“Some countries are coming forward to provide the infrastructure to our universities to set up their campus. We have countries where we have large Indian diaspora who want our campuses to come and provide education.”
— M Jagadesh Kumar, UGC chairman
African and Gulf nations, Thailand and Vietnam are among potential destinations for Indian universities to set up their offshore campuses, regulations for which are ready and will be announced in a month, according to UGC chairman M Jagadesh Kumar.
In a recent interview to PTI, Kumar said several countries were coming forward to provide infrastructure to Indian universities to set up campuses abroad and the University Grants Commission (UGC) would handhold the institutions in identifying the countries where they could set up their offshore campuses.
The “internationalisation of education” plan outlined in the new National Education Policy (NEP) include three major reforms: foreign universities to set up campuses in India, Indian universities to set up campuses abroad and twinning, dual degree and joint degree programmes at Indian universities in collaboration with foreign varsities. “We have in India huge university ecosystem. There are outstanding universities, both in central government, state government funded and private universities. We want to encourage these varsities to set up their campuses abroad. Some countries are coming forward to provide the infrastructure to our universities to set up their campus. We have countries where we have large Indian diaspora who want our campuses to come and provide education,” he said.
The UGC had last month announced that foreign universities would be able to set up their campuses in India for the first time and unveiled draft norms, under which these varsities can also decide on the admission process, fee structure and repatriate its funds back home
“There is huge potential for setting up campuses in African countries. Thailand, Vietnam and few Gulf countries… there is immense interest and the opportunities are immense too. It is just that we have not had any enabling regulations so far,” he added.
Several Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) have been receiving requests from the Middle-East and South Asian countries to set up their campuses. While IIT Delhi is considering setting up a campus in UAE, IIT Madras is exploring options in Sri Lanka, Nepal and Tanzania. IIT campuses are also in the pipeline in Egypt, Thailand, Malaysia and the UK. “IITs are known as institutions of national importance, they function under IIT Council. It has its own rules and regulations under which they can set up their own campuses. Already some IITs are working on that,” he said.
The UGC had last month announced that foreign universities would be able to set up their campuses in India for the first time and unveiled draft norms, under which these varsities can also decide on the admission process, fee structure and repatriate its funds back home. Kumar said the final norms which will take into account the feedback received from stakeholders will be announced within a month too.
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