Foreign degrees in Indian institutions may require equivalence, say educators

UGC gazettes regulations for foreign universities to set up campuses in India. Degrees offered by foreign institutions must be equivalent to those of Indian institutions for higher education and employment. Regulations permit collaboration with Indian institutions for twinning, joint, and dual degree programmes. UGC Act must be amended to allow foreign universities to award degrees in Indian institution's name. Degrees will be in name of parent foreign institution, not Indian institution. Equivalence must be obtained for foreign institution degrees.

The University Grants Commission (UGC) has gazetted the regulations for foreign universities that plan to set up campuses in India. The guidelines on the internationalisation of higher education were notified in 2021.  

However, many educators wonder if the degrees offered by the foreign universities will be accepted by the UGC, and how the commission will proceed with the issue of equivalence for the degrees offered by the foreign institutions.  

The UGC’s 2021 regulations permit foreign universities to collaborate with Indian higher educational institutions to offer twinning, joint, and dual degree programmes. The regulation further states that qualifications awarded under the regulations “shall be equivalent to any corresponding degree awarded by the Indian Higher Educational Institution for all purposes, including higher education and employment”. 

The regulations, gazetted on November 8, stipulate that “there shall be no further requirement of seeking equivalence from any authority and the degree shall have all benefits, rights and privileges as obtained in the case of a degree awarded by an Indian higher education institution ordinarily”.   

Educators in private universities wonder how the regulation has been introduced when the UGC Act makes no such provision. “Through its regulations, the Ministry of Education is trying to allow the entry of foreign institutions,” a senior educator said. 

The UGC Act, 1956 has given permission to offer degrees to only those institutions that have been constituted by the State Legislatures or the Parliament, or those that have been deemed to be universities. 

The Act states the regulations for minimum standards of instruction of the UGC Act 1956 (and later in 1985) for the Arts, Humanities, Fine Arts, Music, Social Sciences, Commerce, and Sciences shall apply to every university “established or incorporated by or under a Central Act, Provincial Act or a State Act, and all institutions recognised under clause (f) of Section 2 of the University Grants Commission Act, 1956 and every Institution deemed to be University under Section 3 of the said Act”.