Foreign universities willing to set up campuses in India will have the freedom to decide their own admission process, fee structure and repatriate funds to their parent campuses, the University Grants Commission (UGC) announced Thursday, releasing draft regulations that will govern the establishment and operation of such higher educational institutions.
Addressing a press conference, UGC chairperson Prof M Jagadesh Kumar said the regulations, which are aimed at “providing greater access to our Indian students to high quality international education right in their country”, are likely to be notified by the end of January, 2023. It will be a key step towards implementing the National Education Policy, 2020, he added.
Initially, the foreign universities will be granted approval to operate for 10 years. At the end of the ninth year of their operations, they will have to file for renewal of approval, Prof Kumar said. Universities that participate in global rankings will require a place in the top 500 to apply to set up campuses in India, while those that do not participate in such rankings will need to be “highly reputed” in their respective countries.
“The campuses will have the freedom to decide their own fee structure, however, the regulations specify that the fee structure should be transparent and reasonable. Regulations also say that they will be free to provide need-based scholarships,” Prof Kumar said. The regulations – UGC (Setting up and Operation of Campuses of Foreign Higher Educational Institutions in India) Regulations 2023 – also provide foreign institutions complete autonomy to hire faculty and other staff members either from abroad or India.
The application process will be web-based, with the UGC maintaining a separate portal for receiving proposals to set up campuses. A committee formed by the commission will evaluate the applications and make recommendations which will be further examined by the commission.
“The selected applicants will be given about two years to set up campuses,” Prof Kumar said, adding that the institutes will have to ensure that the quality of education in the Indian campuses is at par with the parent campuses. Moreover, they will have to mandatorily impart education in offline mode as online classes shall not be allowed.
The repatriation of funds and other cross-border movement of funds shall be governed by the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999, he said. The UGC will have the right to inspect the campuses at any time, he stressed, adding that they will not be outside the purview of anti-ragging and other criminal laws.
Courtesy : The Indian Express