University of San Diego pauses plan to set up campus at Gujarat's GIFT city

San Diego varsity cites regulatory and cost barriers for pausing its GIFT City campus and will now expand in India through hybrid degrees, MoUs and online Master's programmes

The University of San Diego in California, which was exploring opportunities to set up a campus in Gujarat's GIFT City with a reported investment of up to $10 million, will not go ahead with its plans, Dean Chell Roberts told Business Standard on Monday.

 

Roberts said the varsity has decided that a campus may not be the best option for the time being.

 

Instead, it will broaden its India footprint through academic collaborations and by launching programmes.

 

He added that the reasons for this change of plan include regulatory and logistical issues in GIFT City, resources needed to build infrastructure, and issues of recruiting faculty from India or the US.

 

“By the time you create the infrastructure for building a campus, one would have to charge money to break even, which could be more than what the Indian market is accustomed to,” he said.

 

This, he said, could become a real struggle for foreign universities to make education accessible to many in India.

 

The varsity’s pause in plans comes at a time when the Centre has been tapping American universities for entry into India’s higher education as part of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.

 

While at least 10–12 foreign higher educational institutes (HEIs) have received letters of intent (LoIs) from the Centre, only one of them, the Illinois Institute of Technology, is based in the US. Roberts had said in earlier interactions with media that the campus could see investments ranging between $5–10 million.

 

The institute is now looking at many academic collaborations with Indian universities as well as edtech platforms.

 

San Diego varsity had recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Gandhinagar to offer double Master’s programmes, dual degrees at BTech and Master’s levels, and executive education programmes.

 

It is also working with Delhi-based ed-fintech company GradRight to launch fully online US tech Master’s programmes. These include applied artificial intelligence (AI), data science, cybersecurity, and engineering leadership.

 

“As we come to India, part of our value proposition is that we want to be engaged in many places, with many universities and have hybrid programmes with them,” he added.

 

Roberts said the varsity has proposed a programme to several potential partners where it can use its online curriculum and teach in a hybrid mode.

 

“This can be a dual degree programme, where students can get an online degree from us and a full degree from the university,” he said.

 

It, he said, could also provide an accessible pathway for students who decide to come to the US to get optional practical training (OPT). It will cut the price of education where they get both an online experience and an on-ground experience.

 

While Roberts did not give an exact number, the varsity is looking to execute hybrid partnerships with several universities by the end of this year.