Exporting MIT: Science, technology, and nation-building in India and Iran

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) emerged from World War II with an impressive, worldwide reputation in basic and applied science and engineering. After redefining its own engineering education in the 1950s, MIT responded to the challenge of U.S. policy makers and foundation officials and its own sense of mission in engineering research, teaching, and practice by assisting in establishing new technical institutions of higher education around the world. This paper focuses on MIT's participation in the creation of such institutions in India and in Iran. Three case studies explore the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, the Birla Institute of Technology and Science, and the Aryamehr University of Technology. The aim of establishing an international system of expertise with MIT at its apex reveals both the strengths and the limitations of the "export" effort.