purdue University continues to strengthen its educational partnership with India, announcing the establishment of a Center for Education and Engagement in the country and a US-India Semiconductor Center of Excellence in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Technology. Hyderabad with the support of the US and Indian governments. Plans to jointly offer advanced degrees and attract graduates and create a new semiconductor center were unveiled during a fireside chat with Indiana Sen. Todd Young and Eric Garcetti, the U.S. ambassador to India.

This marks the latest chapter in Purdue’s successful 125-year relationship with India, starting with its first Indian students.

President Mung Chung revealed plans for the Purdue-India Centers on Friday (Nov. 1) as part of a campus visit and public forum by Young and Garcetti.

The Purdue India Center for Education and Engagement will build Purdue’s presence in India, including a new fund to provide joint degrees in high-demand fields including artificial intelligence, data science, semiconductors and business. The degrees will be offered in collaboration with strategic partner institutions in India.

The Center is also a central location for further development of long-term partnerships, offering a direct gateway for government and industry relations, strategic partnerships with Indian universities, alumni engagement and student recruitment.

“Purdue is excited to build on our long-standing partnerships with Indian institutions and companies across a broad range of disciplines,” Chan said. “Both our new Center for Education and Engagement in Delhi and the new US-India Semiconductor Center of Excellence, created jointly with IIT Hyderabad and supported by the Governments of India and the US, are important steps towards expanding this strategic partnership, which opens up many opportunities . for our students and faculty, and to further enhance Purdue’s global impact.”

There are more than 3,000 Indian students on Purdue’s campus—the university’s largest international student population—and more than 300 Indian-origin faculty, researchers and staff in the Purdue community.

Friday’s announcement follows series of meetings at the end of September in three Indian cities among a Purdue delegation, Indian government officials, leading academic institutions and industry leaders. Discussions focused on educational collaboration, expanding joint research and development initiatives, and exploring new opportunities.

“Purdue’s expanding ties provide the U.S. and India with the tools for continued global success,” Young said. “Forward thinking like this can lay the foundation for encouraging bilateral trade and investment in the technology sector, especially in high-impact areas such as semiconductors and artificial intelligence.”

Garcetti hosted a Purdue delegation in New Delhi in September. Discussions with Garcetti and other Indian government officials this week focused on expanding collaboration in research and education, and how Purdue can engage with India to advance mutual interests in developing and protecting critical technologies such as artificial intelligence. quantum computing and much more.

“Purdue has strong support in India and has demonstrated its support to Indian industry and academia,” Garcetti said. “Such a presence in India enhances opportunities for students in both countries and strengthens labor and educational ties. I applaud Purdue’s leadership and institutional partnerships that contribute so much to the U.S.-India relationship.”

This mutual support includes Purdue and India’s joint participation in the new US-India Semiconductor Center of Excellence. Purdue will actively collaborate with semiconductor industry leaders to expand this binational center of excellence and further collaborative research and workforce development.

As part of Purdue’s three land-grant pillars of research, teaching and engagement, the long-standing Purdue-India partnership is helping shape the future of technology and education for years to come, leveraging critical connections between academia, government and industry.

Friday’s announcement is just the latest involving Purdue and India. In May 2023 Purdue signed the agreement to become the leading academic partner of the Government of India in the field of semiconductors, promoting collaborative research and development, education and talent development in this important field.

As part of Friday’s visit to campus, Young and Garcetti toured the Birk Nanotechnology Center, which houses Purdue’s semiconductor and microelectronics research and includes the 25,000-square-foot Scifres Nanofabrication Laboratory cleanroom, one of the largest academic cleanrooms in the country.

About Purdue University

Purdue University is a public research institution with excellence in scale. Ranked among the top ten public universities and has two colleges in the top four in the United States. Purdue discovers and disseminates knowledge with unparalleled quality and scale. More than 105,000 students attend Purdue in a variety of modes and locations, including nearly 50,000 full-time on the West Lafayette campus. Committed to affordability and affordability, Purdue’s main campus has suspended tuition for the 13th consecutive year. See how Purdue never stops pursuing the next giant leap, including its first comprehensive urban campus in Indianapolis, the Mitch Daniels School of Business, Purdue Computes and the One Health initiative – at https://www.purdue.edu/president/strategic-initiatives.