NEW DELHI: After long deliberation, University Grants Commission and HRD ministry have formalized the rules for establishment of campuses of foreign universities/educational institutions in India.
The rules, to be notified in July, state that the Indian campus of a foreign educational provider would be a non-profit making legal entity. Hence, foreign education providers would have to first form a company under Section 25 of the Companies Act, 1956. Companies under Section 25 are non-profit entities.
Foreign education providers, before being notified, would have to maintain a corpus of at least Rs 25 crore for each campus they propose to establish. Each provider would be allowed a maximum of four campuses. Out of the income received from the corpus fund, the foreign education provider would not be allowed to utilize more than 75% income for the purpose of development. The remaining income would be deposited into the corpus fund. The education providers would also not be allowed to invest surplus revenue for any purpose other than for the growth and development of the institutions.
They would not be allowed to offer any course that adversely affects the sovereignty and integrity of India or its friendly relations with other countries. Only those education providers placed in the top 400 institutions as per the world university rankings by Times Higher Education or World University Rankings by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) or Academic Ranking of World Universities by Shanghai Jiao Tong University would be allowed. Education providers who have been in the field of education for more than 20 years in the parent country and are accredited there would be allowed to set up campus in India.
Applications would have to be endorsed by the embassy or high commission of the institution's home country in India. The education providers would have to mandatorily publish prospectus with details of courses, fee and other charges as well as money to be refunded.
The UGC rules also provide for penalty if an institution is not a foreign education provider, has not been recognized or whose recognition has been withdrawn offers admission in violation of the provisions or publishes or releases misleading advertisement. Minimum penalty would be Rs 50 lakh extendable to Rs 1 crore.
Source: Times of India
