MC EXCLUSIVE Budget 2026 push: IICT eyes university status, gears up to train India’s next generation of creators

• IICT aims to become a university and offer undergrad programs in AVGC sector
• IICT to set up content creator labs in 15,000 schools and 500 colleges
• IICT partners with global firms and plans national expansion, including J&K

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After the proposal to support Indian Institute of Creative Technologies (IICT) to set up content creator labs in Budget 2026, IICT CEO, Vishwas Deoskar told Moneycontrol that they will start reaching out to schools and colleges.

He said that one of their priorities is to get approval to be a university. "We have applied to the University Grants Commission (UGC) to be a university in a distinct category. The moment we are cleared as a university, we are going to give students an undergrad program and certification and launch them into the industry," Deoskar said.

He is hopeful that they should soon become a university as the government is focusing on higher education in the Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comics (AVGC) sector.

Budget push

On the proposal in Budget 2026 for IICT to set up content creator labs in 15,000 secondary schools and 500 colleges, the CEO said they are yet to reach out to schools and colleges. "We have not done a direct reach out to schools and colleges because IICT was formed recently and we have become stable now. But as many as 1,400 schools are aware of the kind of work IICT does via our partnership with Adobe," he added.

He added, "After the Finance Minister's announcement, we will have IICT reaching out to the schools and colleges directly."

IICT has also tied up with Netflix, Amazon, Nvidia, Google. Deoskar informed, "All these guys are going to be aligned with us and the requirements of these companies are part of our curriculum. We are also enhancing the curriculum a little bit more so that the students who work on those projects of Netflix can get a job working for industry."

National expansion

IICT also has plans to expand in other states. "It is a hub and spoke model which we are working on. The hub is Mumbai because the media and entertainment industry is here. Down south we have another big film industry. So we need to spread our wings correctly. Along with Telangana, nine states as of today have reached out to us. I am in touch with chief ministers of the respective states and we are also in touch with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to understand when we start up the model," he added.

Recently the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir Omar Abdullah had visited IICT.

"The Jammu and Kashmir CM was signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with us. I had a very clear discussion with him and he's confirmed that he would like to start an IICT in J&K."

"Immediately, the plan is to send batches of 50 students to IICT (Mumbai)," he added.

The first batches at IICT started in October last year with 18 courses. "We have over 110 students who are studying with us. Most of the batches that we are doing are short courses of one month, three months, six months, one year and two years. The one month program was launched to ensure that the practicing professionals in the industry are upscaled."

The CEO said they work on a hybrid model to ensure that the Tier II, III students can benefit out of the courses. "We also have a boys hostel of 30 students in Mumbai."

IIT-IIM of AVGC

Deoskar is pegging IICT to be at par with IIT and IIMs.

"It is essential for us to ensure the university certification and be well recognized as much as an IIT or an IIM. In that case, it is important for us to make sure that the education we give is a 70-30% concept — 30% of classrooms and 70% hands-on understanding of the complete subject. For which, the faculty should be such that has hands-on understanding of what is happening in the industry," Deoskar added.

He added that they are aligning with foreign universities in South Korea, Canada, Germany, Japan, US, UK. "There is a cross-credit system, there is a cross-cultural concept and there is also a student exchange program with a faculty exchange program. Our labs can be used by them, their labs can be used by us. Their faculty can teach our students and our teachers can teach their students," he summed up saying.