Zanzibar
New Delhi: The first-ever Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) campus outside India will be set up in Zanzibar, Tanzania, and will launch programmes tentatively in October 2023.
Recognising the strategic partnership between Tanzania and India, the relationship of the educational partnership was formalised by the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to provide the framework for the Parties to detail the setting up of the proposed campus of IIT Madras in a prime destination in Africa and serve the “imperative current needs” of the region.
India’s Ministry of Education (MoE), IIT Madras and Ministry of Education and Vocational Training (MoEVT) Zanzibar- Tanzania, signed the MoU in this regard in the presence of Dr S. Jaishankar, External Affairs Minister of India and Dr Hussein Ali Mwinyi, President of Zanzibar.
The academic programmes, curricula, student selection aspects and pedagogical details will be by IIT Madras, whereas the capital and operating expenditure will be met by the government of Zanzibar-Tanzania. IIT Madras degrees will be awarded to the students enrolled in this campus.
The IIT campus in Zanzibar- Tanzania is envisioned as a world-class higher education and research institution with a broader mission to develop competencies in response to emerging global requirements, deepen ties between the nations, and support research and innovation in the region. It is expected to serve as an example to the world, of the “aspirational qualities” of Indian higher education and innovation.
The state-of-the-art interdisciplinary degrees are expected to attract a diverse cohort and will include students from Tanzania and other countries as well. Indian students are also eligible to apply to these programmes, the MoE stated, adding that it is reflective of the longstanding friendship between India and Tanzania and a reminder of the focus India places on building people-to-people ties across Africa and the Global South.
Education minister Dharmendra Pradhan, in a tweet, said the signing of the MoU for setting up of IIT Madras-Zanzibar campus marks a historic beginning towards the internationalisation of Indian education. He added that National Education Policy 2020 was “paving the way for making knowledge a key component of bilateral relations as well as for advancing global good”.
It may be mentioned that the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 focuses on internationalisation and recommends that “High performing Indian universities will be encouraged to set up campuses in other countries”.
The setting up of the IIT campus outside India shall also enhance India’s reputation globally and its diplomatic relationships and expand the international footprint of IIT Madras, the MoE stated. It is also likely to enhance the quality of IIT Madras education and research further, due to student and faculty diversity from the international campus. It will further serve to deepen research collaborations with other top-ranked academic institutions worldwide.
– global bihari bureau
