Mauritius warms up to IITs too

The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) may soon have their first overseas campus in Mauritius with the island country keen on Indian technical institutes, including IITs and private institutes, setting up campuses there. The proposal is under consideration by the Ministry of Human Resources Development.

“We are seeking collaboration with both public and private institutes in India for tertiary degrees, especially aimed at the African markets as we can learn from and about the Indian experience,” Rajesh Jeetah, Minister of Tertiary Education, Science, Research and Technology of Mauritius, told Business Standard. He said education minister Kapil Sibal warmed up to the proposal and said that “it will be considered”.

Mauritius’ newly setup ministry also seeks recognition of degrees, research and teaching between the countries and is already in a stage of preparing a Memorandum of Understanding with ministry of human resource development.

“Besides opening up campuses, we would also like Indian varsities to setup science parks in Mauritius and offer their expertise in biotechnology,” Jeetah added. The gross enrolment ratio in the country in tertiary education is 43 per cent but it aims for 70 per cent by 2015. It is targeting 50,000 foreign students by 2015 and 100,000 by 2020.