http://www.theguardian.

com/higher-education-network/2014/feb/14/uk-universities-india-british-
council-report

UK universities it's time to go to
India
In five year's time, India will have the largest number of
students enrolled in higher education. The UK can't sit back, it
must go to India, urges report

UK universities must go to India if they are to benefit from a shake up tointernational higher
education which will see India enrolling the largest number of students into tertiary education in the
world by 2020, warns a British Council report.
Universities are being urged to move away from focusing on recruiting Indian students to
forming partnerships in India, creating new opportunities for UK students and academics to study and
teach there, as well as encouraging collaboration through research.
"By 2020, India and China will produce 40% of the world's graduate talent pipeline," says Lynne
Heslop, British Council's senior education advisor in India and author of the report. "We can't sit back
and rely on this talent to continue coming to the UK.
"Other countries are also looking to capitalise on these new opportunities, and the UK will miss out
unless our sector can increasingly engage with India, in India."
The Indian government's five-year plan to reform higher education aims to create 40m new university
places and train 500 million people by 2020. Heslop says it is the largest transformation in higher
education that any country has attempted.
But universities need to see this collaboration as mutually beneficial, says Sir Steve Smith, vice-
chancellor of the University of Exeter, speaking about the report at a British Council event.
He says there is a historic relationship with India, and unintentionally, we echo that imperial
relationship by using language like "send us your best and brightest students", suggesting that India
can't educate them.
Frankly, he says, "it cannot work unless it's a win-win situation that is based on respect".
Yet collaboration in India won't come without its challenges. Currently the UK collaborates with just
2.5% of the Indian higher education sector. Although India is a fast growing economy, it has few
universities in the top 200 world university rankings and there is little data available about Indian
institutions.
"The real issue is quality," says Pramath Raj Sinha, founder and managing director of 9.9 Media, and
"that's where the UK comes in. There's also a central problem with academic staff, in terms of both
quality and quantity". Between 30% and 40% of departmental positions in Indian universities are
vacant.
Although two thirds of Indian students go to private rather than government-run universities, the
government's lack of trust in private providers also makes it a tough place to operate in, says Sinha
"you get treated like a crook".
He says the real opportunity for the UK is not building new universities in India, but helping Indian
institutions with quality and access.
Rod Coombs, professor and deputy vice-chancellor of the University of Manchester, says the
education opportunities in India should be taken "very seriously" by the UK.
"In five year's time, 40% of all university students in the world will either be in China or India. So if you
are running a global university you absolutely have to take that very seriously and work out how to
expand your connections with the country."
Coombs says he would like to see Manchester University working with India in three different ways:
collaborating on PhD projects with research-intensive organisations in India, finding ways to deliver
blended learning products in India, and working with corporate partners in their research labs in India.
But one of the big unanswered questions is: who will fund these projects? "If you are looking at
higher-level partnerships you need to see what frameworks are in place and what the limitations are
within the policies and laws of the Indian government," says Stuart Shorthouse, international
recruitment manager at Strathclyde University. "And that's not really clear at the moment.
"We've heard that it is open for business but we really need further guidelines to say this is exactly
what we can do and these are the constraints."
As part of the reforms, the Indian government's plan to hand over money to the state also makes the
situation complicated, adds Shorthouse. "It will depend on what stage of the reform each state is at,
otherwise universities might find themselves all trying to do deals with the couple of states that are
ahead."
The India-UK Advanced Technology Centre (IU-ATC) which supports collaborative PhD and
research projects in telecoms engineering between India and the UK was one of the first initiatives
to be successfully established between the two countries in 2006.
But it wasn't easy, says professor Gerard Parr, the academic lead for the project. "The UK was not a
partner of choice for many academics in India they were eighth or ninth in the pecking order, and
this is because there was no funding mechanism in place to sustain any collaborations."
He adds that the UK will not be a partner of choice unless it puts money on the table.

http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/news/from-strathclyde-to-india-
its-a-jungle-out-there

