Central varsities will get to hire foreigners

Fifteen central universities set up recently will be allowed to take foreigners as well as persons of Indian origin on their faculty.

Fifteen central universities set up recently will be allowed to take foreigners as well as persons of Indian origin on their faculty.

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A model ordinance will be drawn to attract the best brains to these universities, completely funded by the Centre with an objective to provide specialised courses and extensive research, Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal said.

At a meeting with the vice-chancellors of these universities on Tuesday, Sibal called for a single entrance examination, enabling students to apply for a number of courses.

These 15 universities — 12 new and three upgraded state universities — are in addition to the 25 that existed before the Central Act, 2009 was brought in.

The University Grants Commission, a regulatory body under the human resource ministry, will set up a panel to work on the ordinance for inviting foreign faculty, Sibal said.

Transfer of credit, exchange of faculty and students within institutions and foreign collaboration will also be looked into.

Each central university should have a unique set of courses drawn in accordance with the needs and problems of the region they are in, the minister said.

This single entrance system, expected to make admission process less cumbersome, could be extended to the other 25 central universities later, Sibal said.