BRINGING GLOBAL EXCELLENCE TO INDIA

United Kingdom's University of Southampton is all set to commence its operations in India from August 2025 with deep focus on enhancing students’ practical skills and their employability

- Arjun Yadav

IT WAS the National Education Policy, 2020 (NEP) which among other important education reforms in India, laid stress on internationalisation of education in India. It called for encouraging high performing Indian universities to set up campuses overseas, and similarly, noted that selected universities, those among the top ranking 100 universities in the world would be facilitated to operate in India.

Subsequently, in November 2023 the University Grants Commission (UGC) released regulations allowing foreign higher educational institutions (FHEIs) ranked among the top 500 globally to establish campuses in India with autonomy in academics, faculty hiring, and fee structures. These approvals come at a critical juncture where these foreign universities could possibly reduce brain drain by retaining Indian students and enhance the overall quality of higher education in India. In line with these initiatives and approvals, from August 2025, the University of Southampton, a part of the Russell Group, a collective of 24 leading universities in the United Kingdom (UK) will start its operations in India with its new campus in Delhi NCR (Gurugram).