India to Strathclyde: It's a jungle out there?
25 October 2012
With legislation to open India to foreign universities still unforthcoming, it remains a
difficult environment for Western institutions hoping to secure a lucrative prize. Joanna
Sugden reports from New Delhi
The lizard scuttling across the car park is about the only sign of life at the University of
Strathclyde's Indian campus.
It is a sunny morning in the middle of the autumn term but the elaborate fountain in front of the
building has been shut off and the name on the arched entrance gate covered over. Inside, the
plush auditorium with seats for 250 is empty, the benches of the six lecture halls are unfilled and
the library shelves are bare.
A year ago, Strathclyde's Business School, in partnership with the Indian logistics company SKIL
Infrastructure, opened the three-storey building in Greater Noida on the far outskirts of New Delhi
and sent its staff in to teach. They were frontier academics, some of the very first to deliver
British degrees at a UK campus on Indian soil. But their expedition has so far failed. Strathclyde
SKIL Business School managed to enrol just six students in 2011-12. Recruitment was so low for
this year that in August Strathclyde retreated from the country while it carried out a "full review".
Its experience is a warning to those thinking of treading the same uncharted path and also a
prompt for a close examination of India's higher education terrain. It is a landscape that is difficult
to navigate and one that has, for some, already proved impassable.
In 2010, a year after the election that brought the Congress Party-led United Progressive Alliance
to power, Kapil Sibal, India's new minister of human resource development, uttered words that
promised to shake up and reinvigorate a higher education sector whose facilities, staff and
resources were creaking under the weight of demand. "A larger revolution than even in the
telecom sector awaits us," Sibal said at the time, announcing that the Cabinet had finally
approved the long-awaited bill that would allow foreign universities to set up campuses and
award full degrees in India for the first time.
A version of the bill was first mooted as long ago as 1995. But opposition from left-wing parties
worried about the commercialisation of education and the "foreign hand", coupled with resistance
from Indian universities concerned about competition for staff and students, hampered its
progression towards the statute book for 15 years. But this time, Sibal, a graduate of Harvard
Law School, seemed determined that the bill would get through both of India's houses of
parliament and that world-renowned institutions of higher education would soon set up shop in
the world's largest democracy, where 51 per cent of the population is under the age of 25.
Sibal's words are perhaps beginning to haunt him. Not only because the bill hasn't been passed
yet but also because Sibal has been handed responsibility for the telecoms sector, too.
He must deal with the fallout from the 2G telecoms spectrum scam - the corruption scandal, the
largest India has ever faced, centres on the allocation of licences to operate mobile phone
networks and is estimated to have cost the economy $39 billion (24 billion). It was exposed by
the government's auditor in late 2010. Allowing foreign universities into the country appears to
have slipped down Sibal's "to do" list. "Parliamentary time has been precious, as it always is in
India, and (ministers) have been overwhelmed with things that are more important to the national
interest," explains Nicholas Booker, co-founder of IndoGenius, a New Delhi-based education
consultancy.
In the wake of a series of high-profile financial scandals, a wave of protests has swept the
country as part of a national anti-corruption movement. Amid other problems, including a recent
and highly unpopular decision to allow foreign supermarket chains into the country and economic
figures showing poor growth, key partners have abandoned the governing coalition and left it
teetering on the brink of collapse.
In recent weeks, the government has adopted a reforming agenda that seems to have pulled it
out of immediate danger. But what does this change in gear mean for the Foreign Educational
Institutions (Regulation of Entry and Operations) Bill 2010, which would regulate foreign
universities?
Sujatha Kalimili, head of the comparative education and international cooperation department at
the National University of Educational Planning and Administration, in New Delhi, is optimistic:
things may move quickly now that legislators appear to be in a reforming mood. "There seems to
be a serious intention on the part of the government to get it through," she says.
Parwan Agarwal, who is a member for higher education on India's Planning Commission, still
hopes that the bill will pass before the end of the year. "It's part of the political process, and we
do hope that we will get clarity on foreign provision in Indian higher education in the next few
months," he says.
But to Philip Altbach, director of the Center for International Higher Education at Boston College,
in the US, it appears that the bill will remain permanently on the shelf. Because of this,
universities need to "think through a different strategy", he advises. Continuing uncertainty over
the bill has led to "a good deal of frustration in the higher education community", he says, and
has left some US universities "burnt" by their experiences.
The bill has been designed to regulate a sector that already exists but lacks a legislative
framework. There were 631 foreign providers operating in the country in 2010, according to a
study by the Association of Indian Universities. Of these, 440 did so from their home campuses
while 186 were involved in twinning agreements or had some other arrangement with local
institutions. Five institutions had set up branch campuses in India in the absence of a law either
permitting the action or explicitly barring it. The Observatory on Borderless Higher Education
says these were Lancaster University (UK) in Haryana, Leeds Metropolitan University (UK) in
Bhopal, Monash University (Australia) in Mumbai, Schulich School of Business, York University
