The gift is one of the largest gifts given by an alumnus to create a school at an educational institution in India.
Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) on Tuesday received an endowment of ₹110 crore by Sunil Wadhwani, a distinguished alumnus of the institute and the Co-founder of IGATE and Mastech Digital. The gift is one of the largest gifts given by an alumnus to create a School at an educational institution in India.
The funds will be used to set up the Wadhwani School of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (AI). An MoU was signed between Wadhwani and V. Kamakoti, Director, IIT Madras.
Wadhwani School
Wadhwani School of Data Science and AI aims to advise the Government and policymakers on Data Science and AI-related policy areas.
Wadhwani, who is presently the Managing Partner at SWAT Capital, said the use of AI in India is growing at a rapid pace. Developing a strong AI ecosystem - both at the industry level and at the academic level - is critical. The newly established school at IIT-Madras will address this issue and also focus on R&D related to AI, he told newspersons.
Kamakoti said the gift was a ‘historic’ moment and will hellp in IIT Madras becoming a strong centre for the development of a strong AI ecosystem. With the advent of Industry 4.0, wherein AI and Data Science are the main movers, the need for a school for Data Science and AI is critical.IIT Madras has started the interdisciplinary school involving faculty from many departments joining hands to work on niche areas, including Responsible AI, he said.
Courses offered
The Wadhwani School of Data Science and AI will offer courses like B.Tech programme in AI and Data Analytics; M.Tech programme in Data Science and AI; MS & PhD Programmes in Data Science and AI and Joint MSc in Data Science and AI with the University of Birmingham, UK.
The new school will also integrate core and fundamental research with application research. The Applied Research Areas of this School will be healthcare; agriculture; smart cities and transportation; financial analytics; manufacturing; energy and environment; defence; education, the release said.
Admissions will commence in July 2024, the release said.