After IIT Madras-Zanzibar in Tanzania and IIT Delhi-Abu Dhabi in the UAE, the government may now set up campuses of the prestigious Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) in Bhutan and Morocco. The centre has received requests from the two countries to explore the setting up of offshore campuses of the IITs.
Besides Tanzania and Abu Dhabi, the third campus is proposed to come up in Western Africa and will be hosted by the Federal Government Academy, Suleja.
We have received requests from multiple countries including Bhutan and Morocco for setting up of IIT’s offshore campuses,” News agency PTI quoted a source.
The central government had created a 17-member committee to facilitate the process of opening IIT campuses in foreign locations where students from different nations can study technical education. The committee, headed by IIT Council Standing Committee Chairperson Dr K Radhakrishnan, had submitted its recommendations in 2022.
IIT Madras had in 2023 announced the setting up of an offshore campus in Tanzania’s Zanzibar with Preeti Aghalyam as the director-in-charge, who also became the first woman IIT Director. The institute began functioning in November 2023 from a temporary campus.