(Canada) in Mumbai and the University of Strathclyde's Business School (UK) in Greater Noida.
Some think that proposed legislation will be less than inviting to overseas providers. It would not
allow foreign universities that set up in India to repatriate profits. Each university would need a
"corpus fund" of about 6 million to stop them bailing out of the country and leaving students in
the lurch. The bill also insists that branch campuses have an Indian advisory board of three
national research professors per foreign institution. Kavita Sharma, director of the India
International Centre, questions where the country will find so many distinguished national
professors. "There's a huge faculty shortage of 35 per cent in India," says Sharma, who is author
of Internationalization of Higher Education: An Aspect of India's Foreign Relations (2008).
Booming student demand in the past five years and the lure of better salaries and facilities
abroad has left Indian university departments depleted. "This bill itself, how is it going to be
regarded by foreign institutions?" Sharma asks. "I'm not sure it would be acceptable to anyone."
The proposed law also stipulates that universities make public faculty salaries. "This might cause
a lot of problems," Sharma says. In India, academics are paid according to salary bands, and
public universities must reserve at least 50 per cent of places for students from certain minority
groups. Will such quotas also apply to foreign institutions? "It's a question that has not been
answered," she says.
In the absence of legislation or regulations, and without clarity around the proposed rules, there
is a policy vacuum. "Only those who can work a vacuum will come in. Others need more
transparent systems, policies and structures in which to work," says Sharma.
At Lancaster University G.D. Goenka World Institute, a two-hour drive from New Delhi, 22-year-
old Amit Bhargava is explaining to his tutor in the UK via a live videolink how the supermarket
giant Walmart works with its Indian partner Bharti.
"What[ever] Walmart says, Bharti just adapts to it," says Bhargava, who is studying for an MSc in
marketing management and has just been on a field trip to Walmart's nascent logistics operation
in India. The smart classroom in which he sits features two large flat-screen televisions that link
directly to the office of Sharon Turnbull, a visiting senior research fellow at Lancaster University
in the UK.
Along the corridor in another classroom, a group of 20 students - mostly young men dressed in
jeans with aviator sunglasses tucked in to the open necks of polo tops and checked shirts - listen
as Sujay Sinha, an ebullient assistant professor of business administration with an MBA from the
University of Liverpool, talks to them about Apple's "channel management decisions".
Lancaster Goenka opened in 2009 with a management department. Last year, it added an
engineering programme, and it now has just over 600 students. Its BA in economics, however,
has just been discontinued because of inadequate enrolment. The fees for engineering courses
are almost 3,000 a year, compared with a nominal fee charged by public universities. At 4,700
a year, its management course is about five times the cost of those at other private institutions in
India. It offers some academic scholarships but no bursaries.
Students at Lancaster Goenka are mostly from very wealthy families, and those who do well
enough in their first two years have the option of spending their final year in the UK, paying full
international fees to study at Lancaster. Faculty salaries are above the national average and
facilities are better than those at public universities in India, staff say.
But the institute, which has applied to become a university and is constructing a new purpose-
built campus, is not recognised by the national accreditation bodies. Its degrees, which are
awarded by Lancaster, are invalid in India, making it impossible for graduates to get jobs in the
public sector or to study at postgraduate level at India's public institutions.
Suku Bhaskaran, the acting director of the institute and dean of management, insists that its
graduates want work in private companies that offer more generous salaries and do not require
an Indian-accredited degree. Accreditation from the All India Council for Technical Education
"doesn't matter", he claims, noting that "India's top business school" is the Indian School of
Business (ISB) in Bangalore, "and it's not University Grants Commission or AICTE" accredited.
Bhaskaran argues that the institute's students are "not interested" in postgraduate study in India:
"they want to go abroad." The AICTE, which regulates technical and engineering colleges, lists
Lancaster Goenka as an "unapproved institution".
Kuncheria Isaac, member secretary of the All India Council for Technical Education, believes that
degrees offered by such institutions should not be recognised. Although declining to discuss
individual cases, he says: "Nobody can give programmes without approval."
In response, Lancaster says that it is in the process of acquiring university status for G.D.
Goenka World Institute so that "the partnership will be in full compliance of all local regulations".
In a statement, Steve Bradley, pro vice-chancellor for international at Lancaster, says: "In the
interim, we are very careful to make it clear to students and parents that we are not recognised
by AICTE, although Lancaster's degrees are recognised globally for the excellent standards of
education."
Naureen Shafinaz, who has just returned to the palm-tree-lined campus of G.D. Goenka World
Institute to collect her degree after finding a job with Emirates Airline in her native Bangladesh,
thinks the student body could be more diverse. "It's worth the money but not everyone can afford
to study here and that's a bad thing - there should be student loans," she says.
Campus life is very different from that found at Lancaster, where the 24-year-old and her friends
spent three weeks at a summer school. There is no freshers' week, no alcohol is allowed on site,
there are no mixed halls of residence and there is no nightlife.
