Beyond Gujarat, more cities vie to host foreign universities

Since India started welcoming foreign universities almost two years ago, attention has focused heavily on Gujarat’s International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City), the country’s first international financial services centre and smart city, which has emerged as the favoured location for branches of Australia’s Deakin University and the University of Wollongong and the UK’s University of Surrey and Queen’s University Belfast.

However, other Indian states such as Uttar Pradesh (UP) and Haryana in the north, Maharashtra in the west, and Tamil Nadu and Karnataka in the south are now also actively vying to attract foreign universities.

India’s success as a global education hub depends on developing multiple centres of excellence, each reflecting regional strengths, according to Eldho Mathews, programme officer specialising in the internationalisation of higher education at the Kerala State Higher Education Council.

“Maharashtra’s ‘Third Mumbai’ initiative and Karnataka’s Knowledge and Innovation City project [also] aim to attract global institutions,” he told University World News.

“By diversifying efforts across multiple regions, India can leverage the unique strengths of each area, promoting a more inclusive and dynamic higher education landscape,” said Mathews, adding that this approach could help unlock the country's full potential, fostering innovation and academic excellence nationwide.

“This approach promotes educational pluralism, resilience, and inclusivity, ultimately enhancing the internationalisation of Indian higher education,” Mathews noted.

Robust incentives

UP has introduced robust incentives to attract foreign universities, including capital subsidies and exemptions from stamp duties, as announced by UP Higher Education Minister Yogendra Upadhyaya on 11 November 2024.

This approach seems to be paying off, as earlier this year, Australia’s Western Sydney University (WSU) announced plans to establish a campus in UP’s Greater Noida after initially considering setting up in Bengaluru, India’s science and technology hub and the capital of Karnataka.

The proactive policies of the UP government and the region’s proximity to the national capital, Delhi, made Greater Noida a compelling alternative, said DP Singh, education advisor to Chief Minister of UP Yogi Adityanath, in a statement.

Greater Noida offers a promising option for international universities, leveraging its strategic location in the Delhi National Capital Region, burgeoning educational landscape, and conducive government initiatives and infrastructure.

A memorandum of understanding was signed between UP Chief Secretary Manoj Kumar Singh and WSU’s Acting Vice-Chancellor Professor Deborah Sweeney on 3 January 2025.

The university plans to commence the programme in 2026 once the necessary approvals are received. It intends to include in the submission programmes in computer science, business and engineering to ensure a comprehensive offering that will serve the needs of the Uttar Pradesh region and India more broadly, according to their press release.

Australian consortium

Also close to New Delhi, but in Haryana state, six Australian universities – James Cook University, Griffith University, Western Sydney University, the University of Canberra, La Trobe University, and Flinders University – have come together under the Innovative Research Universities (IRU) consortium in order to establish a joint presence in India with a campus hub in Gurugram.

The consortium plans to offer four-year undergraduate programmes in areas such as software engineering, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, tourism and hospitality, sports management, and financial technology, with graduates gaining certificates from the participating Australian universities.

Academician Bindu MP said international foreign branch campuses providing advanced courses to the socio-economic standard of Indian students will be an asset for Indian students.

Bindu is associated with Chinmaya Vishwa Vidyapeeth, a deemed university, where she conducted a study on the role and relevance of foreign universities in empowering Indian higher education at the international level.

She said there are prospects for the development of educational hubs in different parts of India because of the presence of huge human resources.

“The entry of foreign universities can enable domestic institutions to seek and adopt new pedagogical strategies and research practices, thereby elevating the overall quality of the higher education sector,” according to her study.

When he met Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini and other officials on 27 November last year, Mathew Johnston, minister-counsellor for education and research at the Australian High Commission in New Delhi, said India’s National Education Policy (NEP) and ongoing educational reforms were drawing significant international interest, according to a statement by the Haryana government.

Edu City in ‘Third Mumbai’

Another dedicated educational hub in Maharashtra’s Karnala-Sai-Chirner (KSC) New Town, to be known as Edu City, was announced by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis at the US-India Business Council Summit on 25 March 2025.

The KSC, also known as the ‘Third Mumbai’ project, is a new urban area near Navi Mumbai, a planned satellite city located in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region.

The state government has entered into preliminary agreements with five prominent international universities – three from the United States and one each from Australia and the United Kingdom – that are keen to locate branches in the hub, as announced by the chief minister.

While the names of these institutions are currently under wraps, pending approval from the country’s higher education regulator, the University Grants Commission (UGC), Fadnavis emphasised the state’s goal of becoming a leading academic destination during a recent event hosted by the US-India Business Council.

Edu City is part of Maharashtra's strategy to enhance infrastructure development, such as planned urban ecosystems to support educational institutions, research centres and related activities to attract global educational institutions.

Tamil Nadu Knowledge City

Other states, such as southern Tamil Nadu, are also increasingly vying to attract foreign higher education institutions, said an official at the Ministry of Education.

Tamil Nadu, known for prestigious institutions such as the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras and the private Vellore Institute of Technology University, is developing its own international education hub called the Tamil Nadu Knowledge City (TKC).

The TKC is to be developed in Uthukottai taluk and Vengal village near Chennai, Tamil Nadu, according to a 2022 to 2023 budget announcement made on 18 March 2022.

The TKC aims to draw foreign investment and promote global academic collaborations through a structured approach, partnerships and infrastructure development.

The state’s strengths include its established academic and industrial ecosystem, strong international connectivity, and a reputation in the IT and manufacturing sectors.

As a compact, purpose-built knowledge city in a less urbanised area, TKC will focus exclusively on education and innovation. Experts believe that these factors, along with a proactive government, could position Tamil Nadu as a competitive contender in attracting international higher education institutions.

In the Southern region, Karnataka is another major emerging hub for overseas institutions.

Academics acknowledge that Karnataka’s education infrastructure, particularly in Bangalore, is robust due to its concentration of premier institutions like the Indian Institute of Science and campuses of the Indian Institutes of Management and National Institutes of Technology, alongside a vibrant tech ecosystem.

Bilateral developments

Broader bilateral developments are influencing this trend. For example, India and the United States expressed interest in collaborating over offshore campuses when PM Narendra Modi visited the US in June 2023, with further discussions highlighted during his visit in September 2024.

A joint statement issued during these visits outlined commitments to enhance collaboration.

“These foreign branch campuses should offer courses as per the need and demand of the market. Then, only, our students will be able to compete with those migrating to other countries for education,” said Bindu.

She added that the momentum for internationalisation of higher education is likely to continue.

However, while many states are eager to attract foreign campuses, some remain resistant.

In Kerala, the ruling left-leaning government has opposed the establishment of foreign universities, citing concerns about the privatisation of education raised during the tenure of the previous government from 2011 to 2016.

Currently, the state allows domestic private institutions but not foreign institutions. The state enacted legislation in March to permit domestic private universities, but Kerala’s Higher Education Minister R Bindu emphasised this would not apply to foreign institutions.