IIT-Kanpur opens office in New York.

With an aim to hunt for qualified and capable
faculty abroad, IIT-Kanpur  has set up an office
in New York  with alumnus Sanjeev
Khosla designated as the overseas brand
ambassador of the institute.
The office will also try to amass funds through
the alumni based there, IIT-Kanpur Director
Indranil Manna said.
The office will help in connecting foreign
faculty with IIT-K. More than a dozen teachers
teaching in foreign institutions have expressed
an interest in associating with IIT-K, Manna
said.
Also, ex-IITians posted at good positions in
various American cities are willing to help IIT-
K. They are also collecting funds to do the
same, he said.
They are also in talks with international level
technical educational institutes and universities
about research and other issues. A system to
invite the students and faculty of foreign
institutes to IIT-K is also being formulated, he
added.
Sanjeev Khosla has been associated with many
educational institutions. His tenure is for three
years, having commenced on September 1,
2013. He will act as a link between IIT-K, the
alumni of the institute who are living abroad
and foreign educational institutions, Manna
said.
The office on 62, William Street is on lease for
five years, he said.
In the backdrop of IITs failing to make it to the
top 200 in the QS rankings of the world's
leading universities, IIT-Kanpur Director
Indranil Manna had yesterday alleged
corruption in the ranking process of various
such agencies and said it was more of a
"money game".
Manna alleged that the ranking process by
such agencies was based on the paying
capabilities of the institutions.
"The standard of teaching, research and job
placement are not the criteria for the ranking,
instead it is based on the paying capabilities of
the institutions. An amount of one lakh and
fifty thousand dollars needs to be paid to get a
good ranking in such lists," he claimed.
"These global rankings are more of a business
rather than based on academic performance of
institutions," he said.
Manna said a five-member committee of IIT
directors has been constituted, of which he is
part of, to look into the issue and understand
the methodology of the ranking agencies.
The report by this committee will be submitted
to the IIT council, he said.
On IIT-Kanpur ranking at 295 in the 'QS World
University Rankings', Manna said the institute
was placed on the position based on old
information provided on the its website.
"The ranking should have been after a team
would have come to IIT-Kanpur and seen how
the institute works. There have been so many
students of IIT-Kanpur who have achieved so
much on the world stage," he said.
The list released on September 10 was
dominated with US universities, with MIT
grabbing the top slot and Harvard at No 2,
pushing Britain's Cambridge University  to No
3.
The 11 Indian institutions which featured in
the list included IIT Delhi at 222, IIT Bombay
at 233, IIT Kanpur at 295, IIT Madras at 313
and IIT Kharagpur at 346.