Purdue announces partnership expansion in India during event with Senator Young and Ambassador Garcetti

Purdue President Mung Chiang on Friday shook hands with (left) Erik Garcetti, U.S. Ambassador to India, and U.S. Senator Todd Young following the announcement of the first-ever Purdue-India Center for Education and Engagement and the U.S.-India Center of Excellence in Semiconductors, both in India. The afternoon announcement also included plans for joint degree offerings and alumni engagement in India. (Purdue University photo/John Underwood)

WEST LAFAYETTE, Indiana – Purdue University continues to strengthen its educational partnership with India by announcing its Center for Education and Engagement in the country, as well as the U.S.-India Center of Excellence in Semiconductors with the India Institute of Technology, Hyderabad, with support from the U.S. and India. Plans for joint degree offerings and graduate engagement, as well as a new semiconductor center, were unveiled during a fireside chat with Indiana Sen. Todd Young and Eric Garcetti, U.S. ambassador to India.

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

President Mung Chiang revealed plans for Purdue India centers on Friday (Nov. 1) as part of Young and Garcetti’s campus visit and public forum.

The Purdue-India Center for Education and Engagement will enable Purdue’s presence in India, including the creation of a new foundation offering joint degrees in high-demand areas, including artificial intelligence, data analytics, semiconductors and business. The degrees will be offered in collaboration with strategic partner institutions in India.

The center also provides a central location to further support long-standing partnerships, offering a direct gateway to government-industry contacts, strategic partnerships with Indian universities, alumni engagement and student recruitment.

“Purdue is excited to expand our long-standing partnerships with Indian institutions and companies across a wide range of fields,” Chiang said. “Both our new Center for Education and Engagement in Delhi and the new US-India Center of Excellence in Semiconductors, connected to IIT Hyderabad and supported by our Indian and US governments, are important milestones towards expanding this strategic partnership offering many opportunities for our students and faculty, and continuing to expand Purdue’s global impact.”

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

Friday’s announcement follows: series of meetings at the end of September in three Indian cities with Purdue delegations, 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 growing connections provide the United States and India with the tools for sustained global success,” Young said. “Such forward-looking thinking can lay the groundwork to encourage bilateral trade and investment in the technology sector, particularly 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 strengthening research and education collaborations and how Purdue can engage with India to support shared interests in developing and protecting critical technologies, such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing and more.

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

This mutual support includes Purdue and India’s joint commitment to the new U.S.-India Semiconductor Center of Excellence. Purdue will actively work with semiconductor industry leaders to scale this bipartisan center of excellence through activities to further collaborative research and workforce development.

Across Purdue’s three land-grant pillars of research, learning and engagement, the long-standing Purdue-India partnership helps shape future technologies and education for years to come, leveraging important connections between academia, government and industry.

Friday’s announcement is the latest regarding Purdue and India. In May 2023 Purdue signed the agreement to become the Government of India’s flagship academic partner in semiconductors, supporting collaborative R&D, education and talent development in this important field.

As part of Friday’s campus visit, Young and Garcetti toured the Birck Nanotechnology Center, where Purdue’s research in semiconductors and microelectronics is conducted 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 demonstrating excellence at scale. Ranked among the top 10 public universities and with two top four universities in the United States, Purdue discovers and disseminates knowledge of unparalleled quality and scale. Purdue enrolls more than 105,000 students in a variety of majors and locations, including nearly 50,000 in-person at the West Lafayette campus. In an effort to ensure affordability and accessibility, Purdue’s main campus has been waiving tuition for 13 years in a row. See how Purdue never stops in its relentless pursuit of 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.