Despite this, Samidha Luthra, 21, from Jaipur, has stayed on after her bachelor's degree in
business administration to pursue a postgraduate diploma in business management. "I didn't
want to go overseas," she says. "But I wanted a foreign degree, so it was a good option. It's way
more expensive than an Indian institution (but) it's worth it."
Value for money is a key to success for any institution in India, according to Karan Khemka, head
of international practice at the Parthenon Group, a global education consultancy. He believes
that is where Strathclyde's plans fall down.
The decision to set fees for Strathclyde SKIL Business School at 7,906 for 2012 would have
made it seem bad value, he claims. "It's nothing to do with how good or bad British schools are:
Strathclyde in India is a poor investment for its students because they can get the same job (by
earning) a good local MBA in India at less than half the price. We actually met with SKIL team
(investors in Strathclyde India) in 2010 and warned them about this outcome."
In an emailed statement, Strathclyde says: "Given the volatility in the marketplace due to the
impact of changes in visa requirements in the UK and the uncertainty in parliamentary approval
for the Foreign Educational Institutions Bill in India, we have decided that a full review is required
to allow us to create the highest-quality product for an Indian market."
Last year, Middlesex University was forced to pull out of a planned campus in Noida when its
partner, education conglomerate JSS, said it did not wish to proceed. Requests to Middlesex for
comment about future engagement with India went unanswered.
Despite the problems and continuing uncertainties, interest in the country from foreign
universities and colleges in the UK remains strong. Sally Goggin, director of education, India for
the British Council, says many institutions are looking for ways to enter the country within existing
frameworks. Goggin is also head of the UK-India Education and Research Initiative (UKIERI), a
scheme launched in 2006 designed to make the UK India's "partner of choice" in education. As
an example of what it aims to achieve, she cites partnerships such as the one between WMG,
the advanced engineering and manufacturing research group based at the University of Warwick,
and the Indian Institute of Technology Bhubaneswar, which intends to foster subject linkage and
research. "It's that sort of relationship, where there's a mutuality to it", that is beneficial and
provides a good example of collaboration between the two countries, she believes.
The University of Nottingham has entered a twinning programme with Manipal University in
Karnataka that allows students to spend two years in India and two in Nottingham. Student and
faculty exchanges with India are also becoming much more popular. This summer, some 165
undergraduates from more than 12 UK universities took part in the month-long Study India
programme, sponsored by King's College London and UKIERI, during which they spent time at
an Indian university and took part in a week-long internship with Indian businesses. Staff from
King's will take part in two "summer schools" in Mumbai and Delhi later this year.
IndoGenius' Booker thinks more programmes like this will emerge in future, alongside greater
use of online technology for delivering courses to students in India.
In a press interview on a visit to New Delhi in September, the University of Cambridge's vice-
chancellor Sir Leszek Borysiewicz said that there were more than 250 projects between its
academics and Indian colleagues, which he said was "probably the largest number for any UK
university". He expressed a desire to foster more research collaborations between Cambridge
and Indian universities.
Namrata Jha, director of the Institute of International Education in New Delhi, says that US
universities are also very eager to work with Indian institutions on exchange programmes, joint
degrees and other partnerships. "This is something they can begin to implement quickly, and
then gradually build up further ties as the relationships get stronger," Jha explains.
Universities are setting up centres in India to raise their profile among the nation's students and
academics through research partnerships and overseas study programmes. Such centres also
help them "to understand the system better" and explore "partnership opportunities", Jha adds.
In 1999, Virginia Tech was the first US institution to offer a degree programme in India, in
partnership with S.P. Jain Institute of Management and Research. The university now has plans
for a campus in Tamil Nadu. However, while waiting for the foreign universities bill, Virginia Tech
is concentrating on research initiatives and supporting its partner MARG Swarnabhoomi in
setting up an institute for critical technology and advanced science, says Vijaya Kumar, vice-
president international business development at MARG Swarnabhoomi Education Services.
India's University Grants Commission is also planning non-legislative routes to allow foreign
universities to operate in a regulated manner. It intends to allow only institutions that appear in
the top 500 of either the Times Higher Education World University Rankings or the Shanghai Jiao
Tong rankings to come into the country in collaboration with Indian universities rated "A" by the
National Assessment and Accreditation Council.
But this policy raises problems about the number of foreign institutions already operating in the
country that would fail this requirement, which would allow only around three dozen UK
institutions to come in. What's more, many top Indian institutes of technology are not accredited
by the NAAC.
This interim plan has been put before the Ministry of Human Resource Development, according
to Ved Prakash, chairman of the UGC. "We expect it (to be approved) before the end of this year
- imminently," he says.
The long wait for clarity is certainly not over yet. Universities that are keen to operate in India
need to "be more patient", Altbach says - "it's a complex environment." In the meantime, he
advises, "do your homework, figure out where you want to be, don't overreach and don't expect
to make money."

