India (Commonwealth Union)_ According to the latest announcement from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), the first campus of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) outside of India will be established in Zanzibar, Tanzania. Accordingly, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been officially signed to pave the way for an IIT Madras campus in Zanzibar, which is an archipelago located off the coast of East Africa.
The agreement was formally inked in the presence of the External Affairs Minister, S Jaishankar, and Zanzibar’s President, Hussein Ali Mwinyi, during Mr. Jaishankar’s visit to Tanzania. The signing ceremony also witnessed the presence of Sh. Binaya Srikanta Pradhan, the High Commissioner of India to Tanzania; Prof. Raghunathan Rengaswamy, the Dean of Global Engagement at IIT Madras; and Mr. Khalid Masoud Wazir, the Acting Principal Secretary of the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training in Zanzibar, who represented their respective entities.
Following the signing ceremony, Dr. S Jaishankar expressed his appreciation for President Mwinyi’s presence and the participation of his ministers, tweeting, “Witnessed the signing of the agreement on setting up of @iitmadras Zanzibar campus. Appreciate President @DrHmwinyi gracing the occasion, as also the presence of his Ministers. This historic step reflects India’s commitment to the Global South.”
According to the MEA, this collaboration marks the establishment of the first IIT campus outside of India and underscores the longstanding friendship between India and Tanzania. It also emphasizes India’s dedication to fostering people-to-people connections throughout Africa and the Global South. The MoU was signed between India’s Ministry of Education, IIT Madras, and Tanzania’s Ministry of Education and Vocational Training.
The MEA highlighted that the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 recommends encouraging high-performing Indian universities to establish campuses in other countries. Recognizing the strategic relationship between Tanzania and India, this educational collaboration has been formalized through the signing of the MoU, which outlines the framework for establishing the proposed IIT Madras campus in Zanzibar, with plans to launch courses in October 2023.
The establishment of the IIT campus in Zanzibar is expected to bolster India’s global reputation and diplomatic relations while also expanding the global footprint of IIT Madras. The presence of a diverse student and faculty population on the international campus is likely to further enhance the quality of education and research at IIT Madras. Moreover, it is anticipated that the campus will foster deeper research collaborations with other leading academic institutions across the world.
