New Delhi: The Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIM Bangalore) will establish its first international campus in Indonesia, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on Tuesday during his official visit to the Southeast Asian nation. The announcement came during a joint press statement with Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto.
The proposed campus will be located at the Singhasari Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Malang, East Java, and is expected to serve students and professionals from Indonesia as well as the wider ASEAN region. According to the government, the initiative marks a significant step in the internationalisation of India's higher education system under the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, which encourages premier Indian institutions to establish a global presence.
Announcing the initiative, Prime Minister Modi said the campus would "greatly benefit the youth across the entire ASEAN region." The proposal also forms part of a broader set of agreements signed by India and Indonesia covering education, technology, innovation, startups and space cooperation.
IIM Bangalore said the Indonesia campus will be implemented in two phases. The first phase will focus on short-duration Executive Education Programmes (EEPs) for working professionals, business leaders and government officials. Degree-granting management programmes will be introduced in the second phase after the successful rollout of the executive programmes.
The academic offerings will centre on five emerging areas: artificial intelligence, digital transformation, sustainability, healthcare management and global supply chains. The institute said students will also benefit from interactions with industry leaders, policymakers and international faculty, while selected participants may undertake short academic immersion programmes at the Bengaluru campus.
The announcement follows the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between IIM Bangalore and the management authority of the Singhasari Special Economic Zone earlier this week. Indonesian authorities have positioned the SEZ as an international hub for education, research and talent development, with the proposed IIM campus expected to contribute to that vision.
The Indonesia campus will be IIM Bangalore's first overseas campus and the second international campus established by an Indian Institute of Management, following IIM Ahmedabad's expansion into Dubai. It also joins a growing list of Indian higher education institutions establishing campuses abroad as part of the country's global education outreach.
