Tanzania will become the first country outside of India to host an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) campus. The action is in line with India’s National Education Policy 2020 and seeks to improve international educational cooperation. The IIT campus in Zanzibar will be in charge of developing pedagogical methodologies and will start delivering programmes in October. The project is considered as a move towards strengthening India’s reputation and diplomatic ties as well as internationalising Indian education.
The first Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) campus outside the country will be set up in Tanzania following the signing of an agreement between the educational authorities of the two countries during external affairs minister S Jaishankar’s visit to the African nation.
Cooperation in education, including the setting up of campuses of Indian universities abroad and the mobility of students, has emerged as a key component of India’s foreign policy in recent years. 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 campus of IIT-Madras in Zanzibar was signed between India’s education ministry and the ministry of education and vocational training of Zanzibar-Tanzania on Wednesday in the presence of Zanzibar President Hussein Ali Mwinyi and Jaishankar.

Zanzibar is an archipelago off the coast of east Africa that united with Tanganyika in 1964 to form the United Republic of Tanzania.It is a semi-autonomous region of Tanzania.
The IIT campus will start offering programmes from October, the Union education ministry said on Thursday. “The admission criteria will be decided by IIT-Madras and degrees will be conferred by the institute. IIT-Madras will be responsible for planning pedagogical strategies for the offshore campus,” a senior official of the education ministry said.

Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan said the move marks a beginning towards 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 will enhance India’s reputation and its 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 top-tier educational and research facility with a broader aim to foster intercountry ties, support regional research and innovation, and create competences in response to evolving global requirements.

Jaishankar will be in the United Republic of Tanzania from July 5 to 8. He will visit an Indian line of credit-funded water supply project, meet prominent figures, and attend a reception on the Indian warship INS Trishul while in Zanzibar on 5 and 6.
Then, from July 7 to 8, he will travel to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, where he will join forces with his counterpart to co-chair the India-Tanzania Joint Commission meeting. He will meet with the highest officials in the nation, including a number of cabinet ministers.
Additionally, he will start a business meeting and interact with members of the Parliamentary Friendship Group for India. He will speak to the Indian diaspora and unveil Swami Vivekananda’s bust in Dar es Salaam.
(This story has not been edited by Bharat Express staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)