In a significant step toward preparing India’s future workforce for an AI-driven economy, OpenAI has announced strategic partnerships with leading academic institutions and edtech platforms across the country.
The initiative marks a shift from individual AI usage to campus-wide deployment, with a focus on institutional transformation. OpenAI has partnered with 6 Indian universities and 3 major edtech platforms to support large-scale AI integration in education and skill development. The first cohort of partner institutions includes IIT Delhi, IIM Ahmedabad, AIIMS New Delhi, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, and Pearl Academy.
The programme is expected to benefit over 100000 students, faculty, and staff in the next year. Access will be provided through enterprise-grade ChatGPT Edu, faculty enablement initiatives, and responsible-use frameworks. The focus is on embedding AI across teaching, research, evaluation, and campus operations, while maintaining academic integrity and ethical safeguards.
Highlighting the role of institutions, Raghav Gupta, head of education at OpenAI India, said educational institutions play a critical role in closing the gap between AI capability and real-world usage. He noted that by 2030, nearly 40% of core skills used today will change due to AI. He added that “educational institutions are critical to bridging the gap between what AI tools can do and how people actually use them.”
Under the collaboration, IIT Delhi will focus on engineering-led innovation by integrating AI across undergraduate, postgraduate, doctoral, and executive programmes. OpenAI-supported hackathons and industry days will connect student innovation with manufacturing, deep-tech, and R&D ecosystems. IIM Ahmedabad will deploy ChatGPT Edu across degree and executive education, embedding AI fluency across strategy, finance, operations, public policy, and entrepreneurship.
AIIMS New Delhi will explore applied AI use in medical education and clinical training. Plans include setting up an “AI in Medical Education Hub” focused on simulations, clinical documentation, and evidence synthesis, supported by safety benchmarks and ethical deployment. MAHE will integrate AI across engineering, health sciences, business, and hospitality, while UPES will focus on multidisciplinary use cases. Pearl Academy will adopt AI as core academic infrastructure, with a focus on creative applications.
To extend AI learning beyond campuses, OpenAI has partnered with PhysicsWallah, upGrad, and HCL GUVI to offer structured courses on AI fundamentals and practical ChatGPT usage. IIM Ahmedabad and MAHE will also introduce OpenAI certifications to formalise structured AI capability pathways.
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