President Mwinyi has formally opened the first-ever Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) campus outside of India, combining education with cultural variety in a ground-breaking move that takes place on the gorgeous island of Zanzibar.
50% of the first cohorts of students at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras’s first global campus in Zanzibar are from India, according to IIT-director V Kamakoti. The campus opened on Monday.
Hussein Ali Mwinyi, the president of Zanzibar, officially opened the campus on Monday. It is the first IIT campus located offshore. Director of IIT-M Kamakoti participated electronically at the event.
Since an IIT campus is opening overseas for the first time, this is a momentous occasion. With international institutes offering combined degree programs, staff and student exchanges, and joint research projects, we are currently seeing a rapid internalization. The IIT-M director stated, “Having a campus overseas will bring a much more diverse culture into the IIT system.”
According to Kamakoti, the first semester has already begun on campus with about 50 students, half of whom are from India. Students from Nepal, Tanzania’s mainland, and Zanzibar make up the other half. “Women make up 40% of the admitted students,” he stated.
A four-year Bachelor of Science in Data Science and Artificial Intelligence and a two-year Master of Technology in Data Science and Artificial Intelligence are the first two full-time academic programs offered by the campus.
Following the signing of an agreement between the two nations, the union government declared in July of this year that IIT-Madras will open the first IIT campus outside of India in the Tanzanian island city of Zanzibar. IIT-Madras conducted in-person interviews and an admission exam to determine which students should enrol.
For the bachelor’s program, the annual fees will be $12,000, and for the master’s program, they will be $4,000. The faculty members were either hired from India or deputed from IIT Madras. The institute now has a female director-in-charge, Preeti Aghalayam, making it the first campus of an IIT.
In this tropical paradise of Zanzibar, education embarks on a new chapter as the sun sets over the turquoise waves. The first IIT campus outside of the country is more than just a physical building; it is a representation of the limitless opportunities that present themselves when nations band together to invest in the future.
It is now possible to realize President Mwinyi’s dream of an internationally integrated educational system, and it will be fascinating to see how this trailblazing endeavour develops over the coming years.
