Eight foreign universities considering a branch campus

At least eight universities from the United States, United Kingdom, Australia and Canada are seriously considering India as a destination for establishing an international branch campus; however, the global COVID-19 pandemic has postponed many plans for others, a survey of top universities has found.

The eight unnamed universities said they would ‘definitely consider’ establishing a branch campus in India, according to a just-released survey report by the Unit for International Cooperation of the government-funded National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA) in New Delhi, which conducted an international online survey between December 2020 and February this year.

Some 43 institutions from 11 countries responded, including many that are already operating international branch campuses elsewhere in the world. Of those ‘definitely considering’ setting up a branch campus in India, five were from the US, and one each from the UK, Australia and Canada.

But many foreign universities are still adopting a ‘wait and see’ approach as domestic rules and regulations that govern the setting up of international branch campuses in India are yet to be framed by the government, the report notes.

All 43 responding institutions are in the top 200 of the Times Higher Education World University Rankings and three are in the top 10.

A wide cross-section of universities from the UK, US, Australia and Canada considers India as a strategic market for student recruitment, said Eldho Mathews, deputy advisor with the unit at NIEPA and author of the survey report Establishing International Branch Campuses in India.

“Most of the respondents are focusing mainly on Indian students. Based on the nature of the new regulations they can even develop various models including a hybrid one where for two years the students can study at the Indian campus and the remaining years they can go to the host institution,” Mathews told University World News.

All eight universities underlined the importance of a liberal regulatory framework for improving the attractiveness of India as a place to set up a branch campus.

India’s 20-year blueprint for higher education, the National Education Policy (NEP), announced in July 2020, had recommended that select universities from the ‘top 100 category’ in the world university rankings should be allowed to operate in India. Among the eight considering setting up a branch campus, three were from the top 100, according to the survey.

Need for legislation

The NEP also recommended that “a legislative framework facilitating such entry will be put in place, and such universities will be given special dispensation regarding regulatory, governance and content norms on par with other autonomous institutions of India”.

India will need new primary legislation in order to allow in foreign branch campuses, in accordance with the recommendations of the NEP, and this has not yet been tabled in parliament. Previous attempts at legislation in the past 15 years failed or had to be withdrawn.

“Everything depends on the new act that is going to be framed by the Indian parliament because the new education policy talks about allowing foreign universities to come into India, but the act should be passed by parliament and then only can the University Grants Commission initiate actions to frame regulations,” Mathews said.

Five universities that indicated they would ‘definitely consider’ India as an ideal destination for establishing an international branch campus said they were concerned about the availability of financial and non-financial incentives.

Funding and repatriation of profits

Some universities considering India as a potential destination were looking for arrangements involving partial support from the Indian government in terms of buildings, facilities and scholarships and fellowships, while others were hoping for partial support from private Indian companies for buildings and other facilities.

Some were interested in education hubs in cities promoted by the government and private companies, or setting up using facilities owned by existing Indian public universities or colleges.

But three foreign institutions ranked in the 100-200 range were willing to consider a model without any support from the Indian government.

A sensitive issue in India is the repatriation of profits to the home institution’s country, with three respondents definitely considering India for a possible branch campus saying it was extremely important. But it was of low importance for three others.

One institution indicated it would be critical to repatriate a portion of revenues to cover administrative and other expenses incurred. Another said either provision to repatriate funds or use of the Indian campus as a means for attracting students to the home university would be their priority.

“There is definitely an interest in a branch campus in India, but the perceived risks and costs are currently too high. Financial support from the Indian government would offset these risks, as would tax breaks for branch campuses,” said one respondent quoted in the report.

The report recommends the “creation of higher education-focused hubs in select cities of the country, funded by the central and state governments, which would be attractive to foreign institutions”.

“This would also help to accommodate different branch campuses under one roof. These locations should have excellent infrastructural facilities,” the report said.

It also recommended the creation of a new academic accreditation body “in partnership with prominent international agencies that are experienced in the performance analysis of ‘top 200’ universities”.

The National Accreditation Council, the ‘meta-accrediting body’ proposed in the NEP 2020, could accommodate this specific accreditation agency, it said.

Australia’s Monash University, which has branch campuses in a number of Asian countries, has indicated an interest in setting up a branch campus in Mumbai. It already runs a joint centre with the Indian Institute of Technology in Mumbai.