Foreign universities in India: A welcome step, but experts want clarity

Students planning to study overseas say it’s not just about the institutions but the overall environment abroad. (Illustration by Suneesh Kalarickal)

With higher-education regulator University Grants Commission (UGC) releasing draft rules to allow foreign universities to set up campuses in India, the Indian education community has its fingers crossed.

From raising the standard of Indian education to decreasing the outflow of students, education experts have welcomed UGC’s decision. But that welcome has been cautious, as they want to know the finer details.

Control migration of students?

The National Education Policy of 2020 has fixed a target Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) of 50 percent by 2030. This is nearly double the current GER of 26.3 percent. In alignment with this target, introduced in NEP 2020, the UGC draft guidelines also aim to have more opportunities for Indian students looking to enrol in universities abroad.

“If these universities get a chance to run their programmes in India, it would be a win-win situation for both — the universities who are setting up their presence in India as well as the students who wish to go abroad to these universities,” said Dr Meena Chintamaneni, Pro-VC of SVKM's NMIMS.

However, other experts are not sure how much of an impact the move will have, at least for 10-15 years.

Establishing universities and campuses, courses, creating research facilities, hiring faculty, relocating international faculty, among other aspects, will be a challenging proposition, feels Ajay Sharma, Founder and President at Abhinav Immigration Services.

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In 10 to 15 years, he said, there may be no impact on the outflow of Indian students going abroad. “But in the long run, once international universities and colleges have their campuses in India, to a small extent, the number of students going out will be impacted.”

Students planning to study overseas say it’s not just about the institutions but the overall environment abroad. “It's the culture, and most importantly, it prepares us for settling down in a foreign nation for our lives ahead,” said 25-year-old Aman Jain, who is planning to pursue a master’s degree in Canada.

Intake of foreign investment and quality

Given that the draft UGC regulations require foreign higher educational institutions to establish campuses in India with adequate physical infrastructure, education experts say there would be a significant inflow of foreign investment into the country.

“Meritorious students who were unable to travel overseas because of financial constraints or visa issues will continue to study in India. This may result in Indian industry having access to a larger pool of highly skilled people, which is needed to help the Indian economy grow rapidly,” said Rahul Chadha, Managing Partner at Chadha & Co, a corporate and commercial law firm based in New Delhi.

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Further, industry leaders say that the entry of foreign universities will increase the choice before students, especially in liberal arts universities, where capacity creation has been less than needed.

“Indian universities have always focused largely on engineering and medical universities,” said Maheshwar Peri, Chairman of the educational services platform Careers360.

As we move along, he said, it may also open the doors for twinning programmes, dual degrees, student exchange and faculty exchange programmes. “If the universities are truly international, we may have more international students studying in India. This will also encourage more international faculty to teach in India.”

However, Chadha added that from the perspective of leading foreign universities, free speech and academic freedom are important considerations, which will be carefully evaluated before they decide on entering India.

Further, Peri highlighted that the clause on repatriation of proceeds has been dropped in the draft guidelines. “Does that mean universities intent on profits will enter India with the objective of repatriating profits,” he wondered.

Call for clarity 

Though experts feel the draft regulations published by the UGC are somewhat clear and flexible, there are some areas where they say more clarity would be welcome.

“[What is the] role of AICTE for technical courses,” said Vivek Kathpalia, MD & CEO – Singapore, at Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, a law firm that advises institutions, edtech companies, investors and policymakers.

“The draft regs have a catch-all provision that would empower the authority to [move] the goalpost. This should be avoided and suitably clarified, as regulatory certainty is key,” he added.

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The draft regulation permits universities with certain rankings to have their offshore campuses in India. But the guidelines are silent on the concept of collaborative education with Indian universities, said NMIMS’ Chintamaneni.

The foreign universities will need to meet various regulatory and compliance requirements. Chintamaneni feels this could raise apprehensions among the student and parent community about their validity, acceptance by industry or the quality of education in these universities.

“A collaboration of these foreign universities with good Indian universities offering joint programmes could see interest not only from Indian students but also from across the world,” she suggested.

India as a market for sourcing students only?

Experts say that foreign universities should not look at India only as a market for sourcing students. “If they don’t contribute to building quality infrastructure for direct investments, then the whole purpose will be lost,” said Dr Tapan Panda, Pro VC of MIT-WPU, a Pune-based engineering and management institution.

Panda asserted that a foreign degree offered here should be a value-adding programme and not an international programme offered remotely. He also suggested that there should be restrictions on repatriation for a portion of the fee collected, instead making it mandatory for foreign campuses to invest surpluses in research and development activities.

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Besides, Panda suggested that innovations and patent commercialisation rights should be with the host country’s government and there should be a restriction on the outflow of patents and formulae.