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The Indian current higher education regulator UGC forms panel to set rules to provide equivalence to foreign University degrees

Based on the overall direction set by the New Education Policy (2020), the Government  of India has recently allowed foreign universities to set up their campuses in India, making a provision for them to collaborate with Indian universities to offer joint, double and twin degrees.

As a sequel to this, the University Grants Commission (UGC) has  now constituted a three-member committee to prepare guidelines on the basis of which academic equivalence will be provided to degrees offered by foreign universities with the degrees offered by their Indian counterparts.

The move comes in the backdrop of the government allowing foreign universities to set up their campuses in India, including in the Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City), and also making a provision for them to collaborate with Indian universities to offer joint, double and twin degrees.

Till now, the Association of Indian universities (AIU), an organisation of major universities in India was assigned the charge to issue equivalence certificates to students who completed their schooling or higher education from foreign boards and universities. However, it is expected that once the guidelines are formulated, UGC will take over the responsibility and will provide equivalence from now on.

UGC has clarified that it  is focusing on developing a stakeholder friendly online process for equivalence certificates. “For instance, in GIFT city foreign universities will come and set up their campuses and our Indian students will pursue degrees there. So, when they apply for another degree or job in India, the Indian institutions will like to know whether that degree given by the foreign institution is equivalent to our degrees.

Captum considers this move to be an additional step by the UGC  to encourage internationalization in terms of students mobility, award of joint degrees and setting up of branch campuses. Expeditious and clear equivalence process can give a fillip to the ongoing HEI internationalization process in India.

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Nearly Fifty Overseas Universities Interested to Set-Up Campuses, Offer Dual Courses with Indian Colleges

A total of fifty overseas universities have shown interest in the recent initiative of  University Grants Commission’s (UGC)   for offering  joint and dual degree programmes in partnership with Indian colleges.

It is reported that responding to UGC’s new regulation and guidelines for running partnership programmes between Indian and overseas universities, the University of Glasgow, Scotland has expressed interest to discuss the potential for academic collaboration.

It is also learnt that several other varsities have also shown interest in setting up satellite campuses in India. The Deakin University, Australia in its communication to UGC has lauded the New Education Policy (NEP) 2020 calling it a ‘progressive’ policy which will help it to establish new relations with Indian institutions. The NEP 2020 was introduced by the Indian government with a focus on contemporary provisions in higher education.

A report added that the University of Queensland, Australia is set to meet UGC officials in August this year and discussions with a French university are also on the cards. University of Tokyo, Japan and the University of Cambridge are among the other major universities that have shown interest in collaborating with Indian institutions.

Captum feels that, given the encouraging response to the enabling policy initiatives by the Govt of India,  the initial interests of the top notch overseas universities would have to be pursued and, to set the  ball rolling, at least six to seven model joint degrees/satellite campuses finalized within a year.

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UGC frames revised rules for tie-ups between Indian and foreign universities

The University Grants Commission (UGC) has simplified the procedure for an Indian higher educational institution to offer programmes in collaboration with foreign universities by entering into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with each other directly if they meet certain eligibility criteria .

It has been decided that an Indian higher education institution that has a National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) grading of 3.01 or above, or is among the top 1,000 QS World University or Times Higher Education rankings, or is among the top 100 universities under National Institution Ranking Framework, will be able to tie-up with a foreign education institution which too features among the top 1,000 QS or Times Higher Education rankings.  It is clarified that under the new regulations, universities and colleges will no longer be required to seek its permission to do so, if they met the ranking criteria.

Under the earlier regulations, a foreign and Indian college or university could partner with each other to offer only “twinning” and “joint degree” programmes where Indian students received a degree only from an Indian institute along with a certificate from the foreign institute. But now, they can offer a third type of programme, that is, a “dual degree” programme, where both the institutes will issue a degree.

Under a twinning programme, a student can get up to 30% credit utilisation of the total course from a foreign university, whereas under a joint and dual degree programme, he or she can get more than than 30% of the total credits.

UGC has clarified that the collaborations will be permitted only for the conventional mode of learning and not for distance or online learning

The move is aimed at increasing HEI students’ strength  from 40 to 100 million which can be achieved by building new institutes and through collaborations with foreign institutes. This is also expected to enhance the employability of the students.

This has also clarified to  help attract foreign students to India, which will lead to internationalization, which is an important parameter for improving global rankings of higher education institutions.

Captum welcomes this much awaited liberalized rule. It feels that  speedy  approvals/clearances under the new rule will lead to rapid internationalization  of leading  Indian HEIs.