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Special Report

institutions of India,” says NEP 2020. Foreign university campuses worldwide
With the BJP committed to imple-
mentation of this provision of NEP
2020, the Modi government set about
preparing the “legislative framework”
to facilitate this recommendation. 333 39 83
However, given the history of several
foreign universities Bills presented in
Parliament, this time round the BJP Foreign university Countries have universi- Countries host
government opted to take the route campuses ties which have established foreign university
of a notification under ss.12 and 26 worldwide foreign campuses campuses
of the University Grants Commission
Countries with largest number of foreign university campuses
Act, 1956. UNITED UNITED RUSSIA FRANCE AUSTRALIA
N EP 2020’S STATED GOAL STATES KINGDOM

of internationalisation of
Indian higher education
apart, another major fac- 84 46 39 38 20
tor which prompted the U-turn of the
BJP government is the ever-rising Countries hosting foreign university campuses
number of Indian students emplaning CHINA UNITED ARAB SINGAPORE MALAYSIA QATAR INDIA
for higher education abroad. Accord- EMIRATES
ing to Union education ministry data,
an estimated 770,000 Indian stu-
dents enrolled in foreign universities 47 30 16 15 11 2
in 2022 — a 68 percent rise over the Source: Cross-Border Education Research Team (C-BERT), Oxford (UK)
previous year. Currently, an estimated Source: Cross-Border Education Research Team (C-BERT), Oxford (UK)
1.3 million Indian students are pursu-
ing study programmes in 78 countries leavers and graduates are hell-bent for setting up and operating FHEIs
worldwide. Their annual expenditure on acquiring foreign qualifications in India will provide more options for
abroad is $47 billion (Rs.3.9 lakh and that the overwhelming majority students and raise standards in higher
crore) — several multiples of the total of them never come back, and on the education. However, their effective-
Union budget allocation for educa- reasoning that the mountain must be ness in stemming the flow of students
tion (Rs.1.12 lakh crore) in 2023-24. brought to Mohammed, the BJP gov- abroad is likely to be limited. This is
It is this consideration that a large — ernment has greenlighted the entry of because students planning to study
and ever-rising — number of school- foreign universities into India. abroad not only look for world-class
However, expert opinion on wheth- education but also for international
Kumar: other considerations
er this initiative will stem the outflow exposure, multicultural environment,
of Indian students to offshore institu- and post-study work opportunities.
tions is divided. An analysis of the C- Indian students choosing foreign
BERT database indicates that not only universities are looking for a compre-
are top-ranked FHEIs not enamoured hensive educational experience rather
with the idea of establishing campuses than merely acquiring an internation-
abroad, most foreign varsity campuses al degree. Foreign universities offer
proposed are very small, with an aver- multicultural classrooms, unique aca-
age enrolment of 300-400 students. demic and lifestyle freedoms and post-
Therefore, even after assuming that study work visas allow students to
foreign universities will overlook the gain valuable international work expe-
onerous regulatory pre-conditions to rience. Moreover, I think getting for-
establish campuses in India, the sup- eign universities to set up campuses in
ply by way of number of seats would India is a long-haul endeavour. While
still be very limited. Moreover, stu- the move has enthused some foreign
dents have other considerations in universities, attracting top-ranked
mind for venturing to study abroad. institutions to establish campuses in
“Admittedly, the UGC regulations India will require time and sustained

82 EDUCATIONWORLD JANUARY 2024