Inside India’s bold experiment to bring the world’s top universities home

The establishment, with the lush inexperienced Aravali hills serving as the backdrop, is the British college’s second offshore campus after Malaysia. Inside, the ambiance is extra collegiate than company: college students hunched over laptops in cheerful cushioned cubicles, the hum of a espresso machine, school making ready the convention corridor for lectures, and potential college students dropping in to inquire about enrolment.

The college opened its doorways to the first cohort of 150 college students simply final month. With induction week wrapped up, the college students have bonded over a freshers’ ball, and rolled into employability workshops with {industry} leaders and alumni mentors. Spread over a number of ranges, the campus gives sports activities and eating amenities inside the tech park, with lodging for residential college students a brief drive away.

Nearly a thousand kilometres to the west, in Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City), the rising enterprise hub close to Ahmedabad, Australia’s Deakin University and University of Wollongong, which opened final 12 months, have simply welcomed their second cohort of scholars.

These international establishments establishing branches in the nation marks a significant shift in India’s larger schooling. The push comes from the National Education Policy—2020, which goals to internationalise larger schooling and entice extra overseas universities. India’s University Grants Commission (UGC) overseas campus tips, a framework to regulate and facilitate their institution, gave the inexperienced sign in 2023.

Under the tips, the top 500 universities in international rankings are eligible to set up absolutely autonomous campuses in India. While they’re free to determine admission insurance policies, payment constructions, and hiring of school, their tutorial requirements, curriculum, pedagogy, evaluation and levels want to be the identical as the mum or dad establishment, with no franchise or ‘twinning’ (the place college students full a part of the diploma in an Indian college and the relaxation at a overseas companion college) fashions permitted.

The preliminary plan permits 15 such campuses to open in the nation. Aside from the universities cited above, the Illinois Institute of Technology, the University of Liverpool, Victoria University, Western Sydney University, and the Istituto Europeo di Design have secured letters of approval and are anticipated to open campuses inside the subsequent two years.

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By all accounts, it’s an interesting proposition for college students: the alternative to research on home turf, whereas having fun with the advantages of a world instructional ecosystem. With visa and immigration insurance policies rising extra restrictive, finding out overseas has develop into tougher, prompting many college students to search various choices.

For overseas universities which have lengthy benefited from Indian pupil enrolments overseas, the draw is clear: entry to an analogous pool of aspiring college students, this time, inside India’s borders.

“India has an enormous youth inhabitants and with ambitions of a gross enrolment ratio of fifty%, there’s a want for capability inside the system,” said David Winstanley, executive director, India implementation, University of Southampton Delhi. “What we bring is another choice, alongside fantastic options that already exist in India.”

The international instructional tourism market dimension was valued at $466.85 billion in 2024, and is anticipated to attain $1,291.50 billion by 2033, in accordance to IMARC Group estimates. Foreign universities in India are already attracting worldwide curiosity, with enquiries from college students throughout South Asia and Africa.

The India larger schooling market dimension, in the meantime, was valued at ₹5.75 trillion in 2024, in accordance to estimates by the identical firm. The market is anticipated to double to ₹11.60 trillion by 2033.

A brand new chapter

University of Southampton’s campus in Gurugram, which at the moment gives six undergraduate and postgraduate programmes throughout finance, laptop science and administration, with extra coming, mirrors the instructional method adopted in the UK campus. “It’s a research-active campus, and that analysis goes to inform the educating. Our curriculum is ever evolving to be certain it’s related, and employability is woven into it, with a give attention to expertise like creativity, resilience, and agility,” stated Winstanley.

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To that finish, these campuses are designed to be adaptive and forward-thinking, with state-of-the-art infrastructure comparable to their mum or dad establishments. Take, for example, Deakin University GIFT City, an early mover that opened in July 2024 with two grasp’s programmes in enterprise analytics and cyber safety. Instead of conventional lecture rooms, it’s dotted with collaborative areas for college students and school to meet in small teams. Students are enrolled on the foundation of CAT exams and interviews.

“What is a two-year course in Australia has been compressed right into a 16-month steady programme with brief breaks. The thought is that college students can fast-track their journey after which transfer rapidly into {industry},” defined Deepak Bajaj, tutorial and campus director, Deakin University GIFT City Campus.

Drawing in the crowd

The greatest USP of those universities is that they mix international finest practices with native alternatives. “We need to give college students entry to worldwide schooling with out them having to go away home and (to open alternatives) for individuals who would have in any other case not been ready to entry Australian high quality schooling,” stated University of Wollongong India campus director Nimay Kalyani. The purpose is to make worldwide schooling accessible and versatile, he added.

While the curriculum is aligned with the mum or dad campuses, it has been tailored to the Indian context and work atmosphere. “All the lectures come from Australia and so they get curated for the Indian viewers,” stated Bajaj.

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Lectures are tweaked to embody discussions on subjects equivalent to UPI, that are distinctive to India, stated Hridoy Sankar Dutta, who teaches cyber safety at Deakin University, GIFT City. It’s additionally key for the school to be approachable. “Feedback-based evaluation, smaller class dimension and discussion-based studying guarantee higher outcomes. Our programs give attention to fields which have expanded quickly in the previous couple of years, like cyber safety,” he added.

Other points of interest for college students are scholarships, and immersion and change applications, which provide them the likelihood to go to the mum or dad campuses. The payment construction, ranging between ₹10–16 lakh per 12 months, is roughly one-third to one-half the price of finding out abroad, relying on the college and programme.

