Foreign varsities itching for a base in India

International players are increasingly setting up campuses in India. Some have already begun offering courses, mostly in management. However, others are waiting for the passage of the Foreign Education Bill, which has been pending in Parliament for two years.

The Bill, if passed, will allow 100 per cent foreign direct investment (FDI) by universities. Till then, they can only offer exchange programmes with Indian partners.

This, however, has not deterred their enthusiasm. Stanford University, British Columbia University, McGill University, Simon Fraser University, Cubec University, and Montreal University are some of the other international universities awaiting the government's nod to set up campuses in India.

Moreover, sources say that 40 international universities have sought land from the Maharashtra government in the Mumbai-Pune-Nashik belt to set up campuses in India. The investments lined up by these institutions are substantial.

For instance, a UAE-based institute of Technology Applied Research and Training plans to pump in around $300-350 million to establish a campus in India. The institution is looking for a huge plot of land in Maharashtra or Karnataka.

Meanwhile, Singapore-based Raffles Education Group has already set up its centre in Hyderabad, offering The Nottingham Trent University of UK's MBA programme. Raffles also lends its expertise to Emaar Education, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Emaar Properties PJSC.

"Indian education is very poor, whereas the foreign universities' educational systems, programmes, and faculty are of a totally of a different standard and can be utilised to our advantage," says MN Chaini, president of Indian Merchant Chambers, who had led a 150-member delegation to Canada to invite universities to India.

According to Chaini, foreign institutions like British Columbia, York University, University of Toronto, University of Water are all vying for a space in the Indian education sector, to a name a few.

York University's highly rated Schulich School of Business is likely to start operations once its Indian campus comes up. India has also asked Toronto's Seneca School of Aviation and Flight Technology for cooperation in the field of aviation.

On a proposal initiated by Higher Education Minister Wiswa Warnapala, the Cabinet of Ministers have decided to ratify the agreement reached by Foreign Minister of the Saarc countries in April 2007 to set up a South Asian University in India.

The institutions may not compromises on programme fees, yet cost will come down. " The costs will come down by 30-40 per cent if these campuses are set up in India," opines Chaini.