Foreign varsities in India: A bane rather than boon

The Pioneer, April 13, 2010
Partha S Mohapatra, Bhubaneswar

The Indian Government is opening up higher education to foreign universities on the premise that it will save the country about $7 billion in foreign exchange and stop brain drain. The Government also wants us to believe that top-ranking universities will come to India and research will increase in different disciplines.

However, the Government is mum on the employment opportunities for the students who are going to graduate from these foreign universities where they will pay huge sums in terms of rupees. When they spend dollars or pounds abroad, they also get opportunities to work there. A sizeable amount of the $43.5 billion sent to India by Indians staying in foreign countries is from students who work there after graduation.

Most foreign universities are showing interest in areas like MBA programmes where there is very little funding required compared to medical or technological programmes, but returns are good. But Indian corporate bodies are already doing a good job on this front as shown in the case of the Indian School of Business in Hyderabad, which has become a world-class institution. The homegrown IIMs and IITs need time and space to grow and be able compete internationally.

China is doing economically much better than India, and still hasn’t allowed foreign universities the way Indian Government is planning to do. The world-class Chinese universities like Peking University that have improved their international ranking in the last decade are homegrown institutions. China has even allowed private Chinese universities to be set up. But it is still cagey about allowing foreign universities and the few it has done has been under strict supervision. China itself has become a destination country for international students. However, instead of encouraging foreign universities to set up shop in China, they encourage partnerships with foreign universities, specifically research collaborations and faculty exchange programs.

Each year, about 80,000 to 90,000 students go to the US only, and many of them decide to stay there. The US and UK Governments are facing flak because of high immigration which is increasing their population and straining their infrastructure. Recent measures by these Governments show that these countries are trying to curb immigration from countries like India in whatever way they can. However, universities in the US and the UK need Indian students. The only way to have the “best of both worlds.” is to set up their own campuses in India, conduct their own profitable courses, and rake in the dollars converted from rupees!

-- Dr Partha S Mohapatra is a PhD in Business Administration from the University of Kentucky and a faculty in the University of Maryland