Govt Panel to Submit Plan For Indian Universities' Foreign Campuses by March 17

A 16-member panel has been constituted by the union government to plan for campuses of Indian universities to be set up abroad. The objective of the formation of the body is to prepare a blueprint to allow overseas campuses of Indian universities.

The committee has until March 17 to submit a framework for the initiation of offshore campuses by higher education institutes after looking into existing provisions for the opening of foreign campuses.

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In November last year, IIT Delhi had sought approval to launch two foreign campuses, one in Egypt and another in Saudi Arabia. The proposal to set up an International Institute of Technology Research Academy in Mauritius was met with objections from the then Human Resources Development Minister Smriti Irani.

Recently, the National Education Policy released contained guidelines on universities of repute to open overseas campuses following approval from three Union ministries – education, external affairs and home affairs.

As suggested under NEP, the offshore campuses will not only attract foreign students and build a brand for Indian institutes abroad. They will also expand the exposure of Indian students with international courses and collaborations. Indian students will have an option to pursue a part of their degree programmes at these international locations. Twinning programmes would be a precursor to this offshore campus expansion.

As per The Indian Express, the Radhakrishnan committee has already met once and discussed the number of possible campuses. The key takeaways from the IIT Delhi’s proposed overseas campuses include four-year undergraduate courses, campuses spread over 100 acres in proximity to major cities with good air connectivity and an annual intake of not more than 240 students in at least four branches on the basis of SAT scores.

The committee, which is led by IIT Council Standing Committee Chairperson Dr K Radhakrishnan, also comprises the directors of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) campuses in Mumbai, Delhi, Kharagpur, Madras, Kanpur, Guwahati and Dhanbad. The panel also includes the Director of the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru and vice-chancellors of four central universities – Delhi University, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Banaras Hindu University (BHU), and the University of Hyderabad, The Indian Express reported.

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