Foreign Universities

 Speaking on the sidelines of the 38th Shri Ram Memorial Lecture in the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry the Union Minister for Human Resource Development Kapil Sibal said he is not expecting leading foreign varsities like Harvard and Stanford to come to India.

It might be true that that the government is well-intentioned in its decision to open the gates for the foreign universities to root themselves in the Indian soil. But, the harsh reality is that the dream of allowing more Indians to graduate from foreign universities seems to be a far-fetched one.

The hurdles posed are manifold.  The six universities which have expressed their interest in entering the Indian educational scenario are Virginia Tech, Boston University, Middlesex University Georgia Tech, Schulich School of Business and Duke University.

Human Resource Development minister Kapil Sibal has this time knocked the doors of all the leading US universities as part of his educational tie-up mission.

As new developments take place in the Indian education sector’s laws and norms, it is becoming evident that foreign universities and educational institutes, planning to set up campus in India shall be free from the mandatory quota law for SC/ST and OBC, binding all other government run institutions in India.

Allaying the fears of many quarters, and seemingly going in adherence with Prof. Yash Pal's recommendations on allowing foreign universities in India, the Union Human Resources & Development Minister Kapil Sibal has assured that no dubious fly-by-night foreign universities would be allowed to start operations in India. He acknowledged that while the caution in letting foreign educational institutions in the country is well advised he said that India should not get the opportunity go.

It seems that Union Human Resources & Development Minister Kapil Sibal is in the mood to get most of the recommendations in the Yash Pal Committee Report on higher education implemented. Prof. Yashpal had in his panel report recommended that the government allows only the best foreign universities to open centres in India. Now, the government has proposed a new legislation to enable foreign universities to open institutes in India.

Underlining the need to broad base the education sector, human resource development minister Kapil Sibal called for greater private sector participation by way of investment in the sector.  

Prof. Yash Pal’s committee report titled Renovation and Rejuvenation of Higher Education in India that was submitted on June 25 before the HRD Ministry has recommended that India allows only the best foreign universities to enter the country in the higher education sector.