The Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) is inviting applications for the courses offered at its Zanzibar Campus. Notably, the campus is a unique partnership between the Governments of India, Zanzibar, and IIT Madras.
Two full-time academic programmes including a BSc curriculum in data science and artificial intelligence (AI), as well as a two-year MTech programme in data science and AI, are being offered at the IIT Zanzibar campus.
The programs are open to students of all nationalities, including Indians.
Interested candidates can fill out the form online by August 5, 2023. Students can check the details about fees, accommodation, and living costs, sample question papers, financial aid, and other details on the website: https://zanzibar.iitm.ac.in.
''The total student intake will be 70, including 50 students for Bachelors and 20 for Masters courses,'' IIT-Madras Director V Kamakoti told PTI.
“Faculty will be deputed from IIT-Madras or recruited from India during the initial days of this campus. Activities to ensure local talent is developed and can be employed as faculty are underway already,” he added.
He further said a detailed evolution plan for academic programs is under development, with inputs from expert members in India and Zanzibar.
The fees will be USD 12,000 (Rs 9,87,000) per year for the bachelors course while for the masters course, it will be USD 4,000 (Rs 3,29,000) per year.
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed last month for setting up the campus of IIT-Madras in Zanzibar, which is a Tanzanian archipelago off the coast of East Africa.
"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 Ministry of External Affairs had said while signing the agreement last month.
It said the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 recommends that "high-performing Indian universities will be encouraged to set up campuses in other countries”.
Several IITs have been receiving requests from the Middle East and South Asian countries to set up their campuses. While IIT-Madras is setting up its campus in Tanzania, IIT-Delhi is considering setting up a campus in UAE. IIT campuses are also in the pipeline in Egypt, Thailand, Malaysia and the UK.