Foreign university influx fuels Indian edtech resurgence

Bengaluru: The entry and expansion of foreign universities in India is creating potential new business opportunities for edtech firms, driving demand for online higher-education and professional courses in partnership with global institutions.

Simplilearn and Scaler expect the growing presence of foreign universities to help boost their enrolments, while Emeritus, which has seven university joint ventures, expects its footprint in the country to grow 10-15% in the coming years.

“We are doubling down in India, and this initiative is central to our growth,” said Ashwin Damera, chief executive of Emeritus.


This comes after the University Grants Commission (UGC) issued 16 Letters of Intent (LoIs) to 15 foreign higher education institutions from Australia, Italy, the UK and the US to set up campuses at various locations in India. The proposed campuses are expected to come up in Bengaluru, Greater Noida, Gurgaon, Mumbai and Chennai.

“Some of these brands being present in India obviously increases the footprint of these brands in India as well and could potentially scale the demand for online programs with these universities also in the Indian market,” said Kashyap Dalal, cofounder of Simplilearn.

However, the impact on enrolments is expected to become more visible once these campuses complete their first batches.

Currently, nearly five campuses have been set up in India. They include University of Southampton, Queen’s University Belfast and Australia’s Deakin University.

The potential for foreign university campuses to drive enrolments is not new. Indian universities with overseas campuses have also seen their presence in those markets help expand their reach.

“We get about 25% to 30% of these enrolments from some of these markets. That is what makes it very lucrative,” Dalal said. “It expands the reach and obviously as time goes by, hopefully we will get even more prominent in those markets.”

The bigger-brand factor

While the expansion is expected to create opportunities, the presence of more established global universities could be important in driving demand, said Abhimanyu Saxena, founder of Scaler.

“What students are looking for is whether they are really learning something cutting-edge that is going to propel them ahead in their careers,” Saxena said. “MIT, Stanford and Harvard have such courses, and IITs also offer them because they continue to research in these areas.”

Two routes

Foreign universities are setting up campuses in India through two routes – the UGC’s 2023 regulations and the GIFT City IFSC framework, which is governed by the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA).

The UGC framework allows eligible foreign higher education institutions to establish campuses in India, while the GIFT City route provides a separate regulatory framework for foreign universities.

"These new regulations allow any entity to recive FDI, including a private company or LLP to establish a campus. So, a for-profit setup can be used to establish a campus," said Sadia Khan, partner at Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas.

The programmes being proposed by foreign institutions span areas such as business, finance, software engineering, data science, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, entrepreneurship and biomedical sciences.

The UGC framework is open to foreign institutions that meet prescribed global ranking and accreditation criteria.

"What is unique is that higher education in India was traditionally treated as a charitable venture, so only not-for-profit entities could establish campuses,” said Khan.

However, Indian private universities feel the framework could put them at a competitive disadvantage.

“We don’t have a problem with foreign universities in India. But Indian universities still operate as not-for-profit institutions, unlike them,” said Thomas P John, chairman of T John Group of Institutions. “Indian universities also need easier legislation that allows them to function as profit-earning institutions. Only then will Indian education improve,” he said.

Saxena said the eventual test would be whether students see enough value in studying at the India campuses of foreign universities.

“When Indians go abroad for foreign education, very few of them really come back to India after their education. The key purpose of foreign education has been finding employment, not just studying and coming back,” he said. “That part is not there with the India campuses of these universities. So, what I still feel a little iffy about is, what’s the ROI then?”