IIT Kharagpur aims to build a living innovation network by integrating AI, Deep-Tech
research, societal impact, sustainability, and global collaboration. In an exclusive interaction Prof. Suman Chakraborty, Director, IIT Kharagpur explains to Vidushi Gupta, Business Journalist, APAC Media how IIT Kharagpur is embedding AI-driven learning across engineering, sciences, healthcare, management, humanities, and policy studies.
How is IIT Kharagpur aligning its academic structure with emerging industry expectations and evolving job roles?
The future will not reward static degrees; it will reward adaptive intelligence. IIT Kharagpur
is therefore redesigning education from a discipline-centric model to a problem-centric
ecosystem.
We are integrating AI, sustainability, healthcare technologies, intelligent manufacturing,
digital engineering, quantum systems, entrepreneurship, and human-centered innovation
across curricula. The engineer of tomorrow cannot remain confined within departmental
silos. Industry today seeks creators who can navigate convergence — where AI meets
biology, materials meet climate science, and computation meets societal transformation.
Our academic cum research architecture is evolving accordingly through multidisciplinary pathways, flexible learning, research immersion, startup ecosystems, and industry-integrated problem-solving. We are not preparing students merely for existing jobs; we are preparing them to create industries that do not yet exist.
In what ways are digital technologies and AI-driven tools being integrated into teaching
and learning practices across disciplines at the campus?
AI is not simply a tool for automation; it is becoming a cognitive collaborator. At IIT
Kharagpur, we are embedding AI-driven learning across engineering, sciences, healthcare,
management, humanities, and policy studies. Intelligent simulation environments, digital
twins, immersive virtual laboratories, generative AI-assisted design, adaptive learning
systems, data-driven experimentation, and computational decision-making are increasingly becoming part of pedagogy.
Importantly, we are not using AI merely to accelerate learning efficiency; we are using it to
deepen creativity, curiosity, and interdisciplinary discovery. The classroom of the future is
no longer a room with blackboards, but an interconnected innovation ecosystem where
physical, digital, and biological systems converge.
How does IIT Kharagpur collaborate with industry to provide students with practical
exposure through internships, projects, or live engagements?
The distance between classrooms and industry is collapsing. IIT Kharagpur has therefore
built a deeply immersive engagement model with industry through live projects,
translational research, co-development platforms, startup incubation, research parks, deep-tech innovation ecosystems, industrial internships, and joint centres of excellence.
Students increasingly work on real-world challenges involving AI, semiconductors,
healthcare technologies, sustainability, mobility systems, cybersecurity, and advanced
manufacturing.
We strongly believe employability emerges not from theoretical familiarity alone, but from
solving high-impact problems under real constraints. Our students are therefore trained not merely as job seekers, but as innovation leaders capable of shaping industrial
transformation.
What initiatives are being taken to continuously upskill faculty so they can deliver
technology-enabled and application-oriented education?
In the AI era, institutions cannot evolve unless faculty evolve continuously. IIT Kharagpur is therefore investing heavily in faculty upskilling through interdisciplinary research
ecosystems, AI-enabled pedagogy exposure, global academic collaborations, industry
immersion, advanced digital teaching platforms, translational research engagement, and
participation in frontier technology missions.
Faculty today must become lifelong learners themselves. The role of a teacher is no longer limited to transferring knowledge; it is to mentor innovation, inspire disruption, and guide students through uncertainty. We are consciously building a faculty ecosystem where academic depth converges with technological agility and societal relevance.
How does IIT Kharagpur focus on developing employability skills such as problem-solving, adaptability, and innovation alongside academic knowledge?
The future workplace will reward those who can solve problems that do not yet have
textbooks. Therefore, at IIT Kharagpur, employability is not viewed as placement
preparation; it is viewed as human capability development.
We emphasize experiential learning, interdisciplinary projects, entrepreneurial thinking,
maker culture, research exposure, leadership training, design thinking, collaborative
innovation, and societal immersion. Students are encouraged to embrace ambiguity,
challenge conventions, and work across domains.
Adaptability is becoming more important than memorization. In a world where AI can
retrieve information instantly, the real competitive advantage lies in imagination, resilience, systems thinking, ethical judgment, and the courage to innovate under uncertainty.
What is the institute’s long-term vision for building a future-ready learning ecosystem that combines technology, skills, and industry relevance?
Our vision is to build not merely a technologically advanced campus, but an intellectually
future-ready civilization of learning. The university of the future cannot function as an
industrial-age degree factory. It must become a living innovation network integrating AI,
deep-tech research, entrepreneurship, societal impact, sustainability, policy thinking, and
global collaboration.
IIT Kharagpur envisions a learning ecosystem where students continuously reskill
throughout life, where boundaries between academia and industry become porous, and
where education evolves dynamically with technological disruption. The ultimate goal is not only employability — it is leadership. We want our graduates not merely to survive the AI era, but to define it responsibly, ethically, and globally.