http://www.livemint.com/Politics/95uWiRa3RsjewIKYLSB9II/Foreign-universities-allowed-to-
operate-in-India.html
Foreign varsities get independent access
to India
Foreign universities can now set up campuses and offer degrees in India without having
a local partner

Updated: Tue, Sep 10 2013. 11 24 PM IST
New Delhi: The government has decided to allow foreign universities to operate independently in
India, set up campuses and offer degrees without having a local partnera move that finally
opens the gates for foreign educational institutions seeking to establish a presence in the
country.
To foreign universities, the move presents an opportunity to tap a country with a population of 1.2
billion. To Indians (at least those who can afford it), it is an opportunity to receive quality
education without leaving India (and without paying in dollars). And to India, it could mean
significant foreign direct investment.
The department of industrial policy and promotion (DIPP) and the department of economic affairs
(DEA) have agreed to allow overseas universities to operate as so-called Section 25 or non-profit
companies under the newly passed Companies Act, the human resource development (HRD)
ministry said on Tuesday.
Companies registered under Section 25 of Indias Companies Act cannot distribute profit or
dividends to members, which means that the foreign universities cannot repatriate moneya
constraint that was criticised by at least one expert.
Several foreign universities have been keen to enter India to tap a higher educational market that
is worth Rs.46,200 crore and expanding by 18% every year, according to 40 million by 2020, a
report from audit and consulting firm EY. They have been constrained by the need to do so
through partnerships.
The Foreign Education Providers Bill is still awaiting parliamentary approval. Tuesdays
announcement, which is effectively an executive order, doesnt need to be approved by
Parliament and could see a rush of foreign universities to enter India.
The ministry had sought comments and observations of the department of industrial policy and
promotion and the department of economic affairs on the rules. Both DIPP and DEA have
supported the proposal, the HRD ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.
Ministry officials said that the details are being vetted by the law ministry and an official
notification will be published soon.
With the powers vested in it through the University Grants Commission (UGC) Act, the ministry
will allow foreign universities to set up campuses in India and award foreign degrees. Currently, a
foreign university needs to join hands with a local education provider to offer courses and the
degrees are not considered foreign degrees.
Under the proposed rules, foreign universities can set up campuses in India once they have been
notified as foreign education provider by UGC. An educational institution wishing to operate in
India needs to be in the top 400 in one of three global rankings: the UK-based Times Higher
Education Ranking; Quacquarelli Symonds ranking published in UK again; and the China-based
Shanghai Jiao Tong University rankings.
An HRD ministry official said that at least 20 foreign universitiesmostly from US, followed by
Australia and Canadahave expressed their desire to enter the market.
Universities such as Duke University, California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and
VirginiaTech are some of the names that have shown interest, said the official, who asked not to
be identified.
Mint could not independently verify this. In September 2012, the University of Chicago Booth
School of Business deputy dean Robert H. Gertner told Mint that the school was exploring
opportunities to open an executive education centre in India.
The degrees awarded by foreign universities in India will be considered foreign degrees and
students holding these degrees need to get an equivalence certificate from the Association of
Indian Universities (AIU), the HRD ministry said in its statement. These universities will also
function under the UGC rules.
The profit motive
A foreign university cannot repatriate money that it makes in India. And any university seeking
entry to India must be accredited by bodies in its home country. Quality control is key and we
will build the safeguard mechanism with each of the universities, a second official in the HRD
ministry said.
An expert was critical of these provisions. On the one hand you are saying, we want top 400
institutes to come and on the other, you are not allowing them to repatriate surplus to the home
campus. Its a fundamental problem. I think there is still an inherent trust deficit between the
government and the (foreign) educational institutes, said Pramath Sinha, founding dean of the
Indian School of Business, Hyderabad.
They have to stop questioning everybody, at least the best of the institutes. This problem was
there in the Bill and if they are retaining it in the executive order, it will be a huge drag, added
Sinha, who is setting up a liberal arts university, Indias first, in Haryana.
The two HRD ministry officials said enough changes have been made to make it attractive for
foreign universities to enter India. The India campus will function as a branch campus of the
parent, rather than as an independent campus. The universities will offer the same degree they
are offering in their parent campus. And the ministry has reduced the deposit universities have to
maintain with the ministry (and which they will forfeit in case of any violation) from Rs.50 crore
to Rs.25 crore.
To be sure, it will not be easy for foreign universities to acquire land, especially in the context of
Indias new land acquisition law. We will not facilitate the university in getting land at a
concession. Anyway, procuring land and other infrastructural facilities in India will be way
cheaper than in developed countries, said the first ministry official.
He added that there were still three things that would attract foreign universities to India: a huge
education market and the young demography to grow that further; lower recruitment and
research costs; and the opportunity to offer executive education programmes and consulting
services to Indian companies.
The second official grandiosely described the ministrys move as liberalizing the higher
education space the way India economy was liberalized between 1991 and 1993.
Manish Sabharwal, the chief executive of staffing and training company TeamLease Services
Pvt. Ltd, said that India remains an attractive destination for education. In many countries there
are two problems, he addeddemography and costbut in India both the issues are in the right
place. The problem, he said, is in the details.
Anton Muscatelli, vice-chancellor of the UK-based University of Glasgow, too stressed the
importance of details. The Indian governments willingness to allow universities to come into
India should certainly boost the entry of foreign universities, but the details will be important, he
said. His own university, he added, has several partnerships in India and will continue to work
with strong Indian partners.
Once it is notified, the ministrys order will render irrelevant the Foreign Educational Institutions
(Regulation of Entry and Operations) Bill 2010, a brainchild of former HRD minister Kapil Sibal,
who is currently in charge of the telecom and law ministries.
Updated: Tue, Sep 10 2013. 11 24 PM IST
New Delhi: The government has decided to allow foreign universities to operate independently in
India, set up campuses and offer degrees without having a local partnera move that finally
