India's No: 1 Institute IIT Madras partners with Malaysian institutions to advance education, research and innovation

CHENNAI, India, Feb. 6, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- India's top-ranked higher education, the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras), has established a new entity, IIT Madras Global Research Foundation (IITM Global) with a charter to take IIT Madras' research and innovation ecosystem into multiple geographies. 

IITM Global is strengthening its engagement in Southeast Asia through strategic partnerships in Malaysia. IITM Global was newly-launched by Dr. S. Jaishankar, Hon'ble Minister of External Affairs, Government of India.

The initiative supports IIT Madras's vision to become the world's first multinational university by positioning it as a globally networked hub for education, research, innovation and entrepreneurship.

Addressing the IITM Global launch event at IIT Madras Campus on 2nd Jan 2026, Dr. S. Jaishankar said, "An IIT Madras Campus in Tanzania is a way by which Indian Foreign Policy has leveraged the capabilities of an Institution here to make a huge impact. In ten years from now, think how many Students of Africa would have passed through its portals. We are a human resource power and we should play to our strengths. We now have the capability to start doing so. When institutions of excellence in the country start going abroad, the business of foreign policy gains a huge addition to our arsenal. This is something very transformational."

As part of its Malaysia-focused expansion, IIT Madras has entered into a collaboration with ASEM (Advanced Semiconductor Academy of Malaysia) to deepen academic cooperation and innovation-led engagement in the region. The partnership will focus on delivering joint certification programs, enabling student exchange and faculty mobility, and supporting education and skilling initiatives tailored to Malaysian and regional needs with a focus on Semiconductors & Semiconductor design.

In addition, the partnership envisions setting up an Overseas Research Centre in Malaysia to support high-potential deep-tech startups seeking to expand into the Southeast Asian market.

IITM Global has also formalised a collaboration framework with Aisling Group. The partnership is designed to build synergies aligned with IITM Global's mission to internationalise Indian innovation, technology and startups.

Areas of collaboration include startup scaling support, Skilling and short term certification programs, collaborative research initiatives, and intellectual property and technology transfer, enabling closer integration between Indian and Malaysian innovation ecosystems.

IITM Global has been conceived as a strategic, scalable 'plug-and-play' platform that enables researchers, students, startups and industry partners to access global markets, capital and collaborative research opportunities.

Widely recognised as India's top-ranked institution for higher education, IIT Madras is ranked #1 Overall and #1 Engineering Institute in India's National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF), #180 in the QS World University Rankings and #56 in the QS Asian University Rankings. The institute brings a strong research ecosystem to its global partnerships, comprising 18 academic departments, 15 Centres of Excellence, 23 research centres and nearly 100 advanced laboratories, supported by more than 650 faculty members and over 10,000 students.

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