August 10, 2026

UGC Move Is Welcome

By Our Editorial Team
First publised on 2023-01-09 06:35:04

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India is the world's second largest education market and with the aspirations of the younger generation skyrocketing, is growing at a fast rate. There is a huge gap between the demand for quality higher education and its supply. Hence, just a few world class Indian institutions have to cater to an ever growing demand for admission from meritorious students but they are not able to fulfil the same. Every year, thousands of Indian students go abroad for higher studies, sometimes in foreign institutions of questionable repute.

Hence, the draft rules that the Universities Grants Commission (UGC) has issued for allowing reputed foreign universities - ones that are either in the list of top 500 in the world or are highly reputed in their country) to set up satellite campuses in India is welcome. While it is true that just the setting up of campuses by these universities will not guarantee quality education or admission for all aspirants, if they can employ the same high standards they do in their home countries and are able to bring top notch faculty members as visiting lecturers for decent periods of time (while simultaneously training local educators), they will transform higher education in India and will usher in competition that will force all higher educational institutions in India to spruce up the courses they offer and employ better teaching methods . The UGC has done well to allow a good degree of autonomy to these foreign institutions and a long period of 10 years with the usual conditions that the courses should not be against India's interests and students must not suffer if a course is discontinued.

The criticism that these institutions will be elitist falls flat because in any case, a huge number of Indian students (over 4.5 lakh every year) go abroad for higher education. If there are students in India who desire foreign education and who have the funds to finance it (or obtain education loans or part or full merit scholarships), there is no harm in allowing such students to pursue these courses in foreign universities in India. But the fact remains that the heavy lifting in higher education will still be done by Indian institutions and the UGC will do well to keep on supporting them. In fact, after foreign institutions set up campuses in India, the UGC will have to support Indian institutions more to ensure that they do not fall short and continuously update their curriculum and teaching methods to remain relevant.