The first overseas campus of the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) will open in Dubai early next year, the Indian Ministry of Commerce and Industry announced today.

The campus will function from the India Pavilion at the Expo City in Dubai and will start its activities by offering short and medium-term training programmes as well as research opportunities.

The goal of the campus is to ultimately launch its Master of Business Administration MBA programme in International Business. This is already the IIFT’s flagship programme in India.

India’s Minister for Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal, hoped the IIFT’s new Dubai campus would attract students and professionals not only from UAE but from other parts of the world seeking training and research opportunities in international trade.

The Vice Chancellor of the IIFT, Rakesh Mohan Joshi, said Dubai’s location and vibrancy would “transform the IIFT into a world-class institute with cutting-edge research and training.”

The institute was established in 1963 as an autonomous body under India’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry and has the status of a deemed university.