Mr S. Jaishankar, in his tweet, applauded this step and stated that “this historic step reflects India’s commitment to the Global South.”

21st April 2023:

The Director of the Institution, Mr V Kamakoti, in his presidential address at IIT Madras’ 64th Institute day, announced that the classes in Tanzania campus are expected to start by October 2023.

Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT-Madras) will set up its first overseas campus in the African continent. After the confirmation of IIT Delhi to set up its campus in Abu Dhabi, UAE and IIT Kharagpur to set up its campus in Malaysia, IIT Madras delegation visited Tanzania to set up its first overseas campus in Africa.

Earlier, the Center had made a 16-member committee headed by IIT Council standing committee chairperson Dr K Radhakrishnan to work on the possible roadmap for the expansion plans of IITs.

Following that, a team of five distinguished professors of IIT Madras – Professor Raghu Rengaswamy, Professor KN Satyanarayana, Professor Preeti Aghalayam, Professor Livy Philip and Professor Annamalai Mani visited Tanzania with the mission to establish its first overseas campus.

Mr Binaya Pradhan (An Indian diplomat and High Commissioner of India) tweeted that the establishment of an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Tanzania can be instrumental in the growth and nation-building of not only Tanzania but the entire continent.

On Twitter, Binaya Pradhan quoted, “IIT in Tanzania moving fast towards reality, the team of 5 Professors from IIT Madras visiting Tanzania; had excellent meetings in Zanzibar with HE President, Dr Hussein Ali Mwinyi, and Minister of Education HE Lela Muhamed; with Minister of Education of Tanzania HE Adolf Mkenda.”

Furthermore, he also thanked authorities for their support towards the project. “This would be the first IIT to be set up in Africa and can be instrumental in the growth and nation-building of not only Tanzania but of the continent; sincere gratitude to HE President of Zanzibar, Dr Hussein Ali Mwinyi, for his constant support for the project,” tweeted Pradhan.

Last year, Mr Dharmendra Pradhan (Union Education Minister) conducted a series of bilateral meetings with his counterparts from Zimbabwe, Mauritius, Tanzania, and Ghana to strengthen bilateral relations by making knowledge and skills collaborations a key pillar for growth. He also discussed the support provided by India for the IIT project in Tanzania with Lela Muhamed Mussa (Zanzibar’s Minister for Education and Vocational Training)

An overseas campus of IIT Madras in Tanzania is among the options of the central government’s projects as it works on a plan to ensure that the country’s premier engineering institutes have a presence on the global map.

IIT Madras Director, Prof V Kamakoti, said that apart from Tanzania and other African countries, the institute has also received requests from Nepal and Sri Lanka for setting up overseas campuses to offer courses in emerging areas, including artificial intelligence, data sciences and energy systems.

Prof Kamakoti said, “IIT Madras is in discussions with multiple countries, including Tanzania, regarding offshore campuses. We are considering many of these places. For African countries, programmes in mining are very important. In Nepal, there are demands for courses on energy systems. Courses in data sciences are in demand everywhere,”.

“We are looking at what sort of courses can be offered. There may be some country-specific courses on offer, as for some countries, some topics can be of relevance. We will be arriving at different models based on feasibility, employment potential in those countries,” He further commented.

While they may offer postgraduate courses initially in the proposed overseas campuses, the idea is to scale them up to the flagship undergraduate degree programmes offered by the IITs. IIT Madras benefits from its position as an Institution of Eminence while expanding overseas.

Apart from JEE Advanced scores, Scholastic Assessment Test or SAT scores might also be considered for admissions at the UG level. The usage of SAT scores for UG admission was suggested by IIT Delhi in its proposal to set up campuses in Egypt and Saudi Arabia. According to the proposal, the overseas campus will provide four-year UG programmes with a yearly intake of up to 240 students in four branches depending on SAT results. However, the proposal remains pending with the government.

Prof Kamakoti said, “As far as postgraduate programmes are concerned, we have our own entrance test and interview. The mechanism is well established. For UGs, we are looking at multiple options,”.

Moreover, UGC has already approved a joint degree model under which every higher educational institute, including the IITs, can collaborate with foreign universities to offer degrees.

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The committee which is led by IIT Council standing Committee Chairperson Dr K Radhakrishnan has recommended a 5-step plan for setting up overseas IIT campuses which include:

• Location & Mentor HEI Selection
• Campus Sites Selection
• Academic Programme Selection
• Faculty and Staff Recruitment
• Outreach and Mobilization of the Seed Fund

As per media sources, the Committee has identified 7 countries including the United Kingdom, UAE, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Malaysia and Thailand as prospective nations to develop IIT campuses.

The overseas IIT institutes will be named as Indian International Institute of Technology. The Committee has claimed to choose these countries based on the following criteria:

• Level of interest and commitment
• Academic lineage
• Favorable ecosystem for faculty and students
• Regulatory provisions
• Possibilities for improving India’s branding and its relations with these countries

The Committee has issued a report based on the feedback from 26 Indian mission heads after having two virtual sessions with the embassy officials on February 2 and March 28, 2022 arranged by the Economic Diplomacy section of the Ministry of External Affairs.

Furthermore, the report also mentioned that the Indian High Commission in the UK has obtained 6 concrete proposals from the University of Birmingham, King’s College London, University of Exeter, University of Oxford, University of Cambridge and University College London for the establishment of overseas IIT campuses. It also states that IIT Delhi has already started preliminary discussions with the Department of Education and Knowledge, Abu Dhabi, UAE and IIT Madras has also been in discussion with Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Tanzania for setting up global campuses of IITs.

Moreover, it also mentioned that Egypt is eager to start an arrangement, digitally if not physically, between 2022 and 2023. The committee, however, has advised against making rash decisions and suggested that only residential campuses be opened after careful consideration.

Indian International Institute of Technology Operation Recommendation: 20% of Indian Students

The offshore campuses will be named as Indian International Institute of Technology. The proposed name is sufficiently similar to IIT with the addition of ‘International’ to highlight that the institute is located outside India. Due to the name difference (with enough similarities), the newly established institutes will be able to develop their own identity and ethos while drawing strengths from the current IITs.

The Committee has also recommended that the Indian International Institute of Technology should be built as a residential institution, with the host government making the required preparations for the campus’ establishment domestically.

In terms of enrollment, the Panel has advised that the international campus of IITs should serve the local population of the nation with a significant contribution from Indian students. It suggests that the maximum percentage of Indian students should be 20 percent at the Indian International Institute of Technology.

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