By Mukesh Aghi, Len Jessup and Ted Gover
As humanity faces a myriad of problems ranging from COVID-19, war, climate change, and inflationary pressures, there is now a greater need than ever for democracies to work together on the policy challenges affecting us all. A key area that will help improve outcomes and lives is education.
In this spirit, India’s University Grants Commission (UGC) – – New Delhi’s higher education regulatory body – – has revived a proposal that, if approved, can play an important role in planting the seeds of hope and progress.
The UGC’s proposal concerns allowing foreign universities to set up campuses on Indian soil, an idea that has been considered multiple times over the past four decades. If passed by Parliament, this development could be a game changer towards strengthening India’s educational competitiveness and developing the institutional collaboration needed to address the urgent policy issues of our time.
Titled “UGC (Setting up and Operation of Campuses of Foreign Higher Educational Institutions in India) Regulations, 2023”, the new proposed law would allow overseas higher education institutions to establish campuses in India for a period of ten years with approval necessary to renew the agreement.
Under the proposal, foreign schools would be given significant autonomy to create their own policies on student recruitment, admissions, tuition fees, faculty hiring, and the employment of administrative staff. Universities would be required to offer curricula and degrees that meet the standards and qualifications of their home campuses.
While India’s universities have produced some of the top business and technology leaders working today, access to higher education in India remains limited. Passage of the UGC proposal would broaden the availability of university courses in India to include increased offerings in needed fields such as economics, business, the humanities, arts, technology, public health and the sciences, among others.
With proper implementation, we argue that over time the UGC’s proposal would help address socioeconomic disparities, address government funding shortfalls for public universities, lower education costs for Indian households and help contribute to India becoming a top world destination for study abroad and scholarly exchange.
Foreign institutions would benefit as well with increased access to India’s highly regulated education sector and large young population. According to the 2018 Sample Registration System of India, 46.9% of India’s population is under the age of 25.
Such a new arrangement would raise the bar of higher education in India and the United States with the cross-pollination of studying, teaching and research opportunities, contributing to multicultural learning environments in both countries.
It would also pave the way for historic partnerships.
As countries with separate backgrounds and interests, India and the U.S. have their differences in some areas. Yet, more than ever before, India and the United States are working together on a range of issues and the UGC proposal would set the stage for developing the human capital necessary to advance current areas of collaboration.
Such issues involve COVID-19, space, diplomacy, healthcare, maritime security, environmental sustainability, trade, intelligence sharing, civil nuclear energy, and disaster relief.
There are other pressing issues requiring the education that joint India-U.S. classroom instruction could address, namely, preparing for the next pandemic, technology cooperation, green energy initiatives, entrepreneurship, bilateral investment, nuclear nonproliferation, democracy promotion and peacekeeping.
Additional promising areas of cooperation involve infrastructure support and development aid for neighboring states in South Asia and the Western Pacific, supply chain safety, famine alleviation, vaccine development and modernizing worker immigration policies to meet the needs of our economies.
While forward-looking, the UGC proposal contains aspects that deserve amending. Consideration should be given to some aspects of the proposal that would present a more workable arrangement for both sides.
For example, at present, the proposal forbids online courses. While a different dynamic than in-person classroom settings, online courses in the United States have expanded access considerably to students who otherwise would not have been able to enroll in degree programs due to constraints involving commuting, work, family commitments, and geography.
Another part of the proposal that would benefit from compromise involves the regulation that foreign universities “shall not offer any such program of study which jeopardizes the national interest of India or the standards of higher education in India. Further, the operation of FHEI shall not be contrary to the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the state, friendly relations with foreign states, public order, decency, or morality.”
This regulation is sweeping in its scope. It ought to be more narrowly defined to ensure that universities have a clearer set of guidelines given the diversity of subjects and viewpoints involved in learning environments.
Also, the proposal mandates that foreign universities establish their campuses within two years of receiving approval. This requirement should be extended. More time will be required for the building of the infrastructure needed for the proper setup of campuses.
Additionally, India’s federal system allows for each of its 28 states to have its own laws and regulatory framework concerning land use, an arrangement that often consists of bureaucratic requirements. Like other organizations seeking to set up shop in one of India’s local states, foreign universities would likely encounter delays when establishing their operations. Additional time will be needed for these schools to assemble the local relationships needed to get their operations running.
South African anti-apartheid activist and President Nelson Mandela famously said, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” To this end, the significant challenges facing humanity in the 21st century require New Delhi and Washington to raise the bar of their strategic relationship and cultivate the knowledge required for solving today’s problems and in the decades ahead. To do so, Indian and American citizens will need access to the requisite training and education that will allow for rigorous learning. The classroom collaboration of the world’s two largest democracies will be indispensable to this end and is reason enough to justify enthusiastic support for the UGC higher education proposal.
About Authors
Mukesh Aghi, PhD, is President & CEO of the US-INDIA Strategic Partnership Forum and a Member of the Claremont Graduate University Board of Trustees.
Len Jessup, PhD is President of Claremont Graduate University.
Ted Gover, PhD is Associate Clinical Faculty at Claremont Graduate University.
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