India is expected to introduce the Foreign Educational Institutions (Regulation of Entry and Operations, Maintenance of Quality and Prevention of Commercialization) Bill into Parliament soon. The proposed legislation lays the foundation for foreign education institutions to set up campuses and collaborate with Indian institutes of higher and vocational education.

100 percent Foreign Direct Investment through automatic route is permitted in India’s education sector since 2000. However, the present legal structure does not allow foreign educational institutions to grant degrees in India. This is set to change.

The new legislation, once passed will allow Indian students access to programmes by Ivy League Institutes like Harvard Business School (HBS), Yale University and Carnegie Mellon University. It is estimated that approximately 140 Indian institutions and 156 foreign education providers are engaged in academic collaborations for India.

India hopes this investment in global collaboration in education would help create a larger, better skilled workforce for the future. The foreign educational institutes will offer courses at a fraction of the cost an international student would pay in USA, allowing a majority of aspiring Indians access to quality education. In addition, technical collaborations between foreign universities, Indian industry and universities are expected to foster research and development.

At present a high number of US and UK universities / colleges are interested in Indian education, with the highest collaborations taking place in the field of management and business administration followed by engineering and technology/computer application/information technology.