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Foreign Campuses In India Explained: When UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer arrived on his first official visit to India earlier this month, his 125-member delegation included 14 university vice chancellors and representatives.
Both Starmer and Prime Minister Narendra Modi referred to the United Kingdom’s interest in Indian higher education after they met in Mumbai. While Modi said that “it is a matter of great joy that nine universities from the UK are going to open campuses in India”, Starmer pointed to “the demand for the best quality higher education” being “very high” in India.
The idea finds mention in the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, which recommends that select universities — those among the top 100 globally — be allowed to operate in India, calling for the “internationalisation” of education.
The University Grants Commission (UGC) issued regulations in 2023 on the subject. Before them, foreign university campuses were permitted in Gujarat’s GIFT City under International Financial Services Centres Authority regulations, issued in 2022.
Including the three already here, 17 foreign universities have been permitted to set up campuses in India — in Mumbai, the NCR (Gurgaon, Noida, Greater Noida), Chennai, and Bengaluru. Here’s what to know about the plans and why they are being advanced now.
Under the UGC regulations, the only eligibility criterion for a foreign university is ranking within the top 500 in global rankings. They can then apply for approval.
On the QS World University Rankings 2026, the 17 universities range from rank 51 (University of Bristol, to set up a campus in Mumbai by 2026), to 558 (Coventry University, to come up at GIFT city). The University of Southampton (ranked 87) has a campus in Gurgaon that began functioning this year.
Others that have announced they could offer academic courses in 2026 are University of Liverpool (ranked 147, planned campus in Bengaluru); Lancaster University (ranked 157, planned campus in Bengaluru); University of York (ranked 169, planned campus Mumbai); University of Aberdeen (ranked 262, planned campus in Mumbai); Queen’s University Belfast (ranked 199, planned campus in GIFT City); University of Surrey (ranked 262, planned campus in GIFT City).
Several of these universities have overseas branch campuses, either alone or in joint ventures, in locations like Malaysia, China, Qatar, and Greece. For some, like the University of Bristol, the India campus will be the university’s first overseas campus. Apart from the UK universities, six with India plans are from Australia, two of which (Deakin University and the University of Wollongong) began functioning in GIFT city last year.
Italy’s Istituto Europeo di Design, a fashion school, will also come up in Mumbai. Going by 2023 data from the Cross-Border Education Research Team, US universities had the highest number of branch campuses worldwide (84), followed by the UK (46).
In India, however, only one American university has announced its plans so far — Illinois Tech, which will come up in Mumbai.
Most are offering three-year undergraduate courses and one-year master’s programs, mostly in business management, computer science, accounting and finance, economics, data science, and artificial intelligence (AI).
UGC regulations mandate that the university impart the same quality of education and offer the same qualifications, curriculum, and assessment in India as the main campus. They are also allowed to hire faculty from India and abroad.
Professor Michele Acuto, Pro Vice-Chancellor for Global Engagement at the University of Bristol, told The Indian Express that the Mumbai campus will have up to 250 students in the first year, and then grow steadily to 2,500. It will have a combination of locally hired staff and those from Bristol.
The University of Liverpool campus in Bangalore is being built to accommodate 2,500 students, and the university expects to reach this number by 2030. The University of Southampton campus in Gurgaon began with a batch of around 140 students this year, and it is aiming to grow to around 5,500 students in time.
For the 2026 academic year, Southampton has announced yearly fees ranging from Rs 13.86 lakh for UG courses to Rs 23.10 lakh for an MSc in finance — roughly half of what an international student in the UK would pay. A BSc in Accounting and Finance at their UK campus costs £26,200 (around Rs 30.95 lakh) in tuition fees for an international student. The MSc in Finance can cost £36,300 (around Rs 42.89 lakh).
A press release during Starmer’s visit referred to “the explosion in demand for higher education in India… which has created a huge opportunity for UK universities seeking new funding streams.” While permissions granted under the UGC regulations gained momentum this year, conditions in the UK have also played a role.
Universities in the UK have been grappling with a financial crisis for some time now. The government announced an increase in tuition fees from the 2025-26 academic session onwards, but its previous freeze for undergraduate students meant they relied on international students (who pay higher fees) to keep pace with inflation. International student numbers have, however, fallen in recent years. Cost-cutting measures have thus kicked in, leading to courses being closed and cutbacks on staff and research.
A report this year by Universities UK, a group of 141 UK universities, said that 49% of the 60 institutions they surveyed said that they had already closed courses, while 18% have shut down departments.
Vice-Chancellor of the University of York, Prof Charlie Jeffery, told The Indian Express: “It is clear the UK higher education sector is facing a volatile environment and universities need to be innovative to explore new opportunities. York is forging ahead in charting our way out of a challenging UK funding model. We’re protecting the quality and purpose of our work — as a university for public good — as well as finding new sources of revenue.”
“By working with Indian partners, we can generate the income that will protect jobs while expanding our research and teaching to a country that has an increasing demand for quality higher education and supporting India’s status as a global education destination,” he added.
Universities UK International also told The Indian Express that UK universities “are navigating a challenging financial landscape”, and taking action by driving efficiencies and strengthening international partnerships “to ensure long-term sustainability.”
What does this mean for Indian students?
The UGC regulations were introduced at a time when the number of Indian students going abroad, to the top destination countries of the US, UK, and Canada, saw a sharp spike post-Covid. However, with countries increasingly introducing measures to reduce immigration, these numbers have seen a slump.
UK Home Office data shows that the number of sponsored study visas issued to Indian students hit 1.39 lakh in 2022 (the highest over the past decade), surpassing Chinese students (1.01 lakh) for the first time over the decade. This number dropped to 1.20 lakh in 2023 and further to 88,732 in 2024. In 2024, the UK imposed restrictions on foreign students bringing dependents to the country.
While some of these foreign universities have said that students from their India campuses might be able to spend a semester or a year at the campus abroad, studying at the India campus of these universities may not necessarily pave the way for students to land a job abroad.
Pratibha Jain, CEO at Eduabroad Consulting, told The Indian Express, “For most countries, a student can get a post-study work visa only by spending a year or two on their soil. Students [who study at the India campuses] may get used to the pedagogy of the foreign university. However, students can go abroad after studying at any Indian university as well, our degrees are well-respected.”
Earlier this year, the Labour Party government unveiled a policy document aiming to reform the immigration system and cut net migration. It proposed that the term of a ‘graduate visa’, which allows a student who has completed a course in the UK to remain there and work for two years, be reduced to 18 months, and dependents of main visa applicants also meet English proficiency requirements.
In 2024, Canada and the US also recorded a drop in the number of Indians going for higher studies, coming on the heels of government measures to reduce immigration.
Professor Charlie Jeffery at the University of York said that “there is an increased demand in India for higher education, and not every student has the means, or indeed wants to leave their home country”. The Mumbai campus will then “be a way of bringing quality UK higher education to India, and allowing students to become part of the York community whilst studying in Mumbai,” he said.
