New Delhi, 06 July (Hindustan Times). Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) will open its first campus outside India in Zanzibar, Tanzania by the end of this year. It plans to launch the program in October 2023. This will be the first IIT campus to be established outside India.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed on Wednesday between the Ministry of Education, Government of India, IIT Madras and the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training (MoEVT) of Tanzania for setting up a campus of IIT Madras at Zanzibar, Tanzania. Zanzibar President Hussein Ali Mwini and India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar were present on the occasion.

Jaishankar said in a tweet on Thursday that this historic step reflects India’s commitment to the Global South. It is noteworthy that Jaishankar is on a four-day official visit to Tanzania.

Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Thursday said the signing of the MoU for setting up the IIT Madras-Zanzibar campus is a historic beginning towards internationalization of higher education. This initiative is symbolic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s commitment to strengthen South-South cooperation as well as build stronger people-to-people ties with Africa. The National Education Policy-2020 is paving the way for advancing the global good while making knowledge a key component of the bilateral relationship.