Positioning Mumbai’s EduCity (a 250-acre area in Navi Mumbai) as the newest education hub, India’s Ministry of Education has handed over Letters of Intent (LoIs) to five foreign universities. At an event titled ‘Mumbai Rising: Creating an International Education City’ held recently, University of York, University of Aberdeen, University of Western Australia, Illinois Institute of Technology and Instituto Europeo Di Design (IED) were given the official go-ahead to set up branch campuses in India. With this, the country takes a significant step towards internationalisation as envisioned in the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. NEP 2020 emphasizes the need to promote India as a global higher education destination through internationalisation.

Apart from the five universities that have received clearance to set up shop in India, institutions such as the University of Southampton and the University of Liverpool from the United Kingdom were granted approval previously. Australia’s Deakin University and the University of Wollongong were the first foreign institutions to start operations in India, at GIFT City, Gujarat, under the IFSCA regulations. 

This is the first time foreign universities will establish a presence in Maharashtra, with some expected to set up campuses in the upcoming Education City in Navi Mumbai under the UGC (Setting up and Operation of Campuses of Foreign Higher Educational Institutions in India) Regulations, 2023. The establishment of these university campuses in India should be beneficial for Indian students, not just in terms of offering global course curriculum, study and research opportunities in India but also providing access to quality international education at affordable prices.

Courses at the Mumbai/Navi Mumbai/Chennai campus will be offered at undergraduate and Postgraduate levels in areas such as business, economics, computer science, public health, data science, design, and more.

Union Minister for Education, Dharmendra Pradhan, said that NEP 2020 envisions India as a global study destination, offering premium education at an affordable cost. He added that with this initiative, India is encouraging top international universities to establish campuses within the country, while empowering Indian higher education institutions to expand globally.

Secretary, Department of Higher Education & Chairman, UGC, Dr. Vineet Joshi, added that the  internationalization of education and enabling regulations opens up avenues for collaboration and gives wings to the aspirations of India’s vast and dynamic talent pool. He highlighted the transparent, time-bound process of evaluating proposals from foreign universities through a digital portal, with approvals being granted within a record timeframe of just one month. 

The 2023 UGC regulations enabling foreign universities to set up campuses in India are only one aspect of a broader internationalization vision. Indian institutions are also going global. IIT Delhi has launched a campus in Abu Dhabi, IIT Madras in Tanzania and IIM Ahmedabad is gearing up to establish a presence in Dubai.  In addition, Indian universities can now form academic collaborations with foreign counterparts through joint, dual and twinning degree programmes and the recently notified Equivalence Regulations that provides a mechanism for recognition and grant of equivalence to qualifications obtained from foreign educational institutions.