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University of Liverpool Indian campus to be established in Bengaluru
University of Liverpool gets UGC approval to open a campus in Bengaluru, set to welcome students in August 2026, offering various programs.
The United Kingdom’s University of Liverpool received formal approval from the University Grants Commission (UGC) on Monday to open its Indian campus in Bengaluru, becoming the second foreign university to receive a Letter of Intent (LoI) from the UGC to set up a campus in India under UGC (Setting Up and Operation of Campuses of Foreign Higher Educational Institutions in India) Regulations, 2023 after the University of Southampton.
The University of Liverpool will initially offer programs in business management, accounting and finance, computer science, biomedical sciences, and game design, and is scheduled to welcome its inaugural cohort of undergraduate and postgraduate students in August 2026, .
Speaking at an event in New Delhi to formally hand over LoI to the University of Liverpool, Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan said this LoI reaffirms India’s emergence as a trusted partner in global higher education as envisioned under the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
Pradhan said that the University of Liverpool is the fourth foreign university to publicly announce its presence in India.
Two Australian Universities -- Deakin University and University of Wollongong-- have started their academic programmes at their Indian campuses in GIFT City of Gandhinagar, Gujarat. These two universities do not come under UGC regulations and are governed by ‘International Financial Services Centres Authority (setting up and operation of international branch campuses and offshore education centres) regulations, 2022’ notified by International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) – a central regulator for financial products, services and institutions – based in Gujarat.
UK’s University of Southampton which became the first foreign university to receive UGC approval for setting up campus in India in August last year under the 2023 regulations, is set to commence operations in August at its Indian campus in Gurugram’s Sector 29.
“This is just the beginning. By this academic year, 15 foreign universities will be coming to India and offering courses, especially in Science, Technology, Engineering, Medical (STEM) and business administration,” Pradhan said.
Speaking to the media after the event, Pradhan said that after receiving approvals from UGC, the foreign universities will be setting up their campuses in Lucknow, Gurugram, Greater Noida, Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and Bengaluru.
As per UGC regulations, foreign universities intending to set up campuses in India must be ranked within the top 500 globally, either in overall or subject-specific rankings. In the QS World University Rankings 2025, the University of Liverpool holds the 165th position globally, thereby meeting the eligibility criteria.
Professor Tim Jones, vice-chancellor of the University of Liverpool, said that the varsity decided to set up its campus in Bengaluru due to its partnerships and collaborations with various institutes located in Bengaluru.
“For 20 years, we have been working on various joint research projects with the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), Bengaluru. Recently, we started collaborations with the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru. We closely work with Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) in Liverpool, but now increasingly in Bengaluru. So, it is a very natural location for the university to establish a campus there,” he said.