opens the gates for foreign educational institutions seeking to establish a presence in the
country.
To foreign universities, the move presents an opportunity to tap a country with a population of 1.2
billion. To Indians (at least those who can afford it), it is an opportunity to receive quality
education without leaving India (and without paying in dollars). And to India, it could mean
significant foreign direct investment.
The department of industrial policy and promotion (DIPP) and the department of economic affairs
(DEA) have agreed to allow overseas universities to operate as so-called Section 25 or non-profit
companies under the newly passed Companies Act, the human resource development (HRD)
ministry said on Tuesday.
Companies registered under Section 25 of Indias Companies Act cannot distribute profit or
dividends to members, which means that the foreign universities cannot repatriate moneya
constraint that was criticised by at least one expert.
Several foreign universities have been keen to enter India to tap a higher educational market that
is worth Rs.46,200 crore and expanding by 18% every year, according to 40 million by 2020, a
report from audit and consulting firm EY. They have been constrained by the need to do so
through partnerships.
The Foreign Education Providers Bill is still awaiting parliamentary approval. Tuesdays
announcement, which is effectively an executive order, doesnt need to be approved by
Parliament and could see a rush of foreign universities to enter India.
The ministry had sought comments and observations of the department of industrial policy and
promotion and the department of economic affairs on the rules. Both DIPP and DEA have
supported the proposal, the HRD ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.
Ministry officials said that the details are being vetted by the law ministry and an official
notification will be published soon.
With the powers vested in it through the University Grants Commission (UGC) Act, the ministry
will allow foreign universities to set up campuses in India and award foreign degrees. Currently, a
foreign university needs to join hands with a local education provider to offer courses and the
degrees are not considered foreign degrees.
Under the proposed rules, foreign universities can set up campuses in India once they have been
notified as foreign education provider by UGC. An educational institution wishing to operate in
India needs to be in the top 400 in one of three global rankings: the UK-based Times Higher
Education Ranking; Quacquarelli Symonds ranking published in UK again; and the China-based
Shanghai Jiao Tong University rankings.
An HRD ministry official said that at least 20 foreign universitiesmostly from US, followed by
Australia and Canadahave expressed their desire to enter the market.
Universities such as Duke University, California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and
VirginiaTech are some of the names that have shown interest, said the official, who asked not to
be identified.
Mint could not independently verify this. In September 2012, the University of Chicago Booth
School of Business deputy dean Robert H. Gertner told Mint that the school was exploring
opportunities to open an executive education centre in India.
The degrees awarded by foreign universities in India will be considered foreign degrees and
students holding these degrees need to get an equivalence certificate from the Association of
Indian Universities (AIU), the HRD ministry said in its statement. These universities will also
function under the UGC rules.
The profit motive
A foreign university cannot repatriate money that it makes in India. And any university seeking
entry to India must be accredited by bodies in its home country. Quality control is key and we
will build the safeguard mechanism with each of the universities, a second official in the HRD
ministry said.
An expert was critical of these provisions. On the one hand you are saying, we want top 400
institutes to come and on the other, you are not allowing them to repatriate surplus to the home
campus. Its a fundamental problem. I think there is still an inherent trust deficit between the
government and the (foreign) educational institutes, said Pramath Sinha, founding dean of the
Indian School of Business, Hyderabad.
They have to stop questioning everybody, at least the best of the institutes. This problem was
there in the Bill and if they are retaining it in the executive order, it will be a huge drag, added
Sinha, who is setting up a liberal arts university, Indias first, in Haryana.
The two HRD ministry officials said enough changes have been made to make it attractive for
foreign universities to enter India. The India campus will function as a branch campus of the
parent, rather than as an independent campus. The universities will offer the same degree they
are offering in their parent campus. And the ministry has reduced the deposit universities have to
maintain with the ministry (and which they will forfeit in case of any violation) from Rs.50 crore
to Rs.25 crore.
To be sure, it will not be easy for foreign universities to acquire land, especially in the context of
Indias new land acquisition law. We will not facilitate the university in getting land at a
concession. Anyway, procuring land and other infrastructural facilities in India will be way
cheaper than in developed countries, said the first ministry official.
He added that there were still three things that would attract foreign universities to India: a huge
education market and the young demography to grow that further; lower recruitment and
research costs; and the opportunity to offer executive education programmes and consulting
services to Indian companies.
The second official grandiosely described the ministrys move as liberalizing the higher
education space the way India economy was liberalized between 1991 and 1993.
Manish Sabharwal, the chief executive of staffing and training company TeamLease Services
Pvt. Ltd, said that India remains an attractive destination for education. In many countries there
are two problems, he addeddemography and costbut in India both the issues are in the right
place. The problem, he said, is in the details.
Anton Muscatelli, vice-chancellor of the UK-based University of Glasgow, too stressed the
importance of details. The Indian governments willingness to allow universities to come into
India should certainly boost the entry of foreign universities, but the details will be important, he
said. His own university, he added, has several partnerships in India and will continue to work
with strong Indian partners.
Once it is notified, the ministrys order will render irrelevant the Foreign Educational Institutions
(Regulation of Entry and Operations) Bill 2010, a brainchild of former HRD minister Kapil Sibal,
who is currently in charge of the telecom and law ministries.
Comment
Clause 8 of the (New) Companies Act, 2013 provides for setting up of a non profit
Company and Section 25 of the (old) Companies Act, 1956 provides for setting up of
non profit Company. Hence the name - Section 25 Company.
In light of the above explanation the below quoted paragraph is difficult to understand
and interpret.
"The department of industrial policy and promotion (DIPP) and the department of
economic affairs (DEA) have agreed to allow overseas universities to operate as so-
called Section 25 or non-profit companies under the newly passed Companies Act, the
human resource development (HRD) ministry said on Tuesday."
Thus it is important to read the publication by the ministry in detail and if possible get a
lawyer to vet such write ups.



