Decks cleared for foray of foreign Universities into India

By Rao Malladi
New Delhi, (Surya March 10, 2007): Decks are cleared for allowing foreign universities to set up their campus in India and law for the purpose will be tabled in Parliament next week.

“The law will provide a clear road map with unambiguously spelt out goal posts for the foreign universities”, Rameshwar Agarwal, Secretary, Higher Education, told this correspondent here today.

“We don’t want fly-by night operators to come in”, the official, who was involved in drafting the law said. He also made it clear that the government was not opting for a ‘case-by-case’ approval route. “The new law will enable any foreign entity interested in coming to India to set up a campus provided they abide by our conditions”, Mr Agarwal said.


CONDITIONS

• A foreign University coming to India will have to create a corpus fund of Rs. 40 crore

• The corpus fund requirement may be waived in deserving cases

• The embassy of the country to which the University belongs should give a certificate about the credentials of the University

• The entity will have to abide by the UGC guidelines and must take UGC registration

Elaborating the conditionalities for foreign universities, the Higher Education Secretary said, the government was insisting on a big corpus fund for the foreign universities only to protect the interests of students in the worst case scenario.

Mr Agarwal, a senior IAS officer of Andhra Pradesh cadre who is tipped to take over the Commerce Secretary shortly, said, the government might not insist on corpus fund in the case of reputed foreign universities.

Foreign Universities have been knocking at India door step for a long while but the issue became a political football as it came to be viewed through the prism of economic reforms.

What clinched the issue is Rahul Gandhi’s intervention in a manner of speaking. The young Congress MP from Amethi wants India to become an education hub.

He spoke his mind on the floor of Parliament and at the parliamentary standing committee on Human Resource Development (HRD).

Rahul Gandhi’s passionate plea appears to have acted as the badly needed catalyst to facilitate the foreign universities regulation law despite some hiccups,

The cabinet approved the law last week though the HRD Minister Arjun Singh could not attend the meeting due to his indisposition.
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