The higher education regulator had in January this year issued draft rules allowing foreign universities to set up campuses in India. (Shutterstock)
Several universities in North America, the UK, Europe and Australia have shown interest in setting up campuses in India, while several universities in New Zealand have shown interest in offering joint and dual degree programmes.
A top official has said that rules allowing foreign universities to set up campuses in India are in the “final stages” and will be issued before the end of June.
The set of guidelines being prepared by the University Grants Commission (UGC) is being finalized and the portal where these universities will apply and submit their documents for the same is ready. “The portal will be operational only when the final guidelines are issued before the end of next month,” the official said.
The higher education regulator had in January this year issued draft rules allowing foreign universities to set up campuses in India. The draft rules sought to provide autonomy to these universities in admission process and deciding tuition fee.
The rules were framed for seeking public feedback and comments from stakeholders on January 5, which was extended twice to February 3 and again to February 20.
“We have already received comments from foreign embassies and international universities. Then we also held meetings with various key ministries to take their suggestions, including the Union Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Commerce and the Reserve Bank of India, which will be directly involved in facilitating this process. All these inputs have been incorporated and the rules are being finalised,” said UGC chairman Professor M Jagadesh Kumar.
Professor Kumar said that several universities in North America, the United Kingdom (UK), Europe and Australia have shown interest in setting up campuses in India, while several universities in New Zealand have shown interest in offering joint and dual degree programs .
“We have received inquiries and interests from across the world. Many of these universities have already joined the Utsav portal. We are on-boarding these universities on this portal, where many of them are already offering joint and dual degree programmes. are working on the offer,” he said.
The Utsah portal for ‘Undertaking Transformative Strategies and Action in Higher Education’ was launched by the UGC earlier this month to track the progress of initiatives and reforms undertaken under the new National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
The data collected through the Utsaha portal will focus on 10 key areas outlined in the NEP, including digitization, international education, industry-academia collaboration, research and promotion of Indian languages and knowledge systems.
The draft rules, titled “UGC (Establishment and Operation of Campuses of Foreign Higher Educational Institutions in India) Regulations, 2023”, were prepared in line with the NEP, advocating a legislative framework to facilitate admission of foreign students to higher education institutions. Internationalization of education was envisaged. Universities in India. Such universities will be given special dispensation with respect to regulatory, governance and content norms at par with other autonomous institutions in the country.
Recently, two Australian universities – Wollongong University and Deakin University – confirmed that they are working on setting up their campuses at Gujarat International Finance Tec (GIFT)-City in Ahmedabad. However, these universities will open campuses under the GIFT City guidelines, which do not come under the purview of the UGC.
