49 foreign universities want to partner with Indian institutes: UGC chief

49 foreign universities want to partner with Indian institutes: UGC chief

Some of these universities are preparing memorandums of understanding for cooperation, said UGC chief M Jagadesh Kumar. Stated. “These processes involve discussion and approval within the statutory bodies of the universities. A memorandum of understanding is being prepared, Kumar said: “UGC is actively reaching out to these universities. Several universities are in the process of preparing the MoUs. These processes involve discussions and approvals within the university statutory bodies. Therefore, let us give them time to work on these matters,” he said.

In May, India’s higher education regulator allowed academic collaborations between Indian and foreign higher education institutions to offer three types of degree programmes — dual (where both colleges award the degree in the same subject), and joint and twinning (where part of the course is completed overseas with the upper limit being 30% in twinning programmes and the lower limit being 30% in joint programmes).

The regulator has also identified 230 Indian and 1,256 foreign higher education institutions that fulfil the eligibility criteria for these collaborations.

The foreign universities that have approached the commission expressing interest in such collaborations include Michigan State University, University of Sydney, University of Melbourne, Heidelberg University, the University of Newcastle in Australia, University of Birmingham, Queen Mary University of London, Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, Paris-1 University, Karaganda University in Kazakhstan, Universiti Malaya in Malaysia, the University of Lodz in Poland, and Haifa University in Israel, among others, according to the UGC.

The regulator sent special envoys from India to 63 countries in May asking for help in facilitating this academic cooperation, Kumar said, helping to expand coverage.

“Indian envoys have sent the latest regulations to universities in the countries concerned. We have had positive feedback from countries such as the US, UK, Australia, Germany, Malaysia and Singapore,” he said. “Communications from Indian missions abroad have helped expand outreach.”

48 Indian Universities have initiated or are in the process of finalising academic collaborations with foreign research institutes.