Offshore IIT, IIM campuses depends on faculty

India will be "open to the idea" of offshore campuses of its premier business and technological institutes when the faculty situation at Indian Institutes of Management (IIM) and Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) eases, parliament was told Tuesday.

"Setting up campuses abroad may not be immediately feasible as that would further strain the IITs' limited manpower and other resources," Minister of State for Human Resource Development D. Purandeswari told the Rajya Sabha.

"However, as and when the faculty situation eases due to the efforts made by the IITs and IIMs to recruit new faculty, government would be open to the idea," Purandeswari said.

"The various Memoranda of Association of the IIMs, which do not at present empower them to open campuses abroad, will also need to be amended," the minister added.