“People ask me: will college students planning to research at Harvard University or London School of Economics now enroll in the Indian campuses of overseas universities? No,” said Shantanu Rooj, founder and chief executive officer of TeamLease Edtech, a learning solutions company. “Parents who can afford the fees at those colleges will still send their children there. But there are many who can’t afford to. They now have these alternatives.”

The payment construction, ranging between ₹10–16 lakh per 12 months, is roughly one-third to one-half the price of finding out abroad, relying on the college and programme.

Students Mint interviewed throughout the three campuses felt that credentials from the Indian branches of overseas universities would give them a aggressive edge in the job market. “What I like about the course is that it isn’t full of too many topics, like in Indian faculties. With three lectures a day, I’ve time to work on assignments,” stated Krinali Shah, 25, from Ahmedabad, who research enterprise analytics at Deakin GIFT City.

Her batchmate, Vedant Borle, 26, from Pune, finds the interactive and industry-oriented educating type transformative. “It’s a refreshing change from the conventional classroom format. We collaborate with friends from numerous backgrounds and get to work on actual initiatives with shoppers from Australia, who give us suggestions. That expertise fully modified the method I feel,” he stated.

Some college students stated the curriculum design helped them perceive native points in a broader context. “For instance, in a module on regulation and ethics, we research each Australian and Indian legal guidelines, which helps join the dots. We have {industry} visits on campus each week, and as a part of a smaller cohort, it’s simpler to join with them,” stated Cerin Elsa Joji, 24, who’s finding out FinTech at University of Wollongong GIFT City.

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Foreign universities coming in now can catalyse and speed up the high quality of schooling in the nation, stated Ramkumar Ramamoorthy, former chairman and managing director of Cognizant India, and former professional vice-chancellor, Krea University. The universities can bring in finest practices in pedagogy, progressive educating strategies and academia-industry linkages, with their alumni supporting them in a giant method.

“They can encourage joint analysis throughout international establishments, with cutting-edge infrastructure, particularly in newer areas equivalent to AI, biotechnology, semiconductors, renewable vitality, and aerospace. They can be a platform for distinctive enterprise case research from India to be integrated into the international curricula,” he added.

Filling the hole

These campuses have come up throughout a interval of churn in India’s larger schooling ecosystem, with a number of progressive establishments making a mark in the final decade.

“If we step again and have a look at the challenges in Indian larger schooling, governance has been over-centralized with an affiliating system, which provides little autonomy to establishments. Added to that, there was a deep disconnect between academia and {industry},” said Ramamoorthy. “While the affiliating system had a role to play when we needed to standardize quality education, we now need to move to a Tesla model of education and drive innovation with agility,” he added.

We now want to transfer to a Tesla mannequin of schooling and drive innovation with agility.
— Ramkumar Ramamoorthy

The newer crop of personal establishments backed by Indian company homes that got here in to fill that hole—universities equivalent to Shiv Nadar, Azim Premji, Mahindra, Ashoka, Krea, and Nayanta—drive world-class schooling by attracting top school, embracing interwoven and immersive studying, and constructing sturdy {industry} connections. At Ahmedabad University, for instance, the effort has been to construct an interdisciplinary establishment, stated Pankaj Chandra, the vice-chancellor.

All that is enjoying out at a time when considerations over the employability of Indian graduates are rising, and being echoed by {industry} and authorities leaders. The India Skills Report 2024, revealed by Wheebox Talent Assessments, in collaboration with the All India Council for Technical Education, the Confederation of Indian Industry, and the Association of Indian Universities, exhibits solely 50% of graduates as employable.

Industry consultants imagine overseas campuses may enhance the general high quality of schooling, elevating professionalism and employability. Tier II and III faculties would now have to elevate their recreation.

Curiosity amongst corporates is rising as properly, particularly since these campuses are housed inside enterprise hubs. Students, too, are keen for giant recruiters to step in as placements get underway. Some efforts are already paying off—the National Australia Bank, for example, employed seven graduates from Deakin’s first cohort in India.

‘The jury’s nonetheless out’

While overseas universities say they bring in globally related schooling, in areas spanning science, know-how, enterprise and entrepreneurship, and likewise boast of a various school with worldwide educating expertise, many {industry} watchers stay sceptical about the advantages coming to India.

“The jury’s nonetheless out. We could have to see what they really ship. Many universities are closely depending on worldwide pupil financing, so we must be clear that’s the intent,” said Pankaj Chandra. “They are offering market-driven courses. If they are able to bring the ecosystem, culture and faculty from their home campuses, then they can become valuable and add to the institutional strength in India,” he added, saying that if they’re merely educating colleges, they are going to be similar to another personal institute.

Given the excessive payment construction, there’s a threat of inequalities widening, as is already occurring with the newer set of personal Indian universities.

Given the excessive payment construction, there’s a threat of inequalities widening, as is already occurring with the newer set of personal Indian universities, warned Ramamoorthy. But, he stated, it is going to be necessary to present scholarships at scale to uphold India’s social justice targets.

Some consultants additionally imagine this market will stay area of interest until the campuses supply clear pathways to work overseas. Prabakaran Srinivasan, an schooling advisor, stated that whereas the turbulence in visa and immigration insurance policies has prompted college students to have a look at wider choices, additionally they wonder if enrolling in a overseas campus in India will ship returns on their funding. “Students ask if it should assist them get an internship or job overseas. If the benefit is simply a world curriculum, they might entry that on-line. The fact is, college students need to enroll at a overseas college not only for the information however for the expertise of dwelling in that nation,” he stated.