http://sundayposts.blogspot.in/2014/03/uk-india-education-partnerships.html#.U1n1MnC1TYI
Wednesday, March 26, 2014
UK-India Education Partnerships: A Personal Perspective
I often get asked about doing business partnerships in India, primarily, but not exclusively, by UK
educational institutions and training companies. Indeed, this is my day job, because the UAspire
proposition is largely based on building partnerships in India: Lot of my work is now directed towards
writing reports and strategy papers on the same. However, my usual advice to those who approach
me to do the work has usually been to turn around and ask - why do you need to get into India?

True, India is perhaps the World's most exciting Education market. It has all three things that an
educational institution may thrive on - lots of students, a not-so-good domestic competition and an
industry hungry for skilled employees at all level. It is English speaking and most of its institutions are
shaped by the colonial legacy, which makes it even more attractive to British institutions. The Indian
institutions and businesses, potential partners, show a prima facie interest in attaching themselves to
British institutions, and usually quite welcoming to British delegations and visitors. So, there are many
reasons why an institution could be interested in India.

Yet I ask. This is because India is not for the fainthearted. The magical promises of the market have
rarely been realised. Indian businesses are savvy - they hold the promise of the market access as an
effective negotiation tool to extract a good deal - and even their awe and humility are more negotiation
stances than a real position. In reality, these are pragmatic businesses or institutions acutely aware of
what they want or need, and quite effective in extracting the same from the British partners.

It is worth exploring why so many partnerships come up short. This is definitely not just because the
Indian business savvy trumps the British straightforwardness: Quite the opposite, most British
negotiators come to the table with some kind of imperial grandeur and forget that successful
partnerships can only work on the basis of value creation. They are often as hard-knuckled as their
Company predecessors were, and often have an expectation that people will pay just for the pleasure
of doing business with them. And, then there is this ephemeral thing called Quality: I am often asked
whether Indian students would want to pay for a Quality British product? My answer: Quality is what
the market needs, not what someone thinks quality should be. There is a lot of examples of
overshooting the market, with over-engineered products and meaningless overheads. And, indeed, I
feel the Indian sense of quality - functional and street-ready - does not arise from lack of taste or
knowledge, but the essential pragmatic nature of the society.

So, the real point of my question is this: Are you ready to commit? If not, the British institution will
approach Indian market as sort of an underdeveloped market, where they can pass on the obsolete,
the suboptimal, the unnecessary, at a good price. This has been the predominant engagement model
- design efforts to enter India is unheard of - and this is a sure sign of impending failure. India may be
exciting, but competitive too: Indian institutions may be underdeveloped in more ways than one, but
they are attuned to their market and accumulating capabilities. So, the other model, creating a model
fit to operate in Indian market, which is what I usually suggest. And, indeed, I get blank looks.

Surely it is Marketing 101 to suggest that the students should take precedence over 'we are British'.
But that is ever so difficult to explain: Therefore, most Education Partnerships become a plaques on
the walls, but never produce any students. The Indian side of the same equation is buying into British
partnership, to be put on the wall and just that. Its all a fair game, just meaningless.

