A regulatory framework permitting foreign universities to establish campuses in India was introduced through the University Grants Commission (Setting up and Operation of Campuses of Foreign Higher Educational Institutions in India) Regulations, notified on November 7, 2023, and brought into force upon their publication in the Gazette of India on November 8, 2023. On June 9, 2026, in a significant policy move, the Union ministry of education handed over three additional ‘letters of approval’ under the UGC Regulations, 2023, to the University of Bristol, the University of York and the University of New South Wales, increasing the total number of foreign universities authorised to establish campuses in India to five, following the earlier approvals granted to the University of Southampton and the University of Liverpool.This does not satisfy the legality of the Indian constitution, as such approvals cannot bypass the parliament under the UGC Act, 1956. Besides the legal conundrum, the narrow range of programmes offered by campuses of foreign universities is unaffordable to the Indian students as compared to similar programmes run by public institutions in India. If continued, the limited programmes run by the foreign campuses will fail to attract Indians as an international education hub as it is unlikely to promote quality culture of universities in India. The campuses, then, will turn out to be fly-by-night operators. The education ministry’s approval of foreign university campuses comes after prolonged attempts in the past to promote academic collaboration, leading to the award of joint degrees, dual degrees and twinning under the UGC Regulations 2016 and 2022. Attempts to attract foreign institutions for academic collaboration have failed in the past, except for a few IITs and private institutions making such collaborations. The approval of foreign institution campuses in India under the regulation needs a closer analysis from two standpoints: whether the collaboration can meet the criteria under UGC Regulation 2023; and how far does collaboration serve the broader objective of promoting the quality of higher education in India? UGC Regulation 2023 claims in its preamble that foreign campuses in India shall “enable Indian students to obtain foreign qualifications at affordable cost, and make India an attractive global study destination”. It further stipulates that the quality of education in the campus of foreign institutions in India shall be similar to that of the main campus in the country of origin and that the campus shall provide scholarship and fee concessions. There has been autonomy to recruit, remunerate and decide the service conditions of faculty. There is a further condition that international faculty shall teach at the Indian campus for at least a semester. The curricula, pedagogy, and assessment system on the campus shall be similar to those at the main campus, and any online or distance learning mode is prohibited on the campuses of foreign institutions in India, except for 10 percent of online teaching. The recent approval of the campuses of foreign institutions with the programme details and fees are given in the Table below. Altogether, there are three foreign universities from the United Kingdom, and one each from Canada and Australia. All programmes in undergraduate (UG) and postgraduate (PG) are in applied areas, and none of the programmes offered are in social sciences, humanities, and natural sciences. It is evident that, compared to any comprehensive universities in India, campuses of foreign universities focus on programmes that are in high demand, high fee, strong market value, and lower infrastructural requirements. The fees range between Rs 12 and 25 lakh per annum. Programmes are offered in metropolitan cities like Delhi NCR, Bangalore and Mumbai. Table 1: Campuses of foreign institutions: programme and fee detailsName of universityProgrammes offered Fees charged (for domestic students)UndergraduatePostgraduateUniversity of Bristol, Mumbai Enterprise Campus at Powai, MumbaiBSc Data Science, BSc Economics, and BSc Economics and Data Science (3 years)MSc Finance, MA Immersive Arts, MSc Financial Technology with Data Science (1 year). Rs 15 lakh per year for UG and Rs 20 lakh per year for PGUniversity of York, Powai Business District, MumbaiBA (Hons) Business and Management, BA (Hons) Business of the Creative Industries, BSc (Hons) Economics, BSc (Hons) Computer Science, BSc (Hons) Computer Science with Artificial Intelligence, BSc (Hons) Computer Science with Cyber Security (3 years)MSc Management, MSc Finance, MSc Artificial IntelligenceRs 12.5 lakh per year for UG and Rs 15-16.5 lakh for PGUniversity of New South Wales (UNSW Sydney), Embassy Manyata Business Park in North BengaluruBachelor of Business, Bachelor of Science in Computer Science, Bachelor of Data Science and Decisions (3 years)Master of Cyber Security (2 years)Rs 14,93,280 for UG and Rs 16,39,680 for PGUniversity of Southampton, International Tech Park Gurgaon (NCR, Delhi)BEng (Hons) Software Engineering, BSc (Hons) Computer Science, BSc (Hons) Creative Computing, BSc (Hons) Accounting and Finance, BSc (Hons) Business Management, BSc (Hons) Economics (3 years)MSc Data Science, MSc Finance, MSc Economics, MSc International Management (1 year)Rs 13,86,000 for UG and Rs 1617000- 23,10,000 for PGUniversity