IIT Roorkee Organises All IITs International Relations Conclave

The International Relations (IR) Conclave, a highly influential platform for all the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) is dedicated to fostering discussions on the internationalisation of higher education at IITs. This year IR Conclave was organised at the esteemed IIT Roorkee campus and the proceedings of IR Conclave unfolded on 6 and 7 November 2023. The event brought together a diverse array of stakeholders to address the multifaceted challenges inherent in international education collaboration.

The inaugural session of the event was graced by Prof. K. K. Pant (Director, IIT Roorkee), Dr. S. K. Varshney (International Cooperation, Department of Science and Technology), Prof. Nitin Seth (Director, Indo-French Centre for Promotion of Advanced Research - IFCPAR / CEFIPRA), Dr. B. Chandrasekar (Executive Director, Corporate Planning, EdCIL (India), a Mini Ratna Category 1 CPSE), Prof. V. C. Srivastava (Dean, International Relations) and Prof. Ankit Agarwal (Organising Secretary, IR Conclave).

The conclave also featured a series of plenary sessions on topics such as "International Students: Challenges Ahead," "International Networking & Faculty Exchange," "Challenges of IR Office: Open Discussions," and "Responsibilities & Digitization of IR Office." These sessions saw active participation from Deans, Associate Deans, Department Heads, and Faculty members along with various representatives from different IITs. The conclave concluded with the resolve of greater cooperation by establishing a permanent communication channel between all IITs which will be hosted by IIT Roorkee. IIT-ISM Dhanbad offered to be the host of IR Conclave next year, which was unanimously accepted by all the participating IITs.