IIT Madras launches admissions process, sets ball rolling for operationalisation of Zanzibar campus

Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras Zanzibar set the ball rolling for operationalisation of the campus as it announced the opening of applications from students from across the globe, including from India, for its first batch on Tuesday (August 1, 2023). Academic programmes at the IIT Madras Zanzibar campus will commence in October 2023. The institution is initially offering a four-year Bachelor of Science degree in Data Science (50 seats) & AI and a two-year Master of Technology degree in Data Science & AI (20 seats). What's more, the institution recently signed MoUs with four international institutions for collaboration on student exchange, study abroad programs, staff exchange, teaching & research among others. The four institutions are University of Birmingham, UK; Deakin University, Australia; African School of Economics; and the Nigerian Institute Technology and Management, Nigeria. The MoUs were signed at the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 anniversary event in New Delhi on July 29, 2023. The Zanzibar campus is the first IIT to come up outside India. The academic programs, curricula, student selection processes, and pedagogical details will be overseen by IIT Madras, while the government of Zanzibar-Tanzania will provide the necessary capital and operating expenditure. Students enrolled in this campus will be awarded IIT Madras degrees. The Ministry of Education (MoE), Government of India, IIT Madras, and the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training (MoEVT) Zanzibar-Tanzania had signed a MoU on July 5, 2023 to formalize this landmark initiative in the presence of President of Zanzibar Hussein Ali Mwinyi and External Affairs Minister of India S Jaishankar. The MoU, which provides the framework for the parties to detail out the setting up of the proposed campus, was signed by High Commissioner of India to Tanzania Binaya Srikanta Pradhan, Dean (Global Engagement), IIT Madras Prof Raghunathan Rengaswamy, and Acting Principal Secretary, MoEVT Zanzibar Khalid Masoud Wazir. IIT CAMPUS TO COME UP IN ABU DHABI An IIT campus is also coming up in the United Arab Emirates' Abu Dhabi city. IIT Delhi – Abu Dhabi is expected to become operational by January 2024 by offering a Master’s program in Energy Transition and Sustainability. Other Bachelor, Master’s and PhD level programs are expected to be offered from September 2024, in addition to establishing research centers in the fields of sustainable energy, climate studies, computing, and data sciences. Additionally, it is expected that the campus is will also offer programmes covering artificial intelligence, computer science and engineering, healthcare and mathematics in due course. IIT Delhi will design the courses and also confer tge degress on successful candidates. On July 15, 2023, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between Ministry of of Education of India, Department of Education and Knowledge, Abu Dhabi and IIT Delhi for planning to establish IIT Delhi - Abu Dhabi, UAE. The MoU was signed in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra and UAE President and Abu Dhabi Ruler Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Speaking at an event in New Delhi on July 29, 2023, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that many other countries were also urging India to open IIT campuses in their own countries. He also pointed out that many global universities wanted to open their campuses in India due to the positive changes coming in the education ecosystem.