of Liverpool, Alembic City in Whitefield, BengaluruBA (Hons) Business Management, BSc (Hons) Computer Science, BSc (Hons) Computer Science with Software Development, BSc (Hons) Accounting and Finance, BSc (Hons) Biomedical Sciences, BSc (Hons) Game Design, (3 years)MSc Data Science, MSc Finance, MSc Economics, MSc International Management (1 year)Rs 11,50,000 for UG and Rs 15,00,000 for PG Source: Calculated from the approval of foreign campuses and from the websites of the respective universities.On affordabilityAn extensive search of similar programmes offered in India reveals that fees charged for similar programmes in foreign campuses are substantially higher, three to six times, as compared to high-ranking public institutions in India such as Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs). Even premier private institutions charge much less than proposed foreign campuses in India. Calculations from the table above show that a three-year bachelor’s degree offered by foreign campuses in India costs in the range of Rs 34.5-45 lakh. Therefore, a comparative cost advantage does not lie in favour of foreign campuses in India. The question of affordability for the programmes offered by foreign campuses in India needs to be analysed. An estimated average annual household expenditure of the top 5% and 1% is Rs 7 lakh and Rs 12.5 lakh, respectively. If the household spends nearly 15% of its expenditure on education, the estimated average affordability of the top 5% and top 1% of the household is Rs 1.05 lacs and Rs 1.87 lacs, respectively. Hence, even the top 1% of the household cannot afford the programmes offered by foreign campuses in India unless they resort to loans. It can be safely concluded that only the elite sections among the top 1% of the households can afford education in the foreign campuses in India. Table 2: Fees of foreign campuses and Indian institutions of similar programmesProgrammeFees of foreign campuses in India (Rs, in lakhs)Fees of Indian institutions (Rs, in lakhs)Computer Science / AI12.5–15.02.5–4.5Economics13.9–15.02–3Business & Management11.5–15.02–6Data Science14.9–15.02.5–4Biomedical Sciences11.53–5Creative Industries / Game Design11.5–12.54–10Source: Calculations made by authorsViability of foreign campuses Assuming the average intake of students in UG and PG to be 40 students each, the annual income earned by foreign campuses from fees is given in Table 3. Further, assuming that five international teachers per programme run the course, say, in collaboration with Indian partners, and that they are paid Rs 50 lakh per annum, then the teaching cost delivered by international teachers as percent-to-total-earnings from fees by the foreign campus is also calculated in Table 3. It ranges from 35% to 48% of the total earnings from fees. We have also calculated the residual earnings per programme to meet the capital and recurring expenses. Table 3: Annual fee collection of foreign campusesNameUG PGTotal% of international teachers’ salary-to-total earnings (Rs, in crore)Residual to meet other expenses per programme (Rs, in crore)University of Bristol122436354.7University of York 301848472.83UNSW Sydney186.6024.60413.65University of Southampton33.603265.60384.06University of Liverpool27.602451.60482.66Source: Calculations made by authorsIt is quite clear that the residual to meet the expenses per programme in different university campuses ranges from Rs 2.83 crore to Rs 4.70 crore. No programme of high value can be viable with the residual earnings to meet various expenses unless quality is compromised. If quality is compromised, the dream of making India an attractive global study destination will never succeed. Legal conundrumSection 22 (1) of the UGC Act, 1956, notes that institutions established by parliament, legislative assembly, institutions ‘deemed to be a university’ under Section 3 of the UGC Act, or institutions of National Importance established under the act of parliament/legislative assembly can confer a degree in India. Section 22 (2) of the Act further notes that “no person or authority shall confer, or grant, or hold himself or itself out as entitled to confer or grant, any degree”. Hence, any campus of a foreign university has no legal right to confer a degree in India. It also amounts to saying that not only UGC Regulation, 2023, is illegitimate, but the authority to confer a degree by a foreign university rests only with the parliament, either through a separate act or by an amendment to the UGC Act, 1956. For over two decades, the branch campus of a foreign university was not allowed to confer a degree through the regulatory mechanism, as parliament cannot be bypassed to allow the conferment of a foreign degree by the branch campus of a foreign university. If students pass out with the foreign degree, it can be declared as illegitimate in the future and the career of a student may be doomed in the future. There has to be a clarification by the UGC on the legality of the conferment of a foreign degree by the campus of the foreign university. It is precisely because of this reason that UGC did not allow foreign degrees for any collaborative arrangement under UGC Regulations 2016 and 2022. This creates a legal conundrum that is detrimental to the interests of the students graduating from the campuses of foreign universities in India.Issue of