Liverpool second UK university to open campus in India

The University of Liverpool on Monday received a formal approval from the University Grants Commission (UGC) to open its campus in Bengaluru even as former UGC Chairman M Jagadesh Kumar said foreign institutions will have to invest the revenue generated from Indian campuses here itself.

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Will reinvest profits in India: Ex-UGC chief

"Foreign universities have indicated that their fees will be lower than at their main campuses… They are free to repatriate the revenues to their parent campuses abroad. But given the long collaboration period, they will have to reinvest the profits in India," said M Jagadesh Kumar, former UGC chairman

The University of Liverpool will welcome its first batch of students in August next year. The University of Southampton, the first UK university to receive approval, is set to start offering academic programmes in Gurugram by July this year.

With more foreign universities lined up to set up their campuses here, Kumar said, "All these universities are non-profit institutions and are free to repatriate the revenues to their parent campuses abroad. But we are looking for a long-term collaboration with them. They will have to reinvest the profits here."

These universities had also indicated that their fees in India would be lower than what they charged at their main campuses, he said while talking to The Tribune.

Meanwhile, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan handed over the Letter of Intent (LoI) to representatives of the University of Liverpool here. The university's initial programmes will include business management, accounting and finance, computer science, biomedical sciences and a unique game design course.

The move to allow foreign universities to set up campuses in India followed decades of attempts to enact legislation in this regard. Successive governments have made multiple attempts to pass legislation regulating their entry and operation. The first attempt was in 1995, when a Bill was introduced but not finalised. In 2005-06, another draft was prepared but only reached the Cabinet stage. In 2010, the UPA-II government introduced the Foreign Educational Institutions Bill, which faced opposition from the BJP, Left and Samajwadi Party, ultimately lapsing in 2014.

Critics argued that foreign universities would raise education costs, making it unaffordable for many. Besides, unlike the current UGC regulations, which restrict entry to top 500 globally ranked institutions, the UPA-II Bill lacked clarity on eligibility criteria.

“In November 2023, the UGC introduced new regulations (Setting up and Operation of Campuses of Foreign Higher Educational Institutions in India) to facilitate foreign universities establishing campuses in India. Without these regulations, setting up campuses was difficult,” said Kumar.

Pradhan said 15 foreign universities would set up campuses in India.  Other approved institutions include the Illinois Institute of Technology (US), Victoria University (Australia), Western Sydney University (Australia), and Istituto Europeo di Design (Italy).