Is it worth engaging in India at all, then? It sure is, the fundamentals are just too great. But a
consistent strategy is needed, backed by real commitments - as someone should do while entering a
market. Indeed, I am trying to do the same in my own business: After having identified a business in
India where the values match and collaborative work looks possible, I am trying to raise money to buy
into this business, design product propositions to be delivered through this business and even
committing myself to extended stays in India to make this happen. My ideas have come a full circle: I
know without the deep commitment, India does not work.

http://www.theguardian.com/higher-education-network/blog/2014/jan/23/indian-students-uk-
universities-policy

Indian students want international
recognition, not UK working visas
The drop in Indian students in the UK is more than a policy
issue, says Richard Everitt universities must wise up
Working in India as I do, the thing that strikes me most about students I talk to is their drive,
dedication and their ambition to succeed. Indian students maintain a difficult balance between
young, forward-thinking individualism and observing the more traditional social normsof strict
family and generational structures. This is reinforced by many state institutions which are largely
out of sync with the volume and needs of young people, especially women.
Within this context, education, especially higher education, represents a once in a lifetime
opportunity to secure and achieve personal ambition and transcend the barriers that Indian
students perceive hold them back. Overseas education has for a long time been seen as the best
opportunity to do this and the UK is stilll held in high regard.
However, traditional flows of Indian students moving around the world have since 2010 begun to
change. Latest figures from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (Hesa) show an alarming
25% reduction of Indian students recruited to the UK. Some groups have blamed the
government's reforms to post-study work opportunities, not to mentionrestrictions on part-time
work during study.
But it does a gross disservice to both the complex ambitions and motivations of Indian students,
and the attractiveness of the UK's higher education sector, to attribute such a big drop solely to
the ability to work after study issue. In autumn 2013, the British Council sought to analyse what is
causing such big shifts in Indian student mobility. Our research of more than 10,000 Indian
students' views revealed a much more significant change in their decision-making process.
Of those surveyed, 65% of students indicated that high cost was the greatest deterrent to
studying overseas. Second to this was the lack of scholarship opportunities (45%) followed by
difficulties getting a visa (44%) and not having the opportunity to work (34%).
Financial concerns come as no real surprise given the recent depreciation of the rupee the real
cost of studying overseas (between 2011-13) in the US, Australia and UK has increased on
average US $10,000 per year. Of the big study destinations, only Germany has managed to
restrict rising costs to under $2,000.
If cost is the biggest decision-making factor, what are perceptions around the value of studying
overseas? It's easy to assume that return on investment (ROI) should be solely measured by
financial return. The research showed that Indian students considered value with far more
nuance. Yes, 27% did equate ROI to securing a well-paid job after graduation. But 20% also
indicated they believed the value of their investment was best returned by becoming an expert in
their chosen field of study, and 15% defined ROI as global employers recognising their
qualifications.
Getting a good job is a high priority, but Indian students very clearly view their employment status
with a wider perspective outside their traditional Indian setting they seek global
acknowledgement.
So Indian students want recognition on a global platform, and feel the only way they can achieve
this is via top quality education 61% consider this the most important factor when selecting a
study destination. In this context, what does quality mean? Our research found that the three
most important aspects of quality for Indian students were: the higher education institution and its
reputation; the course, its content and who is teaching it; and the value added to their
experience. Skills for future employment were identified as a necessary part of this added value,
something that may placate the Indian employers who complain that recent graduates return with
the academic knowledge and qualification but not the career-ready skills.
This means there will always be a proportion of Indian students that seek overseas education.
For too long, however, UK institutions have failed to recognise the wider context and rationale in
which Indian students choose to study abroad. It is incorrect to attribute the recent fall in UK
applications simply to a change in government visa policy and misplaced rhetoric the "horrible,
negative effect" cited by the University of East Anglia's Edward Acton in the wake of Hesa's
figures.
The opportunities for UK institutions to recruit ambitious students are still there, but given how
discerning those students are, the most successful institutions will be those who recognise that
young Indians are thinking globally, and devise a recruitment strategy that reflects that.
This strategy will be characterised by new partnerships that find career entry points and
pathways for students with top international businesses, with opportunities to work before or
while they study, flexible learning options merging virtual and face-to-face learning, and new
global networks for professional development for alumni.
Creating these conditions will require a genuine leap of faith from the UK government, industry
and the higher education sector to co-operate and a new wave of commitment between all UK
stakeholders on the ground in India to support and communicate with our universities.




India plans to expand its higher education system rapidly. Places for an extra 10 million
are planned in the next five years
Over the past decade, 250,000 students from India have gone abroad for higher education, but
traffic the other way has been less than 5,000, according to the British Council.
Enrolment in higher education (the gross enrolment ratio) runs at 18 per cent, according to
India's Planning Commission. Higher education experts believe the figure is rather lower, at 12 to
15 per cent.
India has 43 nationally governed public universities, 289 state administered (non-federal) public
universities and 180 private universities. In addition, some 130 institutions have been granted the
status "deemed to be a university" by the Ministry of Human Resource Development, meaning
they have autonomy over admissions and tuition fees. The country has 33,000 colleges,
according to the University Grants Commission.