Last week, a new bill surfaced in India’s Cabinet that will, if passed in parliament, allow foreign universities to set up campuses on Indian soil. The bill could have implications for Canadian universities looking to expand their horizons and increase their connections to the burgeoning Indian community.
Subhabrata Basu, an India country advisor for York University’s Schulich School of Business, said many student exchange partnerships exist between Canadian schools and their Indian counterparts. Students from both countries can reap countless benefits from spending part of their university career in another locale.
One example involves a collaborative of groups of universities in Ontario and in two states in India, Maharashtra and Goa.
The Schulich School of Business recently launched an MBA in India program with the S.P. Jain Institute of Management and Research, a top-ten business school in India. The program has MBA students complete their first year of education in Mumbai and their second year in Toronto.
“The Schulich School of Business has a long term vision and goal to create its own campus in India, with world class facilities, international faculty, an internationally focused curriculum and international students,” Basu said.
Canadian colleges such as Sheridan, Pickering, and Quest are also interested in establishing campuses on Indian soil, according to Sify News.
Vikas Bajaj of the New York Times writes that American and British institutions are likely to jump on the opportunity as well, with the Georgia Institute of Technology already expressing its plans to move forward with an Indian campus.
Less than 4,000 Indian students decide to begin their studies in Canada each year, compared with 80,000 going to the US, largely due to visa problems. Some worry that foreign campuses in India could hinder recruitment to Canadian universities, according to the Vancouver Sun.
Recruitment remains a significant interest for universities that are not interested in expanding to India, said Glynn Hunter, Director of the Centre for International Students and Study Abroad at the University of Calgary.
Indian educators, on the other hand, worry that they may lose many of their staff, faculty, and students to the new foreign institutions, according to the New York Times.
Basu said ultimately, both countries will benefit from the new legislation. A Canadian presence there could promote greater interaction between the two countries.
“Canadian universities will be encouraged to seek a presence in India and establish their brand and play a part in training students for the booming Indian economy,” Basu said. “There is an enormous need for world class education in India.”
According to the New York Times, the bill will work toward solving the education dilemma for India’s young people aged 25 and under, who make up half of its 1.2 billion population.
The young people of India will have an increasing number of choices in the realm of higher education. They will also benefit from more career opportunities in North America, as Basu explains. The presence of Canadian universities in India would also “give Canadian students the sort of global job opportunities that many of them seek,” Basu said.