First IIT campus outside India to come up in Tanzania
New Delhi: The first IIT campus outside India will come up in Tanzania’s Zanzibar and it is expected to launch academic programmes in October, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Thursday.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, currently visiting Tanzania, described the move as a “historic step” that reflected India’s commitment to the Global South.
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed for setting up of the campus of IIT-Madras in Zanzibar, which is a Tanzanian archipelago off the coast of East Africa.
“The first IIT campus to be set up outside India will be in Zanzibar,” the MEA said. It said an MoU was signed between the India’s education ministry, IIT Madras and Zanzibar’s ministry of education and vocational training.
“This 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,” the MEA said.
It said the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 recommends that “high performing Indian universities will be encouraged to set up campuses in other countries”.
“Recognising the strategic partnership between Tanzania and India, the relationship of educational partnership has been formalised by signing the document which provides the framework for the parties to detail out the setting up of the proposed campus of IIT Madras in Zanzibar-Tanzania, with plans to launch programmes in October 2023,” the MEA said.
