Kharagpur (West Bengal): The Indian Institute of Technology-Kharagpur (IIT-K) will soon collaborate with 15 foreign universities for academic and research activities, the director of the institute said here on Friday.

"We are all set to have collaborations at different levels with as many as 15 foreign universities and institutes, including Cambridge University, University of South Wales, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology of Zurich and Dresden University of Germany soon," Damodar Acharya said at the 54th Annual Convocation of IIT-K.

Among the other varsities in the line-up are University of British Columbia, City University of Hong Kong, Virginia Commonwealth University and University of Birmingham.

Acharya added that the institute has already signed memorandum of understanding with several universities in the US, Germany, Korea and Italy including University of Tokyo, Technical University of Berlin and University of Warwick for academic tie-ups.

"We are also setting up a global venture laboratory in collaboration with Finland's Jyvaskyla University and University of California at the institute's Science and Technology Park (STEP) to improve skills of the budding entrepreneurs," the director said.

He said that the the institute will also help other institutes of learning in the country to grow.

"This year, for the first time, a new institute - IIT-Bhubaneswar - has started operating under IIT-Kharagpur's mentorship. We have also increased the average of PhD holders from 12 to 17 a year from the present session."

"We have increased student intake by 13 percent for the year 2008-09 and have decided to increase it upto 54 percent in 2010-2011," he said.

Acharya said the institute is also considering two new five-year dual degree courses with under graduate in any branch and masters in financial engineering or engineering entrepreneurship. IANS