UK Universities in Talks with IITs to Establish Offshore Campuses; Check Details Here

New Delhi: Several prominent universities from the United Kingdom are in discussions with Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) to establish offshore campuses. Few of the universities have begun the discussion with IITs to examine the potential. 

As per the officials, some of the UK universities are willing to establish branch campuses in India and are awaiting the University Grants Commission’s (UGC) final regulatory framework.

According to Steve Smith, International Education Champion, UK Government, “Certainly, there has been a discussion about IITs setting up their campuses abroad. We have talked to the Indian High Commission in London because we think nothing would symbolise better the genuine two-way nature of the relationship between the two countries than IITs or other top institutions in India decided to set up campuses in the UK. So we are very open to that.”

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He further added “I know that quite a lot of UK institutions have talked to IITs whether that would be a possibility. So again, it’s not going to be happening tomorrow but I do think that’s the trend for how the relationship will develop.”

IIT Delhi and IIT Madras had already made announcements for the offshore campuses. IIT Delhi is establishing an offshore campus in Abu Dhabi on the other hand IIT Madras is opening an offshore campus in Tanzania’s Zanzibar.

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Speaking about whether UK universities are also exploring setting up their campuses in India, Smith added “The obvious answer is yes. UK colleges are looking into opening campuses in India”.

“There is much interest. Of course, the first thing to do is to get the regulatory framework in order since, without an agreed-upon, signed, and sealed regulatory framework, no governing body anywhere in the world would consent to it. So over the past two or three years, we have made significant progress toward that goal”, he added.

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UGC has released a draft of norms for International universities to establish campuses in India in January of this year. Nevertheless, the final restrictions have not been communicated to anyone as of now.

“I can assure you that while many universities are thinking about long-term physical presence, but again, we need to get everything finalised,” said Alison Barrett, Director of India, British Council. 

According to Barrett “We are really enthusiastic because real two-way relationships are the way of the future. Therefore, physical presences like branch campuses are very appealing to us. There are five UK universities that are particularly well-established in Malaysia. As a result, the UK university network has a lot of experience doing it. As a result, they are also quite interested in this possibility in India.”

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