IIT Madras’ Zanzibar Campus Launches BSc, MTech In Data Sci. & AI, Preeti Aghalayam To Head

In a milestone achievement, the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT Madras) is all set to start its first global campus on Zanzibar Island in the African country of Tanzania. Professor Preeti Aghalayam will be the head of their first offshore campus, announced IIT Madras Director V Kamakoti during the press conference on Monday at India International Centre, New Delhi. Aghalayam is to be the first female head of any IIT Campus. 

IIT Madras will offer Bachelor’s and Master’s programmes in Data Science and AI with a capacity of 50 and 20 students for both courses respectively and the classes for the first Academic Year (2023-24) are scheduled to commence in October 2023, informed the director at the event. 

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. The Government of India is offering numerous scholarships for citizens of Tanzania/Zanzibar to study in various degree programs at IIT Madras in Chennai, starting from July 2023. 

Entrance Process

During the press meeting, Aghalayam virtually detailed the entrance process for this new campus, she said, “The Office of Global Engagement, IIT Madras, will coordinate the student entrance process, which will include a screening test developed by faculty experts at IIT Madras and an interview and an application form, as per the IITM Senate-approved admission process for international students.” 

When asked if this easier process will affect the quality of students, Director replied, “We and the Govt of Tanzania are not ready to compromise on the merit of students. Through screen tests, we will test them. Also, the quality of their applications and grades at the school level matters. So, will recruit meritorious students only.”

Placement Opportunities

In response to the BW Education, on the placement opportunities for the students of the Zanzibar campus, Kamakoti said that we are looking to create an environment of more innovation and entrepreneurship. “We want our students to become employers rather than employees. Zanzibar has a vibrant industry-academia relation and we are also aspiring to set up a research park as we have done at IIT Madras which is extremely successful in our opinion. We are also in touch with multiple Indian industries to come up and be a part of that research park and set up their offices there,” he added. 

Through the course of their study, we will be looking at student’s participation in internships in various companies especially in AI and Data Science or any other inter-disciplinary education this is very critical. I believe this kind of activity will definitely solve the placement problems,” added Aghalayam.

Why Tanzania

Further explaining why IIT Madras preferred Tanzania as the first destination for their first offshore campus, Kamakoti said, “There are three major reasons. Immediate interest from Tanzania and response from their government was very good, India’s good relation with Africa and the country has a well-established school education system.” 

He further said that the campus is open for any African students and that IIT Madras is all focused on increasing the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER). “We aim to increase the GER to 50 per cent by 2035,” he added. 

IIT Madras has maintained its top position in the NIRF Rankings 2023 for five consecutive years and has been ranked number one in the engineering category for eight consecutive years. However, due to a "new parameter of sustainability and some miscommunication resulting in our inability to achieve a ranking within the top 200 in international rankings," Kamakoti explained. 

"Our emphasis is on industrialisation, but this is impacting the perception of prospective students' parents. Additionally, the agenda of translational research at IIT Madras differs from the priorities of international rankings. We are unwilling to alter our agenda based on rankings," he stated.