IIT takes on Tanzania: Introducing the Zanzibar Campus

Six months ago, I published an enthusiastic article hailing the imminent establishment of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Tanzania. Unbeknownst to me, the article made rounds in high places, eventually reaching IIT Madras professors Raghunathan Rengaswamy, Preeti Aghalayam, and Ligy Philip, responsible for the IIT Tanzania project. The three academics landed in Dar es Salaam last Sunday, and I had the pleasure of spending some time with them to learn more about their mission.

A lot has happened since that article was published. To fill you in, it has been determined that IIT 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. Each of these campuses is designed to serve its respective region, with Zanzibar serving the greater East African region.

IIT Zanzibar will open its doors in October 2023 with a batch of 50 undergraduate students and 20 master’s students. For the first year, the institution will offer data science and artificial intelligence courses. The fee structure remains undecided at this point.

One may find Zanzibar to be an interesting choice, given the presence of cities like Dar es Salaam just a stone’s throw away. Zanzibar’s historical significance as a trade hub or its current attempt to reposition itself as an international business centre may have influenced the decision. In any case, I don’t see why it wouldn’t work: Zanzibar offers both the tranquillity of a relatively small town, allowing students to maintain focus on their studies, and access to the rich Swahili culture, which would enrich their experiences. Surely, no student can argue with an evening escape to Forodhani Gardens, to enjoy spicy Zanzibari foods with the magnificent view of the sun setting.

I understand that President Hussein Mwinyi is very enthusiastic about this project and has made it possible for IIT to begin operations this year by giving the necessary premises. I also understand that he has guaranteed IIT the autonomy it needs to ensure that the quality is maintained. This is commendable: as people, we are good at adopting wonderful ideas from others, stripping them of all their essence, and then wondering why they don’t work afterwards. Sometimes it is okay to just watch the masters at work and learn.

My enthusiasm aside, I had a few concerns about how IIT would maintain its standards in Tanzania. For example, in India, IIT enjoys a cult following, where students prepare for many years to get the opportunity to study at one of the institutions. That ensures that IIT gets quality candidates thus avoiding the ‘garbage in, garbage out’ trap. Not having a similar reputation in this region, there is a danger that the institution will not get the students it expects. Additionally, without the people and infrastructure that give it its institutional identity, the question of the overall experience becomes a big question mark.

The solution that IIT has come up with is three-fold.

Firstly, by operating under the Madras umbrella, IIT proposes to provide Zanzibar with the same international recognition that IIT Madras enjoys, practically applying the hundreds of MoUs that Madras has signed with businesses and institutions worldwide to Zanzibar too. This suggests that students from Zanzibar will eventually have access to the same benefits enjoyed by students in Madras, including opportunities for internships at the world’s top companies.

Secondly, admission will follow a three-way process that includes an entrance exam, a one-month preparation program, and an individual interview. In India, IITs rely heavily on entrance exams to recruit candidates, after all, it appears to be the only practical approach given that 1.5 million sit for those exams every year. However, in Tanzania, IIT believes that alternative approaches can also provide quality candidates.

Thirdly, to provide a comparable student experience, without the people, infrastructures, and systems available in India, the professors admit that that is a challenge that must be approached gradually, giving examples of the humble beginnings of other IITs in India. The initial instructors for Zanzibar will be from India, but the long-term objective is to train a cadre of IIT-trained local instructors to carry the mantle. To that end, India has made 50 scholarships available to Tanzanian students beginning this year to attend Masters and PhD programs at various IITs in India. A permanent campus for IIT in Zanzibar will then be built, with completion anticipated within the next three to five years. Step by step – that is how IIT proposes to deliver the total experience that Indian students enjoy, including food, sporting amenities, stunning architecture, and outstanding events, to Zanzibar.

The presence of a world-class institution will do wonders for Zanzibar. It will not only provide students with access to elite tertiary education, but it will also open up job opportunities for locals in administration, maintenance, security, and the like. But, above all, this will demonstrate that it is possible to achieve these things in our countries if we choose to. Excellence, according to Aristotle, is not an act but a habit – IIT Zanzibar will show that what we get usually reflects what our leaders steadily choose.

Nations don’t build world-class institutions by accident.