Problems of Foreign Universities Operating in India

Another wish of Human Resources Development Minister Kapil Sibbal, who is trying to bring about radical changes in the field of education, is about to be fulfilled. As soon as the Foreign Educational Institution (Regulation of Entry and Operation) Bill gets the nod from Parliament, foreign universities would open their campuses in the country and Indian students would get degrees of renowned universities like Stanford, McGill, Simon Fraser, Quebec, and Montreal, sitting at home.
Courses and Quality
There are no two opinions about it that this bill would expand choice, competition, and quality, and the way nearly 265,000 Indian students spend Rs. 270-billion every year in the name of getting education abroad would be saved.

Our children would also be saved from tolerating the sting of racial abuse abroad. But at a time when Indian universities are way behind developed and Western countries in the matter of courses and quality, opening the country's doors to foreign universities would be like pushing them into unequal competition. Would it not affect the development of domestic universities? This is the reason why some political parties are opposing this step from the beginning. There is certainly need to think seriously about these questions before making the bill into a law.

Intention of Making Money
One more thing, there would be no provision of reservation in foreign universities and hence Dalits (oppressed sections) and backward classes would not get the benefit of this privilege and only the elite class would dominate here. This would not only impair collective thinking, but the dividing factors of elitism, rich and poor would further grow in the society.

Foreign universities look at India as a big education market. They would come here with the sole intention of making money. Their aim would not be to raise the level of education in the country to the peak. It is also apprehended that they would only emphasize on costly short-term courses that earn more profit for them.

The bill talks about a corpus fund of only Rs.500 million to open their campus, which is quite meager. In this situation, the government would have to be careful that no unknown educational institution opens its branches in the country. It would be better if the government classified the institutions from now itself and ensured that only top institutions came here.

If that does not happen, foreign universities would also meet the same fate as 400 universities and 20,000 colleges of the country. From this viewpoint, the present system of certification of quality of education would also have to be improved. Only then we would be able to keep effective watch on the activities of the universities.