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Summary
· 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
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.
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