The first IIT campus to be set up outside India will be in Zanzibar; Jaishankar, Zanzibar President witness signing of agreement

The first IIT campus to be set up outside India will be in Zanzibar, Tanzania. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for setting up of campus of IIT Madras in Zanzibar- Tanzania was signed between the Ministry of Education (MoE), Government of India, IIT Madras and Ministry of Education and Vocational Training (MoEVT) Zanzibar- Tanzania on 5 July in the presence of Hussein Ali Mwinyi, President of Zanzibar and EAM Dr. S. Jaishankar.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar met with President of Zanzibar Hussein Ali Mwinyi on Wednesday and also witnessed the signing of the agreement on setting up of IIT Madras campus in Zanzibar. Jaishankar is on a four-day official visit to Tanzania, where he is set to hold high-level talks and co-chair the 10th Joint Commission Meeting with his counterpart, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a release.

Following his meeting with the President of Zanzibar, Jaishankar tweeted, "Delighted to meet President of Zanzibar Dr Hussein Ali Mwinyi. Appreciated his strong commitment to stronger India-Zanzibar partnership. Our development partnership and defence cooperation are domains with which he is closely associated."

Jaishankar also witnessed the signing of agreement of setting up of IIT Madras in Zanzibar. The President of Zanzibar and his ministers were also present during the occasion.

To strengthen the education ties between the two countries, the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) is opening its first-ever overseas campus in Tanzania's Zanzibar in October 2023 with a batch of 50 undergraduate students and 20 master's students, The Citizen reported. The new IIT campus will be set up in Zanzibar under the name IIT Madras at Zanzibar. Zanzibar will be one of three campuses outside of India, with the others located in Abu Dhabi and Kuala Lumpur.