UGC’s draft regulations-2023: Opening the door for foreign players
26-08-2023
11:33 AM
1 min read
Why in News?
- The University Grants Commission (UGC) recently released the draft UGC (Setting up and Operation of Campuses of Foreign Higher Educational Institutions in India) Regulations 2023.
- The article explains the key provisions, significance and concerns with respect to the draft UGC regulations to set up and operate campuses of Foreign Higher Educational Institutions (FHEIs) in India.
Earlier Efforts to Facilitate FHEIs in India
- The government in 1995 drafted the Foreign Education Bill which had to be shelved, following by another attempt in 2006, but the draft law could not cross the cabinet stage.
- In 2010, the then government brought the Foreign Educational Institutions Bill, which did not get enough support in the Parliament and another bill lapsed in 2014.
- The National Education Policy, 2020, envisages a legislative framework to allow top global universities to operate in India.
What is the need for such regulations?
- To increase enrolment: India despite having more than 1000 universities and 42,000 colleges has one of the world’s lowest Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in higher education (27.1%).
- To improve quality of education: The lack of quality in Indian education is reflected in the QS World University Rankings 2022, with the IIT Bombay getting the best 177th
- Facilitating interested varsities: For example, London Business School, King’s College in London, etc., are engaged in preliminary discussions with the GIFT City authorities and UGC to establish facilities at the GIFT International Financial Services Centre.
What are the salient provisions in the Draft UGC Regulations?
- Application process: Foreign varsities interested to open campus in India need to apply online at the UGC portal and the selected applicants henceforth will be given about 2 years to set up campuses.
- Evaluation criteria: A committee formed by UGC hence will decide upon these applications within 45 days based on following factors:
- Credibility of the institution
- Programmes to be offered by the institution
- Varsity potential to strengthen academic opportunities in India
- Proposed infrastructure
- Once the necessary criteria have been fulfilled, the UGC will grant approval for 10 years.
- Funding: The cross-border funds required for setting up the varsity will be as per the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (FEMA).
- Eligibility: A foreign university should be ranked among the top 500 global rankings or will have to be “highly reputed” in its home jurisdiction.
- Institutional autonomy: The FHEIs will have autonomy to decide their own admission process, fee structure (in a reasonable and transparent manner) and have freedom to recruit faculty from India and abroad.
- Types of courses to be offered: Foreign universities with campuses in India will not be permitted to offer courses through online or ODL (open and distance learning) modes and only conduct offline classes (physical mode) will be allowed.
- Foreign varsity will also not be allowed to offer any programs of study that compromise national interests or standards of higher education in India.
- Supervision: An audit report shall be submitted annually by the FHEIs to the UGC certifying that its operations are in compliance with UGC Act and related rules. Also, the UGC will have the right to inspect the campuses at any time.
What is the significance of the Draft UGC Regulations?
- Around 40 million students in India, currently pursuing higher education, will have access to global quality education.
- Allowing foreign universities will ensure diverse courses, such as in the fields of urban design and fashion design.
- In 2022, over 5 lakh Indian students went abroad to study, leading to an outflow of an estimated $28-30 billion. Thus, the move is expected to reduce forex reserve depletion.
- The UGC move will push further Atmanirbhar Bharat dream by retaining the domestic talent and preventing brain drain.
- Opening the door for foreign universities can improve India’s soft power as it will provide further impetus to the government’s Study in India programme that seeks to attract foreign students.
What are the concerns related to Draft Regulations?
- Complex framework: Multiple approvals and multi-layer regulatory framework governing different aspects of higher education can discourage FHEIs from setting campuses in India.
- Excess control: The national security clause and other restrictions may limit faculty members, especially experts in Humanities and Social Sciences to frame the curriculum and teach it in the manner they deem fit.
- Absurd criterion: The UGC criterion of a “reputed institution in its home jurisdiction” is ambiguous as there is no clarity how UGC would determine the reputation of such foreign universities.
- Inaccessible educational programmes: Allowing FHEIs to decide fee structure in their branch campuses in India may give them an upper hand in deciding different fees for different programmes, making them more expensive and not accessible to many students.
- Discriminatory norms: The public HEIs in India follow the standard regulations (qualifications for recruitment, salary structure, and service condition) set by the UGC or state governments.
- However, FHEIs have been granted the freedom to decide these standard regulations on their own which seems biased.
- Fear of rejection: It would be difficult to ensure that the degrees offered by the foreign campuses would be accepted by the employers in the home countries of the campuses.
- Issue of repatriation of profit: A major bone of contention between foreign branch campuses and the Indian government had been the issue of repatriation of profit as education in India is not a profitable enterprise but a public good.
- However, the draft regulations-2023 allow for smooth repatriation of profits earned by the foreign branch campuses under FEMA 1999.
- This may intensify the competition for students with merit and/or paying capacity amongst public, private, and foreign institutions in India.
Conclusion
- India is a young nation with an increasing need for higher education and an ever-increasing demand for foreign degrees.
- However, ensuring access, equity and quality of higher education as outlined in the vision of NEP-2020, should be ensured in this process to make Indian education match global standards.
Q1) What is Study in India programme?
The Study in India (SII) programme is a flagship project introduced by the Ministry of Education, GOI. It seeks to endorse India as a prime education hub for international students by inviting them to pursue their higher education in the country.
Q2) What is GIFT city?
GIFT City is a planned business district in the state of Gujarat in India. It is the new business destination offering competitive edge to financial services and technology-related activities.
Source: UGC’s draft regulations-2023: Opening the campus door
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