Foreign University Campuses in India Could Boost Fly-by-Night Operators. Why It Should Worry You
Abhishek Pandey and Sudhanshu Bhushan | 06 August 2026 | The Wire
A regulatory framework permitting foreign universities to establish campuses in India was introduced through the University Grants Commission (Setting up and Operation of Campuses of Foreign Higher Educational Institutions in India) Regulations, notified on November 7, 2023, and brought into force upon their publication in the Gazette of India on November 8, 2023. On June 9, 2026, in a significant policy move, the Union ministry of education handed over three additional ‘letters of approval’ under the UGC Regulations, 2023, to the University of Bristol, the University of York and the University of New South Wales, increasing the total number of foreign universities authorised to establish campuses in India to five, following the earlier approvals granted to the University of Southampton and the University of Liverpool.
This does not satisfy the legality of the Indian constitution, as such approvals cannot bypass the parliament under the UGC Act, 1956. Besides the legal conundrum, the narrow range of programmes offered by campuses of foreign universities is unaffordable to the Indian students as compared to similar programmes run by public institutions in India. If continued, the limited programmes run by the foreign campuses will fail to attract Indians as an international education hub as it is unlikely to promote quality culture of universities in India. The campuses, then, will turn out to be fly-by-night operators.