IIT Madras set to launch the first-ever international campus in Zanzibar, Tanzania

By Sheetal On Jul 10, 2023

Shiksha.com

IIT Madras will become the first institute to build an international IIT campus in Zanzibar, Tanzania. On the 6^th of April, Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar met with the President of Zanzibar Hussein Ali Mwinyi and they signed an agreement for the establishment of the first IIT Madras campus abroad.

On Monday, a press conference was held addressing the launch of the campus and other details via the IIT Madras Director V. Kamakoti. It was been announced that the academic session of the Zanzibar campus will commence in October for the year 2023-24.

Two full-time programs will be offered such as a Bachelor of Science in Data Science and Artificial Intelligence which is a four-year course and Masters of Technology in Artificial Intelligence and Data Science, a two-year program.

The Director addressed the press conference today and stated that the applications for the current year are open, which will accommodate 70 students. From which 50 will be admitted for a bachelor’s degree and 20 for a Master’s.

Faculties from IIT Madras will be posted or recruited from India for the Zanzibar campus during the initial days. Other than that, measures are also taken to ensure that locals can also be hired for the position of professor based on their talent and skills.

The fee structure for the bachelor’s degree will be around USD 12,000 per year while for the master’s course, it will be USD 4,000 per year. For now, the campus will be temporarily operated from the Bweleo district based in Zanzibar. While the original campus will be developed on Zanzibar Island, which is spread over 200 acres.

Dean (Global Engagement) Raghunathan Rengaswamy of IIT Madras stated that “This is the most significant step forward in the internationalization efforts of IIT-Madras. A detailed strategic plan that includes increasing the number of international students, fostering meaningful and synergistic joint degree programs with international academic institutions, and enhancing faculty and student mobility has been laid out by us.”