The Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) are globally recognised as the crown jewels in India’s higher education system. Indeed, they are often the only Indian higher education institutions known internationally at all. They have produced leaders in high tech and related fields in India and abroad. The IITs may be the most difficult higher education institutions to gain entry in the world — with more than a million students appearing for the entrance examination each year and competing for 17,385 places in the 23 IITs. Yet, the IIT system is in serious trouble at the same time that some of them are building campuses abroad as part of India’s soft power efforts. It is worth taking a careful look at current realities to understand a looming crisis.
Foreign adventures
A branch campus of IIT-Madras has just opened in Zanzibar and IIT Delhi will be launching programmes from its Abu Dhabi campus in 2024. The tiny first entering class of 70 students has been accepted. How many of the faculty are from the Chennai campus — and will they stay in Zanzibar (frequently a problem for branch campuses of western universities)? The admission standards are not like those at home. Admission is based on the IIT Madras Zanzibar Selection Test (IITMZST) 2023 screening test followed by an interview. Some of the screening test centres offered to potential applicants were located not only in Tanzania but also in Ethiopia, Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda and the United Arab Emirates (which has a strong presence of the Indian diaspora).
