Crackling News: India allows foreign higher educational institutions to set up in-country campus

In November, India opened its doors to foreign universities and institutes by permitting them to set up campuses in the country.

The light-touch ‘The UGC (Setting Up and Operation of Campuses of Foreign Higher Educational Institutions in India) Regulations, 2023’ (“2023 Regulations”), are in line with the commitments set out in the National Education Policy, 2020 (“NEP”), and the government’s vision of internationalisation of education in India.Continue Reading Crackling News: India allows Foreign Higher Educational Institutions to set up in-country campus

Introduction

The Gujarat Public Universities Act, 2023 (“the Act”), came into effect on October 9, 2023[1], with the intent to unify the State legislation, governing 11 (eleven) public universities in Gujarat and any new public university that the Government of Gujarat (“GoG”) may constitute and notify (collectively, the “Universities”). The Act provides a common consolidated legislation for all Universities, aiming to provide better governance, improved academic standards, adequate representation through a democratic process, state of the art facilities and to transform, strengthen and regulate higher education in a more efficient manner.Continue Reading Gujarat Public Universities Act, 2023 – A step towards Unification?

Gift City

On October 11, 2022, the International Financial Services Centres Authority (“Authority”) notified the International Financial Services Centres Authority (Setting up and Operation of International Branch Campuses and Offshore Education Centres) Regulation, 2022 (“IBC-OEC Regulation”), permitting foreign universities and educational institutions to open a branch in Gujarat International Financial Tec-City (“GIFT City”) in Gandhinagar, Gujarat. This stems from the proposal to allow the entry of foreign universities and institutions in GIFT during the FY 23 Union Budget announcements.Continue Reading Gift City: Foreign Universities’ Gateway to India?

GIFT City

Introduction

 In the 2022-23 Union Budget announcements on February 1, 2022 (“Budget”), the Finance Minister introduced a proposal to allow the entry of world-class foreign universities and institutions in Gujarat International Financial Tec-City IFSC (“GIFT IFSC”), to offer courses in subjects pertaining to financial management, fintech, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, to facilitate the availability of skilled human capital for financial services and technology[1]. The announcement is seen as a progressive step, giving further impetus to promoting GIFT IFSC as the preferred International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) globally.Continue Reading GIFT City Opens Doors for Entry of Foreign Universities in India

Opportunities for Foreign Universities in India

INTRODUCTION

Education is one of India’s most rapidly-growing sector, which is expected to be worth approximately USD 225 billion[1] by 2025. Enrolment in higher education institutions that stands at approximately 37.4 million[2] today, is estimated to grow by nearly 38% by the year 2030, with India potentially emerging as the single-largest provider of global talent where one in four graduates in the world could be a product of the Indian higher education system[3]. The Covid-19 pandemic has provided further impetus to this sector by increasing the acceptance of online education and opening fresh e-learning opportunities for national and international educational institutions. The Government of India (“GoI”) has also brought renewed focus on the education sector with the roll-out of the National Education Policy, 2020 (“NEP”), which lays down the future roadmap of education in India.Continue Reading Opportunities for Foreign Universities in India: A Regulatory Overview

Indian EdTech beyond the first phase - A booster shot for long term growth

Part one of this blog-series[1] discussed how factors like Covid-19 pandemic and introduction of the National Education Policy 2020 (“NEP”) enabled expansion of the educational technology (“EdTech”) sector and how it has grown by leaps and bounds in less than a year. Considering the demographics of our country and the deep-rooted conventional educational culture, this blog seeks to look at the key challenges and opportunities for the EdTech sector.
Continue Reading Indian EdTech beyond the first phase: A booster shot for long term growth

Indian Edtech in 2020: The Effective First Shot

The outbreak of Covid-19 brought an unprecedented opportunity for the educational technology (“EdTech”) sector in India. The traditional face-to-face interaction between a teacher and students suffered a setback and almost instantaneously, there was a paradigm shift to the unconventional mode of online learning. This change brought the spotlight on EdTech industry following which it received the requisite financial and policy impetus to thrive through the financial year (FY) 2020-2021. A massive inflow of investments, acquisitions and emergence of new start-ups in the previous fiscal bear testimony to EdTech sector’s meteoric growth.
Continue Reading Indian Edtech in 2020: The Effective First Shot

Consumer Protection E-commerce Rules – The EduTech Impact

Background

The last few years have seen customers and industry alike benefit from their increased focus on digital platforms in a changing world. Education technology, which is a prominent business vertical of the education sector, stands out for diversifying the means of learning and teaching to an extent that both students and parents have accepted online teaching models as supplement to the formal education system. While the Edutech space was steadily gaining traction, Covid’s sudden impact on physical learning afforded this sector an unparallel opportunity. The approximately USD 800 million investment into the sector in the first six months of 2020 justifies the narrative of emerging as the `next big thing.’
Continue Reading Consumer Protection E-commerce Rules – The EduTech Impact 

NEP 2020 - VOCATIONAL EDUCATION - FUEL FOR THE INDIAN DEMOGRAPHIC DIVIDEND

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has defined ‘demographic dividend’ as the growth potential that results from shifts in a population’s age structure.[1] A study conducted by the UNFPA noted that India has an important window of demographic dividend opportunity from about 2005-06 to 2055-56 with 62.5% of the population falling in the working age group of 15 and 59 years. It is expected that the slice of working age group will rise to 65% (approximately) by 2036.[2] This study also recognised the importance of imparting vocational education (VE) to avail the benefits of the demographic dividend.

The National Education Policy, 2020 (Policy) recognises the seminal role of VE in building the Indian demographic dividend. The Policy observes that less than 5% of the Indian workforce within the age bracket of 19–24 years received formal VE when compared to countries such as the USA (52%), Germany (75%), and South Korea (96%).[3] While identifying the need to hasten the development of vocational skills, the Policy highlights the importance of removing rigid distinctions between vocational and academic streams, and eliminating harmful hierarchies between different areas of learning.
Continue Reading NEP 2020: VOCATIONAL EDUCATION – FUEL FOR THE INDIAN DEMOGRAPHIC DIVIDEND