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Special Report
S pe c i a l R e por t

Commission headed by US-based bil-
lionaire technocrat Sam Pitroda. The
commission recommended facilitat-
ing the entry of foreign universities
into the country. The following year,
the Foreign Higher Educational In-
stitutions (Regulations of Entry, Op-
eration of Quality and Prevention of
Commercialisation) Bill, 2007, was
presented in Parliament. But at the
last moment, the Bill was scuttled by
leftie Congress party HRD (education)
minister Arjun Singh.
Again in 2010, after the Congress-
led UPA-II government was voted to
power at the Centre for a second term,
a revised Foreign Educational Institu-
tions (Regulation of Entry and Opera-
tions) Bill, 2010 was tabled in Parlia-
ment. But it was vehemently opposed
Deakin University, GIFT City, Gujarat. Inset: Ravneet Pahwa by the BJP and communist parties
leading to a stalemate, and eventually
forged meaningful partnerships with freedom to charge fees in interna- killed.
academia, industry, and government. tional currency and full repatriation In 2014, after the BJP won a land-
Establishing our own campus is the of profit. slide victory in the General Election,
logical next step for Deakin to deliver Although several Asian countries the issue of foreign universities com-
international classrooms for students including Communist China permit- ing to India was put in deep freeze with
in India. We thank government agen- ted Anglosphere universities to estab- the right-wing Rashtriya Swayamse-
cies in the education ecosystem of lish outpost campuses decades ago, vak Sangh (RSS), ideological mentor
both countries as well as the prime successive governments in New Delhi of the BJP, strongly opposing the idea
ministerial committees for deepen- committed to self-reliance, dithered of “westernizing” Indian education.
ing our engagement with India. The over the issue. However, with Indian universities
university is establishing India’s first But with any of India’s 42,000 un- still languishing in the nether reaches
international university branch cam- dergrad colleges and 1,126 universities of the QS and THE global rankings
pus in accordance with prescribed conspicuously absent in the annual and the outflow of students to foreign
guidelines and compliance norms. global Top 200 league tables of QS shores increasing, in its second term
Deakin will provide the same stan- and THE — the well-reputed London- (2019), the BJP government did an
dard of higher education in GIFT City based higher ed institutions ranking about turn and reversed its position
as at Deakin, Australia, as accredited agencies — and an ever-increasing on this issue.
by TEQSA (Tertiary Education Quality outflow of school-leavers and gradu- The National Education Policy
and Standards Agency),” says Pahwa. ates to universities abroad assum- (NEP) approved by the Union Cabinet
T HE DEAKIN INDIA campus the Congress-led UPA-I government the entry of foreign universities into
on July 29, 2020 strongly endorsed
ing flood-like proportions, in 2006,
is all set to be inaugurated
established the National Knowledge
the country. “High performing Indian
in GIFT City, Gujarat on
January 10 with com- Several Asian countries universities will be encouraged to set
up campuses in other countries, and
mencement of two-year Masters’ pro- including China permitted similarly, selected universities e.g,
grammes in Business Analytics and those from among the Top 100 univer-
Cyber Security (Professional) priced Anglosphere universities sities in the world will be facilitated to
at Rs.21.4 lakh for two years. How- to establish campuses operate in India. A legislative frame-
ever, it’s pertinent to note that Dea- work facilitating such entry will be put
kin’s strategic location in GIFT City decades ago, but successive in place, and such universities will be
— a government-sponsored special governments in New Delhi given special dispensation regarding
economic zone — offers its numer- dithered over the issue regulatory, governance, and content
ous advantages including tax breaks, norms on par with other autonomous

80 EDUCATIONWORLD JANUARY 2024