UPenn Professors Optimistic About UGC's Proposal For Foreign University Campuses

The University Grants Commission (UGC), which announced its intention to get foreign universities to set up their campus in the country, is beginning to see responses from these institutes of repute from abroad. The commission’s Chairman, M. Jagadesh Kumar, recently took to Twitter to share the news of the Indian-origin professors from the University of Pennsylvania expressing their optimism over the idea. They spoke of Ivy League institutions potentially playing a role in higher education in India.

The University of Pennsylvania professors Rajeev Alur and Vijay Kumar were optimistic about the Ivy League schools of the US bolstering higher education in India, reported Free Press Journal. They spoke to the publication on the sidelines of the 5th Penn India Technology Forum in Mumbai.

“This change of policy by UGC can be evaluated by the institute (UPenn) and open up a lot of opportunities for Indian students,” stated Alur, who is presently the Zisman Family Professor of Computer and Information Science at UPenn. Nemirovsky Family Dean of Penn Engineering, Professor Vijay Kumar agreed. He said the institute would be interested in building a branch but added that more details are required for the same. Kumar appreciated the talent and capital available in India.

The proposal allows foreign universities with a global rank of 500 or above or a foreign educational institution of repute to apply to the UGC to set up a campus in India. It states that such a campus can build its own admission process and criteria to take in domestic and foreign students. They will also have the autonomy to decide their own fee structure.

In the past few days, media outlets have reported on foreign universities’ welcoming the move, but also raising several pertinent questions. A professor from California University told CNBC-TV18.com that certain aspects, for instance, the clause – “The Foreign Higher Educational Institutions shall not offer any such programme of study which jeopardises the national interest of India or the standards of higher education in India” – must be explained.

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