INDIA: Universities eyeing foreign campuses

While the Indian government is trying to lure foreign institutions with its Foreign Education Providers Bill, Indian universities are opening campuses abroad aiming at a global presence.

The bill aims at helping foreign universities set up campuses in India and is due for implementation next year. Meantime, a host of higher education institutions, including the elite Indian Institutes of Management and Indian Institutes of Technology, are eyeing the foreign market.

The initial targets are countries and regions with large Indian communities, such as West Asia, South-East Asia, the US and the UK. Indian institutes also want to branch out to China, Africa and Latin America later.

One of India's best engineering colleges, the Birla Institute of Technology and Science in Pilani, in the northern state of Rajasthan, already has a campus in Dubai. It is ready to open another in Mauritius.

The Manipal University has invested more than 9.3 million rupees (US$200 million) to open campuses in Malaysia, Antigua, Nepal and Dubai. The Malaysia campus is a medical school but plans are afoot to convert it into a fully-fledged university.

"Globalisation is a two-way process and our institutes going abroad is part of that. We have plans for the Middle East and Africa where there are aspiring young populations," said Anand Sudarshan, Chief Executive of the Manipal group, whose Indian campuses are located in Karnataka, Sikkim and Goa.

The Amity University started one campus each in the UK and Singapore in 2009. This year, it is opening two campuses in New York and San Francisco, said Aseem Chouhan, President of the Amity education group.

Government-funded institutions are not far behind. The proposal to set up an IIT campus in Qatar has been given an initial go-ahead.

While India's Education Ministry has traditionally been opposed to IITs or IIMs venturing abroad, arguing that 'elite' educational institutions must focus their energies on India alone, the new leadership in the ministry is keen for Brand India to make a mark abroad.

Brand IIM is also set to go global. IIM Ahmedabad is already in talks with several countries to set up a campus abroad.

"We want to make an international move and are looking at China, Malaysia and South-East Asian countries. We also want to strengthen our research infrastructure and ambience," said a senior professor at IIMA in charge of administration.

IIM Bangalore has floated the idea of an international campus in Singapore in a vision document it has submitted to the education ministry.

Education Minister Kapil Sibal said in a meeting with the IIMs last October that "in principle, the government of India has no objection to setting up an IIM abroad".

No figures are available on the number of institutes that have gone abroad but four or five universities have applied to the University Grants Commission to open foreign campuses, UGC Chairman S Thorat said.

"Indian education will become richer when it becomes multifaceted and accepts variety," said education analyst Narayan Ramaswamy, who is also an executive director at audit and consulting firm KPMG. "What is happening right now is perfectly natural and good for the country."