INDIA: 'Third grade' western universities unwelcome

India does not want 'third grade' Western universities or other foreign institutions that are not interested in complying with the country's higher education regulations, Minister of Higher Education Arjun Singh has warned, reports the Chronicle of Higher Education news blog. He added that inferior Western universities wanted to go to India because it was a "virgin area" and because they could not compete in their own countries. While Singh said he was not opposed to foreign institutions, "the real universities should come".

The normally media-shy minister has been granting interviews since India's Supreme Court upheld a law imposing additional admissions quotas on public universities, a development that many see as a personal victory for Singh.

The higher-education minister opposes the unrestricted entry of foreign higher education providers, is against large tuition increases at India's public universities, and is in favour of government controls on admissions and tuition rates at the country's private higher education institutions.
Full report on the Chronicle blog