UGC to soon release draft norms for offshore universities

A 16-member committee headed by the chairman of the standing committee of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) council has already submitted a draft report to the government laying down a roadmap for the premier institutes to start campuses abroad

The University Grants Commission (UGC) will soon release guidelines for universities looking to set up satellite campuses abroad to the public for feedback from stakeholders, its chairperson has said.

UGC chairperson M Jagadesh Kumar said the guidelines will provide universities with a roadmap for starting campuses in foreign locations and also prescribe eligibility criteria in terms of the rankings given by the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) and their National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) scores.

“The process of framing the guidelines has reached its final stage and we will release it to the public domain soon for wider consultation in coming weeks... It is important to maintain certain standards. Therefore, the eligibility criteria will be there in terms of rankings and accreditation scores,” he said.

According to Kumar, the guidelines will be in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 that emphasizes the internationalisation of education. “High performing Indian universities should be encouraged to set up campuses in other countries,” he said.

A 16-member committee headed by the chairman of the standing committee of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) council — K Radhakrishnan – has already submitted a draft report to the government laying down a roadmap for the premier institutes to start campuses abroad. HT had already reported that several IITs, including those in Delhi and Chennai, have already started the process in line with the committee’s roadmap.

However, for universities, separate guidelines are being formed since they come under the higher education regulator i,e UGC.

Kumar said that some popular central and deemed-to-be universities are keen to start their offshore campuses. “Once the guidelines are released by the UGC, many prominent central universities will also start the process,” he said.

He added that the UGC had also taken recommendations of the Radhakrishnan committee report while finalising the guidelines.

In its draft report, the panel has proposed two models of institutions — offshore campuses of individual higher education institutes (HEIs) or a collaboration between individual or group of HEls with a reputed host university abroad.

The panel has recommended that the existing Joint Entrance Exam (JEE) format for admissions to undergraduate courses be adopted and to consider SAT (Scholastic Assessment Test) scores for admissions.