Malaysia-based University Sole Applicant on UGC’s Foreign Higher Education Institutions Portal: Govt in Lok Sabha – News18

A university based in Malaysia is the only one to have applied on the University Grants Commission’s portal that facilitates Foreign Higher Education Institutions (FHEIs) to register and apply with it to open their campuses in India, the minister of state (MoS) for education Subhas Sarkar told the Lok Sabha on Monday.

According to the education ministry, an application has been received from Lincoln University College, Malaysia, for setting up a campus in Telangana.

“After the notification of these Regulations, the UGC has opened the portal for inviting applications for setting up campuses of FHEIs in India. An application has been received from Lincoln University College, Malaysia for setting up a Campus in Telangana,” Sarkar said in a written response in the Lok Sabha.

The UGC, which is the higher education regulator in India, had on November 9 notified the rules titled ‘UGC (Setting up and Operation of Campuses of Foreign Higher Educational Institutions in India) Regulations, 2023’. A portal to facilitate the application process for this was launched on November 10.

News18 had last December reported that around 10-12 universities from across the globe have registered with the FHEIs portal since the UGC notified the rules allowing the entry of foreign universities to set up and operate their campuses in India.

The institutions that have registered are from different parts of the world including the UK, Europe, Australia, and the US, among others. Also, there have been enquiries about the procedure from many others, a UGC official had told News18.

According to the regulatory framework, FHEIs intending to establish campuses in India should have secured a position within the top 500 in the overall category of global rankings or should have secured a position within the top 500 in the subject-wise category of global rankings or should possess outstanding expertise in a particular area.

Besides, in the union budget 2022-23 it was announced that world-class foreign universities will be allowed in the Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City) to offer courses in financial management, FinTech, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics free from domestic regulations, except those by International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA).

So far, Deakin University and the University of Wollongong from Australia have received in-principle approval from IFSCA to establish their campus in GIFT City.