The first Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) campus outside India will come up in Tanzania’s Zanzibar, and offer two academic programmes from October. The new campus will also be the first to be led by a woman director.
The Union government on July 6 announced that the first IIT campus overseas will be established by IIT-Madras (IIT-M), in the Tanzanian island city of Zanzibar after an MoU was signed between India and Tanzania. The move is in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, which recommends that “high-performing Indian universities will be encouraged to set up campuses in other countries”.
Dr Preeti Aghalayam, an IIT-M alumna and a professor in its department of chemical engineering, has been appointed as the director-in-charge of the Zanzibar campus, IIT-M director V Kamakoti told a media conference in Delhi on July 10.
The institute will initially offer two courses – a four-year Bachelor of Science (B.Sc) in Data Science and Artificial Intelligence and a two-year Master’s in Technology in Data Science and Artificial Intelligence designed by IIT-M. The campus will cater to students from all over the world, including India, and a total of 70 students – 50 in the Bachelor’s course and 20 in the Master’s course – will be admitted this year.
