Engineering
Powerhouses Unite

Throughout history, brilliant minds have tackled humanity's greatest challenges — developing life-saving treatments, creating solutions for environmental crises, and engineering innovations that transform how we live. Yet even as these breakthroughs emerge from every corner of the globe, their creators have remained separated by vast oceans and cultural divides.

As technology dissolves the barriers of time zones and geography, two of the world's most prestigious engineering institutions noticed an opportunity and took advantage. Years of vision and planning have culminated in a groundbreaking partnership between The Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay — one that promises to redefine how the next generation of engineers will collaborate and innovate.

On June 25, leaders from these academic powerhouses made history, signing a Memorandum of Understanding that brought together two of the world’s strongest innovation ecosystems. Through intensive multi-year cohorts, students from the U.S. and India will work side-by-side, bringing together different perspectives.

“Since its founding in 1958, IIT Bombay has emerged as a world-class institution,” said Illinois Grainger Engineering Dean Rashid Bashir. “(We) look forward to building a direct relationship that will fire imaginations and drive teaching, research and collaborations to meet challenges and improve lives in this ever-changing world.”

“This started some time back, maybe more than two years ago, when my predecessor started saying we should have a common program,” said professor Shireesh Kedare, director of IIT Bombay. “We have come a long way, and now there is a culmination of this beginning of the beginning.”

“We have come a long way, and now there is a culmination of this beginning of the beginning.”
--Shireesh Kedare

The institutions envision long-standing collaborations that will grow to include the exchange of faculty, students and ideas for both research and education. The initial collaborative initiatives will be focused on sustained undergraduate programs in engineering and entrepreneurship.

A Joint Program Pathway outlined in the memorandum explains how undergraduate programming will be laid out between the universities. Students will complete standard coursework in their first undergraduate year, then engage in joint learning experiences and co-locations on each campus in their sophomore and junior years, with entrepreneurship serving as a prime focus during those experiences. The final year of the program will bring students back to their institution for the completion of undergraduate coursework. Participating students would earn undergraduate degrees from their home institutions in addition to a Joint Credential Certificate from the program.

Beyond these formal qualifications, graduates will emerge with something far more valuable: the ability to think globally, collaborate across cultures and tackle humanity’s toughest challenges with perspectives that span across continents. Jonathan Makela, associate dean for undergraduate programs at Illinois Grainger Engineering, noted what might be possible when students from Illinois and IIT Bombay come together for problem-solving, such as the development of sustainable water purification systems as just one example.

“The challenges facing our world – climate change, health care access, sustainable energy and food security – these problems extend beyond national boundaries.” 
--Jonathan Makela

“The challenges facing our world – climate change, health care access, sustainable energy and food security – these problems extend beyond national boundaries,” Makela explained. “They require engineers who can think globally, work across cultures and understand diverse markets and needs. Through this partnership, our students will graduate not just as skilled engineers, but as global citizens ready to tackle humanity’s toughest challenges.”

The entrepreneurial element of the partnership aims to have students from both institutions collaborating toward identifying pressing problems and designing real-world solutions, which could form the basis of new companies. PitchBook data ranks Illinois and IIT Bombay in the global top 10 for producing successful startup founders. Programming will leverage the collective expertise of Illinois and IIT Bombay through research-based entrepreneurial initiatives, joint student experiences and startup exchange programs.

“This partnership reflects how collaboration across institutions and continents can drive meaningful progress,” explained Jed Taylor, assistant dean for innovation and entrepreneurship at The Grainger College of Engineering and executive director of Illinois’ Technology Entrepreneur Center. “This agreement reflects a shared belief in the power of innovation, collaboration and education to create lasting global impact.”

“The ambition is for our students to be energized by the idea of starting new boundary-pushing and border-crossing businesses that can be realized in Bombay, in Chicago, in Urbana and in the Bay Area, or around the world,” added Bashir.

Illinois Grainger Engineering Affiliations 

Rashid Bashir is an Illinois Grainger Engineering professor of bioengineering in the Department of Bioengineering. He serves as dean of The Grainger College of Engineering. Bashir is affiliated with the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, the Holonyak Micro & Nanotechnology Lab and the Materials Research Laboratory. He holds the Grainger Distinguished Chair in Engineering appointment.

Jonathan Makela is an Illinois Grainger Engineering professor of electrical and computer engineering in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. He serves as associate dean of undergraduate programs in The Grainger College of Engineering. Makela is affiliated with the Coordinated Science Laboratory.

Jed Taylor is the Illinois Grainger Engineering assistant dean for innovation and entrepreneurship. He serves as executive director of the Technology Entrepreneur Center.