Looking at new pastures

Updated on: Monday, December 21, 2009

In a bid to tighten parameters in its offerings abroad and to ensure that the best of Indian education is showcased, the University Grants Commission (UGC) has framed some regulations in its UGC (Establishment of and Maintenance of Standards in Private Universities) Regulations, 2003. These inter alia, provide that a private university can open offshore campuses in a foreign country only after obtaining the necessary permissions from the Government of India and the host country.

Said an official press release, “According to the UGC guidelines for considering proposals for declaring an institution as a ‘deemed to be university’ under Section 3 of the UGC Act, 1956, it would be permissible for the ‘deemed -to-be-university’ to open academic centre(s) in any of the foreign countries after obtaining due permission from the Government of India and the host country.”

According to the UGC, five institutions ‘deemed-to-be-universities’ have been approved for offshore campuses. These include the Birla Institute of Technology & Science (BITS) Pilani, (Rajasthan) in the UAE; BIT Mesra, (Ranchi) in Oman and Bahrain; the Manipal Academy of Higher Education, (Manipal) in Malaysia, the UAE and Oman; Vinayaka Mission’s Research Foundation Salem, Tamil Nadu in Thailand and the Sri Ramachandra Medical College & Research Institute, Chennai in Mauritius.
“Public Universities and institutions may set up campuses abroad, if so permitted under the relevant State Act or Memorandum of Association, under which a university or institution is established,” said the Union Minister of Human Resource Development (HRD), Kapil Sibal.

Of course there are other varsities/institutes that have campuses abroad like the SP Jain Centre of Management, IMT Ghaziabad and Manipal University that have campuses in Dubai focusing on management studies and the Amity education group, which has recently opened its campuses in London and Singapore. And while Singapore’s institutes are all ranked on the web in areas such as course content, faculty selection etc, Indian varsities all claim to be top ranking institutes with no official verification provided.

So, while the government is showcasing Indian institutes abroad, it could also look at rating them for the benefit of international as well as Indian students.

Looking at new pastures

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