Foreign universities to enter India: A futuristic move for the country’s education system

These days, many students want to go overseas to seek high-quality higher education. But we also know the burden of taking education loans as well as the emotional struggle of moving to a different country, away from your family. What if we told you there’s a way out — you can study on foreign campuses without leaving your homeland? That too at almost half the cost.

This is soon going to become a reality for Indian students.

On January 5, the University Grants Commission (UGC) unveiled draft norms to facilitate the “Setting Up and Operation of Campuses of Foreign Higher Educational Institutions in India”. In other words, India is bracing itself to accommodate offshore campuses of some of the top globally ranked universities. According to the guidelines laid down in the draft, these universities will have absolute autonomy in deciding the fee structure, administering the admission process and repatriating their funds back home.

Speaking at a press conference, UGC Chairperson M Jagadesh Kumar said: “The new National Education Policy (NEP), 2020, has envisioned that top universities in the world will be facilitated to operate in India. For this, a legislative framework facilitating such entry will be put in place, and such universities will be given special dispensation regarding regulatory, governance and content norms on a par with other autonomous institutions of India.”

To put things into perspective, here are some key points from the draft:

These campuses will have the freedom to design their own admission process as well as the criteria to invite domestic and foreign students

• These foreign entities can decide the fee structure but it needs to be “reasonable and transparent”

• They have no restrictions in recruiting staff and faculty from India and abroad

• These campuses cannot offer online or distance learning courses

• The qualifications awarded to Indian students must be equivalent to those offered by renowned foreign institutions in their own country

• Every foreign education institution will be allowed cross-border movement of funds and maintenance of foreign currency accounts, mode or payments, remittance repatriation and sale of proceeds, under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), 1999

• The initial approval for these campuses will be for 10 years and will be renewed in the ninth year. Moreover, these universities cannot offer courses that might put national interests in jeopardy

Now, just a month and a few days since the draft was released, Union Minister of Education Dharmendra Pradhan announced that “Two Australian universities will be establishing their campuses in the GIFT City in Gujarat. We want to partner with Australia with accessibility, affordability, and quality of education for youngsters”.

Read more at: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/nri/study/foreign-universities-to-enter-india-a-futuristic-move-for-the-countrys-education-system/articleshow/98599957.cms