Opinion | Degrees For Dollars? Inside The Foreign University Gold Rush In India

India's higher education scene is on the cusp of a seismic shift. For decades, bright young Indian boys and girls packed their bags for London, Boston or Sydney, while their parents nervously calculated the exchange rate and prayed for scholarships. All that may change. Instead of hundreds of thousands of students flying west, the universities are flying east.

A few months ago, the Indian government announced that 15 foreign universities are setting up campuses in the country. When Prime Minister Narendra Modi went to London in July to sign the India-UK free trade agreement, he specifically talked about six UK universities heading to India to set up shop. While Southampton University has already opened up one in Gurugram, Liverpool is on its way to Bengaluru, and York is landing in Mumbai. That's not all: Australia's Deakin and Wollongong are in Gujarat's GIFT City, and even the Illinois Institute of Technology is set to become the first US university with a physical Indian address. 'Illinois Tech Mumbai' will welcome students from 2026. Even Italy's prestigious Istituto Europeo di Design is bringing its Milanese flair to Indian soil.

A Policy Shift With Teeth

The driver of this change is the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, arguably the boldest reset of India's education in decades. At its core lies a simple argument. If Indian students are going abroad in droves, then why not bring quality education to them on their doorsteps? According to estimates, nearly 1.3 million Indians are currently enrolled in universities overseas, draining billions of dollars every year and creating a massive brain drain problem. The NEP's logic is that India should stop exporting so much talent and foreign exchange and instead invite world-class universities on its own terms.

To make that possible, the University Grants Commission (UGC) issued fresh regulations in 2022 and 2023. For the first time, foreign higher education institutions were given a clear green light to set up shop in India. They can decide their own curricula, set their own fees and hire faculty without being strangled by layers of red tape. India really is saying, the market is open, game on.

The Early Movers

The results have been immediate. Southampton University, backed by the Oxford International Education Group, became the first British university to open a fully fledged campus in India. In Gurugram, students can now get a Southampton degree at less than half the UK cost, and the first batch has already drawn applicants not just from across India but also from Nepal, Myanmar and the UAE.

Liverpool is next, opening a Bengaluru campus in 2026. And it's not just dipping a toe in the water: it will offer programmes in business, computer science, biomedical sciences and even game design. It's the first UK university to launch such a course in India. With Bengaluru already buzzing with Infosys, Wipro, Google and Microsoft, the city could become a natural hub for research partnerships and talent pipelines.

Australia's Deakin and Wollongong were technically the first movers under a different scheme, planting campuses in Gujarat's GIFT City. Now, Western Sydney University and Victoria University are on the way too. The spread is broad: science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), business, design and hospitality. For students, it's an expanded menu. For India, it's a validation of its pitch as a global education destination.

Why India Is An Obvious Choice

The attraction is obvious. India has the world's largest youth population, hungry for opportunity and global exposure. The country also offers a cost advantage: tuition and living costs are a fraction of what students would pay in London or New York. For foreign universities, the numbers are dazzling. Even a small slice of India's higher-education market can mean tens of thousands of students and sustainable revenues. For India, too, the benefit is clear. More students will get access to international-standard education without draining family savings or having to leave the country for good.

This is where soft power also sneaks in. A Liverpool in Bengaluru or a Southampton in Gurugram is not just a degree factory. It is a symbol that signals that India has arrived as a place worth investing in, not just extracting from. For Britain and Australia, it is a chance to grow influence while tapping into one of the largest education markets on earth. 

A Historical Pivot

And yet, it is hard not to think about how it was two centuries ago. Nearly 200 years ago, Lord Macaulay wrote his infamous "Minute on Indian Education" and persuaded the British Empire to impose English as the medium of instruction here. Sanskrit, Persian and Arabic were sidelined. Western curricula became the new normal. To our hearts' content, the system designed to cement colonial rule ended up creating the lawyers, scientists and leaders who dismantled it.

Fast forward to today, and the script looks reversed. Britain and the West are not imposing their institutions. They are being invited in, under India's rules, to compete for students on Indian soil. This time it is not conquest but competition. 

The Sceptics' Case

Of course, not everyone is clapping. Nationalist critics warn that a Southampton Gurugram may be seen as more prestigious than a Delhi University, creating a hierarchy that favours foreign brands over local ones. Others worry that elite foreign campuses will cater mainly to wealthy students, leaving the majority behind in underfunded state institutions. There is also the authenticity question: will Southampton India really be Southampton, or a diluted copy without the full research ecosystem and global networks?

These anxieties echo old battles. The Foreign Educational Institutions Bill of 2010 collapsed under similar criticisms. Even today, some argue that with autonomy over fees and faculty, foreign universities could end up turning higher education into just another commodity. The risk is real: global campuses must not deepen inequality or hollow out India's own institutions.

The Global Picture

The thing is, India is not acting in isolation. Universities have been going global for decades. Georgetown, Carnegie Mellon and NYU operate in Qatar. The UK has spread into Malaysia, China and Singapore. Australia has built campuses across Southeast Asia. Education is now traded like goods and services, recognised as such under the World Trade Organization's (WTO) General Agreement on Trade in Services back in 1995. India, in some ways, is simply catching up.

India Exports, Too

Crucially, India is not just importing universities. It is beginning to export them too. IIT Delhi opened its first offshore campus in Abu Dhabi last year, while IIT Madras set up a campus in Zanzibar in 2023. These are small steps, but they signal ambition. India wants to project its academic influence in Africa and the Middle East, not just consume Western expertise. 

What's At Stake For Students

For students, the stakes are high. On paper, the benefits are obvious: lower tuition, no foreign living costs and access to global-standard education at home. But will employers see a Southampton India degree as equal to a Southampton UK one? Will foreign campuses poach the best Indian faculty, hollowing out domestic universities? Or will competition push everyone to raise their game? 

In the end, the risk and the opportunity are two sides of the same coin. The danger is that foreign campuses could reproduce old hierarchies, recolonising minds in the name of global standards. The opportunity is that they could spark a renaissance, pushing Indian universities to upgrade, creating research collaborations and positioning India as an academic hub for South Asia and the Global South.

So, has India's education come full circle? In one sense, yes. British and Western institutions are back on Indian soil. But this is not 1835. The West is no longer dictating - it is negotiating. India is not subservient. It is self-assured.

The difference is power. This time, India firmly holds the pen.

(Syed Zubair Ahmed is a London-based senior Indian journalist with three decades of experience with the Western media)

Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author