Bowing to pressure from Left parties, the Government is thinking of reworking the Regulation of Foreign University Entry and Operation Bill, 2007.
NEW DELHI: Bowing to pressure from Left parties, the Government is thinking of reworking the Regulation of Foreign University Entry and Operation (Maintenance of Quality and Prevention of Commercialisation) Bill, 2007.
The Bill, which was sent to a Group of Ministers (GoM) for wider consultations, was earlier scheduled to be introduced in the budget session of Parliament but was withdrawn by Human Resource Development (HRD) ministry following strong objections from the Left. Indications are that it is unlikely to be introduced in the monsoon session also.
Rajya Sabha MP and Communist Party of India (Marxist) politburo member Brinda Karat met HRD minister Arjun Sungh on Thursday and expressed Left parties’ anxiety over the Bill in its present form.
While the Left parties want an alternative proposal for linking up foreign educational institutions with Indian educational system, they also want a social control over these institutions.
It is learnt that the Left has suggested the HRD ministry to put a good law in place to regulate fees and equity matters before allowing foreign universities to open their shops in India.
Sources in HRD ministry indicated that the draft Bill may see some changes and will be prepared after wider consultations. While regulating the entry of foreign universities in India the Bill would prevent all universities, however reputed they are, to repatriate surplus revenue generated in India.
These universities will also have to invest at least 51 per cent of the total capital investment required for establishing an institution in India.
Even though the Bill makes it mandatory for foreign institutions to be governed by the law of the country and, hence, provide reservation as prescribed by the Centre, these universities can seek exemption from “national treatment” on reservation, admission norms and fees from the government on case to case basis.
The fees will be regulated by the UGC and every institution would need a corpus of at least Rs 10 crore along with a no objection certificate from its embassy or high commission in India.
No franchisee will be allowed. All foreign universities will be granted a deemed university status under Section 3 of the UGC Act and they will have to ensure that the quality of programmes are comparable to the courses on the campus of India.
Among the states, Uttar Pradesh has opposed the Bill while West Bengal wants foreign universities only in science and technology and other such sectors.
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