IIT Madras’ Zanzibar Campus To Be Inaugurated In Early November: Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan

The IIT Madras’s Zanzibar is scheduled to begin operations from October 24 with batches for its first-ever programmes: Four-Year BS in Data Science & AI, and a Two-Year M.Tech in Data Science & AI.

IIT Zanzibar campus to be inaugurated in early November: Dharmendra Pradhan ( Image Source :twitter.com/dpradhanbjp )

Union Minister of Education, Dr Dharmendra Pradhan has said that the IIT Madras’ Zanzibar campus is all set to commence operations, and the first offshore IIT campus will be inaugurated in early November. The union minister announced the development pertaining to the new IIT campus in Zanzibar today, during an event in Delhi, where the Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan was conferred an honorary doctorate degree by the Jawaharlal Nehru University. While the formal inauguration ceremony of the IIT Zanzibar scheduled might come up in November, the first batch at the first overseas IIT campus is slated to begin from October 24, 2023. 

Notably, the President of Tanzania is on a four-day visit to India to facilitate and boost bilateral ties and cooperation between the two countries. Earlier yesterday, the Tanzanian President met with PM Modi where both the leaders engaged in discussions over a wide range of topics. Hailing the establishment of the IIT Madras’ campus at Zanzibar, PM Modi said, “The announcement by IIT Madras to open a centre at Zanzibar is an important milestone for our relationship.”

“In the field of defence, we have agreed on a five-year roadmap. Through this, new dimensions will be added in areas like military training, maritime cooperation, capacity building and defence industry. I am glad that Tanzania has decided to join the Global Biofuels Alliance launched by India at the G20 Summit,” PM Modi further said. 

Union Minister for External Affairs, Dr. S Jaishankar who was also present at the honorary degree conferring ceremony hailed Zanzibar as a ‘preferred’ destination for setting up an overseas IIT campus, and termed that the new campus will have the potential to emerge as the premier centre for technical education in entire Africa. “Tanzania, is the preferred destination to set up the first overseas campus of the Indian Institute of Technology in Zanzibar. Classes for the first batch are scheduled to begin this month. The institution has the potential to become the premier centre for technical education for the entire African continent. It is symbolic of our cooperation with the Global South,” Dr. S Jaishankar said.  

Scheduled to start operations this month, the IIT Zanzibar will be offering two programmes initially: Four-Year BS in Data Science & AI, and a Two-Year M.Tech in Data Science & AI. The total academic intake for 2023-24 batch shall be 70, with 50 students in the undergradute BS programs, and 20 in the Postgraduate M.Tech program. The campus plan of the IIT Madras’ Zanzibar campus shall be designed by IIT Madras, and the campus will spread across 200 acres. Prof Preeti Aghalayam, an IIT Madras alumni and a former professor in the Chemical Engineering department at the institute will serve as the first head of the IIT Zanzibar campus.