First IIT campus outside India to be set up in Zanzibar, Tanzania

The first Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) campus outside India will be set up in Tanzania following the signing of an agreement between the education authorities of the two countries during a visit by India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to the African nation.

This initiative aligns with India's foreign policy focus in recent years on cooperation in education, including the establishment of Indian university campuses abroad and student mobility.

The move is also 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”.

The memorandum of understanding (MoU) for setting up the IIT-Madras campus in Zanzibar was signed by the education ministries of India and Zanzibar-Tanzania in the presence of Zanzibar President Hussein Ali Mwinyi and Minister Jaishankar on Wednesday.

Zanzibar, a semi-autonomous region of Tanzania, is an archipelago off the east coast of Africa.

The IIT campus is scheduled to commence programs from October, the union education ministry said on Thursday.

The admission criteria will be determined by IIT-Madras and degrees will be conferred by the institute. IIT-Madras will be responsible for planning the pedagogical strategies for the offshore campus.

Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan said the move marks a beginning towards the internationalisation of Indian education.

“The initiative is an embodiment of PM @narendramodi’s commitment to strengthen South-South cooperation as well as forge stronger people-to-people ties with Africa. NEP is paving the way for making knowledge a key component of bilateral relations as well as for advancing global good,” he tweeted.

In 2021, the government formed a 16-member committee, headed by the chairman of the standing committee of IIT Council, K Radhakrishnan, to prepare a framework for setting up campuses abroad.

The committee, in its report, strongly recommended that IITs should take the lead in this direction.

The external affairs ministry said the offshore campus 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”.

India’s high commissioner to Tanzania, Binaya Pradhan, Raghunathan Rengaswamy, dean (global engagement) at IIT-Madras and Khalid Masoud Wazir, acting principal secretary of Zanzibar’s education ministry, signed the MoU.

The agreement formalises the educational partnership between the two sides and provides the framework for the parties to detail the setting up of the campus.

“This unique partnership will bring the top-ranked educational expertise of IIT-M to a prime destination in Africa and serve the imperative current needs of the region,” the external affairs ministry said.

The academic programmes, curricula, student selection aspects and pedagogical details will be set by IIT-Madras, while the capital and operating expenditure will be met by the government of Zanzibar-Tanzania.

IIT-Madras degrees will be awarded to students enrolled in the campus. The interdisciplinary degrees are “expected to attract a diverse cohort and will include students from Africa and other countries”, the external affairs ministry said.

Indian students are also eligible to apply to these programmes. The setting up of the IIT campus is expected to enhance India's reputation, strengthen diplomatic relationships, and expand the international footprint of IIT-Madras.

“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 world-wide,” the external affairs ministry said.

The IIT campus in Zanzibar is envisioned as a world-class education and research institution with a broader mission to develop competencies in response to emerging global requirements, deepen ties between the countries, and support research and innovation in the region.

EAM Jaishankar is on an official visit to the United Republic of Tanzania during July 5-8. He will visit a water supply project funded by an Indian line of credit, meet top leaders, and attend a reception on board the Indian warship INS Trishul. Subsequently, he will visit Dar-es-Salaam city and co-chair the India-Tanzania Joint Commission meeting, where he will meet high-level officials, including several cabinet ministers.