Zanzibar campus to be first IIT with a woman director

The first Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) campus outside the country in Tanzania will also be the first to be led by a woman director, officials said on Monday, while adding that the overseas campus will start with two courses starting this October.

- Fareeha Iftikhar

The Union government last Thursday announced that the first IIT campus overseas will be established by IIT-Madras, or IIT-M, in the Tanzanian island city of Zanzibar after an MoU was signed between both countries. The move is in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, which recommends that "high-performing Indian universities will be encouraged to set up campuses in other countries".

Preeti Aghalayam, an IIT-M alumna and a professor in its department of chemical engineering, has been appointed as the director-in-charge of the Zanzibar campus, IIT-M director V Kamakoti told a media conference in Delhi on Monday.

"At IIT-M, we are very keen on bringing women into leadership roles. We are following sustainable development goals and one of the important goals suggests that we need to bring in gender balance. Professor Preeti will be the first ever woman to be an IIT director," he said.