The UGC guidelines for foreign universities to setup campus in India are ill-conceived

Higher education in India has always been an underperformer. Though we have 40,000 colleges and 1000 universities most of them do not impart quality education to the students and leave them high and dry after they pass out. This is one big reason for unemployment as most students passing out from the colleges with degrees are unemployable as the curriculum, as well as the quality of education they receive, is below par. Though we have world-class institutions like IITs and IIMs, they can be counted on tips and even there after taking a subsidized fee structure students to leave the shores and give their best years to the multinational companies abroad. Some $3 billion are spent by Indian parents to fund their children’s education abroad. But the fact is most of them have good returns as they get employed easily and are able to pay back their loans etc. On the other hand, students who study in India go through a grind to get a job; their ordeal begins after they leave college and most end up working in jobs they were not trained for.

The government has recently come up with the idea to offset this lacuna by allowing foreign universities to open their campuses in the country. But that the UGC guidelines to this effect are flawed and would not lead to universities from abroad coming here and starting their classes here. The biggest problem is that in India education institutions cannot make a profit that is they have to work on a pro bono model. If the foreign universities set up campuses here, the same rule would apply to them and they would not be able to remit money. After all profit would be their motive to come here. Most private colleges make a profit by manipulating the account books to skirt this clause. Moreover, the foreign campuses would indeed hit the private colleges hard as they would not be able to compete with them on brand and facilities, curriculum, etc. Moreover, if foreign universities do come to India they would have their own agenda and not the best interest of India in mind which is another major drawback. UGC had earlier invited foreign universities, but none showed interest. So the Government would do well to go back to the drawing board and rethink the whole higher education policy rather than finding easy solutions. Besides the interest of the private colleges must also not be overlooked and a level playing field must be provided to all else it would destroy the education system we have.