Odisha HRD

Foreign universities bill almost ready for the cabinet to look at

September 9th, 2009

Following is from a report in IndiaEduNews.net.

The Foreign Education Providers Bill, a bill that seeks regulating the entry and operations of Foreign education providers in India, is likely to be placed before the Cabinet this week.

The Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry is ready with a draft of the Bill, sources from the Ministry said.

On the Foreign Education Providers Bill, HRD Minister Kapil Sibal argued that the government alone could not finance the educational needs of the country, and said, "There is an allocation of Rs.85,000 crore for education in the 11th Five-Year Plan. But this is not enough."

"The private sector has to come. But we will have to regulate it and there will be a law for it," he said, adding that such regulations would be done by experts and academics and "there would be no political interference at all."

He said 1.6 lakh Indian students go abroad every year and spend millions of dollars besides the heavy cost to the exchequer. Sibal wondered: "A student in India may be denied admission in IIT but he gets it in MIT."

As per the Bill, Foreign education providers would be given the status of deemed universities in India. This will also permit them to grant admission and award degrees, diplomas or certificates.

The Bill also proposes to bring Foreign education providers under the administrative umbrella of the University Grants Commission (UGC), which means that the admission process and fee structure of these institutes will be regulated by the UGC.

Foreign education institutions and their branches in India would have to provide for reservation for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes (OBCs), in keeping with the 93rd Constitutional Amendment Act.

Foreign education institutions are currently not allowed to offer degree courses in India, although a 100% foreign investment is allowed in the sector. However, nearly 150 foreign institutes offer courses with Indian varsities under a twinning arrangement – part of the course in India and the remaining abroad.

Entry Filed under: Foreign Universities in India