The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras today announced that the first international campus — IIT Madras Zanzibar — will become the first-ever IIT to have a female director. Director-in-Charge of IIT Madras Zanzibar, Preeti Aghalayam, said, “I am an alumnus of IIT Madras and doing something of this magnitude for the institute and for the country is such a big honour. Every time we visited over here as the IIT Madras contingent, we noticed that the representation of women on their side is quite significant. So, it was important that we do this mindfully.”
Speaking to the media in Delhi, IIT Madras Director V Kamakoti said, “We will see many more encouraging things. We are following sustainable development goals and one of the important goals suggests that we need to bring in gender balance.”
Kamakoti announced that Prof Ligy Philip will be the in-charge of the infrastructure of the IIT Madras Zanzibar campus. She will be supervising the infrastructure of both the temporary as well as the permanent IIT Madras Zanzibar campus. The permanent campus will be spread across 200 acres on Zanzibar Island, with the master plan being developed by IIT Madras experts.“We will be starting the campus on October 24, 2023, which is also the United Nations Day,” said V Kamakoti.
IIT Madras Zanzibar also plans to offer joint-degree programmes as a part of their student exchange programme, mentioned V Kamakoti. “We are also enrolling students from Tanzania for PhD in IIT Madras so they can teach in Zanzibar and maintain a good flow of teachers.” Universities in Europe are also being reached out for exchange programmes.
