Looking closely at the newer, non-traditional schools getting launched across premier IIT campuses, one name stands out: the Mehta Schools.
Funded by the US-based Mehta Family Foundation (MFF), led by founder Rahul Mehta, these specialised centres represent a shift in how Indian technical education is expanding. Historically, IITs created standard academic departments like Computer Science or Mechanical Engineering. Today, diaspora philanthropy is funding standalone ‘schools’ designed around emerging global challenges.
The latest and most prominent outcome of this model is at IIT Indore, which recently launched India’s first-ever undergraduate degree dedicated to sustainability – a four-year BTech in Environmental Economics and Sustainable Engineering. Housed under the newly established Mehta Family School of Sustainability (MFSOS), the programme marks MFF’s seventh major academic project across the IIT ecosystem.
Unlike conventional IIT programmes that relegate sustainability to postgraduate studies or electives, MFSOS was created to address a critical void at the undergraduate level, said Prof Pritee Sharma, professor & head of MFSOS, in an exclusive interaction with this newspaper. She added that driven by impending corporate ESG mandates and a 13% surge in green jobs between 2024 and 2025, the school aims to bridge industry demand with specialised talent. “MFSOS is fully integrated into the IIT system, admitting its inaugural cohort of 30 students via JEE Advanced,” she said. “The curriculum has been developed over a year with inputs from global universities like Stanford, Columbia, Rice, and Purdue, alongside top Indian economic institutions, balancing environmental economics and law with energy systems and climate studies.”
This model extends far beyond Indore. Across the country, Houston-based MFF has partnered with premier campuses to establish cutting-edge hubs in high-impact domains. These include:
Data science & AI: Dedicated schools at IIT Roorkee, IIT Guwahati, and IIT Palakkad.
Healthcare & medicine: The Jyoti and Bhupat Mehta School of Health Sciences and Technology at IIT Guwahati and the Mehta Family Centre for Engineering in Medicine at IIT Kanpur.
Biosciences: The Mehta Family School of Biosciences and Biomedical Engineering at IIT Indore.
Rather than operating in academic isolation, these schools bridge global networks – bringing advisors from top international universities to consult on curricula, faculty exchanges, and joint research.
Going forward, as IITs transition from pure engineering colleges into comprehensive research universities, named philanthropic endowments provide the critical capital, infrastructure, and global access required to build future-ready institutions.