The regulations allowing foreign universities to set up campuses in India are in the “final stage” and will be released before June-end, a top official has said.
The set of guidelines, which are being framed by the University Grants Commission (UGC), are being given final touches and the portal where these universities will apply and submit their documents for the same is ready. “The portal will be operationalised at the same time when the finalised guidelines are released before the end of next month,” the official said.
The higher education regulator had in January this year released draft regulations allowing foreign universities to open campuses in India. The draft rules sought to provide autonomy to these universities in deciding the admission process and tuition fees.
The regulations were put out to seek public feedback and comments from stakeholders on January 5, the duration for which was extended twice to February 3 and then to February 20.
“We have already received comments from foreign embassies and international universities. Then we also had meetings with the various key ministries to take their suggestions, including Union Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Home, Ministry of Commerce and the Reserve Bank of India, which will be involved directly in facilitating the process. All these inputs have been incorporated and the rules are being finalised,” said UGC chairperson Prof M Jagadesh Kumar.
Several universities from North America, the United Kingdom (UK), Europe and Australia, among others have shown their interest in setting up campuses in India while many universities from New Zealand have shown interest in offering joint and dual degree programmes, said Prof Kumar.
“We have received enquiries and interests from across the globe. Many of these universities have already joined the Utsah portal. We are on-boarding these universities on this portal where many of them are already working on offering joint and dual degree programmes,” he said.
The Utsah portal, short for ‘Undertaking Transformative Strategies and Actions in Higher Education’, was launched by the UGC earlier this month to track the progress of initiatives and reforms taken under the new National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
The data collected through the Utsah portal will focus on 10 key areas outlined in NEP, including digitalisation, international education, industry-academia collaboration, research, and the promotion of Indian languages and knowledge systems.
The draft regulations titled “UGC (Setting up and Operation of Campuses of Foreign Higher Educational Institutions In India) Regulations, 2023” were framed in line with the NEP, which envisaged internationalisation of higher education while advocating a legislative framework for facilitating the entry of foreign universities into India. Such universities will be given special dispensation regarding regulatory, governance, and content norms on par with other autonomous institutions in the country.
Recently, two Australian universities — Wollongong University and Deakin University — confirmed that they were working on setting up their campuses in Gujarat International Finance Tec (GIFT)-City in Ahmedabad. However, these universities will be opening campuses under GIFT City guidelines, which does not fall under the purview of the UGC.
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