The Gemological Institute of America will open its 14th school–its 11th overseas–this year in India.

According to Brook Ellis, vice president of education for GIA, the school will open in July in Mumbai (Bombay), the center of the country’s diamond and jewelry industry. Though the announcement hasn’t yet been made officially, GIA officials stated it publicly at GIA events, including GemFest, held at BaselWorld 2004 in Basel Switzerland. The project has been underway for more than two years.

“India’s jewelry business is growing by leaps and bounds,” noted Ellis. “We see real opportunities there for GIA and to help the trade become even more professional. There’s a great deal of support for this from the Indian jewelry trade.”

“GIA already has hundreds of graduates in India,” added GIA spokesman Alex Angell, “and the growth of the Indian jewelry industry is only increasing the demand for GIA education.”

The Mumbai school will open with a director, two instructors (selected by GIA in the past month), and two classrooms. Ellis said that once the school is established in Mumbai, “we make take some extension classes to other cities.”

In addition to its three schools in the Untied States (including its world headquarters in Carlsbad, Calif.), GIA already has 11 schools in England, two in Japan, and others in Italy, Russia, Hong Kong, Thailand, China, South Korea, and Taiwan.

JCK