equivalenceUnder NEP 2020, the education ministry introduced a four-year undergraduate programme incorporating a multiple entry and exit framework in which, among other things, a student who completes three years of study and earns the prescribed 120 credits may be awarded a bachelor’s degree, while completion of the fourth year with 160 credits leads to a bachelor’s degree with honours or honours with research, in accordance with the UGC’s Curriculum and Credit Framework for Undergraduate Programmes, 2022. Universities in the UK offer only three-year bachelor’s programmes on their main campuses as well as on their campuses in India. They also offer a one-year programme of post-graduation. What will be the equivalence of a three-year bachelor’s programme in foreign universities to that of an undergraduate programme in India? This is so far not clear. Besides, the equivalence of a one-year postgraduate programme after three years of a bachelor’s in foreign universities is also not clear. Will it be equivalent to the four-year undergraduate programme in India? In such a case, one year of a PG programme will downgrade a student to four years of undergraduate. Fly-by-night operatorsIn light of the legal conundrum, viability, affordability and equivalence noted above, foreign university campuses in India may turn out to be ‘fly-by-night’ operators, whose aim is to appear quickly to make fast profit by delivering low-quality programmes, and who disappear as soon as the adverse situation arises. Fly-by-night operators are untrustworthy; they would never like to create a permanent stake in terms of direct investment and other commitments to the students and the teachers running the programme. It is important to note that so far, no foreign universities have finalised any educational institutional collaboration, with the only exception being the intent of the University of Bristol’s strategic partnerships with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and IIT Bombay. Under Indian law, foreign institution campuses cannot earn any surplus and transfer any surplus earnings to the main campus. As soon as those campuses of foreign institutions realise that repatriation of income earned cannot be made, there is every possibility that the campuses will stop delivering the programme. Factors that add upCampuses of foreign institutions are unlikely to follow the reservation policy of the Government of India. The autonomy to recruit and remunerate the faculty will also create a non-level playing field with the public institutions in India, thus ruling out level playing competition to upgrade the quality of Indian institutions. The perception of people will never favour the degree of a campus of foreign university at par with that of home institutions in a foreign country. The charm of a foreign degree goes hand in hand with employment in a foreign country and the experience of a student studying in a multicultural environment. Therefore, the degree conferred by the campus of a foreign university will always be inferior to that of a degree from a home campus. It may be unlikely that a highly reputed teacher of a foreign university will spend a semester teaching in the Indian campus. As a result, it is likely that only non-reputed teachers of a foreign university would be invited to teach in the Indian campus. Where things standVarious initiatives to promote the internationalisation of higher education through academic collaborations under UGC Regulations 2016 and 2022 have failed in the past. The approval of campuses of foreign universities in India by the Union government in June 2026 is illegitimate as, under the law, parliament cannot be bypassed to approve the campuses of foreign universities through the UGC Regulation under the UGC Act 1956. The commentary furthermore highlights the point that the objectives of approving campuses of foreign universities in India under the UGC regulation 2023 will not be realised. It was noted that programme fees are much higher than those of similar programmes run by IITs, IIITs, and a few premier private universities, making the programmes unaffordable even by the elite sections of society, nor will it help to upgrade quality due to the lack of foreign direct investment sufficient to maintain international quality. Therefore, the potential of foreign campuses to develop an international hub of education is also very limited. We have also noted that campuses of foreign universities in India will promote commercialisation and marketisation of higher education in specific programmes of high market value. Besides, the narrow range of programmes offered by such standalone institutions will fail to invigorate the university system in India. An ordinary citizen of India will never be able to access the programmes offered by the super-elite campuses of foreign universities. In addition, our belief is that such campuses will never be integrated with the university system in India, and they will turn out to be fly-by-night operators.Abhishek Pandey is a post-doctoral fellow, Centre for Economic and Social Studies (CESS), Hyderabad, Telangana; Email: abhishekdbsh@gmail.com.Sudhanshu Bhushan was formerly professor, Department of Higher and Professional Education, National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration, New Delhi; Email: bhushan.sudhanshu@gmail.com.