UGC approves 12 foreign universities; Mumbai gets highest; 4 registered in GIFT City

The University Grants Commission (UGC) has issued Letters of Intent (LoT) to 12 foreign universities, so far, to establish their campuses in India, the MoS for Education Sukanta Majumdar, informed the Lok Sabha today.

In a written reply, the minister also stated in the Parliament session that the applications for the establishment of two more Foreign Higher Educational Institutions (FHEIs) are under process by the UGC.

The approved campuses of the FHEIs will be established under “the UGC (Setting Up and Operation of Campuses of Foreign Higher Educational Institutions in India) Regulations, 2023, and the International Financial Services Centers Authority (Setting up and Operation of International Branch Campuses and Offshore Education Centers) Regulations, 2022,” the education ministry said in an official statement.

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Australia-based Deakin University and University of Wollongong, Queen’s University of Belfast from Ireland, and Coventry University from the UK have been registered under the FDSCA to set up campuses in GIFT City, Gandhinagar, Gujarat, as per the written reply by the minister.

Out of the given lot, one application is under evaluation by the IFSCA, the ministry’s reply added.

“The UGC regulations define ‘campus’ as ‘a campus set up in India’. Further, selection of site for opening of campus in India is a matter of choice of the respective FHEI. IFSCA Regulations allow operating campuses within the GIFT City SEZ, Gandhinagar, Gujarat,” the MoS statement reads.

UGC-approved list of 12 FHEIs

As per the data shared by the ministry, the highest number of 6 FHEI campuses will be set-up in Mumbai. In addition to this, two campuses will be established in Bengaluru, one each in Gurugram, Delhi-NCR, Greater Noida, and Chennai.