{"id":54919,"date":"2026-08-31T16:58:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-31T11:28:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailynewsindia.co.in\/index.php\/2026\/08\/31\/inside-indias-only-on-campus-ai-classroom-a-new-cohort-is-being-built-for-a-job-that-barely-had-a-name-two-years-ago\/"},"modified":"2026-08-31T16:58:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T11:28:14","slug":"inside-indias-only-on-campus-ai-classroom-a-new-cohort-is-being-built-for-a-job-that-barely-had-a-name-two-years-ago","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailynewsindia.co.in\/index.php\/2026\/08\/31\/inside-indias-only-on-campus-ai-classroom-a-new-cohort-is-being-built-for-a-job-that-barely-had-a-name-two-years-ago\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside India\u2019s Only On-Campus AI Classroom, A New Cohort Is Being Built for a Job That Barely Had a Name Two Years Ago"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Gandhinagar (Gujarat) [India], August 31: <\/strong>At 8:30 in the morning<\/strong>, on a 400-acre campus<\/strong> where the Sabarmati curves past IIT Gandhinagar\u2019s hostels, a group of students gathers for what the program calls Squad Sync. By 7:30 that evening<\/strong>, after faculty lectures, build sessions, and a nightly competitive-coding hour, most of them are still at their laptops. This is the Residential PG Diploma in AI-ML & Agentic AI Engineering<\/strong>, and it is the first postgraduate AI program in the country delivered entirely on an IIT campus rather than through an online format.<\/p>\n

The program\u2019s next cohort has its curriculum curated around a specific goal: training students for Forward Deployed Engineering<\/strong>, a role built around embedding inside a client\u2019s organisation and shipping working agentic AI systems into their actual environment, rather than handing over a model and a report.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur engagements with industry leaders clearly indicated to us that they are increasingly pivoting to the FDE role,\u201d<\/em> said Prof. Sam Placid, CEO, Competency Advancement Academy (CAA), IIT Gandhinagar<\/strong>. \u201cIn keeping with our stated objective of aligning our curriculum with industry needs, we have tweaked our curriculum to address this requirement.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Two years ago, Forward Deployed Engineer<\/strong> barely existed as a job title. It\u2019s now one of the fastest-growing and highest-paid categories in AI hiring. US postings are up 729% year-on-year<\/strong>, and salaries at companies like OpenAI, Anthropic and Google<\/strong> are reaching past $400,000<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The program itself remains unusual by Indian standards. It\u2019s delivered fully residentially on IIT Gandhinagar\u2019s campus<\/strong>, as opposed to the online, weekend-format programs that carry an IIT name elsewhere. Entry is through AINPT, a 120-minute proprietary exam followed by a panel interview<\/strong>, not JEE or GATE. Seats are limited. No shortcuts<\/strong>; the admissions material says so more than once.<\/p>\n

Graduates leave with a PG Diploma from IIT Gandhinagar and Alumni status<\/strong>, along with 15 to 20 deployed projects<\/strong> built during the program, rather than classroom assignments. The new cohort begins in September 2026<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

About the program: The Residential PG Diploma in AI-ML & Agentic AI Engineering is offered by IIT Gandhinagar through the Competency Advancement Academy (CAA).<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gandhinagar (Gujarat) [India], August 31: At 8:30 in the morning, on a 400-acre campus where the Sabarmati curves past IIT Gandhinagar\u2019s hostels, a group of students gathers for what the program calls Squad Sync. By 7:30 that evening, after faculty lectures, build sessions, and a nightly competitive-coding hour, most of them are still at their…<\/p>\n

Read More “Inside India\u2019s Only On-Campus AI Classroom, A New Cohort Is Being Built for a Job That Barely Had a Name Two Years Ago”<\/span> »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":54920,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[54],"class_list":["post-54919","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailynewsindia.co.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54919","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailynewsindia.co.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailynewsindia.co.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailynewsindia.co.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailynewsindia.co.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54919"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailynewsindia.co.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54919\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailynewsindia.co.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailynewsindia.co.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailynewsindia.co.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailynewsindia.co.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}