Page 78 - EW November 2025.pdf Final

Cover Story

Green light for foreign universities

n November 2023, the Delhi-based University Grants Commission (UGC) finally granted permission to
well-reputed foreign universities to establish offshore campuses in India — a proposition EW had backed
from 2007. The UGC (Setting up and Operation of Campuses of Foreign Higher Educational Institutions
Iin India) notification provides a legal and regulatory framework for foreign universities to establish owned
campuses in India and sets terms and conditions for entry of foreign HEIs. Among them: Applicant foreign uni-
versities must be ranked among the Global 500 in league tables approved by UGC from “time to time”; degrees
awarded must be on a par with country of origin; tuition fees should be reasonable; faculty employed have to
be on a par with country of origin; study programmes should not be contrary to sovereignty of India and should
“adhere to public order, decency and morality”.

Consequent upon this formal UGC notification, Deakin University, Australia became the first foreign university
to establish a campus in the Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City), near Ahmedabad. Currently,
three foreign universities have established campuses in India with another 14 granted permission.
See www.educationworld.in Archives (Cover story ‘Time to welcome foreign universities’ — October 2007; Spe-
cial Report ‘Half-hearted invitation to foreign universities’ — January 2024)

78 EDUCATIONWORLD NOVEMBER 2025