Prominent universities of the United Kingdom (UK) are attempting to escape their financial troubles back home by seeking greener pastures in India, in a higher education version of a gold rush into a market with over 40 million students.
The University of Southampton was first to announce its launch in Gurugram, a satellite city of Delhi, and is now enrolling students for what it boasts "the first campus of its kind in India".
Shortly, other universities, like Newcastle University followed suit. Prof Chris Day, Newcastle University’s Vice-Chancellor stated at a recent event in Delhi that he was “absolutely convinced” of the need for Newcastle University to open a campus in India.
He is in the same league as the vice-chancellors of Surrey, Coventry and many others, who are reportedly looking at similar plans, The Guardian reports.
Prof Aarti Srivastava, head of the higher education and professional education department at the National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration in Delhi, stated that foreign universities were not permitted to operate their own campuses in India until 2023 when regulatory changes through the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 opened the door to them.
In 2022-23, UK institutions welcomed more than 1,25,000 students from India, but changing immigration policies and rivalry from overseas institutes make those numbers uncertain. By establishing branch campuses in India, colleges can access an underserved domestic market that cannot study overseas.
“There is so much pent-up demand for this because India is seen as having more potential than anywhere else for the next wave of internationalisation within UK universities,” Nick Hillman, Director of the UK’s Higher Education Policy Institute, said.
Maddalaine Ansell, the British Council’s director of education reiterated India’s importance to the UK as an academic partner, saying, “We have worked with partners to help the UK sector to respond to recent reforms in Indian higher education, leading to a surge in collaborations. These range from joint and dual PhDs and master’s degrees to the establishment of UK university campuses.”