Indian states vie to become next branch campus hotspot

A new city being established in a southern Indian state could be a “formidable competitor” to burgeoning foreign university branch campus hubs such as Gift City and Delhi, according to analysts. 

The education and research centre, known as Tamil Nadu Knowledge City, will be established in a rural part of the state by a government agency responsible for industrial development. 

The state government hopes the new 870-acre hub will attract outside investment, including from foreign universities, and create more job opportunities in the state.

Since India began opening up to foreign universities earlier this decade, much of the interest has been focused on Gift City, a special economic zone in Gujarat, and Delhi. However, other states such as Tamil Nadu increasingly seem to be vying to entice new institutions. 

Last year Uttar Pradesh also announced new incentives for foreign universities setting up in the state, including stamp duty exemptions and capital subsidies. This policy appears to be paying off, with Australia’s Western Sydney University announcing plans earlier this year to establish a campus there. 

Leaders of the southern state of Kerala have hinted that similar policies may be on the horizon there, with the chief minister recently discussing his desire to turn the region into a higher education hub and attract more international students. 

Despite the competition, analysts are confident that Tamil Nadu, which is already home to top Indian institutions including IIT Madras and VIT University, will have international appeal.

“Tamil Nadu’s strong higher education ecosystem, industry integration and global connectivity, position it as a formidable competitor to Gift City and Delhi in attracting international universities and students,” said Eldho Mathews, programme officer at the Kerala State Higher Education Council. 

Other advantages include the state’s position “as a major industrial and IT hub” and Chennai International Airport, “one of the busiest in India”, he said. 

Anirban Chakraborty, head of the research planning and management group at Indian research institute TCG Crest, said he expected more Indian states to begin competing to attract foreign universities. 

“The economic and educational benefits are undeniable: foreign campuses drive job creation, revenue generation and local economic growth by attracting international students, faculty, and industry partners,” he said. 

“Moreover, these campuses offer a platform for global academic collaborations, enhancing research capabilities within the state.”

There has been opposition in some states to inviting foreign campuses to set up, including Kerala, where the state government, run by a left-wing opposition party, is generally against the privatisation of education. 

In March, policymakers passed legislation allowing domestic private universities to set up in the state but, despite the chief minister’s positive rhetoric, R. Bindu, Kerala’s higher education minister, was clear this did not apply to foreign universities. 

“We know that top foreign universities like Oxford and Cambridge are not going to open campuses in Kerala,” she said, as reported in Onmanorama. “But the [former] UDF government had earlier tried to usher in substandard foreign universities to Kerala, as though Kerala was a dustbin for third-rate foreign universities.”

Additionally, Chakraborty warned, growing competition “could lead to regional disparities, with states that already have stronger infrastructure attracting the majority of foreign campuses, exacerbating inequities in access to quality education”. 

To mitigate this, “States must ensure that the benefits of foreign campuses are distributed equitably”.

Similarly, “Local universities may face pressure to elevate their standards to remain competitive, which, while potentially beneficial, could strain resources if foreign institutions receive preferential treatment or financial incentives,” he said. 

helen.packer@timeshighereducation.com