Cabinet clears foreign varsity Bill

amp;149; A time-bound format for granting approval to foreign educational institutions to set up campuses.

amp;149; Conditions like Rs 50 crore as corpus fund to be deposited by an aspiring institute to be allowed to operate in India.

amp;149; Each institute will have to be registered with the University Grants Commission or any regulatory body in place at the time of registration.

amp;149; The government can reject an application of a university if it feels that the venture will have an adverse impact on national security.

amp;149; Provisions of Section 25 of the Companies Act will be applicable to the foreign institutes. Under this provision,they cannot take the profit back but will have to spend the amount for further expansion of institutions here.

amp;149; Foreign education providers can involve in other activities like consultancy projects and the profit generated from those projects can be taken back by them.

This Bill had been hanging fire for over four years owing to opposition from various quarters,including the Left parties,over certain provisions. Last year,it was referred to a Committee of Secretaries which brought in some modifications.

Changing previous provisions that suggested that the UGC/ Commission could intervene in fee regulation in institutes set up by foreign education providers,the committee of secretaries had suggested that institutes must instead mandatorily adhere to full disclosure of all components of their fee and deposits,the number of seats available,admission process,details of teaching faculty including their educational qualifications,teaching experience and pay categories,details of the institutes physical and academic infrastructure,broad outlines of the syllabus,teaching hours etc.